Best Business Central expense management software in 2026: compare 8 tools

The best expense management software for Business Central in 2026 includes Payhawk, Continia Expense Management, Zetadocs Expenses, Pleo, Spendesk, Ramp, SAP Concur, and Webexpenses.

But which one suits you depends less on the expense app and more on what survives the trip into Business Central.

This guide explores which dimensions arrive in BC intact, whether VAT posts correctly, and entries that don’t need to be reworked. These three things are what save your finance team precious time at month-end.

Every tool mentioned above falls into one of three archetypes:

• BC-embedded extensions that live inside Business Central (Continia, Zetadocs)
• Card-first spend platforms with a Business Central connector (Payhawk, Pleo, Spendesk, Ramp)
• T&E suites connected directly or through middleware (SAP Concur, Webexpenses)

Once you’ve chosen your archetype, you can then make a judgment on the integration.

Does Business Central have native expense management?

Yes, it does. Microsoft has a new Expense Management module and an Expense Agent. It handles reimbursed employee expenses well, but it’s still in preview, and it doesn’t issue cards.

What it covers

• Expense reports, with itemisation
• Per diem and mileage
• Travel requests
• Expense rules and approval workflows
• VAT reclaim: with it switched on, the Expense Agent extracts VAT per rate from receipts, and an accountant approves each suggestion before posting

The agent does the heavy lifting here, and without it, data entry is manual with no receipt scanning.

Where it stops

1. It’s a preview, so features and terms can still change
2. Agents run only on Business Central online, and only in supported countries
3. Agent use is charged in Copilot credits
4. Approvers working inside Business Central need at least a Team Member license
5. Microsoft doesn’t issue cards. Card issuing and pre-spend controls still need another provider

If your team mainly reimburses out-of-pocket costs, native Business Central expense management might cover it. But once card spend, supplier invoices, and controls before money leaves the business come into the picture, you’ll want one of the tools below.

How to judge a Business Central integration

You’re best judging the integration based on what lands in your ledger. The nine checks below show how much manual work a connector will remove.

Check:	What to ask:
The connection method	Is it an AppSource extension installed in Business Central, an external API connector, or middleware? Note: An AppSource listing confirms technical validation, not posting depth.
Deployment	Does it support Business Central online only, or on-premises, too?
Dimension mapping	Does it handle global and shortcut dimensions and default dimensions? Is coding at line level or header level?
Posting	Does spend arrive as general journal lines, purchase invoices (draft or posted) or payment journals? Vendor or employee ledger? Does anything wait for manual posting?
Multi-company	Is there one connection per Business Central company? What about intercompany postings, consolidation, multi-currency, and per-entity cards?
VAT and local tax	Does it respect VAT business and product posting groups, reverse charge and VAT reclaim on foreign receipts?
Reconciliation	Is there a bank feed into Business Central bank reconciliation? Card statement matching? Do receipt attachments carry across?
Failed syncs	Are there automatic retries, a correction workflow, and a full audit trail?
Pricing	Is the integration gated to a higher plan? Factor in BC licenses for approvers, Copilot credits, per-user fees, and FX markups.

Multi-company and VAT matter most

For European groups, multi-company and VAT checks dictate how much time you can get back. A tool that posts cleanly into one company can still, unfortunately, create manual work across five. And most European tools sync VAT codes. So ask whether VAT carries through on card spend and supplier invoices, as well as reimbursed expenses.

Comparing the best expense management software for Business Central

Organisations have different setups, so which tool will suit yours? Use the table below for a quick overview, and scroll down to read a more detailed profile of each option.

Tool	Archetype	How it connects	How spend lands in Business Central	Issues cards?
Payhawk	Card-first, all-in-one	AppSource extension	Card spend as purchase invoices, receipts as journal entries	Yes (EEA and UK)
Continia Expense Management	BC-embedded	Runs inside Business Central	Processed in BC, with card transactions imported and matched	No
Zetadocs Expenses	BC-embedded	Runs inside Business Central	Processed in BC	No
Pleo	Card-first	V2 app installed in BC	Journal entries or purchase invoices, pushed on export	Yes
Spendesk	Card-first	Integration built with Chift	Draft purchase invoices	Yes
Ramp	Card-first	Integration on Ramp Plus	General journals, posted manually	Yes
SAP Concur	Enterprise T&E	Usually middleware, such as Celigo	Expense reports as journal entries	No
Webexpenses	T&E overlay	Direct sync with BC master data	Claims synced with BC tax codes, vendors, and cost centres	No

Payhawk

• What it is: A card-first spend platform, Payhawk brings cards, expenses, accounts payable, procurement, and travel all into the same ledger.
• Business Central specifics: It installs as an AppSource extension, with each Payhawk entity connecting to one Business Central company. Dimensions, VAT rates, and suppliers all sync, and card spend exports as purchase invoices and receipts as journal entries. There’s also a live bank feed and project module support.
• Strengths: One platform for every type of spend. Dimensions and VAT stay intact on cards and supplier invoices, not only on reimbursements. Built for groups running several companies.
• Limitations: Cards are issued in the EEA and the UK.
• Best fit: Multi-company groups in the UK and Europe that want cards, expenses, and AP in one place.

Andrei Banea, COO at Big Bang, talks about the BC integration with Payhawk:

“The Payhawk integration with Microsoft Dynamics BC is a game-changer for our clients. Master data is synced automatically in real time, enabling efficient decision-making.”

See how Payhawk’s expense management works, or explore the Microsoft Dynamics integration.

Continia Expense Management

• What it is: An expense management extension that runs fully inside Business Central.
• Business Central specifics: Comes with a mobile app and web portal. Imports corporate card transactions from major card providers and matches them to receipts. Approvals happen in BC or the web portal, with a Team Member license as the minimum.
• Strengths: Everything stays in Business Central. Per diem and mileage are built in. Works with the cards you already have.
• Limitations: Doesn’t issue cards, so pre-spend controls sit with your card provider. Approvers need a BC license.
• Best fit: BC-centric teams keeping their existing bank cards.

Zetadocs Expenses

• What it is: An expense extension built for Business Central.
• Business Central specifics: Handles out-of-pocket, corporate card and mileage expenses inside BC.
• Strengths: A familiar, in-BC experience. Entry pricing from $9 a month.
• Limitations: Focused on expenses, meaning that cards, AP, and procurement need separate tools.
• Best fit: Smaller teams wanting a low-cost option that lives in Business Central.

Pleo

• What it is: A card-first spend platform.
• Business Central specifics: The v2 app installs in BC and supports online and on-premises. Exports as journal entries or purchase invoices. Dimensions sync as tags, and VAT setups as tax codes. One Pleo entity maps to each BC company.
• Strengths: On-premises support and a choice of export format.
• Limitations: Exports are pushed by a user rather than running automatically.
• Best fit: Small and mid-sized businesses on BC on-premises that want company cards.

Spendesk

• What it is: A card-first spend platform.
• Business Central specifics: The integration launched in June 2026, built with Chift. It pulls accounts, journals, suppliers, tax codes, and dimensions. Card purchases land as draft purchase invoices.
• Strengths: Pulls a broad set of BC master data. Drafts give finance a review step before posting.
• Limitations: Doesn’t create suppliers or employees in BC. The integration is new.
• Best fit: Teams happy to review draft invoices before they post.

Ramp

• What it is: A US-rooted, card-first spend platform.
• Business Central specifics: requires Ramp Plus. Transactions and reimbursements sync to general journals for manual posting. One Ramp account can’t map to several BC companies, so multi-entity setups need a third-party extension.
• Strengths: Purchase orders and three-way match.
• Limitations: US-centric. The integration also sits on a paid plan.
• Best fit: US-based, single-company Business Central users.

SAP Concur

• What it is: An enterprise travel and expense suite.
• Business Central specifics: Usually connected through middleware such as Celigo templates. Expense reports post as journal entries, and BC employees map to Concur users.
• Strengths: Deep T&E capability for large travel programmes.
• Limitations: Middleware adds implementation weight and another system to maintain.
• Best fit: Enterprises already standardised on Concur.

Webexpenses

• What it is: A T&E overlay for employee claims.
• Business Central specifics: Syncs tax, customers, vendors, and cost centres. Provisions users from BC.
• Strengths: OCR receipt capture, claims and approvals. User provisioning from BC keeps setup light.
• Limitations: Focused on claims, so card issuing sits somewhere else.
• Best fit: Organisations whose spend is mostly reimbursed expenses.

Which one fits your setup?

How your business is structured and how you spend dictate the type of tool you choose. Find the setup that closely matches your setup and see which tool matches.

Your setup	Where to start
One Business Central company, mostly out-of-pocket claims	Native Expense Management module, Continia or Zetadocs
Several Business Central companies	Payhawk or Pleo, both with one entity per BC company
EU or UK VAT across cards, invoices and claims	Payhawk
Travel-heavy teams	SAP Concur, Webexpenses, or Payhawk
AP-heavy, with purchase orders	Payhawk or Ramp
Moving to company cards with pre-spend controls	Payhawk, Pleo, Spendesk, or Ramp
Keeping your existing bank cards	Continia or Zetadocs
Enterprise T&E already in place	SAP Concur
Business Central on-premises	Pleo, or confirm on-premises support with each vendor
Business Central online in a supported country	Any of the above, plus the Expense Agent

Choose based on what reaches the ledger

The right Business Central expense management tool for you is one that posts spend correctly, for each of your companies, without needing to be reworked. Feature lists can look very similar, but what lands in Business Central looks different.

If you run multiple companies and want cards, expenses, AP, and procurement in one place, Payhawk posts natively into each Business Central company with dimensions and VAT intact.

Book a demo to see Payhawk post spend into your own Business Central setup, company by company.