Emburse Chrome River vs. Emburse Abacus

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Emburse Chrome River
Score 9.1 out of 10
N/A
Chrome River EXPENSE is expense management software, from Chrome River Technologies in Los Angeles, California.N/A
Emburse Abacus
Score 6.0 out of 10
N/A
Abacus is a web and mobile application that helps manage employee expenses and reimbursements. Some key features include: Real-Time Expense Submission, Integrated ACH Payments, and Dynamic Custom Reporting. Abacus was acquired by Certify in summer 2018 and is now part of Emburse, formed from the merger of Certify and Chrome River March 2019.
$9
per active user/per month
Pricing
Emburse Chrome RiverEmburse Abacus
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Starter
$9
per active user/per month
Professional
Custom Pricing
Enterprise
Custom Pricing
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Emburse Chrome RiverEmburse Abacus
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsWe offer three cost-effective, subscription-based pricing models: A transaction-based model, priced according to expense report volume A submitter-based model, priced according to an average number of monthly submitters An enterprise-level model that includes unlimited expense reports. Pricing for this model is based on total employee headcount Feel free to contact us to discuss the best one for your organization.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Emburse Chrome RiverEmburse Abacus
Features
Emburse Chrome RiverEmburse Abacus
Expense Management
Comparison of Expense Management features of Product A and Product B
Emburse Chrome River
8.8
Ratings
2% above category average
Emburse Abacus
-
Ratings
Employee Expense Reporting8.70 Ratings00 Ratings
Corporate Card Reconciliation9.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Payment Management
Comparison of Payment Management features of Product A and Product B
Emburse Chrome River
8.0
Ratings
2% below category average
Emburse Abacus
-
Ratings
Customizable Approval Policies8.30 Ratings00 Ratings
Financial Document Management5.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Payment Status Tracking9.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Payment Audit Trail9.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Duplicate Bill Detection8.30 Ratings00 Ratings
Advanced OCR8.50 Ratings00 Ratings
Electronic Funds Transfer8.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Emburse Chrome RiverEmburse Abacus
Small Businesses
Dext
Dext
Score 9.8 out of 10
Dext
Dext
Score 9.8 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Precoro
Precoro
Score 2.8 out of 10
Precoro
Precoro
Score 2.8 out of 10
Enterprises
Webexpenses
Webexpenses
Score 9.2 out of 10
Emburse Chrome River
Emburse Chrome River
Score 9.1 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Emburse Chrome RiverEmburse Abacus
Likelihood to Recommend
9.9
(0 ratings)
6.0
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.8
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
9.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Availability
10.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
9.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
9.0
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
Online Training
9.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
9.8
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Configurability
8.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
6.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
8.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
10.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
10.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Emburse Chrome RiverEmburse Abacus
Likelihood to Recommend
Chrome River in my experience is suited to the employees being more independent when completing their reports, due to the extensive questions and steps. This allows us (the reviewers) to come in and assist the employees more efficiently. I think it fits well with out needs and easy to help our employees
Read full review
Abacus is great for smaller companies that need to automate expense management. It is a very user-friendly system that makes it easy for all employees to understand without any training. We have heard of issues with their AMEX program. Companies that have tens or hundreds of corporate AMEX cards should likely explore other options
Read full review
Pros
  • [Emburse] Chrome River listens to its customer's needs and does its best to match current products to those needs, or collaborate internally to determine if an enhancement can be made available that will not only benefit that customer, but will be a good use case for all Chrome River customers.
  • The [Emburse] Chrome River customer service team is great. Unlike most companies, you can speak to a liver person!
  • [Emburse] Chrome River's training offerings are relevant and pertinent to the day to day operations of the software.
Read full review
  • It is a very useful platform it helps me effectively, it allows me to put restrictions on the dates, till a card could be used.
  • Embrace Abacus has provided me much relief and saved my time which was spent in chalking out the financial status of my organization.
  • Emburse Abacus has equipped me with amazing features which are helping me to automatically set various limits about the expenditures and I always remain up to date about any purchase.
Read full review
Cons
  • Would be great to have pre-saved templates available to apply to line items at the expense report header level rather than having to go into each line.
  • Would be nice to have a mass upload functionality for things like cost codes, allocations, and credit card users.
Read full review
  • I think this just has to do with how we use it but when go in to select a "category" or "event," it looks a little cluttered and can be hard to find what you are looking for.
  • It will not allow you to attach 2 items unless you are doing a split. This is not really an issue but there are times where I would like to include a screenshot with additional information and I have to put everything into one picture.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
Chrome River is easy to use. We needed little training for our users and instead pointed them to Chrome River's Help Guides which are clearly written and easy to understand. With tools SNAP and the ability to email receipts means we can be completely remote when submitting reports.
Read full review
No answers on this topic
Usability
I would rate Chrome River Expense a 10 because, as I mentioned before, it is very simple and easy to use. This is important from an administrative point-of-view as well as for the field employee. Being a general contractor, it makes it all the better for our employees to use a program that is easy to understand and requires little time and effort. It has made tracking expenses very simple and has been well received by the entire company.
Read full review
No answers on this topic
Reliability and Availability
The software is always running effectively. I use many Cloud based systems and never had issues with Chrome River
Read full review
No answers on this topic
Performance
System runs normal pretty much all the time. Does not slow any other systems down.
Read full review
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
I cannot tell you how relieved we were when utilizing Chrome River support in comparison to other Enterprise level software support centers. Tickets were quick and representatives were swift in [their callbacks] and resolutions to our common and most difficult problems. The team there is professional and makes each new support ticket a breeze.
Read full review
I have never had to contact Abacus support and have not heard stories from any of my colleagues having to do so either. Our accounting department stresses the ease of Abacus and has not voiced any concerns with the software or the product support team or the product support process.
Read full review
Online Training
The software is very user friendly, so the online training was easy to pickup for everyone.
Read full review
No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
Before implementation begins, make sure you have a plan on how you would like your workflow and platform setup for a system like Chrome River. It will speed the process and eliminate the need to make changes when you go live.
Read full review
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
The overall user interface was easy to use and it made the task of the reporting very easy. Compliance rules are guiding the users to correctly upload and enter receipts, which are already uploaded and recognized via OCR during the business trip. Uploading can easily done via APP, mail or receipt gallery. There is no need for storing paper. Chrome River is supporting digital archiving
Read full review
We migrated from SAP Concur to Emburse Abacus after carefully considering a number of factors. Total cost of ownership, new user training and adoption, direct integration with our ERP, and the ability to process individual expenses in real-time as opposed to processing monthly expense reports all weighed in Abacus' favor during the decision and selection process.
Read full review
Scalability
It's very easy software to design to your needs.
Read full review
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
  • We have seen a return on approver time of nearly 60% meaning our approvers have tripled their output.
  • We have had feedback from our users that time spent creating expenses has gone from an average of 2 hours to perhaps 20 minutes, tops.
  • We have seen in our dashboards that the Emburse Certify Suite of tools has returned an average savings of over $500K a year.
Read full review
  • It does seem like they are still working out some kinks in the web and mobile apps – a few times the app has crashed. But they're also very fast to push updates.
  • The benefits are simple. No one likes taking time out of their day to do expense reporting. Abacus speeds that process up considerably. The interface is clean, and I'm able to see what expenses are pending vs. expenses that are already cleared.
  • The benefit from a user standpoint is that it adds an element of organization to a process that is typically disorganized. It has saved us numerous hours.
Read full review
ScreenShots

Emburse Chrome River Screenshots

Screenshot of A consistent experience across any screen size or operating systemScreenshot of Simple, customizable tiles for expense entryScreenshot of Approve expenses directly from your inbox with a single click

Emburse Abacus Screenshots

Screenshot of Screenshot of Screenshot of Screenshot of Screenshot of Screenshot of