UK BUYER’S GUIDE · 3 PRODUCTS
Spend and expense management
Can employees spend within policy while finance sees the commitment, receipt, approval and accounting entry?
Compare company cards and expense capture with approvals, budgets, supplier payments, accounting exports and reviewable AI.
YOUR SHORTLIST STARTS HERE
Compare the options.
Highest documented score first. Fit adds up the 20 feature checks below, including AI, across documented plans. Entry prices may exclude scored capabilities. The upper end of a range represents unverified points.
3 of 3 products · Highest documented score first
| Product / good fit for | Pricing context | Documented fit | Next step |
|---|---|---|---|
Pleo Pleo Teams wanting company spending and receipt administration connected to finance. | £8.00user/month VAT basis not stated monthly | 80–100/100 documented fit80% evidence coverage | Details ↗ |
Spendesk Spendesk Finance teams combining purchasing controls and distributed employee spending. | Request pricingplatform plus transactions VAT basis not stated quote | 80–100/100 documented fit80% evidence coverage | Details ↗ |
Soldo Soldo Organisations needing ring-fenced budgets and control over distributed staff spending. | £27.00organisation/month excl. VAT monthly | 75–100/100 documented fit75% evidence coverage | Details ↗ |
Prices retain their original currency, billing basis and VAT status. Check the evidence and plan requirements before buying.
| Capability & demo question | Pleo80–100/100 documented fit | Spendesk80–100/100 documented fit | Soldo75–100/100 documented fit |
|---|---|---|---|
Core workflowPhysical and virtual company cards5.0 points availableAsk in the demoIssue a card with an owner and inspect a test transaction. | ✓ Supported Physical and virtual cards. 5.0 / 5.0 pointsEvidence ↗ | ✓ Supported Unlimited physical and virtual card options. 5.0 / 5.0 pointsEvidence ↗ | ✓ Supported Employee and company cards. 5.0 / 5.0 pointsEvidence ↗ |
Core workflowCard and spending limits5.0 points availableAsk in the demoRestrict an employee's budget and show a declined over-limit purchase. | ✓ Supported Flexible card limits from Build. 5.0 / 5.0 pointsEvidence ↗ | ? Not verified Not verified in the reviewed material; confirm card and spending limits. 0.0–5.0 / 5.0 points | ✓ Supported Advanced card rules. 5.0 / 5.0 pointsEvidence ↗ |
Core workflowReceipt capture and matching5.0 points availableAsk in the demoUpload a receipt and link it to the correct transaction. | ✓ Supported Receipt capture and reminders. 5.0 / 5.0 pointsEvidence ↗ | ✓ Supported OCR and automatic receipt matching. 5.0 / 5.0 pointsEvidence ↗ | ✓ Supported OCR receipt matching. 5.0 / 5.0 pointsEvidence ↗ |
Core workflowOut-of-pocket reimbursements5.0 points availableAsk in the demoSubmit and approve an employee-paid expense. | ✓ Supported Build includes reimbursements. 5.0 / 5.0 pointsEvidence ↗ | ✓ Supported Expense reimbursements. 5.0 / 5.0 pointsEvidence ↗ | ✓ Supported Out-of-pocket and bulk reimbursements. 5.0 / 5.0 pointsEvidence ↗ |
Core workflowLive spend visibility5.0 points availableAsk in the demoShow committed and completed spend for a team. | ✓ Supported Real-time expense overview. 5.0 / 5.0 pointsEvidence ↗ | ✓ Supported Real-time budget visibility. 5.0 / 5.0 pointsEvidence ↗ | ✓ Supported Transaction and expense reports. 5.0 / 5.0 pointsEvidence ↗ |
Core workflowAccounting-system integration5.0 points availableAsk in the demoExport a reviewed expense with its tax code and receipt. | ✓ Supported Accounting integrations. 5.0 / 5.0 pointsEvidence ↗ | ✓ Supported Xero and QuickBooks integrations. 5.0 / 5.0 pointsEvidence ↗ | ✓ Supported Named accounting integrations. 5.0 / 5.0 pointsEvidence ↗ |
Core workflowSpend approval workflow5.0 points availableAsk in the demoRequest spend and show its approval decision. | ✓ Supported Approval workflows from Build. 5.0 / 5.0 pointsEvidence ↗ | ✓ Supported Spend workflow controls. 5.0 / 5.0 pointsEvidence ↗ | ✓ Supported Pre-approved spend requests. 5.0 / 5.0 pointsEvidence ↗ |
Workflow depthTeam or project budgets5.0 points availableAsk in the demoAssign a budget and demonstrate remaining availability. | ✓ Supported Optimise adds budgets. 5.0 / 5.0 pointsEvidence ↗ | ✓ Supported Real-time budgets. 5.0 / 5.0 pointsEvidence ↗ | ✓ Supported Ring-fenced funds and wallets. 5.0 / 5.0 pointsEvidence ↗ |
Workflow depthRecurring vendor cards5.0 points availableAsk in the demoIssue a subscription-specific card and identify its recurring spend. | ✓ Supported Vendor cards and recurring tracking. 5.0 / 5.0 pointsEvidence ↗ | ✓ Supported Recurring virtual cards. 5.0 / 5.0 pointsEvidence ↗ | ✓ Supported Subscription and advertising cards. 5.0 / 5.0 pointsEvidence ↗ |
Workflow depthConditional multi-stage approvals5.0 points availableAsk in the demoRoute a large or exceptional expense through more than one approver. | ✓ Supported Advanced invoice approvals in Optimise. 5.0 / 5.0 pointsEvidence ↗ | ✓ Supported Dynamic approvers and multiple conditions. 5.0 / 5.0 pointsEvidence ↗ | ? Not verified Advanced workflow builder; stage detail unverified. 0.0–5.0 / 5.0 pointsEvidence ↗ |
Workflow depthMultiple-entity control5.0 points availableAsk in the demoShow entity-specific balances, rules and consolidated visibility. | ? Not verified Not verified in the reviewed material; confirm multiple-entity control. 0.0–5.0 / 5.0 points | ✓ Supported Multi-entity reporting and controls. 5.0 / 5.0 pointsEvidence ↗ | ✓ Supported Multi-entity account setup listed. 5.0 / 5.0 pointsEvidence ↗ |
Workflow depthSupplier invoice capture and payments5.0 points availableAsk in the demoReceive, approve and pay a supplier invoice. | ✓ Supported Accounts payable and invoice OCR. 5.0 / 5.0 pointsEvidence ↗ | ✓ Supported Accounts Payable module. 5.0 / 5.0 pointsEvidence ↗ | ? Not verified Not verified in the reviewed material; confirm supplier invoice capture and payments. 0.0–5.0 / 5.0 points |
Workflow depthVAT coding and split allocation5.0 points availableAsk in the demoSplit a receipt across categories or VAT rates. | ? Not verified Not verified in the reviewed material; confirm vat coding and split allocation. 0.0–5.0 / 5.0 points | ? Not verified Not verified in the reviewed material; confirm vat coding and split allocation. 0.0–5.0 / 5.0 points | ✓ Supported Split transactions with multiple VAT rates. 5.0 / 5.0 pointsEvidence ↗ |
Workflow depthMileage claims5.0 points availableAsk in the demoSubmit a business journey and review the reimbursement calculation. | ✓ Supported Build includes mileage. 5.0 / 5.0 pointsEvidence ↗ | ? Not verified Not verified in the reviewed material; confirm mileage claims. 0.0–5.0 / 5.0 points | ✓ Supported Mileage reimbursement listed. 5.0 / 5.0 pointsEvidence ↗ |
Workflow depthMissing-receipt reminders5.0 points availableAsk in the demoShow how an overdue receipt is chased and resolved. | ✓ Supported Automated receipt reminders. 5.0 / 5.0 pointsEvidence ↗ | ✓ Supported Custom receipt reminders. 5.0 / 5.0 pointsEvidence ↗ | ✓ Supported Receipt reminder options. 5.0 / 5.0 pointsEvidence ↗ |
Workflow depthSSO or detailed role controls5.0 points availableAsk in the demoRestrict a team reviewer and revoke a departing user's access. | ? Not verified Not verified in the reviewed material; confirm sso or detailed role controls. 0.0–5.0 / 5.0 points | ✓ Supported SSO and SAML. 5.0 / 5.0 pointsEvidence ↗ | ✓ Supported Detailed permissions and SSO add-on. 5.0 / 5.0 pointsEvidence ↗ |
Workflow depthAPI or detailed data export5.0 points availableAsk in the demoExport transaction, receipt and approval data. | ? Not verified Not verified in the reviewed material; confirm api or detailed data export. 0.0–5.0 / 5.0 points | ✓ Supported Open API. 5.0 / 5.0 pointsEvidence ↗ | ✓ Supported Data export and API references. 5.0 / 5.0 pointsEvidence ↗ |
AIAI extraction or expense coding5.0 points availableAsk in the demoReview extracted receipt fields and a suggested accounting category. | ✓ Supported Learns expense categories and extracts receipt data. 5.0 / 5.0 pointsEvidence ↗ | ? Not verified Not verified in the reviewed material; confirm ai extraction or expense coding. 0.0–5.0 / 5.0 points | ? Not verified Not verified in the reviewed material; confirm ai extraction or expense coding. 0.0–5.0 / 5.0 points |
AIAI policy or anomaly review5.0 points availableAsk in the demoInspect a suspected out-of-policy or duplicate transaction. | ✓ Supported AI review flags policy exceptions. 5.0 / 5.0 pointsEvidence ↗ | ✓ Supported AI-based fraud and error detection add-on. 5.0 / 5.0 pointsEvidence ↗ | ? Not verified Not verified in the reviewed material; confirm ai policy or anomaly review. 0.0–5.0 / 5.0 points |
AIAI spend analysis5.0 points availableAsk in the demoAsk a spend question and reconcile the answer to underlying transactions. | ✓ Supported MCP connects spend data to external AI tools. 5.0 / 5.0 pointsEvidence ↗ | ✓ Supported AI Connect exposes spend data via MCP. 5.0 / 5.0 pointsEvidence ↗ | ? Not verified Not verified in the reviewed material; confirm ai spend analysis. 0.0–5.0 / 5.0 points |
“Not verified” means the recorded evidence does not settle this specific check. It does not mean the feature is absent. Read the scoring method.
Focus on up to three products →ASK BETTER QUESTIONS
Before you buy spend and expense management software.
What to look for
- Test a normal card purchase, reimbursement and supplier invoice end to end.
- Ask how policy limits interact with approvals, budgets and available funds.
- Reconcile a sample export with the actual UK accounting system.
What changes the cost
- Per-user fees, minimum seats or transaction-based pricing.
- FX, cash withdrawals, transfers and reimbursement charges.
- Advanced approvals, multi-entity functions and ERP connections.
What to watch out for
- Treating the spending wallet as identical to a business bank account.
- Assuming OCR alone provides policy enforcement.
- Ignoring receipts and approval evidence when checking the accounting export.
Common questions
Do I need both expense software and company cards?
Not always. Identify whether reimbursement-only employees and existing cards are supported.
Are approvals preventive or retrospective?
They can be either. Demonstrate what stops a purchase and what merely flags it afterwards.
Does an accounting integration transfer everything?
Check receipts, VAT, categories, entities, corrections and reconciliation status individually.