Airbase vs Navan (2026): which should you pick?

Pick Airbase if

• Fits if you want expenses, cards and payables from one finance vendor
• Works for finance teams that already use Paylocity

Look elsewhere if

• Watch out: Airbase is now a Paylocity company and the site points to Paylocity for Finance
• Watch out: no prices are published, only a demo request
• Skip it if you want a free plan or a trial, as neither is listed

Pick Navan if

• Fits if most of your spending is business travel
• Works for companies under 300 people who want travel booking for free

Look elsewhere if

• Pricey if lots of people claim expenses, at $15 a month for each one past 5
• Skip it if you need supplier bills paid or invoices sent from the same tool
• Not for you if you're over 300 employees and want it free, as that means Enterprise by quote
• Watch out: linked American Express cards report once a day, not in real time like Visa and Mastercard
• Watch out: Navan Expense's billing term isn't stated, and there's no desktop app

Airbase

• Airbase is now a Paylocity company, and the site points to Paylocity for Finance.
• No prices are published, and the Paylocity pages need a demo request.
• Product details here come from short pages that load mostly through JavaScript.
• Check whether new customers buy Airbase or Paylocity for Finance.

Navan

• Navan Business is free because travel suppliers pay Navan commission; companies with more than 300 employees need Enterprise, priced by quote.
• Anyone who submits an expense in a month counts as an expensing user, and each one after the first 5 costs $15 a month.
• Navan cards are issued by Celtic Bank in the US and by Stripe, Adyen and Airwallex companies elsewhere.
• Linked American Express cards report transactions once a day; Visa and Mastercard cards report them in real time.

Airbase

Expense management

Listed first among Paylocity's finance products, covering employee expenses and policy compliance.

Corporate cards

Company cards sit alongside expenses in the finance product list.

AP automation

Paylocity lists AP automation and vendor management as part of finance.

Guided procurement

A purchase-intake product that feeds the same spend records.

Spend analytics and fraud detection

Capabilities listed under Paylocity for Finance include spend analytics, fraud detection and accounting automation.

Navan

Travel booking

Flights, hotels, car rentals and trains from one inventory, with travel policies, approval workflows, self-serve changes and 24/7 support agents.

Expense policies

Employees see their spending limits in the app, and out-of-policy transactions are flagged for review as they happen.

Navan corporate cards

Physical and virtual cards in US dollars, pounds or euros, with no annual fee, up to 1.5% back and virtual cards for subscriptions.

Navan Connect

Link existing Visa, Mastercard or American Express corporate cards so their transactions flow into Navan for coding and reconciling.

Reimbursements

Out-of-pocket costs are claimed by photographing the receipt in the app and repaid through payroll or to a bank account.

Integrations

Expenses sync to ERPs such as NetSuite, Sage Intacct and Xero, and employee data comes from HR systems such as Workday, Rippling and BambooHR.

Airbase

Pricing could not be confirmed. See airbase.com.

Navan

• Navan Business$0

  For up to 300 employees: unlimited trips, policies and approvals, 24/7 travel support, reports, 30+ HR integrations, and expenses for 5 users.

• Navan Expense$15

  per expensing user / month beyond the first 5, term not stated

  Expense reports, reimbursements, receipt scanning, linked corporate cards and ERP sync for each user who submits an expense that month.

• Navan EnterpriseCustom

  Unlimited travelers and expensing users, global coverage, negotiated rates, custom setup, an account executive and a success manager.