5 Best Accounts Payable Software Programs for 2023
This article is part of a larger series on Accounting Software.
The best accounts payable (A/P) software must have strong general accounts payable features like vendor tracking, purchase order (PO) tracking, and vendor payments tracking. Good A/P automation should also reduce data entry and streamline the A/P process.
Based on these requirements, here are five accounts payable systems that can help your business process and manage payables easily:
- BILL: Best overall accounts payable software because of its outstanding features at a low price
- Melio: Best free standalone A/P platform
- QuickBooks Online: Best accounts payable software integrated with a complete bookkeeping system
- Quadient Accounts Payable by Beanworks: Best A/P automation software for integration with Xero
- Wave: Best free accounts payable system within a free bookkeeping software
Best Accounts Payable Systems Compared
Software | Monthly Price | Free Trial | Why Choose It | Who Should Avoid It |
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Starts at $45 | Yes |
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$0 | N/A |
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$30–$200 | Yes |
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Contact Sales | Yes |
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$0 | N/A |
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BILL: Best Overall A/P Software
What We Like
- Affordable plans
- Can expand to include A/R and invoicing customers
- Auto-capture receipts from email or document uploads
- Can pay bills using automated clearing house (ACH), credit card, check, or international wire transfer
What's Missing
- Additional transaction fees for payment services like ACH processing, check mailing, credit or debit card processing, etc.
- Not a substitute for accounting software
- Not ideal for businesses with few clients
- Integration with QuickBooks or Xero requires the Team or Corporate plan
General Features
- Integrates with popular accounting software like QuickBooks and Wave
- Automatically fetch bills from email
- A/P and A/R features in one platform
- Competitive transaction fees
- Automatic bill codification that autofills fields based on similar past transactions
BILL Overview
Melio: Best Free Standalone A/P Platform
What We Like
- No subscription fee
- Unlimited number of users
- No sign-up or account needed to pay vendors
What's Missing
- Limited accounting software integration
- No mobile app
- Limited customer support channels
General Features
- Pay locally and internationally
- Generate reports showing payments to 1099 contractors
- Bill capture from either PDF or JPG files
- Approval workflows for processing bills and payments
Melio Overview
QuickBooks Online: Best A/P Software Integrated With a Complete Accounting System
What We Like
- Schedule and make payments right in QuickBooks
- Ability to pay bills with a credit card, even if the vendor doesn’t accept credit cards
- Bills paid by check or direct deposit are recorded automatically in QuickBooks
- Thorough data records for vendors and customers
- More than 650 integrations
- Make partial bill payment
What's Missing
- Limited account users with each plan
- Not ideal for companies with existing accounting software
- Costly transaction fees when using Bill Pay
- Lacks A/P automation features like vendor invoice auto-capture
General Features
- Powerful Bill Pay features within a full bookkeeping system
- Access to vast network of QuickBooks ProAdvisors who can assist in bookkeeping and tax accounting
- Track invoices and bills by location and class
- Option to choose between bank feed or CSV imports for bank transactions
- Reconcile bank accounts even without bank feeds
- Add an accountant without losing a seat in the number of users
- Create, manage, and track bills and A/P balances through reports and dashboards
QuickBooks Online Overview
If you’ve noticed in our evaluation, QuickBooks Online scored 4.7 while BILL got a 4.4. It is our expert analysis to give BILL the best overall because it’s a dedicated A/P software, whereas QuickBooks Online is geared toward bookkeeping. Moreover, some businesses may want to integrate QuickBooks Online with BILL for advanced A/P features. Additional integration means higher monthly subscription costs.
Quadient Accounts Payable by Beanworks: Best A/P Automation Software Integration for Xero
What We Like
- Vendor bill auto-capture from email
- Bill coding feature including multi-currency bills
- Integrates with QuickBooks, Sage, and Xero
- Bill approvals and routing
- Audit trail
- Set and manage spending limits
What's Missing
- Pricing is not transparent
- Exporting invoices from QuickBooks to Beanworks takes two hours before appearing
- Search functions are limited
- Not a substitute for accounting software
General Features
- Purchase order management for merchandising and retail businesses
- Expense tracking and reporting
- Payment management and tracking
- Cloud storage to store receipts and other documents needed for processing invoices, bills, and payments
- 99% optical character recognition (OCR) accuracy for extracting information from PDF or captured receipts
- Excellent workflows in managing bills and expenses
Quadient Accounts Payable by Beanworks Overview
Wave: Best Free A/P System Within a Bookkeeping Software
What We Like
- Easy to record a bill and manage unpaid bills
- Totally free for invoicing, accounting, and receipt scanning
- Easy to set up and use
- Optical character recognition in receipt scanning
Drawbacks
- Not a good fit for large businesses
- Mobile app is limited in functionality
- Poor customer support
- Can’t set up separate income and expenses by classes or locations
General Features
- Set and restrict user roles, which include Viewer, Editor, Payroll Manager, and Admin
- Decent reporting capability for a free software
- Add sales tax to bills, invoices, estimates, and expense and income transactions
- Excellent invoice customization options
- Can accommodate unlimited users
- Track 1099 contractor payments
Wave Overview
How We Evaluated Best Accounts Payable Software
We employed specific criteria to evaluate the best accounts payable software. We considered pricing, general features, specific features, and ease of use. We assigned an equal percentage for each criterion and different weights for subcriteria.
25% of Overall Score
In assessing the pricing, we considered the transparency, affordability, and flexibility of pricing plans. We also gave more credit to the software providers that can accommodate more users.
25% of Overall Score
When considering basic accounts payable functionality, we looked at features, such as creating vendors, tracking vendor transactions, viewing outstanding bills, recording vendor credits, and other minor A/P features.
25% of Overall Score
In evaluating special accounts payable features, we focused more on A/P automation. We heavily considered the ability of the software to reduce data entry time, workflow approvals, and batch processing. We also included the following:
- Automatic payments: We looked at whether the software automates the payment process for recurring bills.
- Automated alerts: For every vendor that’s set up in the system, we considered whether you can create custom alerts to inform you when a bill has arrived or is due.
- E-bill aggregation: We evaluated whether electronic copies of all your bills can be sent directly to your accounting software.
- Audit trails: An audit trail helps approvers of bills see the history of the transaction being processed. Audit trails provide transparency and establish evidence that bills have been processed according to the company’s policies.
25% of Overall Score
When considering ease of use, we assessed the difficulty of using the software. Our main focus is integration with accounting software. As much as possible, we want accounts payable software to integrate with popular accounting applications and enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. We also factored user reviews into the software’s Ease of Use score.
Most accounting solutions include A/P features but don’t necessarily provide the functionality to handle more complex processes, such as batch payments. Depending on the size and needs of your business, the A/P features that are included in reputable bookkeeping software may be enough to do the job. Otherwise, automation software is helpful for processing a large volume of bills and simplifying complex A/P activities.
When deciding, you have to consider qualitative and quantitative factors in A/P automation. It’s a decision of whether to insource, such as hire A/P professionals, or outsource, such as when getting an A/P automation service. As far as the quantitative aspect, consider the relevant costs of insourcing, such as salaries of A/P professionals, and relevant outsourcing expenses, like the monthly cost of the A/P automation software.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Automating A/P starts with shifting from manual to automated A/P processing. You should get A/P software that’s either included in your bookkeeping system or a separate tool that integrates with your accounting platform. The solution must include features that reduce data entry and speed up bill processing.
A/P software manages, automates, and records A/P transactions in an efficient manner. These systems should reduce data entry time, streamline processing and review, and facilitate a channel to make payments to vendors.
An A/P automation tool often uses advanced technology like artificial intelligence (AI) to reduce manual work. A/P automation features include automatic classification of transactions, optical character recognition, and workflow rules.
Bottom Line
Accounts payable software helps you track which bills are due and when they’re due, which is a key component of managing your business successfully. Some A/P solutions take it a step further by automating the process, allowing for more complex features like approval workflows and global payments. The right fit for your business is the software that suits both your current needs and is also scalable for the future.