Brex Alternatives After Capital One (2026): Ramp, Mercury, Rho, Airwallex, BILL, Navan and Relay Compared

Capital One completed its acquisition of Brex on April 7, 2026, and on October 21, 2026 Brex's prices, points and fee schedule read the same as before the deal: Essentials $0, Premium $12 per active user, $0 wires, card FX up to 3%. The acquisition on its own is not a reason to move. The reasons that are: you have no outside funding and less than $500,000 a year in revenue, you spend a lot in foreign currencies (Brex pays no points on non-USD spend and charges up to 3%), you want a flat cashback rate instead of points worth 0.6 cent, or you want your idle cash in FDIC-insured deposits rather than a money market fund. Ramp is the closest spend platform, BILL Spend & Expense has no published cash minimum, Airwallex fits multi-currency teams, Navan fits travel-heavy teams; Mercury, Rho and Relay are bank accounts with cards attached, a different product.

What changed at Brex after Capital One

• Ownership. Capital One announced the deal on January 22, 2026, "valued at $5.15 billion" in stock and cash, and said then that "Over 25,000 of the world's best companies, from startups to enterprises, run their finances on Brex" (Capital One announcement). It closed on April 7, 2026, and "Franceschi will continue as CEO of Brex" (Capital One completion release). Brex's footer now reads "Brex LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary of Capital One, N.A."
• Integration. Neither Capital One release says anything about customer accounts, pricing or migration. In his post on the deal, Brex CEO Pedro Franceschi wrote that "instead of fully integrating our businesses" the two chose "continuity in how we operate today, with access to far greater resources over time" (Brex journal). We found no notice of an account migration to Capital One.
• Where the cash sits. Brex is still not a bank. Checking is a deposit at Column N.A. (FDIC-insured up to $250,000), Vault sweeps cash to 24 program banks for "up to $6M" of coverage, and Treasury is a money market fund (DGVXX) held through Brex Treasury LLC, "a Capital One company", under SIPC and not FDIC. Your Brex balance is not a Capital One deposit.
• Prices. Essentials "$0 user/month" and Premium "$12 user/month" on the Brex pricing page, unchanged in every capture we checked from April 2024 to October 2026.
• Eligibility got easier, not harder. The revenue bar for companies without equity funding fell from more than $1 million a year (last seen July 8, 2026) to more than $500,000 (first seen August 20, 2026). Funded startups still need $50,000 in cash, "potentially lower if you're referred by certain partners" (Brex account requirements). Pages that still quote $1 million are out of date.
• The yield figure changed method. Between September 2 and October 3, 2026, Brex switched its treasury headline from an APR on the 7-day DGVXX yield to "an annualized compounded number", which lifted the top tier from 3.71% to 3.91% partly by arithmetic. On October 21, 2026 the tiers read 3.57% to 3.92%, from a DGVXX 7-day yield of 3.51% plus a Brex "additional return" of 0% to 0.35% (Brex treasury help article). Brex prints no as-of date.

What Brex charges today

Prices verified on brex.com/pricing on October 13, 2026.

Premium is billed on the 1st of each month for the prior month's active users. Points are 1x on most spend and 2x on recurring software on the default program, worth 0.6 cent each as cash or statement credit and 1 cent on Brex travel (Brex points), and they accrue only on USD purchases from US merchants. Full detail in Brex pricing.

Who should switch, and who should not

Switch if: you are bootstrapped with less than $500,000 in revenue, or funded with less than $50,000 in cash; a large share of your card spend is in euros, pounds or with non-US merchants; you value a flat cashback percentage over points; you want interest on idle cash as an FDIC-insured deposit; or your founders and operations are outside the US (Brex requires a US EIN, US incorporation, US operations and a US physical address).

Stay if: you are a funded US startup using Brex's expense policies, travel and multi-entity cards and the product works for you. Plan prices, wire fees and the points program did not change with the acquisition, and eligibility loosened. Moving a card program costs a few weeks of finance time for little or no fee saving.

How we picked

Each alternative has a published price, a stated reward value, a known card FX fee and clear eligibility, or we say which of those it does not publish. We split them in two because they are different products: spend platforms (a card plus expense and bill software, with or without an account) and business bank accounts that come with a card. Brex is both, so most teams leaving it need one of each or a product that covers both.

Spend platforms and corporate cards

Ramp

The nearest product to Brex. The card and expense software is free; Ramp Plus is $15 per user a month plus a "platform fee based on team size" that Ramp does not publish. Ramp needs a US entity and at least $25,000 in a linked US bank account, half Brex's $50,000. Ramp publishes no cashback rate: its Rewards Terms say points accrue "at a rate and in an amount determined by Ramp", so the 1.5% on many alternatives lists is not a Ramp figure. Card FX "will not exceed 3%". Since June 1, 2026 Bill Pay charges per payment ($0.59 per standard ACH, $15 per domestic wire, $20 per SWIFT USD wire) unless you pay from Ramp Checking, which pays 2% APY as an FDIC-insured deposit (as of October 13, 2026). Ramp's "4.63%" Investment Account figure on its pricing page is a bond-portfolio yield to maturity, not a money market rate. See Ramp vs Brex and Ramp pricing.

BILL Spend & Expense (formerly Divvy)

The option for a company that cannot meet Brex's or Ramp's cash bar: $0 per user, credit lines "from $1,000-$5M" set on approval and no published cash or revenue minimum. Rewards are weaker: 100,000 points equal $520 in cash back (0.52 cent a point), category multipliers apply only to the first $5,000 a month, and points cannot be redeemed for the first 12 months. BILL does not publish a card foreign transaction fee, and it has no business account or treasury, so the cash stays at your bank. Bill pay is BILL's separate AP product, from $49 per user a month.

Airwallex

For teams that pay and spend in several currencies, where Brex is weakest. Explore is free for up to 10 Spend users; Grow is $12 per active Spend user plus an unpublished platform fee. FX is 0.5% above interbank for major currencies (1% others), cards carry "zero international fees", SWIFT transfers cost $15 to $25. The pricing page says "up to 2%" cash rebates, but the US terms we read give 1% standing (up to 1.5% as a new-customer promotion). USD yield was 3.42% on Explore (money market funds, as of October 12, 2026; the Airwallex pricing page showed 3.43% on October 21). For some US customers Airwallex uses Evolve Bank & Trust, which entered a Federal Reserve and Arkansas consent order announced June 14, 2024.

Navan

Travel first. Navan Business is free for companies up to 300 employees ("powered by travel providers' commission fees"); expense is free for the first 5 monthly expensing users, then $15 per user a month. No treasury and no bill pay, and its pricing page states neither card rewards nor FX. Brex itself notes that travel booked through Navan does not earn the Brex travel multiplier, so a travel-heavy team on both tools is already splitting rewards.

Business bank accounts with a card

Mercury

A free business account with the IO charge card: 1.5% cashback, no personal guarantee, 3% on non-USD card spend, $0 domestic and international USD wires, 1% on currency conversion. No published minimum balance, which makes it the usual pick for a pre-revenue company Brex turns down. Treasury pays 3.28% net under $2 million in MRGXX, a government money market fund (as of October 12, 2026; 3.30% on Mercury's treasury page on October 21), from $250,000 at Mercury. Reimbursing more than 5 active users a month needs Mercury Plus ($35 a month). The OCC gave Mercury preliminary conditional approval for Mercury Bank, N.A. on April 24, 2026; it is not open. See Mercury vs Brex and Mercury pricing.

Rho

The closest single product to Brex's account-plus-card bundle at $0: account, cards, AP and expenses with no per-user fee, $0 domestic ACH, wires and checks, 1% on FX payments. Cashback is up to 1.25% on daily repayment and 1% on monthly terms (which need $25,000 at Rho or $75,000 including linked accounts). Rho does not publish a card FX fee. Treasury holds IJTXX, a government money market fund, at 3.20% net under $2 million (as of October 9, 2026; Rho's treasury page showed 3.22% as of October 19), with a $50,000 minimum against Mercury's $250,000. Rho needs a US-incorporated company with a US address or a US-based owner with an SSN.

Relay

For interest as a bank deposit rather than a fund. Relay savings pay 1.19%, 1.87% or 3.21% APY on its $0, $30 and $90 plans (as of September 17, 2026; the $90 Scale price is shown as a discount from $120, the figure on Relay's fee schedule), FDIC-insured through Thread Bank with up to $3M through its sweep. Card FX is 1%, a third of Brex's ceiling. Wires cost $5 to $8 domestic and $20 to $25 Swift, and Relay has no spend platform to match Brex's policies and travel, so pair it with a card above if you need one. Relay's help center says every owner needs an SSN. See Mercury vs Relay.

Fees vs yield: what each costs a year, by stage

Activity profile is our assumption: pre-seed $500K cash ($150K operating), 2 domestic wires and 1 non-USD payment of $3,000 a month, $4,000 card spend (10% non-USD), 3 users; seed $3M ($500K operating), 6 wires, 4 payments of $6,000, $20,000 card (10%), 10 users; Series A $12M ($2M operating), 15 wires, 12 payments of $10,000, $80,000 card (15%), 30 users. Card FX at the published 3% ceiling where one exists. Yields: Ramp Checking and Relay savings are FDIC-insured deposits on all cash (as of October 13 and September 17, 2026); Brex (DGVXX plus Brex's return, tiers read October 13, 2026, no as-of date printed), Airwallex (October 12), Mercury MRGXX (October 12) and Rho IJTXX (October 9) are money market funds on idle cash, net of fees, not FDIC-insured. BILL and Navan are not in the model (no account or treasury). Computed in our banking cost calculator.

Read it in two parts. Fees run from a few hundred dollars to about $20,000 a year, and most of that is currency conversion: if you rarely pay abroad, every option here is close to free. Yield is ten to a hundred times larger, so where your idle cash sits matters more than which card you carry. But the yields are not the same product. Brex, Mercury, Rho and Airwallex rates are money market funds, covered by SIPC as securities and not by the FDIC; Ramp Checking and Relay pay interest on insured deposits at a lower rate. Run your own numbers, or see every provider in startup banking and spend by stage.

How to move off Brex

1. Open the new accounts first. Check eligibility before you start: Ramp needs $25,000 in a linked US bank, Rho a US-incorporated company with a US address or a US-based owner with an SSN, Relay an SSN for every owner.
2. Move card charges before you move cash. Brex sets card limits from the cash in your linked accounts, so draining the account first can cut the limit while subscriptions still bill to Brex. Re-point recurring software and ad charges card by card.
3. Redeem points. Brex points do not expire while the account is open and are lost when you close it. Cash or statement credit pays 0.6 cent a point.
4. Pull money out of Treasury and Vault. Sell the DGVXX position and bring Vault funds back to checking (Vault moves to and from checking in 1 to 2 business days and cannot send externally), then wire out; Brex wires are $0.
5. Update payees and debits. Payroll, tax payments, Stripe or other payout destinations, and any vendor pulling ACH from your Brex account.
6. Export your history. Download statements, receipts and expense reports, and reconnect your accounting integration to the new provider before the month-end close.
7. Close last. Pay the final card statement (the late fee is 2.99% of the balance or $38, whichever is higher) and expect one more Premium bill, since Premium is billed in arrears on the 1st.

Not hands-on tested yet: we have not opened an account with Brex or the alternatives above, which require a US company and identity checks. Fees and rates come from each vendor's published pricing page, fee schedule and help center, read on October 13, 2026; Brex's prices, eligibility and treasury tiers and the Capital One releases were re-read on October 21, 2026.

Frequently asked questions

Did Capital One buy Brex?

Yes. Capital One announced the deal on January 22, 2026, valued at $5.15 billion in stock and cash, and completed it on April 7, 2026. Pedro Franceschi stays CEO and Brex LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary of Capital One, N.A.

Will Brex prices or accounts change under Capital One?

Neither company has announced changes for customers. As of October 21, 2026, Essentials is $0, Premium $12 per active user, wires $0 and points 0.6 cent each, the same as before the deal, and Brex's CEO described the plan as "continuity in how we operate today". The one 2026 change in eligibility made Brex easier to get (revenue bar down to $500,000).

Is my Brex money now held at Capital One?

No. Brex checking is a deposit at Column N.A., Vault spreads cash across 24 program banks, and Treasury is a money market fund through Brex Treasury LLC. Brex is owned by Capital One, but your balance is not a Capital One deposit.

Which Brex alternative has no funding requirement?

Mercury and Rho do not require outside funding (Rho's monthly card terms need $25,000 at Rho), and BILL Spend & Expense publishes no cash or revenue minimum. Ramp needs $25,000 in a linked bank but not funding. Brex needs equity funding with $50,000 in cash, or more than $500,000 a year in revenue.

What is the closest alternative to Brex?

Ramp for the card and expense software (free plan, $0 wires from Ramp Checking, no published cashback rate). Rho if you want the account, card and bill pay in one product at $0 with a published cashback rate.

Which Brex alternative is best for international spend?

Airwallex: 0.5% above interbank on major currencies and "zero international fees" on cards. Brex, Ramp and Mercury charge up to 3% on non-USD card spend; Relay charges 1%.

Related: Brex pricing, Ramp alternatives, Mercury alternatives. Yield on idle cash extends your cash runway.