Concur vs Airwallex: A side by side comparison in 2025

Expense software helps you track spending, manage team budgets, and stay compliant. But not all platforms do it the same way.

Two options in 2025 are SAP Concur and Airwallex. Both offer automation and visibility, but they serve different types of businesses.

Here’s a detailed breakdown of how they compare.

What is SAP Concur?

Concur is SAP’s enterprise-grade expense management platform. It’s designed to help large organisations manage employee spend, travel booking, and reimbursement at scale. Concur offers detailed policy enforcement, audit trails, and custom workflows, making it a popular choice in regulated industries and multinational corporations.

It integrates with SAP’s wider ERP suite, supports multi-level approval chains, and provides strong controls for compliance and reporting. However, it often requires IT involvement to configure and can be slower to deploy.

What is Airwallex?

Airwallex is an all-in-one platform for managing global business finance. It combines expense tracking, multi-currency accounts, borderless cards, and international payments into one modern interface.

Set budgets, issue cards, track spend in real time, and pay suppliers in over 150 countries – all from a single account. Smart automation handles receipt capture, reconciliation, and categorisation, while built-in FX gives you access to interbank rates with no hidden fees.

It’s fast to set up, easy to scale, and designed to keep finance teams in control, without switching between tools or chasing paperwork.

Looking for more options? Compare the top 7 expense management software and tools in the UK.

How Concur and Airwallex compare

Expense tracking and automation

Managing expenses shouldn’t slow your team down. Here’s how Concur and Airwallex help you stay in control while keeping things moving.

SAP Concur

• Policy enforcement is robust but often requires configuration.

• Mobile receipt capture is available but less intuitive.

• Designed for detailed travel expense categories.

• Reimbursements depend on external systems.

Airwallex

• Expenses appear in real time.

• Smartcards auto-categorise spend.

• Mobile receipt capture with OCR.

• Auto-syncs with Xero, QuickBooks, and NetSuite for fast reconciliation.

Read more: Transforming enterprise spending: How to unify global financial operations

Pricing  

Budgets matter. especially when you’re scaling. Here’s how each platform handles pricing and what you actually pay.

Concur

• Charges per user per month.

• Setup and onboarding fees apply.

• Typically part of broader SAP contracts.

• High cost of ownership, best suited to large enterprises.

• Licences charged per user, per month (exact fee revealed via quote). 

• Annual subscription required.

Airwallex

• Airwallex offers four pricing tiers:

  • Explore: £0/month if you maintain a £10k balance or deposit monthly; otherwise £19. Includes global business accounts, FX, cards, and basic integrations.

  • Grow: £49/month. Adds expense management, bill pay, and more cards.

  • Accelerate: £999/month. Includes advanced controls, Netsuite sync, and onboarding support.

  • Custom: Tailored pricing for high-volume or embedded finance needs.

Integration and software compatibility

The best expense tools work with the systems you already use. Here’s how each platform fits into modern finance stacks.

Concur

• Integration with SAP and Oracle ERP systems.

• Less flexible with modern finance stacks.

• APIs exist but are limited and complex to deploy.

Airwallex

• Offers native payment functionality.

• Built to integrate with tools like Xero, QuickBooks, and NetSuite.

• Pre-built plugins for ecommerce platforms.

• Open API and webhooks for custom workflows.

Global payment features and multi-currency support

If your team spends or pays internationally, you’ll want a platform that handles FX without extra work. Here's how they stack up.

Concur

• Focuses on expense reimbursement.

• Relies on banking partners for FX and payment rails.

• Multi-currency functionality depends on your setup.

Airwallex

• Offers tools across bills, corporate expenses, and employee reimbursements.

• Accept 130+ currencies, hold 23+ in accounts.

• Pay suppliers with local routing in 120+ countries.

• Market-leading FX with interbank rates.

• Borderless Visa cards for employees, with spend controls.

Which platform is best for your business in 2025?

Choose Concur if:

• You need advanced compliance workflows.

• You already use SAP systems.

• Your finance team can support complex onboarding.

Choose Airwallex if:

• You want modern expense and payment tools in one place.

• Your team works internationally.

• You want fast setup, automation, and clear pricing.

• You want seamless integration between expense management and payments

Final verdict: Concur or Airwallex?

SAP Concur is a heavyweight built for enterprise complexity. Airwallex is a newer, faster platform built for today’s global businesses.

If your focus is policy compliance within a large ERP ecosystem, Concur may fit. If you want to move fast, control spend, and scale globally without hassle, Airwallex may be a good option for you.

Make global business expense management easy with Airwallex.

FAQs: Concur vs Airwallex in 2025

What is the difference between Concur and Airwallex?

Concur is an enterprise expense platform designed for compliance-heavy organisations, while Airwallex is a modern finance stack offering expense tracking, payments, cards, and FX for global businesses.

Is Airwallex an alternative to Concur?

Yes. Airwallex offers many of the same expense management features, along with global payments, real-time visibility, and flexible pricing that better suits startups and scaleups.

Which platform is better for small businesses?

Airwallex is typically a better fit for small or growing businesses. It’s easier to implement, has no per-user fees, and includes built-in global capabilities.

Which platform integrates better with modern tools?

Airwallex integrates natively with platforms like Xero, QuickBooks, NetSuite, and Shopify. Concur is more focused on SAP and Oracle environments and may require more configuration.

Does Concur support global payments?

Not directly. Concur focuses on travel and expense reimbursement. International payments are typically handled through external banking integrations.

Is Airwallex safe to use for business payments?

Yes. Airwallex is FCA-regulated in the UK and uses secure infrastructure, fraud monitoring, and compliance controls across all accounts and transactions.

How much does Concur cost vs Airwallex?

Concur charges per user and has onboarding fees, with pricing tailored through SAP. Airwallex starts at £0/month for basic plans and uses pay-as-you-go pricing for FX and cards, with no setup costs.

Disclaimer and references

The information in this article is based on our own online research in Q2 2025. Airwallex was not able to manually test each tool or provider. The information is provided for educational purposes only and a reader should consider the specific requirements of their business when evaluating providers. This research is reviewed annually. If you would like to request an update, feel free to contact us at [[email protected]]. This information doesn’t take into account your objectives, financial situation, or needs. 

1. concur.co.uk

2. https://www.airwallex.com/uk/pricing