AvidXchange vs BILL (Formerly Bill.com)

When comparing AvidXchange vs Bill.com, each platform eliminates manual processes and automates a variety of accounting tasks. However, both systems can have different applications. Many users who compare Bill.com and AvidXchange will find that Tipalti’s automation software is a superior alternative to both.

Here is a quick overview of each solution:

What is AvidXchange?

AvidXchange is an automated accounts payable solution and industry leader for mid-market businesses. The company seeks to liberate your accounts payable and accounts receivable from all paperwork and is trusted by over 8,800 businesses across the nation. The platform leverages three main functions:

• Automation of the purchase-to-pay process (electronic invoice management)
• Intelligent invoicing 
• Automated payments and approval process

The organization deals with over 965,000 suppliers in the United States and is recognized as an industry leader by the G2 crowd, the world’s largest tech marketplace.

AvidXchange has helped a business:

• Decrease invoice processing time an average of 73%.
• Speed up invoice processing from 10 to 3 days.
• The average decrease in cost per invoice processed is $46.87.
• The cost of approving and paying invoices is reduced by up to 60%.
•  7 days is the average decrease in payment arrival time.

The platform helps increase control with 24/7 visibility into every transaction and payment you make.

AvidXchange Pricing

Like most robust payment processors, AvidXchange doesn’t publish pricing on their site. Every cost is a custom quote. However, some third-party user review sites say you can expect an average cost of $5,000 for a 45-day implementation.

Main Features

A small business can expect a multitude of integrations with the AvidXchange platform. The product does not replace your existing accounting software. Rather, it is designed to seamlessly integrate with over 220 popular brand names and accounting systems. The SaaS pairs with high-tech companies like:

• QuickBooks Online
• Sage Intacct
• NetSuite
• MRI Software

Additional features you can anticipate include:

• ACH payment processing
• Mobile payments (iPhone or Android)
• Online payment processing
• Payment processing services integration
• Cash flow management

Pros of AvidXchange

Automating any remedial process always has advantages. Some pros to using the AvidXchange system include:

Reduce Costs

Eliminating all manual tasks saves time. Especially tasks in your process that prove inefficient. It’s time to let the computer take over and give the human a break. 

Scale for Growth

This type of technology allows you to take back control of your business and give valuable time back to the team. This also means people can focus more on strategic, revenue-driving work.

Quick Approvals

No more wasted time chasing signatures, stamping checks, or coding payments. The AvidXchange platform allows a business to perform everything in a few simple steps.

Remote Work

The mobile-friendly platform has online access 24/7, so you have flexibility when you need it.  

Eliminate Fraud

Leveraging e-payment adoption enhances financial security while providing vendors with flexible payment options.

Cons of AvidXchange

Various online review sites have common issues with the platform that include:

Regulatory Compliance

AvidXchange falls short when it comes to compliance and tax regulation. They do not offer proactive OFAC or sanctions screening. Tipalti is the best solution for this feature.

​Customer Support

Online reviews state that customer support can be fairly slow. It’s not uncommon for a ticket to be open much longer than promised.

Global Remittance

Unlike Tipalti, remittance details are not white-labeled and are only available for domestic transactions. All international payments must be performed in-house.

Sending Payment

If a check is lost or missing, you must call or email to send a stop payment. It cannot be done online. 

There is also no way to know when a check is cut until the accounts payable department manually updates each invoice with a check image and number. It cannot be automatically added to a third-party system to check on the status right away.

Limited Customization

There is a limit on unique customization based on company needs. There should be more options for adding fields or hiding those a company does not need. 

Clunky Navigation

AvidXchange has room to improve the functionality for users. There can be indexing issues and lack of notifications as well.

What is Bill.com?

Bill.com provides cloud-based software to small and mid-sized businesses. The program automates the back-office financial operations with an A.I.-enabled platform. This drives connections between suppliers and their businesses to help manage cash inflows and outflows.

The platform allows a business to save time while managing bills, processing payments, and sending invoices. A business gains complete control over AP processes and syncs with all necessary accounting software. Vendors pay with an ACH and the system is simple to set up.

Using Bill.com, customers report saving:

• 50% of time on accounts payable
• 36 business days annually
• Time partnering with U.S. financial institutions

Bill.com Pricing

Unlike AvidXchange, Bill.com has tiered pricing that is open and transparent. 

Essential – $45/month/user

This is the package that allows a business to easily manage payables and receivables.

• Centralized inbox
• Invoice data capture
• 360-degree vendor info
• Unlimited document storage
• ACH, check, credit card and international wire transfer
• Standard approval policies
• Six standard user roles
• Manually import and export CSV files into accounting software

Team – $55/month/user

• Everything in the Essentials Plan, plus:
• Custom user roles
• Sync with: QuickBooks Pro, QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Premier, and Xero

Bill.com Integrations

Bill.com integrates with large enterprises to streamline the payable process. Some of the main brands include:

• QuickBooks
• Xero
• NetSuite
• Sage Intacct
• Microsoft Dynamics

Bill.com Key Features

Bill.com offers efficient cash management and approval workflows. Additional features include:

• ACH payment processing 
• Debit/Credit card processing
• Electronic signature
• Mobile payments
• Online payment processing
• Recurring billing

Pros of Bill.com

There are many advantages to using the Bill.com platform. Some pros for the system include:

Increased Efficiency

Bill.com allows a business to automate busywork so it can focus more on growth and positive expansion. It also provides ease of use for low-level clerks managing vendors and entering bills. It is simple for a business owner to approve bills, add comments, and enter purchase orders. 

Gain Control

A company can easily establish custom workflows and team roles/permissions. 

Security

Data in transit is encrypted using TLS (Transport Layer Security). The system also easily syncs with top payment tools and accounting platforms.

Audit Trail

All payment-related activity is logged for quick future reference.

Quick Startup

Make payments in hours or days—not weeks or months.

Cons of Bill.com

There are many third-party review sites that list the pros and cons of Bill.com. Some recent complaints include:

User-friendly

Customers complain the learning curve can be rather steep and wish the system was a tad more user-friendly. Some state the console settings are a bit of a maze and it can be difficult to find what you are looking for. 

​​​​Pricing

The prices of Bill.com have doubled over the years. Although this is understandable for a growing company, many small business owners were not prepared for it. Paper can also be costly if vendors refuse to accept payment by ACH.

Inaccuracy

Customers complain online that some bill scans are crooked, cut-off, and/or hard to read. This can be challenging when a clerk can’t find the specific data they are looking for. 

Global Payments

Bill.com can only be used by companies based in the United States with a U.S. bank account.

Tax Compliance

Unlike Tipalti, Bill.com has no built-in tax compliance. Information is not collected upfront and there is no W-8 support.

AvidXchange vs. Bill.com

When it comes to comparing Bill.com vs AvidXchange the systems are very similar. One main difference is pricing. While AvidXchange runs a quote-based system, Bill.com’s pricing is transparent. The platform also offers an opportunity to set up recurring billing, while AvidXchange does not.

It may come down to business size. Bill.com is a better platform for a business to start with, as it caters to smaller sized organizations. No matter your choice, both products offer robust features and a suite of integrations that will help any brand hit the ground running!

Tipalti as A Primary Alternative

The best alternative to both AvidXchange and Bill.com is the Tipalti platform. Tipalti is regulated as a money services business and has its US money transmitter licenses (MTLs) in every state that requires them. Tipalti is also authorized by the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as an Electronic Money Institution. This is an important distinction between Tipalti and other payout providers, especially amidst the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank. Tipalti customers gain significant benefits by using our global payments solution over other non-regulated providers. We partner with blue-chip banks Citi, JP Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo and have redundancy between built-in for fast and reliable global payment remittance.

Tipalti eliminates up to 80% of the accounts payable workload and automates the entire payment management process. Make mass payments to suppliers and partners in any country, while cutting costs and waste with automated invoice processing.

When comparing all three systems, note some of these key differences:

Integrations

Although Bill.com and AvidXchange boast integration capabilities, nothing compares to Tipalti’s offering. TIpalti offers strong API integrations with NetSuite, Sage Intacct, QuickBooks Online, Xero and Microsoft Dynamics, plus seamless ERP Integrations with all other ERPs via pre-built connectors using no-code, drag-and-drop interface.

Compliance

AvidXchange and Bill.com do not offer built-in tax features, validation, or regulatory compliance controls. AvidXchange does not collect tax forms. The payer must manage them on their own or rely on an outside tax consultant.

Tipalti offers tax features that meet IRS requirements (as prescribed by KPMG), plus OFAC and other sanctions screening before any payment is processed. Part of the onboarding workflow includes W-9/W-8 tax form data collection and validation. Tipalti generates 1099/1042-S tax prep files for EOY reporting. They also collect and validate local/VAT tax IDs for non-US countries.

Sanctions Screening

AvidXchange does not come with any proactive OFAC or sanctions screening. That’s because onboarding is done manually by entry-level employees. This puts a business at risk of paying a bad entity on a government blacklist, which can potentially result in frozen accounts. 

Tipalti goes the extra mile and actively screens all payees before every transaction is processed. This, in turn, helps with regulatory compliance.

Supplier Services

Tipalti is all about self-service, while brands like AvidXchange and Bill.com trust employees with supplier-sensitive banking details. Avid onboards people through a call center and details are manually entered into the system.

Tipalti offers a branded supplier portal that’s available 24/7. Vendors can update their own contact and banking details, all in one spot. The solution has over 26,000 global payment validation rules to automatically verify data in real-time. This not only reduces payment errors, but it ensures suppliers are always paid on time.

Although Bill.com offers a supplier portal, there are limited payment options compared to Tipalti. The white-labeled self-service Tipalti portal enables suppliers to perform tasks like:

• Choose the payment method
• Choose currency
• Set thresholds
• View invoice and payment history
• Receive branded notifications

Global Payments

Bill.com is designed for smaller companies and cannot handle high-volume or complex payment systems. They only offer wire transfers for global payments, which are highly susceptible to fraud. You also have to be based in the United States to make any international payments.

AvidXchange has limited options for global payments and is mostly focused on domestic payments. It recently launched cross-border payments in partnership with Wise – specific to customers on NetSuite ERP only. Cross-border payments comprise a very small component of money flows due to AvidXchange’s geographically centered customer verticals.  

When it comes to international payments, Tipalti streamlines the entire process. They can perform payouts to 196 countries in 120 currencies, using 12 payment methods. The platform also gives a business advanced payment configuration options like setting thresholds and fee-splitting.

In Conclusion

All three systems have advantages and disadvantages. Bill.com is better suited for smaller ventures, while AvidXchange has custom features tailored to the ERP model. Overall, Tipalti is the smarter option to cover all of your digital payment needs and ensure compliance in every market.