Ramp vs Brex: plans and fees compared, September 2026
Brex lists the lower paid-plan rate ($12 against $15 per user per month) and no platform fee, but Ramp's platform fee is unpublished, so no buyer can total Ramp Plus without a written quote.
Brex lists the lower paid-plan rate. On the pricing pages checked 28 September 2026, Brex Premium costs $12 per user per month1 and Ramp Plus costs $15 per user per month plus a platform fee based on team size2. Ramp doesn’t publish that fee’s amount. Both companies start with a $0 plan and price enterprise work by quote2,1.
The free plans differ more than the prices do.
TL;DR
- Paid tier: Brex Premium is $3 per user per month cheaper at list price, and Brex’s pricing page shows no platform fee. Ramp Plus carries a team-size platform fee that its public page leaves unpriced.
- Annual billing: Ramp offers 20% off Plus for annual billing. If that discount applies to the $15 rate, the per-user price matches Brex at $12, and Ramp’s platform fee becomes the whole gap.
- Free tier: Ramp Free lists the wider finance scope: payables, receivables, treasury and vendor tools. Brex Essentials includes up to two entities, one local card program and API access.
- Card fees: Neither pricing page publishes a foreign-exchange fee. Third-party accounts disagree about Brex, so get it in writing.
- Verdict: No buyer can total Ramp Plus from public information. Get a written Ramp quote for your headcount before treating Brex Premium as the cheaper option.
How do Ramp and Brex plan prices compare per user?
Brex Premium lists $12 per user per month and Ramp Plus lists $15, but only Ramp lists a platform fee on top2,1. This comparison belongs to our spend management coverage and uses each company’s own pricing page, captured on 28 September 2026. Figures are shown as the pages give them: US dollars, per user per month, with no tax status stated on either page. They are company statements, not market prices.
| Ramp | Brex | |
|---|---|---|
| Entry plan | Free: $0 per user per month2 | Essentials: $0 per user per month1 |
| Mid plan | Plus: $15 per user per month2 | Premium: $12 per user per month1 |
| Platform fee | Plus: “based on team size”, amount not published2 | None listed on the pricing page1 |
| Billing discount | Plus: 20% off with annual billing2 | None stated1 |
| Top plan | Enterprise: custom, annual billing2 | Enterprise: custom pricing1 |
| Separately priced items | Procurement add-on (Plus or Enterprise), receivables add-on, 1099 filing at $0.65 per IRS filing2 | Smart Card at custom pricing; “Some Brex products have associated fees”1 |
The two companies use the same unit, one user per month. Neither page defines who counts as a user, so a team with many cardholders and few approvers should ask how each company counts before comparing totals. Our methodology sets out how we treat company-published figures.
Brex’s own footer restates the structure: plans start at $0 per user per month, and more advanced features cost $12 per user per month1.
Which platform and card fees do Ramp and Brex publish?
Ramp publishes one fee without a price, the Plus platform fee, while Brex publishes no platform fee and names no specific extra fees2,1.
On Ramp’s page, the published fee items are:
- a platform fee on Plus, “based on team size”, with no figure2
- 1099 filing at $0.65 per IRS filing, with free state filing, on every plan2
- unlimited virtual and physical cards “at no extra cost”2
- no fees, minimum deposits or transfer caps on its treasury accounts, and free wires and same-day ACH through Bill Pay2
Ramp’s card is a corporate liability charge card2. Ramp also lets customers pay for Plus by ACH or with rewards earned on Ramp card spend2.
Brex’s page is thinner on fees. It lists local currency wires and travel booking as part of Essentials, with travel booking marked free on that plan1. Its only general fee statement names no fee: “Some Brex products have associated fees.”1
Neither pricing page publishes a foreign-exchange or foreign-transaction fee. The third-party accounts we read don’t agree. KleerCard’s comparison, which cites NerdWallet, says Ramp charges a 3% currency conversion fee on foreign-currency purchases and that Brex’s local-currency cards carry no FX markup3. Rippling’s comparison, updated 11 November 2025, says Brex card transactions across 200+ currencies come “with FX markups”4, yet the same article lists no foreign transaction fees among Brex’s pros4. Both publishers sell competing cards3,4. Treat FX cost as unconfirmed and get it in writing from both companies.
Rippling’s article also recorded no annual fee for either card as of November 20254. Neither company’s pricing page addresses annual card fees.
What does a 10-user or 50-user team pay on the listed rates?
On list rates, Brex Premium costs a 10-user team $120 a month and Ramp Plus costs $150 a month plus the platform fee2,1. The arithmetic multiplies each page’s per-user rate by headcount. It excludes add-ons, tax and any negotiated discount.
| Team size | Brex Premium, per month | Ramp Plus user fees, per month | Gap before Ramp’s platform fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 users | $120 | $150 | $30 a month, $360 a year |
| 50 users | $600 | $750 | $150 a month, $1,800 a year |
The platform fee is the unknown that controls the result. At 10 users, any Ramp platform fee adds to a $360 yearly gap that already favours Brex.
Annual billing can shift the per-user part. Ramp states “Save 20% with annual billing” beside the Plus price2. If that 20% applies to the $15 rate, the annual-billed rate is $12, the same as Brex Premium, and the two differ only by Ramp’s platform fee. The page doesn’t say whether the discount covers the platform fee, or whether $15 is the monthly-billed price. Brex’s page states no annual-billing terms for Premium1.
What do the free plans include?
Ramp Free lists wider finance coverage, while Brex Essentials includes a second entity, one local card program and API access2,1. Both cost $0 per user per month.
Ramp Free lists2:
- unlimited cards with card issuing controls
- travel booking, a custom travel policy, and expense completion by SMS or Slack
- automatic receipt collection and matching
- payables: invoice extraction by OCR, configurable approvals, automated fraud checks, and bill payment by ACH, card, check and wire
- receivables: invoice creation, automated customer follow-up, cash application, and payment acceptance by ACH, card and check
- treasury accounts, basic accounting rules, and QuickBooks Online and Xero integrations
- AI reporting, a custom report builder, vendor tracking, price intelligence and 24/7 chat support
Brex Essentials lists1:
- global card acceptance and one local card program
- AI-powered custom rules and real-time reporting
- up to two entities, one of them global
- accounting integrations, which the plan card doesn’t name
- local currency wires, bill pay and reimbursements
- travel booking, free on Essentials
- Brex API access
A single-entity team that wants payables and receivables in one free tool gets more listed scope from Ramp Free. A team with two entities starts on Brex Essentials without paying, because Ramp places multi-entity support in Plus2. Ramp’s plan list doesn’t mention API access, although Ramp links API documentation in its site footer2.
Both companies pair the card with cash accounts, but their quoted rates use different measures. Ramp quotes a 2% APY on checking, accurate as of 28 September 2026, and a 4.64% yield to maturity on its investment account2. Brex quotes a total treasury return between 3.53% and 3.87%, an annualised estimate that it says applies to customers eligible for its highest-tier rate1. These figures aren’t comparable with each other, and all of them vary.
What do Ramp Plus and Brex Premium add?
Both paid tiers add multi-entity support and deeper accounting integration. Ramp Plus leans towards payables automation and administrative controls, and Brex Premium leans towards expense policy, VAT and travel rules2,1.
Ramp Plus adds, on top of Free2:
- AI-driven expense reviews, and cards that lock automatically when compliance is unmet
- 24/7 phone support for travel bookings
- auto-coded invoice line items, AI approval recommendations, batch payments and payment release approvals
- NetSuite and Sage Intacct integrations, AI coding for every field, and multi-entity support
- automatic tax capture, shared live reports and budgets tracked against actuals in real time
- custom user roles, multi-entity visibility restrictions and an audit log
Procurement is a separate add-on to Plus or Enterprise, and Ramp’s page gives no price for it2. Revenue recognition schedules and recurring billing need the receivables add-on on every plan2.
Brex Premium adds, on top of Essentials1:
- multiple customisable expense policies, with category rules, role-based exceptions and auto-approval rules
- dynamic expense review chains and dynamic spend-limit approval chains
- AI-powered compliance audit detection and insights
- multi-entity support across the US and internationally
- customisable ERP and HRIS integrations
- VAT documentation, group travel with advanced travel rules, and live budgets
The decision changes with the workflow. A finance team whose month-end pain sits in supplier invoices will find more named payables features on Ramp Plus. A team running expense policy across several countries will find VAT documentation and multi-entity policy named on Brex Premium, at $3 less per user.
What do the enterprise plans add?
Both enterprise plans are priced by quote and add local-currency operations, named account management and implementation services2,1.
Ramp Enterprise, sold on annual billing, adds Workday and Oracle Fusion Cloud integrations, locally funded reimbursements, card payments in local currency, local-currency card issuing in 30+ countries, a dedicated account and customer success manager, priority 24/7 global support, implementation scoping and custom development2. Ramp’s comparison page puts local card issuing at 40+ countries5, so the country count needs confirming in the quote.
Brex Enterprise adds unlimited US or global entities, local card issuance, collections, reimbursements and policies, a named account manager, an admin centre and fully customisable implementation services1. Brex also sells a separate Smart Card for procurement at custom pricing, with local-currency cards in 50+ countries1.
What the published pricing cannot tell you
The public pages settle list rates and plan contents. They don’t settle what a given team will pay.
Five items stay open after reading both pages:
- Ramp’s platform fee. It is described but not priced2.
- Add-on prices. Ramp procurement and receivables, Brex Smart Card and Brex’s unnamed “associated fees” have no published price2,1.
- Foreign-exchange cost. Neither page states it, and third-party accounts conflict3,4.
- The user definition. Neither page says who counts as a billable user.
- Tax and currency. Neither page states tax treatment or names its currency; both are US company pages2,1.
Ownership adds one more condition. Brex LLC is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Capital One1. The rates above are the ones Brex listed on 28 September 2026, and renewal terms should be confirmed in the contract.
Use one real month of your team’s card, invoice and reimbursement volume to test both quotes. If Ramp is also up against a card-led alternative, our Center vs Ramp comparison runs the same exercise on a different pair. Subscribe to our research for new spend management comparisons.
Frequently asked questions
Is it hard to get approved for Ramp or Brex?
Brex’s published thresholds are higher for most monthly-payment accounts, according to KleerCard’s May 2026 reading of both companies’ requirements3. KleerCard reports that Ramp requires at least $25,000 in cash in a connected US business bank account3. It reports that Brex monthly-payment accounts need $50,000 in cash for funded startups or $1M+ in annual revenue for bootstrapped businesses, with lower requirements for daily-payment accounts3. KleerCard competes with both for nonprofit buyers3, so confirm the current thresholds with each company.
Does Capital One’s ownership change Brex’s pricing?
The pricing page doesn’t say. Brex LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary of Capital One1, and KleerCard reports that the acquisition closed on 7 April 20263. Brex still listed $0 and $12 per user per month on 28 September 20261. None of the sources we read states future Brex pricing.
Can you try Ramp Plus before paying?
Yes. Ramp offers a free 30-day trial of Plus and lets customers switch plans at any time2. Brex’s pricing page states no trial period for Premium1.
How do users rate Ramp and Brex on review sites?
Brex has a 4.8 out of 5 rating from 1,637 reviews on G26 and a 1.9 TrustScore from 575 reviews on Trustpilot7. Trustpilot showed Ramp at 2.3 from 214 reviews on the same date7. Rippling’s November 2025 comparison listed Ramp at 4.8 from 2,186 G2 reviews4. These ratings are reported by review sites, not measured outcomes, and Trustpilot states that it doesn’t fact-check reviews7.
Sources checked
Company-owned pages establish what a company says. They do not prove a market conclusion. Each source is dated so readers can judge each claim.
