Payhawk vs Penta
Side-by-side comparison — pricing, features, ratings, use cases. Find which Business Banking fits you best.
💰 Pricing
- Card replacement fee: €10 per card
- Out-of-network ATM fee: 2% with €2 minimum
- International card payment fee: 1%
- FX markup on non-EUR transactions: 0.5% (Essential), 0.2% (Growth), 0.1% (Scale)
- Accounting integration fees: from €50/month for premium integrations like NetSuite
- Cross-entity transactions incur FX fees
- Cash deposit fees apply if using physical banking
- Premium accounting integrations cost extra
- Card issuance fee for physical cards (€5 per card)
🔧 Features
📋 Assessment
💪 Strengths
- Unified platform: Payhawk combines corporate cards, expense management, and AP automation in one interface. This means no more stitching together separate tools and manually syncing data. Finance teams get a single source of truth for all outgoing money, which simplifies reconciliation and reporting.
- Excellent multi-entity and multi-currency support: With granular approval workflows and role-based permissions, Payhawk is built for companies operating across borders. You can manage subsidiaries with different currencies and compliance rules, and configure approval flows that match your org structure.
- European banking integrations: Payhawk's European origins mean seamless connections with local banks and payment networks like SEPA. This makes multi-currency payments and VAT handling straightforward, a significant advantage over platforms designed primarily for the US market.
- Real-time expense tracking: Employees can capture receipts and log expenses on the go via a mobile app, and managers can see spending as it happens. This visibility helps prevent budget overruns and ensures expense policies are followed.
- Automated AP workflow: Invoices are digitized, matched to purchase orders, and routed for approval automatically. This cuts down on manual data entry and reduces the risk of duplicate payments.
⚠ Watch out for
- Not a free service: While Payhawk offers a trial, the platform requires a subscription and charges for card issuance and transactions. For small businesses or startups with tight margins, these ongoing costs can be a hurdle, especially compared to some competitors that offer more generous free tiers.
- Limited global availability: Payhawk's core markets are the UK and EU. If your business has operations in other regions like North America (beyond limited support) or Asia, Payhawk may not be usable there, forcing you to maintain a patchwork of spend tools.
- Complex onboarding for multi-entity setups: Setting up multiple entities, custom approval flows, and integrating with ERPs like NetSuite can take time and may require IT or finance involvement. The learning curve is real, and smaller teams might find the initial configuration overwhelming.
- Payments can take time: While card transactions are instant, ACH or wire transfers via the AP module might take a few business days. If you need to make urgent payments, the built-in speed might not match a dedicated payment platform.
- Customer support can be inconsistent: While Payhawk provides support via chat and email, response times can vary. Some larger clients report dedicated account managers, but smaller customers might feel left to self-serve. The knowledge base is helpful, but for complex issues, you might wait longer than ideal.
🎯 Best for
Mid-market and enterprise finance teams in Europe and the UK that need to manage corporate cards, expenses, and accounts payable across multiple entities in one platform.
🚫 Who should skip
Solo founders and very small businesses with basic spending needs would likely be overpaying and over-engineering — simpler tools like a basic expense app or a standard business credit card with auto-categorization are enough.
📚 Learning curve
Moderate — finance staff can grasp core features in a day, but setting up approval policies, integrations, and multi-entity hierarchies requires deliberate onboarding and configuration.
🧑⚖️ Verdict
Payhawk is a powerful, unified spend management solution for growing companies in the UK and EU that need multi-entity and multi-currency control. Its all-in-one approach and strong European integrations make it a top contender, but the subscription costs and limited global reach mean it’s not ideal
💰 Pricing
- SEPA transfer (incoming): €0.15 per transaction
- SEPA transfer (outgoing): €0.25 per transaction
- Foreign exchange markup: 1.5% above interbank rate
- Card replacement: €10
- Cash deposit: starting from €2.50 per operation
- Transaction fees for SEPA transfers are not included in monthly plans
- Cash deposits are costly, with fees up to €10 depending on amount
- Card fees for additional or replacement cards
- Potential kick-off costs for account opening when migrating to Qonto
🔧 Features
📋 Assessment
💪 Strengths
- Penta's digital account opening is genuinely fast. For German residents, the process takes minutes, and the system automatically checks GmbH or UG registration data against public registries. This eliminates the delay of manual document submissions, which traditional banks still require. It's a massive time-saver for founders who want to start transacting immediately.
- The free basic account is a real differentiator. No monthly maintenance fees for most small businesses and freelancers, which is rare in German business banking where 10-20 EUR monthly charges are common. This makes Penta (and its successor Qonto) a cost-effective choice for solo founders and small UG/GmbH that want to keep fixed costs low.
- Native integrations with DATEV, Lexware, and sevDesk set Penta apart. Instead of manually exporting transactions and re-formatting them for accounting, you can connect your bank account to these tools with a few clicks. For German businesses that must comply with DATEV formats (like GAEB or CSV), this is a huge efficiency gain, reducing errors and saving hours of bookkeeping time each month.
- Expense tracking is built into the account. You can categorize transactions, attach receipts, and assign expenses to specific projects or cost centers. This is especially useful for freelancers who need to keep an eye on deductible expenses and want to be audit-ready without hiring a full-time bookkeeper.
⚠ Watch out for
- The Penta brand is being discontinued. Existing customers are being migrated to Qonto, which means even if you open a Penta account today, you'll eventually have to switch platforms. This transitional hassle includes re-entering standing orders, re-linking accounting software, and possibly learning a new interface. For a business, that disruption isn't trivial.
- Penta has no physical branches. All support is handled via chat or email, which can be frustrating for complex issues like international transfers, account freezes, or legal documents. If you prefer face-to-face banking or need instant resolution of a critical issue, this is a drawback.
- The platform is Germany-centric. It supports euros and German business structures predominantly. If you have international clients or need multi-currency accounts, Penta (and even Qonto) offers limited functionality compared to rivals like Wise or Revolut Business. You might need to pair it with another banking service for foreign currencies.
🎯 Best for
German freelancers, founders of GmbHs and UGs, and small digital businesses that want a fast, mobile-friendly, fee-free Euro business account with solid accounting-tool integrations.
🚫 Who should skip
Non-German companies, businesses that need loans or credit lines, and companies that rely on a physical branch or personal advisor.
📚 Learning curve
Minimal — opening an account and basic banking can be done in under 30 minutes, and the interface is simple for freelancers and small business owners.
🧑⚖️ Verdict
Penta is a solid choice if you're okay with eventually migrating to Qonto, but for new customers, it's wiser to sign up directly with Qonto. Avoid Penta if you need multi-currency or in-person support. Bottom line: Penta's legacy is innovation, but its future is Qonto—so compare Qonto's offers inste
📊 Use Case Suitability
Higher score = better fit. Scores from editorial review.
🧭 Which One Should You Pick?
Choose Payhawk if...
- You are: Mid-market and enterprise finance teams in Europe and the UK that need to manage corporate cards, expenses, and accounts
- 👍 Unified platform for cards, expenses, and AP automation — no need to patch together separate tools.
- 👍 Strong multi-entity support with granular approval workflows and role-based permissions.
- 👍 European origin means solid local banking integrations and multi-currency handling for EU/UK busines
- 💰 Free tier available
- ⚠ Trade-off: Not a fully free service — the trial is limited, and ongoing subscription fees p
Choose Penta if...
- You are: German freelancers, founders of GmbHs and UGs, and small digital businesses that want a fast, mobile-friendly, fee-free
- 👍 Digital account opening in minutes for German residents with automatic checks of GmbH/UG registratio
- 👍 Free basic business account with no monthly maintenance fee for most small businesses and freelancer
- 👍 Native integration with German accounting tools like DATEV, Lexware, and sevDesk.
- 💰 Free tier available
- ⚠ Trade-off: Penta as a brand is being discontinued; customers are forced to migrate to Qonto
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
What does Payhawk actually cost? The listing says 'Free' — is there a catch?
Payhawk offers a free trial, but it is not entirely free. After the trial, the platform works on a subscription model with per-user monthly fees, plus costs for card issuance and FX transactions. Advanced features like AP automation and multi-entity management may require a higher-tier plan.
How does Payhawk compare to rivals like Brex or Ramp?
Payhawk is more focused on European and multi-entity operations, while Brex and Ramp primarily serve US-based companies with a similar spend management stack. Payhawk also includes AP automation as a core feature, which some competitors only offer via add-ons.
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