Payhawk vs Pleo (2026): which should you pick?

Pick Payhawk if

• Fits if you want cards, expenses and payables on one platform
• Works for firms on the accounting systems it lists

Look elsewhere if

• Pricey if you can't see a price, as the page leads to a demo
• Watch out: NetSuite, Dynamics 365, SAP S/4HANA and advanced HR links are add-ons
• Watch out: currency conversion carries a 0.3% mark-up on EUR, GBP, USD and CHF and 0.7% on DKK and PLN
• Tight if you need budgets or travel, as both are paid add-ons
• Skip it if you use Android, as only a web and iOS listing is on record

Pick Pleo if

• Fits if you want every employee to have their own card with their own limit
• Works for European teams with staff spending in several countries

Look elsewhere if

• Skip it if you want to try before paying, as there's no free plan or trial shown
• Pricey if you're 1 or 2 people, since you pay for at least 3 users
• Tight if your team spends in other currencies a lot, with a 1.75% FX fee on Build
• Watch out: direct reimbursements cost 0.90% each, and the US card is prepaid with no cash access
• Too light for paying supplier bills, which aren't among its features

Payhawk

• No prices are published; the pricing page is built around modules and a demo request.
• NetSuite, Dynamics 365, SAP S/4HANA and advanced HR integrations are marked add-ons.
• Currency conversion carries a stated mark-up of 0.3% on EUR, GBP, USD and CHF and 0.7% on DKK and PLN.
• Budget management and business travel are separate add-ons to the core platform.

Pleo

• Card and invoice payments in another currency carry a 1.75% FX fee on Build and 1.49% on Optimise, and direct reimbursements cost 0.90% each.
• Build and Optimise need at least 3 users; no free plan or free trial is shown on the US pricing page.
• In the US the Pleo card is a prepaid Mastercard issued by Pathward, N.A., with no cash access.
• Pleo works in 16 European countries, including Denmark, the UK, Germany, France and Spain, as well as the US.

Payhawk

Corporate cards

Physical and virtual debit cards in several currencies, with single-use virtual cards and spend limits by amount, merchant, category or country.

Automatic expense creation

An expense is created on each card payment, with receipt capture, mailbox matching and reminders, plus mileage and per diem reimbursements.

Accounts payable and procurement

Invoice capture and approval, purchase order requests and 2-way and 3-way matching, with supplier payments in 115 currencies.

Accounting automation

Automated coding and VAT coding, with live integrations to Xero, QuickBooks Online and Exact Online, and native ERP add-ons such as NetSuite.

Business travel module

Flight and hotel booking with custom travel policy, trip approvals and automatic per diems calculated from bookings.

AI agents

Procurement, Payments and Financial Controller agents for the finance team, with an MCP connection for Claude and ChatGPT.

Pleo

Company cards for each employee

Physical and virtual Pleo cards with Google Pay and Apple Pay, with individual, per-purchase and temporary spending limits.

Receipt capture

The app asks for a receipt after every card purchase, reads it with OCR, and the Fetch feature pulls online receipts from email automatically.

Out-of-pocket and mileage

Employees claim their own spending and mileage in the app, approvals follow company policy, and reimbursements are paid directly.

AI spend checks

AI spend guidelines on every plan, and AI expense reviews on Optimise (100 a month) or unlimited on Lead.

Vendor tracking

Recurring vendors and subscriptions are tracked, with renewal management and spending insights on Optimise.

Accounting exports

Auto-categorized expenses with custom categories and tags export to Xero, QuickBooks and other accounting systems.

Payhawk

Pricing could not be confirmed. See payhawk.com.

Pleo

• Build$12

  per user / month, billed yearly ($14 billed monthly)

  For 1 to 49 employees, 3-user minimum. Physical and virtual cards, receipt capture, reimbursements, mileage, approvals and AI spend guidelines.

• Optimise$16

  per user / month, billed yearly ($18 billed monthly)

  3-user minimum. Adds cashback for eligible customers, budgets, 100 AI expense reviews a month, HR integrations, vendor insights and live chat.

• Scale$249

  per month and up

  For 50 to 1,000 employees. Adds multi-entity management, advanced card controls and approvals, assisted onboarding and a success manager.

• Lead$499

  per month and up

  Adds unlimited reimbursement users with no reimbursement fees, unlimited virtual cards and AI reviews, premium integrations and purchase orders.

• EnterpriseCustom

  For companies of 1,000 or more employees, built and priced after a call with Pleo.

Payhawk

No public discounts listed.

Pleo

• Annual discount

  Save $2 a user each month with yearly billing

  Build costs $12 per user a month billed yearly instead of $14 monthly, and Optimise $16 instead of $18.