Airbase vs Ramp 2026: Spend Management Compared
Airbase (now part of Paylocity) and Ramp both automate corporate spending, but target different company stages. Here is how they compare on pricing and fit.
Is it right for you?
- How many employees will use corporate cards or submit purchase requests?
- Do you need multi-entity or subsidiary spend management?
- Are you already using Paylocity for HR or payroll?
- What accounting system do you use? (NetSuite, QuickBooks, Sage, Xero)
- Do you need guided procurement with purchase order workflows?
Quick verdict
Ramp wins for most growing startups: it is free, has no revenue or funding requirements, and covers what most teams need. Airbase was absorbed into Paylocity after a 2024 acquisition and is no longer sold as a standalone product. If you are evaluating both today, Ramp is the practical choice for any company that is not already a Paylocity customer.
Try Ramp Free →What happened to Airbase
Airbase
Ramp
Brex
BILL
ExpensifyAirbase was acquired by Paylocity in June 2024 for approximately $325 million. It is no longer sold as a standalone product, current Airbase customers are being migrated to a combined Paylocity spend management offering. If you are searching for "Airbase alternatives" or "Airbase pricing," the practical answer is that Airbase as an independent platform no longer exists.
This changes the Airbase vs Ramp comparison significantly. You cannot buy Airbase today unless you are already a Paylocity HR customer. If you are evaluating spend management from scratch, the comparison is effectively Ramp vs. other active competitors like Brex, Divvy (BILL Spend), or Navan.
Ramp: pricing and what is free
Ramp has a permanent free tier that covers unlimited corporate cards, basic expense management, bill pay, and accounting integrations. There is no revenue requirement or funding requirement to sign up. The main qualification: Ramp requires a US business bank account with a $25,000 minimum balance to issue corporate cards.
Ramp Plus at $15/user/month adds advanced controls, custom approval workflows, and deeper integration features. Ramp Enterprise adds dedicated support and custom pricing for larger organizations.
For a seed-stage startup or bootstrapped company with $25K+ in the bank, Ramp Free is genuinely useful. The free tier covers what most sub-100-person companies need for corporate cards and expense automation.
Where Airbase had an edge (before the acquisition)
Before the Paylocity acquisition, Airbase distinguished itself in three areas. First, guided procurement: Airbase had a structured purchase request workflow where employees submitted requests that went through approval chains before a card or PO was issued, stronger for companies that wanted to control spend before it happened. Second, multi-entity management: Airbase handled multiple subsidiaries with separate budgets better than Ramp's free tier. Third, no minimum balance requirement: unlike Ramp, Airbase did not require $25K in a US bank account to issue cards.
These advantages are now part of Paylocity's value proposition rather than available as a standalone offering.
Which to choose in 2026
If you are a current Paylocity HR customer being offered Airbase/spend management as an add-on, evaluate it on the combined HRIS plus spend integration value. The native connection means employee onboarding automatically provisions spend access and termination automatically revokes it.
If you are evaluating spend management from scratch and are not a Paylocity customer, Ramp is the practical choice. It is free for the core functionality, it has the largest install base of any modern corporate card platform in the US, and it integrates with QuickBooks, Xero, NetSuite, and Sage.
For the Ramp vs Brex comparison, if you want a corporate card with a credit line rather than debit, see our Ramp vs Brex guide. For Ramp vs Expensify, see this comparison.
For the full picture on Ramp beyond this comparison, see our Ramp review.
Frequently asked questions
How do Airbase and Ramp compare on review sites? Airbase has about 1,821 reviews on G2 with a 4.7/5 rating [G2, 2026]. Ramp's G2 rating is close at 4.8/5 but from a much larger pool of roughly 2,400+ reviews [G2, 2026].
How was Airbase priced compared to Ramp before the acquisition? Airbase used quote-based pricing that scaled with headcount and spend volume, with enterprise deals often starting around 500+ users [industry pricing analysis, 2026]. Ramp publishes a free base tier plus a flat $15/user/month Ramp Plus tier, making it more transparent for smaller companies [Ramp pricing page, 2026].
What was Airbase's "Guided Procurement" feature? It was a no-code intake workflow that routed purchase requests to the right stakeholders (IT, legal, security) and collected required documentation before a purchase happened, aimed at companies with more complex, multi-stakeholder approval chains than Ramp typically targets [Airbase product materials, 2023].
What size company did each platform target? Airbase focused on mid-market companies roughly in the 100-2,000 employee range with a paid, software-first model. Ramp spans a wider range from startups through mid-market, largely because its free tier removes cost as a barrier to entry [industry analysis, 2026].
Can I still buy Airbase today? Not as a standalone product. Airbase was acquired by Paylocity in June 2024 for approximately $325 million, and current customers are being migrated into a combined Paylocity spend management offering [acquisition reporting, 2024]. Weighing Ramp against a travel-first platform instead of Airbase? Our Navan vs Ramp comparison covers that matchup.