BILL

What is BILL? 

BILL is a cloud-based financial operations platform that helps small and mid-sized businesses automate and manage their accounts payable (AP), accounts receivable (AR), spending, and expense management. 

Founded in 2006, BILL integrates with a wide range of accounting systems that make financial operations flexible for businesses without requiring manual data entry and administrative overhead. 

We’ll be diving into a BILL review, exploring its features, pricing plans, and how it stacks up against other similar tools. 

Quick Overview of BILL

*The pricing and free trial mentioned are specific to the AP/AR product. The Spend & Expense product is free to use.

Pros and Cons of BILL 

Pros

Unified Financial Platform: Combines AP, AR, spend management, and payments in one system to streamline operations. This reduces manual work and helps teams manage everything from a single dashboard.

Extensive Payment Capabilities: Supports ACH, wire, checks, cards, instant, and international payments within one workflow. Businesses can handle diverse payment needs without using multiple platforms.

Automation and Controls: Offers advanced automation, audit trails, and multi-level approvals for better control. Ideal for teams needing compliance and accountability in every transaction.

Best-in-Class Integrations: Connects directly with major accounting and ERP tools like QuickBooks and NetSuite. Also provides powerful APIs for flexible and custom integrations.

Cons

Complex Verification Process: Account verification can involve repeated document requests and delays. This makes it difficult for new users to start receiving payments quickly.

Unexpected or Hidden Fees: Pricing isn’t always as transparent as expected. You might occasionally encounter fees you didn’t anticipate, leading to billing confusion.

BILL Pricing

BILL charges a monthly per-user fee and offers a 30-day free trial that allows you to explore its features before committing. 

Businesses can choose from plans that cover either AP & AR automation or Spend & Expense management, depending on their operational needs. 

For accounting professionals, the BILL AP & AR Partner Program provides access to wholesale client pricing and tiered discounts of 10–20% based on client volume. 

BILL also offers a free Spend & Expense Partner Program, giving accounting firms and their clients access to credit tools, corporate cards, and spend tracking, without contracts or hidden fees.

BILL Main Features

Pay By Card

Bill’s Pay By Card feature gives you the flexibility to pay vendors using a credit card, even if they don’t accept cards directly. 

Instead of paying vendors upfront with cash or checks, you add your Visa, Mastercard, American Express, or Discover card to your BILL account and choose which bills to pay. 

It charges your card a 2.9% transaction fee and then sends the payment to your vendor via ACH, check, or virtual card, depending on their preferences. 

This process not only helps you manage cash flow by deferring payments but also lets you earn rewards like cash back, points, or miles on everyday business expenses. 

International card payments are also supported, with funds deposited directly into your vendor’s account, though they may be subject to exchange rates and additional fees. 

Invoicing

BILL makes it easy for businesses to create, send, and manage invoices, so you get paid much faster. You can automate recurring invoices and set up payment reminders to streamline your AR process and reduce time spent on follow-ups. 

It also provides real-time tracking, which makes it easy to monitor invoice statuses and payment activity, helping you stay organized and boost cash flow. 

To make payments easier for your customers, Bill lets them choose how they want to pay, either through ACH, credit card, virtual card, or check, improving the payment experience and speeding up collection. 

You can also customize your invoices with branded templates and personalized fields to match your business identity.  

Spend & Expense

BILL allows you to have full control of your company’s budgeting and expenses all in real time. 

It provides customizable budgets and built-in spending policies that allow you to set specific spending limits, define approval workflows, and restrict spending by merchant, amount, or employee role. 

Every transaction syncs automatically with your accounting software, removing the need for manual reconciliation. BILL also gives you real-time tracking of every expense, so there are no surprises at the end of the month. 

And with fully automated receipt matching, expense categorization, and instant card controls, you can close your books faster, reduce fraud, and eliminate paperwork for good. 

Approvals

Instead of relying on paper trails or chasing signatures, you can automate approvals with custom policies based on dollar limits, roles, or vendor types. 

You can easily route invoices to the right people at the right time, set sequential or non-sequential flows, and assign specific approvers for different teams or budgets.

You can track every approval in real-time from your dashboard to see pending approvals, send reminders instantly, and approve or reject payments from anywhere using the mobile app. 

BILL also provides dual control that improves fraud protection by requiring a second approval before high-value transactions are processed. 

BILL Support Quality

BILL offers multi-channel support, including live chat, email, and phone support across all plans.

Higher-tier plans enjoy faster response times and access to premium phone support. It also provides a help center for self-assistance. 

The platform doesn’t disclose its support phone number, but you can chat with an agent and request a callback.  

BILL Alternatives 

Summary 

BILL offers a robust and scalable platform for businesses seeking to automate their financial operations. 

From invoice management to payment workflows and virtual cards, BILL simplifies complex processes with smart automation, extensive integrations, and customizable controls. 

While its price point may be higher, the value it provides makes it worth considering for teams seeking a more advanced financial operation platform.

Try BILL Now

Take control of your accounts payable and receivable with Bill. Try it free for 30 days.

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