I Examined G2’s 7 Finest Accounts Payable Automation Software program

Are you able to consider that for some time, I used to be truly in company procurement, coping with meals elements? And if there’s one factor I bear in mind clearly, it’s how painful the accounts payable course of was. Invoices piled up, approvals received misplaced in electronic mail chains, and last-minute discrepancies turned easy funds into full-blown crises.

That have gave me an enormous appreciation for finance groups that cope with this at scale. Even at the moment, many are caught with guide bill processing, sluggish approvals, and fee errors, points that one of the best accounts payable automation software program might simply clear up.

Considering again to these days, I wished to see simply how a lot AP automation has developed. So, I examined over 25 instruments to seek out those that really simplify bill processing, automate approvals, and enhance money circulation visibility. In case your group is bored with chasing approvals and fixing errors, these handpicked seven instruments are price contemplating.

7 greatest AP automation software program I like to recommend

Again after I labored in procurement, I spent manner an excessive amount of time coping with sluggish approvals, lacking buy orders, and fee delays. Belief me, I do know the struggles!

One of the best accounts payable automation software program doesn’t simply make issues sooner. It eliminates inefficiencies, reduces errors, and retains the complete AP course of operating easily. However not each device will get it proper. Some make life simpler, whereas others create as many complications as they clear up.

I wished to chop via the noise and discover out which of them truly assist with bill processing and approvals and provides finance groups higher management over funds. Right here’s how I went about it.

What I prioritized when testing AP automation instruments

I thought of the next elements when evaluating one of the best accounts payable automation software program.

• Bill processing and knowledge seize: Manually getting into bill particulars wastes time and is susceptible to errors. I regarded for platforms that robotically seize knowledge from invoices utilizing AI and optical character recognition (OCR). One of the best AP automation instruments go additional by matching invoices to buy orders and receipts, stopping duplicate funds, and lowering guide reconciliation.
• Approval workflows that cut back bottlenecks: One of many largest complaints I’ve seen from finance groups is how lengthy it takes to approve invoices. To hurry up the method, I centered on software program that lets customers customise approval workflows, arrange automated routing, and set off real-time notifications.
• Seamless integrations with different enterprise instruments: AP automation software program isn’t useful if it doesn’t sync with present accounting and enterprise useful resource planning methods. I prioritized instruments that combine easily with widespread ERPs and different main monetary platforms, lowering the necessity for guide knowledge entry and guaranteeing up-to-date monetary information.
• Fraud detection and compliance controls: Monetary fraud and compliance violations are main dangers in accounts payable. I checked whether or not every platform had built-in fraud detection, computerized duplicate bill flagging, audit trails, and compliance monitoring.
• Automated vendor funds: AP groups cope with a number of distributors, currencies, and fee strategies. I regarded for software program that helps ACH transfers, wire funds, digital playing cards, and worldwide funds whereas offering options like early fee reductions and computerized reconciliation.
• Actual-time reporting and money circulation visibility: Finance groups want clear, real-time insights into excellent invoices, fee schedules, and general money circulation. I centered on platforms that supply customizable dashboards, spend analytics, and predictive reporting so companies can keep forward of their monetary obligations.
• Consumer expertise and buyer assist: I worth environment friendly, quick, and user-friendly software program. I assessed every platform’s intuitiveness and reviewed the standard of buyer assist, guaranteeing finance groups might obtain immediate help when points come up.

The checklist beneath accommodates real consumer evaluations from the accounts payable automation software program web page. To be included on this class, an answer should:

• Ship customizable workflows to streamline repetitive accounts payable duties corresponding to knowledge entry
• Embrace doc seize and imaging options to transform paper invoices into digital paperwork
• Course of massive volumes of provider paperwork corresponding to invoices or credit score memos
• Present a single repository for customers to go looking and retrieve AP paperwork
• Match provider invoices with corresponding buy orders to precisely observe the quantities owed
• Supply approval processes for funds, debits, or any modifications to AP transactions
• Adjust to accounting requirements and rules for AP processing
• Combine with accounting software program, ERP, or superior monetary methods corresponding to company efficiency administration (CPM)

*This knowledge was pulled from G2 in 2025. Some evaluations could have been edited for readability.

BILL AP/AR brings invoicing, approvals, and vendor funds into one simplified house for finance groups trying to ditch guide spreadsheet work and follow-ups.

One in all BILL’s largest strengths is its user-friendliness. The format is clear, and actions like importing invoices, including distributors, or scheduling funds take only a few clicks. Even I, with restricted AP expertise, was capable of get comfy rapidly. That ease of use will help shave hours off the month-to-month workflow and remove confusion.

Vendor administration additionally felt smoother than I anticipated. BILL shops detailed vendor profiles and allows you to automate fee reminders. I might maintain observe of fee historical past, tax paperwork, and even communication logs in a single place. The method makes vendor relationships extra clear and fewer reactive.

The approval workflow choices are one other main win. You may assign customized roles, route approvals throughout departments, and observe each determination with full visibility. It’s an important match for groups that need inside controls with out pointless bottlenecks. I appreciated how straightforward it was to arrange multi-step approvals.

Cost processing velocity is one space that may very well be higher. I observed the transfers can take a number of days, which isn’t superb when a vendor wants a fast turnaround. That delay provides somewhat friction to an in any other case clean course of.

Primarily based on my analysis and chatting with my colleagues in operations, I additionally realized that buyer assist didn’t at all times come via when wanted. Some questions took days to reply, and reside chat wasn’t constantly obtainable. Whereas there’s a good assist heart, I discovered myself counting on trial and error greater than I’d like. Fairly just a few G2 customers additionally resonate with this sentiment.

The sync with different accounting instruments principally works; there have been just a few bumps early on. I bumped into duplicate transactions and a few lacking entries when syncing payments. It took further time to reconcile these points manually. With common checks, it is manageable, however I wouldn’t name the mixing 100% dependable out of the field.

What I dislike about BILL AP/AR:

• Funds don’t undergo immediately, so I needed to consider a delay when scheduling vendor payouts. It’s not a dealbreaker, however it does require extra ahead planning.
• There have been just a few hiccups in knowledge syncing, and I spent a while double-checking entries. I additionally observed occasional mismatches that took further time to scrub up.

What G2 customers dislike about BILL AP/AR:

“Downloading experiences from invoice.com is a really tedious course of. There are a lot of sycnc errors whereas syncing with different software program like Sage Intact and so forth.”

– BILL AP/AR Assessment, Manoj B.

Sage Intacct is a cloud-based monetary administration resolution for rising companies and organizations with advanced accounting wants. It covers core modules like basic ledger, accounts payable and receivable, reporting, and multi-entity consolidation.

I appreciated how user-friendly the core navigation was. The format is clear, menus are logically grouped, and customary actions are straightforward to seek out. I didn’t must depend on guesswork to find options or settings. As soon as I received the dangle of the workflow, duties like bill approvals and journal entries flowed rapidly.

The reporting engine is one in every of Sage Intacct’s standout options. I might slice knowledge by division, location, or mission and customise experiences with filters and dimensions. It gave me the pliability to see financials from a number of angles, which is one thing many different methods wrestle with. For data-driven groups, it is a large win.

I used to be additionally impressed by how simply Sage Intacct dealt with a number of entities. Managing inter-company transactions, consolidations, and entity-specific permissions was easy. It made overseeing parent-child relationships a lot simpler and rolling every thing into unified experiences when wanted.

That stated, not every thing got here simply—particularly the superior options. It took time (and a few exterior assist) to learn to absolutely use dimensions, automate workflows, or optimize reporting layouts. This can be a little bit of a ramp-up for groups and not using a devoted administrator.

There have been additionally just a few persistent bugs that interrupted sure workflows. Venture monitoring didn’t at all times behave as anticipated, and my colleagues who’ve labored with Sage reported minor glitches when switching between entities. These weren’t dealbreakers, however they did require follow-up.

The reporting instruments, whereas highly effective, might’ve been extra intuitive. A number of the setup choices felt buried, and I needed to experiment fairly a bit to get experiences to look the best way I wished. As soon as issues have been configured, they labored nicely, however the path to get there wasn’t at all times clean.

What I dislike about Sage Intacct:

• It took some time to wrap my head round extra superior options, and I wanted some exterior assist to get probably the most from it.
• Sure modules generally really feel barely unstable, particularly when juggling entities.

What G2 customers dislike about Sage Intacct:

“I dislike how lengthy it initially takes to get to the wanted pages. Having to open a number of tabs makes looking simpler and cuts down on the period of time I spend ready for the web page to load. It could be simpler for me if every thing I wanted to do with one bill may very well be achieved from the identical web page. I steadily should refund invoices, and this cannot be achieved from Intacct. I’ve to go to Intacct to seek out the data and take it to Braintree (each EFT and CC variations). There’s a few week’s ready interval for every thing to course of and sync; then I’ve to make use of Intacct to verse on one web page and reprocess on one other. It is not very straightforward to study at first, both. Since there are such a lot of back-and-forth steps, numerous guide fixes, and one factor at a time, it takes numerous endurance and asking questions. The phrases are extra geared in direction of accountants and never a billing assist group”

– Sage Intacct Assessment, Amber J.

Stampli simplifies bill administration and approvals and works alongside your present accounting system to assist route invoices sooner and cut back guide knowledge entry. The device is very fashionable amongst finance groups that want extra visibility and collaboration of their AP workflows.

Bill processing in Stampli is clean and quick. I used to be capable of add, route, and observe invoices with minimal effort, and the system does an important job of auto-filling key fields. I favored how approvers have been looped in robotically, which sped up turnaround time. Even with excessive volumes, every thing feels straightforward to handle.

Buyer assist stood out in a great way. Anytime I had questions, whether or not it was setup-related or about particular workflows, I received useful responses rapidly. I by no means felt caught ready for a repair, which gave me extra confidence within the device general. The assist group clearly is aware of the platform in and out.

The interface is straightforward, fashionable, and straightforward to study. I didn’t want a lot coaching to get began. The navigation is intuitive, and customary duties are only a click on or two away. For a finance device, it’s refreshingly easy.

One limitation I bumped into was round funds. Stampli doesn’t deal with all fee eventualities, and relying in your trade, there could also be restrictions. This meant I nonetheless needed to depend on different methods for the ultimate fee step, which broke the circulation a bit. 

Exporting processed invoices got here with its personal set of challenges. As soon as one thing is exported or marked full, modifying turns into troublesome. That rigidity led to a couple do-overs after I caught small errors too late. A bit extra flexibility right here would go a great distance.

What I dislike about Stampli:

• Funds aren’t absolutely supported for each trade. I observed that this disconnect provides a bit of additional coordination when closing the loop on vendor payouts.
• As soon as invoices are exported, making corrections isn’t straightforward, which induced me just a few duplicate efforts.

What G2 customers dislike about Stampli:

“There are some options that my group is ready for Stampli to implement, and a few issues aren’t as clean as I might like. For instance, I might like to see fee info immediately on the bill web page or, on the very least, have a hyperlink from the bill web page to the fee web page, much like how invoice.com does it. This is able to make issues a lot smoother when checking on the standing of invoices and offering remittance info for distributors. Moreover, ACH funds take longer than different methods like invoice.com. A brand new expedited fee choice has been launched just lately, however it prices cash and has a cap on the fee quantities allowed to be expedited. Would like to see sooner funds general and finally no cap on expedited funds.”

– Stampli Assessment, Laura B.

Airbase is a spend administration platform that mixes expense monitoring, approvals, reimbursements, and digital playing cards into one centralized system. It’s designed to assist finance groups achieve extra management over firm spending whereas enhancing visibility throughout departments.

Airbase’s spend administration options gave me extra real-time management than I anticipated. The digital playing cards make assigning budgets and monitoring utilization straightforward and cut back last-minute surprises throughout reconciliations. I additionally favored how spending limits and insurance policies may very well be set upfront, serving to forestall overspending earlier than it occurs.

The cellular app provides numerous flexibility. I might add receipts, submit reimbursements, and approve bills whereas on the go. It got here in useful throughout journey, and the fast photograph add characteristic meant I didn’t have to save lots of piles of paper receipts. It made conserving issues updated really feel much less like a chore.

Total, the interface is clear and intuitive. The format makes it straightforward to seek out key options without having a walkthrough, and most actions, like creating a brand new request or submitting a report, take only a few clicks. It looks like a platform constructed to take away friction from on a regular basis duties.

That stated, the cellular app expertise wasn’t at all times constant. Sometimes, receipt uploads stalled or didn’t undergo the primary time. I double-checked submissions way more than I might like when counting on cellular.

There have been additionally some hiccups with how receipts have been matched to transactions. In just a few circumstances, the auto-matching didn’t work, and I needed to re-attach recordsdata manually. It wasn’t troublesome to repair, however I might see it slowing issues down for customers dealing with massive volumes of bills.

The approval course of labored nicely general however lacked some flexibility in additional advanced workflows. If a request wanted rerouting or needed to undergo a number of layers, it wasn’t at all times clear the best way to regulate the circulation. It received the job achieved, however it felt a bit inflexible in edge circumstances.

What I dislike about Airbase:

• The cellular app generally struggles with receipt uploads, so in the course of the testing section, I received into the behavior of double-checking every thing.
• Approval routing normally works nicely, however making adjustments mid-flow takes just a few extra steps than I anticipated.

What G2 customers dislike about Airbase:

“Whereas Airbase is incredible, there are a few minor issues I might prefer to see improved. Sometimes, the automated categorization of bills is not excellent, and I’ve to manually regulate it. It isn’t an enormous deal, however it could be even higher if the AI was a bit extra correct. Additionally, whereas the cellular app is nice, I’ve observed that generally it may be somewhat sluggish to load, particularly when I’ve numerous receipts to add. These are simply minor inconveniences, although, and so they actually do not outweigh the various advantages of utilizing Airbase.”

– Airbase Assessment, Kyle C.

Whereas SAP Concur is greatest recognized for expense and journey administration, it additionally performs an essential function in automating components of the accounts payable course of—particularly in terms of worker reimbursements and non-PO spending. For corporations with excessive volumes of journey bills or decentralized spending, Concur helps construction approval workflows and retains reimbursement cycles transferring. It’s not your typical AP resolution however fills a essential hole in broader spend management.

The cellular app is one in every of Concur’s most useful options. I might snap an image of a receipt, assign it to an expense, and submit it without having to open my laptop computer. It is useful throughout work journeys when you should maintain issues transferring. For groups on the go, the app actually helps cut back delays in reimbursement.

Expense administration feels structured and scalable. I might escape classes, observe spending by division, and fasten documentation with only a few clicks. The automated reminders helped me keep away from lacking receipts or leaving experiences in draft. It may make month-to-month closeouts far much less chaotic.

The approval workflow was one other robust level. Requests transfer easily via the chain, and notifications make it straightforward for managers to overview and log off. I favored that you could possibly customise roles and arrange multi-layer approvals. That flexibility is a plus for finance groups attempting to keep up management.

That stated, the cellular expertise wasn’t at all times flawless. Sometimes, receipts wouldn’t sync with the precise expense, or I needed to re-upload photographs that didn’t course of correctly. It wasn’t frequent, however sufficient to make me double-check submissions.

The desktop interface might use a refresh. Some menus really feel buried, and I needed to click on round to seek out historic experiences or view pending duties. It is high-quality as soon as the place issues reside, however the preliminary studying curve is steeper than anticipated.

There have been additionally moments when the system felt sluggish or unresponsive, particularly when submitting experiences with many attachments. Nothing crashed, however load instances added up when managing a number of entries. It’s not a dealbreaker, simply one thing that requires endurance.

What I dislike about SAP Concur:

• Some options within the cellular app really feel inconsistent, particularly when receipts don’t connect correctly the primary time.
• The interface takes some getting used to, and I discovered myself clicking round greater than I anticipated early on.

What G2 customers dislike about SAP Concur:

“Consumer interface! It’s actually unhealthy. Issues are too descriptive, nothing icon-based. If the GUI is made extra graphical, the dashboard would look cool and would keep away from us to maintain looking for issues, and it helps us to discover issues simply fairly than somebody instructing us to navigate.”

– SAP Concur Assessment, Adarsh S.

Ramp automates expense workflows for companies, enhancing management over spending. Whereas it’s not a complete accounts payable system, Ramp manages a good portion of the each day bills that finance groups oversee.

Ramp’s card administration system is likely one of the most effective I’ve tried. With only a few clicks, I might concern digital playing cards immediately, set spending limits, and assign playing cards to departments or tasks. It helps present real-time visibility and stop unauthorized purchases, making managing recurring or one-off bills a lot simpler.

Receipt administration can be a main energy. I can textual content or electronic mail receipts, and Ramp auto-matches them to the proper transaction. This straightforward course of reduces the same old follow-up emails and retains groups forward in the course of the month-to-month shut.

I used to be impressed by how environment friendly the entire platform felt. From approvals to categorization to syncing with accounting instruments, every thing moved rapidly and with out friction.

The one actual limitation I observed was worldwide utilization. Ramp works nice for U.S.-based groups, however utilizing playing cards overseas or with worldwide distributors launched just a few hiccups. It’s one thing world groups will wish to plan round in the event that they’re hoping for seamless protection.

Exporting knowledge for accounting was generally trickier. Whereas many of the experiences have been obtainable, formatting them for extra advanced use circumstances took further effort. I often needed to regulate columns or manually arrange fields earlier than importing elsewhere.

What I dislike about Ramp:

• I observed that Ramp doesn’t supply a lot assist for worldwide funds or utilization, so some spending must be dealt with individually.
• Customizing exports for particular accounting wants wasn’t at all times intuitive, and I spent further time cleansing up experiences.

What G2 customers dislike about Ramp:

“Downsides for me will not be with the ability to pay worldwide wires in overseas transactions, and a few higher dashboards for spend over time would assist.”

– Ramp Assessment, Gabriel F.

Tipalti is a world payables automation platform that handles every thing from bill consumption and approvals to vendor onboarding and cross-border funds. The platform integrates with widespread ERPs and likewise consists of built-in fraud prevention.

Tipalti actually shines within the bill processing workflow. It robotically routes approvals, flags duplicate invoices, and helps standardize formatting throughout distributors. I can simply monitor progress at every step, which helps keep away from bottlenecks in a while. The time saved right here is straight away noticeable.

Vendor onboarding is quick and structured. I discovered it straightforward to gather tax varieties, banking particulars, and compliance paperwork multi function portal, so distributors don’t should electronic mail info forwards and backwards. As soon as they’re within the system, every thing runs extra easily. It reduces guide errors and saves numerous follow-up time.

Buyer assist was additionally constantly useful. Whether or not it was strolling via an integration concern or answering particular reporting questions, the Tipalti assist group felt accessible and responsive. I did not have to attend lengthy for a reply, which made the training curve simpler to handle.

That stated, the reporting instruments are useful however restricted. I discovered it difficult to create customized experiences or export knowledge in exactly the specified format. It labored nicely for primary overviews, however deeper evaluation usually required guide cleanup in spreadsheets.

Search performance is also improved. When searching for particular funds or vendor information, the outcomes weren’t at all times intuitive or full. It slowed me down when answering fast inside questions or pulling up previous actions.

What I dislike about Tipalti:

• I usually needed to export uncooked knowledge and reformat it manually to get the breakdowns I wanted for reporting.
• Search outcomes weren’t at all times related, so I usually needed to dig round to seek out the file I wanted.

What G2 customers dislike about Tipalti:

“There are some extra advanced payout guidelines I might like to include into our payout routine, however it’s not but doable. In an ideal world, Tipalti might do pay-ins and payouts, so I would not want one other PSP for this, however perhaps sooner or later.”

– Tipalti Assessment, Kristi H.

Looking for an invoicing device as an alternative? Try this checklist of the 8 greatest free invoicing software program for 2025, ranked and reviewed by my colleague.