In this day and age of digital finance, it’s important to keep up with your competition by using automation tools to give your business an edge. Learn about the best bill.com alternative.
ERP systems, such as SAP, Oracle, and Odoo, are available in the market. This software aims to automate the core processes of a business and streamline the workflow.
Then there’s special software focusing on one operation, such as accounting, HR, marketing, CRM, SCM, and other fields.
Accounting software is a must-have as it cuts down on the workload, streamlines the accounting system, and makes financial management a breeze. Many automation solutions are available for finance, like QuickBooks by Intuitive, NetSuite, Xero, and Zoho. Still, we will focus on accounts payable accounting software like bill.com, MakersHub, and other alternatives.
To start, let’s discuss bill.com or BILL, a cloud-based platform that provides financial process automation and management services for businesses.
What is BILL?
Bill.com, now known as BILL is an invoice, is a modern financial management software founded in 2018. It provides users with a range of tools to automate accounts payable, accounts receivable, invoicing, and payable processes, and is a widely used payment solution.
It automates the payment process by helping users receive, review, approve, and pay bills electronically. It also provides features for managing vendor relationships, tracking payment statuses, and generating reports.
It can also work with QuickBooks by Intuitive, resulting in a seamless integration experience during invoice processing. It has been hailed as user-friendly software, so many businesses use it for AP automation.
It’s a big hit among large and small businesses because it allows real-time electronic payments to vendors and suppliers. This means your business can pay via bank transfers or virtual credit cards, which reduces reliance on paper-based invoices and manual processes, leading to increased efficiency and cost savings.
A function that helps while dealing with accounts payable is data field capture. Bill.com has this feature, making payment processing easier by reading data fields for you and automatically filling them in an invoice template.
Bill.com Functionality
Bill.com has a lot of uses, such as online payments, procurement, expense management, supplier payments, invoice data capture, and much more. All these help manage bookkeeping using software like Zoho, Xero, NetSuite, and QuickBooks.
The main objective of automation software like BILL is to streamline the workflow and free up resources that can then be used on other tasks. Not to mention that these solutions free up a lot of time and save the business a lot of effort.
BILL also allows users to automate accounts receivable by generating and distributing invoices to relevant customers. It provides features such as invoice tracking, invoice status, sending payment reminders, and receiving online payments.
BILL can read invoices and pick up a maximum of four fields of data, including bill total, invoice number, due date, and payment terms. While this helps a lot in payment processing, many other fields of data on an invoice are important to incorporate and take down while paying bills.
Real-time payment and receiving are made possible through cloud-based payments enabled through SaaS (software as a service) technology that allows users to connect to and use cloud-based apps like BILL over the internet.
BILL has many competitors, which are better in some aspects and lacking in others. We will discuss the competitors and then the best alternatives to BILL.
Bill.com Competitors
There are many competitors to BILL, and they are all capable of invoice management and financial automation. These competitors include MakersHub, Melio, Stampli, Stripe, Intacct, Tipalti, QuickBooks Online, Expensify, and AvidXchange.
These competitors are accounts payable software, allowing users to generate invoices and pay bills easily. The feasibility and selection of the software depend on the type and scale of business you are running. This software is optimal for medium to small businesses and can help financial management by automating accounts receivable and payable functions.
MakersHub is an OCR-enabled invoice processing accounts payable software that uses artificial intelligence to read up to 39 fields of information. MakersHub combines Deep OCR, large language models, and machine learning to capture data from a vendor invoice: Item details, SKU, description, quantity, unit price, total, invoice date, invoice #, PO #, payment terms, and much more.
MakersHub makes bill and invoice processing easier than ever, as you can scan and get all the necessary information without manually having to enter it into QuickBooks. MakersHub integrates with QuickBooks with a 2-way native integration, meaning users can enjoy a seamless experience. It can also manage vendor payment communications and sends timely notifications about due payments to vendors.
Tipalti is an AP automation solution that streamlines the accounts payable workflow by helping in invoice management, supplier management, payment automation, and regulatory compliance.
AvidXchange is an end-to-end account payable solution that simplifies invoice management, approvals, and payment processing. It has capabilities like electronic invoice data capture, approval workflows, and seamless integration with accounting solutions like QuickBooks.
Stampli is another competitor of BILL and is an AI-powered account payable platform that provides a centralized interface for communication between your business and your vendors and offers integration with other accounting systems.
QuickBooks Online is another account payable software by Intuitive that has invoice processing capabilities and can be integrated with various third-party payment processors.
Intacct also has accounts payable modules that can track vendor bills, manage cash flow, and generate invoices. Stripe allows businesses to accept payments from customers worldwide securely. It offers various payment methods, including credit and debit cards, digital wallets, and alternative payment methods for certain regions.
Melio is a good payment processing solution with features like payment approval workflows, reminders, scheduling, and payment tracking. It has vendor management capabilities, which allows you to differentiate and separate vendors based on the amount to be paid or the number of bills paid or due.
Melio can integrate itself with popular accounting software like QuickBooks Online and sync payment data, making the user experience better. It allows users to set up multi user accounts with different levels of permissions and access.
While all of these accounts payable are capable and have many features which businesses can use to streamline their financial business needs, the accounting solution you choose depends on the requirements and scale of your business. As a rule of thumb, all growing businesses can take advantage of AP automation solutions like these to go to the next level.
Best Bill.com Alternatives
Based on functionality and customer reviews, we have listed the best alternatives to BILL.
1. MakersHub
The first one is MakersHub.
MakersHub is perfect for industrial and construction type businesses with:
- High weekly incoming bill volume
- Need to capture line item details from bills
- Code items and expenses to job/customer or projects
- Require approval flows at the bill or payment stage
MakersHub is a solution that will save hours of time and enhance your account payable workflow. In addition to handling accounts payable (not accounts receivable), it has features like Deep OCR (Smart Data Reader), which can capture data and information intelligently, label it using artificial intelligence, and code it to the right place in QuickBooks. The auto-mapping features allow users to set rules to always code certain items and expenses to the correct place in the COA.
MakersHub is a flexible tool that has the potential to cover all your payment processing and accounts payable needs. It can also be integrated with QuickBooks Online or QuickBooks Desktop to easily manage accounts payable while eliminating manual bill data entry.
2. Sage Intacct
Sage Intacct is a cloud-based financial management and accounting software with modules for accounts payable and accounts receivable. In addition to this, it helps in cash management, budgeting, and maintaining the general ledger. It offers API and pre-built integrations with many other accounting and ERP solutions.
3. Tipalti
Tipalti is a comprehensive account payable solution that allows users to benefit from features like supplier onboarding, approval workflows, invoice processing, payment automation, and tax compliance. It also allows for global payments using debit and credit cards.
The pricing for all of these accounts payable solutions is listed in the table below.
| Name | Plan | Price |
| BILL | Corporate Plan | $79 per user/ month |
| MakersHub | Bill Starter | $99/ month (30-day free trial) |
| Sage Intacct | ‘Pricing on request’ | Anecdotally ~ $15,000 to $35,000 annually |
| Tipalti | Tipalti Express | $149/ month |
MakersHub vs. Bill.com
While Bill.com is a widely used and revered accounts payable software, MakersHub is a more powerful solution for bill data capture, item and expense coding, granular user access, approvals, and payments processing. MakersHub can capture up to 39 data fields from an invoice/bill, whereas BILL can only capture 4 data fields from vendor bills and invoices.
This means with MakersHub; the Smart Data Reader will virtually scan and capture all of the necessary invoice data in seconds instead of manually picking out information from bills/invoices.
MakersHub also captures all line item details and auto-creates payment records. It doesn’t matter if you’ve paid through MakersHub or if you have paid externally through payment solutions like QuickBooks by Intuit, making it a flexible solution. It can also be integrated two-way with QuickBooks to mark payments as ‘paid’ by creating a payment record in QuickBooks within seconds. The two-way integration means any changes on one software will appear on the other, so you don’t have to update two systems.
Additionally, MakersHub utilizes modern Deep OCR technology combined with machine learning logic and artificial intelligence to scan invoices. BILL does not offer such capabilities, which makes MakersHub the superior choice.
MakersHub also has approval/permission workflows that can be set at the payment or bill approvals level. And lastly, MakersHub allows faster payments and does not require vendors to sign up to MakersHub to receive payments.
Bottom Line
There are many accounts payable and payment processing solutions in the market. Many share similarities and some utilize different technologies to be more efficient and optimize financial management.
The final decision is dependent on your needs. Whether you have a startup or a large-scale business, accounting and ERP solutions exist for every aspect of your business. It is important to do research and clarify the outcomes you would like to see before choosing AP software for your business.
