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Accounting · head to head

Lago vs SAP Concur

Lago logo

Lago

Accounting

Open-source billing infrastructure for usage-based models

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
SAP Concur logo

SAP Concur

Accounting

Enterprise travel booking, expense claims and supplier invoice processing sold as separate modules

From
$29/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Lago has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Lago free tier limited to 10,000 entities per month with 5M event cap; SAP Concur implementation is done through SAP or a partner and commonly costs a substantial multiple of the first year subscription, because the value sits entirely in the configured policy, approval hierarchy and ledger mapping rather than in the software as shipped.
  • They diverge on capability: Lago covers Real-time usage metering, SAP Concur covers Expense capture.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Lago and SAP Concur actually diverge.

Attributes where Lago and SAP Concur differ
AttributeLagoSAP Concur
Starting priceFree$29/month
Pricing modelFreemium with optional paid tierssubscription
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWeb, Cloud, Self-hosted, On-premise, VPCWeb, Ios, Android
FoundedUnknown1993

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (Accounting).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Lago

  • Real-time usage metering
  • Multiple pricing models
  • Automated invoicing
  • Prepaid credits
  • Entitlements
  • Multi-currency support
  • Payment orchestration
  • Revenue analytics

Only in SAP Concur

  • Expense capture
  • Corporate card feeds
  • Policy engine
  • Approval routing
  • Travel booking
  • Travel agency integration
  • Duty of care
  • Invoice capture

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Lago

  • Building usage-based billing for high-volume APIs and infrastructurenot SAP Concur
  • Implementing metered billing for AI and tokenized servicesnot SAP Concur
  • Creating subscription and hybrid pricing modelsnot SAP Concur
  • Managing multi-currency billing for global companiesnot SAP Concur
  • Maintaining billing infrastructure without vendor lock-innot SAP Concur

SAP Concur

  • A multinational with thousands of travellers where an audit committee has asked for evidence that travel policy is actually enforcednot Lago
  • An organisation replacing spreadsheet expense claims and email approvals that cannot survive an external auditnot Lago
  • A finance team trying to eliminate duplicate claims by matching corporate card feeds against submitted receiptsnot Lago
  • A shared service centre processing high volumes of supplier invoices that needs capture and approval routing before postingnot Lago

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Lago

  • Free tier limited to 10,000 entities per month with 5M event cap
  • No specific pricing published for Pro annual plan or Scale plan
  • Self-hosted and on-premise deployments require engineering resources
  • Community support only on free tier
  • Scale plan requires annual contracts and sales engagement

SAP Concur

  • Implementation is done through SAP or a partner and commonly costs a substantial multiple of the first year subscription, because the value sits entirely in the configured policy, approval hierarchy and ledger mapping rather than in the software as shipped.
  • Pricing is driven by transaction volume, expense reports and invoices processed, rather than by seats, so a business with seasonal travel or a growth year sees the bill move in ways headcount based budgeting does not predict.
  • The configuration that makes it valuable is also what makes it rigid, and organisations frequently find that changing an approval chain or adding a cost centre dimension requires a partner change order rather than an administrator's afternoon.
  • Contracts are typically multi year with limited exit, so an organisation that concludes after twelve months that a lighter expense tool would have been enough is still paying for the heavier one for the remainder of the term.
  • The three modules are licensed separately and the strongest case for the product depends on having travel, expense and card feeds together, so buying expense alone gives you a costly receipt system without the control loop that justifies the price.

Pricing, plan by plan

Lago

Free
  • Build (Free)Free
    • 10,000 managed entities per month
    • 5M usage events per month
    • 1K events per second rate limit
  • Pro$399/month
    • 10,000 entities included (graduated pricing to 100K)
    • 25M usage events included (to 500M with graduated rates)
    • 10K events per second (upgradeable to 100K)
  • Scale$null/custom
    • Custom entity and event volumes
    • 50K events per second (upgradeable to 100K)
    • RBAC and SSO (SAML)

SAP Concur

$29/month
  • Professional$8/month
    • Expense reporting
    • Receipt capture
    • Approvals
  • Premium$12/month
    • Travel booking
    • Invoice management
    • Analytics

Which should you pick?

Choose Lago if

  • You need real-time usage metering.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Cloud, Self-hosted, On-premise, VPC.
  • You also want multiple pricing models.
Lago review

Choose SAP Concur if

  • You need expense capture.
  • You work on Web, Ios, Android.
  • You also want corporate card feeds.
SAP Concur review

Questions people ask

Is Lago or SAP Concur better?
Neither clearly leads. Lago starts at Free and SAP Concur at $29/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Lago or SAP Concur?
Lago has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Lago and $29/month for SAP Concur.
Does Lago or SAP Concur run on more platforms?
Lago runs on Web, Cloud, Self-hosted, On-premise, VPC. SAP Concur runs on Web, Ios, Android.
Can I use Lago for free?
Yes. Lago has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. SAP Concur starts at $29/month.
What is Lago best used for?
Lago is most often used for building usage-based billing for high-volume apis and infrastructure, implementing metered billing for ai and tokenized services, creating subscription and hybrid pricing models, managing multi-currency billing for global companies. Of those, building usage-based billing for high-volume apis and infrastructure and implementing metered billing for ai and tokenized services are not what SAP Concur is typically brought in for.
What can Lago do that SAP Concur cannot?
Lago covers Real-time usage metering, Multiple pricing models, Automated invoicing, Prepaid credits. SAP Concur covers Expense capture, Corporate card feeds, Policy engine, Approval routing.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Lago: Can I use Lago open-source for free?

Yes, Lago is open-source under the AGPLv3 license and can be self-hosted. The cloud-based Build plan is also free with limits of 10,000 entities and 5M events per month.

Source
SAP Concur: Do we need SAP ERP to use Concur?

No. It integrates with SAP systems particularly well but it is regularly deployed alongside Oracle, NetSuite, Workday and other ledgers. The integration work is a line item in the implementation either way.

Lago: What payment providers does Lago integrate with?

Lago integrates with Stripe and Adyen for payment processing. It is not a payment processor itself but orchestrates payments through these providers.

Source
SAP Concur: Is it worth it for a company of a hundred people?

Usually not. Below a few hundred travellers the implementation cost and the contract commitment are hard to justify against lighter expense tools. The case turns on policy enforcement and audit, not on receipt scanning.

Lago: Does Lago support multiple currencies?

Yes, Lago supports multi-currency billing with automatic currency conversion for global businesses.

Source
SAP Concur: How is it priced?

Broadly on the volume of expense reports and invoices processed, with the modules licensed separately. Because pricing is quoted rather than published, get the volume assumptions written into the contract and check what happens when you exceed them.

SAP Concur: Can it handle multiple countries and currencies?

Yes, that is one of its stronger areas, including per country tax treatment and VAT reclaim identification. Confirm coverage for your specific countries during the sales process rather than assuming global means every jurisdiction.

SAP Concur: How long does implementation take?

Plan in months, not weeks, for anything beyond a single entity with simple approvals. Multi entity rollouts with travel and invoice modules commonly run across a year in phases.

SAP Concur: What does the audit service actually do?

It has a team review a sample or all of your submitted claims against receipts and policy before approval, which some organisations use in place of internal reviewers. It is priced separately from the expense subscription.

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