StackMatch

Expense Management Software: Ramp vs. Brex vs. Expensify (2026 Buyer's Guide)

Two of these three platforms are free. The comparison that actually matters is what 'free' requires you to give up.

By The StackMatch Research Team

Ramp and Brex don't charge for the software — Expensify does

$0Ramp/Brex software cost — both funded by card interchange, not user fees
$40-75Expensify's typical all-in monthly cost across businesses we track
10+Employees, typically, before Brex will open an account

Ramp, Brex, and Expensify figures reflect real all-in monthly totals from the small businesses in our curated catalog.

Ramp and Brex look identical on price until you read what funds them: neither charges for the software layer, because both make money on interchange fees every time your team swipes the card. That means the 'free' plan is really a bet on how much spend runs through it — and Brex won't take that bet on a business under roughly 10 employees without real cash reserves. Expensify is the only one of the three that actually bills a subscription, and that's the tradeoff: it works with whatever card you already have, instead of asking you to move your whole card program to get the free tier.

Spend controls, not sticker price, are the real differentiator once the software itself is free.

Ramp: free software, real strings attached

Ramp is genuinely $0/mo for the software in every small business we track, funded entirely by interchange on Ramp's own corporate card. The catch: that pricing assumes spend actually runs through Ramp's card — running Ramp's expense software against a different bank's card reintroduces a fee most teams don't expect until the invoice arrives. Auto-categorization and spend-limit enforcement are real time-savers, but only for the businesses that actually configure department budgets; teams that just turn Ramp on get the receipt-capture benefit and none of the control benefit.

Brex: the same free model, a higher bar to clear

Brex runs the identical $0/mo model, funded the same way — but it's underwritten for a different customer. In the businesses where we see it show up, it's never under roughly 10 employees, and Brex's underwriting still leans on cash reserves or a funding history that most bootstrapped small businesses don't have yet. Don't clear that bar, and the quote that comes back isn't $0/mo software with a great card — it's a card with a credit limit too small to be useful.

Brex's free software isn't free if your business doesn't qualify for the underwriting that funds it — get a real quote before building a workflow around it.

Expensify: the one that costs money, and the one reason to still pick it

Expensify runs $40-75/mo all-in for the businesses we track, and it's the only one of the three that doesn't require switching cards — SmartScan receipt capture, mileage tracking, and approval routing all work against whatever card or reimbursement process you already run. That's worth the subscription specifically when the business isn't ready to move its whole card program to a single vendor, or when a meaningful share of spend is mileage and out-of-pocket reimbursement rather than card swipes — neither Ramp nor Brex has a mileage feature worth mentioning.

Cost and fit

PlatformRampBrexExpensify
Software cost/mo$0$0$40-75
Requires switching cards
Practical minimum business sizeNone~10 employees + reservesNone
Mileage tracking

All-in monthly cost across the businesses we track

Questions to ask before picking a card + expense platform

  • Would you actually switch corporate cards to get free software, or is your existing bank relationship worth more than the $40-75/mo Expensify charges?
  • Does your business clear Brex's roughly 10-employee, real-reserves bar, or would you get a card with a limit too small to matter?
  • Has anyone actually configured spend-limit policies in Ramp, or is it running as an expensive receipt scanner with the controls switched off?
  • How much of your team's spend is mileage or out-of-pocket reimbursement rather than card swipes? That's the strongest reason to pay for Expensify over a free card platform.

The real decision isn't Ramp vs. Brex vs. Expensify — it's whether you're willing to move your card program to get free software, or need a platform that works with the cards you already have.

Run the free audit to see which of these actually fits your card volume and current banking relationship.

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