LemSubs vs Airbase
Enterprise procure-to-pay with deep approval workflows — built for finance teams of 100+, not founders
Airbase (acquired by Paylocity in 2024) is one of the most complete spend management platforms on the market: corporate cards, virtual cards per vendor, full AP automation, multi-step approval chains, procurement intake forms, and deep ERP integrations with NetSuite, Sage Intacct, and Oracle.
If you're a 250-person company with a CFO, a controller, and a procurement function, Airbase is genuinely best-in-class — it replaces multiple line items in your finance stack and gives you SOX-grade approval evidence. The flip side is the price tag (custom, but typically $20K–$80K/year), the multi-month implementation timeline, and the assumption that everything has to flow through Airbase to be visible.
Setting up the approval chains, intake forms, and ERP sync is real work — usually a dedicated finance ops person for several weeks. And if you don't have formal procurement processes, you're paying for machinery you'll never use.
LemSubs is what you reach for before you're ready for Airbase — or alongside it, for the personal-card and shadow-IT subscriptions that never make it through formal procurement. We're not trying to be Airbase. We just give you the subscription visibility, renewal management, and overlap detection without the implementation project. **Decision framework.** Choose Airbase if you're 100+ employees with formal procurement, SOX or audit obligations, and a controller who needs multi-step approval evidence.
Choose LemSubs if you're under that scale or want subscription-specific intelligence without the full procure-to-pay machinery. Run both if you're an Airbase customer who's noticed that personal-card subscriptions and shadow IT bypass your intake forms — LemSubs catches those because the source of truth is your data, not your card statement.
Airbase pricing
Custom — typically $20K–$80K+/year depending on modules and seat count
Airbase is best for
Mid-market finance teams (100–1,000 employees) running formal procurement and AP workflows with multi-step approvals and ERP integration requirements.
Where Airbase wins
- Best-in-class approval workflows with conditional logic
- Virtual cards per vendor for granular spend control
- Full AP + procurement intake + payments in one platform
- SOC 2 Type II, deep ERP integrations (NetSuite, Sage Intacct, Oracle)
- Strong audit trail for SOX compliance
- Mature product with deep enterprise references
Where Airbase falls short
- $20K+/year minimum and custom pricing requires sales calls
- Multi-month implementation with dedicated finance ops time
- Massive overkill below ~100 employees
- Only sees what flows through Airbase — shadow IT remains invisible
- Heavy product surface; new users need formal training
- Acquisition by Paylocity (2024) creates roadmap uncertainty
Moving from Airbase to LemSubs
- In Airbase, run the Vendors export from Reports -> Vendor Management
- Sign up for LemSubs and use Smart Import to load the export
- Map the Airbase 'Department' field to LemSubs Cost Centers (Teams plan)
- Add the subscriptions that bypass Airbase: founder personal cards, partner billing, shadow IT, paid pilots
- Set up Workspace Budgets to mirror your Airbase department caps
- Use the Audit Log (immutable, CSV-exportable) for the long-tail subscriptions Airbase doesn't track
- If you have approval thresholds in Airbase, mirror the simple ones in LemSubs Teams Approval Rules for shadow-IT spend
Frequently asked questions
Who should actually buy Airbase?
Companies with 100+ employees, a dedicated finance team, formal procurement processes, and SOX or audit-defense requirements. Below that scale, the implementation cost outweighs the benefit and a leaner stack is more honest.
Can LemSubs replace Airbase?
No, and we wouldn't claim it. Airbase replaces your AP, cards, and procurement stack. LemSubs replaces your subscription tracking spreadsheet and adds renewal intelligence on top. Different jobs.
What about shadow IT — does Airbase catch it?
Only if it lands on an Airbase virtual card or comes through the procurement intake form. Personal-card subscriptions, partner billing, and freemium-to-paid silent upgrades are invisible. LemSubs catches those because the source of truth is your data, not your card statement.
What's the TCO at our size?
Airbase typically lands at $20K–$80K/yr depending on modules and seats. LemSubs Teams is $144/yr per workspace. If you're under 100 people and don't have a controller asking for SOX-grade evidence, the gap is hard to defend.
We're growing fast — should we get Airbase early?
Most teams over-buy finance tooling. The honest sequence: spreadsheet -> LemSubs -> Ramp/Brex for cards -> Airbase or similar when you cross 100 people and need formal procurement. Skipping the middle steps usually means buying tools you don't yet have the processes to fill.
Did Paylocity acquiring Airbase change anything?
It's still early. The product surface is intact and the team continues to ship, but enterprise acquisitions historically slow innovation. If that matters to you, factor it into your decision.