# Brex vs Airbase: which do AI models recommend for corporate cards, September 2026

Finance AI Recommendation Index, September 2026 Edition, Corporate cards. Zero of twelve models named Brex first on the direct prompt; two named Airbase. Page: https://finance-ai-index.com/spend/corporate-cards/brex-vs-airbase/

| | First-choice share | Rank | Negative rate | Labels | Models naming it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brex | 5% | #3 of 9 | 21% | 43 | 12 of 12 |
| Airbase | 5% | #4 of 9 | 0% | 19 | 12 of 12 |

## The direct prompt, model by model

- Mistral Small: airbase first (first choices: Airbase, Ramp) (alternatives: Spendesk and Paylocity for Finance, U.S. Bank Commercial Rewards Card)
- MiniMax M2.5: airbase first (first choices: Airbase, Corpay) (alternatives: BILL Spend & Expense, Brex, Ramp)
- Claude Haiku 4.5: neither first, one named (first choices: Ramp) (alternatives: Airbase, American Express Corporate Card, Paylocity for Finance, Spendesk)
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: neither first, one named (first choices: Ramp) (alternatives: Airbase, Brex, Corpay)
- Perplexity Sonar: neither first, one named (first choices: Ramp) (alternatives: Airbase, Corpay)
- Grok 4.1 Fast: neither first, one named (first choices: Ramp) (alternatives: BILL Spend & Expense, Brex)
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: neither first, one named (first choices: Ramp) (alternatives: Airbase, BILL Spend & Expense)
- Llama 4 Maverick: neither first, one named (first choices: Ramp) (alternatives: Airbase, U.S. Bank Commercial Rewards Card)
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: neither first, one named (first choices: Ramp) (alternatives: Airbase, Brex)
- Kimi K2: neither first, one named (first choices: Ramp) (alternatives: Airbase, Brex, Corpay)
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: neither first, one named (first choices: Ramp) (alternatives: Airbase, Brex, Navan, U.S. Bank Commercial Rewards Card)
- GPT-5.4 mini: neither named (first choices: Ramp) (alternatives: Airwallex, American Express Corporate Card, BILL Spend & Expense)

## What the models said about Brex

- "it is not recommended for limited-budget companies unless you are venture-backed" (Gemini 3.5 Flash, budget prompt, hard negative)
- "Brex requires businesses to hold at least $400,000 in monthly revenue for mid-market underwriting. This shuts out many bootstrapped or lower-revenue businesses." (DeepSeek V4 Flash, direct prompt, soft negative)
- "the platform may see shifts in product direction and pricing, which is something to keep in mind if you are looking for long-term platform stability" (Gemini 3.5 Flash, paraphrase prompt, soft negative)
- "Brex (Best for High-Velocity Startups) ... high credit lines, virtual cards for security, and excellent employee management" (Qwen 3.7 Flash, comparative prompt, first choice)

Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts over all twelve models, for a mid-market B2B company; rank is within the category. Comparisons are drawn for the top eight products in each category. Published under CC BY 4.0; the output is the models' output, and nothing here is a recommendation by the index.