Expensify vs Airwallex: compare on fees, features and benefits

If you’re reading this, it's likely your research into spend management tools has brought you to two possible options – and they’re both fine choices.

There’s still more research and analysis to do, though. We’ve written this article to help you make sense of this last step.

Below, you’ll find a detailed rundown of Expensify and Airwallex’s features, fees, nuances, and pros and cons. We’re not going to tell you to choose one or the other, but we are going to explain the kinds of businesses that are going to thrive with one over the other.

Ready to bring your search to a close? Let’s begin.

What is Expensify?

Expensify is a B2B software company that specialises in expense management. Their tool helps businesses track, approve, and payout expenses.

Self-styled as “the fastest way to do your expenses”, Expensify is all-in on spend management.

What is Airwallex?

Airwallex provides global financial infrastructure for growing businesses. Like Expensify, Airwallex provides a full suite of spend management tools.

On top of expenses, however, Airwallex also offers features including business accounts, quick and cost-effective FX, payment acceptance, and API/embedded finance capabilities.

More info about Airwallex Spend can be found here.

Feature comparison: Expensify vs Airwallex

Both platforms are packed with features – so, if we’re going to compare them, we need to break them up into a few different categories.

We’re going to look at spend management essentials, advanced spend management features, and core finance features.

Comparing spend management essentials

These features are the bread and butter of spend management. Both Expensify and Airwallex provide all of these basics. If you ever find a vendor that can’t offer these features, you should carefully consider their usefulness.

Comparing advanced spend management features

Looking beyond the basics, there are some features that you won’t find with every vendor. These can add even more efficiency or value to your work, so are worth considering if they gel with what you need.

Comparing core finance capabilities

Beyond managing the admin of expenses, there are also wider financial capabilities to consider with both providers.

Comparing fees: Expensify vs Airwallex

On Expensify’s Collect plan, each user you add costs £5/user/month. On their Control plan, new users cost £14/user/month.

With Airwallex, you get five users included on our Explore plan (£0 or £19/month*). To add additional employee card users, you’ll pay £5/user/month. On our Grow and Accelerate plans, additional users cost £12/per active user/month.

We’ve written a guide to help you work out the best Airwallex plan for your business, if you want to get into the details.

The cost for 10 employees

• One person managing spend

• Cheapest plan (Expensify Collect and Airwallex Explore)

• One company card

* Grow account fee is £0 if you transact or hold £10,000+ in a calendar month.

The cost for 100 employees

• You’re likely on Expensify Control and Airwallex Grow plans

• 40 active spend users a month

• 30 company cards

The cost for 1,000 employees

• You’re likely on Expensify Control and Airwallex Accelerate plans

• 500 active spend users a month

• Enterprise plan

• 100 company cards

Which platform is better for your business?

The headline story when comparing Expensify and Airwallex is that both options can do a lot of what you need. Choose either of them and you’ll be making a good decision.

Still, they aren’t identical. There are clear use cases in which one may be better suited than the other.

Expensify’s areas of outperformance

Companies that:

• Are US-based (1% cashback on US spend)

• Spend mostly on card

Airwallex’s areas of outperformance

Companies that:

• Have internationally distributed staff, suppliers, and clients

• Need wider financial infrastructure

• Regular domestic and international expenses and bills

Expensify is brilliant for simpler domestic businesses primarily in the US. The cashback feature offered on its card is attractive, but only applies to US purchases.

For companies that want a powerful expense management proposition and additional features across the fintech stack, Airwallex is worth considering.

It’s also important to consider where your business is going to be in the next few years. Whichever provider you choose, you need to feel confident that they can scale (up or down) alongside you.

Why businesses are switching to Airwallex in 2025

The businesses joining Airwallex in 2025 have big ambitions. They’re targeting new markets, increasing efficiency, and simplifying their financial operations.

Finance teams can end up in vendor overwhelm without even realising it. The tools they start using to save time create new bottlenecks and frustrations, making one another redundant. With Airwallex, everything is in one slick and efficient place.

Truvi, for example, switched to Airwallex to consolidate their finance tech stack, speed up reimbursements, and stop losing money to currency conversion. The results?

• Reimbursements 96% faster

• 20% increase in team efficiency

• ~4% saved on international payments

From “chaotic and incredibly frustrating” to “everything just flowing”, see how Truvi revolutionised their finances with Airwallex.

Two good choices, two different markets

If you’re debating between Airwallex and Expensify, the good news is that you’re choosing between two solid options. They have their differences and those divergences separate them into two buckets of ideal customers.

Expensify is an amazing choice for businesses on the smaller side, especially if US-based.

Airwallex, on the other hand, is the platform for businesses with an eye on global expansion and unified financial operations.

Both are great at what they do, but their suitability ultimately depends on what you do. Check in on the features your company needs the most, use this article to see which provider aligns best with your situation, then make your choice.

We’ll be here, ready and waiting, if you decide to join Airwallex.

Disclaimer: We wrote this article in Q3 2025. The information was based on our own online research and we were 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 every six months. If you would like to request an update, feel free to contact us at [email protected].