Brex Pricing 2026: Essentials $0, Premium $12 and the Capital One Deal

Brex pricing in 2026 is $0 per user a month on Essentials and $12 per active user a month on Premium, verified October 10, 2026 on Brex's own pricing and terms pages. Capital One agreed to buy Brex in January 2026, in a deal valued at $5.15 billion, and has since completed the purchase. The price list and Premium terms we read do not mention the deal.

Premium is the number that moves a budget. It bills active users from the month before, not headcount, and every user on a Brex account must sit on the same plan. Essentials has no software fee, but its two-entity cap is the line where a company has to move to a paid plan. Below are the seat costs at three company sizes, the fees outside the seat, and the questions to put in writing before you sign.

The Brex review covers the product itself. This page covers only the price, the billing rules and what the ownership change means for a buyer.

Toolradar data: Toolradar, the software directory we run, evaluated 83 expense management tools for its October 2026 ranking, listed at expense management. Brex has its own Toolradar page, and Ramp is tracked there too.

Brex plans at a glance

Essentials is the free plan, and its price is the easy part. The limits matter more. Essentials gives you cards, bill pay and accounting sync with no software invoice, but it has no live budgets and no multiple policies. Premium adds the controls a controller needs once approvals get complicated. Enterprise is the only tier where Brex lists unlimited entities, and it comes with a sales process. Travel-heavy buyers should also read the Navan review. For the wider shortlist, see the best expense management software, best spend management platforms and best corporate cards guides.

What Premium actually bills

Premium is billed per active user, and the bill follows the people who were active in the previous month rather than your headcount. Brex's Premium upgrade terms say fees are based on the active users in the prior billing period, and that the charge is billed on the first of each month for the month before. The terms do not define "active user," so get Brex's definition in writing before you budget by headcount.

The trial is the other timing trap. An eligible Essentials customer can start one 30-day Premium trial per customer lifetime. It converts to a paid monthly subscription unless the customer cancels first. Cancelling keeps Premium until the end of the billing cycle, then drops the account to Essentials features, and some Premium features can turn read-only or inactive. Applicable taxes sit on top of the seat price, and the customer pays them.

Those terms cover self-serve Premium only. A negotiated agreement follows its own order form, so a sales quote can differ from the list rate. Brex's cost article adds that Premium and Enterprise software is billed in arrears on net 30 terms or upfront, whichever the contract specifies, and that overage charges apply to provisioned users above the committed amount. A company whose procurement has to route a request before any card exists should read the Airbase review first.

Seat cost at three company sizes

Here is the arithmetic for the smallest case: $12 × 25 active users × 12 months = $3,600 a year. The table assumes every seat is active every month, so it is a ceiling for Premium. The Ramp column uses Ramp's annual Plus rate, which is the $15 monthly price less 20%, and it leaves out Ramp's platform fee because Ramp does not publish its amount.

Before Ramp's platform fee, the seat bill matches at every size in this table. The choice comes down to what each plan includes and to the platform fee Ramp quotes you. Essentials has no software fee at any of these sizes, so a company that never needs Premium pays nothing for the software.

When the bill jumps: the entity cap

Essentials covers up to two entities, one of them global. Premium adds multi-entity support across the US and internationally, and Enterprise lists unlimited US or global entities. Brex's cost article also says all users on an account must be on the same plan. A company that adds a third entity therefore moves every user to Premium, not only the people inside the new entity.

Our arithmetic puts that move at $10,800 a year for a company with 75 active users. The bill comes from the plan change, not from the entity itself. Finance teams planning an acquisition or a new country should price the Premium move into the same decision as the legal entity, because the software cost follows the org chart. For the ERP side of that choice, see the NetSuite review.

Fees outside the seat

Brex's cost-of-services article sets the rules that sit outside the seat price.

The FX markup is the easiest cost to miss. A supplier paid by card in a foreign currency carries the markup on every charge. The same supplier paid by a USD wire does not carry the card markup, although the recipient's bank may still take a fee. Pull a year of card statements and sort out the foreign-currency lines before you compare the bill to a competitor's. If the business account is the real decision, the best treasury management software guide covers the cash side.

Brex vs Ramp: where the fees land

Ramp is the closest comparison for a finance team, and the lines below use each vendor's own published figures.

Brex's no-fee statement covers its business account transfers, and Ramp's figures cover Bill Pay. Compare the product you will actually use. Ramp's standard ACH and check fees took effect June 1, 2026, and its same-day ACH costs $10. Ramp Checking pays 2% APY on eligible funds, per its pricing page as of October 10, 2026. The Bill Pay fee waiver requires paying from Ramp Checking, which also holds the 2% yield, so the account choice matters as much as the fee schedule. The side-by-side product view is in Ramp vs Brex, and the Ramp numbers are in the Ramp pricing guide. For the other side of the comparison, read the Ramp review and the Ramp alternatives page.

The Premium offer comes with an annual commitment

Brex's Premium offer provides up to two $250 gift cards, with a deadline of December 31, 2026. The first card follows a meeting with Brex Sales about Premium. The second requires signing an annual Premium Order Form within 7 days of that meeting and keeping the subscription active for at least 31 days. The offer pays in gift cards, not in a lower seat price, and the list rate stays the same. Treat the offer as a sales conversation that ends in an annual order form, and budget the Premium seat for a full year.

Capital One's purchase, in order

• January 22, 2026: Capital One announced it would acquire Brex, valued at $5.15 billion in a mix of stock and cash. The deal was expected to close in the middle of 2026, subject to regulatory approvals.
• Completed: Brex's completion post says Capital One has completed the purchase. The post gives no closing date, so this page gives none.
• Leadership: Pedro Franceschi continues as Brex CEO and reports to Frank LaPrade. Brex describes the change as continuity in how the company operates today, with more resources over time.
• Pricing: Neither announcement says anything about customer pricing or plans. Brex's price list still shows the Essentials and Premium prices in the table above, and nothing we read links a price change to the deal.

The announcements do not say what happens to prices, plans or contracts after the transfer. That is why the questions below belong in your renewal file, not in a guess about what Capital One will do.

Questions to put in writing

1. Is the Premium rate fixed for the term of our order form, and what does Brex count as an active user?
2. Does the two-entity Essentials cap, or the FX markup on card spend, change for existing accounts after the deal?
3. Which legal entity signs our order form, and which bank issues our cards?
4. Where will our account and transaction data sit after the transfer, and under whose contract?

How we priced this

We read Brex's pricing page, its Premium upgrade terms, its cost of Brex services article and its Premium offer terms on October 10, 2026. The deal sources were Brex's post on the deal, its completion post and Capital One's announcement. Ramp's figures come from its pricing page and its Bill Pay fee page, read the same day. The Toolradar count comes from its October 2026 ranking.

Scenario totals multiply published per-seat rates by active users. They are our arithmetic, not a Brex or Ramp quote, and they exclude sales tax, contract overages and Ramp's unpublished platform fee. This page is general information, not personalized financial advice. Confirm terms with Brex and Ramp before you sign.

FAQ

How much does Brex cost per month in 2026?

Essentials is $0 per user a month. Premium is $12 per active user a month, billed on the first for the prior month's active users, so 25 active users cost $300 a month before sales tax. Enterprise and Smart Card are quoted, not listed.

Is Brex free?

Essentials has no software fee. It includes cards, bill pay, reimbursements, travel booking, accounting integrations and up to two entities, one of them global. It leaves out live budgets and multiple expense policies, and card spend that converts currency carries an FX markup of up to 3%.

What does Brex Premium add?

Premium adds multiple expense policies, dynamic review chains, advanced approvals, live budgets, multi-entity support, custom ERP and HRIS integrations, VAT documentation and group travel rules. It is the paid plan that covers more than two entities, short of Enterprise.

Did Capital One buy Brex, and will prices change?

Capital One announced the purchase on January 22, 2026, at a value of $5.15 billion, and has since completed it. Neither announcement mentions customer pricing, and Brex's price list still shows the same two plans. The real risk is the price in your own order form at renewal, so get the rate in writing before then.

Does Brex charge fees on payments and cards?

Brex says it charges no transaction fee on domestic or international wires, ACH or checks, though third-party or recipient banks may charge. Card spend that converts currency carries an FX markup of up to 3%. Domestic card transactions carry no extra fee by default.

Is Brex cheaper than Ramp?

Both have free tiers. On paid seats, Brex Premium is billed per active user, while Ramp Plus is $15 per user a month, or 20% less on annual billing, plus a platform fee Ramp does not publish. Ramp Bill Pay charges $0.59 per standard ACH unless the payment comes from Ramp Checking. Ask Ramp for the platform fee at your headcount before you compare totals.

Cite this: CFOpresso, "Brex Pricing 2026: Essentials $0, Premium $12 and the Capital One Deal", October 2026.

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