Accounts payable software is increasingly being used by businesses worldwide. Automated accounts payable software can efficiently manage large volumes of financial transactions between a company and its suppliers, while also automating ancillary activities such as approvals and reconciliations.
AP automation software that is available off the shelf today is either a standalone product or part of a full stack accounting ERP. There are a variety of such tools available today, with varying levels of functionalities and features.
Given the choice of accounts payable software available in the market, it may be difficult for companies to select the right one for themselves. A company’s choice of AP automation software would depend upon its features and the specific needs of the company.
In this article, we look at some of most popular accounts payable software, their core offering, top features, user/customer profiles, and a guesstimate of their price range.
The top accounts payable software
1. Flow by Nanonets
2. Bill
3. Airbase
4. Ramp
5. Stampli
6. Tipalti
7. AvidXchange
8. Melio
9. Docuware
10. QuickBooks Online
11. Sage Intacct
12. SAP Concur
13. Lightyear
14. Other notable mentions
What is accounts payable software?
Accounts Payable (AP), commonly referred to by accountants as “payables,” are the company’s pending short-term debt and liabilities owed to vendors, suppliers, or creditors.
Originally considered a transactional back-office function, the AP process is now considered a hub for critical financial data processing.
The AP process begins with the receipt of the invoice, passes through various levels of categorization, coding, data matching, and AP approvals, and ends with the payment of the invoice.
According to Insider, manual accounts payable processes can take 30 to 90 days. This long timescale arises from interoperability between the steps and the time delays in to-and-fro transitions.
The use of accounts payable software results in a 73% faster processing time. According to a Goldman Sachs, the use of accounts payable automation software also results in 33% reduction in processing costs.
Another compelling driver of AP automation is the elimination of errors. Each AP person in the world, on average, is responsible for 139 faulty invoices every year, which can be avoided with the use of AP software.
Not surprisingly, companies are increasingly adopting software tools for their AP processes. Brainy Insights reports that the global accounts payable automation market will grow to $7.5 billion by 2030.
As with any business workflow optimization tool, there isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution to accounts payable automation. A mandatory feature for your business might be totally unnecessary for someone else’s. This is why customization, extensive documentation, and world-class customer support are usually primary requirements when businesses source accounts payable tools.
The best platforms offer as much customization as your business needs, so you can use or discard specific features based on your operational needs, size, order and vendor volume, and unique documentation requirements.
Since you expect significant customization from your accounts payable software, you’ll also need to look for a platform with sufficient documentation as you adapt to the software. Even the most well-designed user interfaces still have a learning curve, and you should be able to use existing manuals and resources to navigate the platform and adapt it to your needs easily.
Of course, you’ll inevitably need live customer support when integrating accounts payable automation platforms into your business ecosystem. Even if you can create a build that meets all your needs, you should still ensure that your service provider has live customer assistance standing by if you encounter any issues during initial phases or as you deploy the platform and operationalize your accounts payable workflows.
These are the bare minimum requirements you should look for when sourcing an accounts payable automation solution. Beyond that, again, depends on your unique requirements – but these are some of the most important and common key features of AP automation software:
Document management
Your platform should easily sort, filter, and store invoicing, order documentation, and everything else you need to reference or pull in the future. This helps maintain compliance with industry-specific regulations and shields your business against potential audits. Comprehensive documentation management is also a best practice for firms in general.
Invoice and vendor management
The software should integrate with your vendors and suppliers easily as part of your onboarding process. Afterward, the tools should help streamline invoicing and payments, manage contract terms, and keep tabs on how well your vendors meet those terms. If you use physical invoice processing, your tools should easily integrate scanned documentation while offering optical character recognition to prevent your staff from migrating information manually.
Analytics – Offer strategic insight
You should be able to pull depths of data and analytics into an easily digestible dashboard report complex enough to derive fresh insights while remaining simple enough to be actionable.
Effective payment processing
The meat and potatoes of accounts payable software, the system should be a comprehensive, one-stop-shop for vendor payment. The tools should support the full spectrum of common payment methods like check, wire, and ACH, be easily integrated with your existing financial accounts, offer reliable scheduling and accurate reminders, and have manual approval options before funds disburse. If your business is global or has overseas vendors, you’ll also want to ensure the system facilitates cross-border payments.
Workflow automation
Accounts payable automation tools aren’t much use if they don’t automate time-consuming tasks, right? Make sure the platform offers as many automation tools as possible to save your enterprise time and money, but with a specific eye towards:
- Customizable workflows modifiable by purchase type, sourcing vendor, recurrence, amount, and more.
- Mobile options for remote approval and monitoring.
- Integrable collaboration for accounts payable staff and approving officials to modify and validate invoices quickly.
Purchase order matching
A no-brainer: your accounts payable automation tool should automatically match purchase orders and receipts upon intake and execution while storing the same in an easily accessible format.
Let’s look at some of the best accounts payable software available in the market. We cover each software’s core offering, its top features, prominent user/customer profiles, and a guesstimate of its pricing.
Flow by Nanonets
At its core, Nanonets is an intelligent automation AI for business processes and AP automation is one of its most popular use cases. Flow is an AP automation software powered by Nanonets.
With Flow, companies get two distinct AP automation solutions – one for automating/streamlining existing accounts payable workflows and another that serves as a complete end-to-end AP automation solution:
- Manage supplier communication, process invoices in seconds, set up controls, gain visibility into spends, and streamline the financial close with an AI-based AP automation software.
- Scan and approve invoices instantly, and make payments for free anywhere in the world. Reduce manual effort for your team by 10x.
It is a platform ideally suited for small-to-medium businesses that want to automate their AP process in a fully customizable yet scalable way.
Flow – demo
Core Offering
- Automate data capture, build workflows and streamline existing AP processes completely
- End-to-end automated AP management – import, approve and pay invoices in the same platform
Features
(Streamlining existing AP workflows)
- Automated data entry
- Email bills fetched
- Extract line item data, match and reconcile invoices/receipts/POs
- Set up rules for validations & approvals
- Categorizing and coding transactions based on business rules
- Expense workflow
- Reconciliation
- Integrate seamlessly with ERPs (Salesforce, Quickbooks, Entrata, Dynamics, etc.), cloud storage services (Drive, Dropbox, email, etc.), and databases (MySQL, PostGres, MSSQL, etc.)
- Zapier connector to automate end-to-end workflows
(End to end AP automation)
- Easy-to-use dashboard for invoices, receipts, approvals and payments
- 1-click approvals on mobile, email and Slack
- Make payments across 45+ currencies globally, using ACH, card or wire transfer
- AI-enabled security features – duplication detection, fraud prevention, payment tracking
- Fully customizable approval policies
- Unlimited invoice storage in the cloud
- Reconciliation
- Integrations with Quickbooks, Xero, Sage and NetSuite
- Best-in-class pricing that doesn’t scale with users
Best For
- Nanonets – Small to medium businesses, large enterprises with legacy ERPs, accounting firms, multi-national businesses
- Flow – Small to medium businesses, accounting firms, multi-country businesses, and growing companies looking to formalise or automate their finance function
Pricing Details
Bill
Bill.com offers a range of financial automation tools particularly suited to freelancers, sole proprietors, and small businesses. In addition to AP automation, Bill.com offers flexible lines of credit to let owners smooth out cyclical business periods and facilitates a range of accounts receivable options that are ideal for smaller, nimbler firms that need cash quickly.
Bill.com syncs with software used by a range of clientele, including Oracle, Microsoft products, Slack, Quickbooks, and more. For individuals or small companies starting to expand beyond what they can reasonably manage manually, Bill.com is a simple, intuitive, no-frills option.
Core Offering
Create and pay bills, send invoices, and get paid.
Features
- Centralized inbox
- Invoice data capture
- 360-degree vendor info
- Unlimited document storage
- ACH, check, credit card, and international wire transfer
- Approval policies
- User roles
- Discounts for reviewers/approvers only
- Automatic 2-way sync with QuickBooks, Xero, Oracle Netsuite, Sage Intacct and Microsoft Dynamics.
Best For
Freelancers, self-employed professionals, small businesses, independent accountants
Pricing Details
- Essentials plan (Accounts Payable) starts at $45/user/month
- Team plan (Accounts Payable) starts at $55/user/month
- Corporate plan (AP & AR) starts at $79/user/month
- Enterprise plan (AP & AR) requires custom pricing
Airbase
Airbase combines a simplified user interface with advanced workflow customization and optimization. These traits create an enterprise-level AP automation solution that’s easily deployed company-wide with a quick learning curve.
Airbase’s approval flows are its highlight, as users can automate the entire stream to notify approval authorities as procurement proceeds, and those authorities can easily validate the request digitally. The approval flows are highly customizable, too, and clients can adapt the platform to suit their individual needs and address a variety of use cases – though full customization does take more work upon adoption, it pays dividends down the road.
Core Offering
Bill payments, corporate cards, expense reimbursements
Features
- 3-Way Match
- Amortization
- Bill Payments
- Purchase Order & Receipt Management
- Vendor Portal
- Advanced Approvals
- Automatic Audit Trail
- Accounting Automation
- Mobile App
- Multi-Subsidiary & Multi-Currency
- Real-time Reporting
- Security & Fraud Detection
Best For
Small businesses, independent accountants, mid-sized to enterprise-level businesses
Pricing Details
Airbase offers 3 quote-based plans that each require custom pricing:
- Standard (Up to ~200 employees)
- Premium (Up to 500 employees)
- Enterprise (Up to 5,000 employees)
Ramp
Ramp demo video
Ramp offers a range of financial products and automation solutions to businesses (mostly) concentrated within the tech sphere. Ramp is unique in that it offers a spectrum of services, including vendor management, corporate credit cards, and billing to smaller companies and startups that ultimately let leaders focus on growing the business.
The initial learning curve startups navigate when expanding their financial footprint is steep and costly from a time perspective. Entries, approvals, syncs, and more all take precious time that could be better spent managing the company. Ramp also offers payment management systems, including virtual cards and recurring billing, that let clients automate both payables and receivables.
Core Offering
All-in-one spend management, price intelligence, and automation
Features
- Unlimited virtual cards
- Real-time savings insights and reporting
- Automated receipt collection and matching
- Vendor management and price intelligence
- iOS and Android mobile app
- Expense and mileage reimbursements
- Quickbooks, Xero, NetSuite and Sage Intacct integrations
- Merchant & category controls
- Next-day ACH reimbursements
- ACH, check, card vendor payments
- Multi-level approvals
- Unlimited 1.5% cashback
- Multi-currency spend limits
- Multi-entity and global tax support
- Procurement automation and purchase order management
- Automated provisioning & de-provisioning
- Custom user groups and permissions
Best For
Large Enterprises, Mid Size Business, Non Profit, Public Administrations, Small Business
Pricing Details
Ramp offers 3 pricing plans:
- The Ramp plan starts at $0 per user/mo
- The Ramp Plus plan starts at $15 per user/mo
- The Ramp Enterpise plan requires a custom quote/pricing
Stampli
Stampli is tailor-made for companies with efficient and useful systems in place that want to bring AP automation into the fold. Stampli integrates with more than 70 existing ERPs, meaning you can fold AP automation and improved management into your existing ecosystem with minimal hassle or adoption difficulty.
Stampli’s plug-and-play, modular nature also makes it a top pick for companies actively seeking M&A, as integrating an acquisition’s workflows and books into your own is simplified via Stampli compared to manual methods or trying to migrate the processes and systems via brute force.
Core Offering
AP communication, document workflows, and payments
Features
- Real Time data capture with AI
- Invoice processing
- Invoice Management
- Approval routing
- Centralized collaboration
- 2- and 3-way matching
- Advanced vendor management
- Multi-subsidiary support
- Expense Reports
- Electronic Payments: ACH, Credit and Debit, Wire Transfer
- Payment Processing
- Robust ERP integrations
- Audit & fraud checks
Best For
Small and midsized businesses
Pricing Details
Stampli only offers quote-based plans/pricing
Tipalti
Tipalti targets the “next-gen” eCommerce market by letting businesses automate their payables to affiliate marketers, freelancers, and similar unique contractor positions that primarily operate digitally. True to form, Tipalti’s vision extends beyond national borders as the platform lets clients pay vendors in more than 200 local currencies.
Tipalti syncs with more obscure affiliate and influencer platforms that other AP automation tools don’t even consider, so it’s a digital marketing team’s best friend. At the same time, by automating those payments, Tipalti helps companies keep their affiliate or influencer campaigns going without operational disruption and keeping their brand top-of-mind.
Core Offering
Accounts payable and global payables management
Features
- Global payments
- Procurement
- Streamlined supplier management
- Touchless invoice processing
- Approvals
- Tax and regulatory compliance
- 2- and 3-way PO matching
- Payment reconciliation
- Corporate card
- Payment Processing – Global payment remittance
- Payment Methods: ACH, Wire Transfer
- Security and Compliance
- Fraud detection
- Integrations
- Real-time payment reconciliation
- Enterpise-grade financial controls
- Spend management and corporate cards
Best For
Small to medium-sized businesses
Pricing Details
Tipalti offers two scaled pricing plans:
- Tipalti Express starts at $149 per month
- Tipalti Advanced is quote-based
AvidXchange
AvidXchange demo video
AvidXchange focuses on B2B middle-market clients – too big for basic startup financial automation tools but not yet needing cumbersome enterprise-level solutions. AvidXchange streamlines vendor payments by nesting itself within your existing accounting software or ERP, meaning you don’t need to rewrite standard operating procedures in order to automate accounts payable.
AvidXchange’s middle-market focus means it also has a host of account managers standing by ready to help deploy AP automation, rather than leaving financial teams on their own to figure out AP best practices leveraging the software.
Core Offering
AP automation and bill payment software
Features
- Partner Onboarding
- Global Payments
- Payment Methods (Domestic, checks, cards, and ACH)
- PO Management
- FX Solutions
- Invoice Processing
- Invoice routing and approval
- ERP Integrations
- Payment Communication
- Multi–Entity
- Trusted by Global Brands
- Fee Splitting
- Integrates with a wide range of accounting programs
Best For
Medium to large middle-market companies
Pricing Details
AvidXchange only offers quote-based plans.
Melio
Melio demo video
Melio helps small businesses, including local operations, streamline accounts payable by letting clients automate bank transfers and card payments – including payments to vendors who only accept checks. At the same time, Melio doesn’t demand the supplier create an account; this is crucial for smaller operations that may not have the time or expertise to onboard local suppliers.
Melio also syncs with common platforms smaller companies prefer, like Quickbooks, which reduces deployment and integration friction and kickstarts the AP automation process faster than larger, enterprise-focused solutions.
Core Offering
Transfer and receive payments faster
Features
- Unlimited users
- Accounting software sync
- Approval workflows
- Easy bill capture
- Payment tracking & updates
- Data & form export
- Bills management
- Custom payment requests
- Sync with QuickBooks, Xero, FreshBooks and Business Central
- ACH bank transfer
- Mail your check or Fast check – Get a check to your vendor within 3 business days.
- Pay by card
- Fast ACH bank transfer
- International payments (USD only)
- Combine payments
- Split bills
- Recurring payments
Best For
Small businesses in the US looking to pay their bills in more efficient ways.
Pricing Details
Melio doesn’t offer multiple pricing plans, instead it charges a fee for specific features:
- ACH bank transfer – Free
- Mailing checks – $1.50 per check (First 2 checks each month are free)
- Card payments – 2.9% per transaction
- Fast ACH bank transfer – 1% per transaction (up to $30)
- Fast check – $20 per check
- International payments (USD only) – $20 flat fee per transaction
Docuware
As the name implies, DocuWare’s shining strength is in its digital document management systems in addition to workflow automation. DocuWare is a truly global operation, servicing users in more than 100 countries, and stands as a premier choice for international businesses who are consolidating their document management procedures into a centralized, secure cloud-based solution.
DocuWare helps companies operating across geographic boundaries or remotely flatten their hierarchy by creating greater document access and transparency which, in turn, makes employees more well-informed and effective at delivering superior service to customers.
Core Offering
Document management and workflow automation
Features
- Capture and organize information
- Process documents and manage workflows
- Access and view content for decision-making
- Intelligent indexing and classification
- Data enrichment, forms for data capture, barcode recognition
- Import from any email account
- Import from print stream
- Workflow automation
Best For
Large Enterprises, Mid Size Business, Non Profit, Small Business
Pricing Details
DocuWare only offers quote-based plans.
QuickBooks Online
QuickBooks is one of the most popular “one-stop shop” digital accounting software options available to small and medium-sized businesses. The software helps owners manage a range of financial and accounting services, including income and expense tracking, inventory management, payroll, and similar basic accounting functions.
Since Quickbooks is one of the most commonly-used platforms, there’s a host of existing documentation and user guides to help even the most inexperienced founders and owner/operators integrate advanced financial services into their daily business operations. And, since Quickbooks Online is a browser-based platform, it’s ideal for digital nomads and remote workers used to doing business in a variety of locales that may not have the digital infrastructure to support more demanding software.
Core Offering
Accounting software that also handles expenses, payroll and more
Core accounting, stock tracking, bank reconciliation, automating workflows,
Features
- Income and expenses
- Invoice and payments
- Tax deductions
- Powerful reports
- Receipt capture
- Mileage tracking
- Cash flow
- Sales and sales tax
- Estimates
- Contractors
- Bill management
- Enter time
- Inventory
- Project profitability
- Data sync with Excel
- Employee expenses
- Batch invoices and expenses
- Custom access controls
- Exclusive premium apps
- Workflow automation
- Revenue recognition
Best For
Smal and mid sized businesses
Pricing Details
QuickBooks Online offers 4 pricing plans:
- Simple Start starts at $30/mo
- Essentials starts at $60/mo
- Plus starts at $90/mo
- Advanced starts at $200/mo
Sage Intacct
Sage Intacct leverages next-gen cloud technology to deliver advanced business solutions to small and medium-sized businesses, including customer satisfaction management, procurement and supply chain functions, business intelligence, compliance, and inventory.
Sage Intacct serves as another “one-stop shop” for users seeking a holistic financial backbone to support expansion or more complex transactions while saving time and effort through automation. The company also hosts frequent user informational sessions and webinars to help clients maximize the platform’s benefits.
Core Offering
AICPA-endorsed ERP software
Features
- Accounting and ERP
- Accounts Payable
- Accounts Receivable
- Analytics
- Dashboards and Reporting
- Dimensions
- Intelligent GL
- Payroll and HR
- Planning & Budgeting
- Platform services
- Salesforce integration
- Web services (API)
- Spend management
- Time and expense management
- Vendor payments powered by CSI
Best For
SMall to medium businesses and accountants
Pricing Details
Sage Intacct only offers quote-based plans.
SAP Concur
SAP Concur demo video
SAP Concur is part of the SAP ecosystem and one of the top choices for businesses that send employees offsite frequently. SAP Concur offers various travel and expense management services, including guided trip documentation, automated expensing, expedited invoicing and more. Since travel spend tends to balloon quickly, SAP Concur also leverages AI and analytics to help owners identify spending trends and prevent overspending.
SAP Concur ultimately helps employees deliver the best value to offsite clients by letting them focus on the task at hand rather than fighting to manually upload expense tickets or juggle time zone complexities when trying to manage spending accounts overseas.
Core Offering
Manage invoices, expenses and employee travel
Features
- Automated, connected accounts payable
- Electronic invoice capture
- On-time vendor payments
- Invoice Capture
- Consultative Intelligence
- Three-way matching
- Make data-informed decisions
- Integrate with payment providers
- Submit, review, and approve expense reports on the go
- Automatically populate expense reports with e-receipts
- Improve budgeting, forecasting, and policy compliance
- Integrate with your ERP and get a full financial picture of your business
- Track expense data securely
- Concur Expense
- SAP Concur mobile app
- ExpenseIt
- Concur TripLink
- Concur Request
Best For
Medium to large businesses with more than 1000 employees
Pricing Details
SAP Concur only offers quote-based plans.
Lightyear
Lightyear helps users combat fraud, waste, and abuse by offering advanced Purchase Order workflows that leverage 3-way matching to ensure the right amount of cash is allocated to the right receivable. Lightyear’s invoice storage solutions also help clients shield against audit risk by offering an accessible, perennial depository to easily reference past invoicing quickly.
Lightyear also leverages advanced OCR technology to ensure users can migrate a range of invoicing documentation – PDF, XML, pen and paper – into that digital repository accurately and simply.
Core Offering
Intelligent purchasing and accounts payable
Features
- Rules-based Automation
- Invoice Processing
- Process payments via direct deposit, check, and ACH payments
- Manage purchase orders
- Intelligent Data Extraction
- Automated line item coding
- Approval workflows
- Supplier statment reconciliations
- Reporting and Analytics
- Integration with accounting, ERP and Inventory software
Best For
SMEs to large businesses and multi national companies
Pricing Details
Lightyear offers 3 pricing plans:
- Starter starts from $125 per month
- Business starts from $199 per month
- Enterprise starts from $1199 per month
Other notable mentions
Apart from the accounts payable software covered above here are a few notable mentions that offer AP automation features and cater to companies of all sizes:
Accounting software with AP features
Enterprise content management solutions
ERP software with AP features
- Microsoft Dynamics 365
- NetSuite
- Oracle EPM Cloud
- Acumatica
- Epicor
Niche accounts payable software
Spend management software
Again, the “best” accounts payable tool is the one that fits within your business size and operational model most effectively. Still, if you’re beginning initial sourcing and platform due diligence, you’ll need to make sure a handful of basic, standard, and necessary features are part of the package.
Accounts payable process and accounting integration
Effective AP automation tools help optimize and streamline existing workflows. But you don’t want to be forced to adapt to a new accounts payable process if what you have works well. Remember, effective AP automation aims to save time and money by automating existing best practices – not forcing your firm to relearn an entirely new way of doing business. Likewise, the platform should adapt to your company’s accounting practices and standard operating procedures (SOPs) – not the other way around.
On the other hand, you might be frustrated with an ineffective system and want to pivot to new processes. If you know that to be the case, you might want to use AP automation platform adoption as a springboard to begin a new workflow framework. If so, ensure the platform has plenty of digestible documentation and live support to help onboard your team, flatten the learning curve, and prevent frustration
Accurate (and useful) data capture and storage
You can’t manage what you don’t measure, and accurate data capture is the first step towards KPI management. If, for whatever reason, your invoicing formats aren’t standard across vendors (i.e., some are on paper, others via PDF, another in XML format, etc), you’ll need to make sure the AP automation platform easily integrates diverse sources while migrating data accurately.
Depending on your security needs and scale, your platform should support the best document, data, and information storage. Whether cloud-based, via local hardware, or a combination, your AP automation tool should adapt to your needs and have the service personnel available to ensure security and document storage stability.
Effective invoice management and payment processes
The top of the food chain – your managers and executives – are typically those tasked with final invoice approval authority. While this effectively controls spending, an ineffective approval workflow can waste their most precious commodity – time. An efficient AP automation tool should display all pertinent info in a simple dashboard for quick (and accurate) review and let approval authorities authorize invoices with a single click.
At the same time, though approval should be straightforward, those charged with maintaining accurate accounting need maximal visibility on the workflow. Your accounts payable and accounting team should have a granular look into an invoice’s progress and where holdups are. This helps ensure speedy delivery, of course but also serves to keep vendor and supplier invoicing relations on the right foot.
Once routing is complete and approved, your platform of choice should disburse payments automatically and diligently log the transaction according to your SOP.
Tax management integration
Tax integration, though it fits into the “accounting integration” category, deserves it’s own section. Effective accounting = proactive tax management and your AP automation tools ultimately feed your taxation cycle. Beyond other regulatory requirements, mismanaged taxes are one of the top pain points businesses face – and if your AP automation platform isn’t helping ease that burden, you’re better off finding an alternative.
Takeaway
The use of Accounts Payable software or advanced invoice processing software comes with compelling benefits such as time and cost savings, streamlined accounts payable process, and ultimately better bottom lines.
Automated accounts payable solutions will enable human employees to concentrate on higher-value tasks such as business development that contribute to enterprise value.
The choice of an invoice to payment automation tool depends on the level of automation that the business requires, and the ability of the software to blend with the company’s practices and policies.
