Which spend platform actually fits your business?
Six questions about how your business actually spends. They land on one platform, with a named runner-up and the reason it came second.
What this doesn’t cover
- Getting paid, mostly. Among the spend platforms only Airwallex handles money coming in, and Loop can hold local receiving accounts. Plooto is the exception on this page — its pre-authorized debit is a genuine collections tool. Beyond that, receivables is its own decision and needs its own conversation.
- Payroll. A separate decision entirely, and not one any of these platforms should drive.
- Pricing. Subscription tiers move often enough that publishing them here would mislead more than help. We’ve given you the cost model for each platform; confirm the current numbers with the provider, or ask us.
Eligibility criteria and platform capabilities current as at September 2026.
The decision map
Six questions, but only two of them genuinely branch: how much you spend abroad, and whether you need to carry a balance. The other four are eligibility — they decide whether Ramp can be an answer at all, never which direction you travel. Answer the questions above and your route lights up.
Before anything else — can Ramp be an answer? All three must hold: the business is incorporated; it is registered in BC, Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario or Atlantic Canada; and it holds at least CA$25,000 in the bank most of the time. Fail any one and Ramp is off the table, which changes two of the eight endings below.
Then: what percentage of your transactions are in a foreign currency?
- Under about 15% — the domestic lane.
- You need the cash → Float, with Loop as the runner-up.
- You can pay in full, and Ramp is available → Ramp, with Float as the runner-up.
- You can pay in full, and Ramp is not available → Float. If the cash floor was the only thing missing, Ramp is worth revisiting once the balance strengthens.
- Between 15% and 50% — meaningful foreign spend.
- You need the cash → Loop, with Ramp as the runner-up, or Float if Ramp is ruled out.
- You can pay in full, and Ramp is available → Ramp, with Loop as the runner-up.
- You can pay in full, and Ramp is not available → Float, with Loop as the runner-up.
- Over 50%, or revenue arrives in another currency. The Ramp gate never fires here —
its currency coverage rules it out before eligibility is even reached.
- You need the cash → Loop, with Airwallex as the runner-up.
- You can pay in full → Airwallex, with Loop as the runner-up.
Scroll sideways to follow the map, or turn your phone.
Separately: your supplier bills
This runs alongside the card decision rather than out of it. Worth knowing before you start: neither QuickBooks Online nor Xero can actually move money in Canada — they record the bill and hand you a cheque or a batch file for your bank. Every spend platform above does include real bill pay, so the question is whether your volume justifies using it, and whether you need more than it offers.
Start from what is actually true of the ledgers. Neither QuickBooks Online nor Xero can move money in Canada. QuickBooks Online Bill Pay is not offered here, and Xero prints a cheque or exports a batch payment file that you upload to your bank. They record the bill; a person releases the funds. Every spend platform on this page, by contrast, includes real bill pay.
- Fewer than 20 bills a month and one approver → your books, then your bank. Enter the bill in QuickBooks Online or Xero and pay it from online banking. Manual, running on banking infrastructure you already have — and at this volume, the right answer.
- Twenty or more, or more than one approver, and the platform covers what you need → the bill pay in your spend platform. Float, Ramp, Loop and Airwallex all include it, so there is no second subscription to buy.
- You also need cheques, card-funded payments, several entities or recurring collections → a dedicated payables platform. Plooto is the practical Canadian choice, with EFT and ACH, cheques, credit-card funding, international payouts and two-way sync to QuickBooks Online, Xero and NetSuite. It is also the only option here that collects: set up a pre-authorized debit agreement once and it pulls recurring invoices on schedule and reconciles them automatically, which is worth the subscription on its own if a real share of your revenue recurs. Dext Payments is worth watching, but its Canadian page still reads Coming Soon.
How the platforms compare
| Float (opens in a new tab) | Ramp (opens in a new tab) | Loop (opens in a new tab) | Airwallex (opens in a new tab) | Plooto (opens in a new tab) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Best at | Canadian-dollar spending and control | Expense automation at scale | Cross-border spending on credit | Global money in and out | Payables and receivables in one place |
| How it funds | Prepaid, with an optional charge product on short terms | Charge card, paid in full monthly | Revolving credit, up to 55 interest-free days | Pre-funded wallet, no credit | Pays from your own account, or funds by credit card |
| Qualifying | No minimum balance, no personal guarantee | CA$25,000 balance; incorporated only; eight provinces | Credit underwriting; personal guarantee under $10M gross profit | Funded account, minimal gate | A subscription; no card program to qualify for |
| Cost model | Free entry tier; paid tiers add bill pay and multi-level approvals | Core platform free | Free entry tier; two paid tiers above it | Free entry tier; paid tiers priced per user plus a platform fee | Tiered subscription, priced on volume |
| Currencies | CAD and USD | CAD cards; USD virtual only | CAD, USD, GBP, EUR | 20+ held, 90+ payable | CAD and USD domestic rails; international payouts |
| Currency conversion | No card FX fees on native currencies | Avoids the usual Canadian bank card markup | 0.1%–0.5% over spot, by plan | 0.5% over interbank on major currencies | — |
| Getting paid | No | No | Local receiving accounts | Payment links and checkout | Yes — invoicing plus pre-authorized debit for recurring billing |
| Bill pay included | Yes — EFT and ACH at no fee, plus global wires | Yes — CAD EFT at no fee, plus foreign payouts | Yes — 40+ currencies, though accounting sync is not live yet | Yes — bill capture, approvals and payouts | That is the whole product |
| Books it syncs to | QBO, Xero | QBO, Xero, NetSuite, Sage Intacct | QBO, Xero, NetSuite | QBO, Xero | QBO, Xero |
We actively participate in partner and referral programs with many of our software providers. We only partner with platforms that display excellence in their category, and it does not factor into our recommendation.
A shortlist is not the same as a decision.
The selector narrows five platforms to one. What it can’t see is your cash cycle, your supplier terms, or the twelve months of statements that tell us what you actually spend abroad. Bring those and we’ll size it properly.