1v1 Pricing Showdown
Airbase (Paylocity Spend Management) vs Rippling Spend
Side-by-side pricing breakdown for Expense Management & Corporate Cards decision-makers
Prices in USD, verified from the United States. Regional pricing may vary.
When choosing between Airbase (Paylocity Spend Management) and Rippling Spend for your expense management & corporate cards stack, the right answer depends on three things: your budget, the specific features you actually use day-to-day, and your tolerance for renewal-price increases. Below we lay out the prices each vendor advertises today (verified against their live pricing pages), the plan limits that decide whether they'll fit your team, and the features that differ between them.
Airbase (Paylocity Spend Management) starts at custom pricing; Rippling Spend starts at custom pricing. The cheaper headline price isn't always the cheaper total cost — renewal pricing, per-user fees, and overage charges can shift the math. Use the plan-by-plan tables below to model your actual spend.
Feature Comparison
| Feature | | |
|---|---|---|
| corporate cards | Airbase-issued | Rippling-issued physical + virtual |
| expense management | Yes | Yes |
| accounts payable | Bill pay + vendor management included | — |
| procurement | PO system + approvals | — |
| all in one positioning | Cards + expense + AP + procurement in single platform | — |
| paylocity integration | Native post-acquisition | — |
| approval workflows | Yes | Yes |
| accounting integrations | NetSuite + Sage Intacct + QuickBooks + Xero | QuickBooks + NetSuite + Xero + Sage Intacct |
| 1 percent cashback | On card spend | On card spend |
| sox compliance | Yes | — |
| acquired by paylocity nov 2023 | Now positioned as Paylocity Spend Management | — |
| bill pay | — | Add-on |
| hris integration | — | Native — shared employee records with Rippling HRIS |
| automatic provisioning | — | When employee joins Rippling, Spend access provisioned automatically |
| travel management | — | Yes |
| requires rippling platform | — | Cannot deploy standalone |
| workflow studio | — | Custom spend automation via Rippling Workflow Studio |
Affiliate links — you pay the same price
Dive Deeper
Airbase (Paylocity Spend Management)
Rippling Spend
About the expense management & corporate cards category
Corporate card and expense management in 2026 has converged around 'free software, monetize the interchange' economics. Ramp and Brex both offer $0 base tiers because they earn interchange fees (1-2% of card spend paid by merchants to card networks, passed back to Ramp/Brex). For a company spending $500k/year on corporate cards, interchange revenue to Ramp is $5,000-10,000/year — more than subscription revenue would be at $5-15/user/month. The pricing structure reflects this: Ramp Free ($0) offers corporate cards + expense management + basic AP at no software cost; Brex Essentials similar. Paid tiers (Ramp Plus $15/user/month, Brex Premium $12/user/month) unlock AI features, advanced integrations, and dedicated support. Expensify, the traditional leader in pure expense reporting, charges $5-18/user/month depending on whether you use Expensify Card (cheaper with card) or not. Airbase was acquired by Paylocity in November 2023 — now positioned as Paylocity Spend Management with custom enterprise pricing. Rippling Spend is part of the Rippling HR/IT platform — requires Rippling for full integration, custom pricing typical. The 2024-2026 trend: AI-powered expense categorization, auto-coding line items, policy compliance detection, and automatic vendor management have become table stakes.
How to choose between expense management & corporate cards options
First: do you want corporate cards or pure expense reporting? Corporate cards + expense (all-in-one): Ramp Free or Brex Essentials — best-in-category, zero software cost. Pure expense reporting without card issuance: Expensify Collect ($5/active-user/month annual with Expensify Card) integrates with your existing cards. Second: company stage and size? Pre-seed to Series A: Ramp or Brex Free tier — zero software cost + free corporate cards + integrated expense workflow. Series B+ (25-500 employees): Ramp Plus at $15/user/month or Brex Premium at $12/user/month for AI + advanced integrations. Enterprise (500+ employees): Rippling Spend (if on Rippling platform), Ramp Enterprise, or Airbase/Paylocity. Third: do you need AP automation (pay vendors, not just expense reports)? Ramp AP is included in Free tier; Brex has AP in Premium+; Airbase's 'all-in-one' positioning bundles AP with cards; Expensify has Bill Pay add-on. Fourth: accounting integration depth? NetSuite + Sage Intacct: Ramp Plus or Brex Premium required (Free tiers have basic QuickBooks/Xero only). Workday + Oracle Fusion Cloud: Ramp Enterprise or equivalents. Fifth: does HR integration matter? Rippling Spend if you're on Rippling (shared org chart, automatic employee provisioning); otherwise standalone options. Sixth: international? Brex supports international issuing and spend in 70+ countries; Ramp is US-focused (growing international); Airbase/Paylocity US-focused.
Building Your Business Stack?
Decision-makers comparing tools often need more than one category. Here are related comparisons:
Frequently Asked Questions
- Which is better, Airbase (Paylocity Spend Management) or Rippling Spend?
- Rippling Spend scores 8/10 compared to Airbase (Paylocity Spend Management)'s 7.8/10 in our analysis. Rippling Spend ranks higher on features and value, but Airbase (Paylocity Spend Management) may suit specific use cases — see the feature comparison above.
- Are there other expense management & corporate cards alternatives besides Airbase (Paylocity Spend Management) and Rippling Spend?
- Yes. Our [Expense Management & Corporate Cards pricing comparison](/pricing/expense-management/) page covers all major providers with daily-verified prices. You can also see the [cheapest expense management & corporate cards](/pricing/expense-management/cheapest/) for budget-focused options.