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Accounting · head to head

Mercury vs Zoho Expense

Mercury logo

Mercury

Accounting

Banking for startups

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Zoho Expense logo

Zoho Expense

Accounting

Expense reporting and travel management at three dollars per user per month

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Mercury treasury access requires a $250,000 balance held with Mercury; Zoho Expense aI receipt scans are metered per user per month rather than unlimited, so heavy claimants exhaust the allowance and either scan manually or push the organisation to a higher tier.
  • They diverge on capability: Mercury covers Business checking, Zoho Expense covers Receipt OCR.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Mercury and Zoho Expense actually diverge.

Attributes where Mercury and Zoho Expense differ
AttributeMercuryZoho Expense
Pricing modelfreemiumPer user per month
Founded2019Unknown

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), platforms (Web, Ios, Android), 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 Mercury

  • Business checking
  • Savings accounts
  • Virtual cards
  • Team management
  • API access
  • QuickBooks
  • Xero
  • Stripe

Only in Zoho Expense

  • Receipt OCR
  • Corporate card reconciliation
  • Per diem and mileage
  • Approval workflows
  • Travel requests and booking
  • Policy engine
  • Multi currency and multi entity
  • Accounting integration

What people use each for

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

Mercury

  • Business banking and payments for startupsnot Zoho Expense
  • Managing treasury, invoicing and corporate cards from one accountnot Zoho Expense

Zoho Expense

  • A mid market company replacing spreadsheet expense claims without a five figure annual software budgetnot Mercury
  • An existing Zoho One customer extending the suite so expense data lands in Zoho Books without integration worknot Mercury
  • A business with staff travelling across several currencies that needs automatic exchange rate handling on claimsnot Mercury
  • A services firm rebilling project expenses to clients and needing them coded to projects at the point of claimnot Mercury

Where each one falls short

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

Mercury

  • Treasury access requires a $250,000 balance held with Mercury
  • Non USD international wires carry a 1% conversion fee
  • Choosing OUR wire coding, which covers intermediary bank charges, costs $15 per wire
  • ACH invoicing is $1 per transaction on Mercury Plus and only free on the $299 a month Pro plan
  • Advanced and recurring invoicing require Mercury Plus at $29.90 a month

Zoho Expense

  • AI receipt scans are metered per user per month rather than unlimited, so heavy claimants exhaust the allowance and either scan manually or push the organisation to a higher tier.
  • Zoho Expense does not issue cards, so policy enforcement is retrospective and out of policy spend is caught after the money has left rather than declined at the terminal.
  • Additional users who create expenses are billed at the monthly rate rather than the annual rate, which makes a large population of occasional claimants more expensive than the headline three dollars implies.
  • Support quality is the recurring complaint across Zoho products, and at three dollars a seat there is no commercial room for the account management that mid market finance teams expect at renewal or during an audit.
  • Deep configuration such as complex approval matrices and custom fields is workable but fiddly, and there is no meaningful professional services organisation to hand implementation to.

Pricing, plan by plan

Mercury

Free
  • Mercury (Free)Free
    • ACH payments
    • Domestic wires
    • Real-time payments
  • Mercury Plus$29.9/month
    • Invoice ACH debits
    • Recurring invoices
    • Invoicing API (500/month)
  • Mercury Pro$299/month
    • All Plus features
    • Relationship manager
    • Free ACH invoice debits

Zoho Expense

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Up to 3 users
    • Receipt capture with limited AI scans
    • Basic expense reports
  • Standard$3/month
    • Billed annually, minimum 3 users
    • Corporate card reconciliation
    • Approval workflows
  • Premium$5/month
    • Billed annually
    • Travel requests and self booking
    • Advanced approvals and policy rules

Which should you pick?

Choose Mercury if

  • You need business checking.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Ios, Android.
  • You also want savings accounts.
Mercury review

Choose Zoho Expense if

  • You need receipt ocr.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want corporate card reconciliation.
Zoho Expense review

Questions people ask

Is Mercury or Zoho Expense better?
Neither clearly leads. Mercury starts at Free and Zoho Expense at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Mercury or Zoho Expense?
Mercury starts at Free and Zoho Expense at Free.
Does Mercury or Zoho Expense run on more platforms?
Mercury runs on Web, Ios, Android. Zoho Expense runs on Web, iOS, Android.
Can I use Mercury for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Mercury best used for?
Mercury is most often used for business banking and payments for startups, managing treasury, invoicing and corporate cards from one account. Of those, business banking and payments for startups and managing treasury, invoicing and corporate cards from one account are not what Zoho Expense is typically brought in for.
What can Mercury do that Zoho Expense cannot?
Mercury covers Business checking, Savings accounts, Virtual cards, Team management. Zoho Expense covers Receipt OCR, Corporate card reconciliation, Per diem and mileage, Approval workflows.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Mercury: Is Mercury business banking free?

Mercury's base banking tier is free and includes ACH payments, domestic wire transfers, real-time payments, Bill Pay, and QuickBooks/Xero automations at no monthly cost.

Source
Zoho Expense: Is the free plan usable in production?

Only for three users. Beyond that you move to Standard, which has a three user minimum anyway.

Mercury: What does Mercury Plus add beyond the free tier?

Mercury Plus costs $29.90 per month and adds invoice ACH debits, recurring invoice capabilities, invoicing API with 500 calls per month, unlimited 1099 filings, and access to partner benefits.

Source
Zoho Expense: Does Zoho Expense issue corporate cards?

No. It reconciles card feeds but does not issue cards, so you need a card programme elsewhere if you want spend blocked before it happens.

Mercury: Does Mercury charge monthly account fees?

No, Mercury states there are no minimum account balance requirements, overdraft fees, required monthly fees, or account opening fees. The free tier includes essential business banking, with paid tiers available for additional features.

Source
Zoho Expense: What is the real cost for a hundred users?

Around three thousand six hundred dollars a year on Standard annual billing, plus higher monthly rates for any additional occasional claimants beyond your licensed count.

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