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Accounting · head to head

Modern Treasury vs Spendbase

Modern Treasury logo

Modern Treasury

Accounting

Payment operations and ledger infrastructure that sits between your product and your own bank accounts

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Spendbase logo

Spendbase

Accounting

SaaS and cloud spend management that charges a share of the savings it finds rather than a licence

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Spendbase has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Modern Treasury you must already have or be able to obtain your own bank accounts with the right connectivity, so early stage companies without a banking relationship cannot use it and are pushed towards a sponsor bank model instead.; 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: Modern Treasury covers Multi-rail payment initiation, Spendbase covers Subscription visibility.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Modern Treasury and Spendbase actually diverge.

Attributes where Modern Treasury and Spendbase differ
AttributeModern TreasurySpendbase
Starting priceOn requestFree
Pricing modelquoteFree card tier, plus a share of savings on the managed plan
Free tierNoYes

Identical on both: platforms (Web), 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 Modern Treasury

  • Multi-rail payment initiation
  • Bank connectivity
  • Ledgers
  • Automatic reconciliation
  • Approval workflows
  • Virtual accounts
  • Compliance tooling
  • Return and exception handling

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.

Modern Treasury

  • A marketplace paying out to thousands of sellers that needs a ledger its application can trust rather than reconciling a payments dashboard by handnot Spendbase
  • A lender originating and servicing loans that must track disbursements, repayments and returns against its own bank accountsnot Spendbase
  • A company that wants to move off a banking as a service provider and hold its own bank accounts after seeing sponsor banks offboard fintech programmesnot Spendbase
  • An insurer handling premium collection and claims payment across several rails with approval controls and an auditable trailnot Spendbase

Spendbase

  • A startup with no procurement function that wants renewal dates and subscription owners in one placenot Modern Treasury
  • A company with heavy Azure or cloud spend that can use pre-negotiated credit allocationsnot Modern Treasury
  • Issuing virtual cards per subscription so a forgotten trial cannot renew silentlynot Modern Treasury
  • A finance lead who wants software cost reduction without hiring anyone to do itnot Modern Treasury

Where each one falls short

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

Modern Treasury

  • You must already have or be able to obtain your own bank accounts with the right connectivity, so early stage companies without a banking relationship cannot use it and are pushed towards a sponsor bank model instead.
  • Pricing rests on an annual minimum commitment, and companies that miss their volume forecast pay the minimum regardless, which makes the headline per-transaction rate close to irrelevant in year one.
  • Supported bank connectivity is a finite list, so if your bank is not on it you are either waiting for an integration or changing banks, which is a far larger project than adopting the software.
  • It is software over banking, not banking, so it does not solve card issuing, deposit accounts or the licensing questions that a company embedding financial products still has to answer elsewhere.
  • The ledger is genuinely good but adopting it properly means making it the source of truth for balances in your product, which is a significant application change rather than a payments integration and is where implementations run long.

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

Modern Treasury

On request
  • Modern Treasury Platform$undefined/year
    • Platform access fee covering API, dashboard, infrastructure and support
    • Usage-based fees across ACH, wires, RTP, FedNow, push to card, cheques and stablecoins
    • A single annual minimum commitment that both platform and usage fees count towards

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 Modern Treasury if

  • You need multi-rail payment initiation.
  • You also want bank connectivity.
Modern Treasury review

Choose Spendbase if

  • You need subscription visibility.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You also want discount marketplace.
Spendbase review

Questions people ask

Is Modern Treasury or Spendbase better?
Neither clearly leads. Modern Treasury 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, Modern Treasury or Spendbase?
Spendbase has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Modern Treasury and Free for Spendbase.
Does Modern Treasury or Spendbase run on more platforms?
Both run on Web, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
Can I use Spendbase for free?
Yes. Spendbase has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Modern Treasury starts at On request.
What is Modern Treasury best used for?
Modern Treasury is most often used for a marketplace paying out to thousands of sellers that needs a ledger its application can trust rather than reconciling a payments dashboard by hand, a lender originating and servicing loans that must track disbursements, repayments and returns against its own bank accounts, a company that wants to move off a banking as a service provider and hold its own bank accounts after seeing sponsor banks offboard fintech programmes, an insurer handling premium collection and claims payment across several rails with approval controls and an auditable trail. Of those, a marketplace paying out to thousands of sellers that needs a ledger its application can trust rather than reconciling a payments dashboard by hand and a lender originating and servicing loans that must track disbursements, repayments and returns against its own bank accounts are not what Spendbase is typically brought in for.
What can Modern Treasury do that Spendbase cannot?
Modern Treasury covers Multi-rail payment initiation, Bank connectivity, Ledgers, Automatic reconciliation. Spendbase covers Subscription visibility, Discount marketplace, Virtual cards, Cashback.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Modern Treasury: Is Modern Treasury a bank or a banking as a service provider?

Neither. You hold your own bank accounts and it is software over them. That avoids sponsor bank concentration risk but means you need the bank relationship yourself.

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.

Modern Treasury: What does it cost?

Not published. A platform access fee plus usage fees across rails, on an annual term with a single minimum commitment. Negotiate the minimum, not the per-transaction rate.

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.

Modern Treasury: Which rails are supported?

ACH, wires, RTP, FedNow, push to card, cheques and stablecoin payments, subject to what your bank supports.

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.

Modern Treasury: Do we still need our own compliance programme?

Yes. KYB, KYC and transaction monitoring are included in the platform, but you are the one holding the accounts and the regulatory obligation sits with you and your bank.

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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