Comparing Alaan Card with Other Virtual Card Providers

Business expenses are evolving, and so are the tools used to manage them. In the UAE, companies are increasingly adopting virtual corporate cards to streamline payments, enforce spending controls, and eliminate reimbursement delays. But with so many options available, choosing the right provider can be overwhelming.

Not all virtual card solutions offer the same level of flexibility, control, or cost savings. While some may come with hidden fees, poor integration, and limited security, others fail to provide real-time insights or automation—leaving businesses stuck with manual processes.

This is where Alaan stands out. Designed for businesses that demand smarter financial management, Alaan goes beyond just issuing virtual cards. It offers AI-powered spend tracking, automated reconciliation, and real-time oversight, making it the preferred choice for UAE businesses looking to optimise their expenses.

In this post, we’ll explore how virtual corporate cards work, common limitations with other providers, and why Alaan delivers a superior solution for businesses.

What Are Virtual Cards?

Virtual corporate cards are digital payment solutions that function just like physical corporate cards—except they exist entirely online. These cards can be instantly issued, customised with spending controls, and used for business transactions without needing a physical card.

Unlike traditional payment methods, virtual cards provide real-time tracking, automated reconciliation, and enhanced security, making them an essential tool for businesses managing multiple expenses.

With UAE businesses increasingly shifting to digital finance solutions, virtual corporate cards offer an efficient and secure way to manage business expenses without the inefficiencies of manual processes.

Other Virtual Card Providers: Where They Fall Short

While virtual corporate cards have revolutionised business expense management, not all providers offer the same level of efficiency, flexibility, and security.

Many businesses in the UAE face limitations when using traditional virtual card solutions, leading to unexpected costs, security risks, and financial inefficiencies. Here’s where other virtual card providers fall short—and why businesses like yours need a more advanced solution.

1. High Fees and Hidden Costs

Many virtual card providers charge a range of fees that quickly add up. You might find yourself paying for:

• Monthly subscription fees that increase operational costs.
• Setup and issuance fees just to activate new cards.
• Transaction charges on every payment, cutting into your margins.

These hidden costs make it harder to justify using virtual cards, especially for small and medium-sized businesses (constituting 94% of UAE companies) that must optimise every dirham spent. Instead of helping you save money, these providers turn expense management into yet another cost centre.

2. Lack of Customisation and Spending Controls

Not all virtual cards give you the flexibility and control needed to manage corporate spending efficiently. Many providers limit your ability to:

• Set custom spending limits for individual employees, departments, or vendors.
• Restrict transactions to specific categories like SaaS, travel, or marketing.
• Implement multi-step approval workflows to prevent unauthorised purchases.

Without these features, you risk overspending, policy violations, and budget mismanagement. You need a solution that adapts to your business—not one that forces you to adapt to its limitations.

3. No Real-Time Tracking or Expense Visibility

When transactions don’t update instantly, your finance team operates in the dark. Many providers fail to offer:

• Real-time tracking of transactions, making it harder to monitor spending as it happens.
• Instant notifications for suspicious or unauthorised transactions.
• Live expense reports, forcing your team to rely on outdated data for financial decision-making.

By the time you realise you’ve overspent or exceeded a budget, it’s already too late. Without real-time visibility, controlling costs becomes a reactive process instead of a proactive strategy.

4. Weak Accounting and ERP Integrations

For smooth financial operations, your virtual card provider must seamlessly integrate with your accounting software. Unfortunately, many providers either:

• Don’t integrate with popular accounting tools like Xero, QuickBooks, NetSuite, or Microsoft Dynamics.
• Require manual data entry, increasing the risk of errors and wasting valuable time.
• Offer limited automation, forcing finance teams to reconcile transactions manually.

This lack of integration creates inefficiencies instead of eliminating them, making your team spend hours each month cleaning up financial data instead of focusing on growth and strategy.

5. Limited Cashback and Rewards

Some virtual card providers don’t offer cashback at all, while others cap rewards at low percentages or specific spending categories. This means you miss out on:

• Uncapped cashback that turns every business transaction into a cost-saving opportunity.
• Bonus rewards on business expenses like travel, SaaS subscriptions, and advertising.
• Maximised financial benefits, helping you reinvest savings back into your company.

If your business spends on international transactions, SaaS tools, or digital marketing, you should be earning money back, not just spending it. Without competitive cashback benefits, you’re leaving savings on the table.

6. Limited Vendor Acceptance for International Transactions

Many virtual cards work well within their home country but fail to support seamless international payments. You might experience:

• High foreign transaction fees on international purchases.
• Limited multi-currency support, making global vendor payments expensive.
• Restrictions on certain platforms like AWS, Meta, Google Ads, or LinkedIn.

For businesses operating in the UAE but working with global vendors, these limitations create frustration, inefficiencies, and unnecessary costs. You need a provider that works wherever your business operates—not just locally.

7. Security and Compliance Risks

Not all virtual card providers prioritise strong security features, leaving your business vulnerable to fraud and compliance issues. Many lack:

• Real-time fraud detection alerts, delaying your ability to stop suspicious transactions.
• Instant card freezing capabilities, making it harder to block unauthorised spending.
• Automated VAT compliance tracking, forcing finance teams to handle tax documentation manually.

Without robust security measures, your business faces an increased risk of unauthorised transactions, financial misreporting, and VAT compliance penalties. Protecting your company’s finances requires a solution designed with security at its core.

Comparing Alaan Card with Other Virtual Card Providers

Not all virtual corporate cards are created equal. While many providers claim to offer seamless expense management, they often fall short when it comes to real control, cost savings, and financial efficiency. Alaan, on the other hand, is built to eliminate inefficiencies and give businesses complete oversight of their spending.

Here’s how the corporate Alaan card compares to other virtual card providers in key areas that matter to your business.

1. Zero Hidden Fees vs. High Costs Elsewhere

Many virtual card providers charge setup fees, monthly subscriptions, and transaction fees—costs that quickly add up. With Alaan, you don’t have to worry about:

• Zero setup fees—get started instantly without paying extra.
• No monthly charges—keep your costs predictable.
• Zero card issuance fees—issue unlimited physical or virtual cards for free.

Alaan ensures your business spends only what it needs to, instead of losing money to unnecessary charges.

2. Unmatched Spending Controls vs. Limited Flexibility

Other providers often restrict how much control you have over spending. Alaan puts you in the driver’s seat with:

• Unlimited virtual and physical cards—assign cards to employees, teams, or projects.
• Custom spending limits—set caps by employee, vendor, or department.
• Category-based restrictions—ensure spending aligns with company policies.
• Merchant-specific locks—restrict transactions to pre-approved vendors only.

With Alaan, you don’t just issue virtual cards—you define how they are used, down to every detail.

3. Real-Time Expense Tracking vs. Delayed Insights

Many virtual card providers lack real-time expense visibility, forcing finance teams to wait for end-of-month reports. Alaan provides:

• Instant transaction updates—see expenses the moment they happen.
• AI-powered spend analysis—understand spending trends and prevent overspending.
• Real-time policy enforcement—flag non-compliant transactions before they become an issue.

Instead of playing catch-up with finances, Alaan helps your business stay ahead with real-time insights.

4. Seamless ERP and Accounting Integrations vs. Manual Work

Some providers don’t integrate well with accounting tools, leading to manual reconciliation headaches. Alaan eliminates this pain with:

• Direct integrations with Xero, QuickBooks, NetSuite, Microsoft Dynamics, and more.
• Automated receipt matching—upload receipts instantly and match them to transactions.
• One-click VAT compliance tracking—ensure accurate tax reporting without extra effort.

With Alaan, finance teams spend less time on admin work and more time on business growth.

5. 2% Uncapped Cashback vs. Limited or No Rewards

Many virtual card providers either don’t offer cashback or place limits on how much you can earn. Alaan maximises your financial benefits with:

• 2% unlimited cashback on all foreign transactions.
• Additional cost savings on SaaS, marketing, and HR spend.
• No reward caps—earn cashback without restrictions.

Instead of just spending money, Alaan helps you save and reinvest it into your business.

6. Hassle-Free International Payments vs. Costly Foreign Transactions

If you work with international vendors, you need a virtual card provider that makes cross-border transactions effortless. Alaan offers:

• Competitive multi-currency support—pay vendors globally without extra hassle.
• Low FX fees—reduce foreign transaction costs.
• Seamless payments for AWS, Meta, LinkedIn, and Google Ads.

With Alaan, global payments are simple, cost-effective, and completely under your control.

7. Enterprise-Grade Security vs. Risky Transactions

Other virtual card providers may lack strong fraud protection, exposing your business to risks. Alaan ensures top-tier security with:

• Instant fraud alerts—flag suspicious transactions in real-time.
• One-click card freezing—instantly disable lost or compromised cards.
• AI-driven compliance checks—prevent VAT errors and policy violations.

With Alaan, your business stays protected without compromising flexibility.

How Companies Are Winning with Alaan Corporate Cards

Companies across various industries are transforming the way they manage expenses with Alaan. From eliminating petty cash hassles to automating ad spend tracking, businesses are achieving greater efficiency, cost savings, and financial control.

Here’s how leading companies are leveraging Alaan corporate cards to scale operations seamlessly.

Empire Aviation: Solving Expense Reporting and Reconciliation Delays

Empire Aviation previously relied on credit cards and cash for payments, creating significant inefficiencies:

• Employees had to use personal credit cards, leading to financial strain and delayed reimbursements.
• Company credit cards often got blocked, causing payment disruptions.
• Lost receipts made it difficult to maintain accurate financial records, complicating tax and audit compliance.

By adopting Alaan, they:

• Created virtual cards for different expense categories, such as Google Ads, HR, and travel.
• Eliminated reliance on personal and company credit cards, centralising all business payments.
• Gained full expense visibility through Alaan’s mobile app, allowing easy tracking and budget control.

“With Alaan, we now have structured, category-based corporate cards that help us manage expenses efficiently while maintaining financial discipline.”

Zinaida: Enhancing Expense Visibility in Project-Based Operations

Before switching to Alaan, Zinaida’s costume department faced:

• Manual liquidation and approval processes, leading to delays and missed reimbursements.
• Time-consuming manual reconciliation, creating inefficiencies in financial reporting.
• Poor expense tracking across multiple projects, making it difficult to allocate budgets effectively.

With Alaan, they:

• Issued corporate cards to all 13 team members, ensuring consistency in payments.
• Automated project expense tracking, linking transactions directly to specific budgets.
• Centralised financial oversight, allowing department heads to monitor spending in real-time.

“Now, our payments are uniform, our spending is structured, and we can track every expense down to the last detail—without the headaches of manual reporting.”

K4: Eliminating Petty Cash Hassles with an Automated Expense System

K4 was struggling with inefficient petty cash tracking, leading to administrative burdens and a lack of transparency. Managing reimbursements manually was time-consuming and prone to errors, making financial oversight difficult.

By implementing Alaan, they:

• Reduced petty cash dependency by 90%, shifting to a scalable digital expense system.
• Automated receipt tracking, eliminating paperwork and improving financial accuracy.
• Gained real-time transaction visibility, allowing department heads to make informed spending decisions.
• Optimised costs with cashback on foreign currency transactions, especially for online advertising expenses.

“Alaan’s corporate cards not only streamlined our expense processes but also brought transparency and efficiency to our financial operations. The cashback on international transactions is a huge plus!”

With Alaan, K4 has transformed expense management into a proactive, automated process—freeing up time and resources for business growth.

Markathon: From One Shared Card to Full-Fledged Spend Control

As a digital marketing agency, Markathon needed to manage multiple SaaS tools and advertising platforms for client campaigns. Initially, they used a single shared corporate card for all transactions—leading to unmanageable expense tracking.

Switching to Alaan helped them:

• Replace blind spending with real-time tracking, gaining full visibility over advertising expenses.
• Issue multiple virtual cards per client/project, categorising payments instantly for seamless client billing.
• Implement spend limits and merchant locks, preventing overspending while maintaining control.
• Maximise savings with 2% cashback on ad spend, optimising digital campaign budgets.

“It has been super helpful in keeping track of all the ad spend we handle for our clients. What a game-changer!”

With Alaan, Markathon now operates with structured, client-level spend tracking—boosting efficiency while focusing on scaling campaigns.

CarSwitch: Centralised Control Over Expenses Across Teams

CarSwitch, a fast-growing auto marketplace, struggled with managing operational expenses across multiple teams. Their finance team was buried under paperwork, manually processing reimbursements and reconciling expenses.

By transitioning to Alaan, they:

• Issued 20+ corporate cards instantly, eliminating the need for petty cash and slow reimbursement cycles.
• Enabled teams to submit and track expenses via the Alaan mobile app, simplifying approvals.
• Centralised expense tracking, giving finance managers real-time oversight and control.

“Switching to Alaan saved our finance team a full week of work every quarter—not to mention the improved visibility and control over business spend!”

With Alaan, CarSwitch automated approvals and reporting, allowing their finance team to focus on strategic financial planning.

SEE Engineering: Reducing Cash Handling and Enhancing Financial Oversight

SEE Engineering relied heavily on cash transactions, which posed security risks and inefficiencies. Managing multiple project expenses manually made it difficult to maintain financial oversight.

Alaan helped them:

• Reduce cash handling by 70%, minimising fraud and security risks.
• Strengthen financial oversight, consolidating all expenses into one digital platform.
• Improve spending discipline, ensuring employees operated within defined budgets.
• Eliminate cash withdrawals, shifting to a fully automated expense tracking system.

“One of Alaan’s best features is the easy upload and approval of bills. With the maker-checker system, we can now assign expenses to cost centres effortlessly—saving time and ensuring accuracy.”

With Alaan, SEE Engineering improved financial control, reduced operational risks, and optimised budget tracking.

Conclusion

While virtual corporate cards should simplify business spending but many providers create more problems than they solve. High fees, poor controls, limited tracking, and weak integrations make expense management more complicated than it needs to be.

Unlike other virtual card providers that offer partial solutions, Alaan delivers a complete spend management platform that combines:

• Zero hidden fees
• Full control over spending
• Real-time tracking and automation
• Seamless accounting integrations
• Unlimited 2% cashback on foreign transactions
• Advanced security and fraud protection

The question isn’t whether you should upgrade your corporate card—it’s how much time and money you’re leaving on the table by not switching. Your business deserves more than just another virtual card—it deserves Alaan. Book a free demo today.