Procurement Express is a popular procure-to-pay (P2P) software with tools that simplify purchasing and automate AP workflows, including e-commerce punch-outs and invoice scan and match. Users like Procurement Express for its ease of use and responsive customer service.
However, users leave Procurement Express because:
- The approval workflow is not intuitive and lacks customization. Users say the purchase approval structure is linked by budget and not by department, so they must create a workaround in certain situations, like when multiple departments work on a project out of a single budget. In this case, the approval request may not reach the appropriate manager.
- There needs to be more flexibility around purchase order workflows. Users say that once a PO is approved, they can’t edit it. Instead, they need to cancel and revise, which often confuses the vendor’s billing department and can result in delays. This lack of flexibility is especially troublesome when the initial PO (or budget) is estimated and cannot be adjusted when the final invoice arrives.
We put together this guide to the best Procurement Express alternatives so you can compare it with other leading platforms in this space and make the best choice for your team.
We’ll start by exploring our platform, ProcureDesk. We’ll then explain how our customizable P2P software can eliminate procurement and accounts payable workflow bottlenecks and simplify vendor communication.
1. ProcureDesk
An Intuitive & Highly Customizable Procurement Express Alternative
ProcureDesk is a leading alternative to Procurement Express because it’s a highly customizable, scalable, and user-friendly procure-to-pay system. We tailor our platform to your procurement workflows; you can add an unlimited number of vendors (change them at any time) and modify the software as you hire more staff, adjust budgets, or change approval workflows.
We provide tools that:
- Simplify the purchasing process, saving managers countless hours. Users can shop approved vendor sites within their dashboard and send their shopping carts directly to procurement for review.
- Reduce vendor communication. With real-time PO status updates, vendors can update the status of POs within ProcureDesk and acknowledge when POs are accepted or fulfilled. You will always know the status of orders without the usual back-and-forth.
- Offer automation and customization tools, giving procurement team members more control over spending. Users can set established budgets and automate approval processes and AP workflows.
- Automate accounts payable processes and prepare approved invoices for payment. AP teams can receive invoices directly, and ProcureDesk will automatically match new invoices with their corresponding POs and purchase confirmations. Our system also integrates with ERPs and accounting systems to push approved invoices for payment. When paid, invoice status automatically updates.
We offer white-glove onboarding to streamline set-up and our platform has little to no learning curve. Users can see vendor catalogs upon login, shop on vendor websites in a familiar environment, and receive updates on purchase requests and order status.
In the next sections, we’ll talk more about how ProcureDesk features work.
Features for Procurement Teams That Improve Purchase & Approval Workflow
Our online procurement management system allows you to create a controlled purchasing flow that ensures employees shop with the right vendors, purchase approved products, and don’t exceed budgets. We help you add vendors to the dashboard, set budgets (by person, department, category, vendor, etc.), and create approval trees.
After employees send shopping carts for review, our system checks orders against purchasing rules and budgets to:
- Automatically approve minor purchases.
- Route purchases that require review to the right manager(s).
- Deny orders that break guidelines or exceed budgets.
Once a purchase is approved, ProcureDesk automatically sends the PO to the vendor so managers don’t have to place these orders manually.
ProcureDesk also includes vendor portals to track real-time PO status. Vendors can acknowledge POs in the portal and update orders as they’re fulfilled and shipped. (They can also communicate on orders that can’t be fulfilled or may be delayed.)
Note: Vendor portals are also beneficial for AP teams because they allow vendors to drop new invoices into ProcureDesk. (More on this below.)
Features for Employees That Improve Purchase Order Workflows
You can probably already see how ProcureDesk simplifies purchasing for employees. With ProcureDesk, they can:
- Log into the dashboard to see approved vendors and available budgets.
- Shop with vendors directly on the platform.
- Send orders directly to review.
Our system can automatically approve some of their orders, based on your purchasing policy, so employees don’t have to wait around for approval on small purchases (and managers don’t have to spend time fielding these).
Regardless, our system sends notifications about orders as soon as employees send carts, whether they are approved, denied, or sent to a manager for approval. We then alert employees after purchases are approved.
After employees receive orders, they can hop into their ProcureDesk dashboard to upload receipts and fill in details about the order’s condition. They don’t have to send emails to manager(s) or share physical receipts at the end of each month; and if procurement or AP managers ever have questions about orders, they can find the details in our system instead of reaching out to employees.
Features That Improve Workflows for Accounts Payable Teams
Our platform also includes a suite of tools to support accounts payable processes and automate the invoice approval workflow.
AP teams can receive invoices through ProcureDesk in various ways (so they can communicate with vendors about how they prefer to receive these). Our platform supports e-invoicing and includes vendor portals, our system also integrates with email accounts to pull new vendor invoices. (You can always upload paper invoices to our system as well.)
Our system uses optical character recognition (OCR) and three-way matching technology to pull the corresponding POs and receipts in our system and reconcile invoices.
Note: This matching is automatic when vendors share invoices via e-invoicing or through the portal. You can learn more about touchless invoice processing here.
ProcureDesk then:
- Flags invoices with discrepancies (so AP managers can review these before sending payments).
- Sends matched invoices that require a second look to the right person(s).
- Pushes matched and approved invoices to your connected ERP or accounting system for payment.
After invoices are paid, AP teams can update their status in ProcureDesk to keep everyone in the loop and avoid double work.
Features to Track & Report on Spending
ProcureDesk’s reporting dashboard offers real-time spend visibility, providing up-to-date information on what teams are purchasing, what vendors they are buying from, their order history, and budgets.
Our spend analysis tools show spending patterns, a view of your budget, and identify savings opportunities. Both procurement and AP teams can use this information to:
- Anticipate expenses and control employee spending (no more course correcting after the fact)
- Strategize on negotiating supplier contracts
- Assist in ongoing supplier management
Pricing
ProcureDesk offers a few pricing options, depending on your needs:
- Our complete P2P solution — with all the features discussed above — is available for $850/month.
- We also offer a procurement package — with vendor portals and features to create a controlled purchasing flow — for $518/month.
Both plans include 10 users, but you can add more users as needed.
We also offer custom packages and pricing for enterprise teams of 200+ people (so our platform can continue to scale with your operations).
You can customize ProcureDesk with add-on modules, including expense report management, contract management, and inventory management.
ProcureDesk vs. Procurement Express
While ProcureDesk and Procurement Express provide similar procurement and AP features, ProcureDesk is a more flexible and customizable option with the ability to build custom approval workflows.
Both platforms offer solutions for businesses of all sizes. However, ProcureDesk focuses more on solutions for growing and enterprise-level teams working with vendors.
Small businesses with a low purchase volume or primarily purchasing through e-commerce sites may find Procurement Express offers more suitable options.
2. Order.co
Order.co is a good Procurement Express alternative for teams interested in virtual spend cards. Order.co includes solutions that improve purchasing and AP workflows, with features such as custom catalogs, approval workflows, and budgeting solutions.
With custom catalogs, employees can log into the system, see all approved products, and create orders from multiple vendors in a single PO.
Team members can use spend cards to pay for one-off, in-person, or recurring costs, like software subscriptions. The purchases are easily visible to the AP team in a single dashboard.
Order.co offers a convenient one-click payment tool that allows invoice consolidation and simultaneously sends payments to all vendors. Once AP teams approve the payment, funds are sent automatically to vendors through the platform.
The platform works best for smaller-sized businesses that purchase primarily through e-commerce sites or with a few vendors. It’s popular with companies with small AP teams since it strongly supports invoice management and vendor payments.
Notable Features
- Custom catalogs so users can create orders with approved products from all vendors
- Purchasing management to approve new orders
- Virtual cards
- Bulk payment features (to pay all invoices in one fell swoop)
- Spend management dashboard
- Reporting tools
- Integrations with accounting software (QuickBooks, NetSuite, Sage Intacct), LeafLink, and Workday
Pricing
Order.co does not offer pricing on its website; customers have to reach out for more information.
Order.co vs. Procurement Express
Order.co isn’t super scalable, so it’s a good option if you have a smaller team and want to utilize spend cards and time-saving tools to support workflows.
It’s also worth noting that with Order.co, procurement managers have to build order catalogs, which can be a timely process. Procurement Express offers a more robust PO workflow by directly connecting vendor sites to the platform.
3. Tradogram
Tradogram is a P2P Procurement Express alternative that offers a free plan (so it appeals to many small businesses). The catch is that the free plan lacks many of the features most teams require when looking for a purchasing software solution, like approval routing, and limits users to only five monthly transactions.
You could use the free plan as a “trial” to become acquainted with the platform but most teams considering Tradogram choose the Premium plan ($168/month) or request a custom plan.
Overall, Tradogram users have positive feedback and like the platform for its affordability — but users also suggest the platform isn’t the most scalable. You need a custom plan if you want to access custom integrations or reporting, but even at that highest level, those options can be limited.
Notable Features
- Unlimited number of suppliers & catalogs
- Purchase order management
- Project management
- Inventory management
- Expense management
- Invoice tracking
- Two- & three-way invoice matching
- Approval routing
- Budgeting tool
- Integrations
- Reporting
Pricing
Tradogram offers three pricing tiers:
- A Free plan with limited features.
- A Premium package ($168/month) — this supports unlimited transactions and grants access to budget tracking, approval routing, reporting, and integration options.
- Custom plans for enterprise teams.
Tradogram vs. Procurement Express
If your team has fewer than 20 employees and spends less than $10k per month, Tradogram’s premium plan may be an option.
On the other hand, Procurement Express offers more features and may be more cost effective for companies with more than 19 users and spend up to or greater than $10k per month on company purchases.
4. Precoro
Precoro is a popular Procurement Express alternative because they go toe-to-toe in terms of features and functionality. Precoro offers many of the features you’d expect from procurement and AP software: catalogs and punchouts, invoice matching, and integrations with accounting software.
However, global teams might prefer Precoro over Procurement Express because Precoro has features to support teams in multiple locations or that work in various currencies.
Generally, Precoro is noted as user-friendly (despite its dozens of tools). Teams can quickly learn the features and onboarding is typically smooth. However, some teams may eventually “outgrow” Precoro; saying the platform limits the number of catalogs you can create, and the expense management tool leaves much to be desired.
Notable Features
- Supplier catalogs (can create up to two punchout catalogs)
- Purchase request management
- Approval workflows
- PO, invoice, and receipt management
- Three-way invoice matching
- Spend management
- Inventory management
- Supplier management
- NetSuite integration
- Reporting
Pricing
Precoro offers its full feature set for all users. They price packages by seat and offer a starter plan for up to 19 users at $39/user/month. They provide custom pricing for teams over 20.
Precoro vs. Procurement Express
Precoro charges by seat and offers all users its full suite of features.
Procurement Express bases its packages on monthly spending. Their basic package is $365 per month, allowing for spending up to $10k. To access AP features, you must sign up for their “Better” plan at $750 per month, which allows you to spend up to $1M.
Either solution has the potential to bring more value for money, depending on the size of your company, your spending budget, and the features needed.
5. Procurify
Mid-size and growing teams might consider Procurify — this P2P solution has hundreds of features (including virtual spend cards) to control and streamline purchasing processes and automate AP workflows.
We recommend Procurify for growing teams (and suggest smaller teams avoid this one) for a few reasons:
- For starters, Procurify’s entry-level package starts at $1K. So most small teams are priced out of the conversation from the start.
- Plus, most small teams don’t need all of what Procurify offers to manage operations. They could probably get away with using Precoro or Tradogram.
- Finally, Procurify requires a time investment to implement and learn. It has a modern-looking dashboard and features, but users warn the training process can be a little complex. Expect a learning curve here.
Procurify works nicely for larger teams, though, because it’s customizable and scalable; it connects with dozens of outside systems and you can continue to build upon the platform as you grow.
Notable Features
- Approval workflow tools
- Purchase order management tools
- Vendor management tools
- Contract management tools
- Virtual spending cards
- Integrations with ERP systems
- Invoice processing
- Bill management tools
- Payment integrations
- Mobile apps
- Reporting tools
- Integrates with ERPs
- Budget control & tracking
- Reporting
Pricing
Procurify packages start at $1,000 per month. The midsize plan starts at $2K/month. They also offer custom packages for enterprise or scaling teams.
Procurify vs. Procurement Express
Users enjoy the modern look and feel of both platforms, but when it comes to ease of use, Procurement Express comes out on top. Users say that Procurify can be challenging to learn, while Procurement Express users tout the fact it’s so user-friendly.
Procurify also has a high price of entry, starting at $1,000 per month, and offers no free trial. Procurement Express starts at $365 monthly and has a free trial for each plan.
6. Kissflow
Kissflow is a general workflow automation tool that offers solutions for various industries and business processes — including a procurement module called Procurement Cloud. Despite the misleading name, Kissflow’s tool is a full P2P solution with features to support both procurement and AP workflows.
This tool is unique from all of the rest, though, due to its set-up and customization. Kissflow offers “low-code” templates — with core features like PO management and three-way invoice matching — that teams can customize to their exact specifications. They can code custom functionality and develop the software to support complex workflows.
Therefore, Kissflow is a great Procurement Express alternative for teams that have highly-specific workflows and need a tool they can adapt as they go.
That said, this software is one of the more difficult to set-up. Even though Kissflow provides templates to work off of, you still need some coding background to complete set-up and manage the platform.
Notable Features
- e-Procurement tools, including assisted buying
- Hosted & punchout catalogs
- Purchase order management
- AP automation, including three-way matching
- Strategic sourcing
- Inventory management
- Contract & vendor management
- Webhooks & API
- Integrations with popular accounting software
- Mobile apps
- Reporting & spend analytics
Pricing
Kissflow has two packages:
- The Basic plan — with limited features, for simple use cases and internal users — for $1500/month.
- They also offer custom enterprise plans (with full feature and platform access). Pricing is per customer.
Kissflow vs. Procurement Express
When considering configuring workflow approvals and integrations, Kissflow offers more customization options than Procurement Express. However, users say Kissflow can be challenging to set up, while Procurement Express is ready to go out of the box.
7. Airbase
Airbase is a spend management platform with features to support employee spending and AP workflows. The platform offers corporate spend cards, tools to create purchase orders, reimbursement management, as well as receipt capture, AP automation tools, and domestic and international bill payments.
Users say they like Airbase for its ease of use and especially enjoy how simple it is to import receipts from the mobile app and receive reimbursements — a great perk when traveling for business.
However, this option might not be the best for teams that have vendor contracts or do most of their purchasing through vendors, as they don’t have all of the features to create controlled purchasing flows; they only offer PO management in addition to spend cards.
Notable Features
- Corporate spending cards
- PO management
- Reimbursement management
- Spending controls
- Approval workflows
- AP automation
- Three-way invoice matching
- Expense management
- Integrations with ERPs, accounting systems, and project management software to support workflows
- Real-time reporting
- Mobile app
Pricing
Airbase offers three plans — Standard, Premium, and Enterprise — but does not disclose pricing on their site. You can contact them for a custom quote.
Airbase vs. Procurement Express
You might enjoy Airbase if you’re looking for more robust accounting features and integrations, as they integrate with 70+ ERPs and offer three ways to connect.
However, as said above, Airbase is best for people who want to manage card spending and don’t do a ton of spending through vendors. Teams that primarily work with vendors and do purchasing through PO forms are better to choose Procurement Express.
8. Tipalti
The last option on our list, Tipalti is an AP-focused Procurement Express alternative. Tipalti does offer some features to support procurement, but they’ve historically offered more on the AP side (and receive positive reviews for AP functionality).
For example, the platform includes end-to-end accounts payable automation, a mass payments feature, expense management, reimbursement management, and integrations with popular accounting tools (Netsuite, Sage, QuickBooks, Microsoft Dynamics, Xero).
It’s also worth noting that Tipalti appeals to global companies with features such as cross-border payment support in multiple currencies and international tax tools.
Tipalti supports large clients, including X (formerly Twitter) and Twitch. Users say in reviews that Tiplati has significantly cut their foreign transaction fees, but they also warn that the software is complex to implement and learn, and that the procurement module is somewhat limited.
Notable Features
- Supplier matching
- Supplier management
- Advanced PO approval workflows (rule-based routing)
- Automatically generated POs
- Two- & and three-way invoice matching
- Invoice management
- PO matching
- Tax and VAT compliance
- Corporate cards
- Global payments
- Currency management
- FX hedging
- Integrations with leading ERPs, HRIS, ticketing systems, Amazon, and Slack
- Reporting
Pricing
Tipalti does not share pricing on their site. We can see pricing starts at $129/month — Tipalti calls this a “platform fee” — but Tipalti provides custom quotes on a per customer basis. They also note their platform scalability and say you can adjust as you go.
Tipalti vs. Procurement Express
Tipalti is the better option for teams — especially international teams — interested in AP automation software and needing advanced features like global payments and tools to adhere to tax regulations.
It’s hard to say how Tipalti and Procurement Express compare in pricing; Tipalti might seem more affordable because it has a cheaper cost to entry, but pricing could be expensive as you need advanced features and scale the software.
Getting Started
ProcureDesk is a leading alternative to Procurement Express because it’s a highly customizable, scalable, and user-friendly procure-to-pay system with a focus on solutions for growing and enterprise-level teams working with vendors.
ProcureDesk is a more flexible option with the ability to build custom approval workflows.
