80+
Countries with local payment rails, native to the ledger
Comparison · Light vs Pleo
Light vs Pleo
Pleo is excellent at company cards and expenses, but it sits on top of your accounting system rather than being one, so the ledger, the consolidation and the ERP bill all stay where they were. Light is the agentic accounting platform that IS your system of record: spend, AP/AR, and multi-entity accounting in one platform.
Book a demo$2B
Revenue Tillo runs on Light across 8 entities
76%
Cut in Tillo's month-end processing time
4
People on the finance team scaling Lovable to $500M revenue
Compare Light vs Pleo
| Light | Pleo | |
|---|---|---|
| Implementation | Weeks, with a dedicated implementation team and account manager included | Fast for cards and expenses; the ledger remains a separate system |
| Architecture | One AI-native ledger; consolidation posts as transactions happen | Spend platform that syncs into your accounting system (Xero, e-conomic, Fortnox, DATEV, Business Central) |
| Agents | Agents complete work end to end inside your controls; every action logged and attributable | AI in receipt capture and categorisation; no ledger agents |
| Configuration | Astra learns from your data and suggests workflow and configuration changes to increase performance; applied in-product, no consultants | Self-serve, within spend scope |
| Subscription management | Contract-based invoicing and deferred revenue automated | Visibility of subscription spend; revenue lives in your accounting system |
| Spend management | Corporate and virtual cards with Apple Pay and Google Pay, expense capture via Slack, Teams and email, native to the ledger | Native; Pleo's core strength |
| Global bill pay | AP and vendor payments executed on local rails in 80+ countries, from the ledger itself | Pleo Invoices handles bill pay in its supported European markets |
| Advanced reporting | Real-time multi-entity reporting with instant drill-down; no spreadsheet exports | Spend reporting; financial statements come from the connected system |
| SaaS metrics | ARR, MRR, NRR, churn and cohort metrics computed from the ledger and contracts, in real time | Lives in your accounting system or a separate tool |
| Global coverage | Local payment rails in 80+ countries; multi-entity, multi-currency by default | Strong European coverage for cards and expenses; the ledger sits elsewhere |
Why finance teams choose Light over Pleo
Pleo is excellent at what it is: company cards, receipt capture and expense management, with a large library of accounting integrations. It is also clear about what it is not. Pleo pushes into Xero, e-conomic, Fortnox, DATEV, Business Central and others, which means the accounting system question is still open, that bill is still due, and the close still reconciles the seam between the spend tool and the ledger.
Light answers the whole question at once: the ledger and the spend platform are one product. Cards, expenses, AP, procurement, consolidation and reporting share one audit trail, and agents run the flow from receipt to posted entry.
A layer versus a ledger
Every Pleo deployment has a second system underneath it, and the month-end job of agreeing the 2. On Light there is nothing to agree: the card transaction, its receipt, its coding and its posting are one record on one ledger.
Built for groups, not single entities
Pleo can manage spend across several entities from one login. What it does not do is consolidate them: once a group has several entities and currencies, the consolidation lives outside the spend tool. Light consolidates multi-entity, multi-currency groups continuously, with instant drill-down from the group number to the underlying card transaction.
Where Pleo fits
A company happy with its accounting system that only wants better cards and expenses has a genuine case for Pleo. A company that wants to stop running 2 systems, or that has outgrown single-entity bookkeeping, is the case for Light.
Signs you’ve outgrown Pleo
Pleo is a layer, not a ledger
Pleo is very good at cards and expenses, and by design it syncs into a system of record it does not replace. You still run and pay for the accounting system underneath. Light is the ledger and the spend platform in one.
Your close spans 2 systems
Spend data lives in Pleo, the books live in your accounting system, and month-end reconciles the seam between them. On Light there is no seam.
You have outgrown per-entity bookkeeping
Pleo tags spend by entity, but the consolidation still happens somewhere else, usually in a spreadsheet. Light consolidates continuously as transactions post.
“We evaluated several vendors. Light won because it covers our full finance stack, revenue, AR, AP, expenses, and consolidation, without stitching together a patchwork of point solutions.”
TanjaDirector of Finance, Omnea
Top 3 reasons leaders pick Light over Pleo
An all-inclusive platform
Leverage native products for AP, AR, Procurement and budgeting that seamlessly leverage AI and integrate to Slack and Teams.
Superior performance
Whether you are processing 100,000 or 50 million transactions, the Light Ledger is based on a hyper-performant database.
Beautiful reporting
Stop the reporting headache of spreadsheets, and get fast, intuitive reports with instant drill-down capabilities.
More reasons to love Light
Enjoy integrated products that both finance and the employees enjoy using.
Expense Management
Automate expense approvals, track spending in real-time, and gain insights with AI-powered analytics.
Vendor Management
Streamline vendor relationships with simplified onboarding, tracking supplier performance, and enforcing procurement policies.
Cards
Issue vendor and employee cards with Apple Pay and Google Pay globally. Upload receipts via Slack, Teams or email.
Frequently asked questions
Is Light an alternative to Pleo?
Light replaces Pleo plus the accounting system underneath it: one platform for the ledger and spend, with agents running the work. If you keep only Pleo, you still need and pay for the accounting system.
Can Light match Pleo on cards and expenses?
Light issues corporate and virtual cards with Apple Pay and Google Pay, captures receipts in Slack, Teams and email, and enforces expense policy at submission, natively on the ledger.
We run several entities. Does that change the comparison?
Yes. Pleo can tag spend by entity, but the consolidation runs in your accounting system or a spreadsheet. Light consolidates continuously across entities and currencies as transactions post.
What happens to our accounting system if we move to Light?
Light becomes it. The ledger, consolidation, reporting, AP, AR and spend all run on one platform, so the separate accounting subscription goes away rather than being integrated with.