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If you’ve read our Expensify review, you know Expensify is a solid expense management application that offers scalability and a variety of plans, making it suitable for the freelancer and growing business alike.
But if Expensify doesn’t provide exactly what you’re looking for, you’ll find awesome alternatives on the market today. One or more will have what you’re looking for in an expense management application.
The best way to determine a superior Expensify alternative for your business is to identify the features important to you. Are you looking to automate the entire expense reporting process? Do you want to eliminate expense reports altogether? Are you looking for a better way to manage receipts? Decide which features are the most important and start your search there.
While checking out Expensify alternatives, keep an eye out for these important features.
Are you looking for an application that can automatically create an expense report? Or are you looking beyond expense reporting? Because you do have a choice. While the majority of applications include easy expense report creation, some applications on the market do away with the expense report altogether.
It’s up to you to decide which approach is better suited for your business and then look for an application that offers what you’re looking for.
To make your life easier, look for OCR technology in any expense management application you purchase. Why? Because OCR technology reads your receipts, takes that information, and plugs it into a complete transaction that can be submitted on an expense report. Ditch the data entry, and let OCR technology do the work for you.
While all expense management applications offer a mobile app, they’re not all created equal. Do you want a mobile app to snap a photo of a receipt, or do you want it to do everything the software does as well? There are major differences, so look for the app and software that can do what you’re looking for.
If Expensify leaves you uninspired, check out our top 5 Expensify competitors to find the application that’s right for you.
Top rated for a reason, Certify offers all the features small businesses could ask for in an expense management application. Easy to implement, easy to use, and affordably priced, Certify can easily find a home with a freelancer, small business owner, or growing business. And if you travel, consider Certify Travel to manage everything from airfare to hotel bookings.
Some of Certify’s standout features include:
Certify also supports multiple languages and multiple currencies and tracks mileage, all while guaranteeing 99% uptime.
Certify offers three expense management plans:
Certify Now! is designed for small businesses with 1-25 employees, with pricing a very reasonable $8/month, per user. The Professional plan serves businesses with 25-200 employees, while the Enterprise plan serves businesses with more than 200 employees.
Professional plan pricing is based on a monthly service fee while the Enterprise plan is an annual fixed price. If you’re interested in either plan, you can request a custom quote directly from Certify.
Both you and your employees can benefit from Certify’s automatic expense report creation process, and I would guess no one will miss matching receipts to expenses, a task that Certify does with ease.
Read The Ascent’s full Certify review
If you need to manage expenses for multiple employees, Abacus may be the way to go. Abacus expedites the entire expense management process, eliminating expense reports for an immediate expense submission process, where employees can immediately submit an expense, which is then approved and reimbursement processed immediately. Other notable features in Abacus include:
Abacus offers a mobile app, but the app’s features are limited to snapping and submitting receipt images.
Abacus’s pricing starts at $9/month, per user, for the Starter plan, which has a two-user minimum. The Professional plan was priced at $12/month, per user, but has now gone to custom pricing. In addition to the features found in the Starter plan, the Professional plan includes accrual accounting sync, credit card integration, and a complete implementation package.
But because the Professional plan is billed annually, you’ll need to pay upfront based on the estimated number of plan users you expect for the year. Abacus also offers an Enterprise plan designed for larger organizations that offers integration with Salesforce and complete API access.
With Abacus, you can eliminate the entire expense report process while better managing your business expenses and expense categories.
Read The Ascent’s full Abacus review
A good choice for any size business looking for an expense management application, ExpensePoint is an even better choice for smaller businesses with limited budgets. Small business owners, with limited staff, will also appreciate the free product setup option offered by ExpensePoint, with some free training thrown in as well.
While Abacus eliminates the expense report process, ExpensePoint has focused on expense report creation, giving you the ability to create multiple reports, add additional lines to any report, and even comment on line item submissions. Other features in ExpensePoint include:
Good workflow capability makes it easy to route reports to the correct approvers and offers auto-sync technology, making it easy to enter data, even when offline.
ExpensePoint’s pricing is simple and straightforward, with no plans to choose from, no additional modules to subscribe to, and no hidden costs. With pricing coming in at $7.50/month, per user, ExpensePoint is an attractive option for smaller businesses operating on a tight budget.
One of the major benefits of using ExpensePoint is that ExpensePoint support personnel handle the initial product setup, so you can be up and running quickly. Another benefit is the simple pricing structure that eliminates the need to purchase more expensive plans to have access to product features.
Read The Ascent’s full ExpensePoint review
If you’re looking for an expense management application that contains every feature you want and is easy to use, look no further than Zoho Expense. Better suited for small to mid-size businesses, including freelancers and sole proprietors, Zoho Expense streamlines the entire expense management process. It provides the same features and functions on all devices. What makes Zoho Expense stand out?
Zoho Expense also includes an online reimbursement option that allows you to process reimbursements via ACH immediately.
Zoho Expense is affordably priced, and with a free plan, it makes it easy for freelancers and sole proprietors to use Zoho Expense, with the option to move to a more robust plan if necessary.
One of Zoho Expense’s biggest benefits is affordability, with even the top plan affordable for small businesses. Another benefit is its ease of use, with little time needed for setup or training.
Read The Ascent’s full Zoho Expense review
Rydoo, previously known as Xpenditure, results from a merger with two other expense management applications, iAlbatros and Sodexo. With features similar to those in competing applications, Rydoo stands out for a couple of reasons: the elimination of the expense report process, and its unique ability to serve as a global expense management solution.
While good for small to mid-size businesses, Rydoo has a 5-user minimum for all its plans, so freelancers and sole proprietors would be better served with another application. Rydoo also includes other features that small business owners may appreciate.
Rydoo also includes multicurrency and multi-language capability, making it a great fit if you do business globally.
Rydoo offers three competitively priced plans, with the Starter plan designed for up to 50 active users, running $7/month, per user, when billed annually. The biggest drawback to the starter plan is that a minimum of five active users is required, putting this product out of reach for very small businesses, freelancers, and sole proprietors.
Next up is the Growth plan, recommended for companies with more than 50 active users. It comes in at $9/month, per user, billed annually, or $11/month, per user, when billed monthly. Rydoo also offers an Enterprise plan for very large businesses with more than 500 active users, with pricing available upon request.
One of the biggest benefits of using Rydoo is its ability to adapt to geographic locations, making it tremendously valuable for businesses that deal with multiple currencies regularly.
Read The Ascent’s full Rydoo review
Only you can decide which of these expense management and reporting applications would work best for your business. The number of employees who will be using the application, and what you want it to do (produce expense reports, eliminate expense reports, etc.) will play a big role in your decision.
Every application offers a free demo for you to test drive before deciding, so take a few minutes, check out our complete reviews, and set up your trial accounts today.
We're firm believers in the Golden Rule, which is why editorial opinions are ours alone and have not been previously reviewed, approved, or endorsed by included advertisers. The Ascent, a Motley Fool service, does not cover all offers on the market. The Ascent has a dedicated team of editors and analysts focused on personal finance, and they follow the same set of publishing standards and editorial integrity while maintaining professional separation from the analysts and editors on other Motley Fool brands.