We believe there are better options available in this category, read below to learn what this software does well, and what they could do better. ⤵
.webp)
The spend management platform for mid-size teams (customizable virtual cards, budgeting, auto-reconciling, and expense reimbursement).
Ramp is one of the clear leaders in the spend/expense management, budgeting space, and accounting automation space (Oh and it's totally free 👀)
They have a great UI/UX, tons of reporting/insights features, and a super clean and fast search functionality to find exactly what you're looking for:
You need to have $25K sitting in your business bank account at the time of applying in order to be approved. That said, your credit limit is going to be relative to how much is in your bank account, so we still recommend that businesses who are going to have $50–100K sitting in their business bank accounts at all times consider this based on the credit limit you'd get otherwise.
Ramp has the same virtual card functionality (and physical cards for employees). You'll want to spin up a virtual card for each company you use with Ramp, and you can even restrict (lock) these cards to a specific merchant.
The rewards are pretty standard with others in the space, getting around up-to 1.5% on most categories, with a bit more in certain categories (higher % when making payments weekly—less if made bi-weekly or monthly).
Ramp is more so for larger teams, think a distributed remote team with employees all over the world. But with more employees, comes more need for insights and data on spending. Ramp allows you to see your company's spend all in one place. Further, they have AI insights which will alert you of cost saving opportunities like duplicate subscriptions, sudden increases in spend, and possible lower pricing plans available. We think this is super cool, and is a big reason why we'd recommend Ramp for teams with 30-40+ employees.
One bit that I noticed when using Ramp is that they are a bit more focused on SMS interactions instead of having a fully-featured mobile app (unlike that of Divvy for example). Ramp only has an iOS app and it's mainly just for taking photos of receipts and matching transactions.
This might be a positive for those who have employees that aren't as tech-savvy, and you just need them to text a receipt in for it to tie to the expense management side of things (something that Divvy doesn't allow for).
All-in-all, they are focused a bit more broadly than that of BILL Spend & Expense (Divvy), moving more into the accounting automation side of things and integrating with a few more accounting tools natively. They really have an impressive suite of tools.
If you're a larger team, apply for Ramp using this link. Just remember, you need to have $25K in your bank account to get approved.
Accounting software for small and medium teams typically based in the US
We find that teams based in the US tend to use QuickBooks Online, and businesses outside of the US tend to lean more toward Xero.
This is important because it means that the features QBO is building is more focused on things like US Sales Tax laws, while Xero may have more accounting features helpful outside of the US especially.
Also, accountants inside of the US are often more proficient with QBO as compared to Xero (although they should be familiar with both).
P.S. We highly recommend QBO over QuickBooks Desktop because of their robust API—you're not going to be integrating QuickBooks Desktop easily with anything.
Rating: D-
Some people have mentioned that QuickBooks Online allows for some expense management features like virtual credit cards, that said, a tool like Bill Spend & Expense (formerly Divvy) does so much more for expense management than simply allowing for a one-off virtual card though. Unlike QBO, a proper expense management tool allows you to go deeper, as it ties in individual and team budgets (across the entire company), all to ensure your company only allocates what they have budgeted for.
QBO also does not have proper receipt matching that automatically ties the receipt from your email to the individual transaction.
QBO does not have credit card rewards with their virtual credit card solution either.
Rating: C
This is one of those areas that it makes sense that they cover, but you can tell it was an add-on versus being their core service. Payroll is boring, and hey, QBO does the job, it's just not a straightforward user-experience, and let's just say we used it for 4 years before switching to Gusto, and there's not a single bone in my body that misses QBO for payroll. It was also incredibly painful closing it down with them, reporting to all the Department of Labor agencies, and everything. Save yourself the time and skip out on QBO for Payroll.
Rating: D
If you compare QuickBooks Online to any of the best time tracking software on the market, you'll see just how wildly barebones, slow, and underwhelming it is. Even just the process of logging into QBO feels like you're pushing a boulder uphill, now you need to do it any time you track software? No thanks, I'll pass.
They designed it more to be for people who just need to submit their time one-per-day or once-per-week, they are building to check a box, not to be leading the time tracking space.
.svg)
.svg)
.svg)
.jpg)
.svg)
.svg)
.svg)
.svg){kind=icon}
.svg)
.svg)
