Corporate Cards · Comparison

Brex vs. Mercury

Last verified 32 days ago · 18 sources · Updated automatically

Brex and Mercury compared across Company facts, Pricing, Card & limits, Rewards & cash back, Spend management, Security & compliance and Platform & integrations — every fact sourced and re-verified from each vendor's public material.

Brex logo

Brex

AI-powered spend platform — corporate charge cards, bill pay, expense management, and banking, with no personal guarantee.

Founded2017
HQ San Francisco, CA
Mercury logo

Mercury

Business banking with the balance-funded IO card — the simplest card add-on if you already bank with Mercury.

Founded2017
HQ San Francisco, CA

Company facts

Headquarters
San Francisco, CA
San Francisco, CA
Employees
1.1k
1k Mercury states 1,000+ employees

Pricing

Starting Monthly Price (USD)
$0 Essentials plan, free
$0 Free Mercury plan; IO card has no annual fee and no per-user software charge
Paid Tier Price (USD/user/mo)
$12 Premium plan
$29.9 Mercury Plus, $29.90/mo (or $23.95/mo billed annually)

Card & limits

Card Type
charge card Paid in full, no interest
charge card Cash-underwritten charge card; balance paid off each pay period
Card Network
Mastercard World Elite Mastercard
Mastercard
No Personal Guarantee
Yes
No personal guarantee and no personal credit check
Limit Basis
cash balance & revenue
account balance Cash-underwritten: IO balance cannot exceed cash held with Mercury (linked external balances may add headroom)
Virtual Cards
Yes
Issue physical or virtual cards to the team; start spending immediately with virtual cards
No Foreign Transaction Fees
Yes
3% currency conversion fee on non-USD IO transactions

Rewards & cash back

Rewards Model
tiered points Up to 7x points by category
flat cash back Unlimited 1.5% cashback on all spend, auto-deposited
Flat Cash-Back Rate
1.5%

Spend management

Receipt Capture & Matching
Yes
Upload/email receipts and Mercury auto-matches them to the right transaction
Approval Workflows & Policies
Yes
Company-wide spend policies plus multi-layered approval rules for bill pay
Employee Reimbursements
Yes
Out-of-pocket reimbursements; 5 active users/mo free, more on paid tiers
Bill Pay / AP
Yes
Free unlimited bill pay via ACH, domestic/international wire, or check

Security & compliance

SOC 2
SOC 2 Type II
SOC 2 Type II
SSO (SAML)
Advanced SSO on Premium+
SCIM Provisioning
Via Microsoft Entra & Okta

Platform & integrations

Accounting / ERP Sync
QuickBooks, Xero, NetSuite, Sage Intacct
Native sync to QuickBooks, Xero, and NetSuite
Public API
Public REST API
Public REST API — balances, transactions, ACH transfers; plus Accounts Receivable/invoicing API

The verdict

Brex logo Brex
Best for global spend, category rewards, and IT controls

Brex charges no foreign transaction fees, while Mercury adds 3% on non-USD spend. Its tiered points earn up to 7x by category versus Mercury's flat 1.5% cash back. The Premium tier runs $12/user/mo against Mercury's $29.90, and Brex adds SAML SSO and SCIM provisioning that the Mercury facts don't list.

Full profile
Mercury logo Mercury
Best for predictable flat cash back on every dollar

Mercury pays an unlimited flat 1.5% cash back on all spend, simpler than Brex's tiered points that only hit 7x in select categories. Its charge-card limit is cash-underwritten against the account balance, and bill pay via ACH, wire, or check is free and unlimited. The tradeoff: a 3% fee on non-USD transactions that Brex waives.

Full profile

Sources · 18 verified references

en.wikipedia.org mercury.com brex.com support.mercury.com developer.brex.com

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