At a glanceClyr vs Airbase at a glance
CompareWhat the Paylocity acquisition means for evaluators
Paylocity completed its acquisition of Airbase in October 2024 for roughly $325 million and has been integrating it as the spend-management side of its HR and payroll platform. For companies already on Paylocity, that bundling is a legitimate draw: one vendor, one contract, HR and spend under one roof. For everyone else it introduces the question every acquired product faces: whose roadmap does it serve now? If your company does not run Paylocity, you would be buying a module whose center of gravity is someone else's suite.
Clyr's counterposition is simple: expense automation as the whole product, chosen on its own merits, integrated with your operational stack rather than your HR stack.
Head to headWhere each platform is strong
Procurement and office spend. Airbase's guided procurement, virtual cards, and approval flows for office spending are genuinely good, and remain the reason mid-market finance teams shortlist it. Clyr does not do guided procurement intake; its approvals govern real-world spend as it happens.
Field capture. Clyr texts the cardholder at the swipe; a photo reply captures the receipt, and no-login links cover subs, cleaners, and crews. Airbase assumes an employee at a desk with a login.
Job costing. Clyr codes spend to jobs, cost codes, and properties with real-time budget vs. actual and billable markup. Airbase codes to GL dimensions for office accounting; project cost control is not its game.
AP. Both automate AP. Clyr adds PO matching, utility bill retrieval from provider portals with unit-level matching and variance alerts, and 1099 e-filing, in the same system as card spend.
Cards. Airbase's model centers on its issued corporate cards. Clyr issues nothing and automates the cards you already hold across 16,000+ financial institutions.
PricingPricing model
Airbase pricing is quote-based and increasingly packaged in the context of Paylocity relationships. Clyr is usage-based standalone software. If a bundle discount with your HR platform is the deciding factor, that is Airbase's pitch working as designed; price the tooling on what your field teams will actually use.
Who should choose Airbase
Mid-market, office-centric companies, especially existing Paylocity customers, that want procurement intake, virtual cards, and spend approvals integrated with HR and payroll under one vendor.
Who should choose Clyr
Field-based businesses whose spending happens away from desks: construction, property management, HVAC and trades, field services. Companies that code spend to jobs and properties, keep their own cards and banks, and pick operational tools for operational reasons.
MigrationSwitching from Airbase to Clyr
Connect your existing cards and accounting system (about 15 minutes of admin setup), rebuild approval rules in Clyr's rule engine, and onboard field staff by text. If you carry Airbase corporate card balances, wind them down with finance on your schedule; Clyr runs on your existing card feeds from day one.
The wider fieldOther Airbase alternatives worth considering
Ramp
free software funded by its charge card; strong procurement features. See Clyr vs Ramp.
Brex
charge cards for startups and enterprise, now part of Capital One. See Clyr vs Brex.
Stampli
invoice-first AP automation if procurement intake is not the need. See Clyr vs Stampli.
FAQFrequently asked questions
Is Clyr a good alternative to Airbase?
For field-based companies, yes. Clyr covers capture, coding, job costing, AP, and utility bills on your existing cards, without buying into an HR-suite ecosystem.
Who owns Airbase?
Paylocity, the HR and payroll company, which completed the acquisition in October 2024. Airbase now operates as Paylocity's spend-management offering.
Do I need Paylocity to use Airbase?
No, but the products are increasingly sold and developed together, which matters for a long-term tooling decision. Clyr has no suite dependency.
Does Clyr issue corporate cards like Airbase?
No. Clyr automates the cards you already have. If issuing virtual cards is a hard requirement, that is a real difference to weigh.
Can Clyr handle procurement requests?
Clyr routes spend through approval rules and manages vendor bills through payment, but it does not offer Airbase-style guided procurement intake forms.
What does Clyr integrate with?
QuickBooks, Xero, Sage Intacct, and NetSuite on accounting, plus Jobber, Service Fusion, Buildium, Hostaway, Hosthub, and Connecteam on operations.
Get a demoSee it on your own spend
Pick your spend tool on its own merits. Book a 20-minute demo and see Clyr work on the cards you already carry.