Index › Spend and procurement › September 2026 Edition

Expense management

Asked as “expense management software”, and as “employee expense reporting tool”, on behalf of a mid-market B2B company. 47 first choices recorded across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, twelve models each.

Standing

Ramp

Contested

34% of first choices, contested.

ShowinginAll 41 categories in the September 2026 Edition →

By buyer segment

The same question asked on behalf of a different buyer. Each standing is computed within its segment; they sit side by side and are never added together.

Small business

Zoho Expense36%ContestedStanding →Mid-market

Ramp34%ContestedThis page Enterprise

SAP Concur66%Clear leaderStanding →

01The standing

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. Ordered by share.

ProductFirst-choice shareNegative rateLabelsQuadrant

Ramp6%52endorsed leader

Zoho Expense3%31accepted challenger

Spendesk0%16accepted challenger

Rippling Spend0%24accepted challenger

BILL Spend & Expense14%28accepted challenger

Expensify16%50accepted challenger

Navan0%29accepted challenger

SAP Concur32%40criticized challenger

Airbase0%10accepted challenger

Show the two products at 0%, ordered by negative rate

Emburse19%16accepted challenger

Brex10%29accepted challenger

Bars are the share of first choices, 0 to 100Every product with at least 10 labels here. Every product name links to its vendor page.

Head to head

Ramp vs Zoho Expense Ramp vs Spendesk Zoho Expense vs Spendesk

Recommended versus criticized

Every product with at least 10 labels here, on both axes. The 30% line names a quadrant, not the verdict above: that one needs more than 40%.

Criticized challengerCriticized default

Negative label rate →

Accepted challengerEndorsed leader

0%First-choice share → · lines at 30% share and 25% negative50%

Key

Ramp34%

Zoho Expense17%

Spendesk11%

Rippling Spend9%

BILL Spend & Expense9%

Expensify4%

Navan4%

SAP Concur2%

Airbase2%

Brex0%

Emburse0%

02What they warned about

Three of twelve models held their first choice under the paraphrase. Claude Haiku 4.5, GPT-5.4 mini, Perplexity Sonar, Mistral Small, Llama 4 Maverick, Qwen 3.7 Flash, Kimi K2, GLM 4.7 FlashX and MiniMax M2.5 changed. A high negative share on a product with few labels is a warning. A low share on a product with many labels is salience, not sentiment.

SAP Concur

32%

13 of 40 labels negative · 7 of 12 models · 2 hard negative

“The most frequently criticized option among users, with consistent themes across G2 and Trustpilot” DeepSeek V4 Flash, negative prompt

Expensify

16%

8 of 50 labels negative · 7 of 12 models

“A mixed picture — it rates well overall (4.5/5 on G2), but has had a notable drop in sentiment since the "New Expensify" redesign” DeepSeek V4 Flash, negative prompt

BILL Spend & Expense

14%

4 of 28 labels negative · 4 of 12 models · 1 hard negative

“75+ reviews cite integration issues; 50+ mention fraud concerns” Kimi K2, negative prompt

Emburse

19%

3 of 16 labels negative · 3 of 12 models · 2 hard negative

“**Customer service is the dominant complaint** — "the absolute worst," email-only” DeepSeek V4 Flash, negative prompt

03What they cite

Citations exist only for the models that return a source list: twelve of the twelve in this edition, and all six flagship models on the expanded tier.

Sites the answers cite

65 of 72 answers in this category came back with a source list, from 12 of 12 models: citations where the model returns them, or the search results it consulted. 5 of those lists are Google grounding redirects that name no site and are left out of the counts. 734 links across 165 sites, every framing counted. Ranked by the number of answers carrying the site or page.

learn.g2.com

43 answers · 58 citations · 11 models

gartner.com

43 answers · 43 citations · 11 models

ofx.com

vendor site · OFX23 answers · 23 citations · 10 models

airwallex.com

vendor site · Airwallex20 answers · 23 citations · 10 models

g2.com

18 answers · 44 citations · 9 models

bill.com

vendor site · BILL18 answers · 23 citations · 7 models

ramp.com

vendor site · Ramp17 answers · 35 citations · 8 models

technologyadvice.com

16 answers · 16 citations · 9 models

concur.com

15 answers · 16 citations · 9 models

geekflare.com

13 answers · 13 citations · 7 models

worldmetrics.org

12 answers · 16 citations · 8 models

spendesk.com

vendor site · Spendesk12 answers · 15 citations · 7 models

Pages the answers cite

The ten pages named in the most answers, by full address. A page here is one the models returned with a recommendation, not one the index endorses.

gartner.com/reviews/market/expense-management-software

43 answers · 11 models

learn.g2.com/best-expense-management-software

32 answers · 10 models

ofx.com/en-us/blog/best-expense-management-software-solutions

23 answers · 10 models

learn.g2.com/expense-management-software-for-mid-market-teams

18 answers · 11 models

airwallex.com/en-us/blog/best-expense-management-software

16 answers · 9 models

technologyadvice.com/blog/accounting/best-expense-management-software

16 answers · 9 models

bill.com/blog/best-expense-management-software

13 answers · 6 models

geekflare.com/guides/best-expense-management-software

13 answers · 7 models

pcmag.com/picks/the-best-expense-tracking-software

12 answers · 7 models

forbes.com/advisor/business/software/best-business-expense-tracker-apps

11 answers · 7 models

04How they answered

Six framings of the same buying question, each sent to every model in a fresh session with search on. One row per model, so a row shows whether it held its answer under rewording, what it named when cost was the constraint, and what it argued against. Computed from the raw judge labels.

ModelDirect“What is the best expense management software for a mid-market B2B company?”Paraphrase“Which employee expense reporting tool would you recommend to a mid-sized B2B company?”Comparative“What are the top expense management tools and how do they differ?”Budget-constrained“What is the best expense management software for a company with a limited budget?”Scale-constrained“We are a 500 person company evaluating an expense management software. What should we look at?”Negative“Which expense management tools should I avoid or be cautious about?”

Claude Haiku 4.5Navan

Two alternatives

Ramp, SAP Concur

RampChanged

Two alternatives

Emburse, Zoho Expense

no first choiceBILL Spend & Expense, Wave

One alternative

Zoho Expense

no first choiceagainst: BILL Spend & Expense, Ramp

GPT-5.4 miniRippling Spend

Two alternatives

Navan, SAP Concur

RampChanged

Two alternatives

Expensify, SAP Concur

Ramp

Four alternatives

Airbase, Brex, Expensify, SAP Concur

Zoho Expense

One alternative

Expensify

against: QuickBooks Onlineno first choicenothing named

Gemini 3.5 FlashRamp

Four alternatives

Airbase, Brex, Navan, Rippling Spend

RampHeld

Three alternatives

Airbase, Brex, Navan

Ramp

Five alternatives

Brex, Navan, Rippling Spend, SAP Concur, Spendesk

Ramp

Two alternatives

Wave, Zoho Expense

against: Expensify, SAP Concurno first choiceagainst: SAP Concuragainst: Brex, Expensify, Manual Spreadsheets, SAP Concur

Perplexity SonarRamp

Five alternatives

Airbase, Expensify, Navan, SAP Concur, Spendesk

against: BrexBILL Spend & ExpenseChanged

Four alternatives

Airbase, Expensify, Rippling Spend, SAP Concur

no first choiceZoho Expense

Two alternatives

BILL Spend & Expense, Expensify

no first choicenothing named

Grok 4.1 FastRamp

Two alternatives

Navan, SAP Concur

RampHeld

Four alternatives

Expensify, Rippling Spend, SAP Concur, Zoho Expense

Ramp

Five alternatives

BILL Spend & Expense, Expensify, Rippling Spend, SAP Concur, Zoho Expense

Zoho Expense

Four alternatives

BILL Spend & Expense, Brex, Expensify, Ramp

no first choiceagainst: BILL Spend & Expense, Expensify, Mobills, NerdWallet, SAP Concur

Mistral SmallSpendesk

Three alternatives

Emburse, Procurify, Ramp

Expensify, Rippling Spend, SAP Concur, SpendeskChanged

Two alternatives

Payhawk, Pleo

Zoho Expense

Nine alternatives

Airbase, Brex, Expensify, FreshBooks, QuickBooks Online, Ramp, Rippling Spend, SAP Concur, Sage Intacct

Zoho Expense

Two alternatives

BILL Spend & Expense, Ramp

no first choiceagainst: Brex, Dext, Expensify, Ramp, SAP Concur, Zoho Expense

DeepSeek V4 FlashRamp

Four alternatives

Airwallex, Brex, Navan, SAP Concur

RampHeld

Four alternatives

Expensify, Navan, Rippling Spend, Zoho Expense

against: SAP ConcurRamp

Six alternatives

BILL Spend & Expense, Brex, Expensify, Navan, SAP Concur, Zoho Expense

Zoho Expense

Two alternatives

Expensify, Ramp

no first choiceagainst: SAP Concuragainst: BILL Spend & Expense, Emburse, Expensify, SAP Concur, Sage Expense Management

Llama 4 Maverickno first choiceSpendeskChanged

Three alternatives

Emburse, Expensify, Paylocity

no first choiceBILL Spend & Expense, Ramp, Zoho Expenseno first choicenothing named

Qwen 3.7 FlashRamp

Three alternatives

Navan, SAP Concur, Spendesk

PleoChanged

Two alternatives

Expensify, Spendesk

no first choice

Six alternatives

Brex, Emburse, Expensify, Ramp, SAP Concur, Zoho Expense

Zoho Expense

Four alternatives

Expensify, Fyle, Ramp, Wave

against: SAP, SAP Concurno first choiceagainst: Expensify, SAP Concur

Kimi K2Navan, Ramp

Two alternatives

Expensify, Rippling Spend

against: SAP ConcurRamp, SpendeskChanged

Three alternatives

Emburse, Navan, Rippling Spend

Ramp

Eight alternatives

AppZen, BILL Spend & Expense, Coupa Expense Management, Expensify, Fyle, Navan, SAP Concur, Zoho Expense

BILL Spend & Expense

Two alternatives

ExpensePoint, Zoho Expense

Airbase, Ramp

One alternative

Navan

against: BILL Spend & Expense, Emburse, Expensify, SAP Concur, Sage Expense Management

GLM 4.7 FlashXRamp

Four alternatives

Expensify, Navan, Paylocity, SAP Concur

Rippling SpendChanged

Five alternatives

Airwallex, Expensify, Navan, Ramp, Rydoo

against: SAP ConcurNavan, SAP Concur

Six alternatives

BILL Spend & Expense, Expensify, Ramp, Rippling Spend, Xero, Zoho Expense

Wave

Two alternatives

Flowlu, Zoho Expense

no first choiceagainst: Emburse, Expensify, Ramp

MiniMax M2.5Rippling Spend

Four alternatives

Airbase, Emburse, Navan, SAP Concur

Expensify, SpendeskChanged

Two alternatives

Navan, Pleo

no first choiceAirwallex, Zoho Expense

Three alternatives

ExpensePoint, Expensify, Ramp

no first choicenothing named

Bold is the first choiceAlternatives are counted; the count opens them.What the answer argued against

05The record

One row per call: the version string exactly as returned, whether the model searched, sources cited, and latency. Full answer text is in the free responses file. Download the record

Seventy-two rows: every prompt, every model, every answer.

Prompt	Model	Version string	Time (UTC)	Searched	Sources	Latency
Direct recommendation	Claude Haiku 4.5	`claude-haiku-4-5-20251001`	2026-09-17 17:45	yes	9	9 s
Direct recommendation	GPT-5.4 mini	`gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17`	2026-09-17 17:39	yes	1	5 s
Direct recommendation	Gemini 3.5 Flash	`gemini-3.5-flash`	2026-09-17 17:31	yes	18	33 s
Direct recommendation	Perplexity Sonar	`sonar`	2026-09-17 17:34	yes	20	5 s
Direct recommendation	Grok 4.1 Fast	`spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex`	2026-09-17 17:28	yes	31	24 s
Direct recommendation	Mistral Small	`mistral/mistral-small via mistral`	2026-09-17 17:36	yes	5	20 s
Direct recommendation	DeepSeek V4 Flash	`deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks`	2026-09-17 17:43	yes	6	15 s
Direct recommendation	Llama 4 Maverick	`meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock`	2026-09-17 17:46	yes	5	2 s
Direct recommendation	Qwen 3.7 Flash	`alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba`	2026-09-17 17:33	yes	5	18 s
Direct recommendation	Kimi K2	`moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita`	2026-09-17 17:54	yes	10	28 s
Direct recommendation	GLM 4.7 FlashX	`zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai`	2026-09-17 17:35	yes	28	112 s
Direct recommendation	MiniMax M2.5	`minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax`	2026-09-17 17:43	yes	9	22 s
Paraphrase	Claude Haiku 4.5	`claude-haiku-4-5-20251001`	2026-09-17 17:27	yes	15	9 s
Paraphrase	GPT-5.4 mini	`gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17`	2026-09-17 17:48	yes	3	5 s
Paraphrase	Gemini 3.5 Flash	`gemini-3.5-flash`	2026-09-17 17:35	yes	12	24 s
Paraphrase	Perplexity Sonar	`sonar`	2026-09-17 17:40	yes	20	4 s
Paraphrase	Grok 4.1 Fast	`spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex`	2026-09-17 17:38	yes	24	13 s
Paraphrase	Mistral Small	`mistral/mistral-small via mistral`	2026-09-17 17:35	yes	5	4 s
Paraphrase	DeepSeek V4 Flash	`deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks`	2026-09-17 17:33	yes	17	17 s
Paraphrase	Llama 4 Maverick	`meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock`	2026-09-17 17:28	yes	6	4 s
Paraphrase	Qwen 3.7 Flash	`alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba`	2026-09-17 17:38	yes	5	20 s
Paraphrase	Kimi K2	`moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita`	2026-09-17 17:39	yes	9	21 s
Paraphrase	GLM 4.7 FlashX	`zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai`	2026-09-17 17:43	yes	14	78 s
Paraphrase	MiniMax M2.5	`minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax`	2026-09-17 17:30	yes	13	25 s
Comparative	Claude Haiku 4.5	`claude-haiku-4-5-20251001`	2026-09-17 17:36	yes	9	7 s
Comparative	GPT-5.4 mini	`gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17`	2026-09-17 17:35	yes	6	7 s
Comparative	Gemini 3.5 Flash	`gemini-3.5-flash`	2026-09-17 17:32	yes	17	23 s
Comparative	Perplexity Sonar	`sonar`	2026-09-17 17:37	yes	18	9 s
Comparative	Grok 4.1 Fast	`spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex`	2026-09-17 17:33	yes	27	14 s
Comparative	Mistral Small	`mistral/mistral-small via mistral`	2026-09-17 17:47	yes	9	7 s
Comparative	DeepSeek V4 Flash	`deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks`	2026-09-17 17:33	yes	17	26 s
Comparative	Llama 4 Maverick	`meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock`	2026-09-17 17:37	yes	5	2 s
Comparative	Qwen 3.7 Flash	`alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba`	2026-09-17 17:32	yes	5	24 s
Comparative	Kimi K2	`moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita`	2026-09-17 17:32	yes	9	23 s
Comparative	GLM 4.7 FlashX	`zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai`	2026-09-17 17:43	yes	10	54 s
Comparative	MiniMax M2.5	`minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax`	2026-09-17 17:30	yes	5	13 s
Budget constrained	Claude Haiku 4.5	`claude-haiku-4-5-20251001`	2026-09-17 17:30	yes	9	8 s
Budget constrained	GPT-5.4 mini	`gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17`	2026-09-17 17:28	yes	4	5 s
Budget constrained	Gemini 3.5 Flash	`gemini-3.5-flash`	2026-09-17 17:47	yes	22	25 s
Budget constrained	Perplexity Sonar	`sonar`	2026-09-17 17:36	yes	20	5 s
Budget constrained	Grok 4.1 Fast	`spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex`	2026-09-17 17:27	yes	13	9 s
Budget constrained	Mistral Small	`mistral/mistral-small via mistral`	2026-09-17 17:29	yes	5	3 s
Budget constrained	DeepSeek V4 Flash	`deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra`	2026-09-17 17:47	yes	14	26 s
Budget constrained	Llama 4 Maverick	`meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock`	2026-09-17 17:26	yes	5	2 s
Budget constrained	Qwen 3.7 Flash	`alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba`	2026-09-17 17:45	no	0	29 s
Budget constrained	Kimi K2	`moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita`	2026-09-17 17:41	yes	5	15 s
Budget constrained	GLM 4.7 FlashX	`zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai`	2026-09-17 17:34	yes	22	60 s
Budget constrained	MiniMax M2.5	`minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax`	2026-09-17 17:44	yes	5	12 s
Scale constrained	Claude Haiku 4.5	`claude-haiku-4-5-20251001`	2026-09-17 17:30	no	0	6 s
Scale constrained	GPT-5.4 mini	`gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17`	2026-09-17 17:48	no	0	9 s
Scale constrained	Gemini 3.5 Flash	`gemini-3.5-flash`	2026-09-17 17:40	no	0	16 s
Scale constrained	Perplexity Sonar	`sonar`	2026-09-17 17:39	yes	20	9 s
Scale constrained	Grok 4.1 Fast	`spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex`	2026-09-17 17:38	yes	11	11 s
Scale constrained	Mistral Small	`mistral/mistral-small via mistral`	2026-09-17 17:46	no	0	7 s
Scale constrained	DeepSeek V4 Flash	`deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks`	2026-09-17 17:33	yes	9	13 s
Scale constrained	Llama 4 Maverick	`meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock`	2026-09-17 17:48	yes	5	3 s
Scale constrained	Qwen 3.7 Flash	`alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba`	2026-09-17 17:44	no	0	38 s
Scale constrained	Kimi K2	`moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita`	2026-09-17 17:41	yes	10	37 s
Scale constrained	GLM 4.7 FlashX	`zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai`	2026-09-17 17:35	yes	8	93 s
Scale constrained	MiniMax M2.5	`minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax`	2026-09-17 17:40	no	0	10 s
Negative framing	Claude Haiku 4.5	`claude-haiku-4-5-20251001`	2026-09-17 17:30	yes	16	8 s
Negative framing	GPT-5.4 mini	`gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17`	2026-09-17 17:35	yes	6	6 s
Negative framing	Gemini 3.5 Flash	`gemini-3.5-flash`	2026-09-17 17:27	yes	21	23 s
Negative framing	Perplexity Sonar	`sonar`	2026-09-17 17:37	yes	20	6 s
Negative framing	Grok 4.1 Fast	`spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex`	2026-09-17 17:38	yes	41	15 s
Negative framing	Mistral Small	`mistral/mistral-small via mistral`	2026-09-17 17:48	yes	5	6 s
Negative framing	DeepSeek V4 Flash	`deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks`	2026-09-17 17:27	yes	29	26 s
Negative framing	Llama 4 Maverick	`meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock`	2026-09-17 17:48	yes	5	2 s
Negative framing	Qwen 3.7 Flash	`alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba`	2026-09-17 17:44	yes	18	41 s
Negative framing	Kimi K2	`moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita`	2026-09-17 17:46	yes	15	29 s
Negative framing	GLM 4.7 FlashX	`zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai`	2026-09-17 17:38	yes	24	102 s
Negative framing	MiniMax M2.5	`minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax`	2026-09-17 17:47	yes	10	22 s

Normalization in this category

Every judgment call made between the raw labels and the numbers above, listed so it is visible and reversible.

Category-scoped readings

BILL read as BILL Spend & Expense

Bill.com read as BILL Spend & Expense

Certify read as Emburse

Coupa read as Coupa Expense Management

Divvy read as BILL Spend & Expense

Emburse Expense Enterprise (formerly Chrome River) read as Emburse

Emburse Expense Professional (formerly Certify) read as Emburse

QuickBooks read as QuickBooks Online

Rippling read as Rippling Spend

Wave Accounting read as Wave

Unresolved, counted raw

Flowlu

Mobills

NerdWallet

Oracle NetSuite Expenses

Trigo

UiPath Assist

Discontinued, still offered

No shut-down product was recommended here.

Expense management

By buyer segment

01The standing

Recommended versus criticized

02What they warned about

03What they cite

Sites the answers cite

Pages the answers cite

04How they answered

05The record

Normalization in this category

Also in spend and procurement