Emburse
Keep your cards, submit expenses as they happen, and sync coded lines to QuickBooks Online or Xero.
Best for
US teams that want to keep existing cards, check receipts against policy as they happen, and sync coded expenses to QuickBooks Online or Xero.
Not ideal if
Owner-run shops under about 15 people (you still pay for 15 users), anyone who needs travel booking in the same app, or teams outside the United States.
Standout
Assurance reads the receipt against policy before and after submit, so a weekend dinner or a missing line can die on the employee's phone instead of in the controller's inbox.
About Emburse
Emburse Spend is the SMB product in the Emburse family. It is an expense layer, not a ledger. You keep the Visa, Mastercard, or American Express cards you already have. Card charges and out-of-pocket receipts land as individual expenses, not a month-end report pile. Employees photograph a receipt on the phone. Spend matches it to the card line and checks it against your rules. A manager approves. Finance reimburses by ACH (50 transfers a month on Basic, unlimited on Plus). Approved expenses sync to QuickBooks Online or Xero about every hour. You still close and lock the period in those books.
It does not replace QuickBooks Online or Xero. It also does not book the flight. Travel booking lives on Emburse Professional (formerly Certify) and Emburse Enterprise (formerly Chrome River), which is the suite the homepage and our T&E ranking describe. Ramp puts limits on a company card at the swipe. Expensify is reimbursement-first if people still pay out of pocket. Navan is the booking-plus-expense desk. Zoho Expense is the cheaper seat if you want multi-step approvals without a 15-user floor.
People who stick are US teams that want to keep their card program and stop waiting for a month-end report pile. Receipts get matched as charges post. Assurance can flag a weekend dinner or a missing line before the manager opens the queue.
What people who used it say
What they tend to like
Receipt match without a report pile
Photograph the receipt, it matches the card charge, and the manager can approve from the phone.
Reminders before the statement
The phone nags for the receipt so month-end is not a hunt.
Keep the cards you already run
Amex, Mastercard, or Visa feeds land in Spend. Switching issuers is optional.
What they hesitate about
AI receipt scan gets in the way
App Store reviews say the scan can lock the form until it fails, with no clean skip.
Support loops on broken card-receipt upload
At least one admin described a month of repeated questions instead of a fix for Emburse Card receipt upload.
Too much floor for a tiny team
The 15-user minimum and the grown-up suite pitch are why the T&E ranking still sends shops under 20 to Navan or Ramp.
How it hits your books
- Replaces your ledger
- No
- QuickBooks Online
- Yes
- Xero
- Yes
- Multi-entity
- Partial
- Inventory
- No
- Payroll
- No
You approve expenses here. Spend syncs about every hour. Reimbursements land as a Bill and Bill Payment or as clearing-account purchases. Card expenses land on the corporate card register. You still match the statement and lock the period in QuickBooks Online or Xero.
Invite the accountant to the synced QuickBooks Online or Xero file. Expense records include a receipt link. Spend does not produce a year-end tax package.
Images
Features
Keep the cards you already have
Connect existing American Express, Mastercard, or Visa feeds. Charges show up as they post. Virtual cards with limits, expiry, merchant, and category controls are available through Emburse Cards, American Express, or Silicon Valley Bank.
Photograph the receipt and match the charge
Employees snap or upload a receipt in the iOS or Android app. Spend reads the details and matches them to the card line. Receipt reminders go to the phone so the statement is not the first time you see a missing image.
Policy and approvals on each expense
Rules run on the individual expense, not a batched report. Require a receipt, route an approver, warn, or block. Finance sees exceptions through the month instead of a pile on the 31st.
Sync to QuickBooks Online or Xero (Basic)
Basic includes QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Desktop, and Xero. Data syncs about every hour. Reimbursements can land as a Bill and Bill Payment, or as purchases against a Spend clearing account. Card expenses sync to the corporate card register for you to match. Plus adds NetSuite, Sage Intacct, and up to 5 subsidiaries.
ACH reimbursements
Basic includes 50 ACH reimbursements a month. Plus is unlimited and adds bill pay (virtual card payments only). Spend reimbursements are US-only.
Assurance on the receipt
Assurance reads the receipt before and after submit and flags missing context, weekend or alcohol lines, duplicates, and manipulated images. Price unpublished. Marketed on Spend, Professional, Enterprise, and Captio.
Pricing
A 5-person shop still pays the 15-user minimum: $120/month on Basic or $180/month on Plus. Annual needs 20 users ($7 Basic / $11 Plus per user per month). Optional Guided Implementation is $1,500. Assurance and the 1% card rebate threshold are unpublished. Professional and Enterprise are demo quotes.
Spend Basic
US teams up to 100 people who will keep existing cards and sync to QuickBooks Online or Xero. 30-day trial.
- Receipt capture, card feeds, virtual cards
- Policies, approvals, Slack, SAML SSO
- QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Desktop, Xero
- 50 ACH reimbursements per month
- Self-guided activation
Spend Plus
Same US shop when you need NetSuite or Sage Intacct, unlimited ACH, or up to 5 subsidiaries. 30-day trial.
- Everything in Basic
- Unlimited ACH and virtual-card bill pay
- NetSuite, Sage Intacct, SFTP
- Salesforce API, Amazon Business
- Multi-entity (up to 5 subsidiaries)
Spend Annual
Teams that can commit to 20 submitting users for a year. Overage bills at the monthly $8 / $12 rate.
- Same features as monthly Basic or Plus
- $1 off the monthly per-user rate
- 20-user annual floor
Professional / Enterprise
Travel booking, global T&E, invoice, and AP. Professional is former Certify (14-day trial CTA). Enterprise is former Chrome River. Not Spend.
- Travel plus expense on one vendor family
- Invoice, ACH, and global localization
- Demo or 14-day Professional trial
- No public dollar prices
Integrations
Platforms
Audience
Pick something else instead of Emburse
Expensify
Pick Expensify instead if people pay out of pocket and you want SmartScan plus ACH at $5 per member, with no 15-seat floor.
Ramp
Pick Ramp instead if you will switch to their cards and want $0 software, merchant locks at the swipe, and travel booking on the same login.
Navan
Pick Navan instead if the job is booking the trip in policy and landing the charges as coded expenses, not keeping last year's card program.
Zoho Expense
Pick Zoho Expense instead if you need multi-step approvals and mileage on a smaller per-seat bill, including a real free tier.