QuickBooks Online is a popular accounting software for small businesses and it provides a range of bill pay options. One of the most important features for business owners is the ability to pay bills electronically, which can save time and reduce errors. There are different bill pay options available in QuickBooks Online, a newly launched Quickbooks Bill Pay Service, Melio, Bill.com, and Corpay One among others. In this blog, we will explore each of these options in more detail.

First let's discuss what these services have in common

Before we start dissecting what's different between these services, let's talk about what they have in common. 

• OCR technology - The ability to scan, forward through email, take a picture of a document and the service will use Optical Character Recognition technology to scan the document and recognize text
• Pay and schedule payments - Each service will allow you to be able to send a payment electronically through a variety of funding sources.
• Approvals - Each service has (to a varying degree) approvals that can be set so that bill payments will not go to the next phase without someone authorizing it.

QuickBooks Bill Pay

The newest entry into bill payment option is the QuickBooks Bill Pay Service. It is a new service offering that is now the ONLY way to schedule and pay bills directly through QuickBooks Online. If you were using other services (Like Melio or Bill) in the past, you can still use them, but they are only available through their portal and whatever integration options they have. We have more details about the service here

Advantages of the QuickBooks Bill Pay Service

There are several distinct Advantages that This service will offer over other service offerings

• Never Leave QuickBooks - Having it all integrated, means you can handle your A/P workflows in one place

• Turn invoices into bills automatically - The QuickBooks Business Network means that one quickbooks users sends you an invoice, it can turn that into a Bill in your QuickBooks automatically

• Transactions are Auto-Matched - When you pay a Bill through this service, QuickBooks will Auto-Match the withdrawal a saving you time after the payment is sent
• Unlimited 1099 creation (Premium and Elite) - Paying Bills through this service will create the 1099's for those vendors automatically
• User Roles and Permissions (Elite Only) - You can assign roles and permissions to decide who can create, approve, and pay bills—and limit access to your books.

Disadvantages

It's not all unicorns and rainbows. Here are some of the things we see as potential challenges

• Users Roles and Permissions - May require QBO Advanced to really get all the uses out of it
• Funding Time - Their websites says 5-7 days for ACH and 10-12 for a mailed check
• Bill Pay Only - Companies with advanced workflows and approvals might not be suited for this service. This does not do expenses management as with other bill pay solutions

Melio

Melio is a bill payment platform that integrates with QuickBooks Online. It's important to be aware of this option because it is so deeply integrated into QuickBooks Online. For example, if you didn't know you were using it you might activate it by accident. It's that deeply integrated. When you create a bill, there is a green button at the bottom that is the starting point. Once you click on it, you are inside the Melio service, but you never leave QuickBooks Online. How's that for integration?!?

It allows businesses to pay bills using a variety of payment methods, including bank transfers, debit cards, and credit cards. Melio also offers a range of features, including the ability to schedule payments in advance, set up recurring payments, and track payment history. In addition, businesses can use Melio to pay vendors who do not accept electronic payments by sending a check on their behalf. To take advantage of a lot of these features, you may have to go to several places which can add to the confusion.

Pros of Melio

• Free(ish) - If you only set up and use ACH Payments, there is not a charge or fee to use the service
• Flexibility of how vendor gets paid - You send the funds how you want, then the vendor can decide how they would like to get paid.
• Extend Cash Flow - You can pay a bill by credit card for things that normally need to be paid by ACH to increase your cash flow.

What's the Downside of Melio?

• One Trick Pony - Sending Bill Payments is all it does
• Melio Green/Melio Purple - In order to make things simple, there are two flavors of Melio. Inside QBO is called Melio Green. Outside of QBO is Melio Purple. There you can set up approvals, and other tasks. Sometimes determining which one to use, or log into, and where, can be confusing
• They are starting to charge more fees - Originally ACH and mailing checks to vendors were free, but now after the second check each month they are charging $1.50 per check.
• Desktop QuickBooks experience is much more limiting - Melio also power Online Bill pay inside of QuickBooks Desktop, but it doesn't work as seamlessly or in the same manner as it does in QuickBooks Online. You can only pay one bill at a time, and it doesn't synchronize with the Melio service to take advantage of the Melio online platform.

Corpay One

Corpay One is a bill payment platform that offers a range of payment options, including ACH transfers, virtual cards, and paper checks. It also provides features such as automatic payment scheduling, approval workflows, and payment tracking. Corpay One integrates with QuickBooks Online, as well as Desktop, and provides a one stop shop for Corporate Credit Card Management and Expense report reimbursement in their platform allowing business owners to easily manage their bill payments from one place. Corpay One joined us on a series of our workshops on "Digitizing Your Back Office" as a way to transform your small Business or accounting practice.

One aspect that really has Corpay One stand out is their advanced workflows section. in here you can set up automations including multiple approvals, auto categorizations, and other automations to streamline workflows that typically have to be done manually.

Advantages if Corpay One

• All in in one Spend Management Platform. - Bill Pay, Expense Reimbursement, and Credit card management all in one place
• Custom Workflows to aid in Automation
• No Per User costs - 
• Additional Remittance information sent to payee.

Downside

• Roles are not customized
• QBO integration is 2 way, QB Desktop is not
• Credit Card must be paid in full to avoid late charges (Think AMEX)

BILL (Formerly Bill.com)

BILL is the industry standard, but that standard comes with a pretty hefty price tag. BILL is another bill payment platform that integrates with QuickBooks Online. BILL (as it is now known) offers a range of features, including the ability to pay bills using ACH transfers, credit cards, or paper checks. BILL is the BILL also provides an online portal where vendors can submit bills and view payment status. Business owners can use BILL to set up approval workflows and schedule payments in advance.

Advantages

• Longevity (~17years)
• More Integrations
• Vendor Network

Downside

• Pricey Solution
• Has A/R and Expense Management, but will need to log into different places to manage them separately

Pricing & Feature Comparison

Let's take at a side-by-side comparison between these 4 options. We separated the Online Bill Pay features and the other additional features so you can compare them side by side

**NOTE: BILL does have a Card Spending management platform, however it's a different platform/login

In conclusion, QuickBooks Online offers a range of bill pay options, including QuickBooks Bill Pay, Melio, Bill.com, and Corpay One. Each of these platforms provides different features and payment options, so it's important to evaluate them carefully to find the best fit for your business. Regardless of which option you choose, using an electronic bill payment platform can save you time, reduce errors, and provide greater control over your finances.