9 Best Purchasing Software for Small Businesses in 2023

Best For

ProcureDesk is best suited for Biotech companies, professional services, and manufacturing companies that need catalog-based purchasing.

Top Features

Purchase requisition:

With purchase requisitions, employees can easily create and track their purchase requests—no more paper requisitions for submitting purchase requisitions.

Instead of checking their emails, they can easily track what requisitions are already approved and which ones are pending approval.

The system also notifies the employee when the requisition is approved and when a buyer issues a purchase order to the supplier.

Requisitions are helpful in controlling Spend but also allow buyers in an organization to review and consolidate the spending.

Buyers save money on shipping by consolidating multiple requests from the same vendor.

Alternatively, Buyers can consolidate spending from multiple vendors to a single vendor to reduce the overall cost.

Requisitions are helpful when you have a buyer or procurement department.

Just because you have an electronic form doesn’t make the process simple for employees.

They still have to remember all the fields they need to fill in, for example, cost codes, departments, etc.

We make that easier for your employees by using default values based on the user profile.

Punchout catalogs

If you are purchasing products or services from large retailers like Amazon, CDW, Office Depot, Office Supplies, to name a few, then a punch-out is the way to go.

With a punchout, an employee can create a requisition in a few clicks without copying the data from different websites into the requisition cart. This increases the operational efficiency of the entire procurement process.

Let’s take an example of Amazon:

1. An employee would click on the Amazon logo.
2. The employee navigates to the Amazon website. We connect ProcureDesk to your business account.
3. Employee selects the items they want to purchase.
4. The employee is then routed back to the purchase requisition screen for approval.
5. The system copies cart data from Amazon to the requisition screen.

Wasn’t that easy?

Now, if you are wondering, what about my other suppliers? Don’t worry.

We support 100+ vendors. We are continuously adding new vendors to the punchout process.

We work with you to set up new punchouts, and there is no charge for that.

Self-created catalogs

Sometimes, a vendor doesn’t have a punchout catalog, or you are not too big enough for them to issue you a punchout account.

In such cases, you can create the catalog yourself and use that to enable easy purchasing for your employees.

To create an internal catalog, you need to ask your vendor for the most commonly purchased items and the latest pricing for those items.

You then put those items in our catalog template like this:

And then upload the items into ProcureDesk to create a new catalog.

Here is how an internal catalog looks:

The user has to click on “Add to cart” to add an item to the purchase request from the catalog.

Budgets

Budgets allow you a mechanism to control costs and keep spending under budget.

Here is how it works:

You first set up a budget in the system. The budget can be by department, project, or cost center.

We offer a flexible budget hierarchy to make it easy to create a structure that best suits your needs.

Once you create the budget, the system will prompt the user to select the budget while creating a new purchase request.

The user can quickly see the available budget before placing the request.

 

You can now set up the budget controls so that the system blocks a purchase if the purchase amount is greater than the budget. That’s all you need for budget tracking.

Project-based budgets

Sometimes you need granular budget controls, especially if you have a project.

For example – if you are a marketing agency or a construction company, you want to ensure that the expenses don’t go over the budget that the customer allocates.

You might want to track the budget for the different activities you need to do for a project.

For example, you are working on a marketing website revamp project.

Then the line items could be:

1. Website design
2. Website development
3. Brand identity design
4. Copywriter for landing page copy

And here is how you can set up a project budget to control that:

 

When a requester allocates expenses to the project, they can assign it to the correct line in the project budget.

You can then easily track the budget consumption against each line, including all the purchase orders issued against that project.

Approval workflow

Do you have a purchasing policy with an approval matrix?

Then you know how hard it is to ensure that employees follow the policy and get approval at the right authorization level.

You don’t have to worry about non-compliance with the policy with approval workflows.

Here is how simple it is:

First, set up a purchase approval workflow, letting the system know how to route the request based on different conditions. i.e., custom approvals based on your purchasing policy.

For example, you need two people to approve a request over $50,000.

Here is an example of how you can set that up in the system:

 

Once you configure the approval process, ProcureDesk would route employees to the correct person based on the predefined business rules or approval thresholds.

Omnichannel approval

The biggest issue with approvals is that managers forget to approve. They are probably too busy, out traveling in the field, or just forgetful ?

To solve this issue, we allow users to approve in a way that works best for them. This results in quick approvals.

We have three ways to approve a purchase approval request.

Emails:

You can directly approve a purchase request from your email. You don’t need to log in to the system for approval.

The email provides you with all the details you need before deciding on a purchase request.

Mobile App:

With the mobile app, you can approve on the go!

Just download the ProcureDesk mobile app from the Apple App Store or Google play store, and you can approve your purchase requests from anywhere.

 

Web app:

With the web app, you can log in to ProcureDesk and approve or reject the purchase requisition.

Here is how to do that:

Workflow setup should be easy to set up and manage. Schedule a demo with our team and see how easily you can configure your approval matrix in ProcureDesk.

Purchase order

After the purchase requisition is approved, a buyer can convert a purchase request into a purchase order.

A purchase order would contain the terms, and details of what is purchased, where it needs to be delivered, and when.

Here is an example of a purchase order:

Purchase order management allows you to convert the purchase requisition into a purchase order automatically.

To ensure that the vendor delivers the orders on time, we do the following:

• We automatically email the purchase and send orders through cXMl if the vendor accepts it.
• This leads to the faster and error-free transmission of purchase orders to vendors.
• We also track whether the emails are delivered and opened by the vendor. That way, you can ensure that the order is delivered.

Purchase order acknowledgment

Once the order is delivered, you want the vendor to acknowledge the order.

Vendor acknowledgment of the order is essential for two reasons:

1. With the current supply chain issues, you want the vendors to acknowledge that they can deliver the product per the requested delivery date.
2. If there is a disagreement on the terms, it can be quickly resolved.

You can either ask the vendor to acknowledge the order by email or ask the vendor to submit the order acknowledgment using ProcureDesk.

The vendor submits the status of the overall order or the status for each line.

Here is an example of how the vendor can acknowledge an order:

 

As the vendor accepts the PO, ProcureDesk updates the order’s status as acknowledged.

Order tracking

With order tracking, employees can track the shipment of the product.

The vendor can provide the tracking information directly in ProcureDesk, or you can update the information in the system.

Once the tracking information is in the system, the system will track the status changes and let you know when the order is delivered.

Receipts

Once you have received the order, you can create a receipt to confirm the delivery of the product.

You can create partial receipts as well as full receipts.

You can also track serial numbers and asset tags. ProcureDesk is not an Asset management system. However, it is easy to track asset costs by storing the data here and exporting it to whatever system you need.

Here is an example of how you can create a receipt:

 

Now, what happens if you are not in front of your computer, no worries, we also have a mobile app.

With the mobile app, you can easily create a receipt and take a picture of the packaging slip from the app.

After the user selects the order, the system prompts for some basic information, and then you can submit the receipt for matching.

Dashboard and Reports

You have all the purchase orders in one place, but it is useless if you can’t report on it.

There are two ways you can get complete cash flow visibility, through the management dashboard and inbuilt reports.

For example, you get real-time visibility of what you are buying, from who you are buying, who is buying, and what terms.

Here is a snapshot of the Spend dashboard:

You can also track your monthly spend trends to know your exact burn rate.

With reports, you can see all your data in one place.

We have over 30 different reports to give you complete visibility into your spending.

Here is a sample open order report:

 

You can also download the data into a spreadsheet for further analysis.

Strong access control

Want to ensure tighter access controls? We got you covered.

With the ProcureDesk access management module, an administrative user can set up roles based on their access needs.

For example, an AP clerk can only input invoices but can’t create purchase orders because that might lead to fraud.

With robust access control, you can prevent procurement fraud.

Real-time seamless integration

We ensure that you don’t worry about syncing data with your account package with real-time integration.

Whether you are a small business using QuickBooks, Xero, or a medium-sized company using Sage Intacct or Netsuite, we got you covered.

The integration process is easy to set up and takes only a few minutes.

Unlike other systems where you have manually synced the data, we automatically take care of this—no need to press buttons to sync the data.

Pricing

ProcureDesk offers three pricing plans:

1. The purchase order module starts at $380 and covers 10 users.
2. The base plan covers all the core features for purchasing automation, including requisition, purchase orders, receipts, and order tracking.
3. Annual subscriptions provide a 20% discount on all plans. All plans come with a 14-day free trial.

Schedule a demo and see how ProcureDesk can help you streamline purchasing.

2. Procurify

Our Verdict — Best for medium-sized companies

Price:  Procurify doesn’t list pricing on its website.

Procurify is a cloud-based procurement solution that helps forward-thinking organizations empower their teams for success by making business spending intelligent and straightforward. It provides tools for control & visibility across the organization.

The Best Part:

Complete spend management platform along with integrated virtual cards for ad-hoc expenses.

The Worst Part:

Limited support for punchout catalogs. There is only a limited set of punch-out vendors at the present moment.

Best For

Best for companies that are looking for a complete spend management tool and an integrated virtual card solution.

Top Features

1. Purchase requisition: Procurify supports purchase requisitions, allowing employees to create purchase requests easily.
2. Customizable workflows: Procurify supports customizable approval workflows that helps you route the request for approval to different stakeholders. With the customizable workflows, you can route purchases by department, dollar amount, location codes, etc. It also provides for easy approval management.
3. Mobile app approval: Procurify has a mobile app that can help you quickly approve purchases on the go.
4. Budgets: Procurify supports budgets and allows you to track your spending against a budget in real time. This gives the ability for approver to approve with confidence.
5. Purchase order workflow: You can automate converting purchase requisitions into purchase orders with the purchasing order workflow.
6. Internal Catalogs: Procurify supports the catalogs functionality.
7. Punchouts: Procurify supports punchout, but the functionality is limited to only Amazon. We didn’t see additional vendors on the Procurify website, but please check with the vendor.
8. Flexible user permissions: Procurify supports strong access control. You can set up different roles, and admins can assign each role to specific activities.

 Pricing

Procurify doesn’t mention pricing on its website. But they do offer a complete procure-to-pay automation solution.

Here are the multiple packages on their website. You can call the vendor to get a price quote.

3. Kissflow

Our Verdict — Best for companies wanting an all-one workflow management tools

Price: Starts at $1990/month

Kissflow, at its core, is a workflow engine that helps automate different processes in an organization.

They have a separate module for Procurement called Procurement Cloud.

The Best Part:

Strong configuration capabilities so that you can create a custom purchase order form.

The Worst Part:

No support for punchout catalogs and limited order tracking capabilities.

Best For:

Kissflow is best for companies that want a single solution to automate their business processes, including procurement. The procurement platform is one of the many products offered by Kissflow.

Top Features

1. Purchase requisitions: Employees can easily create purchase requisitions with the purchase requisition module. Employees can enter the requisition details like name and item details and route them for approval.
2. Purchase orders: Requisitions can be converted into purchase orders, and then purchase orders can be dispatched to the vendors. Kissflow offers real-time Spend analysis along with the purchase orders to check any previous Spend with the vendor.
3. Vendor catalogs: Kissflow supports catalogs but only internal catalogs. There is no support for punchout catalogs. That means you can’t link your procurement system to a vendor-hosted catalog.
4. Budgets: Kissflow offers the option to set up the budgets so that you can check the budgets at the time of approving the purchase order. It seems like you can also restrict the purchases if the budget is not available.
5. Vendor management: Kissflow offers a vendor management solution where you can use a workflow to screen the vendor during the evaluation process. It is probably a good feature for manufacturing companies who need a vendor selection process that includes data gathering.
6. Reporting: With reporting, you can see all your Spend data in one place. You can see Spend trends as well as customize the reports.
7. Purchase approvals: Kissflow offers flexible purchase approvals. Your case setup approvals based on purchase order amount, department, and so on.

Pricing

Kissflow procurement cloud pricing starts from $1990/month and varies by volume and transactions.

1. Kissflow offers a free trial for the software.
2. The pricing is based on features, transaction volume, and the number of users.
3. The base package includes a purchase requisition module, supplier management, and AP automation.

4. Spendwise

Our Verdict — Basic purchasing tool at an affordable price

Price: Starts at $9/month

Spendwise is a web-based application that allows you to manage purchase orders effortlessly, inventory, invoices, bills, and expenses

The Best Part:

SpendWise offers a simple system for basic purchasing needs.

The Worst Part:

Limited integration with other accounting packages.

Best For:

Spendwise is a great option for companies that are looking to streamline their entire purchasing process and not looking to spend a lot of money. It allows basic functionality to automate the purchasing activity.

Top Features

1. Purchase orders: You can easily create and send purchase orders to vendors with the purchase order functionality.
2. Receiving: With the receiving functionality, employees can confirm the receipt of the purchase orders. This way, the AP team always knows when an invoice is ready to be paid.
3. Budgets: The budget feature allows companies to track spending against a budget.
4. Reports: Spendwise offers over 25 canned reports to get you started with reporting.
5. Roles: You can set up roles and control access to the application.
6. Optional implementation package: Spendwise offers an optional implementation package for companies who want support setting up the system. We are not sure if the base package has any implementation support.
7. Manual data sync: Users can sync the data to multiple systems through a data export process.

Pricing

Pricing starts at $9/user/month for the basic package and goes up to $19/user/month.

1. The base package includes 10 transactions and 5 users. There are no approval workflows in the base package.
2. You need to upgrade to a $19/user/month plan if you want unlimited transactions.

 

5. Tipalti Approve

Our Verdict — Lightweight approval process for Netsuite customers

Price: Check with the vendor for pricing.

Tipalti is primarily a payables automation solution with a solid background in payments, including global payments. They recently launched a new product called Tipalti approve, and we thought it could be a worthy addition to our list of software options.

The Best Part:

Tipalti offers strong integration with Netsuite.

The Worst Part:

Based on customer reviews, the User interface is not that strong and could use some improvements.

Best For:

Tipalti is best suited for companies using Netsuite and looking to add a simple interface for approvals.

Top Features

Here are the key features of Tipalti approve

1. Purchase request: The purchase request module allows employees to create purchase requests.

2. Approval flows: The purchase request can be routed to different department owners or budget owners with approvals.

3. Purchase orders: Purchase orders get generated after a purchase request is approved.

4. Vendors: Set up new vendor workflows to onboard new vendors through the AP team process.

5. Reports and Dashboards: Get a complete view of your company expenses with reports and a dashboard.

6. Integration only limited to Netsuite: It seems like the integration is limited to Netsuite only; we recommend that you work with the vendor to understand the integration options.

Pricing

Tipalti doesn’t mention the pricing on their website.

6. QuickBooks Online

Our Verdict — Best for simple purchase order use cases when you don’t need inbuilt approvals.

Price: Starts at $30/month for a single user

QuickBooks online is the most widely used accounting package for small to medium-sized businesses.

The tool offers a complete accounting package, but we are only focused on the purchase order capabilities in this article.

The Best Part:

QuickBooks Online provides a simple interface for creating purchase orders.

The Worst Part:

QuickBooks accounting system lacks granular access controls. It is not possible to restrict access only to the purchase order functionality.

Best For:

QuickBooks is best for companies that issue limited purchase orders to vendors. It is not a good solution for controlling spending.

Top Features

1. Purchase order creation: There are limited capabilities for purchase order generation in QuickBooks, but you can certainly create a purchase order. The system can also email the purchase order to the vendor. You can add items that are part of the inventory or add expenses to the purchase order.
2. Approval workflow: There are no purchase approvals in QuickBooks.
3. Project expense tracking: With project tracking, you can tag your expenses to specific customer projects. This enables you to bill the customer for all the expenses at one time.
4. Reporting: There is no specialized reporting for purchase orders, but you can use the inbuilt capabilities of QBO to report on spending by the vendor or Spend by GL accounts.

Pricing

QuickBooks offers affordable packages starting at $30/month for a single user.

Here is an overview of the different packages:

1. QuickBooks offers affordable packages starting at $30/month for a single user.
2. The base plan covers the expenses and purchase orders module. If you need Bills, then you need to upgrade to the next plan.

7. QuickBooks Desktop

Our Verdict — Best for companies that need purchase orders with inventory module

Price: Starts at $1740/year

 

QuickBooks online is the most widely used accounting package for small to medium-sized businesses.

The tool offers a complete accounting package, but we are only focused on the purchase order capabilities in this article.

The Best Part:

QuickBooks offers a simple tool for creating and tracking purchase orders. It is especially great for companies that sell inventory items—for example, retail shops, e-commerce stores, etc.

The Worst Part:

QuickBooks enterprise is a desktop application, so every user needs to have the application installed in their machine.

Best For:

QuickBooks Enterprise is a robust solution for small companies that stock and sell inventory items.

Top Features

1. Purchase order creation: You can easily create purchase orders using QuickBooks Desktop. In our view, the Desktop version has more robust capabilities than the online version. It ties very well with the inventory module. For creating a purchase order in the Desktop version, you have to set up an item in the item master.
2. Approval workflows: There are no purchase approvals in QuickBooks.
3. Project expense tracking: With project tracking, you can tag your expenses to specific customer projects. This enables you to bill the customer for all the expenses at one time.
4. Reporting: There is no specialized reporting for purchase orders, but you can use the inbuilt capabilities of QuickBooks Desktop to report on various dimensions.

Pricing

QuickBooks desktop is an annual subscription, and you per user.

Here is the pricing for one user:

8. Xero

Our Verdict — Lightweight procurement functionality that doesn’t break the bank.

Price: Starts at $13/month per user, with discounts available for larger teams.

Xero is an online accounting software designed for small businesses. It offers a comprehensive suite of features, including purchase order creation and approval workflows. Xero also provides project expense tracking and reporting capabilities to help you manage your spending.

The Best Part:

Xero purchase order functionality is part of the accounting package, so there is no additional cost for purchase order functionality.

The Worst Part:

Xero is not a best-of-breed procurement solution. So it lacks features like catalogs, approvals, and automated order tracking.

Best For

Xero is best for startups requiring minimal purchase orders and where the accounting team can enter the purchase orders instead of end users.

Top Features

1. Purchase order creation: Xero offers robust purchase order functionality and works well if you create only a few purchase orders a month. You can easily create the purchase order by typing in what you want. It defaults a lot of data for suppliers and users.
2. Purchase order dispatch: The system generates the PO PDF document, and you can then dispatch the PO to the supplier.
3. Reports: You can use an inbuilt report to report Spend by Vendor and other dimensions.

Pricing

1. The pricing is a combination of users and the volume of the data.
2. For example, the base package only allows you to enter five monthly bills. For most clients, the $70/month package is best suited.

 

9. Sage Intacct

Our Verdict — Integrated accounting and purchase order package

Price: Please get in touch with the sales

 

Sage Intacct is a cloud-based accounting package that offers diverse features to handle different requirements from small to mid-market companies.

The Best Part:

Sage Intacct provides an integrated purchasing and accounting package. The integrated package works well if you are not looking to add on a best-of-breed procurement management solution.

The Worst Part:

Sage Intacct offers limited purchase order capabilities. It lacks catalogs or orders tracking, a common functionality for best-of-breed procurement solutions.

Best For

Sage Intacct is a good option for small to medium-sized companies who don’t need a sophisticated purchasing system.

Top Features

1. Purchase requisition: Unlike QuickBooks and Xero, Sage Intacct offers robust purchase requisition functionality. Employees can create purchase requisitions that buyers can convert into purchase orders.
2. Purchase orders: You can create a purchase order from a requisition or directly create a purchase order. The system is flexible to support your procurement process.
3. Purchase order approvals: Purchase orders get routed for approvals based on different approval routing rules. Once the system generates the PO, it also dispatches the PO to the vendor.
4. Receipts: Once the product is received, you can easily convert a purchase order into a receipt and mark the product as received. This allows the AP team to confirm that the invoice is ready to pay. This enables on-time vendor payments.
5. Reporting: Sage Intacct offers robust reporting capabilities. You can, of course, run all your key management reports, but you can also easily report on spending by the vendor and other dimensions available to users.

Pricing

Sage Intacct offers customized plans to suit your needs, but you must reach the vendor to get a price quote.

What Is Purchasing Software?

Purchasing software automates the purchasing process from a purchase request to issuing a purchase order to the supplier.

Purchasing software allows you to track the purchase order lifecycle, including order acknowledgment by the vendor, and shipping and delivery confirmation by the supplier.

Purchasing software doesn’t cover the AP (Accounts Payable) functionality that includes processing supplier invoices and matching invoices with a purchase order.

In our comparison, we have only included the purchase order features. However, most of these software vendors do provide AP automation features.

The Bottom Line

To recap, here are the best purchasing software to try this year:

1. ProcureDesk – Best for small to medium-sized companies

2. Procurify – Best for medium size companies

3. Kissflow – Best for procurement teams that need a general-purpose purchasing software

4. Spendwise– Best for companies that are looking for an inexpensive purchasing software

5. Tipalti Approve – Best for companies that are only looking for purchase approvals

6. QuickBooks Online – Best for simple purchase order requirements without workflow

7. QuickBooks Desktop – Best for simple purchasing requirements and inventory integration

8. Xero – Best for companies that want purchase order functionality

9. Sage Intacct – Best for companies that need integrated accounting and purchasing software

We recommend ProcureDesk if you are looking for a best-in-breed purchasing software that is affordable and easy to use.

Related Articles

• What is purchase requisition?
• What is a purchase order system?
• What is an Online purchase order system?