BILL (formerly Bill.com)
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BILL automates accounts payable, receivable, and spend management in one platform with the deepest accounting-software integrations in its category. It’s the strongest choice over QuickBooks’ native bill pay when you need real approval workflows and two-way sync across multiple accounting systems, not just a basic pay button.
BILL Overview
Invoices come in, BILL’s AI-assisted coding sorts them, and they move through whatever approval chain you’ve set up before payment goes out — ACH, card, check, or wire. Every paid tier syncs both ways with your accounting software, so books stay reconciled without anyone re-typing numbers.
BILL Spend & Expense (the old Divvy product) sits next to all this: free corporate cards, budgets, expense tracking. It’s a separate product, not a cheaper tier of AP/AR, and it’s the only part of BILL that’s actually free.
Best for:
- SMBs and accounting firms already running QuickBooks, Xero, or NetSuite
- Lean AP teams where per-seat pricing doesn’t add up fast
Not ideal for:
- Teams with a long approver list but few people actually doing AP work — every approver costs a full seat
- Anyone who just wants free spend management and doesn’t touch AR
Pricing
| Plan | Price | What it adds? |
|---|---|---|
| Essentials | $45/user/mo | Core AP/AR, manual accounting sync, ACH payments |
| Team | $55/user/mo | Two-way QuickBooks/Xero sync, custom roles |
| Corporate | $89/user/mo | Procurement, POs, approver-only seats |
| Enterprise | Custom quote | NetSuite/Sage Intacct/Dynamics, multi-entity, SSO |
| Spend & Expense | $0/user/mo | Corporate cards, budgets, credit lines |
The subscription isn’t the whole cost. Every payment carries its own fee on top:
- ACH ≈ $0.59
- Check ≈ $1.99
- Card ≈ 2.9%
- International wire ≈ $9.99–$19.99
Send a lot of checks or card payments and those fees can add up to as much as the subscription itself.
Before you buy, check these three things:
- Essentials and Team charge every user the same rate — a manager who only clicks “approve” costs as much as someone doing AP full-time.
- AP and AR come bundled. Need only AP? You’re still paying for AR you might not use.
- Real-world contract pricing tends to run higher than list price — some buyers report $65–$95+/user/month on negotiated Team/Corporate deals.
Comparison Notes
vs QuickBooks — Better approval workflows and wider accounting sync. QuickBooks makes more sense if you’re QBO-only and want something simple.
vs Ramp / Brex — Both offer free cards and basic bill pay. Pick BILL if you need real AR automation; pick Ramp or Brex if cards are genuinely all you need.
vs Expensify — Expensify costs less and does expense reporting well. It doesn’t attempt full AP/AR the way BILL does.
vs AvidXchange — AvidXchange handles high invoice volume and enterprise complexity better. BILL’s per-user pricing starts to strain at that scale.
FAQs
Is BILL free?
Only Spend & Expense — cards and expense tracking — is free. AP/AR starts at $45/user/month.
What does BILL actually cost once you add fees?
Add per-payment fees on top of the subscription: about $0.59 for ACH, up to 2.9% for card. A 5-person team processing hundreds of payments a month can land well past the base subscription number.
Is BILL better than QuickBooks for paying bills?
If you need real approval chains or sync across multiple accounting platforms, yes. If you’re QuickBooks-only and want something basic, probably not.
Is BILL worth it in 2026?
For a lean AP team that wants structured automation and solid accounting sync, yes. Harder to justify if your approval chain is long, since light approvers still cost a full seat on the lower tiers.
- Deepest accounting-software sync in the AP/AR category (QuickBooks, Xero, NetSuite, Sage Intacct, Dynamics)
- AP and AR automation in one platform, not two separate subscriptions
- Mature, configurable multi-step approval workflows
- Free Spend & Expense module for corporate cards and budget tracking
- Public, established company (NYSE: BILL) with broad third-party integration support
- No free tier for core AP/AR — starts at $45/user/month
- Per-transaction fees stack on top of the subscription and are easy to underestimate
- Every seat on Essentials/Team is billed at full rate, even light approvers
- AP and AR are bundled — no discount for needing only one side
- Third-party pricing sources disagree meaningfully, so budgeting requires a direct vendor quote
