Airwallex vs SAP Concur: Which is better for your expense management?

Key takeaways

• Airwallex combines expense management with multi-currency accounts, FX, cards, reimbursements and other finance workflows in one platform.

• SAP Concur is a mature travel-and-expense platform with expense reporting, reimbursements, policy controls, invoice workflows, card integrations and a broad integration ecosystem.

• For Australian businesses with international spend, distributed teams or a need to connect spending directly to multi-currency balances, Airwallex can reduce the need to manage separate account, FX, card and expense tools.

Airwallex and SAP Concur solve overlapping problems in different ways: one is a global financial platform with expense management built in, the other is a dedicated travel-and-expense suite. This comparison breaks down how each platform handles expenses, cards, reimbursements, automation, integrations and pricing, so you can match the right platform to your business.

How does Airwallex work?

Airwallex is a global financial platform, not a standalone expense tool. Expense Management sits alongside Global Accounts, multi-currency balances, FX, Corporate Cards, Bill Pay and payments, so teams can manage spending and, where applicable, pay from the relevant currency balance instead of moving between separate banking, FX and expense systems.

Employees can issue physical and virtual Corporate Cards with spend limits and merchant-category controls, submit receipts in the Airwallex app, and route expenses through customisable, multi-layer approval workflows. The Expense Policy Agent checks submissions against company policy and flags exceptions, but it's designed to assist finance teams rather than replace human approvals or guarantee compliance. Reimbursements pay out to employees' local bank accounts, and expenses and bills can sync with accounting platforms including Xero, QuickBooks and NetSuite – the exact depth of integration depends on your plan.

How does SAP Concur work?

SAP Concur Australia is a travel, expense and invoice-management suite. Concur Expense captures, submits, reviews, approves and reimburses employee expenses, while the broader Concur ecosystem can connect travel booking (Concur Travel), invoice workflows (Concur Invoice), corporate-card programmes and financial systems.

Its mobile app supports receipt capture and automated data entry, including ExpenseIt – a named add-on that uses OCR and AI to create, categorise and itemise expenses from receipt photos. Rather than acting as a business's multi-currency account or treasury platform, SAP Concur is generally configured around a customer's existing finance, travel and card environment. It serves businesses of different sizes, though final configuration and pricing are quote-based.

Airwallex vs SAP Concur at a glance

Here's how the two platforms compare on the capabilities most relevant to expense management.

In-depth: Key feature comparison

Cards and multi-currency funding

How does each platform let a business fund spend and control card usage? Airwallex issues physical and virtual Visa Corporate Cards directly, with spend limits, merchant-category controls and per-transaction spending caps. Airwallex cards carry 0% foreign card transaction fees, though availability and eligibility can vary.

With Airwallex Global Accounts, you also get local account details in 20+ currencies to receive and hold funds like a local. This allows you to avoid forced currency conversion and keep the funds on hand until you need it again. 

SAP Concur does not issue cards directly. Instead, it supports corporate card feeds that automatically capture and categorise purchasing card transactions and matches card data to expense records. Concur integrates with a business's existing corporate-card programme rather than issuing cards itself.

Expense reports, reimbursements and approval workflows

Both platforms cover receipt capture, expense reports, policy checks, approval workflows and reimbursements, subject to plan and configuration.

With Airwallex, employees submit receipts in-app. The platform uses AI receipt matching and categorisation, runs policy checks through the Expense Policy Agent, routes approvals through multi-layer workflows, and reimburses employees to their local bank accounts. The Grow plan adds automated receipt and bill-data extraction, multi-layer approvals and advanced rules-based expense automation.

Concur Expense supports receipt capture, automatic data entry, corporate card feeds, real-time policy compliance checks, approval workflows, reimbursement and reporting. ExpenseIt uses OCR, machine learning and generative AI to create, categorise and itemise entries from receipt images.

Automation and AI

Airwallex's platform automates receipt and bill-data extraction, advanced rules-based expense automation and the Expense Policy Agent. The agent checks every submission against your company policy, flags exceptions and cites the relevant policy clause. The Expense Policy Agent is designed to assist finance teams, not replace them.

SAP Concur has its own AI capabilities. ExpenseIt applies OCR, machine learning and generative AI to receipt processing, while Concur Request's Request Assistant uses generative AI to estimate business-trip costs. 

Integrations, reporting and business scale

Syncing expenses and bills straight into your accounting platform cuts out manual data entry and keeps your books accurate in real time. Airwallex integrates with accounting platforms including Xero, QuickBooks and NetSuite, along with HRIS platforms such as Employment Hero and BambooHR. This kind of syncing is central to multi-currency accounting for businesses trading across borders.

SAP Concur's ecosystem includes 300-plus pre-built connectors and custom integrations, spanning ERP and accounting systems, corporate-card programmes, travel-management companies, global distribution systems and partner apps.

Integration count alone isn't the full picture. The more useful question is which exact workflow you need – expense-to-general-ledger sync, travel booking, card-feed reconciliation or multi-entity reporting. More integrations don't automatically mean a better fit: assess whether you need local accounting connectivity, travel-booking depth, multi-entity spend visibility or a unified money-movement layer. Implementation, configuration and support requirements may also differ between the two, so confirm these directly with each provider.

Travel management and enterprise controls

Concur’s travel management strength includes travel booking, itinerary data, travel policy, expense reconciliation and travel management, backed by a wide network of travel-management-company integrations. Businesses with complex travel programmes, established travel-management-company relationships or extensive enterprise workflows may prioritise Concur's broader travel ecosystem over a spend-management add-on.

Airwallex's primary strength lies elsewhere: integrated Global Accounts, cards, FX, payments and spend management, rather than travel booking. If travel is the core problem you're solving for, it's worth weighing SAP Concur's travel depth against Airwallex's finance-workflow breadth.

How fees work with Airwallex

Airwallex's Australia pricing is Explore at A$0 or A$29/month and Grow at A$99/month. Explore is A$0/month if you deposit at least A$5,000/month or hold at least A$10,000; it includes two free employee card users and up to 10 free company cards.

Grow includes two free spend users and up to 50 free company cards, plus card and reimbursement expense management, automated receipt and bill-data extraction, multi-layer approvals, advanced rules-based expense automation and the Expense Policy Agent. Additional active spend users cost A$15/month each on Grow and Accelerate.

Other costs to be aware of include:

• FX: 0.50% above interbank for major currencies (AUD, USD, HKD, CNY, JPY, EUR, GBP, CAD, CHF, NZD, SGD); 1% for other currencies

• Local transfers (including BPAY and FPS): free

• SWIFT transfers: A$10–A$30 per transfer 

See our total pricing here.

How fees work with SAP Concur

SAP Concur's Australian site doesn't publish local pricing – it directs buyers to a quote form where they can submit their details for a tailored quote.

Likely pricing drivers include monthly commitment, expense-report volume, employee count, selected modules or add-ons, integrations, implementation and support, and any travel-management or partner costs. 

Why businesses choose Airwallex

For Australian businesses weighing up the two platforms, these are the key features Airwallex offers for spend management and global finance:

• One platform for global spend and finance workflows: If you're using separate tools for accounts, FX, cards and expenses, Airwallex brings these workflows into one platform.

• Spend from the right currency balance: For international SaaS subscriptions, supplier payments or distributed teams, multi-currency accounts and cards can reduce unnecessary conversion steps – confirm the exact fee treatment for your relevant currencies and card transactions.

• Faster, more controlled expense processing: Receipt capture, policy checks, approvals and reimbursements can reduce manual handling, subject to configuration and plan.

• Visibility across entities and teams: Centralised visibility over cards, expenses, accounts and payments across markets – verify multi-entity functionality and plan access for your business.

• A better fit for globally active Australian businesses: Airwallex is most compelling when international payments, multi-currency balances and spend management are all part of the same problem.

That said, businesses that prioritise mature travel management, complex travel programmes or a broad enterprise integration ecosystem should assess SAP Concur closely – it remains a strong choice for those specific needs.

Frequently asked questions

Is Airwallex a replacement for SAP Concur?

It depends on the workflow you need most. Airwallex may be the stronger fit when your priority is integrated global accounts, FX, cards, payments and expenses in one platform. SAP Concur may be stronger for complex travel-and-expense programmes and enterprise integrations.

Does SAP Concur offer multi-currency business accounts?

No – SAP Concur can record and reimburse expenses in multiple currencies, but it isn't a native multi-currency business-account or treasury provider. That's a meaningful distinction: recording a foreign-currency expense is different from holding and moving funds in that currency, which is what Airwallex's Global Accounts are built for.

Which platform is better for Australian businesses?

It depends on the use case. Airwallex is more relevant for globally active Australian businesses that want account, FX, card and spend workflows together. SAP Concur is worth considering for businesses prioritising travel management, mature expense processes and broad integrations.

How much does Airwallex cost compared with SAP Concur?

Airwallex's Australia pricing is Explore at A$0 or A$29/month and Grow at A$99/month. SAP Concur is custom-priced – Australian customers need a tailored quote to compare accurately.

Sources

• https://www.concur.com.au/products/travel-expense

• https://www.concur.com.au/forms/request-a-quote

• https://www.concur.com.au/products/concur-travel