A high-quality purchase order software should: 

• Simplify the purchasing process for everyone involved — employees and procurement managers alike. 

• Enable easy communication between procurement teams and vendors so they can place orders and track their status without disparate email threads. 

• Automate repetitive processes — like data entry, routing, and approvals — to free up time for more valuable tasks (like spending analysis and negotiating vendor contracts).  

We compiled this guide to review our solution, ProcureDesk, and its key features that meet this criteria. Then, we discuss a few other purchase order management systems that users rate highly — including Order.co, Tradogram, and more.  

• ProcureDesk — Our comprehensive procure-to-pay (P2P) solution, encompassing purchase order management and accounts payable automation. You can schedule a free demo here.

• Order.co — For teams who primarily purchase on eCommerce sites

• Tradogram — A freemium option for teams with low purchasing volume 

• Spendwise — Affordable spend management software for small & mid-sized teams

• Precoro — Purchase order software for global teams that require multi-currency features

• Procurify — Purchase order software that also offers virtual spend cards 

• Kissflow — A highly customizable software solution to support more complex procurement processes

1. ProcureDesk

Purchasing + AP Automation to Manage the Full Procure-to-Pay Lifecycle

We designed ProcureDesk to connect procurement and AP teams so they can work together more efficiently. Our P2P system includes tools to: 

• Create controlled purchasing flows — choose approved vendors, budgets, and approval processes. 

• Automate purchase order creation and track purchase orders after they’re sent to vendors. 

• Manage receipts from purchases and rectify order issues. 

• Centralize invoices, automate matching, and streamline payment workflows.  

• Track real-time spending and analyze spend reports to pinpoint cost savings opportunities and negotiate better vendor contracts. 

What teams love about ProcureDesk is its customizability, scalability, and ease of use; we offer white-glove onboarding to configure our software around your requirements. We’ll walk you through the steps to create a controlled purchasing environment and show you how to adjust as needs change (add or remove vendors, modify budgets, etc.). 

Employees can learn our software quickly: ProcureDesk doesn’t require any formal training, and employees can use sites like Amazon.com through our punchout process, so there is no learning curve.

We’ve worked with teams of all sizes — our purchasing software is a popular choice for small businesses and growing brands who need improved vendor management, and we also design custom packages for midsize and enterprise companies with specialized needs.  

Below, we discuss our core features and how they work, but you can also schedule a personalized demo of ProcureDesk here.  

ProcureDesk Procurement Management 

ProcureDesk allows you to create a controlled shopping environment for employees. Employees can shop with vendors at their convenience, within the confines of your purchasing guidelines and budgets — and you don’t have to micromanage every purchase. 

Here’s how it works: 

1. You create a “catalog” of all approved vendors employees can shop with. Our site connects with 150+ vendor sites and even offers punchout catalogs with big names like Amazon and Thermo Fisher Scientific. 

2. Then, you establish budgets. To enable proactive spend controls, you can set budgets by vendor, shopping category, department, or individual. 

3. Last, you create purchase request forms and approval workflows so our system knows what to do with orders after employees submit shopping carts for review. 

Purchase request forms allow managers to gather more details about orders — like why they’re needed and what project(s) the products will be used for — and they populate when employees submit carts so they know exactly what information is required to approve the request. 

Our approval routing rules can automate approvals (and rejections) or route order requests to the right procurement team members for a final say. 

• Orders that adhere to purchasing rules and budgets can be automatically approved. 

• Orders that exceed budget or include items that explicitly break guidelines are automatically denied. Our system will send a message to the user requesting the items and explain why it denied the purchase. 

• Orders that adhere to budgets but require a second look can be routed to the right people on your team for review. You choose who’s involved in reviews and the order of operations. 

Note: ProcureDesk also has tools to streamline reviews for purchase requests (PRs), so you don’t have piles of order requests to review at one time. We’ll notify you through the dashboard and email when new carts are available for review. You can review and approve the carts in our system, through email notifications, or in our mobile apps.  

After approval of purchase requests (PRs), our system automatically converts them to purchase orders (POs) and sends POs to vendors. Managers don’t have to take care of this last (and often tedious) step.

Then, our system saves all purchases in the dashboard for easy monitoring. Procurement teams can see all active orders and real-time spending — our system displays budgets to show what’s left to spend. 

You can refer to past purchase orders and see what users requested and why PRs were denied.  

ProcureDesk serves as your single source of truth for purchasing; all users can shop with vendors and monitor orders, and procurement teams can manage everything in one collaborative hub.

Vendor Management 

Our dashboard also simplifies vendor management and allows for convenient messaging between vendors and procurement teams. 

As mentioned earlier, you can add unlimited vendors to ProcureDesk. You can always see who you work with and add or remove vendors when you wish. 

After our system sends POs, suppliers can access the ProcureDesk dashboard to acknowledge the order and share updates. For example, they can mark when orders have been fulfilled or alert you of any delays (or let you know if they can’t fulfill orders). They can also share tracking numbers so you can add those to orders and monitor them through arrival. 

Our system gives managers visibility into order status from the moment we send POs, so there’s no confusion about purchases, and managers don’t have to send emails to follow up on orders. 

The Employee Experience 

Our system enables easy purchasing and gives employees the same visibility into order status so they’re always in the loop. 

When employees log in to ProcureDesk, they can instantly see all of the vendors they can shop with. They can choose the vendor they’re interested in, and the website opens directly in the ProcureDesk dashboard, so users aren’t rerouted around. 

Employees can browse vendor sites as they’re used to, adding items to their carts. Once they’ve finished building their order, they can submit it like they’d go to complete a purchase — instead of adding a credit card number and completing the order, the cart gets sent to our system for review. 

Upon submitting carts, we prompt employees to complete purchase request forms and share other information pertinent to purchase approvals.

Then, employees can monitor orders until they hit their desks. They can see: 

• If and when orders are approved. If orders are denied, our system sends a message about why. 

• When vendors acknowledge, fulfill, and ship orders. 

• When orders are expected to arrive. 

ProcureDesk also offers receipt management so employees can verify purchases and note any issues with orders in the system. 

We’ll notify users to upload receipts and fill in notes about the order condition. This is where employees can note issues with mismatched quantities or damaged products. We’ll also send email reminders if employees forget to upload at the first notification.

Then, procurement managers and AP teams can reference order receipts to resolve issues with vendors or approve invoices for payment. On that note…

ProcureDesk AP Automation Suite 

As a procure-to-pay solution, ProcureDesk offers a full AP automation suite to improve invoice management and automate invoice reconciliation. 

Here’s a brief look at the other side of our solution. 

• Invoice management — ProcureDesk offers vendor portals and e-invoicing; our system also links with email accounts and allows AP teams to upload paper invoices to centralize all documents in our system. 

• Automatic three-way invoice matching — Our system uses optical character recognition (OCR) to “read” invoices and extract important text. It can then 1) detect and merge duplicate invoices, 2) match invoices with their corresponding purchase order numbers and receipts, and 3) flag and route invoices with discrepancies for further review.  

• Integrations with ERPs and accounting software — Connect ProcureDesk to your accounting software to quickly push approved invoices for payment. (We even support touchless invoice processing.) You can also set approval workflows to route approved invoices for final review before payment. After sending payment, AP teams can update invoice status in ProcureDesk to avoid duplicate work. 

ProcureDesk integrates with popular accounting systems like QuickBooks, Xero, and Sage along with other AP solutions like Bill.com and AvidXchange. 

Spend Management & Reporting Dashboard 

ProcureDesk provides real-time spend monitoring so procurement and AP teams can anticipate costs, track cash flow, and analyze spending. Our platform comes with various out-of-the-box reports, so you can see: 

• Which suppliers you spend the most with

• Which departments (or individuals) do the most spending

• Top spend categories

• Budget breakdowns (so you can see precisely where company money is going)

Then, you can use this data to negotiate vendor contracts (or renegotiate better terms for existing contracts). 

Establishing vendor contracts is beneficial because you can secure discounts on commonly bought items and even improve cost savings through more flexible payment terms. 

For example, vendors sometimes allow 60 or 90 days to send invoice payments, whereas when you purchase on vendor sites with credit cards, you only have 30 days (or you’re subject to interest fees).  

Vendors typically sweeten deals the longer you work with them. For example, they may offer discounts if you regularly send on-time or early payments. Or, they might provide better bulk discounts on the items you most frequently purchase. 

“Graduating” to working directly with vendors is the best way to improve savings and effectively grow your bottom line — without sacrificing the goods your company needs. (Learn more here.)

Pricing

We offer two main packages and custom plans for enterprise teams. 

• Our Purchasing Automation package ($380/month) includes all of the features needed to support the purchase order process. It also includes our supplier acknowledgment and receipt management tools to track orders through the whole cycle.

• The complete P2P package ($600/month) includes everything mentioned above, along with all of our AP automation tools. 

Both packages include reporting tools for spend management, ten user seats, and free onboarding; however, users can add seats to either package, and we offer an advanced reporting add-on for deeper financial analysis.  

We also offer inventory management, vendor contract management, and expense management as optional add-ons.

Remember, we offer free white-glove onboarding to guide you through set-up and training, and our team is always around to help if you have questions when adding users or adjusting settings. 

Schedule a demo of ProcureDesk to learn more about our platform and packages.

2. Order.co

Order.co is a unique purchase order software commonly recommended for small to medium-sized companies who generally purchase from e-commerce websites (versus directly with vendors). 

This platform is convenient because it allows procurement teams to create one catalog that includes all approved products from all sites. Employees have one hub where they can see everything they can purchase and build carts with all the necessary items. Then, carts are sent to managers for review, and orders are automatically sent across sites.

Order.co is liked by AP teams in small businesses because the platform streamlines payment processes. It can consolidate invoices from all vendors, prepare one bulk payment, and then automatically distribute funds across vendors. AP teams can pay all vendors in a couple of clicks.   

However, Order.co does not have many features for teams that work directly with vendors and need to manage vendor contracts. 

Users also say that spend management can be hard on this platform as product prices often fluctuate on online marketplaces like Amazon, so AP teams have trouble anticipating costs (but this is a regular pain of shopping on e-commerce sites, generally — which is why we suggest working with vendors directly). 

Notable Features 

• Custom catalogs with approved items from all vendors 
• Virtual cards
• Budget & approvals 
• Purchasing management & automated order processing 
• Order tracking 
• Spend management 
• Bulk payment features (to send one payment across all vendors)
• Reporting dashboard
• Integrations with accounting software (QuickBooks, NetSuite, Sage Intacct), LeafLink, and Workday

Pricing 

Order.co does not disclose pricing on its website. 

3. Tradogram

Tradogram is a cloud-based purchasing system that allows finance and procurement teams to implement cost-control processes across the organization. It’s typically popular for construction companies, companies with project-related spending, and small businesses. 

The platform offers features to automate the PO process, control and monitor spending, and measure supplier performance. 

Tradogram is appealing to smaller teams because it’s one of the few PO software brands that offers a free package. You can get started on the platform and access most procurement and purchase order management features for free. 

However, we advise readers to consider this package a free trial because it only supports five monthly transactions. Unless your purchasing volume is extremely low, you’ll need one of the paid plans. 

Tradogram, like ProcureDesk and Order.co above, is a full P2P solution with tools and packages to support AP workflows. 

Notable Features 

• Unlimited suppliers & catalogs
• Purchase requisition management 
• Approval routing
• Purchase order management 
• Project management 
• Inventory management
• Supplier management
• Expense management 
• Budgeting tool & cost control dashboard
• Invoice tracking
• Two- & three-way invoice matching
• Integrations
• Reporting

Pricing 

Tradogram offers: 

• A free plan (discussed above).
• Premium package (starting at $168/month) that supports unlimited transactions and grants access to more advanced features. 
• Custom enterprise plans.  

4. Spendwise

Spendwise markets its software as a spend management platform, but it also includes a suite of procurement management features to support the purchasing process along with a few invoice management tools. 

This solution is a simple, inexpensive purchasing system for teams to manage and monitor orders and spending. It’s easy to set up, the features are user-friendly, and it automates many manual processes. 

However, it’s worth pointing out that the features are somewhat limited. Reviewers say the reporting dashboard offers basic insights, and searching back through past orders can be tricky unless you remember exact details from POs.

Users also note that Spendwise has a slight learning curve because the team doesn’t offer training, and their developers frequently update the software (so navigating changes after updates is sometimes confusing). It’s also worth noting this is a web-based solution, so you can only access Spendwise through your internet browser.

Spendwise works best for teams with a low purchasing volume who don’t want to splurge on expensive purchase order management software.  

Notable Features 

• Purchase order management 
• Budgets & approvals 
• Bills & expenses (to manage, match, and pay vendor invoices)
• Receiving (to receive on goods & services after delivery) 
• Spend management reports 
• Basic supplier management 
• User permissions 

Pricing 

Spendwise offers two packages and custom enterprise plans (for teams with over 50 users). 

• The Basic package ($9/user/month) supports up to five users and ten monthly transactions. It includes purchasing, receiving, invoice matching, and reports. 

• The Pro package ($19/user/month) grants access to all Spendwise features and supports unlimited transactions. You can also purchase add-ons for this plan, such as inventory management, Amazon integrations, accounting integrations, and onboarding support. This package requires a minimum of five users and supports up to 50 seats.

5. Precoro

Precoro is a more advanced tool than some of our competitors above. It includes a full P2P toolset with features to automate manual purchasing and enable smooth team collaboration. It integrates with vendor sites, messaging apps like Slack, spreadsheet tools like Excel, accounting tools like QuickBooks, and other business applications to serve as a single source of truth for procurement and AP processes. 

Due to its complexity and pricing, we typically recommend this purchase order software for mid-size and growing teams. It’s also worth noting that Precoro is popular for global brands because it offers multi currency features and tools to support remote teams. 

Users typically say Precoro is user-friendly, easy to set up, and (slightly) scalable. However, they note limitations with the number of catalogs you can create, so larger, multi-brand corporations may need a more scalable tool.   

Notable Features 

• Supplier catalogs (can create up to two punchout catalogs)
• Purchase requisition management
• Approval workflows 
• Purchase order management 
• PO, invoice, and receipt management
• Three-way invoice matching
• Spend management 
• Inventory management
• Supplier management
• NetSuite integration
• Reporting

Pricing 

Precoro pricing is based on team size — they offer access to all features in both packages. 

• Teams with less than 20 users can get started with Precoro’s package “for smaller teams” — this plan costs $39/user/month. 

• Teams with more than 20 users have to request a custom quote. 

6. Procurify

Procurify is another unique option because it offers users virtual spending cards (in addition to vendor management and AP automation tools).  

The platform offers advanced P2P features for teams to create controlled purchasing flows, track orders and spending, collaborate with suppliers, manage vendor contracts, and simplify invoice management and AP workflows. Users also say it’s fairly easy to set up and learn, and Procurify’s team is around to help during onboarding. 

However, due to pricing, this software is typically reserved for mid-size and larger teams. The starter package reportedly begins at $1K/month, so many small businesses don’t have the budget for Procurify (especially when comparable solutions are available at more affordable prices).  

Procurify’s big differentiator is spend cards, so if this is a must for your organization, you might want to splurge. However, Order.co (mentioned above) also offers spend cards, so smaller teams that require this feature may get away with Order’s solution.  

Notable Features

• Spend cards
• Catalog management 
• Purchase requisition management 
• Purchase order management 
• Reimbursement management 
• Budget tracking & spend controls
• AP automation 
• Receipt management 
• Three-way invoice matching
• Integrations with ERPs, accounting systems & project management software 
• Reporting dashboard
• Mobile apps 

Pricing 

Procurify no longer shares pricing on its website, but packages used to start at $1K/month for smaller teams and $2K/month for larger teams. They also offer custom plans for enterprise companies. 

7. Kissflow

The last purchase order software on our list — Kissflow Procurement Cloud — is another unique tool typically best for teams with complex procurement processes. 

Kissflow is a general workflow automation software brand that offers solutions for many different business areas, including procurement. Their software is different from the others above because Kissflow opens its code to developers so they can make custom configurations to the platform. The setup is still reportedly easy, but you need some coding experience to customize and manage the platform. 

Kissflow offers a template with core procurement features for teams to add vendors, set purchasing guidelines, budgets, and approval trees, and monitor purchasing and spending in a central, collaborative hub. Then, developers can build off this template so the software can support your exact workflows and requirements.    

Kissflow’s team is also around to help during set-up. 

Notable Features 

• e-Procurement (with assisted buying)
• Hosted & punchout catalogs
• Purchase requisition management
• Purchase order management
• Budget tracking 
• Contract & vendor management
• Strategic sourcing
• Inventory management
• AP automation (with three-way matching)
• Integrations with popular accounting software
• Webhooks & API
• Mobile apps
• Reporting 

Pricing 

Kissflow provides two plans: 

• The Basic plan for $1500/month. This supports simple use cases and internal users. 

• They also offer custom enterprise plans (and pricing). This package grants full platform access and allows you to onboard external users.

Getting Started

ProcureDesk is a comprehensive procure-to-pay (P2P) solution, encompassing purchase order management and accounts payable automation. 

Our platform provides real-time spend monitoring so procurement and AP teams can anticipate costs, track cash flow, and analyze spending. Plus, teams love our customizability, scalability, and ease of use.

Schedule a personalized demo of ProcureDesk to learn more about our purchase order management tools and how our comprehensive P2P solution can support your operations.