Brex Pricing 2026: Essentials vs Premium and Who Qualifies

Brex plan pricing

Brex

Ramp

Concur

Brex Essentials is free and includes corporate cards, expense tracking, receipt matching, and integrations with QuickBooks, Xero, and NetSuite. Brex Premium costs $12 per user per month and adds advanced expense policies, multi-entity support, and custom approval chains.

Brex also has an Enterprise tier with custom pricing for companies that need white-glove service, custom integrations, and dedicated support. Most companies land on Essentials or Premium.

The $12 price point for Premium is lower than Ramp Plus ($15) and much lower than Concur. If you are already using Brex and need approval workflows or entity separation, the upgrade is usually worth it.

Qualification requirements

Brex is a corporate credit card, not a charge card tied to your bank balance. That is the key structural difference from Ramp. To get approved for Brex, your company needs either venture capital or institutional funding, or $50,000 or more in annual business revenue.

This makes Brex accessible to funded startups that do not yet have $25K sitting in a bank account (Ramp's requirement). A seed-stage startup with $2M raised but only $80K in checking can get Brex cards but not Ramp cards.

Brex does a soft pull on business credit during signup. Sole proprietors and very early pre-revenue businesses usually do not qualify. If you are rejected, Ramp is the next option if you meet the balance requirement, or Mercury debit if you do not.

What Brex charges beyond the plan fee

Brex does not charge per-transaction fees or setup fees. The plan price is the plan price. Rewards are earned at 1x-7x points depending on the category. Brex points transfer to airline and hotel partners, which appeals to travel-heavy startups.

One thing to watch: Brex has occasionally tightened underwriting criteria and reduced credit limits during macroeconomic stress periods. Companies that relied on large Brex credit lines for operating cash saw limits cut. Keep this in mind if you are using Brex as a significant credit facility.

Brex Travel (booking tool) is available as an add-on and integrates with Brex expense. It is not as full-featured as Navan for complex travel programs, but handles basic flight and hotel booking with policy enforcement.

For the full feature breakdown beyond pricing, see our Brex review.

Frequently asked questions

What are Brex's three pricing tiers? Brex offers Essentials for free, Premium at $12 per user per month, and Enterprise with custom pricing. Enterprise deployments for companies with 500+ employees typically run $75,000 to $250,000+ annually [industry cost breakdowns, 2026].

Did pricing change after Capital One acquired Brex? The acquisition closed April 7, 2026, and Capital One has stated products, pricing, and support remain unchanged for now. The long-term underwriting model and roadmap have not been defined publicly [Capital One newsroom, 2026].

What pushes a company from free Essentials to paid Premium? Needing more advanced controls, dedicated support, or higher user and spend volumes are the typical triggers, though Brex does not publish an exact seat or spend threshold that forces an upgrade [industry reporting, 2026].

Does Brex charge extra for international transactions? Yes. Brex applies an FX markup of up to 3% on card transactions that require currency conversion, a real cost for companies with international spend or frequent overseas travel [Brex support documentation, 2026].

What happens if I exceed my contracted user count on Premium or Enterprise? Overage charges apply when you add users beyond your contracted count. Brex does not publicly disclose the exact overage rate, so it is worth negotiating into your contract upfront [industry reporting, 2026]. Weighing Ramp's free tier against Brex? Our Ramp pricing breakdown covers the 2026 per-transaction Bill Pay fee changes that affect the real cost comparison.