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Emburse Expense Enterprise (formerly Chrome River) vs. Emburse SpringAhead vs. Zoho Expense

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Emburse Expense Enterprise (formerly Chrome River)

    Score8.3 out of 10
    N/AEmburse Enterprise is the enterprise expense and invoice-management product that replaces the former Chrome River name. Emburse states that the renaming does not change the product’s expense and invoice functionality, workflows, interface, or support; existing Chrome River customers use the same product under Emburse branding.N/A

    Emburse SpringAhead

    Score10 out of 10
    N/ASpringAhead is an expense reporting, billing, and time tracking platform that was owned and supported by Certify Travel and Expense created from the 2017 merger of Certify, Nexonia, and other companies, and now from Emburse, the company formed from the merger of Certify and Chrome River Technologies in March 2019.N/A

    Zoho Expense

    Score8.9 out of 10
    N/AZoho Expense is online expense reporting software, tailor-made for businesses worldwide to automate expense report creation, streamline approvals and make swift reimbursements.

    $5

    per month per user

    Pricing
    Emburse Expense Enterprise (formerly Chrome River)Emburse SpringAheadZoho Expense
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Free
    $0
    Standard Plan
    $5
    per month per user
    Premium Plan
    $9
    per month per user
    Custom
    Get a Quote
    per month per user
    Custom
    Get a Quote
    per month per user
    Custom
    Get a Quote
    per month per user
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Emburse Expense Enterprise (formerly Chrome River)Emburse SpringAheadZoho Expense
    Free Trial
    NoNoYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNoYes
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNoYes
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup feeOptional
    Additional DetailsWe offer three cost-effective, subscription-based pricing models: A transaction-based model, priced according to expense report volume A submitter-based model, priced according to an average number of monthly submitters An enterprise-level model that includes unlimited expense reports. Pricing for this model is based on total employee headcount Feel free to contact us to discuss the best one for your organization.—20% discount for annual pricing.
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Emburse Expense Enterprise (formerly Chrome River)Emburse SpringAheadZoho Expense
    Considered Multiple Products
    Emburse
    Chose Emburse Expense Enterprise (formerly Chrome River)
    The overall user interface was easy to use and it made the task of the reporting very easy. Compliance rules are guiding the users to correctly upload and enter receipts, which are already uploaded and recognized via OCR during the business trip. Uploading can easily done via …
    Incentivized
    Emburse
    No answer on this topic
    Zoho
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    95%
    Would buy again
    19 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    86%
    Would buy again
    6 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    15 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    6 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    95%
    Happy with the feature set
    19 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    7 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    82%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    9 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    5 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    83%
    Implementation went as expected
    10 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    5 Answers
    Features
    Emburse Expense Enterprise (formerly Chrome River)Emburse SpringAheadZoho Expense
    Expense Management
    Comparison of Expense Management features of Emburse Expense Enterprise (formerly Chrome River) and Emburse SpringAhead and Zoho Expense
    Feature
    Emburse Expense Enterprise (formerly Chrome River)
    8.5
    4 Ratings
    3% above category average
    Emburse SpringAhead
    -
    Ratings
    Zoho Expense
    7.9
    3 Ratings
    5% below category average
    Employee Expense Reporting8.04 Ratings00 Ratings8.03 Ratings
    Corporate Card Reconciliation9.03 Ratings00 Ratings7.73 Ratings
    Payment Management
    Comparison of Payment Management features of Emburse Expense Enterprise (formerly Chrome River) and Emburse SpringAhead and Zoho Expense
    Feature
    Emburse Expense Enterprise (formerly Chrome River)
    7.9
    4 Ratings
    1% below category average
    Emburse SpringAhead
    -
    Ratings
    Zoho Expense
    7.2
    3 Ratings
    11% below category average
    Customizable Approval Policies8.33 Ratings00 Ratings8.03 Ratings
    Financial Document Management7.02 Ratings00 Ratings8.02 Ratings
    Payment Status Tracking6.04 Ratings00 Ratings8.03 Ratings
    Payment Audit Trail9.02 Ratings00 Ratings8.02 Ratings
    Duplicate Bill Detection8.33 Ratings00 Ratings7.93 Ratings
    Advanced OCR8.52 Ratings00 Ratings5.12 Ratings
    Electronic Funds Transfer8.01 Ratings00 Ratings5.23 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Emburse Expense Enterprise (formerly Chrome River)Emburse SpringAheadZoho Expense
    Small Businesses
    Brex
    Score9 out of 10
    Brex
    Score9 out of 10
    Brex
    Score9 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Expensify
    Score9 out of 10
    Expensify
    Score9 out of 10
    Expensify
    Score9 out of 10
    Enterprises
    SAP Concur
    Score8.3 out of 10
    Emburse Expense Enterprise (formerly Chrome River)
    Score8.3 out of 10
    Emburse Expense Enterprise (formerly Chrome River)
    Score8.3 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Emburse Expense Enterprise (formerly Chrome River)Emburse SpringAheadZoho Expense
    Likelihood to Recommend
    7.1
    (124 ratings)
    6.5
    (3 ratings)
    8.0
    (7 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    9.8
    (18 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Usability
    8.0
    (108 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.0
    (3 ratings)
    Availability
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Performance
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    9.0
    (113 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (3 ratings)
    Online Training
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    9.8
    (7 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Configurability
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    6.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Emburse Expense Enterprise (formerly Chrome River)Emburse SpringAheadZoho Expense
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Emburse
    The Emburse Chrome River is well suited for tracking expenses and reimbursement. The compliance part of the software makes the task very easy to ensure all the reports that are being used within the company are updated and easy to verify. The Automating invoice processing makes some redundant task easy to execute.
    Incentivized
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    Emburse
    It's definitely well suited for all organizations with knowledge workers who use computers to do their work and are able to log in and enter their time on a regular basis. I've always had access to it as part of my job and love using SpringAhead. It may be less appropriate in a role where the worker does not have regular access to a computer to enter their hours digitally.
    Incentivized
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    Zoho
    easy of use for the end users as well as to manage. The option to add new categories (expenses) and have the end users use them immediately is wonderful. The ease of creating a new user as well as customer support has been great. The customer support while having issues has been quick to resolve any issues
    Incentivized
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    Pros
    Emburse
    • [Emburse] Chrome River listens to its customer's needs and does its best to match current products to those needs, or collaborate internally to determine if an enhancement can be made available that will not only benefit that customer, but will be a good use case for all Chrome River customers.
    • The [Emburse] Chrome River customer service team is great. Unlike most companies, you can speak to a liver person!
    • [Emburse] Chrome River's training offerings are relevant and pertinent to the day to day operations of the software.
    Incentivized
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    Emburse
    • Allows for tracking of time very easily. Users can add all their project's time in one place instead of drilling into each project.
    • Managers can approve their team's time all in one place. We do not need to drill down to find the info and approve. Users who don't report to the manager but are part of the project can still be approved by the project manager.
    • Reports are easy to read when looking at historical information. Reports can be run with multiple parameters that the user needs.
    Incentivized
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    Zoho
    • The program will notify users if they have entered a duplicate charge.
    • Once the end-users understood that receipts were mandatory, attaching those receipts has become second-nature. The app makes it very easy to do so.
    Incentivized
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    Cons
    Emburse
    • Would be great to have pre-saved templates available to apply to line items at the expense report header level rather than having to go into each line.
    • Would be nice to have a mass upload functionality for things like cost codes, allocations, and credit card users.
    Incentivized
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    Emburse
    • Automated reminders to employees would be great
    • A more modern and up-to-date user interface
    • The approvals system for projects vs. users could use some work
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    Zoho
    • Could have more default options. Instead of making my users select payment method, allow us to default it to one of the options.
    • More room for customization by department. My service department needs different categories of expenses then my sales department.
    Incentivized
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    Likelihood to Renew
    Emburse
    Chrome River is easy to use. We needed little training for our users and instead pointed them to Chrome River's Help Guides which are clearly written and easy to understand. With tools SNAP and the ability to email receipts means we can be completely remote when submitting reports.
    Read full review
    Emburse
    No answers on this topic
    Zoho
    No answers on this topic
    Usability
    Emburse
    I would rate Chrome River Expense a 10 because, as I mentioned before, it is very simple and easy to use. This is important from an administrative point-of-view as well as for the field employee. Being a general contractor, it makes it all the better for our employees to use a program that is easy to understand and requires little time and effort. It has made tracking expenses very simple and has been well received by the entire company.
    Incentivized
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    Emburse
    No answers on this topic
    Zoho
    Ease of use for the simple basic options. I wish the there was an option for reimbursement to be marked separately. Example for all corporate credit expense reports with $0 reimbursements still have to be marked as reimbursed in order to be removed from pending reimbursement section. For the cost the features offer benefits
    Incentivized
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    Reliability and Availability
    Emburse
    The software is always running effectively. I use many Cloud based systems and never had issues with Chrome River
    Incentivized
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    Emburse
    No answers on this topic
    Zoho
    No answers on this topic
    Performance
    Emburse
    System runs normal pretty much all the time. Does not slow any other systems down.
    Incentivized
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    Emburse
    No answers on this topic
    Zoho
    No answers on this topic
    Support Rating
    Emburse
    This has been easy for me because we have a rep that contacts the supporters for this product to correct any issues we may have with the software or changes needed to help out employees use Chrome River easier. This from my understanding has been a hit or miss kind of interaction with our rep and Chrome River.
    Incentivized
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    Emburse
    No answers on this topic
    Zoho
    The only reason I give Zoho a 9 is because of the issue with the Chart of Accounts skewing every time I export/import. I believe this is due to the fact that I use sub-accounts and Zoho cannot differentiate. Still hoping. :)
    Incentivized
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    Online Training
    Emburse
    The software is very user friendly, so the online training was easy to pickup for everyone.
    Incentivized
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    Emburse
    No answers on this topic
    Zoho
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation Rating
    Emburse
    Before implementation begins, make sure you have a plan on how you would like your workflow and platform setup for a system like Chrome River. It will speed the process and eliminate the need to make changes when you go live.
    Incentivized
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    Emburse
    No answers on this topic
    Zoho
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    Emburse
    It's the [industry-leading] software for Enterprise level organizations with [large-scale] teams and financial responsibilities. The software has the most robust set of tools and pays for itself with the amount of time it saves. Many newer alternatives have sprouted up but I don't know that we would ever trust another software to do our Expense Tracking and Management.
    Incentivized
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    Emburse
    We selected SpringAhead because of price and usability. This tool is easy to set up and configure. It is a cloud application allowing access from anywhere. There were no training requirements. When you have a small use case this tool is the way to go. We moved off SpringAhead to get more functionality and it has required a lot more training and effort to maintain and utilize
    Incentivized
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    Zoho
    We selected (switched) to Zoho Expense because it had similar features at a lower price and we were able to receive a discount through our partner relationship with another software company. We have considered moving from Zoho Expense to something else recently due to continued issues with being able to accurately import credit card charges and organize them correctly be team member. Creating some confusion among users.
    Incentivized
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    Scalability
    Emburse
    It's very easy software to design to your needs.
    Incentivized
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    Emburse
    No answers on this topic
    Zoho
    No answers on this topic
    Return on Investment
    Emburse
    • We have seen a return on approver time of nearly 60% meaning our approvers have tripled their output.
    • We have had feedback from our users that time spent creating expenses has gone from an average of 2 hours to perhaps 20 minutes, tops.
    • We have seen in our dashboards that the Emburse Certify Suite of tools has returned an average savings of over $500K a year.
    Incentivized
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    Emburse
    • Positive - tracking return on project investments
    • Positive - being able to plan on future projects
    • Positive - being able to manage costs and attendance
    Incentivized
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    Zoho
    • We have had some issues with the credit card reconciliation process which has made our monthly accounting / close process. This has been a negative
    • Positive ROI is that team members spend less time on expense reports due to the ease of reporting
    • Positive ROI is that substantial training and onboarding is not needed due to the features and simplicity.
    Incentivized
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    ScreenShots

    Emburse Expense Enterprise (formerly Chrome River) Screenshots

    Screenshot of A consistent experience across any screen size or operating systemScreenshot of Simple, customizable tiles for expense entryScreenshot of Approve expenses directly from your inbox with a single click