The top 5 Rippling alternatives for expense management

Rippling is a human resources information system (HRIS) that combines HR, IT, payroll, and expense management solutions into a single platform. It’s a popular choice for small and mid-sized businesses looking for the convenience of an all-in-one solution.

But despite its efforts to consolidate so many tools into a single software, most customers still view Rippling primarily as an HR platform. If you need a solution with strong, comprehensive expense management capabilities, you may find Rippling lacking.

For example, some reviewers note that Rippling's workflow automation and advanced financial reporting features cost extra, while many competitors offer certain features for free.

So, who are Rippling competitors? In this article, we compare Rippling against other highly rated expense management software, including:

1. Ramp
2. Emburse Professional (formerly Emburse Certify)
3. Paylocity
4. Rho
5. PayEm

We chose these as our favorites based on feedback from actual users and public reviews, coupled with our own research into each platform’s features. Read on to learn more about the five Rippling competitors we cover below.

The best overall Rippling alternative: Ramp

Ramp is a complete finance operations platform that’s purpose-built to save businesses time and money. Our software combines expense management, corporate cards, travel booking, accounts payable (AP) automation, and procurement to help companies streamline their operations and make more informed financial decisions.

We have to admit that we’re a bit biased when it comes to how we view Rippling versus Ramp. Luckily, you don’t have to take our word for it: Ramp has a rating of 4.8 out of 5 stars on G2 based on more than 2,400 verified reviews.

Key features

• All-in-one finance platform: Ramp consolidates data and workflows between accounts payable, travel and expense management, procurement, accounting, and more.
• Built-in travel booking: Unlike Rippling, Ramp offers a complete travel booking system out of the box. Ramp Travel automatically enforces your T&E policy and provides a huge inventory of flights and accommodations, thanks to our partnership with Priceline.
• Corporate cards you control: Select which spending categories are allowed or blocked on corporate cards across more than 40 categories—including SaaS, flights, taxi fares, and merchandise
• Real-time spend visibility and reporting: Gain comprehensive visibility into all your business expenses on a single, intuitive platform. Ramp offers granular financial reporting across departments and categories, and our AI even recommends new ways for you to save.
• Integrates with your tech stack: Ramp is designed to work with the tools you already use. We offer seamless integrations with leading accounting software, collaboration tools, and HRIS platforms, allowing you to sync employee data across systems.

Why customers choose Ramp vs. Rippling

• Process more bills with higher accuracy: Ramp uses AI to extract key details from invoices automatically and remembers how you code, streamlining your AP workflow
• Minimize the risk of fraud and errors: Ramp Bill Pay identifies duplicate invoices, 3-way matches to purchase orders and receipts, and routes bills for approval based on your rules and requirements
• Consolidate all your payment methods in a single platform: Pay domestic and global vendors by check, card, ACH, or international wire—all from Ramp

Pricing

You can use the majority of Ramp’s features for free, including expense management, travel booking, bill pay, and more. If you need additional control and customizations, you can upgrade to Ramp Plus for $15 per user per month. We also offer enterprise pricing on request—just reach out.

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Emburse Professional

Emburse Professional, formerly known as Emburse Certify, is an expense management solution that combines travel booking and accounts payable, catering to mid-market and enterprise companies.

Key features

• Automated expense categories and policies for real-time spend management
• Travel booking platform that suggests the most economical itineraries by default
• Mobile app with receipt capture and reporting on the go
• Automatic matching of employee expenses to corporate card receipts

Why customers choose Emburse vs. Rippling

Users appreciate the ease of use of Emburse Professional and how it helps streamline their expense management process, including receipt management.

Pricing

Emburse Professional doesn’t list any public pricing information on its site, so you’ll need to reach out for a quote.

Paylocity for Finance (formerly Airbase)

Paylocity is an HRIS platform that added travel and expense management capabilities after acquiring Airbase. Its all-in-one spend management platform, which covers both payroll and business expenses, is probably the most direct Rippling competitor on our list.

Key features

• Guided procurement workflows and vendor onboarding
• Integrated invoice capture, processing, and spend tracking
• Automated coding and real-time expense visibility
• Receipt upload with OCR and reconciliation tools

Why customers choose Paylocity vs. Rippling

Reviewers highlight Paylocity’s automation, spend visibility, and ability to centralize procurement and expense workflows. Many note that Paylocity’s unified approach reduces manual effort and dependency on multiple point solutions.

Pricing

Paylocity does not publicly list pricing for its spend and expense management module. Organizations should visit the Paylocity contact page to request a tailored quote.

Rho

Rho is a financial operations platform that offers business banking services, corporate credit cards, expense management, and bill pay.

Key features

• Business checking and savings accounts with no fees for ACH payments or wire transfers
• Treasury management services that allow businesses to invest excess cash in treasury bills
• Custom spending limits and restrictions at the card level
• Option to add your logo to Rho’s physical business credit cards

Why customers choose Rho vs. Rippling

Users find Rho easy to set up and administer, and they particularly appreciate its 24/7 customer support.

Pricing

Rho’s business banking accounts, corporate cards, and expense management platform are free to use. The company earns the bulk of its revenue from interchange fees.

PayEm

PayEm is an expense management platform that offers automated invoice processing, PO creation, and budgeting tools.

Key features

• Corporate cards with custom controls and spending limits, including category restrictions
• Generate purchase orders and process invoices from the same platform
• Bill pay automation with the option to schedule payments via card, ACH, wire, or check
• Built-in audit trail that tracks financial events like budget requests, purchase orders, and expense reimbursements

Why customers choose PayEm vs. Rippling

Users find PayEm to be a good business partner overall, and many customers highlight PayEm’s ease of use as a key feature.

Pricing

PayEm doesn’t publicize its pricing information, so you’ll need to reach out for a quote. The price depends on your business size and the number of users who will need access to the platform.

Choose the best Rippling alternative for expense management

When it comes to your expense management needs, it pays to pick a specialized solution. Ramp’s modern finance platform is purpose-built to save you time and money, helping you simplify every aspect of the expense management process.

Tens of thousands of businesses choose Ramp to streamline their financial workflows, boost efficiency, and grow their businesses.

Watch our demo video and learn why Ramp customers save an average of 5% a year.