In this detailed guide, we compare Expensify and Certify – two heavy hitters in the expense management world. We’ll walk you through each solution’s strengths, key features, pricing structures, integrations, and user experiences to help you make an informed decision for your business.

Introduction

Expense management systems help mitigate manual data entry, reduce errors, and improve compliance with company spending policies. With businesses relying on cloud-based solutions, choosing the right expense management software is paramount. Among the numerous options on the market, Expensify and Certify (more recently rebranded as Emburse Certify) stand out. This blog post takes an in-depth look at expensify vs certify, comparing these platforms on multiple factors that matter most to organizations.

In our overview, we cover:

• Core features and functionality
• User interface and ease of use
• Integration capabilities
• Pricing and plans
• Customer support and overall user satisfaction

Let’s explore how these two systems compare and which might be best for your organization.

Overview of Expensify

Expensify is widely known for its comprehensive expense management platform that simplifies expense reporting, track receipts, and even offer corporate card reconciliation. Here are some key characteristics of Expensify:

Key Features

• Automatic Receipt Scanning: Users can simply swipe their Expensify Card or scan receipts with their mobile devices. The powerful optical character recognition (OCR) automatically extracts key details such as amount, date, merchant, and expense category.
• Corporate Card Integration: Expensify offers a proprietary corporate card and integrates with personal cards via automatic upload of transactions. This feature helps reduce the need for manual receipt submission and speeds up reconciliation.
• Expense Submission and Approval: The platform boasts an easy-to-use interface for recording expenses, sequencing approval workflows, and combining multiple receipts into a single report.
• Real-Time Policy Enforcement: Users enjoy real-time policy compliance checks that flag expenses outside company guidelines instantly.
• Accounting Integrations: Expensify integrates with popular accounting software like QuickBooks, Xero, NetSuite, Sage, and more, ensuring that expense data flows seamlessly into your preferred accounting system.
• User Experience: Many organizations appreciate its simple, intuitive design that requires minimal training, making it a favorite among teams ranging from small startups to larger enterprises.

User Reviews and Ratings

Expensify has garnered positive reviews from the expense management marketplace, scoring a 4.4-to-4.5 star rating from a large pool of user reviews. Users praise the user-friendly interface, seamless card reconciliation, and automatic receipt processing. Some reviewers, however, point to limitations such as the inability to attach multiple pieces of evidence to a single claim, which might be a concern for certain industries.

Pricing Plans

Expensify offers several pricing tiers:

• Free Tier: Ideal for teams who want basic functionality, including receipt scanning and expense reimbursement.
• Collect Plan: Typically starts at around $5 per user per month and includes corporate card reconciliation with accounting integrations.
• Control Plan: At approximately $9 per user per month, this tier offers multi-approver workflows, detailed reporting, and enhanced access controls.

The flexibility in pricing makes Expensify a viable choice for small teams as well as larger networks.

Overview of Certify

Emburse Certify, commonly known as Certify, is another established player in the expense management space. Known for its all-in-one approach, Certify combines expense reporting, travel booking, receipt scanning, and reporting capabilities in a single solution.

Key Features

• Expense Report Automation: Certify automates the creation and submission of expense reports. Users can capture receipts via mobile scanning with OCR technology, and the platform automatically populates the necessary data fields.
• Advanced Workflow Management: The system enables complex approval workflows. Managers can review, comment on, and approve reports both on desktop and via mobile devices.
• Travel and Invoice Management: Certify goes beyond just expense tracking by offering integrated travel booking, invoicing, and billing. This makes it attractive to organizations that need a solution that covers multiple facets of spend management.
• Customizable Reporting: With the ability to generate detailed custom reports, financial teams gain robust insights into spend patterns, potentially informing strategic decisions and ensuring compliance.
• Integration Capabilities: Certify integrates with major ERP platforms and accounting suites, including QuickBooks, Oracle NetSuite, and others, ensuring that data flows seamlessly through your financial systems.
• Corporate Card Integration and Reimbursement: Although Certify does not promote its own corporate card at the same scale as Expensify, it does facilitate corporate card reconciliation and enhanced tracking for out-of-pocket expenses.

User Reviews and Ratings

Certify consistently earns a 4.5-star rating from reviews on platforms like G2 and Capterra. Users appreciate its ease of use, comprehensive reporting, and the unified workflow that ties travel and expense management together. Some criticisms include issues with manual entry steps, receipt upload challenges, and occasional delays in processing, though many find the system effective for mid-sized organizations.

Pricing Plans

Certify pricing varies depending on company size and needs:

• Certify Now! Plan: Targets small businesses (1-25 employees) at around $12 per user per month.
• Professional and Enterprise Plans: These plans are custom-priced based on language support, additional features like full-service implementation, and ongoing support. They are tailored for medium to large organizations, sometimes starting at higher monthly rates.

With features that cover both expense management and travel bookings, Certify is a robust option for companies looking for a fully integrated spending solution.

Core Comparison: Expensify vs Certify

Now that we have outlined both platforms, let’s break down how Expensify vs certify stacks up in several key areas:

1. Ease of Use and User Experience

Expensify:

• Boasts an intuitive interface with clear navigation.
• Simplifies processes with one-click receipt scanning and straightforward expense creation.
• Minimal training required for new employees.
• Ideal for teams that prioritize speed and automation.

Certify:

• Also highly user-friendly and known for its unified, streamlined workflows.
• Offers mobile and desktop apps that are accessible for quick approvals and submissions.
• Provides advanced tools that cater to more complex expense scenarios.
• May involve a slightly steeper learning curve when setting up more advanced travel or invoicing features.

2. Receipt Scanning and Expense Processing

Expensify:

• Excels in automatic receipt scanning using OCR technology.
• Merges credit card transactions with receipts automatically.
• Eliminates much of manual entry with features like real-time policy checks.
• Often favored for its speed and accuracy in breaking down expense details.

Certify:

• Provides similar OCR capabilities to capture receipt data.
• Automates expense report creation, but sometimes requires manual adjustments if mismatches occur.
• Integrates travel booking and expense processes seamlessly, which can be valuable if your team frequently travels.
• Designed to provide enhanced reporting with custom data fields that can serve more detailed insights.

3. Integration with Accounting and ERP Systems

Expensify:

• Integrates with well-known accounting software such as QuickBooks, Xero, NetSuite, Sage, and others.
• Ensures smooth data export, reducing the time spent on manual reconciliation.
• Ideal for businesses that need to automate both small-scale and enterprise-level accounting integration.

Certify:

• Offers detailed integration with major ERP systems and accounting platforms.
• Provides a broader scope by integrating travel booking and invoicing functionalities.
• Suitable for organizations that want a single platform to manage multiple elements of spend management.
• Additional customization in data reporting can be a plus for more demanding financial compliance requirements.

4. Mobile Accessibility and Support

Expensify:

• Known for its robust mobile app available on both iOS and Android.
• Allows users to capture receipts on-the-go and even provides real-time spending notifications.
• Offers support through email, phone, and in-app chat for rapid problem resolution.

Certify:

• Also features a well-designed mobile app with capabilities for receipt capture and expense approvals.
• Its mobile platform is particularly valuable for companies with traveling employees, as travel booking is integrated.
• Provides strong customer support with multiple communication channels; however, some users report occasional delays during high-traffic times.

5. Pricing and Value for Money

Expensify:

• Offers competitive pricing tiers, starting with free plans for small groups up to more advanced, paid versions.
• Generally considered affordable for startups and small to medium-sized businesses.
• Additional features in higher-tier plans (greater policy controls, sophisticated reporting) justify the incremental cost.

Certify:

• Pricing is custom-based on organization size and needs – potentially more expensive for mid-size to larger companies.
• Provides robust functionality across expense, travel, and invoice management, which might deliver more value if your expenses are complex.
• Companies needing an all-in-one solution for travel and expenses might find Certify’s bundled offerings to be a better return on investment despite the higher price point.

6. Customer Support and Implementation

Expensify:

• Has received positive comments for its quick onboarding process and responsive customer support.
• Many users cite the minimal training required as well as extensive resources (video guides, help centers).
• The cloud-based implementation process typically takes less time, with many teams getting up and running within weeks.

Certify:

• Known for its high-touch support model for larger deployments.
• Offers full-service implementation and training as part of the higher-tier plans.
• Reviews indicate that while the system is user-friendly, initial setup can be more involved when configuring custom workflows and integrations.

Detailed Feature Spotlight

To offer even more clarity, let’s dive deeper into some specific features that separate Expensify from Certify.

Automated Card Reconciliation

Expensify features a proprietary corporate card that is tied directly into the expense management process. The system automatically merges card transactions with submitted receipts. This approach drastically reduces the manual work of matching a receipt to a credit card expense – a time-saving benefit frequently cited by its users.

Certify, by contrast, integrates with corporate cards but has not been marketed as aggressively for a proprietary card solution. Instead, it shines in environments where a full suite of travel, expense, and invoice management is needed. If your organization requires more comprehensive spend management across various categories, Certify might be the more holistic solution.

Reporting and Data Insights

Both platforms provide robust reporting tools, but they cater to different needs:

• Expensify Reporting: Its real-time dashboards and custom reporting features are designed to give finance teams quick insights into spending trends, policy adherence, and reimbursement times. The ease of exporting data to popular accounting software is also a significant plus.
• Certify Reporting: It focuses on detailed customization. Finance teams can generate tailored reports that not only include expense details but also tie in travel data and invoice processing. Organizations looking to gain in-depth insights into complex spending patterns often benefit from Certify’s reporting engine.

User Experience and Interface

User experience plays a crucial role in the successful adoption of expense management software. In this area:

• Expensify offers a clean, intuitive user interface where employees can quickly upload receipts, categorize costs, and submit reports. Its strong mobile app experience is frequently highlighted in reviews.
• Certify, while similarly user-friendly, is built to handle more intensive processes such as travel bookings and multi-layered approval workflows. For users who need an all-in-one travel and expense solution, Certify’s interface is designed to keep these functions easily accessible within one integrated platform.

Customization and Flexibility

Every business has unique workflows and expense policies:

• Expensify allows administrators to set custom policy rules, define approval hierarchies, and enforce spending limits through automated notifications. It is highly flexible for companies looking solely to manage expenses with minimal fuss.
• Certify takes customization further by providing granular controls over not only expense categorization but also travel booking parameters, mileage invoicing, and even tax code synchronization. This extra level of configuration might appeal to businesses with complex internal policies or those operating in highly regulated industries.

Integration Ecosystem

No expense management tool can operate in isolation. Both systems offer integrations, but they have different strengths:

• Expensify supports integrations with accounting platforms like QuickBooks, Sage, and Xero, along with integrations into payroll systems and HR software. This makes it an ideal choice for companies deeply invested in a particular accounting ecosystem.
• Certify provides integrations with a broader range of enterprise platforms, including ERP systems. It also connects with travel booking systems and even offers the possibility of custom data exports for deeper financial analysis. For larger organizations with varied backend systems, Certify’s integration capabilities can provide a more seamless data experience.

Real-World Use Cases

Let’s consider two hypothetical scenarios to illustrate how each platform might serve different business needs:

Scenario One: A Growing Startup

Imagine a small tech startup with 10 employees who travel occasionally for client meetings and events. The company values simplicity and rapid implementation. With a limited budget but high efficiency requirements:

• Expensify fits the bill. The intuitive mobile app and automatic receipt scanning allow employees to submit expenses instantly. The straightforward approval process and immediate integration with QuickBooks streamline the company’s financial management.
• The startup benefits from reduced manual entry and faster reimbursements. Expensify’s pricing is affordable, and its cloud-based nature minimizes IT overhead.

Scenario Two: A Mid-Size Enterprise with Complex Expenses

Now consider a mid-size corporate firm with multiple departments, frequent international travel, and the need to consolidate travel, expense, and invoice management under one roof:

• Certify shines in this environment. Its integrated travel booking feature means that employees can plan trips that automatically comply with internal spending policies. Expense reports reflect not only receipts but also travel itineraries and related invoices.
• Advanced custom reporting tools help finance teams analyze spending patterns across departments and regions, ensuring compliance with detailed internal guidelines.
• The higher price point is justified by the all-in-one functionality, saving time and reducing administrative overhead for a complex operation.

Expert Opinions and User Feedback

User reviews and expert commentary provide valuable insights into the expensify vs certify debate:

• Many users note that Expensify’s simplicity is what sets it apart. The quick onboarding process and minimal learning curve are appreciated especially by teams without dedicated IT support.
• Certify, on the other hand, receives high marks in situations where integration between travel booking, expense capturing, and invoice processing is critical. Users frequently comment on the benefits of unified workflows, although a few mention that the initial configuration might be more time-consuming.
• Industry analysts have praised Expensify for its forward-thinking approach to receipt matching and policy enforcement, while noting that Certify’s comprehensive suite is well-suited for organizations with more demanding workflow requirements.

Comparing the Numbers

Let’s summarize some of the key comparisons in a quick table format for clarity:

Feature / CriteriaExpensifyCertify / Emburse CertifyEase of UseIntuitive, minimal training requiredUser-friendly with more advanced featuresReceipt ScanningAutomatic OCR scanning and credit card matchingAutomatic receipt capture; may require manual tweaksCorporate Card IntegrationProprietary corporate card and direct uploadsIntegrates with corporate cards; more travel-orientedApproval WorkflowSimple and clear multi-level approvalAdvanced workflows with additional travel/invoice supportAccounting IntegrationsQuickBooks, Xero, NetSuite, Sage, etc.Strong ERP integrations and broad accounting supportMobile FunctionalityRobust mobile app on iOS and AndroidEqually strong mobile app with travel booking integrationPricingStarts free; paid plans at $5 to $9 per user/monthCustom pricing; small business plan around $12/user/month and higher for professional featuresUser Satisfaction4.4 – 4.5 stars (large number of reviews)4.5 stars; praised for integrated functionality

Making the Right Choice for Your Organization

Choosing between Expensify and Certify requires a thorough evaluation of your company’s specific needs. Consider the following when making your decision:

• Business Size and Structure:
  Smaller organizations and startups that value fast implementation and simplicity might lean towards Expensify. In contrast, mid-size enterprises with more complex workflows and higher spending volumes may find Certify’s integrated suite to be a better fit.
• Travel Requirements:
  If your employees frequently book travel, Certify’s integrated travel booking and expense automation can be a significant advantage. Expensify, by comparison, is excellent for classic expense reporting and everyday spending but may require additional tools for elaborate travel management.
• Payment and Reimbursement Speeds:
  Expensify’s automatic card integration and real-time reconciliation provide quick approval and faster reimbursements, which can be crucial for companies that want to eliminate delays in cash flow.
• Customization Needs:
  Organizations with strict internal policies or the need for highly detailed reporting might prefer Certify for its customizable workflows that cover not just expenses but also invoices and travel data.
• Budget Considerations:
  While Expensify’s low-cost pricing tiers cater to cost-sensitive environments, Certify’s more involved functionalities justify its investment for companies seeking an all-in-one solution. Review your budget in relation to the value delivered by each platform.

Implementation and Onboarding

It is also important to consider the implementation process:

• Expensify Implementation:
  Quick and streamlined, it is built for companies that need a fast turnaround. The platform is cloud-based, reducing overhead and IT complexity.
• Certify Implementation:
  While highly customizable, the setup might require more initial configuration. Larger enterprises often benefit from a more hands-on onboarding process with dedicated account managers for training and custom integration configuration.

Both systems offer free trials, so testing them within your organization’s context can provide practical insights into which platforms integrate best into your existing workflows.

When weighing expensify vs certify, both platforms offer robust expense management tools built to save time, reduce errors, and streamline financial processes. Expensify is a top choice for organizations that prioritize speed, ease of use, and quick implementation, making it ideal for small teams and startups. Its automatic receipt scanning, corporate card integration, and straightforward workflows deliver immediate benefits with minimal complexity.

On the other hand, Certify offers a comprehensive suite that integrates travel, expense, and invoice management into a single solution. Its robust reporting capabilities, detailed workflow customization, and strong ERP integrations cater to mid-size enterprises facing more intensive expense management challenges. Although its setup might be more involved and the price point higher, Certify’s breadth of features makes it a powerful tool for companies needing a unified expense and travel management solution.

Ultimately, the best choice depends on your organization’s unique needs, the scale of operations, and budget considerations. Testing these solutions through a free trial period and consulting with vendors about integration into your existing financial systems can further refine your decision.

Whether you choose Expensify for its simplicity or Certify for its comprehensive, integrated features, both platforms represent the evolving landscape of expense management, designed to meet today’s demands for efficiency, accuracy, and streamlined financial operations.

By understanding the core differences in functionality, support, and pricing, you can confidently choose the right solution to empower your finance team, improve compliance, and ensure that your organization stays ahead in controlling its spend.

We hope this deep dive into expensify vs certify provides you with clarity and insight. Whether your primary concern is rapid expense reporting or an all-in-one travel and expense management platform, the right choice can save your company valuable time and resources while enhancing overall productivity.

Take the next step in streamlining your expense management process by evaluating these leading solutions against your specific business requirements. With informed research and well-defined priorities, you can transform expense management from an administrative burden into a strategic advantage.

If you enjoyed this detailed comparison and have any questions or need further assistance with your expense management software selection, feel free to reach out in the comments below or contact our expert team for a personalized consultation. Happy spending management!