Expense Management
Payhawk
UK / wider Europe Report an error0–5 in half steps. 5 means the rubric's top anchor is met on the evidence.
by Payhawk Limited · payhawk.com
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Payhawk at a glance
- Vendor
- Payhawk Limited
- Headquarters
- Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 28 Oct 2026
- Data hosting
- Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 28 Oct 2026
- Free plan
- Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 28 Oct 2026
- Panel verdict
- The AI panel rates Payhawk 3/5, the mean of 6 judges. The judges scored Payhawk, a UK-registered expense-management platform, highest on cards and spend control and on accounting export, both clustering at 7 to 8: virtual Visas are issued instantly and physical cards within five days, cards lock when receipts go missing, and a live DATEV sync exports receipts to Belege Online, imports tax codes and KOST1/KOST2 cost categories and leaves locked periods untouched, with two-way sync to SAP S/4HANA, NetSuite and Microsoft Dynamics. how scores are made
- As of
- Vendor pages captured 28 Oct 2026; evaluated by the panel 29 Oct 2026. all sources
Read this page as one judge. Each weighs the same scores by what they care about.
The panel's verdict
The judges scored Payhawk, a UK-registered expense-management platform, highest on cards and spend control and on accounting export, both clustering at 7 to 8: virtual Visas are issued instantly and physical cards within five days, cards lock when receipts go missing, and a live DATEV sync exports receipts to Belege Online, imports tax codes and KOST1/KOST2 cost categories and leaves locked periods untouched, with two-way sync to SAP S/4HANA, NetSuite and Microsoft Dynamics. The weakest criterion is reimbursement and VAT at 4 to 6, and the judges split there: the travelling employee scored 6, crediting funds loaded onto employee cards and tax codes carried into accounting, while the tax adviser and the skeptic scored 4, noting per diems are calculated at company rates and finding no public information on the VAT amount per receipt or the payout rail to employees. Receipt capture and pricing transparency sit at 5 to 6; the Growth plan is public at £149 per month for 24 months with ten cards and ten seats included, though the captured pages give different figures for fee-free countries.
Speaks for it
- Virtual cards are issued instantly and physical cards within five days
- Cards lock automatically when receipts are missing or submissions are late, and expire when projects end
- The EEA issuer is named — Payhawk Financial Services UAB under Bank of Lithuania licence No. 95 — with UK FCA authorisation stated separately
- A live DATEV sync exports receipts and invoices to DATEV Belege Online, importing tax codes and KOST1/KOST2 cost categories and leaving locked periods untouched
- A documented REST API with real-time webhooks and a sandbox sits beside two-way ERP sync with SAP S/4HANA, NetSuite, Microsoft Dynamics and Sage Intacct
Held against it
- Per diems and mileage are calculated at company rates, with no public information on statutory per-country rates, meal deductions or the VAT amount captured per receipt
- We found no public prices for seats or cards beyond the included ten, for other tiers, or for the excluded add-ons such as multi-entity management and budget control
- The software contract outside the US runs with UK-registered Payhawk Limited under English law, on US-headquartered AWS and Google Cloud infrastructure, with server regions not named on the security page
- We found no public information on deputies, escalation or an exportable audit trail of who approved or changed what
- We found no public information on a GoBD-compliant archive or a procedure documentation, and the documented API cannot create or review expenses
Best for
- You run DATEV Unternehmen Online or a named ERP such as SAP S/4HANA, NetSuite or Microsoft Dynamics and want supplier data, tax codes and KOST1/KOST2 cost categories imported automatically
- You want pre-spend control, with approvals that trigger payment, budgets behind every request and cards that lock when receipts are missing
- You need cards at speed — virtual instantly, physical in five days — issued by a named EEA e-money institution
- Your scope fits the published Growth plan: ten cards, ten seats, and up to fifteen invoices and fifteen reimbursements per month
Avoid if
- You need statutory per-country per diems and meal deductions maintained by the vendor — the captured pages document calculation at company rates
- You expect an exclusively European legal and infrastructure chain — outside the US the contract sits with UK-registered Payhawk Limited under English law and the infrastructure runs on US-headquartered AWS and Google Cloud
- You are a UK micro-enterprise or small charity — the terms state the product is not available to you
- You cannot commit to the subscription period — early termination requires paying the remaining subscription duration
The scores
| Criterion | Panel median |
|---|---|
| Receipt capture & expense claims | 3 of 5 |
| Company cards & spend control | 3.5 of 5 |
| Approval workflows & expense policy | 3.5 of 5 |
| Reimbursement, travel allowances & VAT | 2.5 of 5 |
| Accounting handoff & DATEV | 4 of 5 |
| European sovereignty | 3 of 5 |
| Pricing transparency | 2.5 of 5 |
Receipt capture & expense claims
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How this is scored
How an expense gets into the system: a mobile app that photographs receipts, text recognition (OCR) that reads amount, date, merchant and VAT, receipts forwarded by email or pulled from suppliers, claims for out-of-pocket spending in any currency, mileage and trip entries, a substitute receipt (Eigenbeleg) when the original is lost, and duplicate detection.
0 — Not an expense capture tool; receipts and claims cannot be recorded in the product.
3 — Receipts uploaded as photos or files and attached to an expense by hand; text recognition, email capture or claims in other currencies are basic or not described.
5 — A mobile app that captures receipts with text recognition reading amount, date and merchant, receipts forwarded by email, expense claims for out-of-pocket spending submitted from the app, and foreign currencies converted.
8 — Extraction of VAT rates and amounts and line items, receipts collected automatically from email inboxes or named suppliers, duplicate and fraud checks on submission, a substitute receipt for lost originals, mileage with route calculation, and replacement scanning (ersetzendes Scannen) stated as GoBD-compliant so paper originals may be discarded.
10 — Capture without employee effort: e-receipts delivered directly by travel and merchant partners, extraction accuracy or review process published, a certified scanning procedure (for example an audit report to IDW PS 880 or a TÜV certificate) named, and every receipt traceable from capture to booking.
The Travelling Employee
The intelligent OCR reads receipts, sorts my spending and builds the expense report by itself, the AI controller collects documents and matches them, and I can submit a screenshot, voice note or short text in any language — after a trip everything is bundled automatically with no missing receipts. I found no public information on VAT amounts read off the receipt, receipts forwarded by email, duplicate or fraud checks, or a substitute receipt for lost originals, so I cannot credit the higher level. 1 2 3 16
The Office Manager
The intelligent OCR reads receipts out, sorts the spending and builds the expense reports automatically, and a Financial Controller Agent collects receipts from staff and matches documents — the chasing I do every month is exactly what this targets, with AI also accepting screenshots and voice notes. What I found no public information on is capture from email inboxes, VAT fields and line items per receipt, duplicate and fraud checks, a substitute receipt for lost originals, or any certified scanning procedure, so this sits just above the solid middle. 1 2 3 16
The Controller
Intelligent OCR reads receipts, sorts expenses and creates expense reports automatically, capture happens in real time at every card payment, the AI layer accepts screenshots, voice notes and text in any language, and post-trip receipts, invoices and expenses merge into one travel report. We found no public information on duplicate detection, a substitute receipt for lost originals, VAT amounts read per receipt, or capture by email, so I cannot place capture higher. 3 5 2 16
The Finance Lead
Intelligent OCR reads receipts, sorts the expenses and produces the expense report automatically, staff can hand in a screenshot, a voice note or plain text in any language, and the Financial Controller Agent collects receipts, matches documents and bundles every receipt after a trip. We found no public information on VAT extraction per line, duplicate or fraud checks on submission, a substitute receipt for lost originals, or GoBD-compliant replacement scanning. 1 2 3 16
The Tax Adviser
The intelligent OCR reads receipts and builds the expense reports automatically, capture happens in real time at every card payment, the Financial Controller Agent collects documents and matches them, and the AI accepts screenshots, voice notes or plain text in any language — 99.7% of expenses are auto-matched and post-trip receipts are bundled so none go missing. What I cannot verify for a German audit file: we found no public information on VAT rates and amounts extracted per receipt, a substitute receipt (Eigenbeleg) for lost originals, duplicate and fraud checks on submission, or a scanning procedure declared GoBD-compliant. 1 2 3 5 16
The Skeptic
The capture story is told on the marketing pages — an intelligent OCR reads receipts, sorts expenses and builds the expense reports automatically, the AI accepts screenshots, voice notes and text, and a Financial Controller Agent collects the receipts and matches documents itself, with travel reports merged per trip. But the captured pages never say which fields the OCR actually reads — amount, date, merchant, VAT rate — and we found no public information on email capture, duplicate checks, or a substitute receipt for lost originals. 1 2 3 16
Company cards & spend control
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How this is scored
How spending is controlled before it happens: physical and virtual company cards with limits, single-use and subscription cards, limits by amount, merchant category and time, budgets per team or project, real-time notifications and receipt reminders — or, for a product that issues no cards of its own, live feeds from the company's existing cards with automatic receipt matching. The issuing institution and its licence count where cards are issued.
0 — Neither issues cards nor reads card transactions; only out-of-pocket claims exist.
3 — Card transactions imported from a statement file or a single feed and matched by hand, or a card offer with fixed limits; budgets, reminders and controls are basic or not described.
5 — Either own physical and virtual cards with per-card limits, freezing and real-time notifications, or live feeds from named corporate card schemes or banks with automatic matching of receipts to transactions; spending visible as it happens and employees reminded to submit receipts.
8 — Cards for every employee with limits by amount, merchant category and period, single-use and subscription cards, budgets per team or project that cards draw from, pre-approval of a purchase before the card is charged, feeds from existing bank cards beside the own cards, and the issuing institution and licence named.
10 — Spend control across the company: multi-entity and multi-currency card accounts, budgets and policies enforced at the moment of payment, card spend reconciled to the statement automatically, safeguarding of funds and credit terms stated, and cards and transaction history portable to another provider.
The Travelling Employee
Virtual cards are ready instantly and physical ones in five days, they freeze on loss, lock automatically when receipts are missing or submitted late, and approvals trigger payment on the card with pre-spend control — and the EEA issuer is named, Payhawk Financial Services UAB, supervised by the Bank of Lithuania under licence No. 95. Budgets, real-time card visibility and group-wide control are documented, but I found no public information on single-use or subscription cards, limits by merchant category and period, or feeds from a company's existing bank cards, which keeps it just below the top band. 1 2 3 5 8
The Office Manager
Virtual cards are ready instantly and physical ones in five days, cards freeze automatically when receipts are missing or projects end, debit and credit cards switch without a personal credit check, and pre-spend control plus budgets per project and real-time rules are described. The EEA issuer and licence are named — Payhawk Financial Services UAB, electronic money institution licence number 95 from the Bank of Lithuania — which matters to me. I found no public information on single-use or subscription card types or on feeds from our existing bank cards, so I stop short of the top. 1 3 5 8
The Controller
Instant virtual and physical Visa cards, freezing, automatic locking when receipts are late or projects end, fleet cards restricted to approved fuel stations, over a million real-time rules, and control of spend before it happens, with every request mapped to a budget and cards, invoices and payments visible group-wide across entities. Issuing entities and licences are named for the EEA (Bank of Lithuania e-money licence no. 95) and the UK (FCA). We found no public information on single-use or subscription cards or feeds from our existing bank cards. 1 3 5 7 8 16
The Finance Lead
Virtual Visas are ready instantly and physical cards in five days, with instant freeze, automatic locking when receipts are missing or submissions late, and cards that expire with their project; more than 1.5 million rules work in real time and spend is controlled before it happens. Debit and credit cards come in several currencies, budgets sit behind every request, and the issuers and licences are named in full — in the EEA Payhawk Financial Services UAB under Bank of Lithuania licence No. 95. We found no public information on single-use or subscription cards or on live feeds from our existing bank cards. 1 3 5 8
The Tax Adviser
Physical and virtual Visa cards — virtual instantly, physical within five days — with freezing, automatic expiry when a project ends, automatic locking when receipts are missing or submitted late, fleet cards restricted to approved stations, approvals that trigger the payment, and every request mapped to a budget with real-time group-wide visibility. The issuing institutions and licences are named in full: an electronic money institution licence from the Bank of Lithuania for the EEA, FCA authorisation in the UK, Cross River Bank in the US, with settlement by J.P. Morgan. We found no public information on single-use or subscription cards or on live feeds from the company's existing bank cards. 1 3 5 7 8
The Skeptic
Own Visa debit and credit cards, virtual instantly and physical in five days, with per-card controls and individual spend policies, instant freezing, automatic locking when receipts are missing or submissions are late, expiry with projects, budgets with real-time utilisation, pre-spend control and approvals that trigger the payment — and the issuing institution is named with its licence: Payhawk Financial Services UAB, supervised by the Bank of Lithuania under licence No. 95 for the EEA. We found no public information on single-use or subscription cards, limits by merchant category, or feeds from the company's existing bank cards. 1 2 3 5 8 20
Approval workflows & expense policy
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How this is scored
How the company's rules are applied: approval chains by amount, team, cost centre or project, delegation and deputies, an expense policy with limits per category and per country that the product checks, pre-approval of trips and purchases, roles and permissions, multi-entity set-ups, and an audit trail of who approved and changed what.
0 — No approval step; every expense goes straight to export or payment.
3 — A single approver per employee or one sign-off step; policy rules, deputies and audit history are basic or not described.
5 — Multi-step approval flows configurable by amount, team or cost centre, an expense policy with limits per category that flags violations, approval from the mobile app, and a history of who approved what.
8 — Rule-based routing by amount, project, cost centre and entity with deputies and escalation, policy checks before submission (limits per country, per diem rules, duplicates), pre-approval of trips or purchases, granular roles and permissions, several legal entities in one account, and an exportable audit trail.
10 — Controls that stand up to an audit: anomaly and fraud detection with its rules explained, separation of duties enforced, country-specific policies maintained centrally, every change to a claim versioned and attributed, and control reports offered to auditors.
The Travelling Employee
Approval processes are configurable by amount, vendor, project and person, route themselves to Manager, IT, HR, Legal or Finance, and expense and travel rules act as guardrails that spot problems and forward requests automatically; trips and purchases are pre-approved, external approval steps for teams on Jira exist, and several legal entities sit in one account with full traceability per transaction. I found no public information on deputies and escalation, per-country policy limits, or an exportable audit trail, which is what the audit-grade level would require. 1 3 16
The Office Manager
Approval flows are configurable by amount, vendor, project and person, requests route automatically to Manager, IT, HR, Legal or Finance, expense rules and travel policies act as guardrails that flag problems early, and travel pre-approval exists alongside a least-privilege access model. I found no public information on deputies or escalation, on policy limits maintained per country, or on an exportable audit trail of who approved and changed what, which keeps this below the audit-grade level. 1 3 10 16
The Controller
Approval flows are configurable by amount, vendor, project and person with automatic routing to Manager, IT, HR, Legal or Finance; expense and travel policies act as guardrails that flag problems early; travel pre-approval is built in and approvals trigger payment; and settings exist at group level with per-entity customisation. We found no public information on routing by cost centre, deputies and escalation, duplicate checks at submission, or an exportable audit trail, which is what I would need for four legal entities. 1 2 3 5 16
The Finance Lead
Approval flows are configurable by amount, vendor, project or person and route automatically to Manager, IT, HR, Legal or Finance, with requests in natural language turned into a compliant workflow including approval routing; trips are approved before booking, purchases run through two- and three-way matching, and external approval steps exist for Jira teams. We found no public information on deputies and escalation, approval from the mobile app, granular roles and permissions, or an exportable audit trail of who approved what. 1 3 5 16
The Tax Adviser
Approval processes are configurable by amount, vendor, project or person, route proactively to manager, IT, HR, legal or finance, allow external steps for teams on systems like Jira, and the expense and travel policies act as guardrails that flag problems early; travel requests are pre-approved before the agent books, access follows a least-privilege model with quarterly revalidation, and there is full traceability for every transaction in multi-entity set-ups. We found no public information on deputies and escalation rules, country-specific policy limits, or an exportable audit trail of who changed what on a claim. 1 3 5 10 16
The Skeptic
Approval flows are configurable by amount, vendor, project and person, requests in natural language become compliant workflows with automatic routing to Manager, IT, HR, Legal or Finance, expense and travel policies act as guardrails that flag problems early, external approval steps for systems like Jira are offered, and group-level settings cover several entities. We found no public information on deputies and escalation, granular customer roles and permissions, or an exportable audit trail of who approved and changed what — only a general traceability claim. 1 3 5 16
Reimbursement, travel allowances & VAT
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How this is scored
How the employee gets money back and the company gets the tax right: reimbursement of approved claims by bank transfer or a SEPA payment file, mileage allowances and per diems at statutory rates per country (Verpflegungspauschalen, Kilometerpauschale, meal deductions), taxable and tax-free reimbursements separated for payroll, the input VAT captured per receipt for the deduction, and foreign VAT reclaimed.
0 — No reimbursement of employees; the product covers company cards only and out-of-pocket spending is out of its scope.
3 — Out-of-pocket claims recorded and paid back outside the product by hand; travel allowances and VAT handling are basic or not described.
5 — Approved claims reimbursed through the product or a SEPA payment file, mileage and per diems at configurable rates, and the VAT rate and amount captured per receipt for the input-tax deduction.
8 — Statutory per diems and mileage rates per country maintained by the vendor (German travel expense law named), meal deductions and multi-day trips calculated, reimbursement in several currencies within a stated time, VAT split per rate and receipts checked for the invoice requirements of the deduction, and foreign VAT reclaim offered or integrated with a named partner.
10 — Travel expense law and VAT handled end to end: country rules kept current with a stated process, taxable reimbursements passed to payroll, foreign VAT reclaim filed with the recovered amounts reported, and every reimbursement traceable to the claim and the rule that produced it.
The Travelling Employee
Per diems and mileage are calculated automatically at company rates, up to 15 reimbursements a month are processed within the plan, funds can be loaded directly onto employee cards, and a VAT reclaim integration is listed alongside tax codes carried into preparatory accounting. The rates documented are company rates rather than statutory per-country rates, and I found no public information on meal deductions, multi-day trip calculations, payout times, or the separation of taxable and tax-free amounts for payroll. 2 4 5 16
The Office Manager
Per diems and mileage are calculated automatically but explicitly at company rates, and I found no public information on statutory rates per country, meal deductions, or the German travel expense law being named. Reimbursements run through the product — the Growth plan counts fifteen a month — and foreign VAT reclaim appears as an integration category with a named partner; I found no public information on how the money reaches the employee's bank account or on VAT rate and amount captured per receipt for the deduction. 2 4 5 20
The Controller
Per diems and mileage are calculated automatically at company rates, employee reimbursements are part of the platform with monthly limits per tier, and a VAT-reclaim integration is listed with a named partner. We found no public information on statutory per-country per diem or meal-deduction rules maintained by the vendor, or on the VAT rate and amount captured per receipt for the input-tax deduction. 2 4 5 20
The Finance Lead
Per diems and mileage are calculated automatically but expressly at company rates rather than statutory rates per country, reimbursements are a priced module with up to 15 per month on the Growth plan, and a named VAT-reclaim partner (60 dias) appears in the integration catalogue. We found no public information on reimbursement through a SEPA payment file, German travel-expense rules maintained by the vendor, or the taxable and tax-free split handed to payroll. 2 4 5 20
The Tax Adviser
Per diems and mileage are calculated automatically, but expressly "nach Ihren Unternehmenssätzen" — at the company's own rates — so we found no public information on the statutory German Verpflegungspauschalen and Kilometerpauschale, meal deductions or multi-day calculation; reimbursements are processed within the product (the published tariff meters fifteen per month). We found no public information on the input VAT being read per receipt for the deduction, on the payout rail (bank transfer or SEPA payment file), or on taxable amounts passed to payroll — the one tax-side bright spot is a named VAT-reclaim integration (60 dias) in the integration catalogue. 2 4 5 20
The Skeptic
Per diems and mileage are calculated automatically at company rates, and employee reimbursements are plainly part of the product — metered at fifteen per month in the Growth offer. We found no public information on statutory per-country rates or meal deductions, on how the money actually reaches the employee, or on the VAT rate and amount captured per receipt for the input-tax deduction; foreign VAT reclaim appears only as an integrations category with a named partner, 60 dias. 2 4 5
Accounting handoff & DATEV
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How this is scored
What reaches the books: export or sync to DATEV (DATEV format, DATEV Unternehmen online, Belegbilderservice) and to named accounting and ERP systems, booking proposals with account, tax key and cost centre, receipts that travel with the booking, card statements reconciled, a GoBD-compliant archive, an API and webhooks, and a complete export of claims, receipts and booking data.
0 — No export of any kind; expenses have to be retyped into the books.
3 — A CSV or PDF export of expense reports; booking data, named integrations and the archive are basic or not described.
5 — Export or sync to at least one named accounting system (DATEV or another) with account and tax code per entry and the receipt attached, several accounting or ERP integrations listed, and a documented API.
8 — A DATEV interface with receipt images (DATEV Unternehmen online or the DATEV Marketplace named), booking proposals that learn account, tax key and cost centre, two-way sync with named ERPs (SAP, Microsoft Dynamics, NetSuite or similar), card statements reconciled for the month-end, a GoBD-compliant archive stated, and webhooks.
10 — The month-end close runs through the product: multi-entity bookings and accruals, a procedure documentation (Verfahrensdokumentation) or GoBD audit offered, a complete audit trail of every financial event, and a full export of claims, receipts and bookings that a successor system can import.
The Travelling Employee
There is a live sync with DATEV Unternehmen Online with receipts and invoices landing in DATEV Belege Online, supplier data, tax codes and KOST1/KOST2 cost categories imported, nothing written into locked DATEV periods, plus native two-way ERP sync named for SAP S/4HANA, NetSuite, Microsoft Dynamics and Sage Intacct, and a documented REST API with webhooks and 99.9% uptime. I found no public information on a GoBD-compliant archive or a procedure documentation, which is the piece the month-end-close level would still need. 1 4 19 20
The Office Manager
This is the export my tax adviser would accept: live sync with DATEV Unternehmen Online, receipts and invoices in DATEV Belege Online, supplier data, tax codes and KOST1/KOST2 cost categories imported, payments exported as they happen, and DATEV locked periods left untouched. Two-way sync with named ERPs including SAP S/4HANA, NetSuite and Microsoft Dynamics, plus a REST API with real-time webhooks and a sandbox, are documented — though the API cannot create or review expenses. I found no public information on a GoBD-compliant archive or a procedure documentation, so I hold back one notch. 1 4 19 20
The Controller
The DATEV handoff is specific: live sync with DATEV Unternehmen Online, receipts and invoices in Belege Online, supplier data, tax codes and KOST1/KOST2 cost categories imported, locked periods respected, plus a documented REST API with webhooks and native two-way sync to SAP S/4HANA, NetSuite, Microsoft Dynamics and others, with 99.7 % automated reconciliation claimed. We found no public information on a GoBD-compliant archive or booking proposals that learn. 20 1 3 4 5 19
The Finance Lead
This is what decides it for me: live sync with DATEV Unternehmen Online, receipts and invoices exported to DATEV Belege Online so the Beleg travels with the booking, supplier data, tax codes and KOST1/KOST2 cost categories imported to automate preparatory accounting, and locked DATEV periods respected. Payments export in real time and expenses once reviewed, native two-way ERP sync names SAP S/4HANA, NetSuite and Microsoft Dynamics, and a REST API with webhooks and a sandbox is documented. We found no public information on a GoBD-compliant archive or a Verfahrensdokumentation. 1 4 19 20
The Tax Adviser
This is the strongest part for my practice: a live sync with DATEV Unternehmen Online that delivers receipts and invoices to DATEV Belege Online, imports tax codes and KOST1/KOST2 cost categories, offers a setup wizard with chart-of-accounts upload, respects locked periods in DATEV, and exports payments as they happen and expenses once reviewed. Beside it sit a native bidirectional sync with named ERPs (SAP S/4HANA, NetSuite, Microsoft Dynamics Business Central and Finance, Sage Intacct), automated month-end close, and a documented REST API with webhooks, a sandbox and 99.9% uptime. We found no public information on a GoBD-compliant archive or a Verfahrensdokumentation, and the API documentation states that creating expenses is left to the user rather than the system or an accountant. 1 4 16 19 20
The Skeptic
The DATEV leg is genuinely documented: live sync with DATEV Unternehmen Online, receipts and invoices delivered to DATEV Belege Online, supplier data, tax codes and KOST1/KOST2 cost categories imported, locked periods left untouched — beside named two-way ERP syncs (SAP S/4HANA, NetSuite, Microsoft Dynamics, Sage Intacct), a documented REST API with real-time webhooks, a sandbox, and 99.7 % of expenses auto-matched. We found no public information on a GoBD-compliant archive or a Verfahrensdokumentation, and the API cannot create or review expenses. 1 4 5 19 20
European sovereignty
panel opinion
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How this is scored
Who the contracting entity and the parent company are, where receipt, card and employee data are hosted, and who the subprocessors are (hosting, card issuer and processor, text recognition, open banking, email delivery). Independently sourced by the sovereignty pipeline; expense data is personal and financial at once and shows where employees travel, so the whole chain counts, not only the database.
0 — Non-EU vendor and contracting entity, hosting unstated, subprocessors unnamed, and no data processing agreement offered.
3 — A privacy policy and a data processing agreement exist, but hosting location is unstated or non-EU and the subprocessors are not listed.
5 — EU hosting available and an EU contracting entity or EU representative, but parts of the chain (text recognition, card processing, email, analytics, support) run through non-EU providers without a stated safeguard.
8 — EU hosting on named infrastructure, EU contracting entity and card issuer, subprocessors listed with their locations, a data processing agreement published, and security certifications (ISO 27001, SOC 2) stated.
10 — Sovereign end to end and evidenced: European ownership, entity, issuer, hosting and every subprocessor, data export and deletion documented, and certifications published with their scope rather than implied.
The Travelling Employee
The data processing agreement places the platform in Belgium and Germany and lists subprocessors with locations and 30 days' notice of changes, ISO 27001:2022, SOC 2 Type 2 and PCI-DSS are stated, and EEA cards come from a Lithuanian e-money institution. But the software contracting party is UK-registered Payhawk Limited under the law of England and Wales, ownership is undocumented, and AWS and Google Cloud plus providers such as Google reCAPTCHA sit in the chain, so the chain is only partly European. 7 8 9 10
The Office Manager
The EEA card issuer is a named Lithuanian e-money institution under Bank of Lithuania supervision, the data processing agreement is published with a subprocessor list placing the platform in Belgium and Germany, and ISO 27001, SOC 2 and PCI-DSS are stated. But the software contracting entity worldwide outside the US is UK-registered Payhawk Limited, hosting regions are not named on the security page beyond AWS and Google Cloud, and parts of the chain — Google reCAPTCHA, the US-headquartered cloud providers, the optional US-incorporated Merge API — sit outside the EU, with the US email providers covered by Data Privacy Framework or standard contractual clause safeguards. 6 7 8 9 10
The Controller
The software contract is with UK-registered Payhawk Limited under English law, while EEA cards come from a Lithuanian e-money institution licensed by the Bank of Lithuania; the data processing agreement is published, its subprocessor list places the platform in Belgium and Germany, and ISO 27001:2022 and SOC 2 certifications are stated. Infrastructure runs on AWS and Google Cloud, both US-headquartered, and we found no public information on server regions on the security page or on ownership, so I cannot place it higher. 6 7 8 9 10
The Finance Lead
The software contract outside the US runs with Payhawk Limited in London under English law, while EEA cards are issued by Payhawk Financial Services UAB, an e-money institution supervised by the Bank of Lithuania. The data processing agreement is published and lists subprocessors with their locations — the platform in Belgium and Germany — with deletion after 90 days and ISO 27001:2022, SOC 2 and PCI-DSS stated, but the infrastructure sits with AWS and Google Cloud under US parent companies and notification providers include US services. We found no public information on ownership or on server regions named on the vendor's own security pages. 7 8 9 10
The Tax Adviser
The software contract worldwide outside the US runs with UK-registered Payhawk Limited under the exclusive jurisdiction of England and Wales, while EEA cards are issued by the Lithuanian Payhawk Financial Services UAB under Bank of Lithuania licence no. 95; the published data processing agreement lists subprocessors with their locations — the Payhawk platform in Belgium and Germany, Duffel in the UK, the optional US-incorporated Merge API — and ISO 27001:2022, SOC 2 and PCI-DSS are stated. The captured security page does not name server regions (AWS and Google Cloud are the named providers, so US Cloud Act exposure remains regardless of region), we found no public information on ownership, and US providers such as Google reCAPTCHA and email services sit in the chain with Chapter V GDPR safeguards cited. 7 8 9 10
The Skeptic
The published DPA is unusually concrete: subprocessors listed with locations, the Payhawk Platform provider running in Belgium and Germany with the language models hosted on Google Cloud, deletion 90 days after termination, breach notice within 48 hours, ISO 27001:2022 and SOC 2 named, and EEA cards issued by a Lithuanian e-money institution under licence No. 95. But the software contract for every customer outside the US sits with UK-registered Payhawk Limited under the law and exclusive jurisdiction of England and Wales, the security page names no server regions, and infrastructure runs on AWS and Google Cloud, whose US headquarters bring the CLOUD Act into the chain regardless of region — with one optional HR-integration subprocessor a US-incorporated company. 6 7 8 9 10 20
Pricing transparency
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How this is scored
Whether a buyer can compute the real annual cost from public pages alone: price per user or per active user, platform or base fee, which modules (travel, reimbursements, DATEV or ERP connectors, extra entities) cost extra, card fees (physical cards, foreign transactions, currency conversion, top-ups), minimum seats and term, and setup.
0 — No public prices at all; every customer is a sales call.
3 — A starting price or a free tier exists, but how cost scales with users, cards or modules is unclear.
5 — Tiers are public with their per-user or base price and main inclusions, but at least one commonly needed piece (extra users, physical cards, foreign-currency fees, ERP connectors) is unpriced or "on request".
8 — Every tier priced publicly with its scaling rule (per user, per active user, per card), card and foreign-transaction fees listed, add-ons priced, minimum term and VAT treatment stated.
10 — Complete price computability: annual cost derivable for a given headcount, card count and module set, with every add-on, setup, support, card and currency fee and the cancellation and data-return terms published.
The Travelling Employee
The Growth plan is public at £149 per month for 24 months including 10 cards, 10 user seats, and up to 15 invoices and 15 reimbursements per month, with named exclusions such as Procure-to-Pay, multi-entity management and budget control; foreign-exchange fees are published (fee-free in a set of countries, otherwise 1.99%, and a 0.3% surcharge on invoice payments), though the captured pages give different figures for how many countries are fee-free. I found no public information on prices for the other tiers, extra users or cards beyond the ten, physical card fees, setup or VAT treatment, so the real annual cost is not computable from public pages alone. 1 3 5 8
The Office Manager
The Growth plan is public at 149 £ per month for 24 months with ten cards, ten seats, and fifteen invoices and fifteen reimbursements a month included, and currency fees are published (1.99 % where not fee-free, 0.3 % FX surcharge on invoice payments, cashback capped at the subscription amount) — though the captured pages give different figures for fee-free spending, counted once in countries and once in currencies. What I could not find is the price of a seat or card beyond the included ten, the price of the excluded add-ons such as budget control and multi-entity management, other tiers, or VAT treatment, so I cannot compute what thirty people would cost me before the trial ends. 1 3 5 8
The Controller
The Growth tier is public: 149 £ pro Monat for 24 months including 10 cards, 10 user seats and 15 invoices and 15 reimbursements per month, with foreign-currency fees listed (1.99 % outside fee-free countries; 0.3 % surcharge on invoice payments); multi-entity management, budget control and procure-to-pay are named as excluded but carry no published price, and we found no public pricing for extra users, further tiers or setup. The captured pages give different figures for the number of fee-free countries (26 versus 33). 5 3 1 8
The Finance Lead
The Growth plan is public: 149 £ per month for 24 months including 10 cards, 10 user seats and up to 15 invoices and 15 reimbursements per month, with card foreign-exchange fees stated as free in 26 countries and 1,99 % elsewhere, and cashback up to 3 % capped at the subscription amount. The captured pages give different figures for foreign exchange (fee-free in 7 currencies on the cards page, a 0,3 % surcharge on 10 currencies for invoice payments on the pricing page), and we found no public prices for procure-to-pay, multi-entity management or budget control, or for seats and cards beyond the ten included. 1 3 5 8
The Tax Adviser
The Growth tariff is published at "149 £ pro Monat" for 24 months with ten cards, ten user seats (eight employee, two admin/accounting), fifteen invoices and fifteen reimbursements per month, with Procure-to-Pay, multi-entity management, budget control and the add-on library stated as excluded; the card economics are public too — fee-free spending in 26 countries, otherwise "1,99 %", invoice payments with a "0,3 %" FX surcharge on ten major currencies, and cashback up to "3 %" capped at the subscription amount, though the captured pages give different figures for fee-free foreign-currency spending (26 countries, 7 currencies, 33 countries). We found no public information on the prices of the other plans, additional cards and seats, setup fees, or VAT treatment, so the real annual cost beyond the promotional tier is not computable from the captured pages alone. 1 3 5 8
The Skeptic
One offer is fully public: the Growth tariff at 149 £ pro Monat for 24 months, including ten cards and ten seats (eight employees, two admins) but only fifteen invoices and fifteen reimbursements per month, with the card foreign-exchange fee stated as free in 26 countries and 1,99 % everywhere else — though other captured pages give different figures for the number of fee-free countries. What a seat above ten, a reimbursement above fifteen, a physical card, or the excluded modules (procure-to-pay, multi-entity, budget control) cost is not priced on the captured pages, and cancelling early means paying out the remaining subscription period. 1 3 5 8
European sovereignty — proven facts
0 of 6 dimensions provenBuilt only from facts shown on the vendor's own pages. A dimension we could not prove is left open, not scored as zero.
| Legal entity | Not determined ⚠ unverified | — | uncited Report an error |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hosting location | Not determined ⚠ unverified | — | uncited Report an error |
| Hosting options | Not determined | — | uncited Report an error |
| Open source | Not determined | — | uncited Report an error |
| Data processing agreement | Not determined ⚠ unverified | — | uncited Report an error |
| Transfer impact assessment | Not determined | — | uncited Report an error |
Questions about Payhawk
Is Payhawk European?
Yes, though not from the EU. whats-best.ai classifies Payhawk as UK / wider Europe.
Where does Payhawk store data?
Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 28 Oct 2026.
Does Payhawk have a free plan?
Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 28 Oct 2026.
What are the best alternatives to Payhawk?
As of 3 Nov 2026, the panel rates Moss (4/5), N2F (3.5/5) and Spendesk (3.5/5) highest among the other 18 Expense Management products evaluated. Ratings that look equal are rounded to half stars; the order uses the unrounded rating, then the name. The highest-rated European alternative is Moss (EU-Made). Ratings are the AI panel’s opinion, formed from public evidence: how scores are made. The full list, with European products first: Payhawk alternatives.
Where this could be wrong
- Evidence ages. The oldest capture behind this page is from 28 Oct 2026. Vendors change pricing and policies without notice; every fact reflects its source as of the capture date shown in the registry.
- Weak sourcing — Legal entity, Hosting location, Data processing agreement. Not confirmed on the vendor’s own pages as captured.
- AI can misread a source. Extraction and judgement are automated; a citation guarantees traceability, not infallibility. If something here is wrong, say so — no account needed, every report is decided within 5 business days, and accepted corrections are published.
What we left out
A claim that does not survive our checks costs us the claim, not the page. This is what was taken off this one.
- 105 product facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material. Know more? Tell us
- 16 integrations facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material. Know more? Tell us
- 10 compliance facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material. Know more? Tell us
- 10 pricing facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material. Know more? Tell us
- 6 legal facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material. Know more? Tell us
- 1 hosting fact could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and was left out of this page and of the panel’s material. Know more? Tell us
- 3 sovereignty dimensions could not be confirmed on the vendor’s own pages and are shown as unknown. Know more? Tell us
- 6 of the readings below were written against an earlier fact sheet — a fact has been corrected, added or pulled since. Until the panel next runs on this product you are reading the older judgement. Know more? Tell us
Sources (20)
The pages every claim on this page was read from — each one checked, dated, and kept verifiable.
- 1 Vendor homepage payhawk.com Checked 28 Oct 2026 Details →
- 2 Features page (travel expenses) payhawk.com Checked 28 Oct 2026 Details →
- 3 Features page (company cards) payhawk.com Checked 28 Oct 2026 Details →
- 4 Integrations page payhawk.com Checked 28 Oct 2026 Details →
- 5 Pricing page payhawk.com Checked 28 Oct 2026 Details →
- 6 Legal notice payhawk.com Checked 28 Oct 2026 Details →
- 7 Privacy policy payhawk.com Checked 28 Oct 2026 Details →
- 8 Terms of service payhawk.com Checked 28 Oct 2026 Details →
- 9 Data processing agreement (dpa) payhawk.com Checked 28 Oct 2026 Details →
- 10 Security / trust page payhawk.com Checked 28 Oct 2026 Details →
- 11 Receipt capture & expense claims — found from sitemap payhawk.com Checked 28 Oct 2026 Details →
- 12 Receipt capture & expense claims — found from sitemap payhawk.com Checked 28 Oct 2026 Details →
- 13 Company cards & spend control — found from sitemap payhawk.com Checked 28 Oct 2026 Details →
- 14 Company cards & spend control — found from sitemap payhawk.com Checked 28 Oct 2026 Details →
- 15 Approval workflows & expense policy — found from sitemap payhawk.com Checked 28 Oct 2026 Details →
- 16 Approval workflows & expense policy — found from sitemap payhawk.com Checked 28 Oct 2026 Details →
- 17 Reimbursement, travel allowances & VAT — found from sitemap payhawk.com Checked 28 Oct 2026 Details →
- 18 Reimbursement, travel allowances & VAT — found from sitemap payhawk.com Checked 28 Oct 2026 Details →
- 19 Accounting handoff & DATEV — found from sitemap payhawk.com Checked 28 Oct 2026 Details →
- 20 Accounting handoff & DATEV — found from sitemap payhawk.com Checked 28 Oct 2026 Details →