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Payroll · head to head

Payhawk vs Zip

Payhawk logo

Payhawk

Payroll

Modular spend management combining corporate cards, accounts payable, procurement and travel

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Zip logo

Zip

ERP

Procurement intake and orchestration that sits on top of the systems you already run

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Payhawk buying the full stack of Travel, Accounts Payable, Cards and Procurement separately costs more than a single suite price, since each module carries its own flat monthly fee.; Zip it is a layer on top of systems you already pay for, so the business case rests on adoption and cycle time rather than replacing a licence, and that is harder to defend to a finance director cutting software spend.
  • They diverge on capability: Payhawk covers Corporate cards, Zip covers Unified intake.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Payhawk and Zip actually diverge.

Attributes where Payhawk and Zip differ
AttributePayhawkZip
Pricing modelPer module per monthquote
PlatformsWeb, iOS, AndroidWeb, iOS
CategoryPayrollERP

Identical on both: starting price (On request), free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated).

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 Payhawk

  • Corporate cards
  • Accounts payable automation
  • Procurement module
  • Travel booking
  • ERP integrations
  • Multi-entity consolidation

Only in Zip

  • Unified intake
  • Approval orchestration
  • Vendor onboarding
  • Contract repository
  • ERP write-back
  • Renewal management
  • Spend visibility
  • AI request handling

What people use each for

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

Payhawk

  • A multi-entity European business wanting one system for cards, expenses and payables across currenciesnot Zip
  • A finance team that wants to price spend management before a sales call rather than negotiating blindnot Zip
  • A company wanting only accounts payable automation without paying for card issuing it does not neednot Zip
  • A mid-market business standardising ERP-integrated expense reporting ahead of a fundraise or auditnot Zip

Zip

  • A company that owns a source-to-pay suite nobody uses because employees cannot navigate itnot Payhawk
  • An organisation where every software purchase needs security, legal, privacy and finance sign-off and currently does it in email threadsnot Payhawk
  • A finance team that keeps discovering contracts that auto-renewed because nobody owned the renewal datenot Payhawk
  • A business needing an auditable record of who approved a third-party engagement and on what evidencenot Payhawk

Where each one falls short

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

Payhawk

  • Buying the full stack of Travel, Accounts Payable, Cards and Procurement separately costs more than a single suite price, since each module carries its own flat monthly fee.
  • The unlimited-seats model is a poor fit for a company issuing cards to only a handful of employees, since the fixed module price does not scale down.
  • Card issuing depends on Payhawk's own banking partners rather than a company's existing bank, so switching away later means reissuing cards and re-training staff on a new tool.
  • Procurement is a separate paid module rather than a built-in feature, so a company evaluating "Payhawk" from marketing material may be looking at capability it has not actually bought.
  • International card acceptance and FX handling vary by market, and companies with material spend outside Europe report gaps compared to global card issuers.

Zip

  • It is a layer on top of systems you already pay for, so the business case rests on adoption and cycle time rather than replacing a licence, and that is harder to defend to a finance director cutting software spend.
  • Value depends entirely on integration depth into your specific ERP and ticketing tools, and a shallow connector reduces it to a workflow tool that someone rekeys out of.
  • Pricing is not published and is structured around company size and integration scope, so buyers cannot benchmark without peer references.
  • If procurement policy itself is unclear, Zip encodes the confusion: the tool routes requests according to rules someone must first write, and organisations without that clarity see slow implementations.
  • It does not do sourcing, auctions or spend analysis, so organisations expecting a full procurement capability will still need a suite or specialist tools alongside it.

Pricing, plan by plan

Payhawk

On request
  • Travel$299/month
    • Integrated travel booking
    • Unlimited employee seats
  • Accounts Payable$349/month
    • Invoice capture and approval routing
    • Unlimited document processing
  • Cards and Expenses$449/month
    • Unlimited card transactions
    • Multi-entity expense management
  • Procurement$499/month
    • Purchase request and approval workflow
    • Vendor management

Zip

On request
  • Zip$undefined/year
    • Intake and approval orchestration
    • Vendor onboarding and diligence workflows
    • Integrations with ERP, contract and ticketing systems

Which should you pick?

Choose Payhawk if

  • You need corporate cards.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want accounts payable automation.
Payhawk review

Choose Zip if

  • You need unified intake.
  • You work on Web, iOS.
  • You also want approval orchestration.
Zip review

Questions people ask

Is Payhawk or Zip better?
Neither clearly leads. Payhawk starts at On request and Zip at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Payhawk or Zip?
Payhawk starts at On request and Zip at On request.
Does Payhawk or Zip run on more platforms?
Payhawk runs on Web, iOS, Android. Zip runs on Web, iOS.
What is Payhawk best used for?
Payhawk is most often used for a multi-entity european business wanting one system for cards, expenses and payables across currencies, a finance team that wants to price spend management before a sales call rather than negotiating blind, a company wanting only accounts payable automation without paying for card issuing it does not need, a mid-market business standardising erp-integrated expense reporting ahead of a fundraise or audit. Of those, a multi-entity european business wanting one system for cards, expenses and payables across currencies and a finance team that wants to price spend management before a sales call rather than negotiating blind are not what Zip is typically brought in for.
What can Payhawk do that Zip cannot?
Payhawk covers Corporate cards, Accounts payable automation, Procurement module, Travel booking. Zip covers Unified intake, Approval orchestration, Vendor onboarding, Contract repository.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Payhawk: Is Payhawk pricing really public?

Yes, module pricing (Travel, Accounts Payable, Cards and Expenses, Procurement) is published starting at 299 to 499 dollars a month per module, or bundled as Payhawk Complete.

Zip: Is this the buy now pay later company?

No. This is Zip at ziphq.com, a procurement orchestration platform, unrelated to the payments company of the same name.

Payhawk: Does it charge per seat?

No, each module includes unlimited employee seats; the fixed monthly fee does not increase with headcount.

Zip: Does it replace Coupa or Ariba?

No, and that is the point. It sits in front of them, providing the intake and approval experience employees actually use, and writes back into the suite.

Payhawk: Can we buy just one module?

Yes, modules are sold separately, so a company can buy Accounts Payable without Cards or Procurement.

Zip: What does it cost?

Not published. Quoted by company size, modules and the integrations you need. Get peer benchmarks before negotiating.

Zip: What is the prerequisite for success?

A written procurement policy. Zip automates the routing rules you give it; if nobody can say who approves what, implementation stalls.

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