Expensify vs. Microsoft Excel

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Expensify
Score 9.0 out of 10
N/A
Expensify automates the entire spend management process. Scan receipts, track mileage, submit and approve expenses, manage corporate cards, reimburse employees, pay bills, send invoices, and book travel. Built for individuals and companies of all sizes, anywhere in the world.
$5
per month per user
Microsoft Excel
Score 8.9 out of 10
N/A
Microsoft Excel is a spreadsheet application available as part of Microsoft 365 (Office 365), or standalone, in cloud-based and on-premise editions.
$6.99
per month
Pricing
ExpensifyMicrosoft Excel
Editions & Modules
Collect
$5
per month per user
Control
$9
per month per user
Excel with Microsoft 365
$6.99
per month
Excel for 1 PC or Mac
$139.99
perpetual license
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
ExpensifyMicrosoft Excel
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
ExpensifyMicrosoft Excel
Considered Both Products
Expensify
Chose Expensify
Its easier, intuitive and fun. The built-in avatars and user interfaces are designed to be interesting and attractive- it keeps what can be a tedious task quick and painless
Chose Expensify
Expensify by far passes Excel on keeping track of expenses and reconciling. The report function is also relatively easy to use. The ability to graph is an excellent asset as well.
Chose Expensify
Infinitely more user friend.
Microsoft Excel

No answer on this topic

Features
ExpensifyMicrosoft Excel
Expense Management
Comparison of Expense Management features of Product A and Product B
Expensify
9.6
148 Ratings
16% above category average
Microsoft Excel
-
Ratings
Employee Expense Reporting9.8147 Ratings00 Ratings
Corporate Card Reconciliation9.562 Ratings00 Ratings
Payment Management
Comparison of Payment Management features of Product A and Product B
Expensify
9.3
135 Ratings
15% above category average
Microsoft Excel
-
Ratings
Customizable Approval Policies9.194 Ratings00 Ratings
Financial Document Management9.298 Ratings00 Ratings
Payment Status Tracking9.7109 Ratings00 Ratings
Payment Audit Trail9.787 Ratings00 Ratings
Duplicate Bill Detection8.8111 Ratings00 Ratings
Advanced OCR8.890 Ratings00 Ratings
Electronic Funds Transfer9.476 Ratings00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
ExpensifyMicrosoft Excel
Small Businesses
Dext
Dext
Score 9.6 out of 10
Stackby
Stackby
Score 9.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Precoro
Precoro
Score 9.3 out of 10
Airtable
Airtable
Score 8.7 out of 10
Enterprises
Emburse Chrome River
Emburse Chrome River
Score 8.0 out of 10
Airtable
Airtable
Score 8.7 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
ExpensifyMicrosoft Excel
Likelihood to Recommend
9.6
(239 ratings)
9.2
(74 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
10.0
(14 ratings)
9.7
(7 ratings)
Usability
9.6
(140 ratings)
8.1
(19 ratings)
Availability
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(2 ratings)
Performance
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(2 ratings)
Support Rating
8.5
(45 ratings)
10.0
(2 ratings)
Implementation Rating
9.5
(2 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
Configurability
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(2 ratings)
Ease of integration
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(2 ratings)
Product Scalability
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(2 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(2 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(2 ratings)
User Testimonials
ExpensifyMicrosoft Excel
Likelihood to Recommend
Expensify
I think it's really good for small businesses. At least in the way we use it. It's very good for keeping an eye on employee spending in nearly real time. I'm not sure how it works for larger companies when there is a larger number of people to keep track of.
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Microsoft
I don't really know another program as powerful as Excel. I've used Google Doc programs but do not feel they come close. So far, anytime I've needed a table of some sort for data, whether it's budget oriented or information off a survey, the best system has been Excel. We do web audits on occasion and we create an Excel worksheet featuring every URL of the pages we're auditing, notes, data about the content, information about files attached to the page and other information to help us determine what pages need updating, deleting or otherwise. We also use Excel primarily to export our Google Analytics to in order for us to create reports for clients that need to see specific information about their traffic.
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Pros
Expensify
  • Easy to access online portal whether using a mobile device or desktop app
  • Receipts can be uploaded in a breeze and automatically categorized
  • Expense Reports are submitted monthly on autopilot
  • Expenses for gas is calculated on the app by entering the starting/ending destinations.
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Microsoft
  • It is very good at embedded formulas and tying cells to one another
  • It allows me to compare deals terms on a side-by-side basis and talk my clients through it easily.
  • It is very helpful as well in terms of allowing me to filter/sort results in many different ways depending on what specific information I am most interested in prioritizing.
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Cons
Expensify
  • I wish that I could sync accounts on the back end kind of like with banking software, so that Expensify would automatically port over receipts for recurring expenses as soon as they're available
  • It would be nice to one-click submit an expense all the way through instead of having to attach it to a report
  • Wackier profile icons? :) Not a big deal. This software is pretty much amazing as it is now, and typically the urge to update and modify very good software leads to poor outcomes!
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Microsoft
  • Excel offers collaboration features that allow multiple users to work on the same spreadsheet, but managing changes made by different users can be challenging. Excel could improve its features by offering more granular control, better tracking of changes, and more robust conflict resolution tools.
  • Itcan be a barrier to productivity when importing and exporting data from other applications or file formats. To improve its features, it should offer better support for standard file formats and more robust error handling and reporting tools.
  • Excel can be challenging for finance students and working professionals, but it can be improved by offering more robust tutorials, better documentation, and more user communities and support forums.
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Likelihood to Renew
Expensify
We like using the tool and we receive positive feedback from employees and management who use the tool. It saves time and helps us concentrate on the value adding activities so we are very likely to keep using Expensify in the future
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Microsoft
Excel remains the industry standard for spreadsheets and has maintained simple and straight-forward formula writing methods. Although there is a learning curve to do more complex calculations, there are countless help sites and videos on the Internet for almost any need.
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Usability
Expensify
My rating of 8 out of 10 for Expensify's overall usability reflects its strong performance in empowering individual users and streamlining core expense processes, while acknowledging that there are specific areas, particularly on the administrative or enterprise side, where the user experience could be further refined. Exceptional End-User Experience (for basic tasks).Automation & Time-Saving Features.Clear Workflow for Approvers. Why it's not a perfect 10 (areas for improvement that dock points): Limited corporate bank to choose from, limited multi-currency to pay to ( for instance, as a foreign corporatio,n i cannot pay with my US account to Israeli employees, or pay to our UK employees)
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Microsoft
I'm giving it a 7 because it is my go to. But the fact other prefer Google Sheets when working with a team does get irritating. I've used the online version of Microsoft Excel that other teams can get into and it still seems behind Google Sheets. It's a little clanky and slow? If that's even a term.
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Reliability and Availability
Expensify
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
I have rarely, if ever, had issues with its availability.
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Performance
Expensify
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
Excel load and performs calculations immediately. It integrate well with all Microsoft Office applications and does not slow them down.
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Support Rating
Expensify
Our rep has been amazing. He has built custom reports for us that have been very time consuming and difficult. Our reps are also currently looking into new submission solutions for us that we are excited about. They came up with this and recommended it on their own without me complaining about an issue. They are about our success and are very excited about the product they offer.
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Microsoft
I have not had to use it often, but it is good.
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Implementation Rating
Expensify
The implementation process went rather smoothly, linking it to the bank and cards was handled easily. without too many unnecessary steps. Getting the accounts setup did take some time, but that would be true with any organization. All in all things went smoothly and I was very pleased with the setup and implementation process
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Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
Expensify
It is definitely 10 times better than using an Excel spreadsheet. We are talking a digitized with AI type capabilities to do the work for you. It’s honestly a lifesaver. This beats manual calculations and data entry any day. Scanning 100 receipts and saving them to pdf files not only takes space on your storage but it is an extra unnecessary step
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Microsoft
Out of Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Power BI, IBM SPSS, and Google Sheets, Microsoft Excel is by far the most common tool used for anything data-related across organizations. Accordingly, our organization has also implemented Microsoft Excel as a first-step tool. We recently adopted Microsoft Power BI (the free version), and use it occasionally (mostly for creating dashboards), but it is less commonly understood by stakeholders across our organization and by our clients. Accordingly, Microsoft Excel is more user-friendly and because of its popularity, we can easily look up how to do things in the program online. Google Sheets is a comparable alternative to Microsoft Excel, but because it's cloud-based and we have sensitive data that needs to be protected, we chose against using this software. Finally, a few users (including myself) have access to and utilize IBM's SPSS. For my role, it's a helpful tool to do more rigorous analyses. However, because of its cost and limited functionality as a simple spreadsheet, we only use it for more complex analyses.
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Contract Terms and Pricing Model
Expensify
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
N/A I was not involved in this process.
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Scalability
Expensify
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
Each user can use it to whatever level of expertise they have. It remains the same so users can contribute to another's work regardless of whether they have more or less expertise
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Return on Investment
Expensify
  • We went from paying credit card fees with no approval process to a no fees and complex approval processes.
  • I personally save time in not having to develop a spend report I just have my admin assistent fill in the details of the auto generated report and it is done. Went from an hour long process to 5- 10 minutes max to prepare a high quality audit ready report.
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Microsoft
  • Excel has positively impacted the business as it has increased our efficiency.
  • It also saves us the time that we would have spent on making the calculations that it does for us.
  • Since it works on all devices and is compatible with both Windows and Mac, we do not have to invest in any other alternative.
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ScreenShots

Expensify Screenshots

Screenshot of the dashboard used to manage expenses, book travel, reimburse employees, and create expense reports.Screenshot of corporate cards. The Expensify Card offers cash back on every US purchase.