Best spend management software for cost control & savings

The market for spend management solutions is projected to grow to $3.97 billion by 2027. Every growing business faces challenges in managing its expenditures. With constant pressure to improve profitability and maintain a competitive edge, companies need to manage their spending effectively, now more than ever. 

Spend management software enables organizations to gain greater visibility into their spending, analyze their expenses in real time and optimize their cost management processes. Here, we'll look at the best spend management software available and explore its features.

Criteria for comparing spend management software

When comparing spend management software, it is important to consider the following factors: 

Integration

• How well does the software integrate with other SaaS applications, such as CRM, accounting, project management or productivity tools? 
• Does it offer APIs, webhooks or pre-built integrations? 
• Can it sync data bidirectionally or unidirectionally? 
• Can it handle conflicts or duplicates?

Customization

• How much flexibility does the software provide for customizing workflows and approval processes? 
• Can it adapt to different industries, departments or use cases? 
• Can it handle multi-language or multi-currency settings? 
• Can it support white-label or branded interfaces?

Security

• How strong are the software's security measures to protect data privacy, confidentiality and availability? 
• Does it use encryption, authentication, authorization or audit trails? 
• Does it offer backups, disaster recovery or uptime guarantees?

Usability

• How easily can users learn, navigate and use the software? 
• Does it have an intuitive interface, mobile access or helpful resources? 
• Does it allow for customization of user settings and preferences? 
• Does it provide dashboards or analytical reports for quick insights?

Support

• How responsive and knowledgeable is the vendor's customer support team? 
• Does it offer different support tiers, such as basic, premium or VIP? 
• Does it provide online documentation, training videos or user communities? 

Top 10 spend management software

Spend management software allows companies to keep track of their financial expenditures, thereby reducing costs and adhering to budgets. 

Here are the top 10 spend management software that you can rely on:

1. Spendflo
2. Payhawk
3. Pleo
4. Zoho Expense
5. Airbase
6. Emburse
7. Wallester Business
8. Coupa
9. Spendesk
10. Ramp

1. Spendflo

Spendflo is an industry-leading spend management software for businesses to manage their SaaS expenses easily. It streamlines approvals and contract management while its team of expert buyers helps you save up to 30% of your SaaS expenses. It achieves this by leveraging benchmark data and organizational insights into the contract negotiations. With a user-friendly interface and Slack integration for faster approvals, Spendflo enables SaaS purchases to be monitored and spending right-sized.

Key features

• Consolidates all your SaaS vendors into one unified platform for easy management and improved visibility
• Puts security and compliance first to safeguard your business from potential risks and threats
• Features such as API, access controls & permissions and activity dashboard with alerts and notifications 
• Greater transparency and efficiency with intelligent reporting and analytical insights

Pricing 

Contact for pricing

For more information, contact to schedule your free savings analysis.

Rating - 4.7 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐⭐️(70 Reviews on G2)

Checkout Customer Case Studies on how Spendflo is helping companies  save thousands on their SaaS Procurement

1. Learn how Drip Capital achieves 4X ROI & saves 100+ hours in Procurement
2. How Airmeet achieved 3X faster procurement and SaaS spending optimization.

2. Payhawk

Payhawk is a spend management platform that empowers businesses to manage financial transactions and control expenses. This all-in-one solution combines cards, expenses and AP to let businesses keep track of spending. It also helps generate real-time reports and track expenses from a single platform. 

It facilitates easier transactions between entities by supporting multiple currencies. With Payhawk, businesses can have powerful spend visibility and better cash flow control across all their entities with its multi-entity management features. The OCR software feature makes it easier for Payhawk to automate data capture and analysis from expense reports by reading receipts and invoices, and filling in required fields automatically.

Key features

• Real-time expense and transaction tracking 
• Mobile apps for automated receipt capture and approvals to save time
• Customizable data capture with "custom fields" 
• Powerful multi-entity management to unify spend across different group entities
• Subscription spend management module 

Pricing 

• Premium cards - €199
• All-in-one spend - €299
• Enterprise - Contact the sales team for a quote

3. Pleo

Pleo is a cloud-based spend management solution with an automated system that streamlines the management of business expenses. Its hassle-free expense reconciliation process helps minimize human error while freeing up employees’ time to focus on core tasks.

Pleo also offers fraud detection crucial for keeping business finances secure. With permission management, companies can set spending limits for each employee, assign team managers as reviewers and set expense review thresholds. Pleo also offers up to 1% cashback on every transaction, accumulating as a business spend.

Key features

• Physical and virtual payment cards issued by Mastercard with individual spending limits for making online and in-person purchases efficient
• Automatic sorting of expenses into categories for streamlined expense processing
• Support for digital wallets, such as Google and Apple Pay to facilitate one-click merchant payments
• Analytics dashboard to manage company spending with full visibility and set individual card spending limits
• Third-party integrations that permit businesses to manage finance more efficiently

Pricing 

• Starter - Free (for up to 3 users)
• Essential - £39 per month (for 3 users) and up to £11.5/additional user per month
• Advanced - £79 per month (for 3 users)  and up to £13.5/additional user per month

4. Zoho Expense

Zoho Expense is a spend management software that enables businesses to record and report their expenses in a timely and efficient manner. It allows users to upload receipts or manually enter expenses, which are automatically converted into an expense by the auto-scan feature. 

The software provides a range of useful features to manage expenses such as categorizing them, adding notes and attaching receipts. It also allows businesses to track mileage expenses with Zoho Invoice, making it a useful tool for companies with employees who frequently travel for work.

Key features

• Streamlined travel management with detailed itineraries and expense tracking
• Spend control policies and analytics to monitor and enforce budget limits
• Expense reporting with receipt recording, report creation and reimbursement tracking
• Integration with Zoho Books for automated expense recording, simplified reporting and accelerated approvals

Pricing 

• Free starter plan
• Standard - $15 per organization per month for 3 users (billed annually)
• Premium - $40 per organization per month for 5 users (billed annually)
• Enterprise - $60 per organization per month for 10 users (billed annually)

5. Airbase

Airbase Expense is a spend management platform that streamlines expense workflows and automates repetitive tasks. It aims to reduce financial risk and create measurable value for companies. The platform's all-in-one spend management delivers control, visibility and automation to finance teams. The software also stores all data and documentation in one central location, making tracking and managing expenses easy.

Key features

• Guided procurement offers informed purchasing decisions
• Real-time reporting tracks spending and cost-saving opportunities
• Corporate cards for a secure way to make purchases while controlling spending
• Automated workflows to streamline the purchasing process while reducing manual tasks
• Multi-subsidiary and multi-currency support to manage all spend management needs comprehensively

Pricing 

• Offers three plans: Standard (up to  ~200 employees), Premium (up to 500 employees), Enterprise (up to 5000 employees)
• Contact them to request a quote

6. Emburse

Emburse is a spend management tool that caters to businesses with millions in annual revenue. The platform offers travel and expense management solutions, invoice and payment management with AP automation. It offers real-time expense management, enabling businesses to manage expenses via any device. 

The platform also features an automated expense policy and approval hierarchy, which streamlines the process of submitting expenses and processing approvals. It empowers business administrators with proactive controls, including real-time visibility and automated reconciliation. 

Key features

• Virtual and physical cards with spending rules to control expenses and prevent fraudulent transactions
• Capture receipts using mobile devices and set reminders to submit expenses
• Role-based permissions and approval flow to ensure policy adherence
• Automatic expense categorization to simplify expense reporting and reveal spending patterns

Pricing for Emburse cards

• Starting at $12/month per user per month
• Contact the sales team for enterprise plans (more than 100 employees)

7. Wallester Business

Wallester Business provides smart tools to allow businesses to set individual limits and control expenses in real-time. It also offers a white-label VISA card issuing service, providing businesses with a global payment gateway and processing solutions at zero maintenance costs.

Key features

• Real-time expense tracking and reporting to help companies monitor spending within budget
• Corporate expense cards with IBAN account, expense monitoring and limit regulation
• Customizable settings for individual limits and real-time transaction tracking for greater control over finances
• API integration that customizes a company's workflow and allows for integration with accounting apps
• Approval workflows

Pricing 

• Free plan
• Premium - €199/month
• Platinum - €999/month
• Contact the sales team for Enterprise Suite pricing

8. Coupa

Coupa is among the best cloud-based spend management services that provides businesses with a comprehensive procurement, supply chain and finance solution. It streamlines payment processes, protects cash flow, reduces risk and optimizes spend for better performance. Its automated payment consolidation allows companies to bring payments for employees, suppliers and other beneficiaries in one place. 

Key features

• Link contracts to spend management while ensuring compliance
• Streamline procure-to-pay with powerful e-procurement and invoicing 
• Monitor travel and expenses from anywhere and build an all-encompassing travel and expense program

Pricing 

• Contact the sales team for a quote

9. Spendesk

Spendesk is a state-of-the-art spend management software that helps with same-time payment validation through a single dashboard. The software records the employee who spends and the manager who approves each payment instantly, making it easy to monitor payment approvals and track team spending. It also empowers employees with company cards with built-in controls and automatically categorizes payments to the correct general ledger codes.

Key features

• Virtual cards for online expenses and subscriptions to streamline purchasing and reduce administrative burdens
• Create and submit expense reports for greater financial control
• Automated payment reminders and tracking of payment status for optimized cash flow
• Automated bookkeeping and reconciliation to minimize manual data entry and errors
• Real-time spending insights for actionable data

Pricing 

• Contact the sales team for a quote

10. Ramp

Ramp is one of the free spend management services that enables companies to effortlessly control their expenses, reduce costs and automate administrative work. This cloud-based solution provides virtual corporate cards to employees, simplifying the purchasing process and offering greater flexibility in managing spends.

The platform ensures transparency and real-time visibility of employee expenditures, allowing businesses to analyze trends and identify areas where costs can be cut. Ramp's automated expense categorization feature accurately categorizes expenses, reducing the workload for accounting departments and increasing precision in financial reports.

Key features

• Accounting integrations to automate receipt matching and savings insights
• Vendor management system to restrict spend amounts to specific vendors
• Automatic receipt collection to recognize and link receipts from email accounts
• Add or remove users in real-time, create virtual cards, and restrict spend amounts for specific vendors

Pricing 

• Free 

From unifying invoice management to providing visibility into your organization's spending through custom analytics, each spend management software option on our list allows businesses to reduce costs and save money.

For SaaS expenses, Spendflo stands out from the competition thanks to its powerful analytics capabilities and customizable approval workflows that integrate with Slack. 

Get a free savings analysis today to see how much you could optimize your SaaS spend.

FAQS

Q1. What is spend management software?

Spend management software is a tool that helps businesses monitor and control their expenses by automating key functions such as budgeting, vendor management and contract negotiations. It offers real-time insights that help companies identify savings opportunities and improve financial performance.

Q2. How does spend management software help in cost control measures?

Spend management software helps control costs by providing real-time visibility into spending patterns to help identify areas of overspending. It streamlines the procurement process and lead to better supplier negotiations and more efficient purchasing

Q3. What are the key features of spend management software?

A good spend management software enables:

• Automated approval workflows
• Vendor management and security checklists
• Usage and spend analytics
• User sentiment
• Budget tracking
• Spend forecasting
• Optimization insights
• Integrations with a wide range of tools

Q4. How can organizations benefit from spend management software?

Organizations can benefit from spend management software by gaining greater control over their spending which leads to cost savings, improved procurement processes and better financial decision-making. It can also help ensure compliance with procurement policies and regulations and improve supplier relationships.

Q5. Which businesses can benefit from best spend management software?

Spend management software can benefit businesses of all sizes and industries, including but not limited to software, construction, healthcare, retail and manufacturing. This software is particularly helpful for CFOs and COOs who need better visibility into company spending.

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