Blog · Choosing software

How to choose purchase order software

Published 8 October 2026 · 6 min read

Choose purchase order software by starting from what goes wrong today, not from a feature list. Every tool should handle requests with attachments, approval by amount, a numbered order sent to the supplier and a record of who said yes. Beyond that, buy only what your team will use, read the pricing for what happens at a limit, and test the tool for two weeks with your own real requests before you commit.

Start from what breaks today

Before you look at any product, write down the last five purchases that went wrong. Be specific. An order placed before anyone agreed to it. A request that sat in someone’s inbox for a week. A supplier who received two orders with the same number. An auditor asking who approved a purchase, and nobody able to say.

That list is your brief. It tells you which problems a tool has to solve and which ones you don’t have yet. A team whose trouble is slow approvals needs something different from a team whose trouble is matching invoices at month end. If a feature doesn’t fix something on your list, treat it as a nice extra, not a reason to choose.

The core every tool must do

Whatever you choose, it should do four things well. If a tool is weak on any of these, the rest doesn’t matter.

• Requests with attachments. Anyone who buys should be able to raise a request with the supplier, the items, the amounts and the quote attached, so the approver sees everything in one place.
• Approval by amount. Requests should route on their value. Small purchases go to a line manager; larger ones go further up. You should be able to set the limits yourself without asking the vendor.
• A numbered purchase order sent to the supplier. Once approved, the tool should produce a proper order with a unique number, your company’s details and the delivery address, and get it to the supplier.
• A record of who approved. Every decision should be stored with a name and a time, and nobody should be able to approve their own request. This is what you show an auditor.

What only some teams need

Many tools sell a wider set of features. Some teams need them; many don’t, at least not yet. Each one adds set-up work and often cost, so ask whether you would use it in the first three months.

• Goods receipt: recording what actually arrived against the order. Useful if deliveries are often short or wrong.
• Invoice matching: checking the supplier’s invoice against the order and the delivery before paying. Valuable at volume; heavy for a small team.
• Budgets: holding spend against a budget per department or project. Only worth it if someone already maintains those budgets.
• Accounting connections: sending orders or invoices straight into your accounting software. Ask exactly what is sent, in which direction, and on which plan.
• Several entities: separate legal names, addresses and VAT numbers on orders, for groups with more than one company.
• Branded documents: your own logo and colours on the order and the supplier email.

Pricing models and the questions to ask

Purchase order software is priced in a few common ways. None is wrong, but each behaves differently as you grow, so model next year’s numbers, not today’s.

• Per user. You pay for each person with a login. Ask whether people who only raise requests count the same as approvers, and what it costs to add the occasional requester.
• Per order. You pay for each purchase order, or for a bundle of them. Ask whether revised or cancelled orders count, and what happens in a busy month.
• Per workspace. A flat price for the account, usually with limits on users and orders. Ask what the limits are and what the next tier costs.
• Overage charges. Some plans bill you automatically for going over a limit. Ask whether this happens, at what rate, and whether you are warned first.

How to tell what a tool really does

Marketing pages describe what a product is for. Help pages describe what it actually does. Ask for the help pages, or find them yourself, and read the sections on approvals, limits and exports. If a feature you care about isn’t documented, ask the vendor to show it working, not describe it.

Check what happens at a limit. When you reach the number of users or orders on your plan, does the tool stop you, warn you, or quietly bill you more? A clear answer here tells you a lot about how the vendor treats its customers.

Check how you get your data out. You should be able to export your requests, orders and approval history in a format you can open elsewhere, without raising a support ticket. Ask what happens to your data if you close the account, and whether you can delete it yourself.

A two-week evaluation with your own requests

A demo shows the tool at its tidiest. Your own purchases show whether it fits. Run a short evaluation with a small group before you decide.

1. Pick three to five people: someone who buys often, a line manager, a senior approver and whoever looks after the books.
2. Set up your real approval limits and add the suppliers you use most. Note how long this takes and where you needed help.
3. For two weeks, raise every real purchase from that group through the tool, alongside your current process if you want a safety net.
4. Include at least one awkward case: a request above the top limit, an approver who is away, an order that needs changing after it’s sent.
5. Ask a supplier whether the order they received was clear and complete.
6. At the end, export everything and check you can read it. Then go back to your list of what breaks today and tick off what the tool fixed.

Red flags

Some signs suggest a tool will cost you more time or money than it saves.

• You can’t see the price without a sales call, or the price depends on a quote you can’t compare.
• Approval limits can only be changed by the vendor.
• Approving, creating the order and sending it to the supplier are one step, so a failed email can look like a missing approval.
• There is no way to export all your data yourself.
• Limits are vague, or going over them triggers charges you only see on the invoice.
• Set-up needs weeks of consultancy before anyone can raise a request.

A checklist for every conversation

Ask every vendor the same questions, and write the answers down so you can compare them side by side.

Questions

What is purchase order software?

It is a tool that takes a purchase from request to approval to a purchase order sent to the supplier. It replaces emails, chat messages and spreadsheets with one place where every request, decision and order is recorded.

Do small businesses need purchase order software?

Not always. If one person buys everything and knows every order, a numbered template may be enough. Once several people buy and someone else has to approve, a shared tool usually saves time and gives you a record you can trust.

How much does purchase order software cost?

Prices vary widely, from free plans for small teams to per-user or per-order pricing that grows with you. Compare the cost at next year’s headcount and order volume, and check whether going over a limit is charged automatically.

How long should an evaluation take?

Two weeks is usually enough to run real requests through the tool, including a few awkward cases. Keep the group small, use your own suppliers and limits, and decide against your list of what breaks today.