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.
Airbase is a truly innovative AP platform, what makes the software better than others is the team that stands behind it. Our success manager Jessica Huddleston has shown neverending patience and supreme attention to detail and organization skills throughout our implementation. Nikshep who does a lot of the programming has the rarely seen today ability to cut through the noise of information being presented to him and get to the bottom of any request for improvement, not only that but he has the programming skills to bring these requests to fruition. We have never heard "no it is not possible" from him. The sky is the limit as far as his abilities go and for us this translates in an ever improving platform tailored to our company's needs. We're pairing Airbase with NetSuite and thus far our experience with NetSuite has been very ridgid, Airbase were the ones to offer solutions on their end to resolve many of NetSuite's limitations and shortcomings. Airbase has a lot of good features: OCR, memorizing coding from prior invoices entered, ability to add tags to distribution lines, vendor import done by the Airbase team which saved us hours of work, user permissions that can limit a user to one facility or several and taylor their access to exactly what we need them to have or be limited to. Payments are processed realiably and drafted from our bank the day they are supposed to. All in all a great piece of software thanks to the team's flexibility and willingness to take in customer feedback and use it to improve their platform for all of its customers.
As a recommendation, I would say the shorter the period between Airbase drafting the customer's bank account and the time when they pay the vendor, the better.
providing AP software that offers OCR to cut down manual user input to a minimum and allow users to focus on other more important tasks. Our users have been wanting an AP platform that has a mobile app and more automated expense reports which Airbase provides. Expense reports were a very manual process prior to Airbase and submitting them was a very involved and lengthy process requiring the user to sit down at a computer, use a scanner for receipts, fill out an excel workbook, covert the Excel to pdf, merge the receipts with the pdf and sent that file to corporate while now users can simply take pictures of their receipts the majority of the work is done by the software in reading the receipts and compiling the data that goes with the receipts and just submit for reimbursement.
All of spend management in one place, allowing me to quickly go from Invoicing to Vendor management, from Expenses to individual Virtual Cards.
There are a few minor bugs when it comes to UI, but the data is intact.
I can seemlessly perform invoice intake, vendor management, and expense review.
The system is extremely easy to use, and has multiple functionalities to support our processes.
Occassionally the integration with our accounting system goes a little wrong and entries get double recorded.
We were struggling to integrate our various spend software together. Airbase gave us a single location for bill payments, credit cards and reimbursements.
All non payroll spend in a single platform leads to less waste and easier to keep track of investments
Some advanced features are cost prohibitive for smaller customers
I was able to consolidate expensify, bill.com and a corporate card and save money.
I LOVE that Airbase allows you to create virtual cards for approval so you can avoid using your personal card and then working with your team to expense/get reimbursed.
I wouldn't say there is anything that I dislike. There are things that take a bit to get used to, but they're not deal-breakers. For example, you can't see your latest virtual card approval on the dashboard (unless I'm missing something). However, if you go to "Virtual Cards" on the side panel you'll be led to your list of virtual cards. Again, not a deal-breaker just a piece that would add convenience.
Airbase allows for me to have a seamless "submission" or process for reimbursement with my company. I can create virtual cards that will be charged instead of my personal card. This goes for recurring things like gym memberships or one-time purchases like conference tickets. I think it allows me to move faster when I'm purchasing something for work because there is no worry about "how long will this process take?," "when will I be reimbursed?," etc. It allows me to submit a request that is sent directly to my approver and upon approval I am notified and can start using my card. It's easy to upload receipts to complete the process and it's very easy to navigate the platform.
I love that Airbase allows everyone on my managers and finance to have visibility of purchases that need to be made for work-expenses.
Sometimes, I wish my manager would approve Airbase requests faster without me having to prompt them to approve a purchase. I'm not sure if Airbase sends reminders of pending Airbase requests.
Problems are using my own personal credit/debit card to make work-related purchases. It's so much nicer to have access to one-time use cards that aren't connected to my own personal banking organiztation.
It is incredibly easy to submit expense reports and I love that you can upload a receipt and the system auto-populates the fields.
There is nothing I can think of at this time.
Uploading and submitting expense reimbursements is incredibly quick and straightforward. It is by far the most efficient system I have used, compared to the big competitors.
Its very easy to use and navigate. I would reccommend to any one that uses a milage tracker
It does not save the addresses that I frequesntly use. It would help if it had a way to save the most used destinations
Airbase helps my management team to track my miles and be able to get me reimbursed in a timely manner
I love that employees are able to have an idea of what goes into their budgets and we are able to customize accounting policies, tags, etc. I like the internal controls that this system brings. I absolutely love the virtual cards as well. Overall, the system was an overall benefit to our accounting operations. I also love that their support is readily available via a chat system.
Airbase is a newer system so there are occasional glitches. However, support is able to fix very quickly whenever an issue is brought up.
Airbase is solving a lot of our internal controls issue. Spend owners have a look into how much they are spending and what we are spending our money from. This helps them have more visibility for budget reviews.
I love how Airbase flows and lets me operate throughout the day. The platform is beneficial and easy to navigate. With everything being more centralized, I'm spending less time bouncing around from one thing to another. I highly recommend AirBase to anyone managing or operating any business, big or small.
Nothing, I love all its features and haven't experienced any issues so far.
It's been helping me a lot with tracking and managing my finances; I've been able to watch helpful seminars to help me out in business. The benefits of Airbase are extensive, it's helped with streamlining financial operations, has reduced manual work, improved control over spending, and gained better visibility into my finances. By automating processes and providing actionable insights, Airbase allows us to focus more on strategic initiatives and growth rather than getting bogged down by administrative tasks.
I like that if I forget to approve a reimbursement or forget to upload a receipt, I get a reminder. It is so easy to use.
I don't think there is anything I dislike about Airbase.
This is a way to keep track of office supplies I order. I also use Airbase to manage 3rd party vendors we use for Vin Verifications. This is how they get paid once they've done their work for us.
Ease of Use Automatically parsing Receipt and auto FX conversions
Does not allow to bulk update receipts and requires to go back and forth for each receipt Bulk import will be great and detecting duplicate receipts instantly
Can travel without worrying about reimbursement, with airbase it's easy to get it reimbursement quickly
airbase is easy to navigate. you don't have to click a million different links to submit an expense.
When submitting a reimbursement for mileage it does not give the option to either select one day or several days.
The processing time for a reimbursement is faster than other software.
Very intuitive and easy to use, great control, and visibility of my team's spend across various business categories.
Nothing really. It's all so easy to use and straight forward.
Streamlines the process of getting approvals for a spend/vendor and pay with a virtual credit card. Eliminating the need for long approval, expense, reimbursement cycles. Control rogue spend. Automate procure to pay with an intuitive Saas product.
Airbase has been implemented in our organization to manage, track and report employee business expenses, and it has lived up to our needs; it has allowed us to achieve tighter and more transparent control of corporate costs. One of the best things we have seen in Airbase is their architecture for approval flows; they are set up so that each team is automated in their approval flows while at the same time prohibiting bypassing controls, thus causing a high level of confidence that each employee is accountable for their expenses.
The only thing I don't like is that it is limited only to purchase request and approval; it would be great if it covered more of the purchase cycle, save us more work, and we would cease paying other add-ons to make it possible. Although it has a mobile application, it is not as optimal as the web application.
One benefit we found from Airbase is that it provides excellent protection against fraud and possible erroneous charges by allowing us to enforce corporate expense tracking and management measures. The approval flow has helped tighten expense control and ensure that the procedures and guidelines are adhered to, achieving high confidence and making each employee more accountable for their purchases. It helps us to confirm that payments are secure and do not exceed certain thresholds, which allows us to optimize the approval process, take measures to avoid excesses and take better care of the organization's assets.
User friendly. Staff adoption was so simple and work is now more streamlined. The onboarding team and the customer support is top notch! I never have to wait very long to have an issue resolved.
If I want to make a partial payment of an invoice, I don't have that option. I would need to add multiple times for each payment amount. It's not terrible though.
A large one is expense management. No more chasing people for approvals or vendors for invoices. Reimbursements have become a breeze as well. The platform is so user-friendly and I can't say it enough, the customer service is stellar.
Due to my role, I use Airbase for only a few things. However, it is extremely user-friendly. It has made things like managing subscriptions and other platforms I use easy because of the virtual cards. Also, very easy to track expenses and company reimbersements.
No complaints. Switching from another platform to Airbase company-wide was seamless as an employee and made tracking and submitting expense reports easier.
Airbase allows me to track my expenses and reimbursements in a user-friendly way. I am also able to manage different subscription payments easily from one dashboard.
Airbase is very easy to use! I find it straight forward and easy to comprehend. I like how quick the process is as well.
The only dislike is having to wait for two individuals to accept the airbase and only because one of those individuals takes a very long time to accept the request
streamlined process and easy to follow. Also very easy to teach new individuals who needs to use it
Intuitive and user-friendly interface, robust spend management capabilities, seamless integration with Netsuite and SVB, exceptional customer support, and Advanced analytics and reporting
Very few but if I had to nitpick any additions made to the chart of accounts need to be added to all accounting policies. Since I have accounting policies for each of my departments, it requires me to manually add these accounts to each department's policy.
Inefficient approval workflows: Traditional approval processes for expenses can be convoluted and time-consuming, involving numerous emails, manual signatures, and delays. Airbase streamlines the approval workflow by providing a centralized platform where approvers can review and approve expenses digitally. This eliminates the need for back-and-forth communication, reduces approval cycles, and increases overall efficiency. Manual and cumbersome vendor payments: Managing vendor payments can be a complex process involving manual check-writing, invoice processing, and reconciliation. Airbase simplifies this process by providing virtual cards and automated workflows for vendor payments. This streamlines payment processes, reduces manual errors, and improves efficiency for accounting teams.
Airbase combines spend management, SaaS spend management, invoice and expense management in one place.
Ever since I implemented Airbase in 2018, I have never experienced any drawback.
Automating complex manual accounting tasks on this tool allows me to save time and eradicate financial errors.
Airbase has been a game-changer for our organization. We love how easy it is to submit receipts and approve POs/reimbursements submitted by team members. Before Airbase, we used two different software to manage these activities, and now we have a consolidated that is so intuitive to use especially for onboarding new hires.
I have not found anything I "dislike" about the product yet. It's the best!
Consolidated software - we are constantly auditing our tech stack for optimization, and Airbase helped us to move more efficiently as a company.
I really like how airbase allows you to get dedicated cards for merchants which makes the entire process of manually filling out expense reports, etc completely painless by auto-generating them with this really awesome feature.
It took a little while to get used to the UI, but that could have been more of a user-error on my part. Once I got up and running everything was quite nice!
I'm on the user-end of things, but I believe it's handling our expense reports much better than expensify.
I love the accessibility I have with monitoring charges.
Nothing at the moment! The company does well
I am solving the way to bridge the gap for employee payments
It's very quick, and I do not need to hunt for answers to how to perform simple tasks
I had a hard time understanding the categories the first time I used it, but I think that's a bit of user error on my company end
Easy payouts for personal expense reimbursement. I work in a startup environment that is incredibly fast-paced and time-intensive. I do not have much time in the day to spare, so quick and easy is the game. Because of our small setting, we do not have corporate cards, so quick payouts are wonderful when I'm using my person card to book company expenses.
Once you upload your receipt(s), Airbase automatically scans and fills in all the necessary boxes, such as vendor/cost/date/etc. It takes most, if not all, the manual work out of submitting expense reports.
I don't have any dislikes or recommendations for Airbase - it makes submitting my expenses after a business trip almost instantaneous, and takes away the headache of doing so.
Airbase allows me to accurately and easily submit my expenses after a business trip, outing, or other out-of-pocket expenditure. This helps me to ensure I stay on schedule to getting my expenses reported to my finance team, and gets me paid fast.
I like how easy it is to upload expenses and how it automatically fills most of the data based on the receipt. Saves me a ton of time when I am uploading my receipts.
Sometimes my receipts get archived when I email them from my work email to the app. The app is clunky sometimes as well but works amazing on desktop.
Helps me get my expenses uploaded in a quick and easy way. After a long work trip, the last thing I want to do is submit my expenses but Airbase makes it relatively quick and easy.
The ability to upload receipts in so many convenient ways just makes expense reporting a non-issue.
It's difficult to figure out how to delete a receipt that is accidentally uploaded. I just archive them.
I used to procrastinate doing my expenses. Now I just take a photo of my receipt, click the share button and select Airbase. All done.
Ease of use. Makes my expenses so much easier to fill out!
Honestly, nothing. The tool is so great!
Making expense management so much easier for me!
It's easy to use. Approvals come through quickly and give plenty of details. Makes business travel super easy for all involved. Way better than any other travel app we have used.
If you have to resubmit something for approval it's hard to delete the original request.
Business travel management.
Airbase is excellent for centralizing all non-payroll spend to one easy to use location.
I would like to see more automation built out for coding transactions on physical cards.
Airbase excels at automating AP/spend & is a huge time saver for accrual accounting with the "amortized expenses" feature.