6 best travel and expense management software systems

Definition: Travel and expense management software automates and simplifies travel booking, expense management, and reimbursements. It provides greater visibility of travel costs and ensures compliance with corporate travel and expense policies. 

Managing business travel and expenses can be challenging for organizations of all sizes—especially for companies that do it manually. Not only do you have to deal with reams of receipts, messy spreadsheets, different forms of transactions and payments (credit cards, personal credit and debit cards, and cash), spending limits, departmental budgets, and collective agreement rules, but you also have to make sure the expenses are legitimate, policy and tax compliant, and that they balance out. 

Travel and expense management software turns this cumbersome and error-prone process into a streamlined and automated procedure that saves time for everyone—from the employee on the road to the finance team reconciling and reimbursing their business expenses.

T&E software solutions enable companies to manage and track travel expenses, automate receipt scanning through mobile apps, check expenses against company spend policies, create workflows for fast approvals by the right person, flag unauthorized or out-of-policy business expenses, issue travel reimbursements quickly, provide real-time spending overviews, and help your finance team reconcile everything without a bunch of manual busywork. Some platforms offer self-booking travel tools that can save on travel costs by negotiating lower airfares and hotel rates.

What is travel and expense management software?

Travel and expense management software is an all-in-one solution for corporate travel. It streamlines the process, helping companies book, manage, and track travel, monitor expenses, access travel support, and organize all the details. Reducing manual input speeds up workflows, minimizes costly errors, and lessens the administrative burden on employees, their managers, and the finance team.

While no two travel and expense management software platforms are the same, they do share some standard features. These include:

• Automated expense reporting: Employees can easily file travel expenses using a mobile app. These apps use character recognition technology to keep manual input to a minimum, reducing errors. 
• Travel booking: Some platforms offer a self booking portal in addition to expense management.
• Automated travel policy compliance checks: Automatic checking of expenses for compliance with internal policies to prevent unauthorized spending and fraud.
• Automated travel reimbursement: Automatic payment of reimbursements for expenses that comply with company travel policy.
• Scalability: The platform grows with your organization. 
• Accounting system integration: The software integrates with your accounting platform for accurate, real-time data flow.

Best 6 travel and expense solutions

The top travel and expense management solutions incorporate most of the features listed above. They also have other features that might be more suitable for your business. The following T&E options enable organizations of any size to simplify and control spending with features like automated receipt scanning, customizable workflows and expense policies, and system access and integrations with accounting software. 

Expensify

Expensify is a comprehensive and user-friendly travel and expense management solution that streamlines expense tracking and reimbursement. It incorporates travel booking into its expense and reporting system. Features include receipt scanning, corporate card reconciliation, and customizable approval workflows. It’s a highly-rated solution that makes managing expenses easy for employees and administrators.

Key features: 

• Comprehensive travel booking
• Automatically captures receipt details with a single click, eliminating the need for manual data entry
• Corporate credit card platform automates expense tracking and offers cash back on purchases
• Global reimbursement feature enables companies to make cross-border payments to over 190 countries

Integrations: Expensify integrates with popular accounting platforms (including QuickBooks and Sage), HR platforms (including ADP and Workday), and travel apps (including Egencia and TravelPerk).

G2 Rating: 4.5 out of 5 

Ramp

Ramp is another popular travel and expense management tool. It offers a variety of features to help businesses simplify their financial operations. With Ramp, companies can control expenses, automate accounting processes, and gain real-time visibility into their spending. The platform combines corporate cards, expense management, accounts payable automation, and powerful expense reporting to save businesses time and money. Ramp Travel lets employees and managers book and manage corporate travel, although companies can book travel using other methods. 

Key features:

• Travel booking through the Ramp platform
• Virtual and physical corporate cards have customizable spend controls and automatic policy enforcement
• Automated expense management with receipt matching, generation, and compliance checks
• Accounts payable automation that includes invoice extraction, approval workflows, and vendor payments
• Real-time reporting and AI-powered insights to identify cost-saving opportunities

Integrations: Ramp easily connects with popular business tools and software, such as Sage Intacct, QuickBooks Online, NetSuite, Amazon Business, Gusto, and more. 

G2 Rating: 4.8 out of 5

Brex

Launched in 2017, Brex offers corporate credit cards, expense tracking, and accounting automation in a single platform. With Brex, businesses can simplify and monitor their travel and other business spending with customizable workflows and expense policies, automated receipt capture, and integrations with accounting software.

Key features:

• Global coverage supports multiple currencies, local expense policies, compliance, and worldwide reimbursements
• Spending limit customization with embedded and automated policies
• Automated receipt collection and reconciliation 
• Travel booking with negotiated discounts 
• Corporate credit card integration for expense tracking and management 
• 24/7 support for travelers and office staff

Integrations: Brex integrates with accounting platforms such as NetSuite and QuickBooks, as well as popular HRIS platforms, including ADP, UKG, and Deel. 

G2 Rating: 4.7 out of 5

SAP Concur

SAP Concur is a cloud-based travel and expense management platform that simplifies and automates the entire expense process with extensive integrations and a variety of T&E management tools. SAP Concur gives organizations increased visibility into spending, helping to reduce costs, increase compliance, and improve efficiency across the board.

Key features:

• Automated expense capture from corporate cards, travel bookings, and receipts
• Intuitive user interface for streamlining expense reporting and quick employee reimbursements
• Robust analytics and reporting capabilities provide real-time visibility into spending trends
• Comprehensive ecosystem of partner applications and integrations that enhance the T&E process

Integrations: SAP Concur expense software has integrations for travel, invoicing, and expenses. It syncs with accounting platforms including QuickBooks, NetSuite, and SAP’s enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution. 

G2 Rating: 4 out of 5

Navan (formerly TripActions)

Navan, formerly TripActions, is an all-in-one travel, corporate card, and expense management platform that helps businesses optimize their T&E processes. It gives them better insight and control over travel and expense spending. Navan helps save time and money with a suite of features that includes automated expense categorization, customizable spending controls, and rapid travel reimbursements. 

Key features:

• Global reimbursements across 45 countries and 25 currencies
• Automated expense management processes eliminates error-prone manual expense reports
• Customizable spend controls enforced at the point of purchase, reducing out-of-policy spending and potential fraud
• Real-time monitoring of global spend to help inform expense policies
• Travel booking with exclusive deals and 24/7 support

Integrations: Navan integrates with the most common finance, payroll, HRMS, and CRM platforms, including NetSuite, Sage, Xero, and ADP. 

G2 Rating: 4.7 out of 5

TravelPerk 

TravelPerk is a travel and expense management solution that lets employees easily book trips while complying with corporate travel and spending policies. TravelPerk features numerous travel expense tracking options, automated workflows, and centralized invoicing, improving efficiency and providing spending insights. 

Key features:

• Extensive inventory of travel options
• Automated approval workflows
• Robust, real-time expense reporting capabilities for travel spending insights
• 24/7 customer support
• Flexible cancellation policies 

Integrations:

TravelPerk integrates with various platforms and services, including BambooHR, Deel (coming soon), Bill, Spendesk, and Yokoy. 

G2 Rating: 4.6 out of 5

While we consider these the best travel and expense management software platforms available, several other competitors in the T&E space might suit your business. If none of the above platforms meet your needs, consider offerings from Zoho Expense, Fyle, and Emburse Certify. 

How to choose T&E software

Picking the right travel and expense management software for your business the first time is critical. You don’t want to select an option only to find out it doesn’t have the capabilities you need or isn’t compatible with some of your existing systems. The consequences can be painful and expensive: uninstalling the platform, retraining your employees and managers, and enduring unnecessary disruptions to your corporate workflows. Choosing the right travel and expense management software involves several important considerations:

Organizational requirements

What specific features does your business require, and will the system integrate with your existing systems?

Automation capabilities 

From invoicing to approvals and travel reimbursements, the T&E platform should automate the tedious parts of expense management, such as approval chains, travel policy compliance, and the reimbursement process. By replacing manual workflows with automation, travel and expense management is more efficient, accurate, and visible. 

Ease of use

Is the travel and expense software easy to use? Does it require a lot of training? What kind of support is available? The best software options are user-friendly, provide thorough documentation, and solid round-the-clock support.

Expense reimbursement workflow

Is the expense reimbursement workflow customizable? Are receipts and documentation captured easily? Are business expenses automatically compared with company policy? Your T&E software should allow you to create workflows that automatically capture and check business expenses, route requests to the correct approver, and then to finance for reimbursement. 

Integration

Ensure the travel and expense management software will integrate with your current accounting, financial, and other internal and external business systems and platforms. 

Data security 

Data security is a primary concern of any business. Robust security is essential for protecting sensitive data. Your T&E software should meet the highest national and international security standards for data protection. 

Scalability 

Do you require a T&E management solution that will let you add and remove user accounts as needed? Scalability won't be a big factor if you’re a small business and plan to stay that way. But if you’re a start-up or expect future growth, your T&E software should grow with you. 

Budget 

Considering your budget for T&E software, compare pricing categories for each option. Ask about subscription fees and any hidden costs now and in the future. 

When to consider travel and expense software for your business

If you’re wondering when (or if) you should opt for T&E software, here are some signs that it might be time:

• Your employees, managers, and finance people are having difficulty managing travel expenses 
• Your employees frequently violate company travel expense policies
• Your travel costs are exceeding your travel budget 

• Your employees are frequently late filing their business expenses
• Expense reports are riddled with errors 
• You’d like to lower your travel costs by negotiating better deals
• You’d like to automate your travel and expense process
• You have difficulty managing global currencies and country-specific expense policies

If your current manual travel and expense system isn’t doing the job, then it’s time to explore how travel and expense software can save you time, money, and aggravation.

Frequently asked questions

Can I integrate travel and expense management software with other systems?

Yes. Although the integration depends on your T&E software and other systems, most platforms allow at least some integration with accounting software, HR tools, and other management systems. These integrations help streamline expense tracking, compliance, reporting, and more.

What are the key features to look for in T&E software?

The most important features to look for in travel and expense management software include the following: 

• Mobile app for on-the-go expense submission 
• Receipt management with OCR capabilities 
• Customizable and automated corporate travel policy compliance
• Role-based access levels to expense categories and data
• Expense workflow customization
• Integration with other company systems
• High security standards for data protection
• Real-time monitoring of T&E spending with tracking software 
• Solid customer support 

Do small and medium businesses need travel and expense software?

Yes. From travel and expense automation to tracking and budgeting, businesses of all sizes can benefit from the security, efficiency, and accuracy that T&E software offers. 

Can T&E software reduce fraud and spend policy violations? 

Yes. Manual travel and expense management are error-prone, and reimbursements can slip through the cracks. Because T&E software automates the expense process, it’s easier to immediately catch fraudulent or out-of-policy spending. 

This blog is based on information available to Rippling as of August 26, 2024.

Disclaimer: Rippling and its affiliates do not provide tax, accounting, or legal advice. This material has been prepared for informational purposes only, and is not intended to provide or be relied on for tax, accounting, or legal advice. You should consult your own tax, accounting, and legal advisors before engaging in any related activities or transactions.