Payhawk vs Spendesk vs Soldo vs Jeeves: Which One’s Best for You?

If you’re comparing spend management systems like Payhawk, Spendesk, Soldo and Jeeves, you’re probably looking for a tool to help you:

• Track and improve employee spending
• Manage company and cross-border payments easily 
• Optimise your spending to protect your bottom line
• Streamline all your financial operations

Payhawk, Spendesk, Soldo and Jeeves all give you control over your spending and full visibility in real-time of your transactions. However, there are important differences between these four spend management systems that we’ll break down for you. 

In this article, we’ll compare:

1. Jeeves
2. Payhawk
3. Spendesk
4. Soldo

Note: Need an international spend management system that also comes with a company credit card? Try Jeeves.

Payhawk vs Spendesk vs Soldo vs Jeeves: Comparison table

Here are the most important features when comparing Payhawk vs Spendesk vs Soldo vs Jeeves:

Jeeves’ spend management system includes a business credit card with multi-currency options and no FX fees that is specifically designed to provide high-growth companies and startups with cash to fund their international growth. 

Payhawk’s platform offers both credit and debit cards whereas Spendesk and Soldo’s spend management platforms come with debit and prepaid cards, which require you to transfer money from your business bank account onto the cards to use them.

Let’s look at each one. 

Jeeves

Since we’re the ones writing this article, we thought it would make sense to start with ourselves. 

Jeeves is a complete financial stack that connects spend management software, a line of business credit and company credit cards all in one tool. 

Over 3,000 companies in 20+ countries use Jeeves’ multi-currency company credit cards in up to 9 currencies: GBP, EUR, USD, CAD, MXN, CLP, COP, BRL and PEN. 

A spend management dashboard that’s easy to set up for global expenditures

We designed our expense management software to be easy to use and quick to set up.

From the main dashboard, you’ll have immediate visibility on company expenditure and spending categorisation so you can better track and manage your cash flow across all your offices. 

Log in and you’ll see straight away in real time:

• The current accounting period
• Total amount spent to date
• Recent transactions
• Your remaining balance

We make it easy to find what you need quickly. With a click, you can:

• Manage company cards. You can create an unlimited number of company credit cards to have maximum flexibility as you organise all your expenses as you see fit. For example, with Jeeves you can control recurring costs and subscriptions and optimise advertising spend by segmenting your spending by card. 
• Choose the currency you want your statement in. For example, if you’re headquartered in the U.K. but operate mainly in Germany and France, you can request your line of credit in EUR instead of GBP. 
• Organise your team expenses. Group your cards per team or office to have global control and overview across all your offices at a glance. 
• Filter payments by category (card number or employee, photo receipt attached or unattached, physical or virtual card) to manage, track and account for all your global expenses in a click. 
• Integrate with accounting apps like Xero and QuickBooks for automatic transaction reconciliation and detailed report creation. Automatic synchronisation occurs daily. 
• See how Jeeves’ perks and benefits add to your bottom line. You’ll be able to see the cashback we credit to your account to know how much money you’re saving.
• Download your expense statements in CSV, PDF or Excel and use custom dates and filters to make your expense reporting seamless. 

We’re always here to help you get the most out of your Jeeves credit card. For support, you can phone or email your personal account manager or use the live webchat function on the dashboard. 

‍

Coming soon: automated expense approvals, allowlists and blocklists. 

Free and unlimited physical and virtual company credit cards 

‍

Unlike other spend management platforms, our software is free and directly connects to the line of credit we provide you. We don’t charge you per card or cap the number of times you can use a card per month. 

Since Jeeves provides credit cards and not debit cards, you won’t have to keep topping up multiple cards every month for your employees' spending or recurring expenses. Instead, you can keep your cash flow intact because we provide 30 days of business credit for free that automatically resets when you pay off your statement. 

There are no annual fees or transaction costs on Jeeves' credit cards. There are also no maximum individual transaction values, so you can take advantage of last-minute opportunities without worrying about card restrictions. 

Jeeves enables you to take complete control of your spending. For example, you can:

• Issue and delete physical and virtual cards with a click via the Jeeves dashboard. Start using virtual cards instantly. Physical cards arrive within three business days.
• Increase or decrease individual credit limits on each business card with a click at any time to keep your budget under control.
• Set spending limits and apply monthly or yearly limits so it’s easier for employees and teams to stay within budget. 
• Freeze cards instantly. If you suspect fraud on one card, just freeze it while you investigate and unfreeze it just as easily.

‍

‍You can also create virtual business credit cards to manage company expenditures easily. 

For example, you can create a separate virtual card for each supplier, issue a card per subscription service for instant control over your expenses and give remote workers and overseas contractors a card for easier spend management. You can even create unique cards for one-off purchases. 

Expense management for all your employees everywhere

With free virtual and physical credit cards connected to one global expense management tool, Jeeves enables you to give every person in your company a credit card no matter where they’re based. 

We first help you limit fraudulent use by asking all cardholders to immediately set up 2-factor authentication for extra security.

Then you can customise your employee expense management as you see fit.

For example, give business credit cards to all your employees to:

• Do away with expense reimbursements. When employees use their own company card you can do away with reimbursements, reduce expense abuse, and make managing and tracking employee spending easier over all your offices. 
• Make them autonomous and more responsible. When you issue cards to employees, each individual receives access to their profile on Jeeves’ expense management system where they can see and manage their expenses on the fly. 
• Add receipts on the go. Employees can take a photo of business expense receipts through the Jeeves App and add receipts to their expense transactions with a click to save them and your finance team time.
• Create accounts in your home currency. There's no need to set up overseas bank accounts to make forex-fee-free transfers with local debit cards or to top up prepaid card accounts. Whatever currency your remote staff purchase goods and services in, you're only ever billed in your home currency while all your spending is FX free.
• Make your spend management for remote workers more seamless. Use one single Jeeves account for all your global spending instead of juggling different local and foreign accounts.

Fee-free international transactions

Many spend management systems charge up to 3% for overseas transactions in a different currency. Many credit, debit, and prepaid card providers do the same.

With Jeeves, you can make cross-border payments without paying any transaction fees. Whether you’re paying overseas suppliers or international collaborators, you won’t have to deal with high mark-ups and cross-border payment fees.

If you spend £1,000,000 a month on overseas suppliers, you may be paying an additional 3% in FX fees that amount to an extra £30,000 per month. Pay by Jeeves and, with fee-free forex, you can save up to £360,000 per year. 

Jeeves' fee-free cards and global expense software are also ideal for managing your travel expenses.

Pros of using Jeeves

Developed to fund high-growth companies

Almost every other expense management platform requires you to transfer your own funds to use corporate cards.

As founders ourselves, we know the importance of credit to grow businesses, especially those scaling quickly. So we created the only expense management solution with a business credit card designed for growth.

Credit cards also offer better rewards and make managing your cash flow and employee expenses easier. 

Once a Jeeves customer, you can also apply for fast, digital short-term financing through Jeeves Capital. We designed Jeeves Working Capital, a revolving line of credit that helps you cover your operating expenses, and Jeeves Growth Capital – 12-month revenue-based funding that can help you extend your runway, launch in a new country or acquire a company.

Discover how Beek used Jeeves Capital to fund their acquisition of Tamber.  

Receive cashback on every transaction to fund growth

‍

Instead of paying for purchases via bank transfer, debit cards or prepaid cards, pay by Jeeves and get money back.

When you use one of the best business credit cards for cash back, you can increase your margins by receiving up to 2% cash back in the first 90 days of using Jeeves, 1.5% cashback on all spend with special merchants (Google, Amazon, Meta), and up to 1% cashback on all other spend.

You’ll also have perks and benefits, offering savings of up to $100,000 a year on popular service providers like AWS, HubSpot and Notion. 

Every cardholder in your company can also benefit from free access to 1,300+ airport lounges globally.

‍

Manage your global spending with one free tool

You can reduce your spending with Jeeves expense management software because it’s cost-free. Pay no annual card charge, transaction fee, or FX fee. Create an unlimited number of physical or virtual cards, all for free. 

We don’t charge you for the number of users, either. You can create 10, 100 or 1000 cards for your employees and external collaborators. Each person can access their card with a unique login, see their spending limits and transactions, all for free from both the Jeeves App and desktop. 

Other spend management platforms require a minimum monthly spend to provide you with a personal account manager. Instead, account management is entirely free with Jeeves. 

As long as you pay your credit limit every 30 days, your Jeeves line of business credit can also remain interest free. 

Cons

Here’s what Jeeves doesn’t offer. 

• No OCR receipt scanner. Jeeves doesn’t yet offer OCR scanning on receipts snapped by employees using the mobile app just yet. OCR scanning is a way of automatically extracting written information from receipts that can help you save time.
• No API. We don’t yet offer an API stack for clients that can help integrate our software into another platform, such as Whatsapp.
• No ATM usability. With Jeeves’ company cards, you can’t make cash withdrawals. 

Who is Jeeves good for?

Jeeves is great for high-growth, investor-backed startups and scale-ups and for small businesses and medium-sized companies with at least 2 years of trading that want:

• Fast funding for fast growth 
• Company credit cards to protect your cash flow and optimise expenses
• The visibility to tightly control expenditure from one centralised global spend management system

Ready to start using Jeeves to manage your spending across offices? Apply today in five minutes. Get our response within 24 hours. 

We understand Jeeves may not be right for every company. By way of comparison, here’s a summary of spend management platforms Payhawk, Spendesk and Soldo.

Payhawk

Payhawk’s spend management system gives you oversight of and control over your cash, expenses and payments linked to a business debit or credit card account. 1,500 companies use Payhawk worldwide.

Spend management dashboard

Like Jeeves, Payhawk provides a spend management tool that offers a general overview of your expenses when you log in. 

Payhawk offers credit or debit cards in either GBP or EUR.

Employees can request funds for specific transactions via the app, which you can then approve or deny. Other features include automatic notices controlling your recurring payments and subscriptions.

Card management

Issue and delete cards from the dashboard. For each employee card you issue, you can decide:

• Between a physical or virtual card
• The primary currency of a card (GBP or EUR)
• Whether a card has a spending limit
• Whether a card has ATM usability

You can group employee cards to keep an eye on a team or department’s overall expenditure.

Like Jeeves, Payhawk offers cashback on card usage. But it’s only available to customers on annual plans and stops at the level of your base monthly fee.

You may have to wait up to 10 working days to receive a physical card.

Customer support

Payhawk provides support by phone, email and webchat in six countries. There’s a customer area on its website offering security information, usage advice, and a FAQ centre.

For 24/7 support and one-to-one account management, you must be on one of their bespoke tariffs designed for larger businesses.

Usage fees

Payhawk offers three tariffs, Pro, Premium and Enterprise.

Current charges for the Pro plan are €10 per seat/month (for a minimum of eight seats). The Premium plan is €15 per seat/month (minimum 12 seats). The Enterprise plan starts at 20+ seats and is bespoke so you’ll need to contact the company directly. 

Other charges may include:

• Cost for first-class shipping of a new physical card (Visa) - £/€10
• Currency exchange fees (Visa/Mastercard) – 1.99%
• 6-month inactivity fee (Mastercard) - £/€1.00 

Who is Payhawk good for?

Payhawk is good for enterprise-sized businesses with more complex financial and operational set-ups because it offers an API stack suitable for companies wanting deep integration with their ERP software. 

You need to subscribe to the 20+ seat service for API access and integrations for Microsoft Dynamics, Oracle NetSuite and Exact. However, Xero, QuickBooks, Datev and Sage integration is available on all tariffs.

Spendesk

Spendesk’s joint spend management service and payment platform is a debit card-based solution. To use your cards, you need to top up your wallet with money from your company’s current business account. 3,500 companies use Spendesk.

Top up your account by bank transfer (funds available in 1-5 working days) or via your credit card (instant clearance with a 2% fee from the second top-up onwards).

Unlimited virtual cards, subscriptions & users

There is no limit to the number of users you can add to your Spendesk account, which offers four different levels of access:

• Account owners. Usually, the founders and/or CFO have complete access to all dashboard features.
• Admin. Able to add or delete team members, invite users, set up accounts and more.
• Controllers. Most likely for your finance team as it gives them access to accounting features like sending receipt reminders and accounting codes.
• Requester. A user who can make payments and request top-ups.

If funds are available, Spendesk can top up Mastercard debit cards attached to your account automatically every month. 

There is a £50,000 per month limit to spending on each physical card. You can switch on or off ATM withdrawals on individual cards. Employees can make contactless payments after their first transaction using a PIN.

There is a £150,000 per month limit to spending on each virtual card. Spendesk offers single-use virtual cards (valid for one month) and virtual cards for recurring payments like subscriptions (valid for 4 years).

Integrates with Xero and DATEV

Spendesk integrates with Xero and Datev (a Germany-specific accounting software platform). You can match ledger codes and expense accounts across platforms.

When someone purchases with a card, Spendesk pushes that payment directly into Xero to transfer and reconcile charges, meaning a lighter workload for the finance team.

Spend management dashboard

Spendesk provides its features on desktop and app. Each task on the screen layout gives you step-by-step prompts on how to complete them. 

When you log in, you see how much is available on your wallet for spending, how much you’ve loaded onto cards and the total value for all pending transactions.

If you need help, there is a help-desk section on the site and a live web chat is available, too.

Budget setting

Set budgets (and sub-budgets) for teams, departments and projects with Spendesk. For example, you might set a budget of £50,000 for your digital marketing team to spend. 

If you want more control, you can set up sub-budgets to set limits on different types of spend within the team’s overall budget. For example, you can set a £20,000 maximum Facebook monthly ad spend, £10,000 a month on email marketing campaigns and so on.

Set different limits for individual team members where you require spending approval. You can also transfer the power to approve transactions to a team’s manager. 

Debit card with usage fees

Spendesk offers three tariffs – Starter, Essentials and Scale. But you must contact the company to get a bespoke quote. Spendesk doesn’t publish their prices except for their ATM withdrawal fees (0.75% of transaction value) and forex transactions (2.99%).

Compared with their Essentials and Scales tariff, which have more features, their Starter tariff offers fewer spend management options to clients.

There is no cashback or reward scheme with Spendesk.

Who is Spendesk good for?

Spendesk is suitable for companies with multiple employees with their own budgets across different departments and locations that want better expenditure control. 

Their starter tariff is good for everyday expense management, but it’s hard to compare it in value terms to the other options without getting in contact with them. 

Soldo

Soldo is a joint spend management platform and a prepaid debit card account for businesses. Soldo has 26,000 customers across 30 countries.

You must top up your Soldo wallet before being able to use cards to make purchases. 

Spend management dashboard

Manage the money you transfer to your Soldo account via desktop and app. You can set up company wallets on the paid plans to allocate spending to specified projects and teams or specific cost centres like marketing and subscriptions.

From the Reports tab, you can download monthly statements and expense reports for the company, individual wallets, team cards and individual cards. Employees can request purchase approvals via the platform.

Spend controls

Soldo offers spending controls and expense tracking. You can specify daily, weekly or monthly limits per card. You can allow or disallow certain transaction types, merchant categories, supplier locations and ATM withdrawals.

Higher-level and finance team users can see outstanding balances across all accounts and wallets at all times and find out who is spending the most and on what.

Tiered tariffs

Soldo’s Start tariff is free and allows unlimited card transactions, three user cards and three users (including one administrator and one accountant).

Their three main tariffs, Pro, Premium and Enterprise offer additional cards, users and features. Pro subscribers get access to the payment approval system while Premium subscribers get advanced user permissions and set-up and management for team cards. 

App and API integrations

All clients get bank access, accountant access, and integration with Xero, QuickBooks, Sage and Datev. However, only Premium and bespoke tariff customers benefit from API permissions.

With Soldo’s API, you can plug in live spend and payment data to your ERP platform and allow authorised third-party providers to access your banking information.

Prepaid card with usage fees

In addition to the tariff fees, here are Soldo’s extra charges:

• Balance enquiry by SMS - £0.10/€0.10/$0.10
• Forex fees – 1% (2% for Soldo Start tariff)

To add additional admin staff to an account costs between £6 and £10 per month. Additional cards cost £5 per month.

There is no cashback or reward scheme with Soldo.

Who is Soldo good for?

Soldo’s target market is businesses with complex spending needs that require greater analysis over budgets, expense classification, reconciliation, receipt management and expense reports.

Choose the spend management platform right for you

We hope you’ve found this article useful to help you decide whether Jeeves, Soldo, Spendesk or Payhawk is the right fintech for your business. All four platforms are feature-rich, and the best one ultimately depends on your specific needs.  

However, only Jeeves provides global functionality across three continents with one tool and extra cost-saving benefits like cashback, partner perks and fee-free forex.

Looking for a credit card and spend management solution for your growing business? Try Jeeves and apply in 5 minutes today.

‍