BILL vs. Melio

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
BILL
Score 8.3 out of 10
N/A
BILL is an online service for SMBs which provides a central dashboard for managing Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable, and cash flow management. It syncs with all major accounting systems like QuickBooks, Sage, Intaact, and NetSuite.
$45
per user/per month
Melio
Score 9.2 out of 10
N/A
Melio is a small business-oriented Accounts Payable tool, presented as a service that helps small businesses keep up with business. A B2B payments experience and payment workflow designed to be simple, and to enable businesses to pay domestic and international vendors, expedite payments, or pay by card.N/A
Pricing
BILLMelio
Editions & Modules
Essentials
$45
per user/per month
Team
$55
per user/per month
Corporate
$79
per user/per month
Enterprise
Custom Pricing
Card processing fee
2.9%
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
BILLMelio
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
BILLMelio
TrustRadius Insights
BILLMelio
Highlights

TrustRadius
Research Team Insight
Published

BILL and Melio serve as automated payment solutions, although they are employed by a varied spectrum of businesses and organizations with distinct financial management needs. BILL has notably been utilized across different sectors ranging from non-profits to large corporations, simplifying tasks like accounts payable (A/P) and accounts receivable (A/R). Users have praised BILL for its integration with common accounting systems like QuickBooks, NetSuite, and Xero which facilitates a seamless approval and payment process. This complements businesses that have a high volume of invoices and require a methodical system for approval, often highlighted by users across multiple industries who seek robust document management and expense tracking.

Conversely, Melio focuses largely on simplifying payments to vendors by streamlining the process of adding new vendors and ensuring timely handling of transactions, particularly ACH payments. Melio’s direct and timely management of vendor payments is crucial for businesses that rely on a stable supply chain and timely vendor services to maintain their operations smoothly.

While BILL offers a comprehensive solution affecting both the accounts payable and receivable processes, Melio tends to be more focused on vendor payments and less so on the integration with broader accounting functions. This delineates their use-cases: BILL as a more inclusive financial management tool within larger and technology-integrated frameworks, versus Melio which offers specific solutions for vendor-focused payment issues, making it ideal for smaller teams or those in immediate need of transitioning to electronic payment solutions.

Features
BILLMelio
Payment Management
Comparison of Payment Management features of Product A and Product B
BILL
8.0
Ratings
6% above category average
Melio
8.8
Ratings
15% above category average
Customizable Approval Policies8.40 Ratings9.20 Ratings
Financial Document Management8.10 Ratings7.50 Ratings
Payment Status Tracking8.80 Ratings9.20 Ratings
Payment Audit Trail9.10 Ratings9.20 Ratings
Duplicate Bill Detection9.00 Ratings8.70 Ratings
Advanced OCR6.40 Ratings8.20 Ratings
Electronic Funds Transfer6.30 Ratings9.20 Ratings
Accounts Payable
Comparison of Accounts Payable features of Product A and Product B
BILL
5.9
Ratings
12% below category average
Melio
8.7
Ratings
27% above category average
Automated Accounts Payable Processes6.90 Ratings8.90 Ratings
Vendor Management9.70 Ratings8.70 Ratings
Tax Form Preparation1.00 Ratings8.50 Ratings
User Ratings
BILLMelio
Likelihood to Recommend
7.3
(0 ratings)
8.4
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
8.9
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
1.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Availability
8.3
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
10.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
1.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Online Training
9.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
8.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
10.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
BILLMelio
Likelihood to Recommend
It depends, Bill.com certainly has a strong reputation and I agree it can be a great solution in the right scenario but I think the implementation and initial setup are critical and need to be well thought out based on the setup of the organization you are a part of.
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Melio is particularly well suited for small businesses above $100K in revenue whose owners want to save time and simplify bill payments. It is helpful to bookkeepers so that they don't have to ask the owners, over and over again, "what was that check for?" and "can you send me the bill?"
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Pros
  • The fact that bill.com automatically processes most information on the invoice is really helpful - leads to quicker processing
  • The "to do list" feature ensures you see the tasks that need to be completed ASAP
  • The reports section is very helpful in year end prepping for audits
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  • The simplicity it adds to business payments is a great deal. One feature we really value it the ability to pay vendors by check. Melio prints and mails checks for us which saves time and hassle.
  • Payment scheduling tool is another thing we enjoy. This tool lets us plan ahead and manage cash flow more effectively by setting payment dates in advance.
  • Another thing Melio does well is the tracking of payment.
  • There was a time a vendor claimed that they hadn't been paid, but with just a few clicks we could see the check has already been delivered.
  • This kind of transparency gives us confident and keep things professional.
  • The integration with other platform or accounts like QuickBooks is an experience I did love to keep.
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Cons
  • Voiding a bill in Bill.com is easy, but unfortunately, the void doesn't sync automatically to Quickbooks Online (unlike bill and bill payments, which do automatically sync). Bill.com is great in always telling you exactly what to do to correct it in your Quickbooks Online software, but it would nice if there weren't extra steps you had to take when this happens.
  • Bill.com only sends the first page of a bill with a check. Typically this isn't a problem, but in some instances, it's necessary for more than 1 page to be sent. It would be nice if Bill.com had a checkbox selection option to print up to a set number of pages (maybe up to 5) for an additional fee. Having the option would be great so I don't have to jump through hoops with other methods to try to get a bill paid, all because I need more than 1 page to go with the check.
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  • There should be an automatic link between vendors added with their Melio link and the same vendors that already exist in QuickBooks. As it is now, a new vendor is created when you do that and is not linked with the one that already is in QuickBooks.
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Likelihood to Renew
While our firm does not use Bill.com internally, we know many customers that use Bill.com and are very happy with it. Based on the feedback from current users, I would say that the product should have a strong renewal forecast. Once customers move their AP to the cloud, they would be unlikely to move it back given a choice.
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It has solved almost all the business needs I have and has contributed greatly to my business growth.
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Usability
Bill.com continues to raise the bar with new features and improved interface. The Fast Pay option is another innovation that reduces administrative time when you have to get an overnight check out. The new Chat Support interface, powered by Zopim, which is world-class, adds to the responsiveness of Bill.com's support team and makes getting real-time answers that much easier.
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Melio has been a very important tool in the advancement of our business. With great features, it has made payments to vendors seamless and hassle free. In terms of vendor management, account/data tracking, and scheduling of payments in advance. This has formed the base that we are still with Melio till today.
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Reliability and Availability
The only time Bill.com was ever "unavailable" was then the Sync to Quickbooks function failed. That happened a time or two but was usually quickly remedied. I'm not sure if that's an issue with newer online versions of Quickbooks Enterprise -- at the time we were using a remotely hosted Quickbooks instance accessed via terminal server (vs a cloud offering like Bill.com is)
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No answers on this topic
Performance
Load times can be slow after long use.
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No answers on this topic
Support Rating
I could not explain to them how I was trying to remove an old email account from my company page while granting the new email account access to the bank account that the first email account had added. The "set a bank account as inactive" button is labeled delete, but they don't seem to recognize that. I requested my Bill.com account be deleted on Wednesday so I could start all over with a fresh account; this seemed to be completed Wednesday night, but when I tried to create a new Bill.com account from the same email, it took me to my old bill.com account.
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They have great customer support system
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In-Person Training
No answers on this topic
Very educative. It was well detailed, organized and knowledgeable.
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Online Training
The online training provided by Bill.com is concise and since the firm consistently improves the platform functionality, users are able to select the training for the modules they specifically need.
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Very helpful and we learnt a handful
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Implementation Rating
I heard from my leadership that it went very well.
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No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
Previously, we used Rydoo for submitting, approving, and receiving reimbursements. We switched to bill.com after changing our external tax consultants in the US. We still use Rydoo for the submitting and approving part and only use bill.com to receive payment. I admit I find Rydoo easier to use, with a cleaner interface and friendlier brand voice.
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Melio is 100% free if you just use ACH, and that by itself would be reason enough for me to stick with the platform, it boats a ton of other useful features that add to the experience.
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Scalability
We have multiple locations, and everything works fine.
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No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
  • After receiving an offer to 'finance' outstanding invoices, I was enticed by the promise of a 3% total cost for a 60-day period, with the possibility of extending the financing for an additional 10 months (for an additional fee). Eager to access funds, I decided to finance an invoice worth $17,160.00. Within 24 hours, BILL deposited $16,645.20 (97% of the invoice amount) into my account.
  • However, when the customer paid their $17,160 invoice four days later, instead of the funds being deposited into my checking account as I expected, BILL chose to retire the loan and retain my $514.80 fee for the 4 day advance period. This unexpected turn of events resulted in an effective interest rate of a staggering 273.75%. It was clear that this arrangement was far from what I had initially understood, and the financial impact was outrageously high.
  • Frustratingly, my attempts to resolve this issue through customer service were in vain, as I spoke with three agents who provided no satisfactory solutions. To anyone contemplating using BILL's services, I strongly urge you to carefully scrutinize the fine print and consider opting for a more reputable finance company."
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  • I have been able to save hours every week now that I am only using Melio as my payment processor
  • I can easily add invoice details which I use to create in another platform and upload to Melio, this saves me time with projects I want to be quicker with
  • The ease of use for my clients is fantastic, and makes for a seamless workflow
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ScreenShots

BILL Screenshots

Screenshot of BILL’s central dashboard, which displays upcoming bills, invoices, and ingoing and outgoing payments.Screenshot of BILL automatically pulls in bills via email and automatically starts the process. It also checks for duplicate invoices by looking at the invoice numbers and payment amounts to flag questionable invoices.Screenshot of BILL's desktop and mobile applications so users' teams can review invoices and send payments on-the-go.Screenshot of BILL’s mobile app, which can be used to review invoices, add comments, and approve from anywhere.Screenshot of The overview screen, where the status of invoices can be reviewed to get a bird’s eye view of tasks.