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.
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.
Quick verdict
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).
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.
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 $178/day total ($110 lodging + $68 M&IE), up from $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? No. Under an IRS accountable plan, receipts are not required for individual expenses under $75, except lodging, which has no exception [IRS, 2025]. Employees must still document the amount, date, place, and business purpose even when a receipt isn't required.
What are the accountable plan rules per diem software needs to help enforce? Three conditions: the expense has a business connection, it's substantiated within 60 days (or 30 days for advances), and any excess reimbursement is returned to the employer [IRS Publication 463, 2025]. Meeting these keeps per diem payments non-taxable and off employees' W-2s.
How many non-standard, higher-cost per diem areas does the GSA maintain for 2025? The GSA lists 296 non-standard areas (NSAs) for FY2025 with rates higher than the $178 standard rate, with M&IE tiers ranging from $68 to $92 [GSA, 2025]. Per diem software needs to stay synced with these to avoid under- or over-reimbursing traveling staff. Trucking is the industry where per diem management matters most day-to-day, see the trucking section of our best expense management software roundup for the fuller picture on driver expense tracking.