Airbase ranks #1 for Spend Management on G2: How review sites can help with decision-making around spend management software.

The crowd has spoken. Airbase is the top-ranked spend management platform for mid-market companies according to the popular review site G2, the gold standard for review sites with over 60 million visitors a year.

The people who matter most to us here at Airbase — those who use our platform to manage their spend — consistently give Airbase high marks on G2. In line with that consistently positive feedback, we now hold the coveted position: top right in G2’s Mid-Market Grid® Report for Spend Management, Winter 2022. The report dives into much greater detail than the ranking information available on G2’s site. It offers a breakdown of how each contender places in their respective categories, as well as a thorough explanation of the methodology used to determine rankings.

Get your copy of the G2 Spend Management Mid-Market Report.

Reviews and software purchases — keep an eye on the future.

Software purchasing decisions are often crucial to a company’s ability to scale successfully. The finance pros in our Unicorn Playbook point to occasional regret rushing into short-term solutions when building their tech stack. At the same time, a lengthy RFP process is also difficult for small, busy teams. Having a thorough framework for buying decisions makes the process easier, and the outcome more successful. Research shows that product reviews play an increasingly important part in the B2B software buyer’s journey.

Interpreting the G2 Grid.

G2’s granular breakdowns of trends and patterns make it easy to compare software offerings. An easy visual component is the G2 Grid, which is divided into four quadrants. The placement within each quadrant is determined by rankings in Satisfaction (along the horizontal axis) and Market Presence (along the vertical axis) categories.

The G2 Quadrants are:

• Niche: May have very good reviews, but haven’t received enough of them to validate their veracity.
• Contenders: Have received good ratings for Market Presence, but score low in the Satisfaction category.
• High Performers: Have high rankings for Satisfaction, but low in Market Presence.
• Leaders: Have high rankings in Satisfaction and enjoy a high Market Presence.

See how Airbase places in the mid-market (51-1,000 employees) Spend Management Grid:

Of course, we are particularly proud of Airbase’s high placement along the Satisfaction axis, since it reflects the many things we do as a company to make our product the best it can possibly be.

While we can’t do anything about our age, as we compare ourselves to some of our competitors who have been around much longer, we are also proud of our commitment to rapid growth as reflected in Market Presence, which considers:

• Number of Employees.
• Reviews.
• Web Presence.
• Social Presence.
• Growth
• Seller Age.
• Employee Satisfaction and Engagement.

The evolving spend management category.

Spend management is a relatively new sector in accounting software, and its terms are still being defined. G2 defines spend management software as software that tracks and manages non-payroll expenses. Airbase is the one company to include all non-payroll spend — corporate cards, bill payments, and employee expense reimbursements — as part of its original platform concept. Others in the category do not have this same breadth of functionality, and Airbase can also lay claim to a depth of features not found elsewhere.

The number of software companies in this category continues to rise, with plenty of investor interest fueling new startups on a regular basis. This means that the smart money expects that most companies will eventually adopt spend management software to get visibility and control over what has historically been a messy, inefficient process.

Within the category, however, there is still a wide range of functionality and we are proud to be the product with the greatest range of features. For some products, spend management refers to software-enabled virtual cards attached to customizable approval workflows, yet only Airbase offers advanced approvals and a choice of corporate cards to be used on its platform, including SVB cards. Some cards come with points and rewards — Airbase cards have generous cash back. To meet the need of mid-market companies, Airbase includes international, multi-subsidiary and multi-currency support, and purchase orders. Only with this full roster of features can a spend management platform truly handle all non-payroll spend for a company as it grows.

The importance of considering company size.

G2 also publishes a spend management grid for small companies, and Airbase is a leader in this category too. However, as startup and early-stage companies increasingly focus on securing systems that scale as their company grows, the mid-market grid is of greatest importance for any company expecting to grow beyond 50 employees in their forecasted future. This will avoid the rip-and-replace costs and hassles associated with replacing a system that a company has outgrown. Typically, smaller companies prefer simpler solutions but, increasingly, they are more attuned to scalability.

Startup, early-stage, small companies value free solutions and rapid onboarding, and gravitate to companies that offer both. Readers of Airbase blogs will know that Airbase has just very recently added a free package of its software, along with offering the highest cash back on any card in the market to make it even more attractive to the small company segment. The Standard package is an excellent starting point for any company that wishes to begin with the best solution and scale if necessary to IPO and beyond.

It’s not surprising to see Ramp in the top position on the small company grid. Its product was specifically designed for startup companies, and Ramp has pursued an aggressive push into that market to earn market share from longer-term players like Divvy and Spendesk. However, you’ll see that Ramp, like other small-company favorites, doesn’t have the depth and breadth to also satisfy mid-market companies as completely as Airbase does.

For more information on how we earned our top mid-market placement, be sure to check out the report. Airbase pays close attention to our reviews, and appreciates their candor and detail. Thanks to anyone who has submitted a review — we’re listening!

See for yourself how Airbase earns G2’s top reviews — schedule a demo today.