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Cloud TMC comparison · Three-way

Navan vs. TravelPerk vs. Spotnana: Modern Cloud TMC & OBT Architecture Teardown

Navan, TravelPerk and Spotnana are all called “modern TMCs”, but they are three different architectures. Navan is a closed, integrated suite of travel, expense and card. TravelPerk is an integrated booking platform sold in published plan tiers with an optional flexibility product, FlexiPerk. Spotnana is open travel infrastructure: a platform licence with servicing that can be delivered by a separate agency partner.

Each architecture moves cost to a different line. Compare them on the same basket, or you will compare a per-trip fee with a subscription with a platform licence and pick whichever looks smallest.

Updated 6 Nov 2026 · 7 min read · Independent TMC Head-to-Head Comparisons & Merger Teardowns

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3Architectures: suite, plan tiers, open platform
~10%FlexiPerk premium range seen on covered bookings
80%+Online adoption all three assume to pay off
$0Data export fee to demand at exit

Three architectures, three places cost hides

Navan — integrated suite
Formerly TripActions. Booking, in-house agents, Navan Expense and a corporate card on one platform, with Navan Rewards for travelers who book under budget. Strength: one data model from booking to reconciliation. Cost moves into card-linked pricing and the rewards baseline.
TravelPerk — plan-tier platform
Barcelona-headquartered booking platform with publicly listed plans (Starter, Premium, Pro) and the FlexiPerk add-on that refunds most of a trip’s cost on cancellation for a premium. Strength: fast rollout, strong European content. Cost moves into plan fees, percentage-based products and FX on non-home-currency bookings.
Spotnana — open travel platform
Cloud travel infrastructure sold to corporations and to TMCs that build on it, with open APIs and an NDC-first design. Strength: you can separate the technology contract from the servicing contract. Cost moves into the platform minimum and a second set of servicing fees.

The single-vendor guides go deeper: Navan, TravelPerk and Spotnana.

Normalized 12-row Fee & SLA Comparison Table

Typical contracted ranges we see in RFP responses and invoices for $1M–$10M programs. Plans and prices change; confirm each line against the current proposal.

Fee or SLA lineNavanTravelPerkSpotnanaContract target
Commercial modelPer-trip or subscription; card-linked optionsStarter / Premium / Pro plansPlatform licence + servicing partnerOne all-in cost per trip, modeled
Online booking fee$0–$10 per trip% or flat fee on entry tier; $0 on some paid plans$3–$8 platform per trip≤ $8 all-in
Per-traveler or plan feeUsually $0 on travel$3–$12 per active traveler / month equivalentAnnual platform minimumBilled on active travelers only
Agent-assisted booking$25–$40$15–$35 or plan-included$25–$40 via servicing partner$18–$28
Exchange, refund or void$20–$35$15–$30$20–$35$15–$25, voids free
Flexible-cancellation productNone; fare rules applyFlexiPerk ~10% of covered bookingNone; fare rules applyPriced below actual loss rate
NDC content and servicingNDC and GDS in platform; verify exchangesAggregated NDC and GDS; verify exchangesNDC-first design; verify per carrierIn-channel exchange, same fee
Unused ticket forfeiture0.8%–2.0% of air1.0%–2.5% of air0.8%–2.0% of air< 0.8% of air
Expense and cardNavan Expense, corporate cardIntegrations with expense toolsAPI integration to your stackPriced separately, exit either
FX on non-home-currency bookingsVerify card FX termsVerify conversion spreadPer servicing partnerMid-market rate + ≤ 1%
Hotel content marginVerify markup on platform ratesVerify markup on platform ratesVerify per content sourceClient rates first, margin disclosed
Data access at exitReports / APIReports / APIOpen APIsRaw export, 30 days, $0

The comparison is decided by how many lines each model makes visible. Spotnana makes the most lines visible, because technology and servicing are separate contracts. Navan makes the fewest, because travel, expense and card pricing can be negotiated as one deal.

Interactive tool · Fee & leakage simulator

Head-to-Head Annual Fee & Leakage Simulator

Run Navan, TravelPerk and Spotnana pricing models on the same basket of trips and see where each one moves cost.

1 Annual total T&E spend
$
$250K$50M
2 Online (self-booked) adoption
%
20%Top quartile 88%95%
3 Active travelers
1020,000

Modeled annual cost of service + leakage

Annual lineNavanTravelPerk (paid plan)Spotnana + servicing partner

 

  • Navan: Per-trip fee model; verify card-linked discounts, rewards baseline and hotel content margin.
  • TravelPerk (paid plan): Plan fee per active traveler; percentage line is FlexiPerk bought on a share of bookings.
  • Spotnana + servicing partner: Platform minimum plus partner servicing fees; lowest channel surcharge exposure.

Figures are normalized benchmark assumptions for a typical mid-market contract from Business Travel Consulting 2026 benchmarks, not quotes or published prices; TravelPerk is modeled on a paid plan with FlexiPerk on about 4% of spend.

The fee driver unique to each platform

Navan: the card and rewards bundle

When the travel fee is discounted against corporate card adoption, the true travel price is the undiscounted fee minus whatever card rebate you would have earned on another card. Ask for travel pricing with and without card adoption. Ask how the Navan Rewards budget is set: if it is set at a market average above your negotiated rates, travelers are rewarded for “saving” money your contract already saved.

TravelPerk: percentage products on a growing program

Percentage fees scale with fares, not with work. FlexiPerk is valuable for volatile itineraries, but the math is simple: if the premium is about 10% of the covered booking and refunds most of its value, it pays only when more than roughly one in ten covered trips is cancelled late. Pull your cancellation rate by route before you buy it as a default. Plan tiers also step up with traveler count, so model the plan you will be on in year two.

Spotnana: two contracts, two sets of fees

Separating the platform from the servicing partner gives the best transparency and the cleanest NDC story, but it creates two counterparties. Make sure the platform minimum is sized on your real volume, the servicing partner’s offline fees are in the same price sheet, and one party owns the end-to-end SLA.

The exact contract clauses to demand from each platform

Navan · Clause 3.4 · Decoupled pricing

Travel fees do not depend on adoption of any card or expense product, and termination of a non-travel product shall not change travel fees for the remainder of the term.

TravelPerk · Clause 4.1 · Plan and percentage-fee cap

Plan fees are charged only on travelers with at least one booking in the billing month. Percentage-based fees and add-ons, including any flexible-cancellation product, shall not exceed 1.5% of total booked spend in any quarter without written approval, and add-ons shall be opt-in per trip.

TravelPerk · Clause 9.2 · Currency conversion

Bookings charged in a currency other than the Client’s billing currency shall be converted at the published mid-market rate on the booking date plus no more than 1.0%, shown as a separate line on the invoice.

Spotnana · Clause 2.7 · Single point of SLA accountability

The Platform Provider and the Servicing Partner are jointly responsible for the service levels in Schedule D. Fee-at-risk credits apply regardless of which party caused the miss, and the platform minimum shall reduce pro rata if transactions fall more than 15% below the volume baseline.

When each platform fits

  • Navan fits a fast-growing company that wants travel, expense and card on one system, has travelers who will book on mobile, and can hold online adoption above 85%.
  • TravelPerk fits a $500K–$5M program, especially European or multi-country SMEs, that wants published plans and fast rollout, and whose itineraries change often enough that a flexibility product is worth pricing.
  • Spotnana fits a $5M+ buyer, or a buyer with an existing agency relationship, that wants to own the technology layer, prioritize NDC content and keep the option to swap servicing partners without re-implementing.

If your shortlist also includes a legacy TMC, run the same basket through Amex GBT vs Navan or SAP Concur vs cloud OBT. First-time managed programs should start with the unmanaged to managed playbook.

Running a neutral three-way platform benchmark

  1. Week 1 — Fix the basket. Build 1,000 trips from your own data, including cancellation, exchange and offline rates, and your share of non-home-currency bookings.
  2. Week 2 — Force one price sheet. Each platform prices every line in the table above, including plan step-ups at 1.5× today’s traveler count.
  3. Week 3 — Live demo on your trips. Book and exchange ten real itineraries, including NDC fares on your top carriers, and time each agent contact.
  4. Week 4 — Score and redline. Weight cost, service and data access in the RFP scoring matrix, then negotiate the clauses above with the top two.

Executive FAQ

Questions procurement teams ask about this

What is the main difference between Navan, TravelPerk and Spotnana?

Architecture. Navan is a closed suite combining travel, expense and a corporate card. TravelPerk is an integrated booking platform sold in Starter, Premium and Pro plans with the optional FlexiPerk product. Spotnana is an open travel platform that can be licensed separately from the agency that services your travelers. The architecture decides where cost appears: card-linked pricing, plan and percentage fees, or a platform minimum plus servicing fees.

Is FlexiPerk worth it?

It depends on your late-cancellation rate. If the premium is around 10% of the covered booking and refunds most of the trip value, it breaks even only when more than roughly one in ten covered trips is cancelled close to departure. Programs with stable itineraries usually lose money buying it on every trip. Buy it selectively on volatile routes and cap add-on spend as a share of total bookings in the contract.

Which cloud TMC has the best NDC content?

Spotnana was designed around NDC from the start, while Navan and TravelPerk combine NDC and GDS content in their platforms. What matters more than design is your own carriers: test booking, exchanging and refunding NDC fares on your top five airlines during the demo, and contract for in-channel exchange servicing at the same fee as EDIFACT. A platform that books NDC but services exchanges offline costs you twice.

Do I need a TMC if I use Spotnana?

Usually yes, or a servicing partner that plays the same role. Spotnana provides the technology platform; agent servicing, 24/7 support and fulfilment are typically delivered by an agency partner or a TMC that runs on the platform. That gives you flexibility to change servicing without changing technology, but it means two sets of fees and two counterparties, so contract for a single point of SLA accountability.

Continue the audit

Related benchmarks and playbooks

Vendor AuditsNavan contract auditAudit guide for Navan contracts: plan versus per-trip fees, card-linked pricing and rebate math, offline and out-of-network servicing fees, hotel LRA loading tests and a 9-point clause scorecard.Vendor AuditsTravelPerk contract auditAudit guide for TravelPerk: plan tier versus booking fee break-even, FlexiPerk flexible-cancellation add-on math against real cancellation losses, FX conversion spreads and a 9-point clause scorecard.Vendor AuditsSpotnana cost auditAudit guide for Spotnana-based travel programs: platform license versus unbundled TMC fulfillment and agent fees, direct NDC coverage checks, a seven-line total cost-per-trip model and a 9-point clause scorecard.TMC ComparisonsCorporate Traveler vs NavanCorporate Traveler (Flight Centre Travel Group SME brand, Corporate Traveller outside the US) vs. Navan for $500K–$5M programs: people-led vs. app-led servicing, 12-row fee table, simulator and contract clauses.TMC ComparisonsSAP Concur vs Cloud OBTTCO audit of SAP Concur Travel and Expense with a legacy TMC vs. an all-in-one cloud T&E platform: stacked per-booking fees, expense licences, implementation and integration cost, NDC readiness and unused ticket sync.Tools & BenchmarksTMC Fee Benchmarks 2026Business Travel Consulting 2026 benchmarks for every TMC fee line (online, offline, international, exchanges, after-hours, OBT licensing, VIP desks) and a TCO comparator for per-transaction, management fee and SaaS pricing models.

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