The verdict in three sentences
For a 300-employee company, an expense management SaaS (Spendesk, N2F, Expensya) costs between 110,000 and 210,000 EUR over 5 years once licences, accounting integration and add-ons are included. A custom application requires 45,000 to 90,000 EUR excl. VAT of development, then 8,000 to 15,000 EUR per year for maintenance, hosting and OCR. Custom becomes profitable when your business rules (job-site allowances, long-distance travel, per-project rebilling) force accounting to correct the SaaS every month.
What an expense SaaS really costs in 2026
Published prices are only a starting point. Above 200 users, vendors sell on quotation, add modules (cards, multi-entity, ERP connectors) and raise prices by 3 to 7% each year. Here are 2026 orders of magnitude observed at mid-sized French companies.
| Solution | Indicative price per user per month | Strengths | Limits for a multi-site company |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spendesk | 8 to 12 EUR (quote-based, cards depending on plan) | virtual cards, approval workflows | per-site analytics rules need workarounds |
| N2F | 6 to 9 EUR | OCR, mileage allowances, accounting exports | construction-specific scales configured by hand |
| Expensya | 7 to 10 EUR | multilingual OCR, ERP connectors | advanced modules billed as options |
| Mooncard | 7 to 11 EUR plus card fees | linked payment card | less flexible on expense advances |
| SAP Concur | 10 to 15 EUR | large groups, travel | heavy integration project, 20,000 EUR and up |
| Custom application | 0 EUR licence | rules coded exactly like your agreements | 10 to 16 week project to manage |
The real calculation runs over 5 years and includes every line item.
| Item (300 users, 5 years) | Market SaaS | Custom application |
|---|---|---|
| Licences or development | 108,000 to 180,000 EUR | 45,000 to 90,000 EUR excl. VAT |
| Accounting and ERP integration | 5,000 to 15,000 EUR | included in development |
| Configuration and training | 3,000 to 8,000 EUR | 3,000 to 5,000 EUR |
| Receipt OCR | included | 600 to 1,700 EUR per year (0.03 to 0.08 EUR per receipt) |
| Hosting and backups | included | 150 to 400 EUR per month |
| Ongoing maintenance | included, at the vendor's pace | 6,000 to 12,000 EUR per year |
| 5-year total | 116,000 to 203,000 EUR | 90,000 to 188,000 EUR |
The ranges overlap: custom does not win by default. It wins when the user count exceeds 150 to 200 and manual rework is frequent.
OCR, accounting export and business rules: where custom makes the difference
A SaaS handles the standard case very well: a meal, a toll, a hotel night. Problems appear with rules specific to your sector. In construction, for instance, long-distance travel allowances, meal allowances and per-site cost codes often generate 5 to 15% of claims that must be reworked by hand.
| Feature | Standard SaaS | Custom application |
|---|---|---|
| Receipt OCR | included, stated accuracy 90 to 95% | Mindee, Azure or Google Document AI API, 92 to 97% |
| Accounting export | native Sage, Cegid, Quadra formats | specific connector, 3 to 6 days of development |
| Long-distance travel allowances | partial configuration | rules coded by zone, site and collective agreement |
| Per-project rebilling | free analytics field | automatic allocation by site code |
| Offline capture on site | depends on vendor | PWA with offline photo capture |
| Legally valid archiving | often already certified | to be validated, 2,000 to 5,000 EUR of services |
| Time to go live | 2 to 6 weeks | 10 to 16 weeks |
Two watch points for custom: compliance of receipt digitisation (reliable copy under the French decree of 22 March 2017) and code ownership. Require an assignment of rights and the source code in your own Git repository from the first sprint.
Mini case study
Claire, CFO of a 300-employee construction company in Lyon, pays Spendesk 9 EUR per user per month, i.e. 32,400 EUR per year. Her accounting team spends 2 days a month reallocating expenses by site, i.e. 24 days a year valued at 350 EUR, so 8,400 EUR of lost time. Real annual cost: 40,800 EUR.
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She gets a quote for a custom application at 70,000 EUR excl. VAT, with 12,000 EUR a year for maintenance, hosting and OCR. Annual gain: 40,800 minus 12,000, i.e. 28,800 EUR. Payback in about 2.4 years, and over 5 years a gap of about 74,000 EUR in her favour (204,000 EUR versus 130,000 EUR). Without the accounting time savings, break-even moves to 3.4 years: that is the assumption she presents to management, to stay prudent.
FAQ
How long does it take to build an expense management app?
Allow 10 to 16 weeks for a complete version with OCR, approval workflows and accounting export. A first release usable by a 30-employee pilot group can be delivered in 6 to 8 weeks.
Can paper receipts be destroyed after scanning?
In France, yes, if digitisation meets the reliable-copy conditions set by the decree of 22 March 2017 (fidelity, timestamping, integrity). Documents must then be kept for 10 years under the Commercial Code, which the app must guarantee.
Can we keep payment cards without Spendesk?
Yes, through card issuers with APIs (Swan, Qonto, Treezor) costing about 2 to 6 EUR per card per month. The custom app pulls transactions and matches them to receipts automatically.
From how many users does custom make sense?
Below 120 users, a SaaS at 8 EUR costs about 57,600 EUR over 5 years and is usually cheaper. Above 200 users with specific business rules, custom is most often justified.
Who maintains the app after delivery?
A maintenance contract of 500 to 1,000 EUR excl. VAT per month covers fixes, security updates and changes to allowance scales. Reversibility must be written into the contract so you can switch provider.
Let's scope your project. We price your expense app from your real rules (sites, allowance scales, ERP), with an indicative budget of 45,000 to 90,000 EUR excl. VAT and a 10 to 16 week schedule. Detailed quote within 48 h. WhatsApp +221 77 596 93 33.
Mohamed Bah
Fondateur, Kolonell
Passionate about digital and entrepreneurship in Africa, Mohamed has been helping Sénégalese businesses with their digital transformation since 2020. Founder of Kolonell, he believes every SME deserves a professional and accessible online présence.
