Navan (formerly TripActions) vs Concur: Head-to-head comparison.

Navan vs Concur: A comparison of features.

How does Navan differ from Concur?

Navan and Concur have similar travel and expense management features. But Navan differs from Concur in these ways.

• Navan offers some travel features that are not available with Concur, including 24/7 on-site assistance, a dedicated event team, and group travel tools.
• Unlike Navan, SAP Concur’s ecosystem offers a wide range of products and services including ERP, CRM, human capital, and supply chain management.
• Concur helps manage procurement processes, such as PO creation and three-way PO matching, a feature that Navan lacks.
• Navan supports payments in multiple currencies while Concur makes this possible through integration with third-party payment providers.
• With Concur, users can avail the services of experts to manage expenses and compliance, and to create custom reports.

Key features: Navan.

Here are Navan’s key features.

Travel management.

An extensive inventory of travel options and personalized results

With Navan, users can plan itineraries and book flights, rental cars, and hotels. Admins can create dynamic policies to ensure compliant travel bookings.

The Team Travel feature allows users to book and manage group travel for 50 employees in addition to booking travel for guests. Navan integrates with Meetings and Events services of Reed & Mackay to offer budget management, a dedicated event team, on-site assistance, and group travel experts. In addition to the services of expert travel agents through Meetings and Events, Navan offers Ava, the AI agent to assist employees with bookings.

The rewards employees earn on business travel can be redeemed for personal trips.

Expense.

Custom spend policies for each entity

Navan’s expense management features streamline the process of tracking and reconciling business expenses. Admins can define spend policies and employees can connect their existing corporate card or upload a photo of receipts. The software allocates line items to corresponding entities and categories while syncing transactions to accounting software.

Navan offers real-time insights into spend, offering a unified view of expenses across reimbursement and cards. Businesses can also capture VAT transactions and report them to reclaim a portion of their expenses.

Corporate card.

Users can connect their existing Mastercard and Visa card with Navan

Navan allows users to connect their Mastercard or Visa card to the platform while retaining their existing rewards. Admins can set custom spend controls for the corporate cards that are enforced when the cards are swiped. Navan flags out-of-policy expenses, categorizes card transactions, and reconciles them.

Reimbursement.

A mobile app to submit expenses and track reimbursements

Navan launched its global reimbursement features in 2022. Employees can connect their personal bank account with the Navan app and submit their expenses to get reimbursed. Companies can reimburse employees in 25 currencies across 45 countries within 24 to 48 hours. Navan also offers the ability to track the reimbursement process.

Navan integrations.

Navan integrates with many travel portals and applications apart from HR platforms.

ERP solutions:

• NetSuite
• QuickBooks Online

Payroll/HR:

• ADP
• BambooHR
• Deel
• Gusto

Receipts and travel:

• Airalo
• AlertMedia
• Battleface
• CIBTvisas
• Productivity
• Slack
• Google Suite

Navan pricing.

Navan pros.

• Comprehensive travel booking solution: A wide range of features, including mobile app to manage booking, automatic itinerary syncing, global travel inventory, and group travel tools.
• Strong reimbursement capabilities: Navan supports 1 to 2-day reimbursements in multiple currencies.
• Smart expense management: Custom spend policies, virtual cards, automated approvals, auto-itemization, and receipt scanning.

Navan cons.

• Not a holistic spend management platform: Does not offer visibility into all non-payroll spend, including purchase orders and bill payments.
• Lacks procurement features: As a travel-focused platform, Navan lacks procurement features.
• No support for AP automation: Lacks AP automation features, such as invoice capturing, validation, and PO matching.

Key features: Concur.

Let’s take a closer look at Concur’s key features.

Concur automates invoice data using OCR and ML technology

Concur Invoice, when integrated with Concur Expense and payment providers, automates the accounts payable processes. Vendors can submit invoices via fax, email, and web portal and the system extracts invoice data with the help of OCR and ML technology. In addition to PO matching, Concur Invoice routes invoices using the defined approval workflows to relevant approvers. By integrating Concur Invoice with Payment Manager and Invoice Pay, users can prepare payment batches and automate payments to vendors.

Procurement.

Users can create purchase orders and match them with invoices on Concur

The Purchase Request module is an add-on module that allows approvers to manage purchase requests. Users can import POs via API or FTP while defining matching rules based on criteria, such as unit price or quantity. Concur matches invoice lines with corresponding PO lines while syncing the matched data to the accounting system.

Expense.

Users can create purchase orders and match them with invoices on Concur

There are multiple expense products within the SAP ecosystem that integrate with each other to streamline expense management. Concur Expense captures receipts and automates expense reports while Concur Request consolidates trip requests and approvals. Users can capture receipts using the ExpenseIt receipt management app, and Drive to capture mileage data. Concur Travel is the travel management platform that syncs with Concur Expense to help manage travel bookings, approvals, and reimbursements.

Payment solutions.

Users can create purchase orders and match them with invoices on Concur

While Concur lacks a direct payment solution, it allows users to connect their existing bank to manage payments. Alternatively, users can integrate Concur Invoice with third-party payment providers within the Concur network for bill payment. Businesses in the U.S. can make use of Invoice Pay and Payment Manager features to automate payments. Concur does not offer corporate cards but users can connect their existing bank cards with Concur Expense.

Concur integrations.

The SAP ecosystem includes many products, all of which integrate with each other. Concur also offers open APIs and pre-built integrations.

ERP solutions:

• Xero
• NetSuite
• Sage Intacct
• QuickBooks (Online and Desktop)
• Certinia

Invoicing/payments:

• Celigo
• PivotNexus Invoice
• American Express @B2B Payments

Receipts and travel:

• Uber
• Lyft
• Booking.com
• Hertz
• Rocketrip
• Aventri

SAP Concur pricing.

Concur’s website has not mentioned the packages or the pricing. The overall cost depends on the modules you select in addition to the volume of invoices and expense reports.

SAP Concur pros.

• A unified T&E experience: Concur streamlines travel bookings with a mobile app while admins can create custom trip approval workflows and provide cash advances.
• Add-on modules: Users can leverage the help of experts for guidance on the best configuration to get the best value for their investment.
• Timely alerts: Timely reminders help users stay on top of their expense and travel tasks.

SAP Concur cons.

• Does not support multiple entity management: Concur does not offer a centralized platform to manage multiple subsidiary spends, approvals, and reconciliation.
• Lack of touchless invoicing: Concur does not offer a truly touchless invoicing experience.
• Outdated UI: The set-up process is time-consuming and the learning curve is steep for new users.
• Poor customer service: The prolonged turnaround time for receiving responses from the support team impacts overall customer experience.

Which is better: Navan or Concur?

The best way to know which platform is better for your business is to go through the features, pricing, pros, and cons we have listed above.

As you know, Concur offers integrated modules to manage travel, expenses, AP automation, purchases, and suppliers in addition to ERP, supply chain, CRM, and human resources. But, keep in mind that the platform can be expensive for small businesses.

Opt for Navan if you are looking for a T&E platform that has a free plan. Navan is also the right choice if you are looking for comprehensive travel management tools and services.

Can these two systems be used together?

No, using Navan and Concur together can mean additional expenses for redundant features as both platforms offer overlapping travel and expense management solutions.

Besides, both these platforms lack advanced procure-to-pay features that modern businesses need.

How Airbase wins against Navan and Concur.

Airbase offers step-by-step purchase assistance

With Airbase, businesses can manage travel bookings and all non-payroll spend on a single, intuitive platform. In addition, Airbase has all the advanced procure, pay, close solutions that modern mid-market and enterprise companies need.

As Airbase offers individual modules of Guided Procurement, AP Automation, Expense Management, and Corporate Cards, companies can add modules as they grow. This modular approach makes Airbase a cost-effective option for businesses.

Airbase goes beyond both Navan and Concur in many aspects, by offering deep integrations with over 70 ERPs, a dedicated fraud detection team, advanced approval flows, granular spend analytics, and much more.

Take a look at the table below to see why Airbase is a superior choice when compared to Navan and Concur.

See how Airbase represents the next generation of P2P solutions — book a demo with us!