Ramp publishes its prices and Airbase does not. Ramp Free is $0 per user a month, Ramp Plus is $15 per user a month plus a platform fee based on team size (20% less billed annually), and Enterprise is custom. Airbase has been part of Paylocity since October 1, 2024: airbase.com/pricing now redirects to Paylocity's pricing page, which asks you to request a quote, and Paylocity prices per employee per month with a base fee and a charge for each product you add.
So "Airbase vs Ramp pricing" is really a question about two different kinds of deal. One is a card program that is free if you move your spend onto its cards. The other is now a module inside a payroll and HR suite, priced by quote and at its best when you also run Paylocity payroll. Below is what each one costs, what you get, and a priced example for a 20-person US company, with the option neither vendor mentions: keeping the cards and bank you already have.
How much does Ramp cost?
Ramp costs $0 per user a month on its Free plan. On ramp.com/pricing, Free includes automatic receipt collection and matching, spend limits with preset accounting codes, employee reimbursements, bill pay with AI invoice capture, basic approval workflows, and QuickBooks Online and Xero integrations. Plus is $15 per user a month plus a platform fee that depends on team size, with 20% off for annual billing. Enterprise is custom and billed annually.
The Plus upgrade is what a mid-sized company usually ends up needing. It adds routing by GL code, entity and other accounting conditions, payment release approvals, parallel approvers, line-item auto-coding on bills, three-way PO matching, batch payments, and the NetSuite, Sage Intacct, Acumatica and Dynamics 365 Business Central integrations. If your books are in NetSuite or Sage Intacct, you are pricing Plus, not Free.
The platform fee is not printed on the page, so a Plus quote always has one number you only learn on a sales call.
How much does Airbase cost?
Airbase does not publish a price. Since Paylocity completed its roughly $325 million acquisition of Airbase on October 1, 2024, Airbase is sold as part of Paylocity for Finance, and airbase.com/pricing sends you to paylocity.com/pricing, where the next step is a quote. Paylocity describes its pricing as per employee per month, and its annual report says recurring fees generally include a base fee plus fees based on employee count and the number of products a client uses.
In practice that means the Airbase price depends on what else you buy from Paylocity. A company already on Paylocity payroll adds spend management to an existing contract. A company with payroll elsewhere is buying into a suite whose main product is HR and payroll. Ask any Paylocity rep for three numbers in writing: the base fee, the per-employee rate for the finance module, and the renewal cap.
Airbase vs Ramp pricing and features compared
| Line | Ramp | Airbase (Paylocity for Finance) | Expenditure |
|---|---|---|---|
| Published price | Free $0; Plus $15 per user a month plus a platform fee; Enterprise custom | None; quote from Paylocity | Starter $20, Growth $35, Scale $55 per seat a month billed yearly |
| How the price is built | Per user, plus a platform fee on Plus | Per employee per month, base fee, per product | Per seat, from 3 seats (5 on Scale) |
| Cards | Ramp corporate cards | Physical and virtual cards with spend controls | None issued; works with your Visa, Mastercard and Amex cards |
| Bill pay | Yes, on Free | Yes | No; invoices are coded and approved, you pay the way you do today |
| Reimbursements | Yes, on Free | Yes | No; expenses are coded and approved, payout stays in payroll or your bank |
| Accounting sync | QuickBooks Online and Xero on Free; NetSuite and Sage Intacct on Plus | NetSuite, Sage Intacct, QuickBooks Online and Desktop, Xero, Dynamics Business Central | QuickBooks Online, Xero and NetSuite |
| Approval routing | Basic on Free; by GL code and entity on Plus | Approval workflows on cards, bills and expenses | By amount, vendor or GL account on Growth; up to three steps on Scale |
| Best fit | Companies happy to move card spend to Ramp | Companies on Paylocity payroll | Companies keeping their current cards and bank |
Ramp and Airbase facts were read on ramp.com/pricing and on Paylocity's own pages and press releases. Neither vendor's negotiated terms are public.
Is Airbase cheaper than Ramp?
Almost never on paper, because Ramp Free costs nothing and Airbase is quoted. Airbase can come out ahead only in one case: you already pay Paylocity for payroll and HR, and adding the finance module to that contract costs less than running a second vendor. Get the Paylocity number, then compare it with Ramp Plus at $15 per user a month plus the platform fee, not with Ramp Free, because a company that needed Airbase's NetSuite or Sage Intacct sync needs Plus on Ramp too.
What does a 20-person company pay?
Take a 20-person US company on NetSuite, with 20 people who need access. On Ramp Plus that is 20 users at $15, or $3,600 a year billed monthly and $2,880 billed annually, plus the unpublished platform fee. Ramp Free would be $0 but does not include the NetSuite integration. On Airbase, the figure is whatever Paylocity quotes for 20 employees and the finance module.
On Expenditure the same 20 seats on Growth come to $8,400 a year billed yearly. That is more than Ramp, and we say so plainly. What the difference buys is not having to change cards or banks: Ramp's savings come from putting your spend on Ramp cards, and if your company holds an American Express corporate program, a bank card with rewards it wants to keep, or cards at a bank that also holds its credit line, that switch is the real cost. Expenditure reads receipts and statement lines from the cards you already have, codes every expense to your chart of accounts and routes it for approval, and never moves or holds money.
Is Airbase still available after the Paylocity acquisition?
Yes. Airbase's site now brands it "Airbase, a Paylocity Company", tells existing clients they keep working with their current contacts, and Paylocity sells the product as Paylocity for Finance, covering accounts payable, procurement, corporate cards and expenses. Paylocity also launched an integrated spend management solution tied to its HCM platform, so the product's direction is toward customers who run payroll on Paylocity as well.
Should I switch from Airbase to Ramp?
Switch if your team is happy to move all card spend onto Ramp cards and you do not use Paylocity for payroll. You will likely pay less, because Ramp's software is free or low cost and its revenue comes from card interchange. Stay if Paylocity payroll is already your system of record and one contract matters more than the software fee.
There is a third path. If the reason you are shopping is that expenses reach the ledger uncoded or unapproved, and your cards and bank are fine, you do not need a new card program. That is the job Expenditure does on top of what you already use: every receipt read and coded to QuickBooks Online, Xero or NetSuite, matched to its statement line, checked against policy and approved before close.
Whichever way you go, the date that decides your timing is the renewal date on your current order form. Pull the contract, find the notice period for non-renewal (often 30 to 90 days before the term ends), and put it on a calendar, ideally somewhere that keeps every vendor contract and its renewal date in one place, so the switch happens on your schedule and not the vendor's.
What is the difference between Airbase and Ramp?
Ramp is a card-led finance platform: corporate cards, bill pay, reimbursements, procurement and travel, with software priced from $0 because the cards pay for it. Airbase is a spend management suite now owned by Paylocity, sold by quote and increasingly bundled with Paylocity's payroll and HR. Both issue cards and pay bills; they differ in who they sell to and how you pay for them.
Where to go from here
If you are comparing card programs, our Ramp pricing breakdown covers the Plus platform fee and annual discount in more detail, and Ramp vs Brex puts the two free card programs side by side. If you are keeping your cards and want receipts handled properly, see our receipt management software comparison, and for bills, invoice approval software. Our Ramp alternative page is the short version for a finance lead who needs one answer, and Expenditure pricing lists every plan.
Expenditure is expense and spend management software. It is not financial, tax or accounting advice.