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Zoho Expense vs Expensify: Which Expense Management Software is Best?

by Envoice
10 min read

Imagine you’re running a small business. As it continues to scale, managing employee expenses is one of your main goals, as well as keeping control over your business finances. Upon searching for an efficient expense management solution online, you might have come across Zoho Expense and Expensify.

This guide will compare Expensify vs Zoho Expense in terms of their core features, ease of use, pricing, and other key factors. We’ll also discuss their claim to fame, providing all you need to know to pick the best expense tracking tool for your business.

Read on to know more.

Zoho Expense vs Expensify: A Quick Overview

Zoho Expense

screenshot for Zoho Expense website

zoho.comZoho Expense is a cloud-based expense management platform that can optimize your expense tracking process and create detailed expense reports. It has various tools for receipt tracking, mileage tracking, approval workflows, etc. It also belongs to a set of apps offered by Zoho and has integrations with popular accounting software, ERP tools, banks, and more.

Expensify

screenshot for Expensify website
expensify.com

Expensify is a robust expense tracking and financial management software that allows you to create expense reports and seamlessly reimburse employees. It has features for receipt scanning, custom approval workflows, advanced tax tracking, travel reimbursement for corporate travel, and more. It’s also an effective spend management platform with payment management tools.

Zoho Expense vs Expensify: Side-by-Side Comparison

Zoho Expense Expensify
Pricing Starts at $4 per user monthly (free account available) Starts at $5 per user monthly (free account available)
Features
  • Expense management
  • Receipt management
  • Invoicing via Zoho Invoice
  • Expense and budget control
  • Corporate card reconciliation
  • Travel management
  • Mileage and per diem management

Unique Features

  • Expense report automation
  • Simplified and custom approvals
  • Expense auditing
  • Expense management
  • Invoicing and payment processing via Stripe
  • Travel reimbursement
  • Corporate credit card reconciliation
  • Global reimbursements
  • Multi-level approval workflow
  • Spend management
  • Spend management

Unique Features

  • Bill Pay
  • Expense reporting and insights
  • Split Expense
Integrations Over 25 apps Over 40 apps
Security SSL data encryption SSL data encryption
Cloud storage Yes Yes
Interface  SaaS/Cloud/Mobile Saas/Cloud/Mobile
Customer Support Email and phone Email and live chat
Reviews 4.3/5 [1] 4.5/5 [2]

Key Features

Expense Management

Zoho Expense
Zoho Expense offers multiple tools for expense management, including receipt scanning, itemizing expenses, and advanced customization options to let users quickly create expense reports. However, the platform doesn’t support real-time expense approval and requires employees to send expense reports before approvers can view their expenses.

Expensify
Expensify has diverse tools for expense management and reporting. You can automatically input receipts via SmartScan, set expense policies, and automate approval workflows. If you use QuickBooks and other popular accounting software, you can connect your account directly to the platform to seamlessly sync financial data.

Employee Reimbursements

Zoho Expense

screenshot for Zoho Expense reimbursements online page through ACH via CSG Forte (US and Canada users only)
zoho.com

Zoho Expense mainly processes reimbursements online through ACH via CSG Forte (US and Canada users only). You can carry forward excess reimbursements if an employee spends less than they’ve received. Your employees will also be sent automated notifications to keep them updated about their requested reimbursement.Expensify
Expensify lets you process reimbursements directly (ACH) or manually. Since it supports global payments, you can reimburse your employees in their local currency. The platform also supports withdrawals from 24 countries with USD, CAD, GBP, AUD, and EUR bank accounts and deposits to over 190 countries worldwide.

Zoho Expense – Additional Features

Receipt Tracking
Zoho Expense allows you to track your receipts digitally through advanced auto scan. It scans your receipts and uploads them to the platform, where they can be easily converted to expenses. Your receipts will also be saved in the cloud through Zoho WorkDrive or Zoho Docs.

Note: Zoho Expense lacks automatic receipt categorization, which may delay your expense-tracking tasks. For a more capable receipt scanning and expense management solution, try Envoice. It uses Human-in-the-Loop review and corrections with ExactExtract if needed, ensuring 99.9% accuracy in your receipt data. Sign up for a free trial now.

Simplified & Custom Approvals
Zoho Expense supports simple, hierarchical approval flows for trip and purchase requests and advance payments. The software will automatically send transactions to the appropriate person for approval and forward approval requests to authorized users if the approver isn’t available. If your business requires complex approval flows, Zoho Expense also supports non-linear or multi-stage approval workflows.

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Expense Auditing
Zoho Expense uses an AI-driven fraud detection system that scans through your expense reports and detects suspicious transactions. It can flag duplicate entries and reports with policy violations, making the auditing process seamless for managers. The platform can also run audit trail reports to know when a transaction was created, modified, or deleted.

Expensify – Additional Features

Bill Pay

screenshot for Expensify’s Bill Pay page
expensify.com

Expensify’s Bill Pay allows you to streamline and automate your bill payment tasks. It lets you manage your spending by knowing what bills were paid, what’s due, and late payments. You can also set an automated payment schedule to ensure all bills are paid on time.

Expense Reporting and Insights
Expensify allows you to create expense reports seamlessly either via receipt scanning (SmartScan), credit card import, or automatically through the Expensify Commercial Card. After they’re approved, your employees can be reimbursed through ACH. You can also create customized reports to see your company’s spending data insights.

Split Expense
Expensify’s Split Expense app provides an expense tracking solution for splitting expenses with others during corporate trips, group travel, etc. It lets you chat with team members, split expenses, and get paid back through different online payment options. The feature can also scan receipts and automatically split costs based on the extracted data.

Ease of Use

Zoho Expense
Zoho Expense has an organized user interface. From its dashboard, you can submit expense reports and receipts and see a summary of your reports and expenses that are pending approval. You can also easily upload receipts from its mobile app; receipts uploaded twice will be automatically flagged.

Expensify
Expensify has an intuitive user interface where you can submit expense reports and pass them for approval. You can decide how often employee receipts should be batched up to keep everything organized, as they’re constantly being uploaded. The platform’s SmartScan feature also speeds up the expense reporting process by reducing data entry time.

Invoicing

Zoho Expense
Zoho Expense manages invoicing tasks through Zoho Invoice. It lets you create and send professional invoices and process client payments. The app has features for creating recurring invoices and generating reports for sales, expenses, and tax summaries. You can also attach receipts to your invoice to process reimbursable expenses.

Expensify

screenshot showing expensify.com new features
expensify.com

Expensify lets you process invoicing tasks via the New Expensify app. After you send an invoice, the app creates a chatroom between you and your client where you can monitor the whole invoicing process. You can customize professional invoice templates on the platform and add payment terms.

Integrations

Zoho Expense
Zoho Expense integrates with various Zoho apps, including Zoho Books, Invoice, Projects, Payroll, Cliq, and more. You can connect your accounts with famous travel apps like Lyft, GetThere, Uber, and Bolt to upload your expense data seamlessly. It also integrates with notable accounting software like QuickBooks, Xero, and Sage Accounting.

Expensify
One of Expensify’s advantages over Zoho Expense is its integration support. It has multiple integrations with popular accounting software like QuickBooks, Xero, and Sage. The platform also supports banking and finance platforms like ANZ, Microsoft Dynamics, Oracle NetSuite, and Certinia. You can also directly connect your Grab, Uber, Delta, and Bolt accounts to the platform to upload receipts quickly.

Pricing

Zoho Expense
Zoho Expense offers these pricing plans: Free, Standard ($4 per user monthly), Premium ($6 per user monthly), and a custom plan for organizations with over 100 users. All plans include receipt cloud storage, app integration, mileage tracking, and email support. Zoho Expense has discounts for yearly billing; add-ons like premium support and Jumpstart (for priority onboarding) are priced differently.

Note: Both Zoho Expense and Expensify charge per user on their monthly plans. For a cost-effective alternative to these platforms, consider an add-on like Envoice. It has robust expense management tools and lets you add users at no additional cost. Register now for a free trial.

Expensify

screenshot for Expensify pricing tiers
expensify.com

Expensify has the following pricing tiers: Collect ($5 per user monthly) and Control ($9 per user monthly). Both plans have key features like unlimited SmartScans, expense approvals, app integrations, ACH reimbursement, and more. The platform also offers a free account containing up to 25 SmartScans monthly and limited features.

Who is it For?

Zoho Expense
Zoho Expense is best for small-to-medium-sized businesses needing expense tracking features, like customized workflows, receipt auto-scanning, etc. You can create expense policies and reports in just a few clicks and settle employee reimbursements online. The platform also integrates with the diverse Zoho software suite and notable accounting software, including Zoho Invoice, Projects, Books, QuickBooks, and Xero.

Expensify
Expensify is ideal for businesses of different sizes. It has robust tools for more efficient expense management, including receipt scanning through SmartScan, payments management via Bill Pay, credit card import, spend visibility and control, and integrations with various platforms. It also has features for creating expense reports and AI-powered receipt auditing for expense fraud prevention.

Claim to Fame

Zoho Expense
Zoho Expense makes expense reporting easier for your employees through the Zoho Expense app, which is available on iOS and Android devices. The platform has tools for categorizing expenses for a quick reimbursement and approval process. A Zoho account also gives you access to other software in the Zoho app suite.

Expensify
Expensify excels as a robust pre-accounting software for businesses by having effective tools for employee expense management, spend management, and tracking corporate card transactions. It supports more customized workflows, expense approval rules, and receipt audits to avoid expense fraud. You can easily export data to other apps using its integration with various accounting software and tax management apps.

Conclusion

If you’re a freelancer, a startup, or a small-to-medium-sized business owner looking for affordable expense management software, Zoho Expense is the ideal tool for you. It has robust features for receipt management, expense auditing, approvals, and reimbursement. It also integrates with software on the Zoho app suite and known accounting platforms.

We recommend Expensify for enterprises needing a powerful expense tracking tool. It automates various expense management tasks, including receipt tracking, reimbursements, approval workflows, bill management, etc. It can also process reimbursements in over 190 countries globally.

However, if you want reputable expense management software for your pre-accounting tasks, consider Envoice. It automates expense tracking tasks like receipt scanning and multi-level approvals and can provide full expense reports. It also integrates with popular accounting platforms like QuickBooks, Sage Accounting, and Xero.

Want to know more about how Envoice can streamline your pre-accounting process? Explore its core features now and automate your bookkeeping tasks today!

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