Payroll · head to head
Payhawk vs Zoho Expense
Payhawk
Payroll
Modular spend management combining corporate cards, accounts payable, procurement and travel
- From
- On request
- Rated
- -
Zoho Expense
Accounting
Expense reporting and travel management at three dollars per user per month
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Only Zoho Expense has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
- 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.; 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: Payhawk covers Corporate cards, Zoho Expense covers Receipt OCR.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Payhawk and Zoho Expense actually diverge.
| Attribute | Payhawk | Zoho Expense |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | On request | Free |
| Pricing model | Per module per month | Per user per month |
| Free tier | No | Yes |
| Category | Payroll | Accounting |
Identical on both: platforms (Web, iOS, Android), 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 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.
Payhawk
- A multi-entity European business wanting one system for cards, expenses and payables across currenciesnot Zoho Expense
- A finance team that wants to price spend management before a sales call rather than negotiating blindnot Zoho Expense
- A company wanting only accounts payable automation without paying for card issuing it does not neednot Zoho Expense
- A mid-market business standardising ERP-integrated expense reporting ahead of a fundraise or auditnot Zoho Expense
Zoho Expense
- A mid market company replacing spreadsheet expense claims without a five figure annual software budgetnot Payhawk
- An existing Zoho One customer extending the suite so expense data lands in Zoho Books without integration worknot Payhawk
- A business with staff travelling across several currencies that needs automatic exchange rate handling on claimsnot Payhawk
- A services firm rebilling project expenses to clients and needing them coded to projects at the point of claimnot 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.
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
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
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 Payhawk if
- You need corporate cards.
- You work on Web, iOS, Android.
- You also want accounts payable automation.
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.
Questions people ask
- Is Payhawk or Zoho Expense better?
- Neither clearly leads. Payhawk starts at On request and Zoho Expense at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Payhawk or Zoho Expense?
- Zoho Expense has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Payhawk and Free for Zoho Expense.
- Does Payhawk or Zoho Expense run on more platforms?
- Both run on Web, iOS, Android, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
- Can I use Zoho Expense for free?
- Yes. Zoho Expense has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Payhawk starts at On request.
- 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 Zoho Expense is typically brought in for.
- What can Payhawk do that Zoho Expense cannot?
- Payhawk covers Corporate cards, Accounts payable automation, Procurement module, Travel booking. Zoho Expense covers Receipt OCR, Corporate card reconciliation, Per diem and mileage, Approval workflows.
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.
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.
Payhawk: Does it charge per seat?
No, each module includes unlimited employee seats; the fixed monthly fee does not increase with headcount.
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.
Payhawk: Can we buy just one module?
Yes, modules are sold separately, so a company can buy Accounts Payable without Cards or Procurement.
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.
Related pages
More on Zoho Expense
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