Melio

In short

Melio pays vendor bills by free ACH bank transfer or by card, syncs those transactions into QuickBooks or Xero, and bundles in branded invoicing so the same account can also collect from customers. It suits a small trades business handling its own accounts payable and receivable without a dedicated bookkeeper on staff, with heavier approval workflows, multi-entity controls and higher payment volume reserved for its paid tiers.

Key features for service businesses

Who it's for

Melio fits a small trades business that wants to run both accounts payable and accounts receivable from one free-to-start account, paying vendor bills by bank transfer while also invoicing its own customers, with everything syncing into QuickBooks or Xero rather than a full bookkeeping platform.

Who should skip it

A business that needs deeper approval chains, spend controls or multi-entity management for a larger accounts-payable team should look at Bill, which is built for that scale. A business that only wants simple customer-facing invoicing without the vendor bill-pay side may find Melio's accounts-payable tools unnecessary overhead, and a business already committed to a broader accounting suite may prefer a bill-pay module native to that platform instead.

How it handles bill pay and approvals

Melio pays vendor bills by ACH bank transfer for free, or by credit or debit card when a vendor doesn't accept bank transfers, and it supports scheduled and expedited payment timing so a vendor can be paid faster while the payer keeps their own schedule. Multi-level approval rules can be set by team member, role, payment amount or vendor, and bills can be uploaded and paid individually or in a batch, which matters for an office manager processing a stack of supplier invoices at once.

How it handles invoicing and receivables

Melio's accounts-receivable tools are included on every plan rather than sold as a separate add-on: a business creates a branded invoice with a built-in payment link, lets the customer pay by bank transfer or card, and the payment matches back to the invoice and syncs to the books automatically. Payment reminders go out automatically rather than requiring a manual follow-up, and role-based access lets more than one team member manage incoming payments with different permission levels.

Integrations and mobile access

Melio's mobile app lets a team create and send invoices, and review, approve and pay bills, away from a desktop, which fits an owner who spends more time on job sites than in an office. On the accounting side, Melio syncs two-way with QuickBooks Online, Xero, QuickBooks Desktop and NetSuite depending on plan, and its partner directory also lists connections for advertising spend and marketplace selling alongside its core accounting sync.

Alternatives

• Bill if you need deeper approval workflows and spend management for a larger accounts-payable team.
• Square Invoices if your priority is simple customer-facing invoicing rather than running vendor bill pay through the same account.
• Choose Melio over both when you want free ACH vendor payments and branded customer invoicing in the same free-to-start account, syncing cleanly into QuickBooks or Xero.

How we reviewed it

We checked Melio's pricing page for plan tiers and payment limits, its accounts-payable page for bill-pay and approval features, its accounts-receivable page for invoicing and collection features, and its homepage for mobile app and AI-assistant claims. We did not rely on any third-party review site for feature claims in this review.