Payhawk vs Soldo
Side-by-side comparison — pricing, features, ratings, use cases. Find which Business Banking fits you best.
🔍 Independently researched ·
📊 Data-driven
62/100
Free tier
Mid-market and enterprise finance teams in Europe and the UK that need to manage corporate cards, expenses, and accounts
💰 Pricing
🆓 Free tier available
Essential plan with limited features
Fee notes:
- 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
⚠ Watch for:
- 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
✓ Unicorn✓ Corporate Cards✓ Ap Automation✓ Multi Entity✓ Bulgarian Origin✓ Free Tier
📋 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
69/100
Free tier
Small and mid-sized UK/European companies that want to control employee spending with prepaid cards and automate expense
★ Best
💰 Pricing
🆓 Free tier available
Free plan (Starter) allows up to 3 users and 3 cards; includes 1% transaction fee on card payments, 0.2% for SEPA direct debit; 1.5% FX on non-EUR currencies; no monthly fee.
Starting at $5 (hybrid)
Fee notes:
- Transaction fee: 1% per card payment on Starter, 0.5% on Business (reduces with higher plans).
- FX markup: 1.5% for non-EUR transactions on Starter, 0.5% on Business.
- SEPA direct debit fees: 0.2% on Starter, 0.1% on Business.
- Cash deposit fee: 1% of deposited amount.
- Card replacement fee: €5 per card.
⚠ Watch for:
- Transaction fees on card payments: can add up on high-volume spend.
- FX markup on non-EUR transactions: 1.5% on Starter, 0.5% on Business.
- Cash deposit fee of 1% may be charged for ATM or bank deposits.
- Card replacement fee of €5 per card.
🔧 Features
✓ Spend Management✓ Prepaid Cards✓ Spend Controls✓ Receipt Capture✓ Uk Europe✓ Free Tier
📋 Assessment
💪 Strengths
- Real-time card-level controls are the crown jewel. Admins can instantly set spending limits, restrict merchant categories (e.g., block all gambling or alcohol), whitelist specific vendors, disable ATM withdrawals, and even freeze a card with a single tap. This granularity is invaluable for enforcing policy without constant oversight. For example, you can give a sales rep a card that only works at approved restaurants and hotels, or allow a remote engineer a $500 monthly limit on SaaS tools. The controls take effect immediately, so there's no lag between policy change and enforcement.
- The automatic receipt capture is a time-saver that actually works. Employees snap a photo of a paper receipt, and Soldo's OCR extracts the amount, date, and merchant, then automatically attaches it to the matching transaction. This eliminates the classic 'I lost the receipt' excuse and makes VAT reconciliation a breeze. The matching is generally reliable, and if a receipt doesn't auto-match, manual attachment is straightforward. For finance teams, this transforms the monthly expense close from a multi-day chore into a half-hour sanity check.
- Accounting integrations are deep and practical. Soldo syncs transactions directly to Xero, Sage, QuickBooks, NetSuite, and SAP Concur, including custom categorization and VAT codes. This isn't just a CSV export—it's a two-way sync that pushes fully categorized transactions with attached receipts into your ledger. For example, you can set up rules to auto-code Starbucks purchases as 'Client Meetings' and map them to the right expense account. For companies already using these platforms, this saves hours of manual entry and reduces human error.
- The mobile app for employees is clean and user-friendly. Employees can view their available balance, check transaction history, snap receipts, and even report a card lost/stolen instantly. The push notifications for every transaction keep a running audit trail, and the user experience is far better than the clunky expense apps from traditional banks. This reduces friction and increases adoption—employees don't need to be trained on a complex system, just download and go.
- Soldo offers a multi-currency wallet (EUR, GBP, USD) and competitive FX rates for businesses operating across borders. You can top up the wallet in one currency and spend in another, with interbank rates plus a small margin. This is particularly useful for European companies with remote teams or contractors in different countries. The platform also issues both physical and virtual cards, so you can generate a virtual card instantly for a single online purchase—a huge plus for security.
⚠ Watch out for
- The biggest limitation: Soldo is not a bank account. You cannot receive payments from customers, earn interest on balances, or run payroll directly from the wallet. The money you hold is e-money, not bank deposits (so it's not covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme in the UK—though it is safeguarded in an FCA-approved manner). This means companies need a separate business current account for their main banking operations. Soldo is a spending layer, not a banking replacement.
- Pricing is quote-based and can escalate quickly. The $5/mo starting price typically applies per active card, and additional features like advanced integration, invoice capture, or multiple users may incur extra costs. For a company with 100 employees, that's $500/mo just for cards—and if you have many cards that are rarely used, you'll still pay. There's no transparent public pricing, so you have to go through a sales call to get a quote. This lack of transparency can be a turn-off for SMBs that prefer self-serve.
- Prepaid cards can be declined by certain merchants, particularly car rental companies, hotels, and sometimes gas stations. These merchants often place a temporary hold (pre-authorization) that exceeds the purchase amount, and prepaid cards without sufficient backup funds can fail. This can be embarrassing in business settings. While Soldo offers a 'hold' feature to reserve funds, it requires the employee to do it manually, which many may not realize—so friction exists.
- The pooling mechanism can be rigid. Funds are held in a single master wallet, and you allocate budgets to individual cards or groups. If you want to give a department a monthly budget that resets, you need to manually set that up or rely on rules. There's no built-in 'automatic top-up from bank' feature unless you set up a standing order, so someone needs to actively manage the wallet to avoid running out of funds.
- Customer support is decent but not 24/7. Live chat and email support are available during business hours (UK/Europe time), and response times are generally within hours. However, there's no phone support, which can be frustrating for urgent issues. The knowledge base is solid, but the lack of immediate human help is a downside for a platform that handles money.
🎯 Best for
Small and mid-sized UK/European companies that want to control employee spending with prepaid cards and automate expense reconciliation.
🚫 Who should skip
Companies that need a full business bank account, want a credit card with revolving credit, or have significant non-UK/EU operations should skip Soldo.
📚 Learning curve
Minimal — most employees need only the mobile app, and a finance admin can set up card rules and accounting syncs in a few hours; configuring complex approval workflows takes a bit more time.
🧑⚖️ Verdict
Soldo is an excellent choice for European SMBs that need to give employees controlled spending power and have a strong finance automation need. It shines with real-time controls, receipt capture, and deep accounting integrations. However, if you need a full bank account or have simple expense needs
📊 Use Case Suitability
Higher score = better fit. Scores from editorial review.
Use CasePayhawkSoldo
Multi-Entity Spend Management95—
Payhawk is built for companies with multiple subsidiaries, offering consolidated
Accounts Payable Automation90—
The platform automates invoice capture, approval routing, and payment execution,
Corporate Card Program for Remote Teams85—
Virtual and physical cards with granular limits and real-time controls work well
Startup Expense Tracking75—
Startups with complex spend or investor reporting needs benefit, but simpler sta
Currency-Flexible Payments80—
Multi-currency accounts and cards make it easier for companies operating across
Employee Expense Management—94
Soldo gives each employee a reloadable prepaid card with real-time limits and au
Department Budget Controls—90
Cards can be grouped by team or cost centre with separate budgets and approval r
Remote Team Payments—85
Virtual cards can be issued instantly to remote employees across the UK/Europe,
🧭 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 Soldo if...
- You are: Small and mid-sized UK/European companies that want to control employee spending with prepaid cards and automate expense
- 👍 Real-time transaction controls at the card level — restrict merchant categories, individual merchant
- 👍 Automatic receipt capture via the companion mobile app: employees photograph receipts, and Soldo mat
- 👍 Deep accounting integrations with Xero, Sage, QuickBooks, NetSuite, and SAP Concur reduce manual dat
- 💰 From $5/mo
- ⚠ Trade-off: Not a bank account — you can't receive customer payments, earn interest, or run
❓ 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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