3 Competitors and Alternatives To Spendesk
With a need to make more informed decisions, control spend, and simplify employee expenses, businesses are turning to spend management software like Spendesk. But if you’re considering Spendesk, don’t overlook these top Spendesk alternatives.
- Payhawk
- Pleo
- Tipalti
- How does Spendesk compare to Tipalti?
- Which solution is best for your business?
- Conclusion
Payhawk
Payhawk is primarily an expense management platform that combines employee expenses with credit cards, spend management, and some accounts payable functionality.
Top Features
- Expense management software with expense reports, expense tracking, and employee reimbursement
- Virtual and physical debit and credit cards (powered by Visa), earn 3% cashback
- Set spend limits, issue team cards, control by spending category, and utilize Apple and Google Pay for card transactions
- ERP integrations include NetSuite, Datev, SAP, Microsoft Dynamics, and Exact
Serviceable Market
Payhawk is similar to competitors like Divvy, Fyle, or Soldo. Scale-up businesses of 60+ employees, with business expenses and card spend at the center of their financial management requirements.
Strengths
- Extensive physical and virtual card capabilities for expenses, e-commerce, and more
- Unlimited number of cards (fair usage policy applies) with business account
- Strong expense management functionality, integrated with card offering
Pricing
- Card solution starts at approximately $250 per month
- Additional charges for increased functionality, including invoice scanning, bookkeeping, and multi-entity management
Pleo
Pleo is an accounting software platform that categorizes itself as a “business spend solution” (not a CRM). Beginning life as a cards and expense management product, Pleo now includes some invoice management capabilities.
Top Features
- Physical and virtual expense cards (powered by Mastercard), with individual spend limits and up to 1% cashback
- Employee expense mobile app streamlines receipt capture and provides real-time spend tracking and notifications
- Reimbursement solution to streamline out-of-pocket employee expenses
- Scan and approve supplier invoices, with the option to pay via SEPA transfer
Serviceable Market
Unlike larger competitors such as SAP Concur, Airbase, or Expensify, Pleo is best suited for startups and small businesses looking to move away from manual expense reporting. Manual CSV integrations and limited payment methods will be restrictive for fast-scaling, complex businesses.
Strengths
- Intuitive SaaS mobile-app for expenses and reimbursements encourages employee adoption
- Tiered pricing model offers low barrier for small, low-complexity businesses looking to automate
Pricing
- Starter Package – Free (entrepreneurs and micro companies)
- Essential Package – $50 per month – including 3 users, with up to an additional $14.50 per month per user for additional users.
- Advanced Package – $100 per month – includes phone support, open API access, and 1% cashback on card spend. Also includes 3 users, with up to an additional $17 per month per user for additional users.
Tipalti
With a solution spanning procurement, accounts payable, global payments, and employee expenses, Tipalti offers a finance automation solution to bring all business spend under control from a single system.
Top Features
- Intuitive employee expenses mobile app with receipt scanning
- Extensive payout solution covers invoice payments, mass payouts, and employee reimbursements, via 12 payment methods and 120+ currencies
- Header and line level invoice scanning, with 2 and 3-way PO matching, machine learning, and managed services
- Flexible multi-entity structures enable custom workflows and branding for unlimited business units
- Real-time API integrations with NetSuite, Xero, and many other accounting and ERP systems, plus REST API for custom integrations
Serviceable Market
A leader in the mid-market, Tipalti primarily serves the UK, EU, US, and is a licensed e-money provider in all 3 regions.
Particularly well suited for fast-growing businesses seeking efficiencies as they scale, and those with global entities, or complex international payment needs.
Strengths
- An end-to-end finance automation tool, bringing all business spend under control from a single system
- Extensive multi-entity and global functionality
- A licensed E-Money provider, Tipalti automates payment and reimbursement, eliminating manual bank runs
- Manage foreign exchange volatility with FX hedging, enabling you to lock in FX rates for more predictable insight into cash flow
Pricing
- Express subscription pricing starts at $129 per month for the platform fee
- Advanced features such as multiple entities, additional currencies, or international tax IDs are priced on a bespoke basis and can be added at any time
Spendesk vs Tipalti
What Does Tipalti Do?
An end-to-end finance automation solution, Tipalti addresses everything from procurement and PO management to supplier onboarding, invoice processing, employee expenses, and global payments.
Tipalti also offers tax and regulatory compliance, self-billing, supplier payment status communications, fraud detection, payment reconciliation, and reporting capabilities.
Tipalti’s advanced global capabilities include multi-entity AP, multi-FX (intercompany bank transfers), and FX-hedging.
The Tipalti platform integrates with all major ERPs and accounting systems (including NetSuite, Xero, Sage, and Quickbooks). Syncing with subsidiary GLs and ensuring payables information is up to date and accelerating financial close by more than 25%.
What Does Spendesk Do?
Spendesk is a company card and expense management solution for small to medium-sized businesses.
Spendesk also has a fairly new offering for PO and invoice management. However, a lack of supplier onboarding and limited payment capabilities fall short of the full procure-to-pay process.
Features of Spendesk vs Tipalti
*Limited functionality | ||
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Employee Expenses |
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Invoice Management |
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Supplier Management |
| None – no supplier management capabilities |
Multi-Entity Management |
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Purchase Order Management |
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Spendesk vs Tipalti: Which solution is best for your business?
When to choose Tipalti?
When to choose Spendesk?
More From Tipalti Customers
The best practice is to have a purchase order first–the requisition needs to be approved before we receive the invoice. After we have a valid PO, we wait for the supplier to send us the invoice, and then we can match it to the PO and then make the payment. Tipalti has automated the entire process for us.
Henry Zhuang
Accounting Manager, Jumio
Before Tipalti, the process was painful—it took up to 15 days to close the books. Now, processes that used to take our team one to two weeks are being completed in one to two days.
Toni Tornell
Controller, United Language Group
Summing it Up
All of the solutions listed in this article can offer huge efficiencies and greater control for businesses currently relying on immature, or manual financial processes.
However, it’s clear that these solutions vary greatly in what they can offer and where their strengths lie. Therefore the first step towards implementing a spend management solution must be to identify the specific requirements for your business and where the current pain points lie for all stakeholders, to find the best solution for your needs. Ready to explore more expense management solutions? Get started with Tipalti today!