The best corporate cards for procurement spending

One of the top procurement priorities today is strengthening spend controls and approvals. Finance teams scrutinize new spending with a fine-tooth comb, ensuring that every purchase is justified, auditable, and compliant with evolving financial guidelines. The challenge is doing this without slowing down the business.

That’s why modern corporate cards are becoming the preferred payment tool for procurement leaders. The right card program, with physical and virtual cards, has become a strategic lever for procurement teams, centralizing spend, enforcing compliance, and simplifying reconciliation in real time. When integrated directly into procurement platforms like Zip, corporate cards embed approvals and controls directly into the payment process, creating a seamless audit trail while accelerating vendor payments.

Adoption is rising fast. One study indicates that virtual cards are transforming procurement security and flexibility: 45% of procurement leaders already use virtual cards, and an additional 28% plan to adopt a virtual card program within the next 18 months.

For modern procurement teams, corporate cards deliver what ACH and wire transfers cannot: speed, real-time control, global flexibility, and powerful rewards that reduce costs. Below, we explore the best corporate card solutions for procurement and why one option delivers unmatched visibility, compliance, and efficiency.

What procurement leaders should look for in a corporate card

When evaluating corporate cards to use for vendor spending, procurement teams should consider:

1. Credit power designed for procurement spend

Large vendor payments and recurring supplier invoices require cards with higher-than-average limits. Today’s cards base credit on real-time business performance, not personal guarantees, providing up to 20x the limits of traditional cards. These high-limit corporate cards ensure procurement teams can make business-critical purchases and optimize cash flow.

2. Controls that keep spend in policy

Rogue spend is one of procurement’s biggest risks. Look for cards with transaction-level rules, supplier restrictions, and instant revocation, so every purchase ties back to approved budgets and workflows.

3. Rewards that offset operating costs

Smart rebate programs can directly reduce procurement costs. The best corporate cards return value on categories like SaaS, logistics, and recurring vendor payments, with flexible redemptions that impact the bottom line.

4. Currency capabilities that enable global workflows

Procurement rarely stops at borders. Multi-currency support, real-time FX, and zero foreign transaction fees are essential for streamlining global payments without hidden costs.

5. Integrations that automate reconciliation

Corporate cards should sync directly with procurement systems like Zip, automating approvals, provisioning virtual corporate cards for approved requests, and reconciling payments against POs and invoices in real time.

The 5 best corporate cards for procurement teams

1. Brex

Brex is the leading corporate card for procurement teams, especially those using Zip to manage intake, vendor onboarding, and approvals. With credit limits up to 20x higher than traditional cards, instant virtual card provisioning, and Zip-native integration, Brex is purpose-built to support high-volume, high-velocity vendor spend.

Card details

• Annual fee: $0
• APR: N/A (charge card)
• Typical limit: Flexible; based on real-time business data

Key features for procurement teams

• Data-driven credit limits: Based on real-time company health, not static scores
• Unlimited card issuance: Instantly issue cards for new suppliers, projects, or regions
• Granular controls: Restrict by vendor, project, or transaction type
• Automated expense management: Categorization, receipt-matching, and reconciliation built in
• Business-friendly rewards: Rebates on SaaS, logistics, and everyday procurement spend
• One-off vendor payments: Pay ad hoc suppliers securely without lengthy onboarding
• Zip integration: Automatically provision cards for approved requests in Zip; transactions sync in real time against approvals and POs

A leading corporate card provider, Brex has built deep, integrated capabilities that unify cards, expenses, reimbursements, and procurement workflows. For high-growth and enterprise procurement teams using Zip, Brex delivers higher credit limits, instant virtual card issuance, and native Zip integration to enforce controls and automate reconciliation at scale.

2. Volopay Card

The Volopay corporate card is designed for procurement teams seeking strict spend control and flexible payment options through prepaid and credit-backed cards.

Card details

• Annual fee: Varies by plan
  APR: N/A (Charge/prepaid card)
• Typical limit: Based on business performance or prepaid funding balance

Key features for procurement teams

• Issue unlimited physical and virtual cards instantly
• Assign cards to vendors, projects, or departments with multi-level approvals
• Support for multi-currency wallets to simplify international payments

The Volopay card is best suited for mid-sized companies looking to control vendor-level spend and automate reconciliation. However, as a newer entrant, it lacks the deep enterprise-grade integrations and large credit capacity of more established providers.

3. Airwallex Card

The Airwallex card enables global procurement operations with multi-currency payments and real-time expense controls.

Card details

• Annual fee: Varies by tier
• APR: N/A (charge card)
• Typical limit: $50,000 

Key features for procurement teams

• Set per-card transaction limits and spending intervals
• Unlimited physical and virtual cards
• Payments local currencies reduce FX fees

Small businesses needing multi-currency payments and basic expense management will find the Airwallex card beneficial. But it lacks procurement controls like vendor restrictions or PO matching, charges a 1% FX fee, and offers no native Zip integration for automated approvals or reconciliation.

4. American Express Business Platinum

Amex’s Business Platinum Card is primarily geared toward T&E and travel-related rewards, but procurement teams may benefit from its flexible spending capacity and virtual cards.

Card details

• Annual fee: $695
• APR: 19.49%-28.49% variable
• Typical limit: $1,000 to $6,000

Key features for procurement teams

• High rewards on travel and business categories
• Access to basic expense tracking tools
• Decent global acceptance and support

Amex offers some of the best cards for T&E, but their card programs lack advanced procurement capabilities, high limits, and native Zip compatibility. With a high annual card fee and limited expense management features, procurement teams will find more value in integrated card and expense solutions like Brex.

5. Citi Purchasing Card

The Citi Purchasing Card (P-Card) is a global program tailored for large enterprises managing high-volume supplier spend.

Card details

• Annual fee: Varies by program design
• APR: N/A (charge card)
• Typical limit: Customized at the program level based on company financials

Key features for procurement teams

• Customizable transaction limits and merchant category restrictions
• Detailed reporting and analytics for spend visibility
• Integration with major ERP and expense management systems

The Citi Purchasing Card is a strong option for enterprises already banking with Citi and running large-scale procurement programs. However, it requires more complex onboarding and program management compared to more agile, modern corporate card solutions.

The benefits of corporate cards for procurement teams

A recent SAP Taulia study shows that over 90% of procurement leaders are already using, planning to use, or are interested in using virtual cards. One reason: greater fraud protection. Virtual cards offer unique, transaction-specific numbers, dynamic CVVs, and early expiration, which drastically reduce the risk of fraud, data leaks, and misuse.

Further, corporate cards tend to offer more speed, control, and flexibility with rewards that help offset procurement costs. Cards integrated with Zip add even greater value by embedding spend directly into procurement workflows.

Key benefits include:

• Optimized cash flow with high credit limits: Large vendor payments no longer strain working capital, allowing procurement teams to time payments strategically.
• Less overspending with real-time controls and approval: Every purchase can be preauthorized in Zip, ensuring compliance before spend occurs.
• Accelerated rewards to offset vendor costs: Rebates and cashback turn everyday supplier payments into tangible savings that flow back into operations.
• Global business support without FX markups: Multi-currency wallets and real-time FX simplify cross-border payments while avoiding costly markups.
• Streamlined reconciliation with Zip transaction syncing: Approved spend in Zip matches automatically to card transactions, cutting hours from month-end close.

The best card for procurement teams using Zip

Brex is the only corporate card designed to work seamlessly with Zip’s agentic procurement orchestration platform. Together, Brex and Zip give procurement and finance teams unmatched control, visibility, and efficiency:

• Automatic card issuance: A Brex virtual card can be provisioned instantly upon approval in Zip.
• Pre-built spend controls: Cards inherit vendor- and project-specific rules directly from Zip workflows.
• Real-time reconciliation: Every transaction is matched automatically to the right request or PO in Zip for complete and effortless reconciliation.
• Global payments: High limits and multi-currency ensure global procurement teams can efficiently work with vendors, no matter where they are.

The power of Brex cards with Zip’s agentic procurement orchestration has some of the world’s most innovative companies using Brex and Zip to consolidate workflows, eliminate rogue spending, and accelerate every stage of the P2P process, from request to payment to reconciliation. 

“As a longtime customer of both Brex and Zip, we’ve experienced firsthand how each platform has transformed our financial operations and procurement processes, respectively,” said Adam Dix, Head of Financial Operations at Anthropic. “Bringing together Brex’s powerful global card capabilities with Zip’s intuitive procurement workflows will eliminate the manual reconciliation work that currently consumes hours of our team’s time each week.”

“Zip procurement and Brex global corporate cards are the two smartest products in the market, and together they will allow Neuralink to dramatically increase spend control and operational speed across our business,” said Dianna Ty,Head of Procurement at Neuralink. “Everything will be seamlessly integrated and automated, from Zip request to card creation to transaction reconciliation. This product is an incredible unlock for enterprise companies.”

Not yet using Zip for procurement? Zip's agentic platform streamlines vendor onboarding, intake management, and approval workflows, giving procurement teams complete visibility and control over every purchase. To uplevel your procurement, request a demo of Zip.

Get the most advanced corporate card for Zip today

Brex corporate cards are helping procurement teams, particularly those using Zip for intake-to-procure and procure-to-pay workflows, spend smarter and move faster.

With high, data-driven limits, unlimited instant card issuance, and native Zip integration, Brex’s intelligent finance platform gives teams end-to-end control from request to reconciliation.

Get started with Brex and Zip today.