Airwallex vs Navan
Quick verdict: Airwallex is our overall pick for Airwallex vs Navan.
Airwallex is a multi-currency account and payments platform with cards; Navan is travel booking with expense capture, free below 300 employees.
| Tool | Rating | Pricing | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Airwallex Best overall Best for teams | 4.1/5 | Free $12/user/mo (Grow) plus platform fee | Airwallex is the multi-currency account layer that also does spend: Explore is $0 per user… |
| Navan Best free | 4.0/5 | Free $15/user/mo after 5 free expensing users | Navan is free for companies of up to 300 employees: Navan Business costs nothing, Navan Ex… |
Bottom line: Airwallex is not a travel tool and Navan is not a payments tool. Companies that travel internationally and pay international suppliers tend to need both, and the interesting comparison is Airwallex versus Ramp on the card side, not versus Navan. Airwallex Explore is $0 and Grow is $12/user plus a platform fee, with card, subscription and wire fees published. Navan Business is free up to 300 employees with unlimited trips; Expense is free for five expensing users then $15 per user per month. Navan for the travel side at zero cost. Airwallex for the money movement side, where no travel product competes.
Pricing and details
Airwallex · 4.1/5
Free plan available · $12/user/mo (Grow) plus platform fee
Subscription per user plus a team-size platform fee, with payment and card rails charged separately: 2.80% + $0.30 domestic, 4.30% + $0.30 on international cards, 0.50% per successful subscription transaction, $15-$25 per wire, and $12 per active Spend user/month above the 10 free Spend users up to 250
No published annual rate; monthly prices are stated in USD and the page notes that terms and additional fees may apply
Airwallex is the multi-currency account layer that also does spend: Explore is $0 per user per month, Grow is $12 per user per month plus a platform fee, and Accelerate is custom - with up to 10 free Spend users.
Score breakdown
Pros
- The only vendor here that publishes its transaction economics as actual numbers: domestic cards 2.80% + $0.30, international 4.30% + $0.30, subscriptions 0.50% per successful transaction, wires $15-$25
- Business accounts in 20+ currencies, local collection accounts and like-for-like settlement in the same product as the cards
- A free tier that includes unlimited multi-currency corporate cards with zero international fees, not a stripped trial
- Up to 10 free Spend users above the subscription fee, so a rollout does not start billing on day one
Cons
- Expense reporting is the junior product here - the roadmap even lists several expense and accounting features as coming soon
- Grow is $12/user/month plus a team-size platform fee, and the fee is not published as a number
- Single-platform concentration: if you need deep accounting integration, the NetSuite and Dynamics connectors sit on Grow and above
Pricing verified 2026-10-03
Navan · 4.0/5
Free plan available · $15/user/mo after 5 free expensing users
Travel itself is funded out of provider commission rather than charged; the expense side bills per expensing user, defined on the page as anyone who submits a transaction by manual entry or Navan Connect
No published annual rate
Navan is free for companies of up to 300 employees: Navan Business costs nothing, Navan Expense is free for the first five expensing users and then $15 per user per month, and Navan Enterprise is sales-only.
Score breakdown
Pros
- The best free offer in the cluster: the whole platform at $0 for companies up to 300 employees, and the reason is structural - travel commissions pay for the software
- Travel booking is genuinely included at no cost rather than subsidised from a higher subscription, so frequent travellers cost nothing extra
- Free Expense for the first five expensing users, which covers a large share of small teams at zero cost
- Navan Connect automates transaction capture from bank feeds, which is where most expense platforms quietly fail
Cons
- Free is explicitly capped at 300 employees, and above that you are in a demo, not a checkout
- The $15 per expensing user step arrives at six people, so a twenty-person team pays $225 a month for the expense side alone
- No annual rate published and no card-led spend program to speak of - this is travel-and-expense, not spend management
Pricing verified 2026-10-03
Frequently asked questions
Which is better overall, Airwallex or Navan?
Airwallex is our overall pick (4.1/5 vs 4.0/5). Airwallex is a multi-currency account and payments platform with cards; Navan is travel booking with expense capture, free below 300 employees.
Do Airwallex and Navan offer free plans?
Airwallex and Navan have a free tier. Airwallex paid plans start at $12/user/mo (Grow) plus platform fee; Navan paid plans start at $15/user/mo after 5 free expensing users.
What does Airwallex cost?
$12/user/mo (Grow) plus platform fee — Subscription per user plus a team-size platform fee, with payment and card rails charged separately: 2.80% + $0.30 domestic, 4.30% + $0.30 on international cards, 0.50% per successful subscription transaction, $15-$25 per wire, and $12 per active Spend user/month above the 10 free Spend users up to 250. Prices were last verified on 2026-10-03.