Accounting · head to head
Medius vs Spendbase
Medius
Accounting
Accounts payable automation and supplier payments for mid-market finance teams, Marlin Equity owned
- From
- On request
- Rated
- -
Spendbase
Accounting
SaaS and cloud spend management that charges a share of the savings it finds rather than a licence
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Only Spendbase has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
- Each has a real cost: Medius the sourcing, contract and procurement modules are considerably less developed than the AP core, so buying Medius as a full source-to-pay suite means accepting weak upstream tooling.; Spendbase charging a share of savings gives the vendor an interest in defining savings generously, and the customer cannot verify a counterfactual price it never saw.
- They diverge on capability: Medius covers Invoice capture and coding, Spendbase covers Subscription visibility.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Medius and Spendbase actually diverge.
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 Medius
- Invoice capture and coding
- Matching and exception handling
- Fraud and anomaly detection
- Supplier payments
- Approval workflow
- ERP integration
Only in Spendbase
- Subscription visibility
- Discount marketplace
- Virtual cards
- Cashback
- Renewal management
- Savings-share billing
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Medius
- A mid-market finance team where most spend arrives as an invoice with no purchase order to match againstnot Spendbase
- A group with several legal entities on different ERPs that wants one AP process across all of themnot Spendbase
- Reducing invoice fraud exposure with automated detection of supplier bank detail changesnot Spendbase
- Replacing a scanning bureau and a shared AP inbox with automated capture and exception-based reviewnot Spendbase
Spendbase
- A startup with no procurement function that wants renewal dates and subscription owners in one placenot Medius
- A company with heavy Azure or cloud spend that can use pre-negotiated credit allocationsnot Medius
- Issuing virtual cards per subscription so a forgotten trial cannot renew silentlynot Medius
- A finance lead who wants software cost reduction without hiring anyone to do itnot Medius
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Medius
- The sourcing, contract and procurement modules are considerably less developed than the AP core, so buying Medius as a full source-to-pay suite means accepting weak upstream tooling.
- Pricing is quote-only and driven by invoice volume, so a business with many low-value invoices pays disproportionately relative to the spend being controlled.
- Payments are billed on transaction volume separately from the AP subscription, which is easy to omit from a cost comparison against a licence-only AP tool.
- Private equity ownership since 2017 has produced an acquisition-driven product line, so payments and adjacent capability come from bought-in technology rather than the original platform.
- ERP integration depth varies sharply by system, and organisations on less common or heavily customised ERPs face integration work that lengthens the implementation.
Spendbase
- Charging a share of savings gives the vendor an interest in defining savings generously, and the customer cannot verify a counterfactual price it never saw.
- The savings share is reported at around 25 percent but is not published on the pricing page, so the actual commercial terms only appear in a contract.
- Spendbase is both a banking provider and your software negotiator, so a company using both concentrates operating cash and vendor relationships in one small, young company.
- Banking is delivered through partners rather than held directly, meaning deposit protection and service continuity depend on those partners rather than on Spendbase.
- It is scoped for startups and small companies, so organisations needing approval workflows, purchase orders or ERP integration will find it thin against a real procurement platform.
Pricing, plan by plan
Medius
On request- Medius AP Automation$undefined/year
- Two packaged AP automation tiers
- Priced by invoice volume and entity count
- Sourcing, contracts and procurement modules sold separately
Spendbase
Free- Digital bankingFree
- No monthly fee per user
- Up to 100 virtual cards
- EUR and GBP account details
- Spend management$undefined/year
- Everything in the free tier
- Reported share of roughly 25 percent of savings achieved
- 200 percent return guarantee against a deposit
Which should you pick?
Choose Medius if
- You need invoice capture and coding.
- You work on Web, iOS, Android.
- You also want matching and exception handling.
Choose Spendbase if
- You need subscription visibility.
- You want to start without paying.
- You also want discount marketplace.
Questions people ask
- Is Medius or Spendbase better?
- Neither clearly leads. Medius starts at On request and Spendbase at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Medius or Spendbase?
- Spendbase has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Medius and Free for Spendbase.
- Does Medius or Spendbase run on more platforms?
- Medius runs on Web, iOS, Android. Spendbase runs on Web.
- Can I use Spendbase for free?
- Yes. Spendbase has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Medius starts at On request.
- What is Medius best used for?
- Medius is most often used for a mid-market finance team where most spend arrives as an invoice with no purchase order to match against, a group with several legal entities on different erps that wants one ap process across all of them, reducing invoice fraud exposure with automated detection of supplier bank detail changes, replacing a scanning bureau and a shared ap inbox with automated capture and exception-based review. Of those, a mid-market finance team where most spend arrives as an invoice with no purchase order to match against and a group with several legal entities on different erps that wants one ap process across all of them are not what Spendbase is typically brought in for.
- What can Medius do that Spendbase cannot?
- Medius covers Invoice capture and coding, Matching and exception handling, Fraud and anomaly detection, Supplier payments. Spendbase covers Subscription visibility, Discount marketplace, Virtual cards, Cashback.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
Medius: Is Medius a procurement suite or an AP tool?
Primarily an AP automation platform with procurement modules attached. If sourcing is your main requirement, look elsewhere.
Spendbase: Is Spendbase free?
The card and banking tier is genuinely free with no per-user fee. The spend management service is paid from a share of the savings it finds, reported at around 25 percent.
Medius: Who owns Medius?
Marlin Equity Partners, which acquired it in 2017 and has funded several bolt-on acquisitions since.
Spendbase: How is a saving calculated?
The methodology is not published. Agree the baseline, the measurement period and what counts as a saving in writing before signing.
Medius: How is it priced?
By quote, driven by invoice volume and entity count, with payments billed separately on transaction volume.
Spendbase: Does Spendbase hold my money?
Banking is provided through regulated partners including Moorwand in the UK and EEA and Sutton Bank in the US, with Mastercard issuing the cards.
Medius: Does it replace our ERP?
No. It sits alongside the ERP and posts approved invoices into it.
Spendbase: Is it suitable for an enterprise?
No. There are no purchase orders, approval hierarchies or ERP integration; it is built for startups.
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