Airbase

Airbase launched in 2017 with a clear thesis: the corporate spend management category was fragmented across corporate cards, expense reimbursement tools, bill pay systems, and accounting software, and consolidating those functions into a single platform could eliminate enormous amounts of manual work for finance teams. The platform combines corporate card management, accounts payable automation, expense reimbursement, and purchase order management with direct accounting integrations to NetSuite, QuickBooks, Sage Intacct, and Xero. Airbase was acquired by Paylocity in 2023, adding spend management capabilities to Paylocity's HR and payroll platform.

Airbase's card infrastructure runs on payment rails that authorize transactions in real time — when an employee swipes an Airbase card, an authorization request travels through the card network to Airbase's backend and back within seconds. The approval workflow layer sits on top of the card infrastructure: Airbase can enforce pre-approved spending limits, require manager approval above a threshold, and decline out-of-policy transactions automatically. Vendor payment processing through ACH and check handles accounts payable workflows. Accounting sync pushes transaction data to the general ledger, categorized and coded according to rules finance teams configure in the platform.

When Airbase is down, the impact distributes across the organization's financial control infrastructure. Card authorizations fail at point of sale — a declined card in a business context is immediately disruptive. The expense submission portal becomes unavailable, preventing employees from submitting receipts for reimbursement. Accounts payable workflows stop when the approval routing and payment initiation systems are degraded, delaying vendor payments that may have due dates. Accounting sync to NetSuite or QuickBooks fails silently, creating an undated divergence between Airbase records and the general ledger that finance teams discover only when reconciling. The mobile app loses the ability to capture receipts and submit expenses.

Outage.gg tracks Airbase platform status using real-time community reports from finance teams and cardholders. If Airbase is down, card authorizations are failing, or accounting sync has stopped, the live status page shows current impact.