Top 7 Bill.com alternatives and competitors for expense management

Published

Feb 20, 2025

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When you’re looking for a new software solution, it’s a constant battle between efficiency, cost, and scalability. For many small and mid-sized businesses BILL (formerly Bill.com) was the go-to tool for all things accounts payable and spend management. But after nearly two decades, BILL is starting to show its age, fancy rebrand notwithstanding.

In this article, we’ll take a hard look at what’s working and what’s not for this popular financial management software—and dig into why some newer, more modern products may be a better fit for your business.

Why look for an alternative to Bill.com

With over two decades in the finance management space, there’s no denying that BILL is a legacy technology. Designed primarily with small and mid-sized businesses in mind, the company acquired a number of other tools over the years to fill in feature gaps that enterprise users need. The result? Clunky workflows and a sometimes confusing interface stacked on top of technology from 2006.

Beyond the Frankenstein approach to growth, you may find yourself considering alternatives due to BILL’s other limitations that make it difficult to scale, such as:

Difficulty with international payments

Users have raised concerns about BILL’s capacity to handle international payments. Processing times for vendors outside the US can extend up to a week in some cases.

And while BILL supports payments to over 130 countries, other accounts payable solutions have broader coverage.

No real-time payments

BILL relies primarily on ACH payments to move funds, which can lead to delays in payment processing. For businesses that rely on gig workers or require a high degree of visibility over cash flows, this can lead to frustration.

Limited integration options

While BILL does offer integrations with popular enterprise accounting software like Sage, Xero, NetSuite, and Quickbooks, smaller businesses may struggle to connect BILL to their other systems. BILL integrates natively with just a handful of other tools, including Tallie, HubDoc, Tax1099, and Earth Class Mail.

Poor customer service

Users frequently cite difficulty reaching customer service as a reason for exploring other accounts payable and expense management software solutions. Other common themes included issues navigating the help desk materials and lack of phone coverage for important markets, including North America.

The 7 best alternatives to Bill.com

If any of the reasons listed above resonate with you, it might be time to explore alternatives to BILL for your accounts payable needs. The options below represent some of the best of the competition and include tools designed with every type of business in mind.

1. Rippling

Rippling consolidates all of your company’s finances—from payroll and benefits to corporate cards and expense management to bill pay–giving you an up-to-date view of cash flow across your company and offering unprecedented control over company spend.

Rippling vs Bill.com

BILL is, first and foremost, an accounts payable solution. It does offer spend and expense management features; however not all of these features are native built—BILL acquired Divvy to expand its product offering. Rippling runs on native-built technology and a cohesive interface for a seamless experience across the entire suite of finance management tools. More importantly, Rippling users benefit from a unified view of all company spend across payroll, expenses, corporate cards, and bills, enabling better cost control and more informed decision-making.

[h4] Why choose Rippling

An all-around player suitable for businesses of any size, from startup to enterprise, Rippling streamlines financial management by aggregating all key spending data in one place.

Automated payment processing. Route and manage bills for on-time, accurate payment and record-keeping.
Deep insight into company spend. Keep costs under control with a unified view across your bills, expenses, and payroll.
Self-serve vendor portal. Provide vendors with a unique Rippling email address to submit invoices, eliminating the need for manual steps.
Global payments. Pay vendors around the world—anytime.

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2. Tipalti

Global payable automation platform Tipalti specializes in simplifying financial workflows for businesses operating across borders. Suited for small businesses preparing to scale, it offers multi-currency payments, global tax compliance support, and supplier management.

Tipalti vs Bill.com

While both Tipalti and BILL offer extensive accounts payable features, they differ in their emphasis. BILL zeroes in on simple AP tasks for a US-based market. Read: it’s a solid accounts payable solution for smaller businesses that operate domestically. Tipalti better suits companies with a high volume of global transactions and an extensive international vendor list.

Pros of Tipalti

Tipalti’s global accounts payable and compliance tools make it a solid option for businesses with complex, multinational operations.

Supplier self-service. Offers a self-service portal for suppliers to manage their own payment details.
Automated tax compliance. Uses built-in tools to help ensure compliance with over 3,000 domestic and international tax rules and regulations.
Global payments. Supports payments across 196 countries in 120 currencies.
End-to-end AP automation. Automates the accounts payable lifecycle, including invoice capture, approvals, and payments.

3. Airbase

A spend management platform that incorporates accounts payable, expense management, and corporate cards, Airbase aims to simplify financial workflows with automation and provide close visibility into company spending.

Airbase vs Bill.com

Both Airbase and BILL aim to simplify accounts payable and spend management; however, Airbase offers a more comprehensive set of features. One standout difference? Airbase provides finance teams with guided procurement assistance, including purchase order creation, PO matching, and purchasing assistance.

For businesses looking for help with procurement, Airbase may be the better fit.

Pros of Airbase

Airbase excels at simplifying the procurement process and expense management.

Customizable workflows. Advanced workflows help ensure that employees stay within expense policies and route approvals automatically.
Real-time spending insights. Offers live visibility into company spend.
Integrations. Airbase integrates with over 70 ERPs, including NetSuite.

4. SAP Concur

Cloud-based SAP Concur is designed to streamline travel, expense, and invoice management. Because it captures data from hotels, airlines, and restaurants directly, it can be useful for companies with large numbers of traveling employees.

SAP Concur vs Bill.com

While BILL focuses primarily on accounts payable automation, SAP Concur zeroes in on travel and expense management. SAP Concur integrates with multiple corporate travel systems and provides automated approval workflows for business-related expenses. BILL, on the other hand, is tailored for invoice management and payment processing.

Companies that want to manage travel and expenses together may prefer SAP Concur.

Pros of SAP Concur

SAP Concur stands out for its travel and expense management features, ideally suited for companies with a high-mobile workforce.

Travel integrations. Integrates with multiple corporate travel systems.
Expense visibility. Offers granular travel expense reporting, which can help control costs.
Automated workflows. Simplifies approval processes and automatically blocks out-of-policy spending.
Global compliance. Provides global compliance support that covers multiple countries.

5. Brex

Brex is a financial management tool that aims to streamline spend management with features like dynamic credit limits, integrated cash management, and real time expense tracking.

Brex vs Bill.com

Brex integrates multiple spend management tools into a single platform and focuses entirely on helping businesses stay on top of employee expenditures. Brex supports compliance with features like automatic expense categorization and matching, which reduces the risk of errors or fraud.

BILL, in contrast, was developed as an accounts payable solution. Its spend and expense tools get the job done but lack some of the more powerful features of Brex like category restrictions, real-time approvals, and automated card controls.

Pros of Brex

For businesses in highly regulated industries that want to exercise financial control, Brex may fit the bill.

Tailored rewards. Offers rewards on common business expenses, including travel and SaaS subscriptions.
Real-time expense management. Tracks expenses instantly, eliminating the need for manual entry and reconciliation.
Dynamic credit limits. Adjusts credit availability automatically based on business cash flow.

6. Ramp

A corporate credit card and spend management platform, Ramp incorporates expense management, bill payment, and financial insights into a single tool.

Ramp vs Bill.com

Ramp offers a limited selection of accounts payable tools, but its primary offer revolves around spend management and corporate credit cards. BILL, by contrast, has an ‘essentials-only’ suite of spend management tools, thanks to its acquisition of Divvy, but focuses on accounts payable.

Businesses that need a platform for spend management and expense insights alongside a corporate credit card may find Ramp appealing.

Pros of Ramp

Ramp’s unified approach to spend management makes it a good choice for businesses looking to enhance efficiency and control over employee spending.

Corporate cards with rewards. Provides cash-back rewards alongside spending controls.
Integrated bill payment. Consolidates bill payment and expense management in a single platform.
Automated expense tracking. Uses AI to automatically categorize expenses.

7. Plooto

Plooto offers small and midsized businesses a set of essential accounts payable features designed to simplify their accounting processes. For newer organizations with small budgets, Plooto’s combination of basic accounting tools and competitive pricing makes automation accessible without the cost or complexity of larger financial management platforms.

Plooto vs Bill.com

Plooto prioritizes simplicity and affordability, foregoing extensive integrations and complex workflows to focus on the core needs of smaller businesses, like automated vendor payments and reconciliation. It also offers a series of straightforward workflows for domestic and international payment processing, as well as built-in approvals.

BILL offers many of the same features as Plooto, but with a higher degree of customization. BILL’s suite of integrations, which includes NetSuite and Quickbooks, may better meet the needs of enterprise-level organizations.

Pros of Plooto

Nimble and lightweight, with competitive pricing, Plooto is well-suited to smaller organizations with a limited budget and straightforward accounting needs.

Direct bank integration. Allows for seamless reconciliation without the need for manual data entry.
Built-in approval controls. Enables compliance and reduces opportunities for payment errors.
Automated payment workflows. Uses real-time payment tracking for domestic and international payments.

How to choose the right alternative to Bill.com

Choosing the right financial management software starts with understanding your business’s unique needs. Common features like automation, scheduling, and integrations can benefit organizations of any size, but the best software for your company will depend on more granular factors. For a small company, automated invoice processing and scheduled billing might be just the ticket, while a larger enterprise will likely need a tool that supports global payments and complex accounts payable workflows.

To find the right fit, consider how these common features would impact your finance team’s day-to-day.

1. AI and automation features

AI-powered software like Stampli or Tipalti can speed up invoice processing by instantly converting invoices into read-to-pay bills. Other accounts payable tools use OCR technology to automate data entry, automatically extracting key information from invoices and matching it to purchase orders in your accounting system.

2. Scheduled billing capabilities

Tools that allow busy finance leaders to approve payments and choose a payout date as part of an automated workflow that ensures timely payment. Beyond avoiding missed deadlines and unnecessary late fees, bill scheduling can help your business manage cash flow more effectively by giving you a long-range view of your upcoming outflows.

3. Integration capabilities

For a small business that relies on a popular accounting tool like QuickBooks Online or Xero, an accounts payable solution like Melio that offers native integration and real-time data syncing is essential for accurate and efficient financial management. A larger company that runs on an ERP system like NetSuite may need a custom solution or a bolt-on tool to address a specific aspect of the accounts payable process.

4. Easily searchable documents

Tools like Spendesk simplify invoice management by allowing requesters and approvers to track invoices through the entire payment process. This tool also automatically matches invoices to purchase orders and receipts and flags potential duplicates to reduce the risk of accidental overpayments.

5. Real-time reporting

Decision-makers need accurate data to make smart decisions, so a tool like Rippling, Tipalti, or Spendesk that offers comprehensive financial reporting is a must. Beyond accounts payable and invoice processing, real-time data integration and customizable report features can help with accurate forecasting and global payment monitoring.

Rippling: the best alternative to Bill.com

Rippling Bill Pay doesn’t just allow finance teams to consolidate, automate, and control all spend in one place. It provides an entry point to a more comprehensive spend management solution that integrates vital finance data with the rest of the organization’s business systems.

Rippling simplifies the bill creation process, allowing you to upload invoices directly. Using AI, Rippling automatically captures bill details (invoice date, due date, amount, vendor name, addresses, etc.), streamlining data entry and reducing manual effort.

And when it comes to expense management, no other solution offers you the control and visibility of Rippling. While most expense management solutions only allow for basic employee-manager approval chains, with Rippling Expense Management’s advanced policy engine, you can set hyper-custom policies based on the vendor, dollar amount, and expense category, helping you block out-of-policy expenses with ease. You can also tee up automated workflows that help you control spend, like triggering an alert when a department’s expenses sharply increase.

Bill.com competitors FAQs

What are the pros and cons of Bill.com?

On the positive side, Bill.com can help busy finance teams streamline accounts payable by automating invoice processing. Integrations with popular accounting systems like QuickBooks and NetSuite keep your company’s books clean and up to date. On the downside, some users find the interface less intuitive, and smaller businesses might balk at the price tag. Slow payment processing times can also complicate cash flow management.

Can you use Bill.com for free?

No, you cannot use Bill.com for free and will need a subscription. While many of its features, including AP automation and invoice management, may appeal to businesses of all sizes, leaner teams with tighter budgets may feel put off by the pricing. If you’re looking for a spend or expense management tool with a free trial option, consider alternatives like Zoho for basic vendor payments and invoicing.

Is Bill.com a third-party vendor?

Yes, Bill.com acts as a third-party service provider. It processes bill payments and vendor invoices for businesses ranging from startups to enterprises. By automating some aspects of payment processing and syncing with major accounting systems, it eliminates the need for your company to handle payments directly.

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