Top 5 Soldo alternatives & competitors in the UK 2025
Looking to level up your business expense management?
While Soldo offers solid spend control features, there are a number of alternatives that might better suit your needs. We're comparing the top 5 contenders – from Airwallex's global payment capabilities to Monzo's digital-first approach – to help you find the perfect match for managing your company spend.
What is Soldo?
Soldo is a spend-control platform designed to streamline expense management for businesses of all sizes. Founded in London in 2014 by tech veteran Carlo Gualandri, it now has 25,000 customers across 30 countries.
It aims to help businesses manage the entire business expense cycle. Employees can use Soldo smart cards to make business-related purchases without following the traditional, often clunky, reimbursement process. Both startups and enterprises manage their expenses with Soldo, including businesses like Sony, Age UK and Off-White.
For businesses in the UK, Soldo plans start at £21 + VAT per month and scale to customisable solutions for larger organisations. Plans differ based on various features including the number of physical and virtual cards, bank transfers, wallets and multi-currency support.
The top 5 alternatives to Soldo
Airwallex
Airwallex is a global financial technology company that provides a suite of payment solutions designed to simplify cross-border transactions for ambitious businesses. Founded in 2015, it helps businesses of all sizes manage international payments, currency conversions, employee expenses and foreign exchange with ease.
Monzo
Monzo is a UK-based digital bank designed to help freelancers and small businesses manage their finances. It primarily operates through a user-friendly mobile app, offering features such as instant notifications for transactions, easy expense tracking and the ability to create separate accounts.
Pleo
Pleo is an expense management solution that streamlines the way businesses handle their spending. By providing employee company cards and a mobile app, Pleo allows teams to capture receipts instantly and categorise their expenses on the go, helping finance teams track outgoings in real time.
Payhawk
Payhawk is used by small businesses, remote businesses and international companies to improve spend control, reconcile faster and access real-time visibility over multi-entity business expenses. It offers a comprehensive suite of tools that help organisations manage their finances more efficiently like automated expense tracking, virtual and physical cards and accounts payable.
Spendesk
Spendesk is a spend management platform primarily designed to help businesses streamline the expense process and manage company spending. Founded in 2016, its features include card issuing and controls, spending limits, tracking tools, invoice management and spending reports. It partners with external providers to provide bank accounts, FX and payouts.
Find out how Airwallex compares to Soldo.
Compare the top 5 alternatives to Soldo
| Type | Payment methods | Cost |
---|---|---|---|
Airwallex | Global financial platform to collect, hold, convert, and send multi-currency payments. Additional features include spend management tools. | 160+ payment methods available, accepted in 180+ countries, in 130+ currencies. Payout to 150+ countries, 120+ using local low-cost payment networks (90% arrive same day)
| Explore: £0* or £19 Grow: £49 Accelerate: £999. 1.3% + 20p to collect UK card payments. Currency conversions at 0.5-1%
|
Monzo | Digital bank with integrated business banking and spend management tools. | Collect payments via bank transfer, links, QR code, card and digital payments via Stripe, cash and cheques. Get paid in 40+ currencies across 70+ countries.1 | No monthly fee for Lite plan, £25 for Team plan including expense cards.2 1.4% +20p to collect UK card payments.3 IBAN currency conversion at 1%, Wise rates otherwise.4 |
Pleo
| Financial technology company providing corporate expense management solutions. Popular with SMEs. | Pay via physical or virtual Pleo cards, Apple Pay or Google Pay across all currencies supported by Mastercard. | Tiered pricing ranging from free offer to £179 p/m. Varies by business size and features. Card payments FX fee from 1.49%. Currency conversions at 2.5%5. |
Payhawk | AI-powered expense management platform with advanced corporate card solutions. | Spend via physical or virtual cards in 32 countries. Send international bank transfers in 50+ currencies across 160+ countries.6 | Contact vendor for pricing. Cashback available on all payments. |
Spendesk | All-in-one spend management platform offering additional features to help streamline broader financial operations. | Pay via physical or virtual employee cards, or Apple Pay, across all currencies supported by VISA7. | Tiered pricing from £199 p/m. First 100 card transactions free, then 30-50p. Currency conversions at 2.99%.8 |
Why choose Airwallex over Soldo?
Use our comparison table to see how Pleo measures up against Airwallex on fees, features and benefits.
| Airwallex | Soldo |
---|---|---|
Spend essentials | ||
Expense submission | ✅ | ✅ |
Multi-layer approval flows | ✅ | ✅ |
Card controls | ✅ | ✅ |
Spend reporting | ✅ | ✅ |
Domestic reimbursements | ✅ | ✅ |
Advanced spend capabilities | ||
---|---|---|
International reimbursements | ✅ | ✅ |
Budgets | ❌ | ✅ |
Multi-entity management | ✅ | ✅ |
Spend requests | ❌ | ✅ |
Core finance | ||
---|---|---|
Business accounts | ✅ 23+ currencies | ❌ |
Domestic & international transfers | ✅ Free Domestic ✅ Free 120+ local payment networks | ✅ SEPA and FPS bank transfers |
FX | 0.5% - 1% above interbank rate | 1% |
Payment acceptance | ✅ 130 currencies | ❌ |
Domestic cards | ✅ | ❌ |
International debit cards | ✅ Visa Debit with held balances in 10+ currencies | ❌ prepaid Mastercard in GBP, EUR or USD |
Other | ||
---|---|---|
Account manager | ✅ available | ✅ on Unlimited Plan |
Centralised multi-entity management | ✅ | ❌ |
Xero integration | ✅ | ✅ |
NetSuite integration | On Accelerate plan from £999 | ✅ |
Easy to use API | ✅ | ✅ |
Pricing (fixed monthly) | ||
---|---|---|
Core features | Grow plan: £49 | Standard plan: £21 |
PO and budgeting | Grow plan: £49 | Plus plan: £33 |
APIs, Workday, Netsuite | Accelerate plan: £999 | Unlimited plan: contact vendor |
Per transaction fee | Free | Free |
Per entity fee | £100 | Contact vendor |
Per international transaction | 0.5-1% | 1% |
Per active spend user | £6-12 | £7-11 |
Cashback | Available | ❌ |
What questions should I ask when choosing alternative providers to Soldo?
Find out if Soldo is the right fit for your business by answering these 10 key questions.
How many physical and virtual cards can I issue?
Can I set individual spending limits and controls for different employees or departments?
How real-time and detailed are your expense tracking capabilities?
Can I automate expense categorisation and reporting?
What are the total costs, including monthly fees, card charges and transaction fees?
Are there any hidden costs or long-term commitments?
Which accounting, ERP and financial software do you integrate with?
In how many countries and currencies can employees spend?
What are your currency conversion rates and fees?
Can I create custom approval processes for expenses?
Discover how an all-in-one global financial platform like Airwallex could transform your business
Beyond traditional expense management, Airwallex brings your critical financial operations onto a single powerful platform.
By combining advanced spend control features, international payments and extensive payment capabilities across 180+ countries, you could eliminate the complexity of managing multiple solutions while expanding your business globally.
Smarter spend, faster payments, powered by AI
Disclaimer: We wrote this article in Q1 2025. The information was based on our own online research and we were not able to manually test each tool or provider. The information is provided for educational purposes only and a reader should consider the specific requirements of their business when evaluating providers. This research is reviewed every six months. If you would like to request an update, feel free to contact us at [email protected].
Sources
For more information on Airwallex, visit Airwallex Business Account and Airwallex pricing.
1 https://monzo.com/business-banking/get-paid
2 https://monzo.com/business-banking
3 https://monzo.com/help/business-accounts/business-getpaid-pricing
4 https://monzo.com/business-banking/features/international-payments
5 https://www.airwallex.com/uk/blog/comparison-pleo-vs-airwallex
6 https://payhawk.com/blog/cross-border-payments-for-b2b
7 https://helpcenter.spendesk.com/en/articles/4110745-supported-currencies
8 https://www.airwallex.com/uk/blog/comparison-spendesk-vs-airwallex
* £0/month if you deposit at least £10k per month or hold a minimum balance of £10k. For more information, see here.
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David manages the content for Airwallex. He specialises in content that helps EMEA businesses navigate global and local payments and banking.
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