Four platforms, three completely different ways of charging you. Expensify bills per member. Ramp and Brex give the software away and earn when you spend on their cards. Navan bundles travel booking with expenses and only starts charging after your fifth expensing user. Comparing headline prices — $0 vs $5 vs $15 — without asking who counts as a user is how teams end up surprised by the invoice. This guide does that arithmetic in the open.
Collect plan, per unique member. Control starts at $9 per active member on an annual plan — but only when at least half of settled US spend runs through the Expensify Card (see detail section).
Free plan is $0 per user with unlimited cards. Plus is $15/user/mo (20% off on annual billing) plus a platform fee Ramp does not publish.
Essentials is $0 per user (with entity limits). Premium is $12/user/mo. Enterprise and local-currency card programs are custom-quoted.
Travel booking is free for companies up to 300 employees. Expense is free for the first 5 monthly expensing users, then $15/user/mo. Formerly TripActions.
| Expensify | Ramp | Brex | Navan | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Best for | Teams whose pain is receipts and paying people back | US companies ready to move spend onto one card platform | Funded startups and growing companies with international spend | Companies where business travel drives most expenses |
| Pricing model | Per-member subscription. The card is optional | Free core funded by card spend; paid Plus tier per user | Free Essentials funded by card spend; paid Premium tier per user | Free travel tier; expense billed per monthly expensing user after the first 5 |
| Published starting price | Collect $5 per unique member/mo | Free $0 per user | Essentials $0 per user | Expense $0 for first 5 monthly expensing users |
| Main paid tier | Control from $9 per active member/mo (annual, conditions apply — $18 if the card-spend condition is missed, $36 with no commitment) | Plus $15/user/mo + platform fee (fee amount not published); 20% off annual | Premium $12/user/mo | Expense $15/user/mo for each expensing user beyond the first 5 |
| Who counts as a "user" | Collect: each unique member in the workspace. Control: each active member | Plus bills per eligible active user (guests and some roles excluded, per published billing policy summaries) | Per user on the plan | Anyone who submits a transaction into Navan Expense in that month |
| Do you have to use their card? | No — card is optional, though Control's lowest price requires most US spend to run through it | The model assumes it: the free software is funded by spend on Ramp cards | The model assumes it: Essentials is built around Brex cards | No — existing cards can be connected, but the full flow is booking + Navan cards |
| Accounting integrations (published) | QuickBooks Online (Collect and up), QuickBooks Desktop (Control), Xero, NetSuite, Sage Intacct | Free: QuickBooks Online, Xero. Plus adds NetSuite, Sage Intacct and other ERPs | QuickBooks, Xero, NetSuite, Sage Intacct (depth varies by tier) | ERP / accounting integrations plus 30+ HRIS integrations |
| Published eligibility basics | Software plans are sold per member; the optional card has its own terms | US-registered corporation, LLC or LP (nonprofits welcome), EIN, US address, at least $25,000 in a linked US business bank account. Sole proprietors are not eligible | US-registered C-corp, S-corp, LLC or LLP, EIN, US operations and address. Sole proprietors and unincorporated businesses are not eligible; funded startups and higher-revenue companies are the stated target | Navan Business covers companies up to 300 employees on the free travel tier; larger organizations are quoted as Enterprise |
| Trade-off to know | The $9 Control headline can become $18 or $36 depending on card usage and commitment | Plus's platform fee is not published — your real total needs a quote | Many small or bootstrapped businesses simply won't meet the published eligibility profile | At $15 per expensing user, a travel-light team pays travel-platform prices for plain expenses |
Prices are USD, before tax, as published by the vendors and checked in November 2026. "Free" card-first platforms are not free to run — they earn a share of the card network fees merchants pay (interchange) when your team spends on their cards, which is why the software can be $0 and why the model works best when most company spend moves onto that card. Plans, thresholds and fees change — always confirm the current price, eligibility and terms on the vendor's site before applying. Readers outside the US: Ramp and Brex publish US-entity requirements for their cards, so a company incorporated only in Japan (or another non-US country) should treat these as options for a US entity, and confirm directly what, if anything, is offered in its own country.
Per-user prices mislead because each vendor counts users differently. The examples below use only the published prices above. They exclude Ramp Plus's unpublished platform fee, per-payment fees, taxes and any negotiated discounts — so treat Ramp Plus figures as a floor, not a total.
| Scenario | Expensify Collect | Expensify Control | Ramp Plus (annual) | Brex Premium | Navan Expense |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 employees, 6 expense each month | $5 × 10 members = $600/yr | $9 × 6 = $648/yr if the card condition is met; $18 × 6 = $1,296/yr if not | $12 × 10 = $1,440/yr + platform fee | $12 × 10 = $1,440/yr | $15 × (6 − 5) = $180/yr |
| 25 employees, 18 expense each month | $5 × 25 = $1,500/yr | $9 × 18 = $1,944/yr; $18 × 18 = $3,888/yr if the condition is missed | $12 × 25 = $3,600/yr + platform fee | $12 × 25 = $3,600/yr | $15 × (18 − 5) = $2,340/yr |
| 50 employees, 35 expense each month | $5 × 50 = $3,000/yr | $9 × 35 = $3,780/yr; $18 × 35 = $7,560/yr if the condition is missed | $12 × 50 = $7,200/yr + platform fee | $12 × 50 = $7,200/yr | $15 × (35 − 5) = $6,300/yr |
Three things fall out of the arithmetic. First, Navan's "$15 per user" is the cheapest paid option for a tiny team — the five free users do the heavy lifting — and one of the more expensive options once most of the company expenses monthly. Second, Expensify Control is really two prices wearing one label: whether your US spend runs through the Expensify Card matters more than the plan name. Third, Ramp Free and Brex Essentials stay at $0 in every row — but only in the world where your spend actually moves onto their cards. If your team mostly spends out of pocket and claims it back, the $0 row is not describing your company.
Expensify is the oldest model here: expense software you pay for directly. Employees scan receipts (SmartScan), reports route through approvals, and the company reimburses out-of-pocket spend, with everything syncing to the accounting system. Collect ($5 per unique member/month) is billed month to month and covers the core workflow including QuickBooks Online and Xero sync. Control adds deeper policy enforcement and integrations such as QuickBooks Desktop and NetSuite — and its price is the single most misread number in this category: $9 per active member/month on an annual plan applies only when at least 50% of settled US spend runs through the Expensify Card that month; miss that threshold and the same plan is $18, and with no annual commitment it is $36. The Expensify Card itself is optional — you can run Expensify on top of cards you already have, which neither Ramp nor Brex really offers.
Ramp is a corporate card and spend platform: issue unlimited physical and virtual cards on the free plan ($0 per user), set limits and merchant restrictions per card, collect receipts by SMS, email or Slack, run bill pay, and sync to QuickBooks Online or Xero in near real time. The business model is card spend — Ramp earns from the card network economics, not from your subscription — which is exactly why the free tier can be this complete, and why it makes least sense if your spend stays elsewhere. Plus ($15/user/month, 20% off on annual billing, plus a platform fee scaled to team size that Ramp does not publish) adds AI expense review, advanced approvals, multi-entity support and ERP integrations such as NetSuite and Sage Intacct. Published application requirements are specific: a US-registered corporation, LLC or LP, an EIN, a US address, most operations and spend in the US, and at least $25,000 in a linked US business bank account. Sole proprietors are not eligible. Meeting the published requirements still does not guarantee approval — Ramp reviews each application.
Brex started as the startup card and grew into a full spend platform: corporate cards, expense management, bill pay, reimbursements, business accounts and travel booking. Essentials ($0 per user) covers the core stack for up to two entities. Premium ($12/user/month) adds multiple expense policies, dynamic review chains, AI compliance checks, wider multi-entity support and ERP/HRIS integrations. Enterprise and the Smart Card program — with local-currency card issuance in 50+ countries — are custom-quoted. Brex publishes native accounting integrations including QuickBooks, Xero, NetSuite and Sage Intacct. The honest catch is who Brex is for: published eligibility requires a US-registered corporation or LLC-type entity with an EIN, US operations and a US address; sole proprietors and unincorporated businesses are not eligible, and public explanations of its criteria describe funded startups (with a cash threshold reported around $50,000 for monthly payment terms) or businesses with substantial revenue as the target profile. Individual decisions are case by case, and Brex notes that meeting listed criteria does not by itself guarantee an account. One more fact worth knowing: Brex became a Capital One company in April 2026, so long-term pricing and program details are worth re-checking at renewal time.
Navan (formerly TripActions) is built the other way around from Expensify: it starts with booking flights, hotels and rail inside company policy, and the expense record is created as part of the trip rather than reconstructed afterward. Navan Business makes travel booking free for companies up to 300 employees, with unlimited trips, policy and approval workflows and 24/7 travel support. Navan Expense is free for the first five monthly expensing users, then $15 per user per month — and "expensing user" has a precise published meaning: anyone who submits a transaction into Navan Expense in that month, manually or through a connected card. So a 40-person company where 12 people expense in a month pays for 7 users. Expense includes receipt scanning, reimbursements, connected existing cards, and ERP and HRIS integrations (30+ HRIS connections are published). Enterprise pricing for larger organizations is quote-based. If your company rarely travels, you would be paying for the travel engine whether you use it or not — the worked examples above show how quickly $15 per active user adds up.
Ramp and Brex publish US-entity requirements (and Ramp a $25,000 linked-account threshold). If your company is incorporated only outside the US, or is a sole proprietorship, the card platforms may be closed to you regardless of price — start with Expensify's software-only model or Navan, and confirm what each vendor offers in your country.
Willing to move most company spend onto one vendor's card? Ramp Free or Brex Essentials can be $0. Mostly out-of-pocket spend that needs reimbursing? That's Expensify's home ground, and the "free" card platforms are solving a problem you don't have.
Count seats and monthly expensing users separately, then price both — the worked examples above show the winner flipping between 10 and 50 employees. Include the unpriced items: Ramp Plus's platform fee (quote required), per-payment fees, and Expensify Control at $18 rather than $9 if the card condition won't be met.
QuickBooks Online or Xero? All four connect, and Ramp includes it free. NetSuite or Sage Intacct? You're likely looking at a paid tier (Ramp Plus, Brex Premium, Expensify Control). Confirm your exact ledger is supported on the exact plan you'd buy — integration logos on a homepage are not a plan-by-plan guarantee.
The software is published at $0 per user on the Free plan, with unlimited cards. The economics sit in card spend: card platforms earn a share of merchant-side card fees (interchange) when your team pays with their cards, plus paid tiers and small per-payment fees for some services. So "free" is real as a price — provided your company qualifies (US entity, published bank-balance requirement) and actually spends on Ramp cards. Ramp Plus, if you need it, is $15/user/month plus a platform fee that isn't published.
Work through why Ramp doesn't fit. If the blocker is eligibility or the card itself, Expensify is the natural alternative — it runs on your existing cards and reimburses out-of-pocket spend for a published per-member price. If you qualify for card platforms but want a different rewards or global setup, Brex Essentials is the closest like-for-like at $0. If travel is the real expense driver, Navan prices per active expensing user instead. There is no single "best Ramp alternative" — it depends on which part of Ramp failed for you.
Because the price depends on commitment and card usage. Published pricing puts Control at $9 per active member/month on an annual plan when at least half of settled US spend runs through the Expensify Card, $18 on an annual plan when it doesn't, and $36 with no commitment. Most comparison pages quote only the $9. Budget with the number that matches how your team will actually spend.
Read the published eligibility carefully. Ramp and Brex describe US-registered entities with US operations and addresses as their card customers, so a Japan-only company should not assume it can be issued cards — treat them as candidates for a US entity, and ask the vendor directly. Expensify's software can be used in a reimbursement-first setup without adopting its card, and Navan sells travel and expense to companies in multiple countries, but the exact offering depends on where your entity is based. Confirm availability for your entity's country on the vendor's site before planning around any of them.
No. All four are spend and expense layers that feed an accounting system — QuickBooks, Xero, NetSuite, Sage Intacct and similar ledgers appear in their published integration lists. You still need the ledger; what changes is how clean and how fast expense data arrives in it, and the integration depth depends on the plan tier.
Because this guide is compiled from publicly available vendor information — pricing pages, published billing definitions and eligibility documentation — not from hands-on testing. Where a judgment appears (for example, that an unpublished platform fee is a budgeting risk), the underlying published facts are shown next to it so you can judge for yourself. Prices checked November 2026; vendors change them, so confirm before you buy.