Isak Blomkvist
Yes, monday.com can be connected to Pleo, the European spend management platform for company cards and employee expenses. The integration makes card purchases and expenses recorded in Pleo land as costs on the right project or customer in monday.com, lets the project manager see budget against actuals while the project is running, and makes sure costs that should be rebilled are not forgotten. There is no built-in Pleo integration in monday.com, so the integration is built in Zapier, in Make against Pleo's API or as custom code. This article covers what the integration does, how it is built and what to consider before you get started.
- The employee pays with the Pleo card
- The receipt is photographed and tagged with a project in Pleo
- Router · Does the project exist in monday.com?YesThe cost is added to the projectNoTask for the project manager to retag
- The cost line is created in monday.com
The tag in Pleo decides where the cost ends up. If there is no match, it goes to someone who can fix it, not to the wrong project.
- The cost lands on the project
- The total cost is recalculated
- Router · Over the budget threshold?YesStatus turns red and the project manager is notifiedNoNo action
The project manager sees actuals on the same board as the schedule, and finds out when costs approach the budget instead of at month-end close.
- The cost is marked as rebillable in monday.com
- It is collected on the customer's invoice basis
- It goes on the next invoice to the customer
Travel, materials and licenses the customer should pay for follow the invoice basis instead of being dug up after the fact.
- The purchase is still missing a receipt in Pleo after a few days
- Task for the employee in monday.com
- Router · Receipt attached?YesThe task is closedNoReminder to the manager
Finance no longer has to chase receipts manually. The reminder goes where the employee already works.
The flows above are only examples of how it can work. Every integration is built around your process: which steps it should include, what should happen in each situation and who is responsible for what.
Short answer
monday.com has no Pleo integration of its own in the Integrations Center, and Make has no ready-made Pleo app. Zapier has a Pleo app with triggers for new expenses and receipts, which is enough to create a cost line in monday.com per purchase. When the flow needs conditions, matching against projects and totals against budget, it is built in Make against Pleo's API using Make's HTTP module, or as custom code against Pleo's API and webhooks. In practice the integration runs in one direction: from Pleo to monday.com. Pleo handles the accounting itself through its export to the finance system.
What the integration can do
Here are four common examples. Your integration can do more, less or something entirely different, depending on how you work.
Every card purchase and expense in Pleo becomes a cost line on the right project or customer in monday.com, driven by tag or category in Pleo. Amount, supplier, date and who made the purchase come along.
Costs are totaled per project and shown against the budget in monday.com. The project manager sees the margin while the project is running, not when the books are closed.
Costs the customer should pay for are marked in monday.com and collected on the customer's invoice basis, so they go on the next invoice from the finance system.
Purchases missing a receipt or tag in Pleo become a task for the employee in monday.com, so finance does not have to chase them manually.
Why connect monday.com and Pleo?
- The project manager sees the costs. Expenses and card purchases show up on the project board the same day, not in the next report from finance.
- Less duplicate work. The cost is recorded once in Pleo and does not need to be typed into project tracking again.
- The right margin. Budget against actuals is based on real costs, not on estimates filled in after the fact.
- Nothing is forgotten at invoicing. Costs that should be rebilled follow the invoice basis automatically.
How the integration is built
There are three options, and the right one depends on how advanced the flow is.
| Option | Best when | Keep in mind |
|---|---|---|
| Zapier | A simple one-way flow, for example every new expense in Pleo becoming a row in monday.com | Zapier's Pleo app has triggers for new expenses, receipts and employees, but limited logic for matching against projects and totaling |
| Make against Pleo's API | Flows with conditions, matching against projects, totals against budget and tasks on exceptions | Make has no ready-made Pleo app, so the calls are built with Make's HTTP module against Pleo's API. It requires more knowledge of the API but gives full control |
| Custom code against Pleo's API | Large volumes or real-time webhook requirements the platforms cannot handle | Most flexible, but requires someone to own and maintain the code |
Whichever option you choose, the integration requires API access in Pleo, which is not included in all of Pleo's plans. Check that before you plan the build. What determines whether the integration holds up is how it is built: how tags and categories in Pleo map to projects, customers and cost types in monday.com, how the flow handles refunds, split purchases and purchases retagged after the fact, and what happens when a cost cannot be matched. An integration that silently puts costs on the wrong project produces a wrong margin that nobody notices until the project is closed. That is why we build with logging and alerts from the start.
What to decide before you build
An integration is never better than the process it automates. These questions determine whether it works in practice:
- How should the purchase be linked to the project? Through a tag in Pleo, through a category or through who made the purchase. Tags are the most reliable, but require employees to actually tag every purchase.
- What should come along? Amount including or excluding VAT, supplier, date, category, buyer and a link to the receipt. Decide which details the project manager needs.
- When should the cost show up? As soon as the purchase is made, when the receipt is attached or when finance has approved it. Early gives a better overview, late gives fewer changes.
- Who owns the budget? The budget per project must exist in monday.com for actuals to be compared, and someone has to keep it up to date.
- What happens when something goes wrong? A good flow logs every run and flags when a cost could not be matched, instead of silently skipping it or putting it on the wrong project.
How Pleo, monday.com and the finance system share responsibility
Pleo exports card purchases and expenses to the accounting system itself, usually Fortnox (a Swedish accounting system) or Visma Net. You should not rebuild that export. The integration to monday.com is a copy for project tracking, not an accounting integration. In the accounting, the cost sits on an account and cost center; in monday.com, on a project and cost type. How project tracking in monday work management connects with the finance system is covered in Projects in monday.com, finance in Visma Net. If you rebill project costs, that part is built against the finance system, see monday.com and Fortnox. You can find more integrations under all integrations.
Straviont builds the integration
We are an official monday.com partner and certified CRM specialists with monday.com, and we build integrations between monday.com and finance tools in Make and against vendors' APIs. We start with the process: how purchases should be linked to projects, what should come along and who acts on exceptions. Only then is the flow built, with logging and error handling, and we manage it as your business changes.
Frequently asked questions
Can monday.com be connected to Pleo?
Yes. There is no built-in integration in monday.com, but the integration is built in Zapier, in Make against Pleo's API or as custom code. It can create cost lines on the right project in monday.com, total them against budget and create tasks when a receipt or tag is missing.
Can card purchases in Pleo land automatically on the right project in monday.com?
Yes. Every purchase tagged with a project in Pleo can become a cost line on the matching project in monday.com, with amount, supplier, date and buyer. If there is no match, the integration can create a task instead of guessing.
Does the integration replace Pleo's export to the accounting system?
No. Pleo exports to the finance system itself, and that export should stay. The integration to monday.com is for project tracking and rebilling, not for accounting.
Can monday.com send anything back to Pleo?
Pleo's API allows tags and employees, among other things, to be managed, so simpler updates are possible. In practice, most integrations are built in one direction, from Pleo to monday.com, since that is where project tracking happens.
Should we choose Zapier or Make?
Zapier is enough to create one row per expense. Make is a better fit when the flow should match against projects, total against budget and act on exceptions, but the calls have to be built against Pleo's API since Make has no ready-made Pleo app.
What do we need in Pleo to connect the systems?
API access in Pleo, which is not included in all plans, and an admin who can create API keys. Tags or categories that correspond to your projects also need to be set up.
Next steps
Start by describing how a card purchase should find its way to the right project: who tags it, what should come along and who acts when something is missing. From there, building it goes quickly. If you want help, you can book a free mapping session and we will go through it together.