Airbase Reviews: 4.8/5 — Highly Rated
Airbase is a modern finance and expense management platform that automates and streamlines financial processes. It offers a suite of features that include virtual cards, spend management, and real-time expense tracking. Additionally, Airbase integrates with various other business tools such as payroll, accounting, and invoicing systems, making it a one-stop-shop for all finance needs.
| Capabilities |
API
|
|---|---|
| Segment |
Small Business
Mid Market
Enterprise
|
| Deployment | Cloud / SaaS / Web-Based, Mobile Android, Mobile iPad, Mobile iPhone |
| Training | Documentation |
| Languages | English |
Airbase is now Airbase by Paylocity, and airbase.com/pricing redirects to Paylocity’s pricing page. Paylocity completed the $325 million acquisition on 1 October 2024, and the product has been absorbed into its HCM platform. That single fact matters more than any feature comparison, because virtually every review you will find describes a standalone company that no longer sells to you on its own terms.
- What it is: A spend management platform covering corporate cards, bill pay, expense management, and procurement, now part of Paylocity.
- Best for: Mid-market companies that also want Paylocity’s payroll and HR, so spend and payroll sit on one platform.
- Pricing: No longer published separately. Airbase’s pricing page now serves Paylocity’s, which is quote-only via a demo request form.
- The honest catch: Older reviews, comparisons, and pricing guides describe pre-acquisition Airbase and should not be relied on.
What Happened to Airbase
Paylocity announced its agreement to acquire Airbase on 4 September 2024 and completed the deal on 1 October 2024 for approximately $325 million, funded through its revolving credit facility. Both companies confirmed the completion publicly.
The strategic logic was explicit: Paylocity sells HR and payroll, Airbase sold spend management, and the combination lets a company manage payroll and non-payroll spend on one platform. Paylocity described the goal as a single pane of glass across all company spending, with real-time visibility and a faster financial close.
The practical consequences for a buyer in 2026 are concrete. The airbase.com homepage now identifies the product as “Airbase by Paylocity”. The pricing page redirects to paylocity.com. And Paylocity does not publish prices — its pricing page is a demo request form asking for your employee count, job title, and business zip code.
The product has not been discontinued. But it is no longer a standalone purchase in the way it was, and the evaluation you run should be an evaluation of Paylocity.
What Airbase Does
The underlying capability is well regarded and was the reason for the acquisition price:
- Corporate cards with policy controls applied at the point of purchase.
- Bill pay and AP automation, which was Airbase’s strongest area and a genuine differentiator against card-first competitors.
- Expense management with receipt capture, coding, and reimbursement.
- Procurement and intake, covering purchase requests and approvals before spend happens.
- Approval workflows across all of the above, which is what distinguished it from simpler card products.
- Accounting integration for close automation.
That combination — cards plus AP plus procurement in one approval framework — is what mid-market finance teams valued, and it remains the substance of what Paylocity now sells under the Airbase name.
Airbase Pricing
There is no published Airbase pricing to report. Its pricing URL serves Paylocity’s page, which offers “Request Pricing with a Free Demo” and collects your details rather than displaying rates.
This is a meaningful downgrade in transparency for evaluation purposes. Pre-acquisition, Airbase published tiered plans. Now:
- Every price is quoted. You cannot compare Airbase against Ramp or Brex without a sales conversation, and both of those publish or offer free entry tiers.
- Pricing is likely bundled with Paylocity. The commercial logic of the acquisition is cross-selling into HCM customers, so quotes may be structured around the wider platform rather than spend management alone.
- Your negotiating position is weaker. With no list price and no comparable public figures, you have no anchor.
- Ask directly whether Airbase can be bought standalone, and on what terms, before investing time in a demo. That is the question the website no longer answers.
Who Should Use Airbase Now
- Existing Paylocity customers. The clearest case by a distance. If your payroll and HR already run on Paylocity, adding spend management on the same platform is exactly the integration the acquisition was built to deliver.
- Companies evaluating Paylocity anyway. Bundling spend management into that decision may produce a better commercial outcome than buying separately.
- Mid-market finance teams needing AP depth. Airbase’s bill pay and procurement capability genuinely exceeds what card-first competitors offer.
It fits poorly for companies that want spend management alone, where Ramp and Brex are simpler to buy and publish more; for startups, where both of those have free entry tiers; and for anyone unwilling to enter a sales process to learn a price.
Honest Pros and Cons
Strengths
- Genuinely strong AP and procurement. The deepest part of the product and the reason it commanded $325 million.
- Unified approval workflows. Cards, bills, and purchase requests under one policy framework.
- Now integrated with payroll. A real advantage if you run Paylocity, and the whole point of the deal.
- Backed by a larger company. Paylocity brings scale and stability a standalone spend startup could not.
- Mid-market fit. Built for companies with real finance processes rather than a founder with a card.
Limitations
- No published pricing at all. Quote-only through Paylocity’s demo form.
- No longer straightforward to buy standalone. The commercial model now points toward the HCM platform.
- Existing reviews are out of date. Almost everything written about Airbase predates the acquisition.
- Competitors are free at entry. Ramp and Brex both offer $0 tiers; Airbase does not.
- Integration is still settling. Product direction under new ownership takes time to become clear.
Airbase Alternatives and How It Compares
- Ramp is the leading independent alternative, free at entry, with strong AP capability and a savings-oriented positioning.
- Brex is free at entry too, though it was itself acquired by Capital One in April 2026 — worth knowing that both major alternatives now sit inside larger financial institutions.
- Bill.com focuses specifically on accounts payable, which was Airbase’s strongest area, and is often the closest functional match.
- SAP Concur is the enterprise incumbent for expense and travel, heavier and more expensive.
- Zoho Expense is dramatically cheaper for expense reporting alone, with published pricing.
- Rippling offers a comparable payroll-plus-spend combination if the unified platform is what appeals.
For a broader survey, browse our expense management directory.
The Verdict
Airbase was a good product and remains one, but in 2026 the question is not whether Airbase is worth buying — it is whether Paylocity is. The acquisition completed on 1 October 2024, the pricing page now belongs to Paylocity, and the commercial model has shifted from a standalone spend management purchase to a module within an HCM platform. Evaluate it on that basis and you will not be surprised later.
For existing Paylocity customers this is straightforwardly good news. Spend management on the same platform as payroll is a genuine operational advantage, the AP and procurement capability is stronger than most card-first competitors offer, and the integration is precisely what the $325 million was spent to achieve. If Paylocity already runs your payroll, this should be on your shortlist and may well win.
For everyone else, be deliberate. Ramp and Brex are both free at entry and considerably easier to evaluate, and Bill.com covers the AP strength that was Airbase’s best feature. The absence of any published pricing means you cannot compare without a sales process, which is a real cost in itself. Before booking a demo, ask directly whether Airbase can still be purchased standalone and on what terms — that is the question the website no longer answers, and the answer determines whether this is a shortlist candidate or a Paylocity upsell.
One practical caution that applies to research rather than the product: treat any Airbase review, comparison, or pricing guide that does not mention Paylocity as out of date. A great deal of what is published still describes the independent company and its former published plans, and none of that is what you would be buying.
FAQ
Was Airbase acquired?
Yes. Paylocity announced a definitive agreement on 4 September 2024 and completed the acquisition on 1 October 2024 for approximately $325 million, funded through its revolving credit facility. Both companies confirmed completion publicly. The product now trades as “Airbase by Paylocity” and its pricing page redirects to Paylocity’s website.
How much does Airbase cost?
There is no published price. Airbase’s pricing URL now serves Paylocity’s pricing page, which is a demo request form collecting your business email, employee count, and job title rather than displaying rates. Pre-acquisition Airbase published tiered plans, but those figures no longer reflect what is on offer, and any current cost has to be obtained through a sales conversation.
Is Airbase still available as a standalone product?
It has not been discontinued, and the capability still exists under the Airbase name. But the commercial model now runs through Paylocity, whose strategic rationale for the purchase was combining payroll and non-payroll spend on one platform. Whether a standalone purchase remains straightforward is a question worth asking Paylocity directly before beginning an evaluation.
What are the best alternatives to Airbase?
Ramp and Brex are the leading independent alternatives, both free at entry and much easier to evaluate without a sales process — though Brex was itself acquired by Capital One in April 2026. Bill.com is the closest match for Airbase’s accounts payable strength. Zoho Expense is far cheaper for expense reporting alone, and SAP Concur is the enterprise option.
Should I trust older Airbase reviews?
Treat them with caution. Most published reviews, comparisons, and pricing guides describe the independent company as it operated before October 2024, including plan structures and prices that no longer apply. If a review does not mention Paylocity, it predates the acquisition and does not describe what you would actually be buying today.
Compare Airbase with other popular tools in the same category.
I like the fact that Airbase is really growing with our company needs and we feel like we are being listened as a customer. Soon we are gonna to reach for multisub functionalities as our team needs grow and we are happy that we don't have to look for any other tool to meet those needs.
I think that platform could work faster, sometimes basic tasks like booking ledger entries or matching payments can take a lot of time which could be used in more efficient way.
Airbase is solving almost whole AP area in our company. It handles reimbursements for all entities, virtual cards are great tool also if employees want to avoid paying from their own pocket. Booking invoices and approving them. Everything in one place and constantly improving.
The system is fast! Love temporary credit cards and the ability to do approvals from my mobile device. Makes approvals for my team very fast!
The platform can seem a little scary at first, but overall it is very easy to use.
Getting processes done faster.
Being able to forward any electronic receipt over to Airbase is super helpful. Airbase holds them so that I don't forget to allocate my expenses and request reimbursement.
I wish there was a way to send a gentle reminder to an approver with just a click. Perhaps a poke action next to pending items older than 15 days or something similar.
Airbase helps me stay organized with reimbursable expenses. I end up making online business-related purchases, and simply transferring the receipts via email to Airbase is quick and easy. Definitely keeps me productive.
Getting the refund decently quick after manager approval.
Haven't experienced any downsides yet. Every transactions has been successful so far.
I am unsure what issues airbase has or what they're solving. No issues on my end.
Easy UI, and navigation / approvals are straightforward.
A bit too easy for departments to cross-charge to other teams without approval, although maybe this is a reflection of the settings my finance team has put in place.
Tracking vendor payments and spend Chargeback / showback Receipt collection and reimbursement policy
The UI is sleek and I can easily see my outstanding expenses.
It's not very clear how to add receipts. There is a reliance on icons. I'm used to more written instructions. I also don't understand why things say "declined" when I know they are not.
Airbase is our company expense tool allowing our finance team to track employee and department spend.
Requesting a virtual card or PO is pretty quick & straightforward
I don't like that you can't split a PO or virtual card request across departments.
Airbase is helping our finance team keep us on track.
Making work transactions feel safe and secure
There aren't any dislikes I can think of
More so "personal" problems than busniess, like forgetting your business card for a work occasion.
I like the support the Airbase team continues to provide our team as we run into issues and errors between our systems.
There are some growing pains, for example, reporting that does not match our accounting system, NetSuite.
Syncing issues - invoices duplicated.
The ease of creating a virtual Credit Card makes online transactions smooth and easy. The other feature i like best is that I can create these virtual credit cards and share them with employees that need to make purchases.
Currently, the load times of the site can be somewhat slow, especially when looking up members. Another dislike I have is how often deprovisioning fails when we offboard an employee with our Okta SSO instance.
Airbase solves the issue of getting credit cards in the hands of our employees with relative ease. We can manage, approve and track each department's spending at the click of a button. It saves our department and our finance department a bunch of time.
Airbase is a convenient way to pay for services provided by my company. I was able to purchase home office supplies, as well as day passes to co-working spaces.
The expiration time on the credit cards is too short. I was given a $50 gift via Airbase by my company and due to the holidays, I was preoccupied and not able to use the airbase card before the expiration date nor reactivate it afterward. I wish there was an easier way to receive Airbase gift cards rather than a "one-time use"
It saves me money as I am tight on funds and unable to wait to be reimbursed by my company. I am able to make big purchases (such as coworking passes) which improves the overall quality of my work environment.
The web app is intuitive and straightforward. It makes it easy to upload receipts, automatically capture how much you are owed, and send the notification to those who are internally processing it.
The mobile app has been finicky for me and makes me want to wait until I have my laptop to submit expenses. I also wish I could upload more than one screenshot of a receipt per request (maybe I can, but I haven't seen this yet).
It helps me get paid! That's the thing I care most about when spending on work trips and it makes it simple to get paid back.
I like that you can upload receipts form the app making it easy to upload expenses.
Sometimes the receipt do not register correctly and have to uplaod pictures a couple times.
Submitting expenses.
easy to use, intuitive, and a great product!
not much I can say -- it has freed up so much time for our team
it has freed up admin time
The app functionality and how you can easily take a picture of a receipt and submit something for reimbursement on the spot.
I struggled with forwarding email receipts to my airbase email account for a couple months but that functionality has since improved.
It's easy to submit one expense at a time instead of needing to wait for a group of expenses. I like being able to easily submit for a single item quickly.
The ability to have control of every dollar - it's great for timely matters and getting things done like quick expense approvals!
Nothing, the tools has been really great so far and I look forward to using it more
Real-time reporting is eseential for quick actions as well as the ability to expense quickly. My colleagues are very happy with how fast there expenses are approved and the money is in their pocket!
I like how easy it is to use the app to submit reimbursements/expenses with my physical card. It ensures that I am submitting my expenses on time and there is no issue in losing a receipt.
The one-time charge versus the unlimited charge can be frustrating for transactions that have multiple charges (sometimes unknowingly via a 'credit'). If a card is declined then there are multiple steps that need to be taken to make the transaction which can be frustrating if there is a time constraint. Also there have been some international transactions that wouldn't take an Airbase card causing a delay in payment to our international vendors which can be frustrating with our global team.
Expense reports, budget planning, event planning, quick reimbursements, spend management. I think that it has been an efficient way to monitor spend and differentiate company expenses.
- Simple and easy PO management with seamless approval workflows and the ability to add observers - Virtual credit card management for one-off and recurring charges - Ability to categorize and tag spend as needed
- Reporting can be a bit wonky at times - Opportunity for stronger finance analytics engine
As a departmental lead, it's helpful to have a single view of spend across all POs and virtual credit cards.
The mobile app, Easy to take photos for expenses, and also how you track the whole process until you get your money.
Mobile App crashes and has a few bugs that need to be fixed.
Travel with ease, knowing that I can easily track anything in the palm of my hand.
The UI is very organized and easy to navigate. The reimbursement process is straightforward with not difficulty is inputting the needed information
The dashboard page is not the most usable compared to the pages under "Payments". This could be a page that's a bit more unique to the user's actions.
Airbase streamlines the process of work expense management and removes the overcomplication often surrounding it.
So easy to submit expenses for reimbursement & keep track of approval!
I don't have feedback on "dislikes" - admittedly, I don't often submit expenses, but I haven't had challenges using Airbase.
We are allowed a 1x yearly WFH stipend, and professional development stipend- we get reimbursed for our purchases through Airbase. Any work-related event expenses are submitted and approved by my manager through Airbase.
Airbase is flexible to use andthe Dashboard look/design is clean. I also like the option of e-mailing receipts in.
Nothing I truly dislike but I would recommend help icons where users can hover over them to understand what a section/field means.
allows me to easily submit expenses so I can focus on my work. Ultimately this means I can get reimbursed faster.
I love how simple it is to use. I've used other expense tools that take forever to file a simple expense. This even has AI to use my receipt photo to fill out the form for me.
Sometimes it's confusing to mark the categories of my expense and I'm not sure what the purpose of each form item is. For example, my purpose for expensing often isn't an option or the team breakdowns is confusing if I'm expensing an item I purchased for someone on another team, which team do I select?
Airbase is an expense management tool that helps me get my money back from my company when I am paying with a personal credit card . Airbase also keeps me up to date at each point in the expense cycle to tell me when I've actually receivd the money etc...
The mobile app is really easy to use so expensing is really easy for an end user. Also the process to request a virtual card to expense reoccurring subscriptions works great!
There were some issues where the mobile app would crash periodically but it seems to have gotten much better recently.
Submitting expenses and tracking spending.
How accessible it is. I've never used a PO tool before this, but after a very brief training session, I was approving PO's and using the tool's flexible functionality.
I've wanted to get project tags running, but my understanding is that the Netsuite integration is a heavy lift. I'd also like to be able to claw back approvals and remove people who I've accidentally added as approvals on a specific PO. Maybe it exists and I missed it, but a Sheets plugin would be nice.
My team and I picked it up quickly. We're approving PO's. I don't have the resources to pour into learning a complex tool right now, so the accessibility was great.
The whole invoicing process is done automatically, it is very fast and simple and invoices for similar products can be issued in batches without any problems. In addition, they can be processed in the system automatically and can be searched and found quickly. It has a refund management, which allows us to have in an orderly manner all the refund invoices and all the returns that have been made.
It is a tool that does not lack any feature or function, because it has everything to manage the accounting area of a company without problems. If I had any recommendation, it would be that you should dedicate time to learn the program, since being so robust, it has many tools that can be challenging for some. Although its interface is friendly, its learning curve is high, but without a doubt, it is worth the effort to learn it.
All the functions I needed to keep the accounting of the company are in this program. It is very easy to use with a friendly interface, which allows me to have at hand and easy access to all the tools. Its strong point and that has been of great help to me is the duplicate payment alert, because it allows me to detect errors that I can make at the time of a payment.
Live time expense management and also very friendly customer support team!
Nothing i can think of at this moment but I think the reporting section could be a bit more customized.
The expense management used to be an issue for our team but with Airbase we are able to save a lot time but with live time expense review.
The ability to email receipts to my Airbase account (or have others who use my card) makes expense reporting easy!
Not being able to add in notes to expenses (for clarification/historical purposes).
On-the-fly receipts submission and not having to manually upload receipts makes gives me back time in my day to focus on more important work.
Auto fill and the prompts that stop you from reimbursing more than a certain policy might allow
Adding receipts is actually not as intuitive as I would like
Remembering to expense my receipts
Airbase is a very easy-to-use application. Labels are clearly stated, making the app very user-friendly.
The only thing that kept it from being a 10/10 is the load times between pages
Airbase allows us to easily monitor spending for multiple saas vendors. Airbase also allows us to easily give purchasing power to any user at the company.