Ramp

At its heart, Ramp offers tools designed for financial officers, CFOs, business leaders, and finance teams who need better financial controls. The platform focuses on automation, real-time insights, and aggressive cost control—a different approach than what you'll find in traditional solutions.

By late 2023, the company reported a $12 billion annual run rate, representing transactions processed on the platform. This five-fold jump from $2.5 billion in 2022 shows how quickly businesses across sectors are adopting Ramp.

As Fintech Labs notes, Ramp's revenue model is "deliberately aligned with customer savings," quite different from card programs that want to increase customer spending.

Ramp breaks the mold with its zero-cost, software-first pricing approach. The platform costs $0 per user per month—making it attractive for businesses regardless of size. Unlike typical SaaS models, Ramp makes money through interchange fees from card usage instead of software subscriptions.

This innovative pricing includes access to a complete suite of features without SaaS fees:

• Expense automation
• Bill payments
• Corporate cards
• Real-time spend visibility
• Finance analytics

The value becomes even clearer when compared to competitors like Brex, Divvy, and Expensify, who often charge monthly fees or hide features behind tiers. Ramp's approach eliminates both direct software costs and operational charges, especially appealing for growing businesses aiming to streamline financial operations.

A key benefit is the straightforward 1.5% flat cash back on all spending. This direct approach differs from complex points systems offered by competitors, focusing on actual savings rather than pushing more spending.

According to recent fintech analysis, Ramp's revenue model is "deliberately aligned with customer savings," unlike card programs that want customers to spend more. This alignment has fueled Ramp's growth, with the platform hitting a $12 billion annual run rate by late 2023, up from $2.5 billion in 2022.

For businesses evaluating financial solutions, Ramp's pricing offers clear advantages:

1. Predictable costs with no hidden fees or per-seat charges
2. Scalability without increasing software costs
3. Full access to all features without tier restrictions
4. Direct cash back that goes back into your business

While zero-cost might sound too good to be true, remember that Ramp makes money from interchange fees when businesses use their cards. This model lets Ramp offer comprehensive financial management while aligning its success with yours.

Ramp's pricing represents a disruptive approach in the fintech world. By eliminating traditional SaaS fees and offering a full-featured platform at no direct cost, Ramp gives businesses a compelling way to streamline financial operations while maximizing savings and rewards.

Ramp transforms how businesses handle their finances, offering tangible benefits backed by user experiences and concrete results.

Time Savings

Businesses using Ramp close their books up to 8 times faster. This dramatic efficiency boost comes from the platform's smart automation features that eliminate the manual processes that traditionally bog down expense management.

The AI-powered automation automatically sorts and tracks expenses, cutting down manual data entry and reducing errors. Users consistently report how this automation transforms their outdated systems into streamlined processes.

Cost Reduction

Companies using Ramp typically cut overall expenses by 5% through better policy enforcement, analytics, and negotiated vendor discounts. The real-time spend tracking and alerts help businesses spot and control costs by showing exactly where money goes across the organization.

With Ramp's insights, businesses can pinpoint overspending and negotiate better terms with vendors they use frequently. This proactive approach leads to significant savings over time.

Efficiency Gains

Ramp eliminates traditional expense reports through "Self-Submitting Expenses." This feature automates receipt collection, matching, and approvals, slashing administrative work for both employees and finance teams.

A user on Capterra put it simply: "The ease of managing and reconciling charges through the mobile app instead of having to wait to get to a computer to upload receipts and enter detailed information for each charge. Manage as you spend—it's great and easy!"

Proactive Management

Custom alerts and automation help finance teams address issues before they become problems. Ramp's real-time dashboards track all company spending across departments, vendors, categories, and individual cardholders. This visibility lets stakeholders get automatic updates and make quick, informed decisions.

The robust controls on corporate cards, with customizable spending limits and restrictions, prevent unauthorized transactions through smart, AI-driven oversight.

Enhanced Employee Experience

Both administrators and employees adapt quickly to Ramp thanks to its intuitive interface and mobile app. The platform's simplicity is regularly mentioned as one of its strongest features.

A reviewer on G2 shared: "Ramp is extremely user friendly. The whole implementation was done by myself." This ease of use drives rapid adoption, reducing resistance to change and improving financial workflows.

The mobile app gets special praise for its convenience and functionality. Users love being able to manage expenses on the go, with features like instant receipt capture making expense tracking painless.

Ramp isn't just another finance tool—it's a finance automation platform that provides businesses with tools for managing corporate cards, expenses, bill payments, and accounting automation designed to streamline financial operations and give you better control over business expenses.

Expense Management

Ramp transforms expense tracking with AI-powered automation that categorizes and tracks expenses without manual data entry. The "Self-Submitting Expenses" feature automates receipt collection, matching, and approvals. Users report saving 5-10 hours per month with this streamlined approach.

The mobile app makes expense management even easier, allowing on-the-go receipt capture and instant submissions. As one user on Capterra notes, "Manage as you spend—it's great and easy!" This mobile-first approach ensures employees can submit expenses in real-time, improving accuracy and eliminating lost receipts.

Spend Control

Ramp gives you real-time spend tracking and alerts to manage costs effectively. The platform offers customizable spending limits and usage restrictions for both physical and virtual corporate cards. This detailed control lets finance teams set department-level limits and automatically enforce company policies.

Smart AI oversight prevents out-of-policy transactions and unauthorized spending before they happen. Custom alerts for large transactions, budget limits, and policy violations keep finance teams informed and in control. These features are especially valuable for remote teams, ensuring consistent policy enforcement everywhere.

Corporate Card Solutions

Ramp's physical and virtual corporate cards streamline payments and boost accountability. The platform provides strong controls, including customizable spending limits and merchant restrictions, letting businesses tailor card usage to their specific needs.

A standout feature is the ability to create virtual cards for specific vendors or purposes, enhancing both security and spend tracking. Unlike competitors with complex points systems, Ramp offers straightforward 1.5% cash back on all purchases, focusing on savings rather than encouraging more spending.

Automation and Integration

Ramp's automation capabilities drastically reduce manual processing and connect seamlessly with your existing systems. The AI-powered automation goes beyond basic expense categorization to include sophisticated tracking and analysis.

The platform connects to major accounting platforms like QuickBooks, NetSuite, Xero, and Sage Intacct, enabling real-time data syncing. This integration cuts reconciliation time and improves financial close accuracy. As one reviewer on G2 states, "It easily integrates with our accounting software (Sage Intacct) and provides value."

Ramp also automates bill payments, including ACH transfers, check payments, and international wires. This comprehensive automation creates smooth workflows, reducing manual data entry and potential errors throughout your financial processes.

Ramp excels at connecting with your existing business software. As a finance automation platform that provides businesses with tools for managing corporate cards, expenses, bill payments, and accounting automation, it links to major accounting platforms, HR systems, and cloud infrastructure to create a unified financial management ecosystem.

Accounting Integrations

Ramp directly connects with popular accounting systems like QuickBooks, NetSuite, Xero, and Sage Intacct. These connections enable automatic syncing of transaction data, receipts, and memos, dramatically cutting manual data entry and reconciliation time. For instance, Snapdocs slashed reconciliation time from 5-6 hours per month to under 30 minutes after connecting Ramp with QuickBooks.

HR and Identity Management

Through partnerships with companies like Merge, Ramp connects to over 30 HRIS platforms, including ADP, UKG, Gusto, and Humaans. This integration allows for dynamic card provisioning based on employee status, automating card issuance, updates, and deprovisioning. It improves workflow efficiency and enhances security by ensuring timely access control.

Cloud Infrastructure

Ramp's move to Google Cloud has strengthened its integration capabilities, providing better reliability and scalability. This shift supports Ramp's ability to handle large volumes of data and transactions securely across its connected ecosystem.

Benefits of Integration

1. Automated Workflows: End-to-end AP automation turns hours of manual work into minutes, with AI-powered invoice scanning and auto-population of payment details.
2. Real-Time Data Sync: Expense categorizations and financial data flow automatically between systems, keeping books current and reducing errors.
3. Enhanced Compliance: Automated controls and audit trails provide timestamped records of every approval and transaction, supporting strong regulatory compliance.
4. Improved Security: Integration with HR systems allows for automated enforcement of spend policies and role-based access, reducing unauthorized spending risks.

Ramp takes security and compliance seriously—a must for businesses looking to strengthen financial controls and data integrity.

Automated Controls and Audit Trails

Automated controls and comprehensive audit trails form the backbone of Ramp's security approach. The platform automatically logs and timestamps every approval, edit, and transaction, creating robust audit trails that support regulatory compliance. This automation cuts down human error while providing complete records for audits.

HR Integration for Advanced Security

Ramp's connections with HR systems give it a security edge. By integrating with platforms like ADP, UKG, and Gusto through Merge's Unified API, Ramp can enforce spend policies, implement role-based access, and enable dynamic deprovisioning based on real-time HR data. This integration reduces unauthorized spending risks, especially when employees leave. Corporate cards automatically deactivate when an employee's status changes in the HR system, preventing misuse.

Centralized Data Management

Centralized data management is another key security benefit. As a finance automation platform that provides businesses with tools for managing corporate cards, expenses, bill payments, and accounting automation, Ramp serves as a central hub for expense, vendor, and payment data—ensuring everything syncs in real-time with accounting and HR systems. This approach minimizes shadow IT and data silos, enhancing both data integrity and compliance while giving businesses a complete view of their financial activities.

Enterprise-Grade Infrastructure

To boost security and scalability, Ramp has moved to Google Cloud. This provides enterprise-grade infrastructure security, allowing faster scaling while maintaining strong standards for encryption, access control, and operational resilience. Google Cloud's advanced security features add extra protection for sensitive financial data.

These security and compliance features create real benefits for businesses. During audits or financial reviews, having all spend data—complete with documentation—synced directly into your accounting platform speeds up reconciliation and audit preparation. This integration reduces the risk of missing or inconsistent records, potentially saving hours of work and reducing stress during audit periods.

Users have mixed experiences with Ramp's customer support and resources. While many praise the intuitive platform, support experiences vary significantly.

Support Strengths

Many users report positive interactions with Ramp's support team. The platform is often described as "extremely user friendly," with implementation frequently completed by one person without extensive training. This ease of use helps drive rapid adoption, with employees adapting quickly to the new system.

Many users appreciate Ramp's commitment to improvement. As one reviewer on Capterra notes, "They are constantly upgrading to add value to their product and customer experience." This ongoing development shows Ramp responds to user feedback and works to enhance its support offerings.

Support Challenges

However, some users express frustration with the support model. A common criticism targets the reliance on automated systems:

"The Support is mostly done by communicating with bots and is very frustrating," notes one reviewer on Capterra. This sentiment appears in other reviews from users who want more direct human interaction, especially for urgent issues.

Onboarding Experience

The onboarding process also gets mixed feedback. While some find it straightforward, others report challenges:

"The onboarding was weak to non-existent. There were webinars to watch," mentions another user. This suggests Ramp's onboarding approach may not meet the needs of all customers, particularly those who prefer hands-on guidance.

Communication Methods

Communication channels are another area where users see room for improvement. While Ramp's customer support gets mixed reviews, the platform's ease of use and commitment to improvement stand out as consistent positives. Potential users should weigh these factors against their specific support requirements when deciding if Ramp fits their organization.

Ramp offers several major advantages for businesses seeking better financial management:

1. Efficiency and User Experience

• Intuitive interface and straightforward onboarding
• Mobile-first design for on-the-go expense management
• Rapid adoption across organizations due to user-friendly design

2. Automation Features

• Automated expense tracking and reporting, eliminating manual work

• Seamless integrations with popular accounting software like Sage Intacct

• Virtual card creation for better security and spend tracking

3. Spend Control and Financial Oversight

• Customizable spending limits and merchant restrictions

• Real-time transaction visibility for immediate monitoring

• Granular approval workflows

4. Cost and Value

• Competitive pricing with no or low fees
• Rewards program for card usage, adding extra value

While Ramp generally gets high marks, users report some notable limitations:

Support and Onboarding Challenges

Some users find the onboarding process lacking, describing it as "weak to non-existent" with too much reliance on self-service webinars. This can make getting started difficult, especially for less tech-savvy users. Customer support is also a pain point for some, with complaints about automated chatbots and slow response times when urgent help is needed.

Role Management Limitations

The platform struggles with complex organizational structures. Users report being unable to assign multiple roles to one person (e.g., administrator, manager, and cardholder), creating workflow inefficiencies in some organizations.

Security Concerns

Though not widespread, at least one user reported significant issues with fraudulent charges. This highlights potential weaknesses in fraud prevention and resolution processes that prospective users should be aware of.

Communication Gaps

Some users want more immediate communication options, like instant chat for time-sensitive questions, rather than relying solely on email.

To address these issues, businesses considering Ramp should:

• Ask for detailed onboarding support if needed
• Clearly define internal protocols for role management
• Add extra security measures and monitoring
• Create a clear escalation process for urgent support needs

While these limitations don't outweigh the benefits for most users, they're important to consider when evaluating Ramp for your specific needs.