Navan
Navan automates travel booking and expense management for finance teams and business travelers.
Independent overview by new Mantra · updated September 28, 2026
- Category
- Finance
- Pricing
- Free for companies up to 300 employees and first 5 expense users; $15 per active expense user/mo thereafter
- Implementation
- 1-2 weeks
- Adoption risk
- Low
- Integrates with
- QuickBooks, NetSuite, Sage Intacct, Slack, Workday, Expensify
If your team books its own travel and finance spends days coding receipts, Navan is free for companies up to 300 employees and the first five expense users — enough to set a travel policy and connect your accounting system before you pay anything per user.
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Watch: how Navan works
What Navan does
Navan is a travel and expense platform that handles two jobs in one place: booking business travel and processing expenses. Employees book trips within policy guardrails, while finance teams get real-time visibility into every transaction without chasing receipts or spreadsheets.
On the expense side, Navan's AI Expense Agent reads receipts, applies GL codes from your existing chart of accounts, writes compliant descriptions, and flags line items that fall outside policy. That work happens automatically, reducing the manual categorization and review that typically lands on accounting staff.
The platform connects to accounting systems your team likely already uses—QuickBooks, NetSuite, Sage Intacct, and Workday—as well as Slack and Expensify. Implementation is estimated at one to two weeks, and rollout is usually straightforward given the clear integration path and a free tier available to smaller companies.
Key capabilities
AI Receipt Reading
The AI Expense Agent scans receipts and extracts the relevant data automatically, removing the need for employees to manually enter expense details.
Automatic GL Coding
Navan applies general ledger codes drawn from your own chart of accounts, so expenses land in the right categories without manual intervention from accounting.
Policy Compliance Auditing
The platform automatically flags out-of-policy transactions and checks line items for spend that falls outside your company's rules before it clears.
Travel Booking and Guardrails
Employees book flights, hotels, and other travel from within the platform, with spending limits set by the company to keep bookings within budget.
ERP and Accounting Integration
Navan connects directly to QuickBooks, NetSuite, Sage Intacct, and Workday, pushing expense data into your existing systems without manual exports.
Corporate Card Flexibility
Teams can use Navan corporate cards or connect existing Visa, Mastercard, or American Express corporate cards through Navan Connect, alongside personal card reimbursements.
Best for
- Finance and accounting teams that spend significant time on manual expense categorization, GL coding, and policy audits
- Companies with up to 300 employees looking for a free starting point before committing to per-user costs
- Businesses with frequent employee travel that want booking and expense reporting in a single platform
- Professional services firms whose staff travel regularly and need clear, auditable expense records
- Teams already using QuickBooks, NetSuite, Sage Intacct, Workday, or Expensify who want tighter integration between travel spend and their accounting system
Worth knowing
- The free tier covers companies with up to 300 employees and the first five expense users; costs move to $15 per active expense user per month beyond that, so model your expected active users before assuming it stays free
- Navan covers travel and expense together—if you only need expense automation without a travel program, a standalone expense solution may be a simpler fit
- Integration with your ERP or accounting system is a prerequisite for the GL coding and reconciliation features to work as described; confirm your system is on the supported list before evaluating
- Implementation is estimated at one to two weeks, which is relatively light, but your team will need to provide chart-of-accounts data and define spend policies for the AI to apply correctly
- Companies outside the supported industries or with highly complex, multi-entity accounting structures should verify that Navan's automation rules can match their specific GL and policy requirements before committing
How Navan compares
Navan does two jobs: booking business travel and processing expenses. The fair comparisons are spend solutions that cover only the expense side, and Navan's own free assistant for individual travellers. The deciding question is how much of your spend is travel.
vs Expensify
Expensify is expense-only — receipt capture, approvals and reimbursements from $5 per member a month — and it is one of the solutions Navan integrates with. If staff rarely travel, it is the simpler buy. If travel is a real line item, Navan books trips inside policy and codes the expenses to your chart of accounts in the same system.
vs Ramp
Ramp is card-first: corporate cards whose AI codes transactions, catches anomalies and flags savings, from free to $15 per user a month. Navan also codes expenses and flags out-of-policy spend, adds travel booking with spending guardrails, and works with its own cards or your existing ones. Choose Ramp when card spend is the problem; Navan when travel is.
vs Brex
Brex bundles business banking with spend management — AI categorisation, receipt matching and budget enforcement — from free to $12 per user a month. Navan's scope is travel plus expense, on Navan cards or your existing Visa, Mastercard or American Express cards through Navan Connect. Pick Brex for banking and cards from one provider; Navan if booking trips inside policy matters more.
vs Navan Edge
Navan Edge is Navan's free, early-access AI assistant for one person booking their own business trips outside a company travel programme. A company that wants policy controls, approvals and expense reporting across a team needs Navan itself. Start with Edge if you are a founder or consultant travelling solo; move to Navan once finance needs the receipts coded.
Related solutions
Ready to see Navan in action?
Connect QuickBooks, NetSuite, Sage Intacct or Workday first, because GL coding depends on that connection. Then model your active expense users — beyond the first five it is $15 per active user a month.
Heads-up: this is an affiliate link — if you buy through it, new Mantra may earn a commission at no cost to you. It doesn’t change our take.
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