Accounting · head to head
Pleo vs Zoho Expense
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: Pleo card delays and transaction limits impact usability, with limited regional acceptance in some areas; 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: Pleo covers Company 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 Pleo and Zoho Expense actually diverge.
| Attribute | Pleo | Zoho Expense |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | £9.5/month | Free |
| Pricing model | Unknown | Per user per month |
| Free tier | No | Yes |
| Platforms | iOS, Android, Web | Web, iOS, Android |
| Founded | 2015 | Unknown |
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 Pleo
- Company cards
- Receipt capture
- Expense categorization
- Spend limits
- Accounting sync
- Xero
- QuickBooks
- Sage
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.
Pleo
- Employee expensesnot Zoho Expense
- Spending autonomynot Zoho Expense
- Expense automationnot Zoho Expense
Zoho Expense
- A mid market company replacing spreadsheet expense claims without a five figure annual software budgetnot Pleo
- An existing Zoho One customer extending the suite so expense data lands in Zoho Books without integration worknot Pleo
- A business with staff travelling across several currencies that needs automatic exchange rate handling on claimsnot Pleo
- A services firm rebilling project expenses to clients and needing them coded to projects at the point of claimnot Pleo
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Pleo
- Card delays and transaction limits impact usability, with limited regional acceptance in some areas
- Receipt capture OCR inaccuracies and upload lag/glitches complicate expense categorization
- Limited expense categories and tags reduce flexibility for complex accounting structures
- Transaction approval workflows have minimal customization options
- Lacks in-built forecasting tools and reporting is basic, providing limited insights into trends
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
Pleo
£9.5/month- Starter$9.5/month
- Company cards
- Real-time expense tracking
- Automated reports
- Essential$39/month
- Reimbursements
- Mileage and per diem
- Vendor cards
- Advanced$89/month
- Cashback
- Budgets
- Multi-entity management
- Beyond$179/month
- Spending insights
- Sub-wallets
- Dedicated success manager
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 Pleo if
- You need company cards.
- You work on iOS, Android, Web.
- You also want receipt capture.
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 Pleo or Zoho Expense better?
- Neither clearly leads. Pleo starts at £9.5/month and Zoho Expense at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Pleo or Zoho Expense?
- Zoho Expense has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at £9.5/month for Pleo and Free for Zoho Expense.
- Does Pleo or Zoho Expense run on more platforms?
- Pleo runs on iOS, Android, Web. Zoho Expense runs on Web, iOS, Android.
- Can I use Zoho Expense for free?
- Yes. Zoho Expense has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Pleo starts at £9.5/month.
- What is Pleo best used for?
- Pleo is most often used for employee expenses, spending autonomy, expense automation. Of those, employee expenses and spending autonomy are not what Zoho Expense is typically brought in for.
- What can Pleo do that Zoho Expense cannot?
- Pleo covers Company cards, Receipt capture, Expense categorization, Spend limits. Zoho Expense covers Receipt OCR, Corporate card reconciliation, Per diem and mileage, Approval workflows.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
Pleo: What are Pleo's pricing tiers?
Pleo offers four pricing tiers: Starter (GBP 9.50/month), Essential (GBP 39.00/month), Advanced (GBP 89.00/month), and Beyond (GBP 179.00/month). Annual billing provides equivalent of two free months.
SourceZoho 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.
Pleo: Does Pleo have a free tier?
No, Pleo does not offer a free tier or permanent free plan. All plans require payment with a free trial available for evaluation.
SourceZoho 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.
Pleo: What integrations does Pleo support for accounting?
Pleo integrates directly with Xero and QuickBooks, plus Sage 200, Sage 50, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, Datev, and Visma e-conomic. Zapier integrations are also available.
SourceZoho 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.
Pleo: What platforms can access Pleo?
Pleo is accessible via iOS and Android mobile apps, and through a web interface. Physical and virtual cards are issued for spending.
SourcePleo: Does Pleo support multiple currencies?
Yes, Pleo supports multi-currency spending and transactions. The platform is particularly strong for European teams with local payment methods.
SourceRelated pages
More on Zoho Expense
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