Emburse Certify vs. Zoho Expense

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Emburse Certify
Score 7.4 out of 10
N/A
Certify is travel and expense management software developed by the company of the same name in Maine, which merged with Chrome River in 2019 to form Emburse.N/A
Zoho Expense
Score 9.1 out of 10
N/A
Zoho 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 CertifyZoho Expense
Editions & Modules
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 CertifyZoho Expense
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoYes
Entry-level Setup Fee$8 Expense reportOptional
Additional DetailsCertify AP has volume based pricing based on processed invoices20% discount for annual pricing.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Emburse CertifyZoho Expense
Considered Both Products
Emburse Certify
Chose Emburse Certify
Easy to use on desktop.
Zoho Expense

No answer on this topic

Features
Emburse CertifyZoho Expense
Expense Management
Comparison of Expense Management features of Product A and Product B
Emburse Certify
7.6
2 Ratings
8% below category average
Zoho Expense
7.7
3 Ratings
7% below category average
Employee Expense Reporting8.22 Ratings8.13 Ratings
Corporate Card Reconciliation7.01 Ratings7.43 Ratings
Payment Management
Comparison of Payment Management features of Product A and Product B
Emburse Certify
7.8
2 Ratings
2% below category average
Zoho Expense
7.2
3 Ratings
10% below category average
Customizable Approval Policies9.02 Ratings7.93 Ratings
Financial Document Management9.02 Ratings8.02 Ratings
Payment Status Tracking9.22 Ratings7.93 Ratings
Payment Audit Trail6.02 Ratings8.02 Ratings
Duplicate Bill Detection7.52 Ratings7.73 Ratings
Advanced OCR6.01 Ratings5.32 Ratings
Electronic Funds Transfer00 Ratings5.53 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Emburse CertifyZoho Expense
Small Businesses
Dext
Dext
Score 9.7 out of 10
Dext
Dext
Score 9.7 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Precoro
Precoro
Score 9.4 out of 10
Precoro
Precoro
Score 9.4 out of 10
Enterprises
Emburse Chrome River
Emburse Chrome River
Score 7.8 out of 10
Emburse Chrome River
Emburse Chrome River
Score 7.8 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Emburse CertifyZoho Expense
Likelihood to Recommend
8.5
(57 ratings)
7.9
(7 ratings)
Usability
9.0
(41 ratings)
8.0
(3 ratings)
Support Rating
4.9
(5 ratings)
10.0
(3 ratings)
User Testimonials
Emburse CertifyZoho Expense
Likelihood to Recommend
Emburse
Certify is not well suited for multi-dimensional ERPs. Although Certify 'offers' general ledger dimensions GLD, the use of them is extremely limited. Filtering on any GLD can only be done once. There is not the possibility for creating hierarchies with the dimensions. The only method of exporting is via a flat file or the open API, which I understand is quite limited. This software is for a smaller scaled business that is not trying to track across dimensions or create hierarchies. Data flow is one directional. I cannot emphasize enough the shortcomings of the reporting. The parameters are mostly based on expense dates rather than expense reports. There are entirely too many of them, and some of them perform the function!
Read full review
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
Read full review
Pros
Emburse
  • Integration with Amtrav or other travel booking systems. Certify has a tight integration with travel systems that makes it feel nearly like one cohesive tool.
  • Easy expense options. Use OCR on receipts, import from credit cards and merge items, approve and inquire about expenses. Track your submissions.
  • Easy UI. Friendly and easy to navigate without getting lost.
Read full review
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.
Read full review
Cons
Emburse
  • Reporting: I would like to see more chart availability from the program. We include various data points from Certify in our monthly financial statement package. Currently, we export data from the program and create our own pivot tables to create charts.
  • Dashboard feature: It would be nice to be able to use the data for a specific date and then be able to print that information.
  • Can't think of another one. As stated before, they listen to their customers so prior issues have been addressed and implemented.
Read full review
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.
Read full review
Usability
Emburse
If the integrations with our card programs had succeeded, I expect [Emburse] Certify would have worked well for expense submitters and approvers. During the short time that the American Express Business integration was active, transactions flowed smoothly, and the expense reporting and receipt matching functions were quite good. The [Emburse] Certify mobile app was particularly powerful and easy to use.
Read full review
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
Read full review
Support Rating
Emburse
The measure of support is how well they respond when you really need them, like when the system is not performing correctly. We have been on the platform less than a year, and there have been at least 2 instances, where the platform was down. The 2nd time was the day before out fiscal year end. And they need a development website. When they are making changes to your LIVE instance, and things go wrong, the client is the first to know about it! I've come to understand that Certify has tiers of support. Those in tier 1, barely know more about the software than the users. I sent a request for a report that shows expense reports currently pending approval and after 5 days of back and forth I was told to build it myself.
Read full review
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. :)
Read full review
Alternatives Considered
Emburse
Before Certify, there was only manual expense reports entered for our company. This took too much time for employees too finish and caused a delay of efficiency. With Certify, it is easier to access and finish each report with the right amount of effectiveness and efficiency it needs. Certify is really helpful in saving a lot of time for employees that do not have time.
Read full review
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.
Read full review
Return on Investment
Emburse
  • The organization and automatic flow of the expense report to approvers and then AP saves time for all. The user has agreed that it is easier and quicker to prepare the expense report and the managers and AP department finds the automated process to be quicker and more efficient. Time saved is money saved.
  • Certify can recognize if a duplicate expense is submitted or if an expense is submitted too late to be reimbursed according to our policies. This prevents us from reimbursing an expense in error.
  • We use a customized report to track a specific type of expense that gets submitted by our sales team. There is a limit on what can be spent on specific expenses that fall into an entertainment category and the report helps us to stay within the limits. Previously, without this tool, we had spent so much more time manually tracking these expenses and had gone over the limits, creating a deficiency in our processes.
Read full review
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.
Read full review
ScreenShots

Emburse Certify Screenshots

Screenshot of Certify Homepage - User interface for all users that includes a quick view of their expenses, pending expense reports and approval requests.Screenshot of Certify Mobile - Snap photos of receipts on the go and upload them instantly to your virtual Certify Wallet.Screenshot of Certify Travel - Now, corporate travel is even easier. Introducing Certify Travel, your end-to-end corporate travel solution to simplify bookings for employees while helping your company manage travel practices and costs. All for one low monthly fee and no booking fees! Certify Travel is easy to use, yet it is also a powerful enhancement to your company’s expense management system.Screenshot of Certify Reporting & AnalyticsScreenshot of Certify AP- manage cashflow with accounts payable automationScreenshot of Certify AP- streamlining employee purchasing