Comparison

Pleo vs Lightyear

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Pleo

This app streamlines business spending by providing company cards for teams and real-time visibility for finance. It automates expense reporting and reimbursements, saving time and reducing manual processes for businesses of all sizes.

Highlights
  • Company cards (physical/virtual)
  • Instant receipt capture
  • Automated reimbursements
  • Real-time spending visibility
  • Spending limit controls
  • Invoice tracking
Features
Read full description

Your business expenses, streamlined. Welcome to Pleo, Europe's leading business spend platform. Trusted by 40,000+ companies across Europe, we give you everything you need to spend, submit, and get reimbursed, built for how your business works. No extra tools. No expense report headaches. No waiting until payday to get your money back. For you Spend instantly with a physical or virtual Pleo card. Snap a receipt in seconds and ditch manual expense reports forever. Get reimbursed quickly, without waiting for the next payroll cycle. Track your money and see exactly what you've spent and where. For your finance team Real-time visibility across every single transaction. Smart spend limits, approval flows, and budgets all in one place. Accounts payable managed smoothly from purchase to payment. Direct sync with your existing accounting system. Automated reconciliation so month-end closing takes minutes, not days. How it works Make a purchase, snap your receipt, and you're done. Your finance team sees it instantly. No chasing, no spreadsheets, no surprises at month-end. Pleo is available across 16 European markets. Fully regulated and built to scale with your business.

About

Lightyear

Automate purchasing and accounts payable processes for large businesses. Streamline approvals, extract data with AI, and gain real-time financial insights. Offers a secure, reliable solution to eliminate errors and improve cash flow management.

Highlights
  • Automated purchase orders and bill approvals
  • AI-powered data extraction
  • Real-time payables overview
  • Business intelligence for cash flow
  • Eliminates human error
  • Mobile document upload and approval
Features
Read full description

Lightyear is an award-winning, 5* cloud app built to automate large SMEs & Enterprise level Purchasing & Accounts Payables processes. Our end-to-end approvals workflows allow purchase orders & bills to be approved in seconds, saving businesses more than 80% of their costs and time. Lightyear's instant AI data extraction enables businesses to get a real-time overview of their payables data & our business intelligence feature allows them to make smarter & better-informed cash flow & forecasting decisions. Lightyear provides a reliable, secure, stress-free automation solution that eliminates human error, so businesses can confidently move forward with their business goals. With 24-hr local support, partnership programs & referral schemes, plus our 30-day free trial, you can be sure of a smooth transition into automated success! —----------------------------------------- Please note: This is a companion mobile app for Lightyear’s desktop app. You must have a Lightyear account to use the app. The Lightyear mobile app is designed to create purchase orders, scan bills, receipts and credit notes and approve bills on the go. —------------------------------------------- Mobile App Features Upload documents including bills, receipts and credit notes Approve bills Attach documents to a bill Leave notes against bills View received and actioned tasks Switch between entities or accounts View mentions from other users Create purchase orders Cloud accounting integrations: Xero, Sage Intacct, Quickbooks Online, Oracle NetSuite, MYOB, Abcom, WCBS, Iplicit, AccountsIQ Desktop accounting integrations: Sage 50, Sage 200, Pronto, Infor, SunSystems, Sassu, Reckon, Adept Inventory sync: Bepoz, SDS POS Magic, SwiftPOS, SenPOS, IdealPOS, Order Mate, Retail Technology, iControl

Screenshots

Pleo4 screens
Lightyear4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Pleo at 4.7 against Lightyear's 3.0. Pleo also leads on ratings volume (179 vs 2) and update cadence (weekly vs every 5 weeks). Lightyear's advantage is monetization model (free vs freemium). On price, review sentiment, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Pleo holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 3.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Pleo has 179 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 26% of Pleo's written reviews are positive against 33% of Lightyear's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Pleo ships an update weekly, Lightyear every 5 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 24, 2026 and August 6, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Pleo versus Lightyear: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPleoLightyear
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (179 ratings) — better3.0 (2 ratings)
Positive reviews26.0% of reviews33.3% of reviews — better
Number of ratings179 — better2
Update frequencyWeekly — betterEvery 5 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreemiumFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPod
Requires iOS15.115.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size167 MB24 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperPleo Technologies ApSAccess UK Ltd

Customer experience

Pleo

All ratings179 ratings
Positive92.2%
Neutral2.2%
Negative5.6%
Written reviews123 reviews
Positive26.0%
Neutral8.1%
Negative65.9%

Lightyear

All ratings2 ratings
Positive50.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative50.0%
Written reviews6 reviews
Positive33.3%
Neutral0.0%
Negative66.7%

Bugs and requests

Pleo

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Missing 'New Expense' button
  • Disappearing receipt upload button
  • Inconsistent behavior with Face ID/Touch ID
  • Expenses not syncing properly across devices

Requested features

4 requests
  • Customizable expense categories
  • Integration with accounting software
  • Ability to split expenses between personal and business
  • Real-time balance visibility on the card

Lightyear

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Pleo

No in-app purchases

None

Lightyear

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Pleo free?
Pleo is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Lightyear free?
Lightyear is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Pleo or Lightyear?
Pleo is rated higher. Pleo averages 4.7 out of 5 from 179 ratings, while Lightyear averages 3.0 from 2 ratings.
Do Pleo or Lightyear have ads?
Neither Pleo nor Lightyear shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Pleo or Lightyear?
Pleo ships an update weekly, and Lightyear every 5 weeks. Most recently, Pleo was updated on September 24, 2026 and Lightyear on August 6, 2026.

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