Expensify and ApprovalMax both remove friction from finance administration, but they are built around different types of workflow. This comparison separates the areas where they compete from the areas where they do not, and looks at how their approaches to automation differ across the finance process.
ApprovalMax connects supplier invoice capture, purchasing, checks, approvals and payments, with customer-invoice workflows alongside AP. Expensify combines expense management with supplier bills and other financial tools. ApprovalMax's purchasing workflows help finance authorise supplier spending before the invoice arrives.
Keep the purchase order, supplier bill and approval history together, so finance can see a complete picture of what was agreed and what is ready to pay.
| ApprovalMax | Expensify | |
|---|---|---|
| Invoice capture | ApprovalMax Capture reads supplier invoices automatically, which reduces manual entry. Included in current Xero and QuickBooks Online plans. | SmartScan capture, with bill creation from emailed documents |
| Purchasing before spending | Raise and approve purchase orders before a supplier starts work, so nothing arrives unannounced. Included from Standard on Xero and QuickBooks Online. | Purchase-order approval is not described in its documentation |
| Invoice checks and matching | Check the bill against what you agreed to buy and catch differences before payment. Bill-to-PO matching and budget checks on Advanced and Premium; three-way matching on NetSuite. | Checks within report and bill review |
| Approval speed and flexibility | Independent reviewers approve at the same time instead of queueing, with substitutes and reminders so absence never stalls a bill. | Default and member-specific workflows with category, tag and amount rules; supplier bills follow separate Bill Pay documentation |
| Supplier payments | ApprovalMax Pay sends approved bills in 35 currencies across 150+ countries, in batches of up to 200. Available to UK businesses using Xero. | Bill Pay payments supported in USD |
| Customer invoicing | Create, approve and send customer invoices on every plan, so errors are caught before a client sees them. Sales quotes, and invoicing from an approved quote, on Xero Advanced and Premium. | Focused on employee spending and supplier bills |
| Accounting integrations | Xero, QuickBooks Online and NetSuite, each with its own product and document coverage. | Xero, QuickBooks, NetSuite and other connections |
| Pricing and included participation | From US$50 per organisation per month billed yearly (Standard Small, Xero and QuickBooks Online, excluding tax), with unlimited active approvers. Overage limits apply (rates). NetSuite quoted separately. | Collect $5 per unique member per month; Control $9, $18 or $36 per active member per month, counting report approvers |
Product and pricing sources: ApprovalMax Xero plans; ApprovalMax QuickBooks Online plans; ApprovalMax NetSuite scope; Expensify product range; Expensify plans; Expensify bill workflow; Expensify approvals.
Expensify is built around employees: expense reports, reimbursements, travel and cards, with supplier bills alongside. ApprovalMax is built around the ledger, covering purchase orders, bills, journals and customer invoices on Xero, QuickBooks Online and NetSuite.
An expense claim asks whether a person's spending was legitimate. A supplier bill for contracted work needs an order, confirmation the work is done, and sign-off from whoever owns the contract. A customer invoice needs approving before it reaches the client. ApprovalMax handles all of that in one place.
ApprovalMax runs conditional document workflows with sequential and parallel review. Expensify supports configurable approvals: New Expensify uses default and member-specific workflows for expense reports, with category, tag and amount rules on relevant plans, while Classic supplier bills follow separate Bill Pay documentation.
Expensify has report-approval and supplier Bill Pay workflows. ApprovalMax connects the supplier purchase order, bill and approval history, helping finance check what was agreed before releasing payment.
ApprovalMax Advanced and Premium include a Review step for Xero and QuickBooks Online, so accounting details can be checked before formal approval begins. The Xero offer also includes Editing on Approval, allowing authorised corrections during review. This helps finance resolve coding issues before final sign-off.
ApprovalMax has dedicated offerings for Xero, QuickBooks Online and NetSuite. Expensify supports Xero, QuickBooks, NetSuite and other connections, so on connection breadth the two overlap.
ApprovalMax Capture reads supported invoice documents inside ApprovalMax, so no separate invoice-reading tool is needed. Expensify Classic's Bill Pay uses SmartScan and bill creation from emailed documents.
Expensify Classic Bill Pay supports payments in USD. ApprovalMax Pay serves UK businesses on Xero. The NetSuite workflow prepares and approves bill payments before NetSuite generates the payment file.
ApprovalMax supports creating and approving purchase orders before they are sent to suppliers, with supported matching functions helping reviewers compare the later bill against the approved order. ApprovalMax raises the order, gets it approved and sends it to the supplier, then checks the arriving invoice against it.
For a consultancy engagement, keep the agreed fee, billing schedule and any extra work with the purchase order. ApprovalMax gives the invoice reviewer that context and records the decision before payment.
A supplier invoice arrives after the purchase has been made or the service delivered. Authorising the purchase earlier gives finance a record of the agreed commitment to use when the invoice arrives.
Expensify uses SmartScan and can create bills from emailed documents. ApprovalMax Capture is included from Standard on Xero and QuickBooks Online, and captures supplier bills into the same process that holds the purchase order and the approval history.
Expensify Classic Bill Pay supports payments in USD. ApprovalMax Pay sends approved bills in 35 currencies across 150+ countries in batches of up to 200, available to UK businesses using Xero.
ApprovalMax retains an approval record against each document, covering the request, the reviewers and the decision, attached to the entry that reaches the accounting system.
Keep supplier bills, purchase orders and their decisions together, so finance can answer an invoice query without searching multiple email threads. ApprovalMax also supports customer-invoice workflows.
The lowest advertised rate is only useful when it includes the approval configuration you need. Expensify Collect costs $5 per unique member per month for eligible newer Collect accounts, billed regardless of activity. Control is $9 per active member per month on an annual commitment where Expensify Card use accounts for at least 50% of settled US spending, $18 per active member per month annually without qualifying card use, and $36 per active member per month with no commitment.
Control's active-member definition includes the people who approve reports. ApprovalMax Standard Small starts at US$50 per organisation per month billed yearly, or US$60 billed monthly, excluding tax, with unlimited active approvers at every Xero/QBO size. Small includes 100 approved documents per month, Medium 300 and Large 500, with annual billing pooling 12 times the monthly allowance.
Expensify Control charges by active member; ApprovalMax charges by organisation, plan and approved-document allowance, with unlimited approvers on current Xero and QuickBooks Online plans. The two price on different units: Expensify counts active members, ApprovalMax counts organisations, plan and approved documents.
Try ApprovalMax free for 14 days to see its approval workflow with your team.
Choose ApprovalMax if:
Expensify may suit if:
Choose ApprovalMax to connect supplier purchasing, invoice checks, approvals and payments, with customer-invoice workflows alongside AP and no additional approver seat charges on current Xero and QuickBooks Online plans.
Yes. ApprovalMax provides financial approval workflows for supplier bills and purchase orders connected to Xero, QuickBooks Online and NetSuite, with native invoice reading. It is not a replacement for Expensify's employee expense reports, reimbursements, travel or card functions.
Yes. Expensify Classic Bill Pay supports supplier bills, SmartScan and bill creation from emailed documents. Its payment capability is in USD. ApprovalMax connects captured supplier bills with purchasing, approvals and supported payment workflows.
Yes. New Expensify supports default workflows on Collect and Control, with member-specific workflows and category, tag and amount rules on relevant plans. Supplier bill approvals follow separate Classic Bill Pay documentation, so a policy covering both areas is configured in two places.
No. Current ApprovalMax plans for Xero and QuickBooks Online include unlimited active approvers, so adding a manager to the supplier-bill workflow carries no extra seat charge. By contrast, Expensify Control bills active members and that definition includes people approving reports.
No. ApprovalMax Capture reads supported invoice documents inside ApprovalMax and is included in current Xero and QuickBooks Online plans, so extraction and approval happen in the same application without a separate OCR subscription for that workflow.
Yes. Purchase order workflows allow a proposed purchase to be approved before the order is sent to the supplier. The later bill can then be reviewed against that approved purchase through supported matching functions, with availability depending on the accounting connection and plan.
It depends on approver numbers. ApprovalMax is US$50 per organisation per month billed yearly with unlimited approvers. Expensify Control bills active members, including report approvers, at $9, $18 or $36 per month depending on card use and commitment, so cost rises with every approver added.
ApprovalMax approves supplier bills and purchase orders across Xero, QuickBooks Online and NetSuite, with native invoice reading and unlimited approvers on current Xero and QuickBooks Online plans.
Bring the right managers into bill and purchase approvals while finance keeps control of the accounting process.
Bring your AP process together. Start your 14-day ApprovalMax trial.
Product and pricing details checked on 14 September 2026. Payment availability and eligibility depend on country, accounting integration and payment method.