A virtual expense card is a card number issued instantly in software, with no plastic. You set its limit, lock it to a merchant or a single purchase, and freeze it in a tap.
The catch is that “best” depends entirely on how your business spends. A card built for online ad spend is not the one you want for paying a one-off contractor.
So this page is organised by use case, then by provider. Below we match the leading UK providers to ad spend, SaaS subscriptions, single-use cards, and multi-currency, with the cost and FX checked at source in June 2026.
One thing to hold on to before you choose: most of these providers are safeguarded e-money institutions, not banks. Your money is ring-fenced, but it is not covered by the FSCS. The exception is Revolut Business, now a UK bank.
What a Virtual Expense Card Actually Does
A virtual card is generated in the provider’s app and works online straight away, or in a mobile wallet at contactless terminals. There is nothing to post and nothing to lose.
The difference that matters is the card type. A standard virtual card behaves like a normal card; a vendor-locked card only works with one merchant; a single-use card dies after one transaction.
That choice is the whole point. Lock a card to one SaaS vendor and a price rise or a rogue charge can be stopped without touching anything else. Issue a single-use card to a contractor and there is no live card left in the wild.
| Provider | Virtual card cost | Entry plan | FX on card spend | Single-use cards |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pleo | Included | £9.50/mo (3 users) | 2.49% → 1.49% by tier | Vendor-locked |
| Soldo | £1 (temp £0.50) | £21/mo (3 users) | ~1.5% (min £2) | Yes (temporary cards) |
| Payhawk | £0 | ~€10/seat (min 8) | 1.99% | Vendor-locked |
| Moss | £0 | Free Starter (3 users) | Not published | Yes + vendor-locked |
| Equals Money | Free to plan limit | £25/mo (50 cards) | 0% held / 1.5% else | Shared budget cards |
Wise, Revolut, Capital on Tap, Juni and Spendesk are covered in the use-case and other-providers sections below. We verified every figure above against each provider in June 2026.
Top Virtual Card Picks by Use Case
Best for High-Volume Ad Spend
If most of your spend is Google and Meta ads, Juni is built for you. It plugs directly into Google Ads and Facebook Ads, allows very high daily card limits, and pays 1% cashback on debit spend.
That cashback matters when you are scaling ad budgets, because it comes straight off your effective cost. Juni serves UK and EEA limited companies; its free tier caps at two users and two cards, so heavy use means a paid plan.
Best for SaaS and Subscription Control
For software sprawl, Moss and Spendesk lead. Both issue a dedicated card per vendor, so a single subscription can be paused or capped without disturbing the rest of your stack.
Moss has a free Starter tier and deep accounting sync; Spendesk is a heavier platform from £199/month aimed at larger finance teams. We would start with Moss unless you need Spendesk’s scale.
Best for Single-Use / Contractor Cards
Soldo is the cleanest option here. Its temporary virtual cards are generated for a specific, pre-approved purchase: a contractor requests funds, a manager approves, and a card exists only for that transaction.
There is no live card left to misuse afterwards. At £0.50 per temporary card, it is cheap discipline — though Soldo is incorporated-only, so sole traders cannot use it.
Best for Multi-Currency Spend
For spending across currencies, Wise Business and Revolut Business lead. Wise gives virtual cards that draw from 40-plus currency balances at the mid-market rate plus a fee from 0.33%.
Revolut exchanges at the interbank rate up to your monthly plan allowance, then 0.6% above it, across 150-plus currencies. Both accept sole traders, and Revolut is now a UK bank, so its balances carry FSCS cover.
Spend Controls and Security: Single-Use and Locked Cards
Per-Card Limits and Merchant Locks
Every provider here lets you set a limit per card and freeze it instantly. Most add merchant or category locks, so a card simply declines anything outside its remit.
Apple Pay and Google Pay are near-universal across Pleo, Soldo, Moss, Payhawk, Revolut, Wise, Capital on Tap and Spendesk, so a virtual card works at a contactless terminal, not just online.
Single-Use and Vendor-Locked Cards
This is where providers diverge. Soldo and Spendesk issue genuine single-use cards that expire after one transaction. Moss and Spendesk also issue vendor-locked subscription cards; Pleo and Payhawk use vendor cards locked to a merchant.
If your goal is to stop a card being reused, choose a provider with true single-use cards. If it is to ring-fence a recurring subscription, a vendor-locked card is the better tool.
FX and Multi-Currency Virtual Cards
Foreign-exchange markup is where the real cost often hides, and it varies widely. Capital on Tap charges 0% on card spend; Wise trades at the mid-market rate plus a fee from 0.33%.
Revolut is at the interbank rate up to your plan allowance, then 0.6%. Soldo is effectively about 1.5% with a £2 minimum, Pleo runs 2.49% down to 1.49% by tier, Payhawk is 1.99%, and Spendesk around 2.99%.
Moss does not publish a standard FX markup — its card rails run through Airwallex, and pricing is quote-based, so confirm the rate in your quote before you commit if foreign spend matters to you.
If a meaningful share of your spend is overseas, FX will outweigh the monthly fee. For heavy multi-currency use we would shortlist Wise, Revolut or Capital on Tap first.
Integrations and Accounting Sync
The reason to use a virtual expense card platform rather than a debit card is that coded spend flows into your accounts automatically. Payhawk and Moss go deepest, covering Xero, QuickBooks, Sage, NetSuite and DATEV.
Pleo and Soldo cover the mainstream UK stacks (Xero, QuickBooks, plus Sage on Pleo and NetSuite on Soldo); Wise and Revolut sync with Xero and QuickBooks; Equals Money centres on Xero.
Check your own accounting software is natively supported before you choose. A native, two-way sync saves your finance team the month-end re-keying that a CSV export does not.
Every Virtual Expense Card Reviewed
These are the five strongest dedicated virtual-card platforms, with pricing, FX and eligibility verified in June 2026. Wise, Revolut, Capital on Tap, Juni and Spendesk follow in the next section.
Pleo Business Expense Cards
Soldo Business Expense Cards
Payhawk Spend Management Platform
Moss Expense Cards
Equals Money Business Prepaid Card
Other Providers Worth Knowing About
Wise Business issues free virtual cards (up to three per user) with no monthly fee and mid-market FX from 0.33%. It accepts sole traders and is an FCA-authorised EMI (FRN 900507); funds are safeguarded, not FSCS.
Revolut Business gives up to 200 virtual cards per user, interbank FX to a plan allowance then 0.6%, and 150-plus currencies. Since March 2026 it is a UK bank (FRN 981170), so balances carry FSCS cover to £120,000. Plans run £10 to £90/month.
Capital on Tap offers free unlimited virtual employee cards with 0% FX, but it is a credit card for limited companies and LLPs only (minimum £24k turnover), and sole traders are excluded.
Juni is the ad-spend specialist (Google and Meta integrations, 1% cashback), and Spendesk is an enterprise-grade SaaS-control platform from £199/month with genuine single-use and long-life subscription cards.
Which Virtual Expense Card Fits Your Situation?
Start with your entity type and your dominant spend. Those two answers narrow the field fast.
| Your situation | Best starting point |
|---|---|
| You are a sole trader or freelancer | Wise or Revolut (both accept sole traders). Capital on Tap, Moss and Soldo are incorporated-only. |
| You want broad team virtual cards with accounting sync | Pleo (or Payhawk for a larger team needing NetSuite/DATEV). |
| Most of your spend is SaaS subscriptions | Moss (free Starter, vendor-locked cards) or Spendesk at scale. |
| You issue one-off cards to contractors | Soldo (temporary single-use cards at £0.50). |
| Most of your spend is overseas | Wise (mid-market + from 0.33%), Revolut, or Capital on Tap (0% FX). |
| Most of your spend is online ads | Juni (Google/Meta integrations, 1% cashback). |
Virtual Expense Card FAQs
Are virtual expense card funds protected by the FSCS?
Usually not. Most providers (Pleo, Soldo, Payhawk, Moss, Equals Money, Wise) are FCA-authorised e-money institutions, so your funds are safeguarded in segregated accounts under the Electronic Money Regulations rather than covered by the FSCS. The exception is Revolut Business, which became a UK bank in 2026, so its balances carry FSCS protection up to £120,000.
Can a sole trader get a virtual expense card?
Yes, but your options narrow. Wise Business and Revolut Business accept sole traders and freelancers. Capital on Tap, Moss and Soldo are incorporated-only (limited companies and LLPs), so sole traders cannot apply to those.
What is the difference between a single-use card and a vendor-locked card?
A single-use card expires after one transaction, which is ideal when you pay a one-off contractor or supplier. A vendor-locked card keeps working but only with one named merchant, which is ideal when you want to ring-fence a recurring SaaS subscription you do not want to risk. Soldo and Spendesk offer true single-use cards; Moss, Pleo and Payhawk offer vendor-locked cards.
Which virtual card has the lowest FX fees?
If you spend abroad, Capital on Tap charges 0% FX on card spend, and Wise uses the mid-market rate plus a fee from 0.33%. Revolut is at the interbank rate up to your plan allowance, then 0.6%. Soldo is effectively around 1.5%, Payhawk 1.99%, Pleo 1.49-2.49% by tier, and Spendesk around 2.99%. Moss does not publish a standard FX rate, so confirm it before you commit.
Do virtual cards work in a shop, or only online?
Both. A virtual card works online immediately, and once you add it to Apple Pay or Google Pay it works at contactless terminals too. Apple Pay and Google Pay are supported across Pleo, Soldo, Moss, Payhawk, Wise, Revolut, Capital on Tap and Spendesk, so your team can pay in person as well as online.
Related Pages
Methodology and Disclosure
How we reviewed virtual expense cards
What we assessed. We scored each provider on card-issuing cost, plan fee, FX markup, single-use and vendor-locked cards, spend controls, accounting integrations, and eligibility. There is no single best card, so use-case fit is weighted heavily.
Data sources. Provider pricing pages, fee schedules and product documentation were checked directly in June 2026, with regulatory status cross-referenced against the FCA register. Deep Research was used to surface the field, and every figure was then verified at source.
Where the market is commonly misreported — the FSCS limit (now £120,000), Revolut’s move to a UK bank, Soldo’s effective FX, the hard caps on “free” tiers, and Moss’s unpublished FX — we state the verified position. Where a figure could not be confirmed at source, we removed it.
Update cadence. We re-verify this page when a provider changes pricing, fees, or eligibility. The verification date reflects the most recent full review. Some links are affiliate links; see our editorial policy.
Regulatory note. This page is editorial content, not regulated financial advice. Compare offers directly with providers before you apply.