Airbase vs Ramp 2026: Spend Controls and Pricing Compared

Choose Ramp when an eligible US company wants a published $0 starting plan and will issue Ramp cards. Choose Airbase, now presented as Paylocity for Finance, if you need to keep compatible corporate cards or bring procurement, accounts payable and employee data together. Ramp Plus lists $15 per user per month plus a platform fee, while Paylocity quotes the finance package. We checked both vendors' pages on October 28, 2026.

Price the modules, the implementation and the ledger connection before you choose, because the headline leaves those costs out. Cards and payments overlap, and the split is whether one product can carry a purchase from request through approval into the ledger.

Toolradar data: Our software directory evaluated 89 expense management tools for its October 2026 ranking. That is the size of an expense-software category, not a count of procurement suites or an independent test of these two products. Toolradar also has separate profiles for Airbase and Ramp.

Airbase vs Ramp at a glance

Question	Airbase / Paylocity for Finance	Ramp
Public entry price	Finance modules priced by quote	Free plan at $0 per user/month
Paid starting point	Request the module and implementation quote	Plus: $15/user/month plus platform fee; annual savings advertised
Existing corporate cards	Paylocity says compatible existing cards or its own program can be used	Ramp cards have spend controls; check external-card needs separately
Procurement	Guided Procurement is a finance module	Procurement is an add-on to Plus or Enterprise
AP workflow	AP Automation module covers invoice processing and approvals	Free lists bill pay; Plus adds features
ERP	Ask Paylocity to scope your system and required module	Free lists QuickBooks Online and Xero; Plus lists NetSuite and Sage Intacct

Read the table as a scoping aid, not as a finished price. The Paylocity finance page says modules can be adopted in whole or in part, so a team can buy one module instead of the full suite. Ramp pricing shows what sits on a named plan and what is an add-on, and a listed feature is not a promise that your quote includes it.

How much do Airbase and Ramp cost once quotes and fees are in?

Ramp lists Free at $0 per user per month. That fits an eligible US company that will issue Ramp cards and can live with the bill pay and accounting connections on that plan. It is the wrong budget when procurement or a broader accounting integration is required, because those sit on a higher plan or an add-on.

Plus is listed at $15 per user per month plus a platform fee based on team size, with 20% savings advertised for annual billing. No universal fee amount is published, so the seat rate cannot become a full Plus price. Enterprise is custom priced and billed annually, which leaves no public rate for that tier.

Paylocity's pricing page describes the finance capabilities and invites a discussion, and Paylocity publishes no list price for the finance package. The usable figure is a written quote for modules, seats, implementation, integrations and term. That quote-only price stays unknown, and it is not proof the package costs more than Ramp.

Ten active users, all billable at Ramp's listed Plus monthly rate, come to a seat component of $150 per month before the platform fee, the procurement add-on, taxes and other charges. That figure is a partial calculation, not a quote or the full bill, so it cannot sit beside a Paylocity proposal until the missing prices are in. Ramp's billing policy explains which users count and notes exceptions for certain roles and inactive users, so a full roster can include people who are not billed.

Cost question for the same team	Ramp	Paylocity for Finance
Ten billable users on published Plus rate	$150/month seat component	Ask for a quote
Platform charge	Additional fee by team size; amount to confirm	Ask whether a platform fee applies
Procurement	Add-on to Plus or Enterprise; quote it	Ask for Guided Procurement module price
Implementation and ERP	Confirm the scope and fees	Ask for a written implementation and integration quote
Annual commitment	Annual savings advertised; check full terms	Ask for term, renewal and price changes

The annual savings label does not say which lines of an order form receive the discount. Confirm how the seat, the platform charge and each add-on change by billing term before you apply that label to the whole package.

Which vendor fits better when the company already has corporate cards?

Paylocity explicitly says its corporate-card product can use existing corporate cards or Paylocity-issued cards. That suits a company with a bank relationship, negotiated card terms or employee cards it does not want to reissue. Confirm which issuers are supported, what data arrives, how often the feed syncs, and which controls can act before a charge posts.

Ramp's Free plan lists corporate cards and issuing controls, and its card and funds documentation explains controls on Ramp cards. The tightest limits apply when employees spend on cards Ramp issues. Ramp also documents personal-card reimbursements on Plus, where an employee may connect a personal card and create reimbursement drafts from imported transactions if the company has enabled reimbursements. That pays someone back after the purchase, which is a different job from controlling an existing corporate card at the point of sale.

Record subscriptions and vendor payment details before a card move, because recurring charges can break even on a low software price. If you keep the current cards, check who clears receipts that never match.

Which product handles purchase approvals from request to invoice?

Paylocity describes Guided Procurement as an intake and approval module, with stakeholder routing across finance and other functions. Its finance overview says the modules can be deployed individually or together, so intake can start before accounts payable, or the other way around. Confirm the quote includes requests, routing, purchase orders, supplier records and your ERP connection, because a module name on the site is not those pieces in the contract.

Ramp lists procurement as an add-on to Plus or Enterprise, including advanced intake and approval workflows, automated purchase-order creation and three-way matching with Ramp purchase orders. Bill approvals on the free plan are a separate feature, so they do not include that add-on. Price the add-on if you need purchase orders and three-way matching, and stay on the lower plan if you only approve bills.

Walk both vendors through one purchase, from the software request and budget check through legal review, the supplier invoice and the match to the approved order. Note where someone leaves the system, what audit history remains, and which steps are actually quoted.

For a wider shortlist, see procurement software and spend management platforms. The Ramp vs BILL guide compares a different accounts-payable pairing.

How do accounts payable and the ledger connection compare?

Paylocity lists invoice capture, coding, approval workflows, payments and ERP synchronization in its AP offering, the path from a supplier bill to a coded, approved payment. Its AP product page also describes two-way and three-way purchase-order matching. Ask which of those pieces and which volumes are in the quoted modules, and whether matching works on the orders and invoices you already use.

Ramp lists invoice extraction, configurable approval workflows and bill payment methods on Free, so basic bill pay does not require the paid seat. Plus adds automated batch payments and payment release approvals, which suits a team that pays many bills together or wants a release step before money moves. Some payment routes and account arrangements carry separate terms or fees, so get the current schedule rather than treating every payment as free of extra charges.

The ledger connection is often the step that decides the purchase. Ramp's pricing page lists QuickBooks Online and Xero on Free, NetSuite and Sage Intacct on Plus, and Workday and Oracle Fusion Cloud among Enterprise integrations. A QuickBooks Online or Xero company can start on the free plan, a NetSuite or Sage Intacct company should budget Plus, and a Workday or Oracle Fusion Cloud company should budget the custom tier.

Confirm sync direction, entities, fields and scope before you sign, and name the ledger in the Paylocity quote, because a general ERP connection is not your system. Trace one invoice to the journal entry, then a change after approval, including tax, dimensions, a rejection or a supplier credit. A clean standard invoice does not prove those exceptions are automated.

Who is eligible for Ramp, and who should start with Paylocity?

Ramp's US application requirements say an applicant must be registered in the United States as a corporation, LLC or limited partnership, with at least $25,000 in cash in a linked US business bank account, among other conditions. The business must have a physical US address and most operations and corporate spending in the US. Ramp says it is not accepting individuals, sole proprietors or other unregistered businesses under those requirements, so those applicants should not budget Ramp until the vendor confirms the entity.

The screen is an eligibility check, not a software fee or an approval, and Ramp still evaluates each application and sets limits. A company with entities outside the United States should ask Paylocity which entities can sign, receive cards, reimburse employees and pay suppliers, and in which currencies. A supported supplier payment is not local card issuance, so name card and entity coverage in the proposal when the project needs them.

Which should a finance team choose, and what belongs in the quote?

Start with Ramp if the company meets the US eligibility rules, wants cards Ramp issues, and can map the work onto the free plan. Price Plus and the relevant add-on for advanced accounting, multiple entities or procurement, because the free plan does not cover those jobs.

Start with Paylocity for Finance when you want to keep compatible corporate cards, or combine guided procurement, accounts payable and employee data. Get a quote for that setup and confirm each card program and ERP. Until it arrives, the price and the implementation effort stay unknown.

For either vendor, get the same answers in writing.

1. Which employees are billable, and how do inactive users affect the charge?
2. Which modules are included, and what costs extra for procurement and AP?
3. What does implementation cover, and who owns ERP configuration and testing?
4. Which card programs, countries, currencies and legal entities are supported?
5. What happens to the price at renewal, and how can data be exported?

Our Ramp pricing guide covers the published tiers, with more context in Ramp alternatives, the Airbase review, the Ramp review, Ramp vs Brex, Ramp vs Expensify and the expense management software guide.

Frequently asked questions

Is the Airbase product still sold under the Airbase name?

Paylocity's current product page uses Paylocity for Finance and references Airbase by Paylocity. Confirm the product and modules in the proposal before you compare that document with Ramp.

Is Ramp's spend software free for an eligible company?

Ramp lists a Free plan at $0 per user per month, but applicants still need the US rules, including at least $25,000 in cash in a linked US business bank account. Separate payment fees can still apply, so the seat price is not the whole cost.

How much does Ramp Plus cost before the platform fee and add-ons?

Ramp lists $15 per user per month plus a platform fee based on team size, and it advertises 20% savings with annual billing. Procurement is an extra add-on, so request the full order form for your headcount and billing term before you treat the seat rate as the price.

Does Paylocity publish a list price for the finance package?

Paylocity publishes no list price for the finance package, so the comparison figure has to be a quote for your modules, users, implementation and integrations. Set that quote beside Ramp's seat rate and the platform fee Ramp does not publish.

Can a company keep its existing corporate cards with either vendor?

Paylocity says its corporate-card product can use existing cards or Paylocity-issued cards, so confirm issuer support and the controls on each card. Ramp's Plus reimbursements import personal-card transactions and pay the employee back later, which is separate from controls on corporate cards you already hold.

Is Ramp's procurement workflow included on the Free plan?

Ramp identifies Procurement as an add-on to Plus or Enterprise, so price it when you need intake, purchase orders and matching. Bill approvals on the free plan do not include that add-on.

Which Ramp plan lists NetSuite, and does Paylocity quote it?

Ramp lists NetSuite on Plus, so budget that plan when NetSuite is the ledger. Ask Paylocity whether your NetSuite entities and fields are in the quote.

Do Airbase and Ramp support every country a company operates in?

Ramp publishes US application requirements and describes certain global features by plan, so confirm non-US coverage with the vendor. Ask both vendors about legal-entity, card, reimbursement and supplier-payment support in each country you use.

Methodology

We reviewed Ramp's pricing, eligibility, card and billing pages and Paylocity's finance and pricing pages on October 28, 2026. The ten-user Ramp example is a seat-only calculation, excluding the unpublished platform fee and add-ons; Paylocity's finance price requires a quote. We did not create accounts or conduct product testing, and features, eligibility and contract terms can change.

Cite this: CFOpresso, "Airbase vs Ramp 2026: Spend Controls and Pricing Compared", October 2026.

Some offers on this page may be paid placements or contain affiliate links.