Best for
Best for teams whose main finance workload is receipts, expense approvals and reimbursements, and who want bill pay and invoicing in the same tool.
- Freelancers
- Small and mid-sized
- Enterprise
Accounting & Invoicing Comparison
Expensify vs. Pennylane
At a glance
At a glance
Best for
Best for French companies that want invoicing, supplier purchases, a business account and their accounting firm working on one shared set of data.
- Freelancers
- Small and mid-sized
Cataleo does not name a winner. Both statements come from the vendors themselves.
Full Comparison
| Criterion | Expensify | Pennylane |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | From $5 / member / month Collect is $5 per unique member per month and is available on pay-per-use billing only. Control is $18 per member per month on an annual subscription, or $36 per active member per month pay-per-use, with up to 50 percent off based on Expensify Card usage. | Free for micro-entrepreneurs, otherwise from €7 / month excluding VAT Per user and month excluding VAT, no commitment: Starter €7, Basique €14, Essentiel €24 and Premium €79. Companies invited by their accounting firm use the free Collaboratif plan, and micro-entrepreneurs have a free plan of their own. All plans cover up to 1,200 invoices a year. |
| Free trial | Not stated | 15 days free, no commitment |
| API | Yes, a documented public API for exporting expense and report data, provisioning accounts and managing policies | Yes, a public Company API with a sandbox environment, available from the Essentiel plan |
| Hosting | Cloud (SaaS) | Cloud (SaaS) |
| Invoicing and quotes | Yes, invoicing for outgoing invoices and bill pay for incoming vendor bills, alongside the expense workflow | Yes, quotes with e-signature, invoices, part invoices, recurring invoices and subscriptions with automatic reminders, plus electronic invoicing for the French mandate |
| Bookkeeping and bank feeds | No general ledger of its own; syncs with QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Desktop, Xero, NetSuite and Sage Intacct | Yes, bank synchronisation with automatic categorisation, and a full accounting module with rule-based automatic entries in the Premium plan |
| Expenses and receipts | Yes, this is the core: SmartScan receipt capture, distance tracking, card feeds, expense reports, approvals and reimbursement | Yes, supplier invoices centralised with approval workflows and payment from the platform, plus expense reports and mileage allowances |
| Tax and compliance | Tax rates for VAT, GST and other regional taxes on both plans, applied by currency or chosen per expense, and only in workspaces whose default currency is not US dollars | Yes, tax filing management and year-end closing tools in the Premium plan, built around French accounting rules |
| Payroll | No payroll of its own; HR and payroll integrations are a Control plan feature | No payroll of its own. Payroll stays in a connected tool, with partner integrations for the French payroll platforms PayFit and Silae |
| Reports and exports | Yes, expense reports with data export in a configurable format through the API | Yes, real-time cash flow monitoring and forecasting, with custom dashboards and accounting reports in the Premium plan |
| Integrations and API | Yes, a documented public API for exporting expense and report data, creating reports, provisioning accounts and managing policies, categories and tags | Yes, a public Company API with a sandbox environment, from the Essentiel plan |
| AI features | stated Yes | No |
| Deployment | Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based | Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based |
| Support | Not stated | Chat, Phone, Community forum |
| Onboarding | Not stated | Documentation and knowledge base, Video tutorials, Live online demos and webinars |
| Company size | more entries Freelancers, Small and mid-sized, Enterprise | Freelancers, Small and mid-sized |
| Integrations | QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Desktop, Xero, NetSuite, Sage Intacct | Qonto, Stripe, Shopify, PayFit, Silae |
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Adds a column to the table, from the tools in this category.
Row where the values differ The small markers point at the lower number, the longer list or the stated feature. They describe the data, they are not a verdict.
The short version
Key Differences
- Starting price Expensify From $5 / member / month Pennylane Free for micro-entrepreneurs, otherwise from €7 / month excluding VAT
- Company size Expensify Freelancers, Small and mid-sized, Enterprise Pennylane Freelancers, Small and mid-sized
- AI features Expensify Yes Pennylane No
- API Expensify Yes, a documented public API for exporting expense and report data, provisioning accounts and managing policies Pennylane Yes, a public Company API with a sandbox environment, available from the Essentiel plan
- Invoicing and quotes Expensify Yes, invoicing for outgoing invoices and bill pay for incoming vendor bills, alongside the expense workflow Pennylane Yes, quotes with e-signature, invoices, part invoices, recurring invoices and subscriptions with automatic reminders, plus electronic invoicing for the French mandate
Every line is one datapoint from the table above, picked automatically. Nothing here is written text.
The trade-offs
Strengths and Limitations
Expensify
Strengths
- Flat $5 per member per month on Collect, with no annual commitment
- SmartScan reads receipts automatically, including the tax shown on them
- Bill pay and invoicing are included alongside expenses
- Card feeds from banks worldwide, plus its own corporate card
- Documented public API for exports, provisioning and policy management
Limitations
- Not a general ledger; a separate accounting system is still needed
- Multi-level approvals, ERP and payroll integrations, custom rules and SAML single sign-on need the Control plan
- Control costs $18 per member per month annually or $36 pay-per-use unless the Expensify Card discount is earned
- Tax tracking cannot be enabled in a workspace whose default currency is US dollars
Pennylane
Strengths
- Built to be shared with the accounting firm, which works on the same data
- Free Collaboratif plan for companies invited by their accounting firm
- Electronic invoicing for the French mandate included at no extra cost
- Business account with physical and virtual Mastercards inside the platform
Limitations
- Shaped around French accounting rules and a French business account
- The accounting module and tax filing only arrive in the Premium plan, which is a large step up in price
- The public API starts at the Essentiel plan
- Plans are priced per user, so a larger finance team multiplies the cost
Plans
Pricing
Expensify
- Collect $5 / member / month Pay-per-use billing only, charged per unique member. Expense tracking, receipt scanning, reimbursement, simple approval workflows and accounting sync.
- Control $18 / member / month on an annual subscription $36 per active member per month on pay-per-use, and $36 for each active member above the annual subscription size. Adds multi-level approvals, ERP and payroll integrations, multiple corporate card connections, custom expense rules and SAML single sign-on. Up to 50 percent off based on Expensify Card usage, which takes the annual rate to $9.
Pennylane
- Free (micro-entrepreneurs) Free For micro-enterprises, 1 user. Invoice creation and reception, supplier centralisation, mobile app, up to 1,200 invoices a year.
- Starter €7 / month excluding VAT Per user. Business account with virtual and physical cards, invoice management, supplier payment, payment links, bank synchronisation.
- Basique €14 / month excluding VAT Per user. Adds part and advance invoices, delivery notes and purchase orders, supplier management and supplier invoice payment.
- Essentiel €24 / month excluding VAT Per user. Adds automated reminders, quote e-signature, recurring invoices, expense management, automatic categorisation, cash flow forecasting and API access.
- Premium €79 / month excluding VAT Per user. Adds the accounting module, validation workflows, custom dashboards, accounting reports, rule-based automatic entries, tax filing management and year-end closing.
What users say
Review Scores · opens after launch
Expensify
- Ease of use
- Not rated yet
- User interface
- Not rated yet
- Onboarding
- Not rated yet
- Support and service
- Not rated yet
- Value for money
- Not rated yet
- Features
- Not rated yet
No reviews yet. Be the first to review this tool. Every review is checked for fairness before it appears, and the vendor cannot have one removed.
Pennylane
- Ease of use
- Not rated yet
- User interface
- Not rated yet
- Onboarding
- Not rated yet
- Support and service
- Not rated yet
- Value for money
- Not rated yet
- Features
- Not rated yet
No reviews yet. Be the first to review this tool. Every review is checked for fairness before it appears, and the vendor cannot have one removed.
Where this comes from
Where this comes from
Expensify https://use.expensify.com · checked against the official source on 2026-09-02
Pennylane https://www.pennylane.com · checked against the official source on 2026-08-27
This table lists factual criteria taken from information the vendors publish themselves. For how we put it together, see the methodology.