Divvy Alternatives: When to Opt for Stampli or Other Firms
Many companies would probably like to bolster their expense management and corporate card options. One business that allows companies to do both of these things is Divvy.
A free solution, Divvy helps companies with expense management and reimbursement, monthly closes, and preparations for tax season. Divvy has also deployed a corporate card in recent years that’s drawn positive customer reviews.
Divvy has its limits on what it’s capable of, though. Specifically when mid-size or enterprise-level companies have invested in certain types of enterprise resource planning (ERP) software, there will be times when a company needs to go beyond Divvy for its expense management, payments, or AP processing.
Today, we’re going to look at some basics about Divvy, how it can sometimes fall short, and three Divvy alternatives to consider, including Stampli.
What Divvy is and Why It’s Sometimes Not an Ideal Fit
Utah-based Divvy began as a back-of-a-napkin idea by co-founder Blake Murray in February 2016, as TechCrunch noted a few years later, with the company growing rapidly from there.
Divvy touts itself as expense management and business budgeting software, with its products including virtual cards. Divvy’s website also explains that the company offers AP automation, with a click on this service redirecting to parent company, Bill.com, which purchased Divvy in the spring of 2021.
Divvy has been well-received, averaging 4.6 stars out of five through 230 reviews as of this writing on G2.com, though the service isn’t perfect, as we’ll get to in a second.
Who Divvy Best Helps and Its Pricing
As a free solution that allows unlimited users, Divvy can help startup businesses and stay with them as they grow – depending on their ERP setup or payments needs.
On the positive side, although Divvy has had a major focus on travel and expenses, it has evolved beyond being a rudimentary tool for expense reporting. “As we listened to our customers, we heard them ask for a comprehensive payments platform so that they don’t have to use multiple software systems to manage their finances,” Murray said in a press release when Bill.com acquired his company.
Divvy has touted the benefits of payment cards, which is forward-thinking and consistent with research Stampli has participated in. A 2021 survey report by Stampli and Treasury Webinars, “How & Why Companies Choose Payment Types” found that 70% of businesses preferred to pay their suppliers through different means than checks.
In addition, Divvy also offers points-based rewards and can help companies with reconciliations, managing subscriptions, and preparing to file their taxes.
The idea with Divvy and similar services appears to be to help its clients and their personnel spend more efficiently and conveniently, while lessening the potential for fraudulent purchases or erroneous expense reporting. This is all good and can help companies large and small.
Still, there are some key limits to what Divvy can do and who it can help.
Companies That Might Be Better Suited to Look Elsewhere
To give Divvy some credit, it appears to have addressed some past problems associated with its payment card. Previously, Divvy worked with vendors who accepted MasterCard, but not Visa, and Divvy used to charge foreign transaction fees. Still, some elements of Divvy’s services might spur companies to look elsewhere.
First, Divvy is less user-friendly when it comes to payments than it could be. While it does now have payment cards that work with Visa and MasterCard, companies have to use Divvy’s Visa card with vendors who accept Visa, and Divvy’s MasterCard card with vendors who accept MasterCard. This can be confusing for companies who might prefer a one-stop payment experience. Divvy has also required companies to spend at least $5,000 a month to use its software, which could shut out some smaller operations.
There have also been complaints about how well Divvy works for Android users.
Beyond this, Divvy is limited in its integrations, with its website noting that it integrates with: QuickBooks Desktop and Online; Oracle NetSuite; Sage Intacct; and Xero. While this might sound plentiful, it leaves out some of the top solution providers in the ERP field, such as Microsoft Dynamics, SAP, and Oracle’s non-NetSuite platform.
Fact is, as businesses grow and transition ERP systems, or if they start off with platforms that Divvy doesn’t work with, they might encounter some difficulties and want to explore other options.
Three Divvy Alternatives to Consider
Many companies that use Divvy might be perfectly happy with the service and find that it meets their needs. But there can be times when Divvy is not the right solution. When this happens, here are three Divvy competitors to look at:
1. Stampli
As we noted, Divvy is a bit limited when it comes to ERP integrations. An ERP system can be a multi-million dollar investment for a business, requiring months of legwork for effective implementation and serving as a kind of central nervous system for business operations once it’s in place. Accordingly, the last thing a business wants is to have ancillary services that don’t work with its ERP.
Where Divvy falls short is one of Stampli’s strongest areas. Stampli might be the most flexible solution provider in the AP automation space. It can work with most, if not all, of the major ERP systems, including: Oracle and Oracle NetSuite; Microsoft Dynamics GP and 365 Finance; Sage Intacct and 100; and SAP. It also works with a wide selection of other systems.
Stampli’s user-friendly AP automation platform includes customizable workflows, notifications, and payment options. The latter, incidentally, is a significant focus in accounting these days, with 68% of respondents in a 2021 survey report by Stampli and Treasury Webinars, “The How, the Why & the ROI of AP Automation,” saying their companies were leveraging their AP solutions for payments.
Stampli also has launched the Stampli Card, which offers 1% cashback on qualifying purchases and connects directly with our automation platform.
Types of customers best-suited: Mid-size and enterprise-level companies that can benefit from an all-in-one AP automation and virtual payment card solution.
2. Ramp
Ramp is another corporate card and expense management platform that provides 1.5% cashback on all purchases (though good accounting software might help companies save a fair bit more than this.) It also offers discounts on things like Amazon Web Services and Slack.
On the downside, Ramp is limited to registered corporations, LLCs, LPs, and nonprofits based and primarily operating in the United States, which can shut out sole proprietors and freelancers. Ramp also requires companies to keep at least $75,000 in the bank, according to its qualifiers list, which can tie up money that many businesses might need for other things.
In addition, some G2 reviewers have noted that Ramp’s support could be better, with one reviewer noting that getting the service setup for their company was more of a manual undertaking than they expected and that they “felt very unsupported during implementation.”
Types of customers best-suited: Companies that would like to earn cashback rewards and don’t mind keeping $75,000 in the bank
3. Brex
Not every startup or small business can qualify for a corporate credit card right off the bat. One option they can consider is Brex, which offers online signups with instant approval for those who qualify.
Like Ramp, Brex requires that companies maintain a minimum balance, in this case $25,000. In return, companies get payment cards that help them build credit, with Brex reporting to the Experian and Dun & Bradstreet credit reporting agencies. Similar to the other companies here, Brex provides purchase incentives. Brex also touts that it doesn’t charge fees for ACH, check, or wire transfer payments.
Brex does have some drawbacks, however, such as not providing individualized payments cards for businesses.
Types of customers best-suited: Startups hoping to build credit
Why to Opt for Stampli Over Divvy
For companies that want more than just expense management software and a corporate card, there are plenty of options beyond Divvy. Aside from the ones we’ve mentioned and others such as SAP Concur, Expensify, or Zoho, here’s what can make Stampli the best alternative to Divvy.
An End-to-End AP Automation Platform with Competitive Pricing
When companies opt for Stampli’s SaaS-based AP automation solution, they get a platform where they can process invoices end to end.
Businesses will have the best possible spend management insights because everything can happen inside of Stampli, from the moment an invoice reaches their email inbox to when they’re performing reconciliations.
The cloud-based platform, which incorporates artificial intelligence and machine learning, is constantly being refined and improved, giving companies so much more than just a place to keep an eye on how their employees are spending money. Stampli’s AP automation platform is like having an extra analyst in the workspace that can offer insights to finance teams in real-time. It will enable better forecasting, too.
It goes without saying that Stampli’s AP automation solution helps companies process and pay invoices significantly faster, more cost-effectively, and with fewer errors than traditional methods. Stampli isn’t free, but its pricing is competitive. And with the time and expense that Stampli can help save its partners, the solution can be more cost-effective than free products.
Greater Payments Convenience
Aside from an enhanced invoice processing experience, companies that use Stampli can also enjoy greater payment convenience.
Stampli Direct Pay allows businesses to print checks and schedule ACH payments from directly inside of Stampli. Meanwhile, the Stampli Card gives companies virtual cards that can be printed in individualized numeric form for as many employees and transactions as necessary.
The payment functionality provides superior spend management, because Stampli offers a variety of payment options so that companies have to leave its system much less frequently to get suppliers paid.
A System You (and Your ERP Platform) Will Never Outgrow
When a company invests in a spend management, payments, or AP automation solution, it is getting something that will hopefully last it for the long haul.
With Stampli, we understand that to keep doing business with our customers, we need to be able to adapt as our customers do. We pride ourselves on our versatility to work with different ERP platforms. It’s our commitment to the long haul.
See if Stampli is the right AP and spend management solution for you.
