Airbase alternatives: what are your options?

Key takeaways

• Vergo is the AI-native, card-agnostic alternative — it connects to the cards your business already has and proposes coding by inference from your accounting history, with no rule library to build.
• Airbase is a spend management platform now part of Paylocity that bundles AP automation, expense management, and its own corporate card program.
• Alternatives divide into those that issue their own cards (Ramp, Brex, BILL) and those that work with your existing cards (Expensify, SAP Concur, Zoho Expense, Vergo).
• The second dividing line is whether coding runs on rules you configure or on AI that infers from your accounting history.
• Card-agnostic platforms let you keep your existing banking relationships and rewards programs while adding expense management software on top.

What is Airbase?

Airbase is a spend management platform founded as Airbase Inc. and acquired by Paylocity, now marketed as part of "Paylocity for Finance." It provides bill pay and AP automation, expense management, corporate cards with pre-built spend controls, and procurement functionality. The platform integrates with ERPs such as NetSuite, Sage Intacct, and QuickBooks. Post-acquisition, it positions itself as a way to unify HR, payroll, and non-payroll spend under one vendor. The platform provisions its own physical and virtual card program rather than connecting to external card issuers.

Alternatives that issue their own card

If a bundled card is what you want, the platforms built that way include Ramp, Brex, and BILL. Each pairs its software with its own card program, meaning adoption requires switching your payment rails to the vendor's issuing bank. This model gives the platform direct control over authorization flows and spending limits at the card level. The trade-off is that you leave behind existing banking relationships, rewards structures, and any credit lines or terms negotiated with your current issuer. Vergo takes the opposite approach: it connects to your existing cards with no applications, no re-issuing, and no banking change, so you keep the relationships and rewards you've built. For organizations without established card programs or those willing to consolidate onto new plastic, the integrated approach simplifies onboarding since card provisioning and software setup happen together.

Alternatives that work with your existing cards

Card-agnostic platforms let you keep every card you have and layer expense management software on top. This group divides into two generations. The established wave — Expensify, SAP Concur, Zoho Expense — works with any card but relies on rules-based coding: you build libraries of keywords and conditions, and transactions that don't match queue for manual review. The newer generation uses AI inference instead of rule libraries. Card-agnostic architecture means no application process, no re-issuing, and no disruption to existing rewards programs or banking relationships. You gain software capabilities without changing how payments actually move.

Rules-based coding versus AI inference

The generational split matters more than any feature list. Rules engines file what matches your pre-configured conditions and queue the rest for a person to code by hand. You maintain keyword lists, vendor mappings, and conditional logic; new vendors require manual intervention until you add them to the rule set. AI inference proposes the coding by learning from your own accounting structure and transaction history, so new vendors are coded on first sight without prior configuration. Every proposal shows why it was chosen, turning review from re-coding into confirmation. Airbase's current coding approach is not documented on the post-acquisition landing page, which focuses on the Paylocity integration.

A practical example

Consider a construction firm with project-based accounting that uses Chase cards for field supervisors and an Amex for the office manager. A card-issuer platform requires migrating both programs to the vendor's card, re-negotiating credit lines, and retraining staff on new plastic. A card-agnostic, rules-based tool lets you keep both cards but requires building rule sets for each GL account, cost code, and project, then maintaining those rules as vendors and job codes change. A card-agnostic, AI-native tool connects both existing cards without re-issuing and proposes project and GL codes by inference from past transactions, so the field supervisor's lumber purchase and the office manager's software subscription both get coded without manual rule setup.

When is Airbase the better choice?

Airbase is stronger for organizations that want spend management unified with Paylocity's HCM and payroll platform in a single system. If you already run HR, benefits, and payroll through Paylocity and value having one vendor relationship for both people costs and non-payroll spend, the post-acquisition bundle delivers that consolidation. The integration means employee data, org charts, and approval hierarchies flow between payroll and spend management without middleware. For companies not in the Paylocity ecosystem or those prioritizing flexibility in banking relationships, the bundled-card model and single-vendor approach may constrain more than they simplify.

How Vergo handles this

Vergo is an AI-native, card-agnostic expense management platform. You connect your existing cards with no card applications, no re-issuing, and no banking change. Card spend, employee reimbursements, and AP invoices run through one coding model — same coding, same review, one reconciliation — and payment stays on the rails you already use. Vergo proposes the coding by inference from your own accounting structure and history, with no rule library to build, no keyword lists to maintain, and new vendors coded on first sight. Every coding shows why it was chosen, so a reviewer confirms in seconds instead of re-coding by hand. Transactions are ready to code the moment they happen, and once they clear, they sync into your accounting or ERP software. Vergo integrates with every ERP and accounting software. Approval workflows are optional and fit how you already control spend: route by GL account, by amount, or by project — or skip approval flows entirely and let policy flags catch only what breaks a rule. Employees handle everything by text message, no app to download, no portal login, and Vergo chases missing receipts itself.

Sources

Facts about Airbase above are drawn from its own published pages: https://www.airbase.com/ (retrieved 2026-07-28) · https://www.paylocity.com/company/about-us/newsroom/press-releases/paylocity-announces-definitive-agreement-to-acquire-airbase-inc/ (retrieved 2026-07-28)