7 best expense management software solutions in 2025

Managing employee expenses can become a drain on time and resources. A handful of receipts quickly turns into hundreds across departments, borders, and currencies. Without the right system in place, it’s easy to lose visibility, create bottlenecks, and run into compliance issues.

Manual processes, like creating expense reports or approving expenses over email, are difficult to scale. They slow teams down, frustrate employees, and leave finance teams buried in admin. And when you’re dealing with tax rules, expense policies, and reimbursement deadlines, the process can quickly become a challenge.

A modern expense management solution uses automation to track spending, ensure compliance, and flag issues early, eliminating those manual burdens. With the right tool, your team can spend less time on paperwork and more time on what actually matters.

In this article, we review the seven best expense management solutions in 2025. Whether you’re a fast-growing startup or a global enterprise, you’ll find the tools that best support your goals.

Expense management software helps businesses track, approve, and reimburse employee expenses quickly and digitally. Instead of relying on spreadsheets or paper receipts, these platforms centralise employee expense, automating the process from start to finish.

Here’s how it works: an employee captures a receipt with their phone and submits the expense. The software scans the receipt and extracts key information, such as the date, vendor, and amount, and checks it against your expense policy. If everything checks out, it’s routed for approval and reimbursement. No lengthy email chains. No unnecessary delays.

But beyond simplifying day-to-day tasks, expense management tools bring serious value to finance teams. They help reduce errors, prevent fraud, and support compliance with local tax rules like VAT and mileage allowances. With real-time data and smart automation, you get visibility into spending as it happens, not weeks later.

The right software gives companies the control they need to scale, without turning expense management into a full-time job.

Not all expense management tools are built the same. Some focus on automation, others double down on corporate cards or compliance. To help you cut through the noise, we evaluated seven different solutions based on the features that matter most to modern finance teams.

Here’s what we looked at:

• Global coverage – Support for multi-currency, local tax rules, and regional compliance.
• Usability – A clean, intuitive interface that employees can pick up quickly.
• Automation & AI – Smart tools that reduce manual work, like receipt scanning and policy checks.
• Compliance features – Built-in controls that help teams stay ready for external review or financial audits and align with local regulations.
• Integrations – Direct connections with accounting tools, Enterprise Resource Planning systems (ERPs), and HR systems.
• Mobile experience – A powerful app that makes expense reporting easy on the go.
• Scalability – Flexibility to grow with your company, whether it’s for 10 or 10,000 employees.
• Value for money – A fair pricing structure that matches the features and performance delivered.

Out of all the solutions, these were the seven that stood out and that are worth considering, depending on your company’s needs.

Not all expense management tools are built the same. Some focus on automation, others double down on corporate cards or compliance. To help you cut through the noise, we evaluated seven different solutions based on the features that matter most to modern finance teams.

1. Rydoo

Rydoo is an expense management solution designed for mid-sized to enterprise companies operating internationally. It combines AI-driven automation with real-time visibility, providing finance teams with control and offering employees a simple, mobile-first experience.

What sets Rydoo apart is its global compliance and deep automation. From AI-powered receipt capture and policy enforcement to VAT recovery and language translation, it supports compliance in over 40 countries.

Rydoo’s Smart Audit module further enhances automation by automatically applying policy rules, detecting fraud, and flagging unusual activity in real-time. This reduces manual reviews and speeds up approvals without compromising control.

With Rydoo Cards, companies get live visibility into card spend, while Smart Audit ensures every expense, from cards to reimbursements, meets compliance standards. Rydoo audits all expense types in real-time, helping finance teams catch issues before they arise.

Whether you’re a growing startup or a multinational enterprise, Rydoo scales with you.

Ideal for:

Mid-sized to large companies that want a modern, global-ready expense solution with strong automation and a great user experience, without the complexity of legacy systems.

Standout features:

• AI-powered receipt capture, policy enforcement, and smart auditing
• Rydoo Cards for real-time expense tracking and control
• Identifies AI-generated or manipulated receipts
• Detects flagged keywords to catch risky or non-compliant claims
• Automatically translates receipts submitted in other languages
• Automatically applies company rules to expenses and routes them through pre-defined approval flows
• Global compliance support, including automated VAT detection and multi-country readiness
• 35+ integrations with ERPs, accounting, and travel tools
• Intuitive mobile app for submitting and approving expenses on the go
• Real-time analytics and spend control dashboards

Pros:

✔️ User-friendly and mobile-first

✔️ Strong automation and VAT handling

✔️ Fast setup with scalable integrations

✔️ Built for global teams

Cons:

➖ Limited support for highly customised legacy workflows (but covers most modern use cases out of the box)

2. Zoho Expense

Zoho Expense is part of the broader Zoho suite, offering an integrated approach to expense management that fits well within its all-in-one ecosystem. It’s especially appealing to small and mid-sized businesses already using Zoho products or those seeking a cost-effective solution with essential automation features.

The platform is easy to set up and includes helpful tools like receipt scanning, mileage tracking, and policy enforcement. For finance teams already operating in Zoho’s environment, the experience is convenient and consistent.

That said, Zoho Expense is ultimately built to serve general SMB needs, not to go deep in areas like global compliance, advanced ERP integrations, or enterprise-grade controls. While functional, the user experience and flexibility may fall short for fast-scaling or international companies looking for a more modern, specialised solution.

Ideal for:

SMBs and finance teams looking for a budget-friendly, easy-to-use tool with automation and solid core features, especially those already using Zoho products.

Standout features:

• Automated receipt scanning and expense categorisation
• Mileage tracking via GPS or odometer
• Multi-currency and per diem support
• Policy enforcement and approval workflows
• Integrations with Zoho Books, QuickBooks, Xero, and more

Pros:

✔️ Simple, intuitive interface with fast onboarding

✔️ Strong value for small to mid-sized businesses

✔️ Direct integration within the Zoho ecosystem

Cons:

➖ Limited depth for large-scale, enterprise-level operations

➖ User experience not as refined or modern as dedicated solutions

3. Ramp

Ramp is a finance automation platform best known for its corporate card offering, but it also includes expense management tools aimed at helping companies gain control over spending through automation. It’s primarily designed for mid-market businesses in the US, particularly fast-growing teams that want to tighten policy controls while streamlining approvals.

Ramp combines real-time tracking with built-in controls and approval flows, plus AI-driven insights to flag duplicate or non-compliant expenses. It’s especially useful for finance teams looking to unify card spend and expense policies under one roof.

However, Ramp is heavily focused on the US market and built around its own corporate card ecosystem. That makes it less suited to global teams or those with a mix of payment types, like reimbursements, travel expenses, or multi-entity operations. Its automation works best when spend flows through Ramp cards, which can leave oversight gaps in more complex or international environments.

Ideal for:

US-based startups and tech companies that want a tightly integrated corporate card and expense solution with strong automation features.

Standout features:

• Corporate cards with spend limits and merchant-level controls
• AI-powered savings insights and duplicate detection
• Automated approval workflows and real-time visibility
• Seamless integrations with QuickBooks, NetSuite, Xero, and more
• Expense auto-matching and receipt capture

Pros:

✔️ Strong card and expense integration

✔️ AI-driven alerts to prevent overspending

✔️ Clean interface and user-friendly mobile app

Cons:

➖ Card-first approach may not suit teams with mixed or decentralised payment workflows

➖ US focus limits suitability for global teams

4. Emburse

Emburse offers a broad suite of enterprise-grade spend management tools focused on control, compliance, and policy automation. With solutions like Chrome River and Certify under its umbrella, Emburse is purpose-built for organisations with complex structures and a high need for governance, often seen as a more modern alternative to Concur.

The platform includes expense reporting, invoice processing, and card management, with strong controls and pre-approval workflows. Emburse’s modular approach aims to reduce manual work and increase compliance through automation and tight policy configuration.

Emburse is best suited to large, established enterprises with relatively fixed workflows. The configuration effort, combined with varied product experiences across its portfolio, can make it feel heavy for smaller or fast-changing teams. Implementation is thorough but resource-intensive, which can be a hurdle for companies looking for agility or quick rollout.

Ideal for:

Large, structured enterprises with established processes that need deep policy enforcement, audit readiness, and custom workflows, and who want a more flexible, modern experience.

Standout features:

• Expense reporting with policy-based automation
• Pre-approval workflows and audit-ready controls
• Card management and virtual cards
• Mobile app with receipt capture and mileage tracking
• Integrations with major ERPs and accounting tools

Pros:

✔️ Strong compliance and policy control features

✔️ Scalable for mid-sized to large enterprises

✔️ Modular options based on company needs

Cons:

➖ Can feel complex depending on configuration

➖ Varies in experience across different Emburse products

5. Yokoy

Yokoy uses AI to fully automate expense, invoice, and card management. It focuses on reducing manual work and bringing everything into a single AI-powered platform, helping large companies streamline finance operations while maintaining strong compliance controls.

It’s particularly strong in machine learning-driven automation, with an emphasis on minimising human input and maximising control. While Yokoy is still growing its global footprint, it’s a strong fit for companies operating exclusively in Germany, where it has more mature support and regulatory alignment.

Yokoy offers powerful AI and automation, but its feature set is built with large, complex enterprises in mind. Smaller teams or companies just getting started with expense automation might find it overwhelming, and international support is still growing.

Ideal for:

Large companies, especially those based in or focused on Germany, with high volumes of expenses and invoices that want deep automation and AI-led compliance.

Standout features:

• AI-powered automation for expense and invoice processing
• Corporate card integration with real-time spend tracking
• Smart audit and fraud detection tools
• Multi-country compliance support
• Integration with SAP, Oracle, and other enterprise systems

Pros:

✔️ High level of automation through AI

✔️ Good fit for enterprise complexity

✔️ Strong compliance features, especially in DACH region

Cons:

➖ May be overkill for smaller or less complex teams

➖ Newer platform with evolving international support

6. Expensify

Expensify offers a strong mobile app and user-friendly features, making it a popular choice for small to mid-sized businesses in the US that want a simple way to track and reimburse employee expenses without overcomplicating the process.

While it doesn’t offer deep enterprise features or extensive global compliance tools, it excels at keeping things lightweight and accessible.

Expensify is easy to use and great for smaller, US-based teams, but it lacks the advanced automation, controls, and global compliance support that larger or growing companies often need. It’s best for basic expense tracking and reimbursement, not enterprise-level or international finance operations.

Ideal for:

Small US-based businesses and startups looking for a straightforward, low-maintenance expense tracking tool.

Standout features:

• Receipt scanning and SmartScan OCR (technology that reads and digitises receipt text)
• Basic approval flows and policy settings
• Credit card import and reconciliation
• Expense reports and integrations with QuickBooks, Xero, and more

Pros:

✔️ Easy to use and quick to adopt

✔️ Solid mobile experience

✔️ Great for small teams

Cons:

➖ Limited automation and global features

➖ Not ideal for complex finance operations

7. SAP Concur

SAP Concur is one of the most established players in the expense management space, offering a feature-rich solution with deep integration into SAP’s ecosystem. It is designed for enterprises with strict compliance needs, custom workflows, and global operations.

Concur provides detailed reporting, travel management, and audit tools, but increases complexity and often requires longer implementation times and a steeper learning curve.

Ideal for:

Enterprise companies that prioritise a single finance ecosystem with compromises, rather than a best-in-class expense solution.

Standout features:

• Travel and expense (T&E) management
• Advanced reporting and analytics
• Multi-country tax and compliance support
• Policy enforcement and audit tools
• Integrations with SAP and large-scale ERPs

Pros:

✔️ Very robust and highly configurable

✔️ Built for large, global enterprises

✔️ Strong audit and compliance features

Cons:

➖ Complex setup and user experience

➖ Higher cost and maintenance overhead

With so many options on the market, the best tool for your business is one that fits your specific needs, not necessarily the one with the most features. Here’s how to narrow it down:

Start with your workflow

Think about how your team currently handles expenses:

• Are most of your expenses submitted on the go?
• Do you reimburse employees, or rely on corporate cards?
• Do you need invoice management or just expense tracking?

Understanding your internal process will help you choose a tool that improves, rather than complicates, how your team works.

Look at integrations

Make sure the platform connects with the tools you already use, like your ERP, accounting software, HR system, or travel booking platform. A good integration saves time, prevents data duplication, and gives finance teams real-time visibility.

Consider compliance needs

If you operate across countries, choose a solution with strong compliance capabilities. Think VAT recovery, multi-currency support, mileage rules, and tax-compliant receipts. The more automated these features are, the less manual cleanup your finance team has to do.

Think about scale and support

Will the tool grow with you? Look for platforms that can handle more users, regions, and approval flows as your team expands. Solid customer support and onboarding resources are also essential for easier scaling.

Don’t overlook usability

Even the smartest platform won’t work if your team doesn’t want to use it. A clean interface, mobile expense app, and fast setup can make or break adoption. Aim for a tool that feels intuitive for both employees and finance admins.

Choosing the right expense management software is about gaining visibility, staying compliant, and giving your team the tools to work smarter. It removes friction, improves accuracy, and gives finance teams the control they need without adding more admin to their plate.

Whether you’re scaling fast or just want to modernise outdated processes, choosing the right expense management software may just be the difference between staying afloat and staying ahead.