# Payhawk — Expense Management

Payhawk by Payhawk Limited holds a panel rating of 3/5 from 6 AI judges (category median 3/5), as of 2026-10-29. Provenance: UK / wider Europe; sovereignty: not determined.

- Vendor: Payhawk Limited (https://payhawk.com/de)
- Category: [Expense Management](https://whats-best.ai/software/expense-management.md)
- Provenance (editorial classification): UK / wider Europe
- Canonical page: https://whats-best.ai/software/expense-management/payhawk
- Alternatives: https://whats-best.ai/software/expense-management/payhawk/alternatives ([markdown](https://whats-best.ai/software/expense-management/payhawk/alternatives.md))
- Data as of: 2026-11-04 · evaluated 2026-10-29 · oldest source captured 2026-10-28

**AI-generated.** Every score, rationale and verdict here is written by a panel of AI judges from public evidence — an analysis, not a hands-on test. Every fact quotes the vendor page it was read from. No score can be bought. How scores are made: https://whats-best.ai/methodology

## 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

## 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

## Scores by judge and criterion

Scores out of 5, each judge scoring independently against the published rubric (v1). "n/r" = not rated: the vendor publishes no price, or the judge found no public information on that criterion.

| Criterion | The Travelling Employee | The Office Manager | The Controller | The Finance Lead | The Tax Adviser | The Skeptic |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Receipt capture & expense claims | 3/5 | 3/5 | 2.5/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 | 2.5/5 |
| Company cards & spend control | 3.5/5 | 4/5 | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 | 4/5 | 3.5/5 |
| Approval workflows & expense policy | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 | 3/5 | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 |
| Reimbursement, travel allowances & VAT | 3/5 | 2.5/5 | 2.5/5 | 2.5/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 |
| Accounting handoff & DATEV | 4/5 | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 | 4/5 | 3.5/5 | 4/5 |
| European sovereignty | 3/5 | 2.5/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 |
| Pricing transparency | 2.5/5 | 2.5/5 | 2.5/5 | 3/5 | 2.5/5 | 2.5/5 |
| **Weighted verdict** | **3/5** | **3/5** | **3/5** | **3/5** | **3/5** | **3/5** |

### The judges

- **The Travelling Employee** (v1.0): A sales engineer on the road three days a week, with hotel bills in three currencies and a glovebox full of parking tickets. Wants to photograph a receipt and be done, mileage and per diems worked out without a spreadsheet, a company card so private money is never spent, and the money back on the account within days rather than at the end of the quarter.
- **The Office Manager** (v1.0): Runs the office of a thirty-person agency and is the one who chases missing receipts every month. Wants a card for each project lead with a limit she sets, software subscriptions on their own virtual cards, receipts that arrive without reminders, an export the tax adviser accepts, and a monthly price she can work out before the trial ends.
- **The Controller** (v1.0): Owns the travel and expense policy of a manufacturer with four legal entities and twelve hundred staff. Wants approval chains by cost centre and amount, limits checked before a claim is submitted rather than after it is paid, duplicates and private spending caught, budgets that cards draw from, and an audit trail that shows who approved and changed what.
- **The Finance Lead** (v1.0): Closes the month for a hundred-and-fifty-person Mittelstand company and books card spend from three banks. Wants card statements that reconcile by themselves, booking proposals with account, tax key and cost centre, receipts that reach DATEV with the booking, reimbursements paid in one SEPA run, and nothing that has to be retyped.
- **The Tax Adviser** (v1.0): A Steuerberaterin whose clients send their expenses from five different tools. Wants per diems and mileage at the statutory rates, the input VAT read from a receipt that actually qualifies for the deduction, substitute receipts only where the law allows them, scanned originals archived GoBD-compliant, and bookings that arrive in DATEV with the receipt image attached.
- **The Skeptic** (v1.0): Has seen "no more expense reports" turn into a card programme with a currency fee on every hotel abroad and a per-user price that counts everyone who ever logged in. Reads "DATEV integration" that means a CSV, "AI receipt scanning" with no word on where the receipts are read, card terms that leave the issuer unnamed, and subprocessor lists that stop at the hosting provider — and asks what leaving would cost.

## European sovereignty — proven facts

Built only from facts on the vendor's own pages; a dimension we could not prove is left open, never scored as zero. Headline: not determined.

| Dimension | Finding | Points | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Legal entity | Not determined | — | — |
| Hosting location | Not determined | — | — |
| Hosting options | Not determined | — | — |
| Open source | Not determined | — | — |
| Data processing agreement | Not determined | — | — |
| Transfer impact assessment | Not determined | — | — |

## Key facts

Each fact is the vendor's own statement, cited to the source page it was read from ([S*n*] → Sources).

**Compliance**
- Aml kyc data: identification documents · proof of address documents · remote biometric verification [S7]
- Breach notification: yes · 48 [S8]
- CCPA notice: California residents · yes [S7]
- Certifications: PCI-DSS · SOC 2 type 2 · SOC 1 type 1 · ISO 27001:2022 [S9]
- Data not sold: no [S7]
- Data subject request notification days: 3 [S9]
- Data transfers: EEA · UK · yes [S8]
- Ddos protection: yes [S9]
- Disaster recovery: yes [S9]
- Dp f certified: Payhawk Inc. · yes · EU-U.S. DPF · UK-U.S. DPF · Swiss-U.S. DPF [S7]
- Dp f ftc enforcement: FTC [S7]
- DPA: https://payhawk.com/dpa · processor · yes [S8]
- DPA AI training restriction: yes [S9]
- DPA audit frequency: 1 [S9]
- DPA data deletion days: 90 [S9]
- DPA last updated: 2026-06-26 [S9]
- DPA subprocessor notice days: 30 [S9]
- DPA version by signup date: yes · 2025-08-18 [S9]
- Encryption at rest: AES-256 [S9]
- Encryption at rest: AES-256 · asset or object level [S10]
- Encryption in transit: 1.2 [S9]
- Encryption in transit: TLS 1.2 or higher [S10]
- Environment segregation: yes · no [S9]
- EU emi licence: Payhawk Financial Services UAB · Gedimino pr. 20, LT-01103 Vilnius · 95 · Bank of Lithuania · 306068630 [S8]
- International transfers: yes · Chapter V GDPR/UK-GDPR [S9]
- International transfers: European Commission adequacy decisions · legal agreements ensuring adequate protection · other recognized legal mechanisms [S7]
- ISO 27001: ISO 27001 [S2]

**Data**
- Funds redemption after termination: ten Business Days · yes [S8]
- Retention: retained as long as needed for services, legal obligations, disputes, agreement enforcement; no fixed periods stated [S7]

**Hosting**
- Card issuers: Payhawk Financial Services Limited · Cross River Bank, Member FDIC · Payhawk Financial Services UAB [S6]
- Card issuers: Payhawk Financial Services Limited · Cross River Bank, Member FDIC · Payhawk Financial Services UAB [S3]
- Card issuers: Payhawk Financial Services Limited · Cross River Bank, Member FDIC · Payhawk Financial Services UAB [S5]
- Card issuers: Payhawk Financial Services Limited · Cross River Bank, Member FDIC · Payhawk Financial Services UAB [S19]
- Card issuers: Payhawk Financial Services Limited · Cross River Bank, Member FDIC · Payhawk Financial Services UAB [S20]
- Licensing: JP Morgan · UK · EEA [S1]
- Offices: Berlin · München · London · New York · Paris · Barcelona · Amsterdam · Stockholm · Warsaw · Sofia · Vilnius [S2]
- Providers: yes · yes [S10]

**Integrations**
- Accounting list: DATEV · Xero · Exact online · QuickBooks [S4]
- API explorer: yes [S19]
- Belege online: Receipts and invoices exported to DATEV Belege Online [S20]
- Categories: ERP · Buchhaltung · MwSt. Rückforderung · HR · Dienstreisen · SSO/Authentication · Zum Selbstentwickeln [S4]
- Data access: expenses · transactions · cards · employees [S19]
- Datev duo sync: live · DATEV DUO (DATEV Unternehmen Online) [S20]
- Datev master data: Supplier data, tax codes, KOST1/KOST2 cost categories imported [S20]
- Erp addon: SAP S/4HANA · NetSuite · Microsoft Dynamics Business Central · Microsoft Finance · Sage Intacct [S5]
- Erp invoices: Invoices flow directly into ERP system, ready for reimbursement [S2]
- Erp list: SAP S/4HANA · NetSuite · Pennylane · Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central · Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance · Rillet · DualEntry · Campfire · Sage Intacct [S4]
- Erp realtime: Real-time ERP integration, automated month-end close [S16]
- Expense create not available: no [S19]
- Hris enterprise: Workday · SAP SuccessFactors · UKG · ADP · Ceridian · Paychex · Paylocity [S5]
- Http methods: GET · POST · PUT · DELETE [S19]
- Json format: Unified JSON format for data representation [S19]
- Native access: Native integrations accessible via web portal settings > Integrationen [S4]
- Netsuite: yes [S19]
- Rest API: yes · yes [S19]
- Sandbox: yes [S19]
- Setup wizard: Setup wizard, chart of accounts upload, live activation [S20]
- Travel list: Egencia · TravelPerk [S4]
- Travelsystems: Egencia · TravelPerk [S2]
- Uptime: 99.9 [S19]

**Legal**
- Automatic renewal: successive Renewal Periods per Pricing Schedule · yes [S8]
- Bacs direct debit: BACS · Faster Payments · yes [S8]
- Card issuers: Payhawk Financial Services Limited · Cross River Bank, Member FDIC · Payhawk Financial Services UAB [S1]
- Card issuers: Payhawk Financial Services Limited · Cross River Bank, Member FDIC · Payhawk Financial Services UAB [S2]
- Card issuers: Payhawk Financial Services Limited · Cross River Bank, Member FDIC · Payhawk Financial Services UAB [S4]
- Card issuers: Payhawk Financial Services Limited · Cross River Bank, Member FDIC · Payhawk Financial Services UAB [S9]
- Card issuers: Payhawk Financial Services Limited · Cross River Bank, Member FDIC · Payhawk Financial Services UAB [S10]
- Card licensor: cards issued under license from Visa [S10]
- Collection costs: third party collector’s fees · legal fees · interest at maximum permitted rate · yes [S8]
- Company registration: Payhawk Limited · 11747263 · Chancery House, 53-64 Chancery Lane, London WC2A 1QS [S9]
- Customer representations: Consumer · Micro-enterprise · Small Charity · agent · corporate client (Corporate Opt-out) [S8]
- DPA available: Data Processing Addendum linked in site footer [S10]
- Entity: Payhawk Limited [S6]
- Entity: Payhawk Limited · Chancery House, 53-64 Chancery Lane, London WC2A 1QS · 11747263 [S3]
- Entity: Payhawk Limited · Chancery House, 53-64 Chancery Lane, London WC2A 1QS · 11747263 [S5]
- Entity: Chancery House, 53-64 Chancery Lane, London WC2A 1QS · 11747263 [S19]
- Entity registration: Chancery House, 53-64 Chancery Lane, London WC2A 1QS · Payhawk Limited · 11747263 [S1]
- Entity registration: Chancery House, 53-64 Chancery Lane, London WC2A 1QS · Payhawk Limited · 11747263 [S4]
- Fca licence pfsl: electronic money institution · Payhawk Financial Services Limited · FCA · 987096 [S7]
- Governing law: England and Wales · courts of England and Wales [S8]
- Liability cap: total Payhawk Software Services Fees paid in the three months preceding the claim event · intent · gross negligence · non-cappable under law [S8]
- Lithuania emi licence: electronic money institution · Payhawk Financial Services UAB · Bank of Lithuania · 95 [S7]
- Material term changes: 30 · yes [S8]
- Non solicitation: 100% of employee's first year base annual salary · 1 year [S8]
- Policy last updated: 2026-06-29 [S7]
- Product eligibility restriction: no [S9]
- Registered address: Chancery House, 53-64 Chancery Lane, London, WC2A 1QS [S6]

**Pricing**
- Ap fx surcharge: 10 · 0.3 [S5]
- Cashback: 3 · 33 [S1]
- Cashback limit: capped at customer subscription amount [S1]
- Fee change notice: yes · one month [S8]
- Fx fees: 26 · 1.99 [S3]
- Growth exclusions: Procure-to-Pay · Multi-Entity-Management · Budgetsteuerung · Add-on-Bibliothek · yes [S5]
- Growth inclusions: 10 · 10 · 2 · 8 [S5]
- Growth program price: 149 · 24 [S5]
- Growth usage limits: 15 · 15 [S5]
- Servicing virtual card: yes · charging due Fees for Payhawk Software Services · yes · yes [S8]

**Product**
- Access control: yes · yes [S10]
- Access review: yes · yes [S10]
- Accounts payable: Accounts payable: invoice processing, payment approval, global supplier payments [S1]
- AI agents: Dedicated AI agents for expense reporting, procurement, travel [S16]
- AI controller agent: Financial Controller Agent collects receipts, matches documents, coordinates approvals, codes transactions [S1]
- AI multimodal input: AI accepts screenshots, voice notes, text; works in every language [S16]
- AI travel agent: AI travel agent suggests policy-compliant flights/accommodation, gets approvals, books in seconds [S2]
- AI workflow: AI creates compliant workflow with approval routing from natural-language request [S1]
- Approval routing: Proactive automatic approval routing to Manager, IT, HR, Legal, Finance [S16]
- Approval workflows: amount · vendor · project · person [S3]
- Auto invoices reconciliation: Invoices auto-created, post-trip expenses bundled, no missing receipts [S2]
- Availability: yes · yes [S10]
- Beta services: yes · yes · yes · yes [S8]
- Budget allocation: Each expense request is mapped to the right budget with budget impact shown [S16]
- Budget tracking: yes [S5]
- Card auto expiry locking: yes · yes [S3]
- Card freeze: yes [S3]
- Card issuance speed: instant · 5 [S3]
- Card lock on late submissions: yes [S3]
- Card types: Visa Debit · Visa Credit [S19]
- Cards: Visa corporate cards [S1]
- Cards features: credit and debit cards in multiple currencies, proactive card controls, real-time expense capture [S5]
- Cards issuers: Payhawk Financial Services Limited · Cross River Bank, Member FDIC · Payhawk Financial Services UAB [S7]
- Claim: Books closed 2x faster (marketing claim) [S20]
- Claimed metrics: 2 · 53000 · 2x · 1 week [S1]
- Co2 tracking: yes [S2]

**Subprocessors**
- Core list: Payhawk EOOD · Payhawk Platform provider · Belgium and Germany (LLMs hosted on Google Cloud) [S9]
- Duffel: Duffel Technology Limited · API provider for connectivity with airlines and accommodation providers · United Kingdom · yes [S9]
- Merge API: Merge API, Inc. · API provider for HR Integrations · Sweden (AWS EU data centers) · yes [S9]
- Notification providers: operations, marketing and sales notifications · TrustPilot · MailJet · Amazon SES · SendGrid · Chargebee · Livestorm · SalesLoft [S10]
- Referral email US: email notifications · US · EU-US Data Privacy Framework · standard contractual clauses [S7]
- Referral providers EU: referral program technology and administration · EU · Data Processing Agreements [S7]

**Support**
- Channels: support@payhawk.com [S10]
- Notice channels: Payhawk Software Account · email · text/SMS · yes · support@payhawk.com · security@payhawk.com · 24 hours after sent [S8]
- Partner consultants: yes [S19]
- Sales contact: sales@payhawk.com [S9]
- Sales email: sales@payhawk.com [S6]
- Security email: security@payhawk.com [S10]
- Support contact: support@payhawk.com [S9]
- Support email: support@payhawk.com [S6]

92 more facts on the canonical page: https://whats-best.ai/software/expense-management/payhawk

## Questions

### 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)](https://whats-best.ai/software/expense-management/moss), [N2F (3.5/5)](https://whats-best.ai/software/expense-management/n2f) and [Spendesk (3.5/5)](https://whats-best.ai/software/expense-management/spendesk) 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](https://whats-best.ai/software/expense-management/moss) (EU-Made). Ratings are the AI panel’s opinion, formed from public evidence: [how scores are made](https://whats-best.ai/methodology#ordering). The full list, with European products first: [Payhawk alternatives](https://whats-best.ai/software/expense-management/payhawk/alternatives).

## What this page leaves out

- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 3 sovereignty dimensions could not be confirmed on the vendor’s own pages and are shown as unknown.
- 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.

## Sources

- [S1] Vendor homepage: https://payhawk.com/de (checked 2026-10-28)
- [S2] Features page (travel expenses): https://payhawk.com/de/reisekosten (checked 2026-10-28)
- [S3] Features page (company cards): https://payhawk.com/de/produkt-visa-karten (checked 2026-10-28)
- [S4] Integrations page: https://payhawk.com/de/integrationen (checked 2026-10-28)
- [S5] Pricing page: https://payhawk.com/de/preise-und-plaene (checked 2026-10-28)
- [S6] Legal notice: https://payhawk.com/de/impressum (checked 2026-10-28)
- [S7] Privacy policy: https://payhawk.com/privacy (checked 2026-10-28)
- [S8] Terms of service: https://payhawk.com/terms (checked 2026-10-28)
- [S9] Data processing agreement (dpa): https://payhawk.com/dpa (checked 2026-10-28)
- [S10] Security / trust page: https://payhawk.com/security (checked 2026-10-28)
- [S11] Receipt capture & expense claims — found from sitemap: https://payhawk.com/help/faq-on-the-payhawk-mobile-app (checked 2026-10-28)
- [S12] Receipt capture & expense claims — found from sitemap: https://payhawk.com/help/managing-receipts-and-invoices-in-the-app (checked 2026-10-28)
- [S13] Company cards & spend control — found from sitemap: https://payhawk.com/help/overview-of-cards-card-limits-and-advanced-card-controls-for-administrators (checked 2026-10-28)
- [S14] Company cards & spend control — found from sitemap: https://payhawk.com/help/issuing-virtual-cards (checked 2026-10-28)
- [S15] Approval workflows & expense policy — found from sitemap: https://payhawk.com/help/workflows (checked 2026-10-28)
- [S16] Approval workflows & expense policy — found from sitemap: https://payhawk.com/de/workflow-orchestrierung (checked 2026-10-28)
- [S17] Reimbursement, travel allowances & VAT — found from sitemap: https://payhawk.com/help/automated-per-diems-for-travel (checked 2026-10-28)
- [S18] Reimbursement, travel allowances & VAT — found from sitemap: https://payhawk.com/help/configuring-reimbursements (checked 2026-10-28)
- [S19] Accounting handoff & DATEV — found from sitemap: https://payhawk.com/integration/api (checked 2026-10-28)
- [S20] Accounting handoff & DATEV — found from sitemap: https://payhawk.com/integration/datev (checked 2026-10-28)

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Cite as: whats-best.ai, "Payhawk — Expense Management", AI panel analysis, as of 2026-11-04. https://whats-best.ai/software/expense-management/payhawk

Corrections: https://whats-best.ai/correct/1082?target=page