Ramp vs. Brex vs. Rippling: Which card is best for your company?

Brex and Ramp are two popular corporate cards that many businesses choose when they’re looking for efficient financial management solutions. But choosing the right one for your business isn’t always easy or straightforward. Comparing different card options’ rewards, integrations, and other features can be complex and time-consuming. And if you forego the comparison, you could end up with a card that isn’t the right fit — and adds headaches, instead of making your financial operations smoother.

In this guide, we’ll dive into the specifics of Brex and Ramp and Rippling, helping you compare them and decide which corporate card is a better fit for your company’s needs.

Key features to look for in a corporate card

When choosing a corporate card for your business, you’ll likely consider many different features, and for good reason — the card you choose can have a serious impact both on your finances now and on your future growth. As you consider your options, here are some key corporate card features to keep in mind:

Multiple options for issuing cards 

Ideally, you should be able to issue both physical and virtual corporate cards to employees. The process of issuing cards should be fast and straightforward, without prohibitive limits or unnecessary hurdles. Having this flexibility helps ensure that members of your team can access funds when needed — whether they need a physical card for travel expenses or a virtual card for online purchases.

Rewards program

A robust rewards program can offer significant value to your business. Look for incentive schemes that include cash back, miles, points to redeem, and other perks. Rewards can offer your business significant savings through cash back, travel perks, industry-unique benefits, and more.

Expense management tools

It's important to have a solution that integrates corporate cards with expense management tools in one consolidated platform. Expense management tools help businesses track, manage, and control employee and company expenses effectively. 

Features to look for include transaction monitoring to prevent unauthorized spending, direct integrations with accounting software, automatic receipt matching across transactions, and more. Having these tools in a unified system simplifies expense reporting and provides you with more comprehensive financial oversight.

Credit limit and financing options

Consider the maximum amount of credit or funds that cardholders can access. Adequate credit limits and attractive repayment terms are essential for supporting your business’s cash flow and making sure employees can cover necessary expenses without constraints. Look for corporate cards that offer competitive credit limits and repayment terms (i.e., net30, net7, or net1) that will meet your company's financial needs.

Quick comparison: Ramp vs. Brex vs. Rippling at a glance

Short on time? Here’s how Ramp, Brex, and Rippling stack up when it comes to the essentials. We’ve highlighted key differences in rewards, spend controls, integrations, and payment terms to help you spot the platform that best supports how your business spends.

Methodology: How we reviewed these corporate cards

To find the best corporate card, we focused on features and functionality, assessing Ramp, Brex, and Rippling based on the same criteria. Consistency means differences reflect actual differentiators. Our research focused on materials published by providers themselves, and included:

• Official product websites. We started with each provider’s official product page to verify features, pricing, and eligibility details to ensure accuracy and current coverage.

• Demos and documentation. When available, we reviewed official product walkthroughs, feature explainers, and setup guides to gauge how each system handles approvals, expense tracking, and integrations in practice.

• Customer reviews and write-ups. We consulted review platforms and unpaid write-ups but treated them like secondary sources. User feedback can surface recurring pain points or standout features, but it isn’t always representative or recent.

Rippling editorial policy: Rippling puts our customers (and prospective customers!) first. The Rippling team is committed to providing information supported by product data, insights, and customer feedback to inform our content.

Features Comparison: Ramp vs. Brex vs. Rippling

No matter what kind of B2B software you’re buying, it’s always all about the features. In the case of expense management software and corporate cards, what works for one business might lead to late-night meltdowns for another. 

The tables below compare Ramp, Brex, and Rippling side by side, so you can see how these options differ where it really counts for your business.

Rewards

Rippling

Rippling offers a straightforward, cash-on-the-barrelhead rewards structure: 1.75% cash-back* on qualifying purchases with no limits or expirations. It’s a simple, consistent structure that eliminates the need to track rotating categories or spending caps.

Ramp

Ramp pays 1.5% cash back across purchases. It’s easy to track, but it doesn’t offer tired perks or other bonuses. 

Brex

The tiered points program can add up fast in certain categories. Unpredictable or generalized spending, however, may not deliver the same value.  

Our verdict

The highest flare rate and cleanest reward structure belong to Rippling. Ramp keeps things simple but pays less, while Brex only pays off if you commit to tracking categories and spending heavily in specific areas.

Spend Controls

Rippling

Rippling connects card controls directly to your employee data, which means limits, approvals, and restrictions apply automatically at the point of purchase, depending on who’s spending. (Important, when 62% of finance leaders worry about employees spending responsibly.) The real-time blocking simplifies your compliance, while automatic syncing to your general ledger keeps your reporting clean.

Ramp

Finance leaders benefit from spend control that applies merchant, category, and team-based limits. It’s precise, but requires more hands-on setup and monitoring, which can add administrative burden for smaller teams.

Brex

Brex supports vendor-level and category-based limits using automated alerts. It’s a light, flexible tool well-suited to startups juggling multiple finance tools, but controls can feel siloed compared to an integrated system. 

Our verdict

Rippling’s employee-linked controls enforce policies without manual oversight. Ramp provides finance-led control, and Brex suits a vendor-heavy startup, but both require ongoing monitoring and configuration.

Personal guarantee

Rippling

Rippling doesn’t ask for a personal credit check or guarantee as part of the application process, removing personal liability from the equation. Approval depends on your company’s financials, not your founder’s. Repayment schedules range from daily to weekly to bi-weekly to monthly.

Ramp

Ramp also skips personal guarantees and credit checks, relying on your company’s bank balance and revenue to set limits. Repayment terms depend on your cash flow and investment level, which can translate into less flexibility depending on your cash flow.

Brex

Brex follows the same model as Ramp and Rippling: no personal guarantee required and no personal credit pull.

Our verdict

All three corporate cards focus on business fundamentals more than personal finances. The differentiator? Rippling pairs this with flexible repayment terms, making it the most accommodating option overall.

Integration with expense management

Rippling

With Rippling, you get expense management, card controls, bill pay, and payroll consolidated into a single system built on top of your employee data. That means powerful spend controls and extensive automation that remove friction across your finance function. 

Ramp

Ramp also builds its expense management tools into its card platform, which means you benefit from features like automatic receipt capture, categorization, and policy alerts. The difference? The Ramp platform rests on top of a limited, finance-driven dataset, which means you won’t see the same kind of intense policy control or advanced automations that you do with a platform like Rippling, which runs on your HRIS.

Brex

A pure finance tool, Brex focuses on aggregating and visualizing financial data in a dashboard more than connecting with other tools. You can sync with popular accounting tools like QuickBooks and NetSuite, but for more comprehensive insights that capture the totality of company spend — including payroll — you’ll need to manually combine information and reports from across your HR tech stack. 

Our verdict

Rippling’s edge lies in the depth of integration the platform provides. It doesn’t just sync expenses; it allows you to fully unify spend management, HR, and payroll into a single, borderless workflow. Brex and Ramp both handle expense management well, but they stop at finance.

International use

Rippling

Rippling supports global operations from end to end, combining payroll, reimbursements, and card spend in multiple currencies through one system. The unified approach simplifies and standardizes reporting for cleaner books, and cuts down on the number of workflows required to accomplish tasks at scale.

Ramp

When it comes to international capabilities, Ramp lags behind other spend and expense management tools targeting enterprise-level customers. The platform handles some cross-border expenses and reimbursements, but remains built around USD accounts. That’s a significant limitation for any entity operating internationally, regardless of size.

Brex

Brex offers solid tools for global expense tracking and reimbursements, but its underlying financial operations still route entirely through US systems. That setup can provide visibility on global spend, but limits local disbursement and native-currency management. 

Our verdict

Brex can handle cross-border spend management, but its US-centric infrastructure and finance focus hamstring complex global operations. Ramp’s international functionality remains a work in progress. Only Rippling covers payroll, payments, and expenses at a truly international level.

The corporate card with a built-in back office

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Ramp vs. Brex vs. Rippling: Pricing

Rippling

Rippling’s modular pricing model means you pay only for what you actually use. To get the most out of the tool, you’ll start with the HRIS module for $35 per month, plus $11-14 PEPM for spend management, including corporate cards. By layering spend on top of your employee data, you benefit from advanced automations and workflows that remove friction (and admin work) around finance reporting, reimbursements, and policy control.

Ramp

While Ramp does offer a free tier that includes corporate cards and basic expense management, the bare-bones offering will feel tight for any business looking for accounting integrations, reporting tools, and accounts payable features. For those, Ramp charges $15 PEPM, plus a platform fee based on team size.

Brex

Like Ramp, Brex also offers a free tier with basic tools for small businesses and sole proprietors. If you’re looking for comprehensive expense management and corporate cards with global payment and reimbursement tools, however, you’ll need an enterprise-level subscription. The Premium tier includes more advanced finance tools, but limits you to a single local card program.

Our verdict

Rippling offers the cleanest value with modular pricing that keeps costs predictable while you scale. Both Brex and Ramp look competitive, but costs start to add up as you expand. Ramp and Brex also paywall core finance tools, while Rippling lets you build from a single system that connects your spend and employee data from day one.

Ramp vs. Brex vs. Rippling: Reviews

User reviews can sometimes tell a slightly different story than product specs. While all three platforms score well overall, Rippling consistently edges out Brex and Ramp across major sites. Its higher scores from a larger user population suggest that users value the combined approach to corporate cards, expense management, and payroll.

Rippling users repeatedly praised the unified approach, citing significant time savings and ease of use as major Rippling benefits, no matter the product. 

Ramp vs. Brex vs. Rippling: Pros and cons

Each card we’ve reviewed has its strengths — and its sticking points. Our tables above show how they measure up feature for feature, but here’s a closer look at the practical upsides and drawbacks based on how your finance team might use them.

Rippling pros and cons

Rippling’s corporate card is a solid choice for companies that want deep automation and control — tying spend, policy enforcement, and payroll together in a single platform. While availability is currently US-focused, it stands out for unifying card spend with the rest of your operations.

Rippling corporate card pros

• Fully integrated with Rippling Spend, Payroll, and HRIS

• Automated spend controls linked to employee roles and policies

• No annual transaction fees

• Unlimited 1.75% cash-back on eligible purchases*

• Supports flexible daily, weekly, bi-weekly, and monthly repayment terms

• Real-time expense tracking and approval routing

Rippling corporate card cons

• Credit limits may fluctuate based on company financials

Ramp pros and cons

Ramp appeals to finance teams that need straightforward spend controls and automation. Its eligibility limits and relatively low credit ceilings, however, may make it a less practical choice for startups and other rapidly scalining businesses.

Ramp corporate card pros

• Flexible and customizable spending limits

• Basic expense management

• Integrations with third-party tools, including accounting software

• Automated receipt matching for simplified expense reporting

• Cash back rewards on spending

• No annual fees or interest charges

Ramp corporate card cons

• Only available to US-incorporated businesses

• Not available for sole proprietors or unincorporated businesses

• May not offer as high credit limits as some traditional corporate cards

Brex pros and cons

Brex can work well for funded startups and tech companies that value flexible credit and rewards, but the daily repayment terms and higher minimum financial requirements can make it harder to maintain consistent cashflow or to qualify. You’ll also need to tack on additional tools if you’re looking to connect the finance platform to payroll or other functions. 

Brex corporate card pros

• Flexible credit limits based on business finances

• Expense management tools

• No requirement for a personal guarantee

• Cash management solutions with high-yield business accounts

• Reward program with diverse redemption options

• No annual fees, interest charges, or foreign transaction fees

Brex corporate card cons

• Limited to US-incorporated businesses

• Financial requirements can be restrictive for some startups

• High capital may be required for approval

• Rewards structure is complicated

• Daily repayment is required for many businesses

You’ve never had control over card spend like this

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Why Rippling is the best corporate card compared to Ramp and Brex

Rippling Corporate Cards are the only spend management solution that unifies employee and spend data, allowing you to create hyper-custom card policies and automate control over how, when, and where employees can spend. By connecting corporate card usage directly with employee data, Rippling gives you precise control over spending and policy enforcement, leading to better financial oversight with less administrative work. Enforce spend exactly the way you want — automatically.

And automated spending controls are only the beginning. Rippling is the best corporate card alternative for many other reasons: Instant virtual cards, rewards for every eligible dollar you spend.

Through Rippling’s Spend suite, you get comprehensive, automated expense management, removing hours of tedious, administrative work from your expense management processes and gaining unprecedented control over spend. While most spend systems only allow for basic employee-manager approval chains, with Rippling’s advanced policy engine, you can set hyper-custom policies based on the vendor, dollar amount, and expense category, helping you block out-of-policy expenses with ease. You can also tee up automated workflows that help you control spend, like triggering an alert when a department’s expenses sharply increase. 

For example, Rippling can automatically assign and send a corporate card and pre-configured laptop to new employees once they sign an offer letter, using the employee data captured during onboarding to set limits and purchasing controls uniquely suited for their spending needs. And if an employee leaves or is terminated, Rippling can automatically lock both their card and device.

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