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:

1. 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.
2. 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.

[embedded content]

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 is a scalable tool that lets freelancers, small businesses, and enterprise clients leverage the power of automated accounts payable and receivable tools while serving as a central financial hub for bill and invoice management. 

Bill.com is a popular option to effortlessly create and handle invoices, simplify approval processes, facilitate payments, oversee employee expenses, seamlessly sync with accounting systems, and effectively manage cash flow.

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 is a leading spend management platform designed for mid-sized to enterprise-level businesses. It offers accounts payable automation, expense management, and corporate cards in a unified platform.

Airbase simplifies procurement processes, including multi-subsidiary management and purchase orders, while ensuring compliance through flexible workflows. It effortlessly integrates with various business systems, offers real-time data and reporting, and supports international vendor payments in over 145 currencies.

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

[embedded content]

Ramp is one-stop-solution for corporate cards, expense management, and bill payments designed to benefit businesses of all sizes. Ramp streamlines processes, eliminates expense reports, and accelerates vendor payments; it boasts an average savings of 3.5% and faster closing of books.

Ramp offers user-friendly features like spend controls, approval workflows, and vendor management, all while providing real-time expense tracking and 1.5% cashback rewards.

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 a vendor and accounts payable-focused AP automation software. It streamlines invoice communications, automates procurement and accounting, supports diverse payment systems, conducts in-depth invoice analysis, and monitors bill activities and spending trends from a centralized platform.

Stampli simplifies AP processes by consolidating AP communications, documents and workflows through its suite of integrated products, including Direct Pay, Corporate Credit Cards, and Advanced Vendor Management.

It automates capture, coding, routing, and fraud detection, reducing all manual tasks. Stampli integrates with over 70 ERPs, guaranteeing rapid deployment without disrupting existing AP operations. Stampli provides complete visibility and control, minimizes errors & fraud, and strengthens vendor relationships.

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 is a payables automation solution, streamlining all aspects of the accounts payable and global payables management process. It simplifies supplier onboarding, tax compliance, invoice processing, and global payments.

It eliminates manual work, enhances financial controls, and accelerates financial close by up to 25%. With Tipalti, you can effortlessly onboard global suppliers, make payments in local currencies to 196 countries, and reduce tax, regulatory, and audit risks.

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

[embedded content]

AvidXchange is a cloud-based accounts payable automation solution that replaces manual AP processes with a digital application suite. It streamlines accounts payable procedures and eliminates manual data entry.

It also enables electronic invoicing, bookkeeping, and real-time approval execution, freeing up finance teams from repetitive tasks. Invoices are seamlessly integrated into accounting systems for payment processing.

AvidPay, their bill payment software, allows secure vendor payments through various options. AvidBuy, their purchase order software, automates and controls the purchase order process.

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

[embedded content]

Melio is an efficient accounts payable and digital payment solution that helps small businesses manage their business-to-business payments and receivables.

Melio offers a streamlined B2B payments solution that not only saves time but also enhances cash flow. With its straightforward payment workflow, businesses can shift their focus from back-office tasks to serving customers better.

Melio provides the flexibility to pay vendors, suppliers, and contractors according to their preferences – whether it’s through checks or bank transfers. Vendors can also receive payments without the need to sign-up, making the process convenient for all parties involved.

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

DocuWare’s document management software simplifies digital workflows and document control, leading to significant productivity gains. With DocuWare, you can seamlessly integrate emails, invoices, contracts, and various business documents, eliminating the hassles of paper filing.

DocuWare excels at capturing and storing invoices from various sources, making them searchable in an organized file structure. It also offers seamless integration with QuickBooks, Sage, SAP, Oracle and multiple other ERPs.

This solution not only reduces financial and logistical costs associated with physical storage but also minimizes the need for extensive staff to manage document archiving and retrieval. Simultaneously, it enhances compliance and centralizes crucial documents to safeguard against loss, corruption, or unauthorized access, providing a streamlined and secure document management experience.

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 a popular accounting software that also simplifies financial management by tracking business income and expenses while eliminating manual data entry.

It offers various solutions tailored for small businesses that cover use cases such as cloud-based accounting, payroll, order and inventory management, payments and time tracking. These interconnected apps/solutions create a comprehensive accounting and payments ecosystem for small and mid-sized businesses.

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 is a cutting-edge cloud-based ERP software that empowers organizations to efficiently manage various daily operations including accounting, customer relations, inventory, procurement, supply chain, project management, business intelligence, and compliance.

This platform offers automation and streamlining capabilities for crucial financial and accounting tasks. Recognized as a leader in cloud financial management software, Sage Intacct provides businesses with a powerful solution to enhance their financial operations and overall efficiency.

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

[embedded content]

SAP Concur, a part of the SAP family, specializes in automating and integrating travel, expense, and invoice management for businesses. It is a global leader in these integrated solutions, streamlining spend management and enhancing efficiency.

SAP Concur simplifies processes by guiding employees through trips, automating expenses, and expediting invoice approvals. Real-time data integration and AI-driven transaction analysis enable businesses to gain insights into their spending, improve compliance, and prevent budgetary oversights. SAP Concur envisions a future where travel and expenses practically self-manage, supporting businesses in peak daily performance.

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 offers an intelligent purchasing and accounts payables automation solution for SMEs to large businesses. It simplifies workflows with advanced data extraction, rule-based automation, customizable processes, and collaboration tools reducing processing time and enhancing financial insights for businesses.

This all-in-one cloud platform consolidates purchasing, bookkeeping, and bill approval. Lightyear provides accurate line item extraction, customizable approval workflows, and seamless integration with leading accounting and inventory platforms. It ensures tax compliance, audit history, and easy access for external teams.

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

• FreshBooks
• Wave
• Xero

Enterprise content management solutions

• Laserfiche
• OnBase

ERP software with AP features

• Microsoft Dynamics 365
• NetSuite
• Oracle EPM Cloud
• Acumatica
• Epicor

Niche accounts payable software

• Paymerang
• Paymode-X

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 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.

• SEO Powered Content & PR Distribution. Get Amplified Today.
• PlatoData.Network Vertical Generative Ai. Empower Yourself. Access Here.
• PlatoAiStream. Web3 Intelligence. Knowledge Amplified. Access Here.
• PlatoESG. Carbon, CleanTech, Energy, Environment, Solar, Waste Management. Access Here.
• PlatoHealth. Biotech and Clinical Trials Intelligence. Access Here.
• Source: https://nanonets.com/blog/best-accounts-payable-software/