Top 15 best free travel management software in 2024

Business travel expenses often represent a considerable chunk of a business’s total expenditure, meaning many organizations are looking for cost-effective tools to help them manage their travel programs and reduce costs.In this article, we cover the 15  best free travel management apps, travel companies, and software solutions for managing enterprise travel. Keep reading for  a breakdown  of features and pricing to help your business

streamline business travel booking

, manage travel expenses, and

maintain travel policy compliance

.

TravelPerk is a travel management company that enables users to manage the entire business travel booking process via its centralized, end-to-end digital platform. Along with  access to an industry-leading travel

inventory for flights

and

accommodation

,  users can also benefit from TravelPerk’s

VAT recovery solution

, a

carbon offsetting program

, and

FlexiPerk

, a cancelation policy that grants users the ability to cancel business trip arrangements up to two hours before departure with a guaranteed refund of 80%.A good travel management solution should offer integrations with the most popular expense management tools. TravelPerk offers 18 different expense management integrations, as well as a huge

catalog of other third-party integrations

that help streamline processes.

TravelPerk is the best business travel management app for all-in-one travel booking and management, as they  focus solely on

corporate travel management

and the needs of businesses. See how TravelPerk can streamline your organization’s business travel program for free with

a free demo

.

Booking.com

is an online travel agency and marketplace. Users can search for accommodation, flights, car rentals, and

package deals

. The search platform is available in 43 languages, and the company runs a rewards program and a range of discounted booking options.

The company does offer a corporate travel booking option,

Booking.com

for Business. However, since the platform has been built with a focus on leisure travel, there are many features it doesn’t offer to companies.For example,

Booking.com

offers limited transportation options. Plus, there is no VAT recovery function or carbon offsetting options, a lack of integrations with third-party solutions, or no  traveler tracking.While

Booking.com

’s platform is easy to use, there are many cost-saving benefits of using a travel management platform that’s designed for corporate use. For example, travel management companies can identify the best deals and negotiate significant corporate discounts, and can scale to meet your business needs. Plus, keeping track of multiple invoices is much harder when making a large number of bookings via a platform like

Booking.com

.

Kayak for Business is a free travel search and booking engine that functions in the same way as its consumer platform, Kayak. It’s a travel aggregator platform that searches hundreds of travel sites to find and display flight, hotel, and rental car options.Users can automatically generate travel itineraries that include flight information, boarding passes, hotel, and restaurant reservations. Plus, companies can integrate their travel policies into Kayak for Business, which means that when trips are booked, managers will be shown whether they land inside the policy.

Keep in mind that since Kayak for Business is a search engine, the solution does not come with a customer service function. In fact, all refunds, travel amendments, and cancellations are handled by the providers themselves.

If your employees are traveling frequently and renting cars during their trip, using a corporate car rental solution can save your team time and money. Many end-to-end travel management tools, like TravelPerk, offer car rentals and other transportation verticals within their platforms. This makes it way easier to manage all of your employees' travel arrangements and bookings all in one place. However, if you’re looking for a car rental management option directly through a car rental agency, the Enterprise for Business solution is for you. 

Although Enterprise is one of the largest car rental providers in the US (and globally), keep in mind that joining a corporate car rental management program managed by Enterprise makes it difficult for employees to get discounts, comply with policies, and make reservations if they need to use another provider. 

Hotel Engine is a corporate travel solution focused on corporate hotel discounts and management. With Hotel Engine, you can book hotels for your employees at discounted rates, while also keeping all of their trips and hotel expenses in one place. The downside of this, of course, is that this platform only focuses on hotels, meaning that flights, rental cars, and other travel must be managed separately. An end-to-end solution that keeps all of your travel arrangements in one place typically offers more value for most enterprise businesses. However, if you’re solely looking for hotel management, Hotel Engine offers a great software. 

For teams who want to feel a bit more at home when they travel, travel for longer periods, or want to include team bonding activities in your corporate travel experiences, Airbnb for Work is a good travel management solution. It makes it simple for employees to self-book overnight stays without needing a reimbursement, to book offsite locations for team bonding or collaboration, or to book and manage team bonding activities. The upside: many other travel booking platforms, like Kayak or

Booking.com

, don’t include vacation home rentals or Airbnb-specific offerings, which means that Airbnb for Work gives you access to specialized stays you can’t find elsewhere. The downside, of course: since it’s specific to

Airbnb

, your options may be limited, and you can’t price-compare against the going rates for local hotels and other accomodation options. In addition, Airbnb for Work doesn’t offer any corporate discounts like other platforms do. 

Soldo is a payment and spend management automation platform suitable for businesses of any size that helps make payments and control and track spending.The platform allows  businesses to make payments using physical and virtual cards, set custom budgets and rules, track spending in real-time, automate administrative tasks, and connect accounting platforms.To help businesses automate their workflows, Soldo offers several useful integrations with accounting, expense tracking, document management, and open banking solutions. Plus, the platform

integrates with TravelPerk

to allow users to export invoices into Soldo for all bookings made using a Soldo card.

As one of Europe’s leading spending solutions, Pleo is an expense management app that helps businesses manage the entire expense reporting process from start to finish.With Pleo, employees receive their own Pleo debit cards and get cashback on company spending. Teams can buy what they need, saving employees from out of pocket expenses and reducing time spent in the tedious reimbursement process. Pleo cards can also be added to Apple Pay, making work-related purchases even easier.Once a purchase is made, users capture pictures of their receipts within the Pleo app, which are uploaded and submitted for approval. Custom rules can be created to flag expenses that need an extra layer of manager review, while the rest can be automatically approved.The app also enables users to generate invoices, collect payments, track mileage and, plan trips. Employers can set individual spending limits for each Pleo card and adjust them as needed.Pleo integrates with all major ERP, accounting, and finance software solutions and even with travel solutions,

including TravelPerk

. This integration enables the automatic reporting of trips booked in the TravelPerk system, and users can enjoy the benefits of one-click travel expense reporting.

Ramp is a “5-in-1” software that combines corporate cards, expense management, bill payments, accounting, and reporting into one platform.Users can earn rewards, enjoy cost savings with customized spending insights, access built-in spend control, and access over $175,000 in partner rewards.Ramp also offers over 1,000 integrations with other software solutions — including seamless

integration with the TravelPerk platform

that allows  users to automate travel and expense reports and receive 1.5% cashback on all travel expenses with Ramp.

BILL is an all-in-one expense management solution suitable for businesses of all sizes and industries. Its smart corporate cards make business travel expenses easy to track, categorize, and report.The platform eliminates the need to create expense reports, gives users real-time visibility into spending, and enables users to create budgets and generate virtual cards, all from within one platform.It also

integrates with TravelPerk

, allowing  users to reap the benefits of a centralized portal where they can easily book, manage, and report on travel expenses.

App in the Air is a personal travel assistant app that helps users plan, book, track, and manage their travel arrangements.While the app is not specifically designed for business travel, the app includes several handy features such as itinerary tracking, the ability to check your journey’s

carbon footprint

, and airport tips from fellow travelers. It also offers integrations with various other travel management apps like

TravelPerk

.

If your employees drive frequently for business purposes, then a mileage tracking app can help make managing their travel reimbursements so much easier. With MileIQ, your employees can track mileage automatically (and accurately) using GPS tracking, eliminating tracking and reporting responsibilities and making mileage reimbursements easier and more accurate. 

Tripkicks is an add-on that provides insights and alerts for travel plans to help users optimize travel experiences.

For frequent travelers, PackPoint is a handy packing list app that creates packing lists based on the length and type of your trip (business, leisure, or

bleisure

) and the weather at your travel destination.Users can also add details of any travel activities during their trip, like swimming, hiking, beach days, snowsports, etc, as well as information on whether they’ll have access to laundry facilities or not.Once users have entered this information, PackPoint creates a custom packing list with several categories (essentials, toiletries, etc). Users can check off their packed items and hide items they won’t need.

TripIt helps frequent travelers — whether for leisure, business, or bleisure travel — keep all of their itineraries and travel plans organized and in one place. Simply forward your confirmation emails to the TripIt email address and it’ll add your plans to your trip and organize your itinerary. This way, you’ll always know where to be when, and what’s coming up next. Although TripIt is designed for personal use, it can also be helpful as a business travel management app, and even syncs with some business travel management platforms. The downside is that it can be difficult to share TripIt itineraries with others, meaning that travel managers can’t use TripIt to manage and understand the entire team’s travel plans. Also, TripIt doesn’t help manage booking processes — it’s solely focused on your on-the-go travel plans and updates.