Expensify vs. Navan for business travel expense management

Still juggling scattered travel receipts across multiple departments? Managing complex approvals while your team flies to Chicago, London, and Austin? 

For mid-market and enterprise companies, choosing the right business travel and expense management platform can unlock major savings and efficiency at scale. For growing companies with more advanced needs, Expensify offers multi-entity support, centralized policy controls, and real-time duty of care, all with 24/7 premium support.

Today, Expensify helps hundreds of mid-market and enterprise teams manage their business travel, bake in extensive policy enforcement rules, and integrate directly with ERP systems like Sage Intacct, NetSuite, Oracle, and SAP.

This comprehensive comparison of Expensify Travel vs. Navan Travel breaks down what each platform offers, what real users say, and which solution might be the perfect fit for your specific business needs.

Key takeaways

• Expensify Travel is built for mid-market to enterprise: Expensify now competes directly with a leaner, smarter solution built for mid-market to enterprise companies, able to hold its own with an all-in-one tool focused more on enterprise like Navan.
• Market growth is explosive: The global travel and expense management software market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 16.9% from 2024 to 2030, driven by mobile adoption and cost reduction needs.
• Expensify Travel changes the game: Integrated booking features wrapped into the platform businesses already love for expenses, with more AI capabilities than ever before.
• Expensify scales without complexity: Built to grow with you without overwhelming features, while Navan may be more complicated.
• One app solves everything: Travel admins can now manage travel, cards, and expenses in a single platform, starting with Expensify's free trial.

Overview: What's the difference between Expensify and Navan?

Whether you're exploring new travel management options or specifically comparing Expensify vs. Navan (formerly TripActions), finding the right business travel expense management solution can transform how your company handles travel.

Both platforms promise to streamline travel booking and expense management, but which one actually delivers for today’s modern businesses? With global business travel spending expected to hit a record $1.6 trillion by the end of 2025, choosing the right platform matters more than ever.

Expensify Travel is built for the new way teams work. With mobile-first booking, flexible approvals, and automated expense capture, Expensify makes travel and expense management seamless for businesses of all sizes. 

Here's how it compares as one of the top Navan alternatives:

Expensify at a glance

• NDC-enabled booking: Direct access to the best flight options and exclusive rates through modern NDC integrations – no legacy systems.

• Smart trip collaboration: Trip Rooms and chat-based coordination bring your travel planning into real time, eliminating email threads and delays.

• Transparent pricing: Flat $15 per trip. With multiple bookings occurring in one trip

• Mobile-first travel management: Designed for travelers on the go. Book, manage, and approve travel right from your phone.

• Fully integrated workflow: Booked travel automatically creates expenses with SmartScan receipts and AI-driven categorization.

• Advanced travel intelligence: Predictive pricing insights, unused ticket tracking, and automated policy enforcement keep trips cost-effective and compliant.

Navan at a glance

What is Navan? Navan travel software (formerly TripActions) is an all-in-one travel booking and expense suite that offers comprehensive features for business travel management.

• Enterprise-focused platform: Comprehensive feature set built for larger organizations

• Traditional architecture: Relies on legacy GDS systems from the 1960s with modern UI overlay

• Custom pricing model: Complex pricing with potential hidden fees and longer sales cycles

• Agent-dependent workflows: Many changes require contacting support rather than self-service

The Expensify Travel revolution: Chat-based collaboration

What truly sets Expensify apart is its revolutionary approach to travel coordination through chat-based collaboration, which is something no other platform offers.

Trip rooms: Travel coordination reimagined

When you book travel through Expensify, the system automatically creates a "trip room" – a shared chat space that includes:

• All trip details and bookings in one place

• Automatic expense generation with receipts attached

• Realtime updates on flight changes, delays, or cancellations

• Shared visibility for managers, travelers, and finance teams

• Easy communication for last-minute changes or approvals

Workspace chat integration

Unlike traditional travel platforms that operate in isolation:

• Approvals happen in chat: No switching between systems – approve travel requests directly in your team workspace

• Realtime notifications: Get instant updates when team members book, change, or complete travel

• Centralized communication: All travel discussions happen alongside your regular team conversations

• Mobile-native experience: Manage everything from your phone, just like messaging

This chat-first approach transforms travel from an administrative burden into a collaborative team activity.

Advanced feature comparison: Travel, expenses, and automation

With the global travel and expense management software market valued at $3.75 billion in 2023 and now projected to grow at a CAGR of 16.9% from 2024 to 2030, driven by mobile adoption and cost reduction needs, choosing the right platform for business travel isn’t something you do on a whim. 

Let's dive into the detailed capabilities that matter most when choosing between these platforms and see how each one stacks up when it comes to mobile experience and pricing tiers.

Feature	Expensify Travel	Navan Travel
Technology architecture	Modern microservices with direct supplier integrations and NDC connections	Legacy GDS systems from 1960s with modern UI overlay, limited by outdated data structures
Inventory sources	Sabre GDS, direct NDC connections, Expedia.com integration for live data and competitive rates	Primarily traditional GDS channels with limited aggregator access through outdated distribution
Self-service flight changes	85% of change requests handled without agent intervention, including complex scenarios	Limited self-service scenarios, approximately 2/3 of changes require agent contact
Rail booking management	Full self-service changes and cancellations for UK/EU rail, split ticket support for cost savings	No self-service modifications for UK/EU rail, all changes require agent assistance
Multi-city bookings	Complete self-service booking for complex itineraries	Requires agent assistance for multi-city trip planning
Unused ticket credits	Automatic tracking and self-service redemption for most fare types	Agent required for NDC bookings, limited self-service options
Travel approvals	Hard, soft, and passive approvals with customizable timeframes and secondary approvers	More rigid approval processes, often requiring agent intervention
Policy management	Dynamic policies with full transparency, granular controls by employee group and location	Black-box algorithm with limited customization and transparency
Mobile experience	Mobile-first design integrated with Expensify app, offline booking capabilities	Mobile functionality available but less integrated with expense workflows
Support channels	24/7 phone (20-second response), chat (1-minute response), and email support	Limited email support, inconsistent agent quality, longer resolution times
Crisis management	Realtime duty of care with traveler location mapping and proactive alerts	Basic crisis management tools, less comprehensive integration
Expense integration	Automatic expense generation at booking, realtime SmartScan receipt capture	Separate travel and expense systems requiring manual reconciliation
Reporting capabilities	Realtime spend reporting within unified Expensify ecosystem	Available but less integrated between travel and expense data

Travel booking and inventory access

Advanced booking capabilities 

• Expensify: Expensify’s travel management solution has a predictive price optimization engine that analyzes historical data to recommend optimal booking times, potentially saving thousands on frequently traveled routes. Unused ticket credit tracking ensures no value is lost from canceled flights.

• Navan: Navan’s travel management solution offers a standard booking interface with traditional GDS limitations. Less sophisticated pricing optimization and credit management.

Inventory and supplier access

• Expensify: Direct integrations with American Airlines, United, Southwest, and Lufthansa Group provide access to exclusive NDC fares and Basic Economy options by default. 

• Navan: Limited to GDS-distributed inventory from suppliers. Basic Economy and Low Cost Carrier access only available by request. Hotel content sourced through older GDS systems can be less reliable.

Self-service capabilities breakdown

• Flight modifications: Expensify supports 85% of change requests without agent intervention, including complex scenarios like changing unflown legs of partially flown trips and waitlist management

• Rail travel: Complete self-service for UK/EU rail including split ticketing for cost savings vs. no self-service modifications in Navan

• Multi-city bookings: Self-service complex itinerary creation vs. agent-required planning

• Credit redemption: Broader self-service unused ticket credit application vs. agent-required for many Navan booking types

Revolutionary expense automation

SmartScan integration

Expensify's SmartScan technology transforms expense capture:

• Instant digitization: Snap a photo of any receipt (or text it to 47777, US numbers only) and extract merchant, date, amount, and category in seconds

• Automatic matching: Travel receipts are automatically matched to bookings and categorized correctly

• Realtime expense reports: Expenses appear instantly when bookings are made, not after travel completion

• AI-powered categorization: Machine learning improves accuracy over time based on your spending patterns

Travel and expense workflow integration

• Expensify: When you book a flight, hotel, or car rental, the expense is automatically created with full receipt details. No manual entry or receipt hunting required.

• Navan: Travel bookings and expenses exist in separate systems, requiring manual reconciliation and additional administrative work.

Advanced automation features from Expensify

• Mileage tracking: GPS-powered automatic mileage logging with current IRS rate calculations

• Corporate card matching: Automatic reconciliation with Expensify VisaⓇ Commercial Card transactions

• Policy enforcement: Realtime compliance checking during booking, not after the fact

• Carbon footprint tracking: Built-in sustainability reporting for ESG compliance

Policy enforcement and approval sophistication

Dynamic policy management

Expensify's policy engine adapts to real business needs:

• Context-aware rules: Policies adjust based on booking lead time, destination, season, and employee level

• Transparent enforcement: Full visibility into how policies are applied, unlike Navan's black-box approach

• Granular controls: Different rules for different employee groups, locations, and travel frequency

• Preferred supplier management: Highlight and incentivize preferred vendors while allowing flexibility

Flexible approval workflows

• Hard approvals: Bookings automatically canceled if not approved within set timeframes

• Soft approvals: Oversight without booking delays, ideal for trusted teams

• Passive approvals: Automatic approval unless actively rejected, reducing friction for routine travel

• Secondary approvers: Backup approvers can step in when primary approvers are unavailable

Customer support and crisis management

Comprehensive duty of care

Expensify's duty of care goes beyond basic tracking:

• Realtime traveler mapping: Visual dashboard showing exactly where employees are globally

• Proactive alerts: Automatic notifications for flight delays, weather issues, security concerns, and transportation strikes

• Emergency contact systems: Quick access to traveler contact information and itineraries during crises

• Historical and future visibility: Track past travel patterns and monitor upcoming bookings for safety planning

Support quality and availability

• Response times: 20-second phone response, 1-minute chat response, 30-minute email response vs. longer resolution times and limited channels for Navan

• Agent expertise: Knowledgeable agents who can service any traveler from any location vs. reports of inexperienced staff and regional limitations

• Proactive support: System identifies potential issues and reaches out before problems occur

Pricing revolution: Simple, transparent, and affordable

Understanding the true cost of travel management software can be tricky when platforms use different pricing models. Here's what you need to know about each option when it comes to Navan vs. Expensify.

How much is Expensify per month, per user?

Expensify revolutionized travel management pricing with the April 2025 update:

Core expense management:

• $5 per member per month: Flat rate with no annual commitment required

• No Expensify Card requirement: Get the low price without needing to adopt the Expensify Card (though you still get 1% cashback if you do)

• International pricing advantage: 2-4x cheaper than previous rates

• $5 USD per month in the US

• £5 GBP per month in the UK

• $8 AUD per month in Australia

• $9 NZD per month in New Zealand

Travel booking fees:

• $15 per trip: Covers flights, hotels, cars, and rail together (not per booking)

• Unlimited changes: $25 per change fee regardless of complexity

• No hidden fees: No deployment, subscription, or minimum commitment charges

What's included for $5/month:

• Unlimited SmartScan receipt processing

• Expensify Visa Commercial Cards with Smart Limits

• Bill pay and invoicing capabilities

• Expense approvals and workflows

• Third-party card feeds and reconciliation

• Next-day ACH and global reimbursement

• QuickBooks and NetSuite synchronization

• Gusto and Zenefits integration

• Expensify Travel booking access

• Expensify Chat collaboration

Navan's pricing complexity

• Custom pricing model: Requires sales conversations with no transparent rate card

• Potential hidden fees: Agent changes, offline bookings, premium support may incur additional charges

• Higher per-user costs: Often significantly more expensive than Expensify's flat-rate model

• Minimum commitments: Typically requires annual contracts and minimum user counts

Total cost of ownership comparison

For a 25-person team booking 10 trips per month:

Expensify total monthly cost:

• Core platform: $125 (25 users × $5)

• Travel bookings: $150 (10 trips × $15)

• Total: $275/month

Navan estimated monthly cost:

• Platform fees: $375-500+ (varies by negotiation)

• Booking fees: $180+ (10 trips × $18+ per booking)

• Total: $555-680+/month

Expensify provides 50-60% cost savings while offering superior mobile experience and integration.

What real customers are saying

Understanding how real users experience these platforms provides valuable insight beyond marketing materials.

Expensify reviews

Expensify consistently receives praise for its simplicity and powerful automation. Users highlight:

• "The mobile app makes expense reporting actually enjoyable"

• "SmartScan is magic – I just take a photo and everything else happens automatically"

• "Finally, travel and expenses in one place that actually works"

• "Trip rooms make coordinating team travel so much easier"

G2 Rating: ★★★★☆ 4.5 from 1,500+ reviews

✈️ Expensify Travel in real life: Check out how Precon Events streamlined their travel management with Expensify Travel and cut costs by 30% while improving expense accuracy.

“If you're looking for a travel management platform, Expensify Travel makes compliance easier, improves user experience, and simplifies administration. Our team has been able to book confidently without the issues we faced with other providers. It just works—and that's all we need.”

Read the full case study here.

Navan reviews

Navan receives strong marks from mid-market and enterprise teams, especially those with high-volume travel needs. However, smaller teams often report a steeper learning curve, and setup can take longer compared to plug-and-play tools like Expensify.

Real strengths customers mention:

• Robust feature set for global travel management

• Built-in travel agent support for complex itineraries

• Strong reporting tools for large teams with detailed analytics needs

Common concerns from some users:

• Some users say it's "too complex for our size" or "hard to self-manage"

• Support for smaller use cases may be slower or overbuilt for simple needs

• Implementation requires more time and training than expected

• "Hidden fees appeared after we started using it"

• "Agent support is inconsistent in quality"

Industry recognition and adoption

Expensify achievements:

• 10M+ users globally

• 78 domain rating enabling easier ranking for competitive keywords

• Mobile-first adoption: Higher engagement rates due to superior mobile experience

Market positioning:

• Expensify is able to handle more complex travel needs without overcomplicating everything from booking to expense tracking

• Has multiple cost centers, comprehensive duty-of-care, and automatic policy enforcements

• Offers dedicated account managers and VIP services, like black car services

• 24/7 crisis management team for all business travelers 

Which platform to choose: Expensify vs. Navan

Choosing the right platform depends on your company size, travel patterns, and team preferences.

Who is Expensify Travel perfect for?

Mid-market to enterprise companies (100 - 500+ employees):

• Need powerful features without complexity

• Want mobile-first experience for on-the-go booking and management

• Prefer transparent, predictable pricing they can budget around

• Value fast implementation without lengthy onboarding processes

Finance teams and administrators:

• Want realtime insights and automated workflows

• Need integrated travel and expense management in a single platform

• Prefer self-service capabilities over agent-dependent processes

• Value AI-powered automation to reduce manual work

Modern, mobile-first organizations:

• Teams that prioritize chat-based collaboration and coordination

• Companies with a distributed or remote workforce

• Organizations that value simplicity and user experience over feature complexity

• Businesses looking for tools that employees actually want to use

Who should consider Navan?

Large enterprise organizations (500+ employees):

• Have dedicated travel managers and complex approval hierarchies

• Need extensive customization and enterprise-grade service levels

• Can invest time in complex implementation and ongoing management

• Require deep integration with existing enterprise systems

High-volume travel companies:

• Book hundreds of trips monthly with complex routing requirements

• Need dedicated account management and white-glove service

• Have a budget for premium features and custom development

• Require extensive reporting and analytics capabilities

Organizations with complex requirements:

• Multinational operations with complex tax and compliance needs

• Industries with specific travel regulations or approval requirements

• Companies comfortable with longer implementation timelines and higher costs

• Teams that prefer a full-service TMC approach over self-service tools

Advanced capabilities: The technology difference

Modern architecture vs. legacy systems

Expensify's modern technology stack:

• Microservices architecture: Built from the ground up for flexibility and scalability

• Direct supplier integrations: Bypass outdated GDS limitations for better inventory access

• API-first design: Seamless integration with other business tools

• Mobile-native development: Optimized for smartphone usage patterns

Navan's legacy constraints:

• GDS dependency: Built on 1960s-era data structures that limit innovation

• Flat file management: Reliance on unstructured text files requiring manual quality control

• Scripting tools: Automated text writing to legacy data files, prone to errors

• System limitations: Financial penalties for sourcing content outside traditional GDS channels

AI and automation advantages

Expensify's AI capabilities:

• Predictive pricing optimization: Machine learning analyzes historical booking data to recommend optimal timing

• Smart categorization: AI improves expense categorization accuracy over time

• Automated policy compliance: Realtime checking during booking process

• Receipt intelligence: SmartScan extracts detailed information from any receipt format

Future-proofing features:

• Carbon footprint tracking: Built-in sustainability reporting for ESG compliance

• Behavioral analytics: Understanding travel patterns to optimize policies

• Anomaly detection: Automatic flagging of unusual spending or booking patterns

• Workflow automation: Reducing manual touch points throughout travel lifecycle

Integration ecosystem advantages

Accounting system connectivity:

• QuickBooks Desktop and Online: Recently added Desktop support based on customer demand

• Accounting synchronization: Realtime data flow for accounting reconciliation

• Custom field mapping: Flexible data requirements for different accounting setups

• Multi-currency support: Automatic conversion and reporting for international operations

HR and payroll integrations:

• Gusto integration: Seamless employee data synchronization

• Zenefits compatibility: Streamlined HR workflow connections

• ADP connectivity: Payroll integration for expense reimbursements

Implementation and onboarding comparison

Getting started with Expensify

Setup timeline:

• Day 1: Create workspace, invite team members, configure basic policies

• Week 1: Team members download mobile app, complete first expense submissions

• Week 2: Travel booking activated, first trips coordinated through trip rooms

• Month 1: Full adoption with optimized policies and integrated workflows

Training requirements:

• Minimal training needed: Intuitive interface designed for immediate productivity

• Self-guided onboarding: In-app tutorials and help documentation

• Mobile-first approach: Most users comfortable within first few uses

• Chat-based support: Questions answered directly in workspace chat

Navan’s implementation process

Setup timeline:

• Month 1-2: Requirements gathering, system configuration, policy setup

• Month 2-3: Integration development, testing, and user acceptance

• Month 3-4: Training rollout, change management, adoption monitoring

• Month 4-6: Optimization, troubleshooting, and ongoing support establishment

Training requirements:

• Extensive training programs: Multi-session training for administrators and users

• Change management: Dedicated resources needed for adoption

• Documentation: Detailed procedures and policy documentation required

• Ongoing support: Regular check-ins and optimization sessions needed

Security and compliance

Data protection and privacy

Expensify security measures:

• SOC 2 Type II compliance: Rigorous security controls and regular audits

• GDPR compliance: European data protection regulation adherence

• Bank-level encryption: 256-bit SSL encryption for all data transmission

• Multi-factor authentication: Enhanced security for administrative access

Compliance capabilities:

• Audit trail maintenance: Complete transaction history and approval workflows

• Expense policy enforcement: Automated compliance checking and reporting

• International tax support: VAT recovery and multi-jurisdiction reporting

• Corporate governance: Approval workflows that support Sarbanes-Oxley requirements

Business continuity and reliability

Uptime and performance:

• 99.9% uptime guarantee: Reliable access when teams need to book or submit expenses

• Global infrastructure: Distributed systems for consistent performance worldwide

• Offline capabilities: Mobile app functions without internet connectivity

• Automatic backups: Data protection and disaster recovery procedures

Why Expensify wins for modern businesses

When it comes to business travel, Expensify's unique positioning includes:

Bottom-up adoption model:

• Employee-friendly experience: Tools people actually want to use

• Freemium entry point: Easy trial without procurement complexity

• Viral growth: Satisfied users recommend to other companies

• Scalable pricing: Grows with company size without sudden price jumps

Competitive moat:

• A mobile-first design appeals to modern workforce expectations

• Chat-based collaboration creates a unique user experience

• An integrated approach eliminates the need for multiple vendor relationships

• Dedicated global support via phone, chat, and email with ZERO wait time

The future of business travel management

The travel management industry is evolving toward:

• Mobile-first experiences: Business travelers expect consumer-grade mobile experiences 

• Integrated workflows: Separate travel and expense systems create friction 

• AI-powered automation: Manual processes can't scale with business growth

• Transparent pricing: Hidden fees and complex pricing models frustrate growing businesses 

• Collaborative coordination: Chat-based communication replaces email chains and phone calls

Expensify is built for this future, while traditional platforms struggle to adapt legacy architectures to modern expectations.

FAQs about Expensify vs. Navan as a business travel expense management and software solution

• Does Expensify do mileage?

  Yes, Expensify includes automatic mileage tracking using GPS and Google Maps integration. The system calculates deductions using current IRS rates and creates detailed reports for tax time.

• Is Expensify better than QuickBooks?

  Expensify and QuickBooks serve different purposes. QuickBooks handles general accounting, while Expensify specializes in expense and travel management. They integrate seamlessly together – many businesses use both, with Expensify handling expenses and syncing to QuickBooks for accounting.

• What is Expensify Travel?

  Expensify Travel is a comprehensive business travel management solution that integrates seamlessly with Expensify's expense platform. Unlike traditional travel management systems, it combines booking, expense capture, and approval workflows in one mobile-first application.

• What's included with Expensify's travel support?

  Expensify Travel includes 24/7 support, duty of care monitoring, realtime booking changes, and automatic expense generation. All for a flat $15 per trip fee with no hidden charges.

• Can I customize travel policies in Expensify?

  Yes, Expensify offers granular policy controls by employee group, budget limits, preferred suppliers, and approval workflows. You can create different rules for different team members while maintaining overall policy compliance.

• Does Expensify work for group or event travel?

  Absolutely. Expensify's chat-based coordination makes it easy to coordinate team travel, with shared trip rooms where everyone stays on the same page for every booking.

• How are travel expenses tracked in Expensify?

  Travel expenses are automatically generated when you book through Expensify Travel. The system creates expense reports in realtime with all receipt details, making reconciliation effortless.

Still looking for travel expense management solutions?

Learn how Expensify stacks up against the competition:

• Expensify vs. Brex

• Expensify vs. Divvy

• Expensify vs. Concur

Try Expensify today

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