Pleo Review: Save 138 Hours Annually & Boost Your Financial Control

Expense chaos holding your team back again?

If you’re researching Pleo, you’re probably tired of chasing expense reports, managing endless receipts, or feeling out of control about where company money is really going.

Because let’s be honest—manually tracking business spending wastes hours every week and leaves your finance team scrambling every month-end.

That’s where Pleo steps in, promising to change how you manage spending with smart company cards, automated receipt capture, vendor payments, and deep accounting integrations you won’t get from legacy tools.

In this review, I’ll break down how Pleo can put real-time spending control back in your hands and streamline your entire expense workflow—from card issue to accounting export.

In this Pleo review, you’ll get my firsthand analysis of features, pricing, integrations, and how Pleo compares to alternatives, to help in your evaluation.

You’ll leave knowing the features you need to finally fix business expenses without the admin headache.

Let’s get started.

Pleo Overview

Pleo has been simplifying business spending since they were founded in Copenhagen back in 2015. Their mission is to make company expenses transparent and easy for everyone involved.

Initially targeting startups, they now effectively serve companies of all sizes, including the demanding mid-market segment. I believe their unwavering focus on empowering your employees with smart card autonomy is what truly drives such high user adoption.

Recent developments like their Oracle NetSuite integration and new Overdraft feature clearly show their growth ambitions. We will explore what this means for your business through this Pleo review.

Unlike US-centric competitors that can feel awkward in Europe, Pleo is built specifically for this market. I find their key advantage is the incredibly intuitive user experience that your entire team will genuinely appreciate, which helps reduce training time.

You’ll find them working with over 40,000 businesses across the continent, from modern professional services firms to well-known consumer brands like HelloFresh and Soho House that you will instantly recognize.

From my perspective, their strategy centers on giving finance teams precise, real-time control without creating frustrating administrative work for employees. This approach directly addresses the bottlenecks that plague traditional expense workflows.

Now let’s examine their core capabilities.

Pleo Features

Still battling a mountain of expense reports?

Pleo features are designed to simplify your business spending, giving you real-time control and visibility. Here are the five main Pleo features that revolutionize how you manage company expenses.

1. Smart Company Cards

Employees using personal money for business purchases?

Waiting for reimbursements can be a real headache for your team. This often leads to frustration and delays for everyone involved.

Pleo offers both physical and virtual company cards with customizable spending limits. From my testing, issuing virtual cards in seconds for online buys or contractors is incredibly efficient. This feature means your employees can buy what they need, instantly, without dipping into their own pockets.

So your team gets immediate spending power, and you maintain complete control over company funds.

2. Automated Expense Management

Are you manually chasing receipts and reports?

This can eat up countless hours for your finance team, leading to errors and a lack of real-time spending insights.

Pleo automates receipt capture, prompting employees via the app and using “Fetch” to match online receipts. What I love about this approach is how it eliminates traditional expense reports entirely. This feature provides real-time visibility into spending, allowing for immediate budget monitoring.

This means you can say goodbye to manual data entry and gain accurate, up-to-the-minute insights into all expenditures.

3. Reimbursements

Is managing out-of-pocket expenses still a manual nightmare?

Manual reimbursement processes are often time-consuming and frustrating for both employees and the finance department.

Pleo streamlines mileage and out-of-pocket expense submissions right through the app. It even automates mileage rate calculations, which is a huge time-saver. This feature makes reviewing and approving employee reimbursements quick and effortless.

The result is your team gets paid back faster, and your finance department significantly reduces their administrative burden.

4. Invoice Management (Pleo Invoices)

Tired of processing invoices one by one?

Manual invoice handling can lead to late payment fees, duplicate entries, and a disorganized accounts payable workflow.

Pleo Invoices automates your entire AP process, from capture to scheduled payments, using smart OCR technology. This is where Pleo shines; it flags duplicate invoices to prevent double payments. You can set flexible approval workflows and manage all bills centrally.

This means you save valuable time, avoid late fees, and maintain a clear overview of all your company’s financial obligations.

5. Accounting Integrations

Struggling with manual data entry into your accounting software?

Disconnects between spending and bookkeeping can lead to errors and consume excessive time during month-end reconciliation.

Pleo integrates seamlessly with popular accounting platforms like Xero, QuickBooks, and Sage. From my testing, this eliminates manual data transfer and errors, ensuring accurate financial records. This feature ensures real-time synchronization of your spending data.

What you get instead is effortless reconciliation and significant time savings every month for your accounting team.

You’ll appreciate how these Pleo features work together to create a comprehensive spend management ecosystem, streamlining everything from purchases to accounting.

Pleo Pricing

Worried about software costs spiraling out of control?

Pleo pricing offers a transparent, tiered approach, ensuring you can find a plan that fits your business needs and budget without hidden surprises.

Plan	Price & Features
Starter	£9.50/month (yearly cost, includes 3 users) • Pleo company cards (plastic/virtual) • Real-time expense tracking • Automated expense reports • Accounting system integrations
Essential	£39.00/month (yearly cost, includes 3 users; additional users £11/month) • All Starter features • Reimbursements, mileage & per diem tracking • Flexible card limits • Vendor cards
Advanced	£89.00/month (yearly cost, includes 3 users; additional users £14.50/month) • All Essential features • 0.5% cashback on spending • Multi-entity management • Budgets, HRIS integrations, phone support
Beyond	Custom pricing – contact sales • All Advanced features • 0.75% cashback, spending insights • Sub-accounts, spend guidelines, purchase orders • Assisted onboarding, dedicated Customer Success Manager

1. Value Assessment

Solid value for your money.

From my cost analysis, Pleo’s tiered pricing clearly links features to your business stage, which helps you avoid overpaying for unnecessary complexity. What impressed me is how the per-user pricing scales naturally with your team while offering increasing levels of control and insights across plans.

This means your monthly costs stay predictable as you grow, aligning your spending solution with your evolving operational needs.

2. Trial/Demo Options

Try before you buy.

Pleo offers a valuable free trial period, typically three weeks, which activates once you deposit funds into your Pleo Wallet. What I found valuable is how this trial lets you experience real transactions, helping you truly evaluate the platform’s effectiveness for your team’s spending habits.

This allows you to assess the practical benefits and user experience before committing to a full subscription, ensuring a good fit.

3. Plan Comparison

Choosing the right plan.

The Starter plan is great for micro-businesses, but the Essential tier offers crucial features like reimbursements for growing teams. Budget-wise, the Advanced plan delivers significant cashback benefits for larger spending volumes, making it surprisingly cost-effective for extensive use cases.

This tiered approach helps you match Pleo pricing to your actual usage requirements and expected business growth, ensuring optimal value.

My Take: Pleo’s pricing strategy is highly scalable and transparent, making it an excellent choice for businesses from startups to mid-market, offering clear value as your team grows.

The overall Pleo pricing reflects transparent value without hidden surprises for your business.

Pleo Reviews

What do Pleo users really think?

From my analysis of various Pleo reviews, I’ve compiled insights from real user feedback, helping you understand what actual customers think about the software.

1. Overall User Satisfaction

High marks from most users.

Pleo reviews consistently show strong overall satisfaction, with average ratings around 4.5 stars on platforms like G2 and Gartner. What I found in user feedback is how most users appreciate its simplicity and efficiency, especially for streamlining expense processes.

This suggests you can expect a generally positive experience with its core features.

2. Common Praise Points

The ease of use stands out.

Users frequently praise Pleo for its intuitive interface and automated receipt capture. What stood out in customer feedback is how seamless integration with accounting software saves significant time, simplifying reconciliation and reducing manual errors.

This means your finance team can expect reduced administrative burden and increased visibility.

3. Frequent Complaints

Some minor tech hiccups arise.

While generally positive, some Pleo reviews mention occasional app slowness or bugs. What users say consistently is how more customizable features or advanced reporting would benefit larger teams, especially for complex finance operations.

These issues appear to be minor frustrations rather than major deal-breakers for most users.

The overall Pleo reviews highlight strong satisfaction with practical feedback for minor improvements.

Best Pleo Alternatives

Considering other options for spend management?

The best Pleo alternatives offer diverse strengths, making your choice depend on business size, geographic focus, and specific feature priorities.

1. Ramp

Are you a US-based, scaling company?

Ramp stands out for US companies needing a more robust, comprehensive spend management suite including corporate cards, bill payments, and invoice processing. From my competitive analysis, Ramp offers stronger AI-driven expense categorization and extensive integrations for complex financial operations.

Choose Ramp when your US business needs powerful, integrated features beyond simple expense management.

2. Spendesk

Seeking strong invoice and bill management?

Spendesk is an excellent alternative for small to midsize businesses prioritizing transparent expense management alongside a superior invoice and bill payment system. What I found comparing options is that Spendesk provides better invoice management features than some competitors, though Pleo is rated higher for support.

Consider this alternative when comprehensive invoice and bill pay capabilities are crucial for your business.

3. Expensify

Prioritizing ease of use for expense submissions?

Expensify shines in simplifying employee expense reports and reimbursements, known for its intuitive interface for submitting and tracking out-of-pocket costs. Alternative-wise, Expensify is highly user-friendly for employee submissions, though Pleo rates better for overall support and integration ease.

You’ll want to consider Expensify when your primary goal is effortless employee expense submission and tracking.

4. Rydoo

Does your team operate across multiple countries?

Rydoo excels for companies with global teams requiring advanced automation, particularly in data entry, receipt translation, and complex workflow support. From my analysis, Rydoo provides extensive integration and multi-country features, making it ideal for distributed international operations.

Choose Rydoo when your business demands sophisticated global expense workflows and robust integration options.

The best Pleo alternatives depend on your specific business needs and geographical focus, rather than just core features.

Pleo Setup

Is Pleo setup complicated?

Pleo implementation is generally straightforward and quick, designed for a hassle-free deployment. This Pleo review provides practical guidance on what to expect.

1. Setup Complexity & Timeline

Getting started is impressively simple.

Pleo’s setup involves registering a corporate account and depositing funds, allowing you to issue cards almost immediately. What I found about deployment is that the onboarding process is remarkably user-friendly, often completing within a few days for most businesses.

You can expect to start using the system quickly, without the need for extensive project planning or a long lead time.

2. Technical Requirements & Integration

Minimal technical hurdles to overcome.

Pleo is cloud-based, accessible via web and mobile apps, and integrates with major accounting systems like Xero and QuickBooks. From my implementation analysis, existing IT infrastructure typically suffices, and integrations are designed to be straightforward, reducing manual reconciliation effort.

Your IT team will appreciate the ease of connecting to accounting systems and the minimal impact on existing hardware or software.

3. Training & Change Management

User adoption happens fast, almost intuitively.

Due to its intuitive mobile app, the learning curve for employees is very low, making expense capture simple and efficient. What I found about deployment is that employee training needs are minimal, as the system is designed for quick understanding and adoption.

Focus on communicating the benefits to your team, as the user-friendly design naturally drives high adoption rates without extensive training.

4. Support & Success Factors

Excellent support accelerates your success.

Pleo receives high praise for its customer support, offering immediate and helpful answers via live chat, ensuring you’re never stuck. What I found about deployment is that responsive support helps smooth any initial bumps, making your implementation experience even easier.

Leverage their responsive support and focus on the intuitive interface to ensure your team quickly becomes proficient and engaged with the platform.

Overall, your Pleo setup is designed for quick deployment and high user adoption, making it a refreshingly simple addition to your financial toolkit.

Bottom Line

Should you get Pleo for your business?

This Pleo review provides a clear final assessment, detailing who benefits most from its spend management capabilities and why it stands out from alternatives.

1. Who This Works Best For

Growing businesses prioritizing employee empowerment and automation.

Pleo is ideal for Small to Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) across Europe, particularly those in tech, design, or professional services, seeking to modernize expense and invoice management. From my user analysis, businesses aiming to reduce manual expense reports will find immense value in its real-time visibility.

You’ll succeed with Pleo if your team needs to decentralize spending while finance maintains firm, real-time control.

2. Overall Strengths

Unmatched ease of use and real-time financial control.

The software excels at simplifying expense management by empowering employees with smart company cards while providing finance teams with real-time visibility. From my comprehensive analysis, its automated receipt capture significantly reduces administrative burden and integrates seamlessly with accounting software like Xero, saving substantial time.

These strengths mean you’ll gain remarkable efficiency and financial oversight, freeing your team from tedious manual tasks.

3. Key Limitations

Suitability for very large or US-centric operations.

While highly effective, Pleo may not fully meet the highly specialized or complex financial automation needs of very large enterprises. Based on this review, some users report occasional app slowness or minor bugs when uploading receipts, which can be an inconvenience.

I find these limitations are typically manageable for its target audience but could be a deal-breaker for specific enterprise requirements or US market preferences.

4. Final Recommendation

Pleo earns a strong recommendation for its ideal audience.

You should choose Pleo if your European-based SME prioritizes employee empowerment, user-friendly expense management, and automation to eliminate manual processes. From my analysis, Pleo delivers significant time savings and efficiency gains, proving its ROI for businesses that need to streamline spending.

My confidence level is high for businesses seeking to modernize and gain real-time control over their daily expenses.

This Pleo review provides strong confidence for businesses seeking modernization and efficiency in their financial operations, making it a highly compelling solution.