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Best Accounts Payable Automation Software in 2025

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Featured Accounts Payable Automation Software At A Glance

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Product Description
Pros and Cons

Users appreciate the ease of use of BILL AP/AR, making invoice management straightforward and efficient.

Users love the easy payments feature of BILL AP/AR, allowing remote bill payments seamlessly from anywhere.

Users love the seamless integrations with QuickBooks, enhancing efficiency and user experience significantly.

Users find the missing features in BILL AP/AR, such as discount terms and detailed policy options, concerning.

Users report payment issues with Bill, including difficulties with partial payments and delays in fund availability.

Users often face invoicing problems such as issues with partial payments and duplicate vendor entries.

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Product Description
Pros and Cons

Users find Sage Intacct to be very intuitive and user-friendly, enhancing efficiency and simplifying complex financial processes.

Users appreciate the intuitive interface of Sage Intacct, which simplifies complex financial processes and enhances usability.

Users love the one-click reporting feature of Sage Intacct, simplifying accounting and enhancing multi-entity reporting.

Users find the missing features in Sage Intacct limit their reporting capabilities and integration with other applications.

Users find the learning curve steep, necessitating extensive training and assistance for effective navigation and customization.

Users experience limited functionality with Sage Intacct, facing issues like cheque issuance and consolidation module constraints.

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G2 recognized Stampli
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Pros and Cons

Users praise Stampli for its ease of use, allowing for a streamlined and efficient invoice approval process.

Users value the automation of invoice processing in Stampli, enhancing their workflow and simplifying approval tasks.

Users value the prompt and helpful customer support, enhancing their overall experience with Stampli.

Users face invoice issues with Stampli, including inaccuracies in payment recognition and difficulties with vendor name edits.

Users notice missing features in Stampli, such as batch options for invoice management and credit card receipt visibility.

Users experience approval issues with missing receipts visibility and manual adjustments after syncing with the accounting system.

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Product Description
Pros and Cons

Users appreciate the ease of use of SAP Concur, allowing seamless expense logging from any device and location.

Users find SAP Concur's convenient expense management invaluable for efficient tracking and reporting of business travel costs.

Users value the efficiency of SAP Concur, appreciating its time-saving features and seamless expense management capabilities.

Users find SAP Concur not intuitive, citing a bulky interface and difficulty navigating numerous options effectively.

Users face a steep learning curve with SAP Concur, often finding it complex and frustrating to navigate effectively.

Users find the complexity of SAP Concur's interface detracts from its overall usability and efficiency.

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Product Description
Pros and Cons

Users appreciate the ease of use of Ramp, finding it intuitive and efficient for expense management.

Users love the ease of use and effective expense management features of Ramp, enhancing financial oversight and security.

Users praise Ramp for its efficient expense reporting system, which simplifies approvals and streamlines financial management.

Users find the missing features in Ramp frustrating, wishing for improved usability and additional options for management tasks.

Users face card issues with Ramp, such as limited currency options and an inefficient review process for transactions.

Users report issues with receipt management, including nagging prompts and receipt clarity problems affecting their experience.

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Pros and Cons

Users value the ease of use in Tipalti, enhancing efficiency and simplifying vendor management processes.

Users appreciate Tipalti for its fast and diligent customer support, enhancing their overall experience and satisfaction.

Users appreciate the ease of use of Tipalti, significantly enhancing their invoicing efficiency and overall workflow.

Users experience payment issues with Tipalti, including delays and currency mishaps affecting vendor satisfaction.

Users find the missing features of Tipalti, particularly in 1099 capabilities and reporting tools, frustrating.

Users report delays in payment processing and invoice approvals, impacting overall efficiency and vendor satisfaction.

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Pros and Cons

Users appreciate the ease of use of Paylocity, which streamlines HR tasks and simplifies payment processes effectively.

Users value the helpful customer service of Paylocity, finding support readily available and efficient for their needs.

Users praise the outstanding customer support of Paylocity, appreciating the dedicated team's continuous improvement efforts.

Users experience poor customer support, often requiring multiple conversations for issue resolution and lacking effective tracking systems.

Users are dissatisfied with missing essential features in Paylocity, impacting their access and functionality significantly.

Users experience a steep learning curve for Paylocity, especially due to its complex dashboard and configuration challenges.

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Pros and Cons

Users find the ease of use of Corpay Complete beneficial, enabling quick registration and smooth financial operations.

Users commend the efficiency of Corpay Complete, noting quick payments and streamlined financial management.

Users appreciate the knowledgeable customer support of Corpay Complete, helping them streamline their invoice and payment processes.

Users face payment issues with Corpay Complete, including delays and difficulties with e-checks and international transactions.

Users face challenges with vendor setup and third-party payments, making the initial process cumbersome and labor-intensive.

Users experience poor customer support from Corpay Complete, facing unresolved issues and frustrating communication challenges.

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G2 recognized Payhawk
Product Description
Pros and Cons

Users love the ease of use of Payhawk, making expense tracking intuitive and hassle-free.

Users commend the quick and effective customer support of Payhawk, enhancing their overall user experience.

Users love the simple and intuitive interface of Payhawk, making expense management effortless and efficient.

Users express frustration with missing features in Payhawk, complicating expense management and global financial oversight.

Users desire more flexibility in customization for designing forms in Payhawk, as options are currently limited.

Users experience approval issues with Payhawk, impacting usability and complicating the expense management process.

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Pros and Cons

Users find Laserfiche to be easy to use, with excellent customer support enhancing their overall experience.

Users value the enhanced process automation of Laserfiche, streamlining workflows and improving security effectively.

Users appreciate the enhanced automation in Laserfiche, streamlining processes and improving document management efficiency.

Users note a significant learning curve with Laserfiche, requiring time to master the setup and features.

Users find learning difficulty due to complex setup and extensive features, hindering smooth adoption of Laserfiche.

Users are frustrated by missing features that require document conversions and limit functionality in Laserfiche.

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Product Description
Pros and Cons

Users find Yooz to be very user-friendly, enabling quick setup and easy navigation for team members.

Users value the intuitive interface of Yooz, which simplifies navigation and enhances the overall user experience.

Users praise Yooz for its time-saving automation, dramatically reducing manual data entry and streamlining invoice processing.

Users report technical issues with Yooz, including errors, timeouts, and inconsistent support during implementation.

Users experience invoicing issues such as difficulty viewing historical invoices and inaccurate data entries, causing frustration.

Users find the vendor management process cumbersome, requiring assistance and offering limited flexibility within teams.

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Product Description
Pros and Cons

Users praise the ease of use for Quadient Accounts Payable Automation, highlighting its user-friendly interface and reliable performance.

Users appreciate the effective automation of the entire AP process, enhancing efficiency with QuickBooks integration.

Users praise the efficient invoice approval process of Quadient Accounts Payable Automation, enhancing productivity and streamlining workflows.

Users face significant challenges with poor customer support, experiencing delays and difficulties in reaching assistance when needed.

Users find the limited options in Quadient Accounts Payable Automation restrictive, affecting productivity and user experience.

Users express frustration with delays in invoice processing, leading to vendor payment issues and operational inefficiencies.

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Product Description
Pros and Cons

Users appreciate the ease of use in DualEntry, benefiting from its intuitive interface and seamless integration.

Users love the user-friendly interface and seamless integration of DualEntry, enhancing accuracy and efficiency in financial tasks.

Users appreciate the efficiency of DualEntry, enhancing workflow and accuracy in financial reporting and decision-making.

Users highlight the need for more in-app guidance and customization options to enhance the DualEntry experience.

Users find the missing features of DualEntry, like a mobile app and onboarding tools, frustrating and limiting.

Users express concerns about the limited customization options, hindering flexibility for teams with unique needs.

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G2 recognized Brex
Product Description
Pros and Cons

Users find Brex to be straightforward and organized, ensuring ease of use for managing business finances efficiently.

Users love the easy expense tracking with Brex, simplifying receipt management and financial documentation.

Users value the prompt and responsive customer support of Brex, enhancing their overall experience with the app.

Users experience approval issues with Brex, causing confusion and difficulties during travel transactions.

Users find the manual entry requirement for integrating Brex with QuickBooks rather cumbersome and time-consuming.

Users find the approval process time-consuming, especially with delays affecting cash flow and reimbursement clarity.

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Product Description
Pros and Cons

Users find BILL Spend & Expense extremely user-friendly, simplifying receipt submissions and integration with existing systems.

Users value the strong control over expenses with BILL Spend & Expense, enhancing internal oversight and documentation efficiency.

Users appreciate the control and security provided by BILL Spend & Expense, especially with virtual card management and monitoring.

Users report significant integration issues with BILL Spend & Expense, complicating expense tracking and software compatibility.

Users face approval issues as top-level users can approve their own transactions, lacking necessary control measures.

Users experience poor customer support, dealing with slow responses and repetitive explanations during issues.

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Learn More About Accounts Payable Automation Software

What is AP Automation Software?

Companies use accounts payable (AP) automation software to manage large volumes of invoices and financial transactions between a company and its suppliers. AP automation software can reduce manual work and avoid human errors, as well as improve the efficiency and accuracy of the AP department and help with other accounting activities such as financial closing. AP management functionality is included in most accounting systems, but it is not always sufficient for companies that do business with hundreds of suppliers and need to process thousands or tens of thousands of invoices and payments.

AP automation software should not be confused with billing and invoice management systems—the main difference between them is that AP automation focuses exclusively on purchasing transactions while billing and invoicing software manages both sales and purchase invoices.

What Types of AP Automation Software Exist?

AP automation software is usually available in two different platforms:

Standalone AP automation software 

AP automation software is usually delivered as a standalone product that needs to be integrated with other software, such as ERP or accounting solutions. The primary benefit of this type of software is that it focuses exclusively on AP automation and provides the most advanced features in the market for this business need.

Procure-to-pay suites that include AP automation

Since AP automation is directly related to purchasing, some vendors decided to create procure-to-pay suites that cover all procurement needs, including AP management. Procure-to-pay suites are usually made of separate products or modules that can be used in different combinations. Buyers should be aware that not all procure-to-pay suites include AP automation as a standard module.

What are the Common Features of AP Automation Software?

Invoice management: Invoice management refers to purchasing invoices (or AP). While these invoices may be created using ERP systems or accounting software, they need to be transferred to an AP automation solution for processing. Importing invoices includes data transfer, optical character recognition (OCR) scanning, or document transfer for files in various formats such as PDF or text.

Supplier management: Supplier management for AP automation is usually limited to the financial information required for payments, such as vendor bank account details. Maintaining accurate supplier financial information helps companies avoid banking errors and ensure that vendors receive their payments.

Purchase order (PO) matching: PO matching helps companies ensure that suppliers are invoicing them for the products and services they received. Between the moment when companies place a PO and the invoice date, both parties may agree on changes, such as the amount, the number of products, or the payment terms of the invoice.

Payments management: Payments tracking does not refer to payment processing but to the ability to identify which invoices have been paid, what invoices are due and when, as well as payment errors. Similar to PO matching, payments need to match the purchasing invoices to avoid overpaying or underpaying.

Approvals: Approval workflows allow managers to decide which invoices should be paid and when, based on multiple criteria such as invoice date and priority. Approvals are also required when companies decide that any invoice that exceeds a certain amount should not be processed automatically.

Other Features of Accounts Payable Automation Software: Benchmarking, Supplier portal

Which AP Automation System is the Best for Enterprise Companies

  • Sage Intacct: A cloud-based financial management platform offering advanced AP automation features, including real-time visibility, multi-entity support, and seamless ERP integrations.
  • Airbase: A unified spend management platform that combines AP automation, corporate cards, and expense management. Great for growing enterprises needing real-time control and accounting integration.
  • Coupa: Offers procurement-led AP automation with AI insights, supplier management, and spend optimization—well suited for large, global companies.
  • Tipalti: Best for global mass payments. Supports multi-currency, tax compliance, and fraud detection—ideal for companies managing international vendors.
  • Stampli: Focuses on fast, collaborative invoice processing. Offers smart invoice capture, approval routing, and audit trails, making it easy to integrate into existing ERPs.

What are the Benefits of AP Automation Software?

There are many benefits to this software that not only automate tasks but also save time and money.

Less human intervention: AP automation software can eliminate unnecessary manual intervention that can slow down an AP team's processes and efficiencies. When using manual AP workflows and procedures, from invoice receipt to payment, there are too many steps that require humans to intervene. Each of these manual steps can lengthen the process of paying an invoice, gaining the correct approval, and ultimately, making the final payment. AP automation software can help eliminate most of these hands-on steps, allowing AP teams to do more than just track down and pay bills.

Accuracy: Accuracy in AP is achieved by matching POs, supplier invoices, and payments. This helps companies make sure that they only pay for what they bought and that there are no processing errors that may impact their profitability.

Return on investment (ROI): ROI can be achieved relatively fast for AP automation software. This type of software isn’t very expensive, and most products are in the cloud, which makes it easy to implement. AP automation brings immediate benefits, such as cost savings and increased productivity.

Scalability: Scalability of payable operations can be a significant challenge for companies whose activities fluctuate in time. For instance, a peak of business may require the processing of thousands of invoices weekly or monthly, while slow periods only generate dozens of invoices. AP automation can help this type of company scale operations without investing in additional personnel for peak periods or being overstaffed during the slow periods.

Who Uses AP Automation Software?

Accounting departments: Accountants need to consolidate AP information with the other financial data of the company. When AP automation is delivered separately, the data it manages needs to be transferred to an accounting or ERP system for the teams mentioned below. AP automation software should, therefore, allow accountants to export and import data. Since errors are unavoidable, accountants also need to be able to find transaction details that may be the source of inaccuracies, such as invoice date, amount, or payment terms.

Procurement teams: Procurement professionals can benefit from using AP automation software to match POs and payables. By paying suppliers accurately, companies can maintain a good business relationship and rely on them in the future. Suppliers may also reward good payers by offering them special discounts and other incentives (e.g., free shipping, a high priority for deliveries).

Vendors and suppliers: Suppliers use online portals within the software, where they can submit invoices and information for payments and communicate with customers. They can also track the status of the invoices and payments for the products or services they delivered.

Managers and executives: Upper management can monitor AP processing activities and refocus manpower on improving working capital management and performance optimization. They are able to spend less time correcting errors and maintaining vendor relationships, and spend more time focusing their efforts on more strategic and value-adding projects.

Software Related to AP Automation Software

Accounting software: Accounting software manages all the financial transactions of a company, including AP. While standard accounting software includes basic AP functionality, advanced features for AP automation aren’t usually covered.

ERP systems: ERP systems manage most business operations that are related to AP, either directly (purchasing) or indirectly (sales, inventory management, and payments).

Purchasing: Purchasing software manages procurement activities, from sourcing to PO management and the receiving of the goods delivered by suppliers. Procurement may also apply to the acquisition of services from third-party consultants, brokers, and other providers of professional services.

Treasury management: Treasury management manages the cash and liquidity of a company, which is directly related to its ability to pay suppliers. If businesses don’t have enough money to pay suppliers on time, they may be penalized or even lose relationships with vendors that are critical for their business.

Billing: Companies use billing software to create and send invoices to customers in order to request payment for the products and services that they deliver. By using this type of software, companies can reduce the time and effort required to manage invoices and improve the accuracy of their billing processes.

Invoice management: Invoice management software helps companies automate tasks related to invoice processing. When companies or accounting departments receive invoices, these invoices typically go through an approval process, after which their information is matched with sales and POs, as well as payments. Invoice management software streamlines this workflow by scanning invoices, reading and pulling data into the system, and transferring payments electronically.

Which AP Automation Software is the Best for Small Business

  • BILL AP/AR: Provides a flexible, cloud-based platform to automate accounts payable and receivable workflows, helping small businesses streamline invoicing, approvals, and payments with built-in fraud detection and audit trails.
  • Ramp: Combines bill pay, expense tracking, and corporate card management into a single platform, automating AP tasks while offering real-time visibility and budget control—ideal for lean finance teams.
  • Melio: Tailored for small businesses, Melio allows seamless bill payments via bank transfers or cards, even when vendors only accept checks, making it a simple and affordable AP automation solution.

Challenges with AP Automation Software

The automation of AP can save companies time and money when implemented and onboarded properly, but all software solutions can come with their own set of challenges. 

Integration: Integration with accounting and ERP systems is critical because most AP automation solutions are standalone and do not provide accounting features. Since most standalone AP automation solutions are delivered in the cloud, integration with other software is more straightforward. Most vendors also offer APIs or partnerships with ERP or accounting vendors to improve integration. This does not mean that AP automation can be easily integrated with any type of software. Integration with on-premises software can still be a challenge, especially for companies using legacy systems based on obsolete technology and using old programming languages such as COBOL.

Learning curve: All new software comes with a learning curve, but some are more complex than others. If some AP automation features are too complicated or cumbersome, the automation could be costing the company more money than it’s saving. Oftentimes, a platform will push automatic updates, which can come with new features or updates that require employees to relearn how to use the software. 

How to Buy AP Automation Software

Requirements Gathering (RFI/RFP) for AP Automation Software

When selecting AP automation software, it is important to first look at how the business operates, and then familiarize oneself with the different types of software available. There are a variety of options when it comes to AP automation software products, including those designed for the business needs of small and medium-sized businesses.

Compare AP Automation Software Products

Create a long list

Depending on the industry, the buyer might want to first create a long list of software that is designed to help businesses in the particular industry. For example, there are platforms specifically built for businesses in retail, manufacturers, restaurants, etc., as well as for many other types of commercial organizations.

Create a short list

After reviewing and researching the software on the long list, the buyer can widdle down this list based on the budget. AP automation software is available to suit all budgets and some general applications may be downloaded free or bought off the shelf at a lower price.

Buyers must keep in mind, however, that the more specialized a software is, the more expensive it gets. This is the case because the user base for specialized software is usually relatively small. If the company wants something specific to their industry or customized for the business, they should be prepared to pay a premium.

Conduct demos

As a rule of thumb, companies should make sure to demo all of the products that end up on their short list. During demos, buyers should ask specific questions related to the functionalities they care most about, for example, one might ask to be walked through any image capturing features, how to run reports, or how to match supplier invoices with corresponding POs.

Selection of AP Automation Software

Choose a selection team

It is important that the accountants or members of the AP team who will be using this software are involved in the selection process. The accountant may prefer an application that is compatible with the ones they currently use. Every business is different and the accountant is most likely in the best position to offer an educated opinion about which one is the best choice for the particular needs of the business. The accountant may even be able to help the company install and set up the software of choice.

After choosing a software, buyers must remember that they don’t have to be stuck with this selection forever; most platforms allow for add-ons or modifications. However, this decision shouldn’t be made lightly because no matter what software is chosen, it will be a big time and money commitment. In order to see ROI, buyers can’t change their minds a few months later and switch software again.

Negotiation

Negotiating a software contract is important to minimize risk, whether it is in terms of performance protection, security protection, or simply making sure that both parties are in complete agreement with what to expect from the other. 

If the business has the cash flow, they could ask for a discount in return for annual upfront payment, and many software providers are happy to make that deal. Other times, a software provider may offer unlimited usage if the buyers pay upfront instead of paying a monthly or quarterly package price.

Buyers should also determine if they will need help implementing the AP automation software or integrating with another system. Usually, a software provider's first offer will include some implementation services in a given timeframe. Buyers can ask for these services to be removed if they can manage it themselves, or if a third party can do it for cheaper.

They also need to decide for how long they will need this software. If the company will use the software for years and years, the buyer can negotiate longer terms which sometimes results in more favorable pricing.

Final decision

The final decision should be based on all the information gathered previously. Businesses should try to prioritize needs and select the solution that meets most of, if not all of, their requirements. Companies must remember that there is no one perfect software, but there is one that is best for their business.

If possible, buyers must conduct a pilot program with a smaller sample size of users to gauge how well the software is received. If the platform gets high marks, they can buy with more confidence. If the tool is found to be inefficient or not performing as expected, it might be time to test another software.