8 best Mesh Payments alternatives in 2024
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Mesh Payments is a travel and spend management platform for global enterprises. It’s become a popular choice thanks to its ease of use and strong feature set, which includes procurement and card solutions in addition to expense management.
But many users find that card and approval issues are fairly common, and that receipt management and access control often don’t live up to their potential. The good news is that Mesh Payments isn’t your only option when it comes to choosing a spend management platform.
If you’re looking for an alternative, we’ve put together a list of Mesh Payments competitors to consider:
- Ramp
- Airbase
- PayEm
- Navan
- Brex
- Center
- Expensify
- BILL Spend & Expense
We compiled this list after conducting our own research and digging through countless reviews and ratings on the software review site G2, seeking to highlight alternatives that are rated higher than Mesh Payments’ score of 4.6 out of 5 stars (with a few honorable mentions thrown in as a bonus).
Best overall Mesh Payments alternative: Ramp
When it comes to finding an alternative spend management platform to Mesh Payments, Ramp is our top choice.
Admittedly, we’re a bit biased, but more than 1,750 5-star customer reviews on G2 can’t be wrong. In a head-to-head matchup against Mesh Payments, Ramp is the clear winner, scoring 4.8 out of 5 stars on G2 compared to Mesh’s 4.6 star rating. What’s more, it beats Mesh in all but one of G2’s ratings categories:
Ramp’s all-in-one expense management platform isn’t just easy to use and intuitive to navigate. It’s designed to reduce errors and increase efficiency in every aspect of your company’s finances.
Whether you need to get a handle on employee expenses and reimbursements, track business mileage more accurately, manage vendor spending and contracts, or modernize your procurement and accounts payable processes, Ramp’s got the features you need to achieve your goals.
No matter how you slice it, Ramp comes out on top.
Key features
- Corporate cards that save: Issue unlimited physical and virtual corporate cards to better manage employee spend with customizable spending limits and built-in controls. Save an average of 5% annually by spending less time and money across your entire business.
- A centralized platform: Bring all your vital finance functions—from procurement and spending to expense management, AP, vendor management, bill pay, and more—into one centralized platform for comprehensive analytics and increased transparency around company spend.
- Customizable approvals processes: Design and implement the approvals process that best suits your business and its unique needs. Leverage automated approvals to save time and reimburse your employees as quickly as possible.
- Less human error: Tired of kicking back expense reports due to missing information or mistakes? With Ramp, all your employees need to do is snap a photo of their receipt and the platform does the rest, automatically extracting key information and categorizing expenses to vastly reduce errors.
Why customers choose Ramp vs. Mesh Payments
Overall, users say that Ramp is easier to set up and quicker to implement than Mesh Payments, and that they realize a return on investment in less than six months—best-in-class performance. Reviewers call out Ramp’s virtual cards, expense management, receipt management, and easy expense uploads as key strengths of the platform, noting that the platform overall is easy to use and intuitive.
“Ramp's tech is modern, efficient, and effective. Even their API and docs follow modern best practices. Onboarding was easy, and we're using Ramp every day to complete our bookkeeping and expense tracking!”
– Nathan W., Finance Director (small business)
Pricing
Many of Ramp’s most popular expense management features are completely free to use. By signing up for a free account, you can issue unlimited corporate cards, manage business expenses, sync with your accounting software, keep an eye on vendor spend, and more.
Looking for more customizability and control? It costs just $15 per user per month to unlock procurement automation, advanced ERP automation, customizable workflows, and other powerful features with Ramp Plus.
Airbase
Airbase is a spend management platform for mid-market and small businesses. It offers expense management, corporate cards, AP automation, and guided procurement services. Airbase has a G2 score of 4.8 out of 5 stars based on more than 1,500 reviews.
Key features
- Expense management that includes receipt matching, expense reporting, reimbursements, and spend analytics
- Ability to automate many processes, including expense reports, accounting entries, reconciliation, transaction coding, and more
- Integrations with a variety of platforms, including banks, ERPs, travel booking, and various collaboration tools
Why customers choose Airbase vs. Mesh Payments
By far, the most common piece of feedback that customers have about Airbase is that it’s easy to use and intuitive to navigate. Users commend the company for its virtual cards and easy expense submissions.
Pricing
Airbase does not provide transparent pricing. To know how much the platform would cost your business, you must request a quote. That being said, Airbase offers three pricing tiers for businesses with different numbers of employees:
- Standard (up to 200 employees)
- Premium (up to 500 employees)
- Enterprise (up to 10,000 employees)
PayEm
PayEm is a newer expense management platform offering budgeting tools, PO creation, invoice processing, and general expense management. The company scores 4.8 out of 5 stars on G2, though this score is based on relatively few (130) customer reviews.
In a head-to-head matchup, PayEm performs better in all but two of G2’s ratings categories:
Key features
- Multiple options for employee spend, including the ability to issue corporate cards and process funding requests
- Ability to generate purchase orders and process invoices all from the same central platform
- Budgeting solutions that give budget owners increased transparency to see how close actual spending is tracking to projections
Why customers choose PayEm vs. Mesh Payments
G2 reviewers specifically list PayEm’s expense management, receipt management, and virtual cards as positives, noting that the platform is easy to use. Many reviewers appreciate that corporate cards come in both physical and digital formats.
Pricing
PayEm bases its pricing on the size of your business and how many employees need access to the software. You’ll need to request a quote to know how much PayEm’s platform will cost you.
Navan (formerly TripActions)
Navan offers two main products: Navan Travel, which businesses can use to book and manage corporate travel, and Navan Expense Management, which businesses can use for more general spend management. On G2, Navan edges Mesh Payments with a score of 4.7 out of 5 stars based on more than 7,600 user reviews.
The company performs higher than Mesh Payments in four of G2s ratings categories:
Key features
- Expense management that integrates directly with your existing credit card, removing the need for a separate corporate card
- Conditional spend controls that are customizable and enforced at the point of payment to prevent out-of-policy spend
- Ability to make corporate travel plans directly within the app, including airfare, lodging, and rental cars
Why customers choose Navan vs. Mesh Payments
Customers like that Navan is easy to use and that it offers quick employee reimbursements. Many users point to Navan’s travel functions as a key reason they prefer the software over other options, noting that booking through the platform is easy.
Pricing
Navan’s expense management platform is free to use for businesses with up to 15 employees. For all other businesses, the cost is $15 per user per month. Larger businesses can request a quote for enterprise pricing.
Brex
Brex is an expense management platform mostly geared toward small businesses. In addition to expense management, the company offers travel management, bill pay, business banking, corporate cards, and accounting automation. Brex scores 4.7 out of 5 stars on G2 and beats Mesh Payments in three ratings categories:
Key features
- Accounting automation that includes AI-assisted merchant mapping and general ledger (GL) coding
- Ability to customize and enforce spend policies according to various criteria, including by individual, use case, department, level, and more
- Travel management that includes basic expense management as well as the ability to book corporate travel from a centralized platform
Why customers choose Brex vs. Mesh Payments
A majority of reviewers consider Brex to be easy to use, with many also noting customer support and easy uploads as reasons they chose the platform. Brex’s mobile app is also highly regarded—something users don’t usually mention for Mesh Payments.
Pricing
Brex offers much of its functionality for free to users who sign up for an Essentials plan, which includes corporate cards, bill pay, reporting, and expense management. A Premium plan ($12 per user per month) is required to unlock additional functionality and customization. Enterprise pricing is also available.
Center
Center is a spend management platform that offers corporate cards, expense management, and travel booking capabilities to mid-market companies, predominantly in the construction, manufacturing, and field services industries. The company scores 4.6 out of 5 stars on G2, tying with Mesh Payments. Even so, Center tops Mesh Payments in all of G2s ratings categories:
Key features
- Custom approval flows and automatic expense reporting based on receipt capture for quick employee reimbursements
- Ability to issue physical and virtual corporate cards via the CenterCard Platform to reduce or eliminate the need for reimbursements
- Integrations with a number of the most commonly used ERP solutions, including NetSuite, Sage Intacct, and QuickBooks.
Why customers choose Center vs. Mesh Payments
Many reviewers on G2 rate Center’s customer support highly and note that the software is easy to use for expense tracking.
Pricing
Center doesn’t charge a subscription fee. Instead, it makes money when businesses use their CenterCard to complete a transaction, similar to how credit card networks like Visa and Mastercard earn their revenue. If you book corporate travel through Center’s platform, you’ll pay a flat fee per booking.
Honorable mention: Expensify
Expensify is a popular spend management platform that offers corporate cards, expense tracking, employee reimbursements, and travel booking, among various AP functions. It’s got a G2 score of 4.5 stars, losing to Mesh Payments by just a tenth of a point.
When compared head to head, reviewers rate Expensify more highly than Mesh in the Meets Requirements category, though Mesh beats it in all other categories:
Key features
- OCR-powered receipt scanning capable of capturing purchase details from a receipt and automatically generating an expense report
- Ability to design and build customized expense reports depending on your specific needs
- Integrations available for many accounting, human resources, and travel management platforms
Why customers choose Expensify vs. Mesh Payments
Expensify users like that the platform is simple and easy to use, with expense submissions and uploads called out in more than 400 positive reviews.
Pricing
Expensify’s expense management solution is available under its Collect subscription, which starts at $5 per user per month. To gain access to Expensify’s budgeting tools, accounting integrations, and other controls and functionality, businesses must subscribe to the Control plan, starting at $9 per user per month.
Honorable mention: BILL Spend & Expense (formerly Divvy)
BILL Spend & Expense (formerly Divvy) is a popular expense management platform for small and mid-sized businesses. Companies can use the platform to issue corporate cards and manage expenses, budgets, and payments. Bill Spend & Expense scores 4.5 out of 5 stars on G2 compared to Mesh Payments’ score of 4.6 stars.
While it loses to Mesh in all of G2's ratings categories, the companies are neck-and-neck in key categories:
Key features
- Automatic notifications when your employees incur an expense on a corporate card
- Mobile app for on-the-go expense submission, including receipt scannig, automatic expense categorization, and card controls
- Payment services to process and pay vendor bills, with automated payments and budgeting tools
Why customers choose BILL Spend & Expense vs. Mesh Payments
The biggest pro that G2 reviewers note for BILL Spend & Expense is that it’s easy to use. Customers find BILL’s virtual cards convenient and routinely note that the company does a good job on customer support.
Pricing
Businesses can access BILL’s Spend & Expense platform for free. If you also need access to BILL’s Accounts Payable and Receivable platform, you’ll need a paid plan. These come in three tiers—$45, $55, and $79 per user per month—each of which has different functionality.
The best choice for modern finance teams
With more than 1,750 5-star reviews on G2, Ramp is the #1 Mesh Payments alternative. Ramp’s all-in-one platform goes beyond expense management, streamlining travel booking, accounts payable, procurement, cash flow visibility, and financial reporting.
Tens of thousands of companies choose Ramp to improve internal processes, increase efficiency, and grow their business. Check out an interactive demo and learn why Ramp customers save an average of 5% a year.