Per Diem Management Software 2026: Rates and Compliance
Per diem software needs current IRS GSA rates, city-level configuration, and integration with travel booking. Here is what each major platform does.
Bottom line
SAP Concur has the most configurable per diem engine on the market, letting you set rates by city, employee level, meal type, and travel day, which is why it commands a premium for companies with complex international travel. Expensify covers the more common case well: built-in IRS GSA rate tables, automatic 75% first/last-day calculation, and workspace-level overrides, without Concur's configuration overhead. Navan's advantage is structural rather than granular: because per diem ties directly to booked travel dates, it closes the manual-entry gap where employees could otherwise misreport travel days. The right tool depends on whether your travel is booked centrally (Navan), your policy is close to standard IRS GSA rates (Expensify), or your rules are genuinely complex across cities and traveler tiers (Concur).
Is it right for you?
- Verify the tool uses current IRS GSA per diem rates (updated annually in October).
- Configure per diem by destination city, not just a flat national rate.
- Set first and last day rules (IRS requires 75% rate on travel days).
- Separate M&IE (meals and incidental expenses) from lodging per diem if needed.
- Enable per diem for international travel using State Department rates.
Why per diem rates matter in your expense tool
Per diem rates change annually. The IRS and GSA publish updated rates every October for the following fiscal year. If your expense tool has hard-coded rates, those rates become incorrect over time. Look for tools that update rates automatically or make it easy to update them yourself.
Per diem rates also vary significantly by city. New York City and San Francisco have much higher rates than secondary markets. A flat national per diem rate either overpays employees in low-cost cities or underpays them in high-cost cities. City-level configuration is the right approach.
SAP Concur has the most configurable per diem engine of any T&E tool. You can set rates by city, by employee level, by meal type, and by travel day vs full day. For companies with complex international travel programs, this configurability is worth the Concur premium.
Per diem in Expensify
Expensify supports per diem with IRS rate tables built in. When an employee logs a travel day, Expensify auto-populates the per diem amount based on the destination city and date. The employee confirms the amount rather than entering it manually.
Expensify per diem supports the 75% first/last day rule, which is an IRS requirement. The calculation happens automatically. If you have custom per diem rates that differ from IRS rates, you can override them in the workspace settings.
Expensify per diem is less configurable than Concur but covers most common use cases. If your per diem policy is straightforward (follow IRS GSA rates, apply first/last day rules), Expensify handles it without extra configuration.
Per diem in Navan and travel-integrated platforms
Navan handles per diem in the context of travel bookings. When an employee books a trip in Navan, the per diem calculation starts from the booked travel dates. The integration between booking data and per diem calculation reduces the chance of employees claiming per diem for days they were not traveling.
This booking-integrated per diem is a meaningful control. With Expensify or standalone expense tools, employees manually log travel days. There is some opportunity for error or misrepresentation. When booking data feeds per diem automatically, the calculation is grounded in verified trip records.
For companies with active travel programs, Navan's integrated per diem is a real advantage. For companies where employees book travel independently and expense separately, Expensify's per diem is more practical.
For general expense management beyond per diem, see our best expense management software roundup.
A small per diem overclaim, caught by comparing records
Tiffany of True Tally Bookkeeping in Geelong, Victoria, described a case from a trade client whose payroll her firm handles. One employee traveled for a week each quarter to visit clients, mostly in regional towns. The per diem rates were AUD $133.40 for a full day and AUD $66.70 for a half day. On the Mondays the employee left at midday, after lunch, the claims went in as full days instead of half days.
The overclaim was AUD $66.70 a quarter, so AUD $133.40 across two quarters. The employee's manager found it by comparing the submitted claims against the timesheets. It is the same gap described above for manually logged travel days: the claim and the trip record are separate, and someone has to compare them.
Frequently asked questions
What is the 2025 GSA standard CONUS per diem rate, and how does software calculate it? For FY2025, the GSA standard CONUS rate is US$178/day total (US$110 lodging + US$68 M&IE), up from US$107 lodging the prior year [GSA, 2025]. Per diem software like Rydoo imports official government per diem tables covering 80+ countries so trips are auto-calculated without manual lookup [Rydoo/G2, 2025].
Which per diem tool has the strongest user ratings? Rydoo holds a 4.4-star G2 rating from more than 700 reviews, with users highlighting fast receipt scanning and responsive support [G2, 2025]. SAP Concur, the enterprise alternative, sits at 4.0/5 from over 6,000 G2 reviews [G2, 2025].
Does the IRS require receipts for every per diem line item? A qualifying allowance can establish the reimbursable amount without itemizing every meal. The employee still records when and where the trip took place and its business purpose. Receipt exceptions for actual-cost reimbursement, including the $75 rule, are a separate question [IRS Publication 463, reviewed October 9, 2026].
Which accountable-plan requirements should an allowance tool track? Payments must relate to business, employees must account adequately for the expense, and excess amounts must go back to the employer. IRS safe-harbor timing allows an advance within 30 days of the expense, substantiation within 60 days after it, and repayment of excess within 120 days. Those are reasonable-period rules, not a 30-day documentation deadline for advances [IRS Pub. 463, 2025 edition, reviewed October 9, 2026].
How many non-standard, higher-cost per diem areas does the GSA maintain for 2025? FY2025 has 296 NSAs. The standard allowance totals $178, while local M&IE rates range between $68 and $92 [GSA, 2025]. Keep the software's destination tables current so staff receive the appropriate allowance. For driver spending beyond daily allowances, see the trucking section in our expense-tool comparison.
How much does Zoho Expense cost? The quoted plan is $3 per user monthly at annual billing or $5 with monthly billing. Zoho also has dedicated per diem expense entry by trip or day, so describing it as mere general categorization is inaccurate. Check the selected edition and destination rates before comparing it with a tool using government tables [Zoho Expense expense-creation help, checked 9 October 2026].