BILL vs Melio: accounts payable tools compared for 2026

BILL charges per user and suits finance teams with approval chains. Melio charges per plan with free ACH allowances and suits small businesses. Both charge noticeably for paying vendors abroad.

Alexia M.Comparisons and market guides editor

Published: 15 June 2026
Updated: 4 November 2026
Reading time: 2 min read

"Bill.com vs Melio" is one of the first suggestions after "bill.com vs". Both pay your vendors from your existing account and track bills. The pricing models differ, and so does the cost of paying abroad. Figures below were read on each pricing page on 4 November 2026.

Pricing

	BILL	Melio
Plans	Essentials $49, Team $65, Corporate $89 per user a month	Go $0, Core $25, Boost $55, Unlimited $80 a month
Free ACH	None; $0.59 each	5, 20, 50 or unlimited a month by plan; then $0.50
Pay by card	2.9%	2.9%
International USD	$19.99 per wire	$20 global ACH in USD
Foreign currency	Exchange rate applies	Conversion rates apply

Worked example

A small agency pays 30 US vendors and 10 vendors abroad each month, with two people in the tool.

BILL Essentials: 2 users at $49 is $98; 30 ACH at $0.59 is $17.70; 10 international USD wires at $19.99 is $199.90. About $316 a month.
Melio Boost: $55 plus one extra user at $10; 30 ACH inside the 50 included; 10 global ACH at $20 is $200. About $265 a month.

In both, more than half the bill is the international payments.

Which to pick

BILL suits finance teams that want multi-step approvals and deep sync with accounting software. Melio suits owners who want a simple bill-pay tool and mostly pay US vendors.

Fix the international part

Paying vendors abroad in US dollars pushes the conversion onto them, and many add it to the price. Paying in their currency on a local rail is usually cheaper for both sides.

Paying into the United States: the local rail

What	Detail
Local rail	ACH for batch payments; RTP and FedNow for instant transfers
Run by	Nacha for ACH; The Clearing House for RTP; the Federal Reserve for FedNow
Settlement	Same-day ACH within the business day, standard ACH the next; RTP and FedNow in seconds, 24/7, where both banks take part

Source: Nacha: Same Day ACH. Checked when this guide was last updated; the scheme's own page has the current figures.

Where Rivet fits

Rivet pays vendors and contractors in 120+ countries from one balance, on local rails where available, at $2 per payout on Starter, $1 on Growth and $0.50 on Scale, with the FX shown before you confirm. Bulk payouts take a file. Rivet is not a bank; regulated partner institutions hold the funds. See bulk payments explained and Payouts.

Questions people ask

Is BILL or Melio cheaper?

For a small business paying fewer than 50 US vendors a month, Melio is usually cheaper because its plans include free ACH. For a finance team that needs approval workflows and syncs, BILL's per-user price buys more control.

How much do BILL and Melio charge to pay vendors abroad?

BILL charges $19.99 per international USD wire, and foreign-currency payments carry an exchange rate. Melio charges $20 for a global ACH in USD and applies conversion rates for local-currency payments.

Do I still need a bank account?

Yes. Both pull payments from your existing business account and push them to vendors.

When is a multi-currency account better?

When you pay vendors abroad in their currency every month. Holding that currency and paying on local rails avoids per-payment wire fees and the tool's exchange rate.

Sources

Written by

Alexia M.

Comparisons and market guides editor

Alexia compares the accounts, cards and payment tools companies weigh before they switch, and writes Rivet's market guides for founders in a specific country. Prices in Alexia's comparisons come from each provider's own pricing page on the date given in the article, rules come from the regulator or tax authority that sets them, and every source is listed at the end.