10 Best Business Spend Management Software in 2024

As a business owner, managing software spending is essential for positive cash flow. However, manual spend management can lead to human error and inefficiencies. That's where business spend management (BSM) software comes in. 

These tools transform how businesses allocate and monitor their financial resources. From complete app visibility to spend tracking, it contributes to effective cost optimization.

Read on to learn the importance and the top 10 business spend management software for 2024.

You'll get to know the benefits. And how they can help your business improve its spend management practices, boost efficiency, and save money.
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What is a Business Spend Management Software?

Business spend management (BSM) software is used to identify, manage, and analyze app portfolios and relevant spending. 

This tool covers various aspects of SaaS spending, procurement, and vendor management to improve control over spending. It enables businesses to evaluate spending data to minimize procurement costs. It'll also provide valuable negotiation insights to secure better deals.

Why Do You Need Software To Manage Business Spend?

The primary goal of this software is to help you manage your spend and expenses. Here are some more reasons you need software to manage business spend:

• Real-time visibility. BSM software provides real-time visibility into spending. It lets you identify areas where you can cut costs and make the best possible decisions.
• Cost savings. By tracking spending in real-time and identifying cost-saving opportunities, businesses can reduce unnecessary expenses and negotiate better supplier deals.
• Data analysis. Spend analysis tools consolidate spending data in one location. This consolidation helps eliminate the need for tedious spreadsheet and paper form management and helps businesses identify areas for cost reduction.
• Integration with existing systems. BSM software can integrate with other enterprise systems. This integration ensures you get a comprehensive solution for managing spend-centric processes.
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10 Best Business Spend Management Software

Here are the ten best business spend management software solutions for 2024:

1. CloudEagle

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CloudEagle is a comprehensive SaaS management and procurement platform with the right features to manage your business spend. It’ll provide complete portfolio visibility, optimize spending, streamline the SaaS buying and renewal process, and effectively manage SaaS applications.

It has more than 300 integrations that can connect with your internal systems and applications. Through these integrations, CloudEagle will provide a birds-eye view of your SaaS stack, usage insights, and granular spend data. 

The platform is powered by AI and aims to remove the painful tasks of researching software vendors. Procurement workflows are available to streamline the process. You can identify free, duplicate, and redundant apps and eliminate them to save on spending. 

With a 30-minute onboarding process and day-one savings, CloudEagle offers a fast and efficient solution for managing SaaS spend.

Key Features 

‍Spend visibility: CloudEagle provides complete visibility into SaaS spending. This visibility allows businesses to track and manage software spend more effectively.

For example, when Rec Room faced a surge in unregulated SaaS apps causing unauthorized purchases and shadow IT, CloudEagle provided complete visibility and offered cost-saving opportunities.

Read the detailed success story here.

License management: The platform helps you manage your organization's SaaS licenses, ensuring compliance and optimizing usage.

Contract management: Centralize all your contracts in one place. Automatically extract data from the contracts and populate it on the platform. 

Renewal management: The platform automates SaaS renewal processes, saving time and effort for businesses.

Workflows and self-service access requests. CloudEagle offers automated procurement workflows and self-service access requests, improving efficiency and reducing manual work.

Cost optimization: Identify low-usage or redundant apps and make the right decisions to optimize them. 

Negotiation assistance: If your team lacks the bandwidth, get assistance from CloudEagle’s SaaS buying experts for negotiations and renegotiations during renewals to save on spend. 

Custom reports: Get 37 types of reports and leverage them for effective financial analysis. Reports will provide granular spending insights from departmental to individual user level, which is necessary for business spend management. 

Check out this testimonial from Sophie Wang at Wefunder. She explains how CloudEagle helped her team save on SaaS spending through effective negotiations. The tool helped them track SaaS spending and sales history easily. They also benefit from assisted buying services, where expert negotiators assist in vendor negotiations and provide optimal solutions.

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Pros of CloudEagle

• Streamlined SaaS buying and renewal processes.
• Improved license management and optimization.
• Enhanced vendor management and negotiation capabilities.
• Automated renewal processes.
• Custom application catalog for employees.
• Advanced reports and insights.

Pricing of CloudEagle

CloudEagle offers three pricing plans: Starter, Growth, and Enterprise. The Starter plan focuses on saving time and money, while the Growth plan includes additional features such as license management, optimization insights, and advanced reports. 

The Enterprise plan offers complete visibility, license management, optimization insights, workflows, self-service access requests, consulting, and RFP/RFP capabilities. 

Pricing is based on employee bucket size, starting at $2000/month for the Starter plan and $3000/month for the Enterprise plan.

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2. Spendesk

Spendesk is an all-in-one spend management solution offering expense tracking, analysis, budgeting, and approvals, helping businesses manage individual employee spend.

The platform is designed to streamline expense management, provide real-time visibility into spending, and enable you to make data-driven decisions about your business finances.

Key Features

• Expense tracking. Spendesk allows employees to submit expenses, track their spending, and attach receipts directly from their smartphones.
• Budgeting. Spendesk helps you create your organizational budgets, track spending, and adjust as needed.
• Spend approvals. The platform offers a spend approval workflow that streamlines the process of approving employee expenses.

Pros of Spendesk

• Streamlined expense management.
• Real-time visibility into spending.
• Advanced analytics tools.
• Customizable spend cards

Pricing

Spendesk offers three pricing plans: Basic, Teams, and Scale. The Basic plan focuses on expense tracking, and the team's plan includes additional features such as budgeting and spending approvals.

The Scale plan offers complete visibility into spending, budgeting, and approvals, making it suitable for larger teams. Pricing is based on the number of employees in the organization.

3. Freshbooks

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FreshBooks is a cloud-based accounting software for small businesses, independent contractors, and self-employed professionals. The software offers a range of features, including invoicing, expense tracking, time tracking, and financial reporting, to help your business manage finances more efficiently.

FreshBooks is known for its user-friendly interface and automation capabilities, which help you save time and improve cash flow.

Key Features

• Invoicing. FreshBooks allows businesses to create and customize professional invoices, send payment reminders, and accept online payments.
• Expense tracking. The platform enables businesses to track expenses, attach receipts, and categorize expenses for tax purposes.
• Online payment options. FreshBooks supports online payment options, allowing businesses to accept credit card payments directly through the invoices they send.

Pros

• User-friendly interface.
• Automation capabilities.
• Time tracking and project management.
• Financial reporting.

Cons

• Limited customization options.
• Limited integrations with other software.

Pricing

FreshBooks offers three pricing plans: Lite, Plus, and Premium. The Lite plan includes essential features such as invoicing and expense tracking, while the Plus plan offers additional features such as time tracking and project management.

The Premium plan includes all features, including advanced financial reporting and team management capabilities. Pricing is based on the number of clients and ranges from $15 to $50 per month.

4. Coupa

Coupa is a leading cloud-based BSM platform that unifies processes and data across finance, procurement, and supply chain functions, empowering organizations worldwide to maximize value and operational efficiency.

The platform is known for its user-friendly interface, adaptability, and connectivity, driving high levels of user adoption and making it easier for AP and finance teams to process invoices and payments.

Key Features

• Spend control. The platform offers spend control capabilities, allowing businesses to streamline purchasing and manage accounts payable more efficiently.
• Invoice management. Coupa's invoice management tools enable businesses to streamline the intake and purchasing process, create a touchless AP process, and collaborate with suppliers at the PO line level.

Pros

• User-friendly interface.
• High levels of user adoption.
• Streamlined spending control and purchasing.
• Advanced sourcing and contract management capabilities.
• Treasury management.

Pricing

Pricing for Coupa's BSM platform is tailored to the specific needs and size of your organization. For detailed pricing information, you must contact Coupa directly to discuss their requirements and obtain a customized quote.

5. Flow

Flow is a cloud-based BPM software designed to automate complex business processes and improve enterprise efficiency.

The platform offers a range of features, including a drag-and-drop interface, cloud-based access, and mobile compatibility, to help your businesses streamline workflows and improve productivity.

Key Features

• Cloud-based access. This feature enables businesses to access workflows from anywhere at any time.
• Mobile compatibility. Flow is mobile-compatible, allowing businesses to manage workflows on the go.

Pros

• User-friendly interface.
• Intuitive no-code tools.
• Fast implementations

Pricing

Flow offers three pricing plans: Starter, Professional, and Enterprise. The Starter plan includes features such as ten workflows and ten users. The Professional plan offers additional features such as unlimited workflows and users, advanced reporting, and API access.

The Enterprise plan includes all features, including custom branding, single sign-on, and dedicated support. Pricing is based on the number of users and ranges from $390 to $990 per month

6. Ramp

Coupa is designed to streamline and optimize the entire process of business spending, from sourcing and procurement to invoicing and expense management. It offers comprehensive tools to track, analyze, and manage financial activities, reshaping spending for improved profitability.

Key Features

• Comprehensive spend management. Tracks and manages sourcing events, contract terms, purchase orders, invoices, expenses, and supplier-related activities.

Pros

• Improved profitability.
• User-friendly tool.

Pricing

Coupa pricing starts at $549/Year for the Verified plan. Contact the vendor or visit their official website for specific pricing details.

7. Divvy

Divvy offers comprehensive tools to track, analyze, and manage various financial activities, ultimately reshaping business spending for improved profitability.

Key Features

• Real-time expense tracking. Tracks and categorizes expenses in real-time for better visibility and control over spending.
• Automated expense reports. You can generate expense reports automatically to save time and reduce errors.
• Virtual cards. Offers virtual cards for employees to use for business expenses, with customizable spending limits and real-time tracking.

Pros

• User-friendly interface.

Pricing

Divvy offers a free version and paid plans starting at $5 per monthly user. For up-to-date pricing information, visit their official website directly.

8. Brex

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Brex is an AI-powered spending platform designed to streamline expense management for startups and enterprises. The platform offers automated receipts, an AI-powered expense assistant, in-app travel bookings, and itinerary changes.

Brex aims to increase the strategic impact of finance teams and future-proof companies by providing real-time visibility and control over spend, optimizing purchasing and payment processes, reducing procurement costs, and improving supplier relationships.

Key Features

• Automated receipts. The platform offers automated receipt management, simplifying the expense-tracking process for employees and managers.
• Optimized purchasing and payment processes. The platform aims to optimize purchasing and payment processes, reducing manual work and improving efficiency.

Pros

• AI-powered expense assistant.
• Real-time visibility and control over spend

Pricing

Brex has a free and premium plan at $15/user/month. They also have an executive plan, which is customizable. Contact Brex directly to discuss and obtain a customized quote.

9. Mesh Payments

Mesh Payments is an accounting automation software designed to improve the productivity of finance teams by automating various financial processes, such as receipt collection and syncing with accounting systems.

The platform offers a range of features, including spend management, travel management, and expense management, to help businesses manage their finances more efficiently.

Key Features

• Accounting automation. The platform automates financial processes, such as receipt collection and syncing with accounting systems.
• Spend management. Mesh Payments offers spend limits and vendor locks on every payment, providing complete control over business spending management.

Pros

• Streamlined travel management.
• User-friendly interface.

Pricing

Mesh Payments has Pro, Premium, and Enterprise plans. The Pro is free, the Premium is $10/user/month, and the Pro is custom pricing. Contact Mesh Payments to discuss their requirements and obtain a customized quote.

10. SAP Ariba

SAP Ariba unifies processes and data across finance, procurement, and supply chain functions, helping organizations worldwide to maximize value and operational efficiency.

It is designed to streamline spend control, purchasing, and accounts payable, providing a comprehensive and efficient solution for managing spend-centric processes.

Key Features

• Spend control. This feature allows you to streamline business purchasing and manage accounts payable more efficiently.
• Sourcing & contracts. This feature helps businesses optimize sourcing decisions, convert sourcing awards into contracts, and connect contracts to all aspects of spending management.
• Invoice management. This tool enables businesses to streamline the intake and purchasing process, create a touchless AP process, and collaborate with suppliers at the PO line level.

Pros

• User-friendly interface.
• High levels of user adoption.
• Advanced sourcing and contract management capabilities.

Pricing

SAP Ariba offers five pricing plans, the details of which you can check out here.

Conclusion

These are the best business spend management software for 2024. Each plays a vital role, from Coupa's efficiency to SAP's compliance. Amongst these, one stands out - CloudEagle. With unparalleled features and a user-centric interface, Cloudeagle emerges as the best BSM software.

Take charge of your business's financial strategy; optimize, automate, and thrive with Cloudeagle. Don't miss out - visit Cloudeagle's website now to experience unparalleled spend management service.

Frequently asked questions

1. What is business spend management software?

Business spend management software controls and optimizes company expenses, providing real-time visibility and strategic alignment. It streamlines financial processes, ensuring efficient and informed decision-making for businesses.

2. What are the categories of business spend management?

It includes procurement, expenses, and invoicing. This ensures comprehensive control and optimization of company spending, fostering financial efficiency and strategic alignment.

3. What is the difference between spend management and expense management?

Expense management focuses on tracking individual costs, while spend management involves a broader approach, optimizing all aspects of company spending for efficiency and strategy.

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