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Practical bill payments for smaller teams

Payvy vs Melio.

Melio starts with bill payments and grows into approvals and accounting sync. Its higher tiers also reach beyond small-business basics, so plan boundaries matter.

Reviewed November 9, 2026 · Published by Payvy · Documentation review
WHEN TO CONSIDER Melio

Consider Melio when ready-to-use vendor payments and a manageable accounting workflow are the priority.

WHERE PAYVY FITS

Melio already offers a free tier and an unlimited-user plan. Payvy’s case is control of your software and workflow logic, not a claim that unlimited seats are unique.

WHAT TO CHECK

Validate the exact accounting fields and approval steps you need. A connector name alone does not establish that attachments, holds and dimensions all synchronize.

EIGHT AREAS THAT CHANGE THE DECISION

Feature by feature.

Vendor capabilities are documented offerings, subject to the caveats below. Payvy statuses describe the current rebuild, not the older product.

Eight feature areas comparing Melio with the current Payvy rebuild
FeatureMelioPayvy Early build
Invoice capture

Extracts bill fields and line items from uploaded PDFs or images for review. Uploads support one invoice per bill and a 10 MB file limit.

In the source

Document inbox, email intake and model extraction are implemented. Originals live in configured S3-compatible storage. Extraction checks amounts, matches vendors and produces drafts; quality depends on the model and document.

Approvals & controls

Rules can depend on amount, vendor or scheduler, with no self-approval by the scheduler. Detailed help documents up to three approval levels on Boost and Unlimited; confirm plan eligibility for your specific chain.

In the core

Vendor workflows support named approvers, amount thresholds, timed holds and external signals. Bills retain their workflow version. Person keys approve and release; changes produce audit events.

Payment execution

Supports ACH, wires, checks, cards and international payments. Vendors can receive payments without a Melio account. The free plan includes five ACH payments monthly; additional payments and faster methods may incur fees.

Mercury in the source

The reviewed build implements Mercury payments, person-authorized release, request or direct mode, status polling and handling of failures and returns. Other banks and international currencies are planned. Source implementation is not hosted launch availability.

Accounting & ERP sync

QBO and Xero start at Core; QuickBooks Desktop at Boost. NetSuite is rolling out with eligibility to confirm. Its sync excludes attachments and some dimensions; a later NetSuite hold does not stop an already-synced payment in Melio.

Planned

VisiBooks, QuickBooks Online and Xero sync are planned, alongside ERP connections for NetSuite, Sage Intacct, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central and Acumatica. No accounting or ERP connector is implemented in the reviewed rebuild.

Purchasing & PO matching

Melio advertises matching invoices to POs and receiving documents. The reviewed product page does not establish plan entitlement or tolerance rules, so confirm the available matching workflow rather than assuming a full procurement suite.

Planned

PO matching is planned. Purchase requests, receiving and a procurement suite are not available in the current build.

Suppliers & tax workflows

Electronic W-9 requests and submission tracking are documented for Core, Boost and Unlimited. Tax1099 integration supports filing workflows, with separate filing charges.

Core + gaps

Vendor records and vendor-specific workflows are implemented. A supplier onboarding portal, tax validation and 1099 filing are not available.

APIs & agent access

Platinum advertises custom integrations and API access. That does not establish self-service developer access on the standard plans; confirm endpoints and commercial terms.

In the core

REST and MCP expose the same command registry. Agent keys can prepare bills and propose workflows; person-only actions are excluded. Release uses preview and single-use confirmation.

Hosting & operations

A hosted payment application with plan-based user and feature limits. Unlimited removes the seat limit, while Platinum offers a separately quoted service level.

Self-hosted

AGPL-3.0-only source with no per-seat license charge; self-hosters operate their own infrastructure. Planned hosted pricing is $39/company/month with your own agent or AI provider keys, or $99/company/month with a Payvy-managed agent. Both include unlimited users and agent connections. Provider usage is separate on the $39 plan; included AI limits on the $99 plan will be defined before launch.

Payvy source reviewed November 10, 2026. This column is based on the project status, command registry, payment implementation, extraction implementation and email intake documentation at revision 9829c85. An implemented API is not a production-ready end-user app.

THE PRICING MODEL

Go $0; paid plans from $25/month

Monthly Core, Boost and Unlimited plans list $25, $55 and $80. Core and Boost charge $10 per additional user; Unlimited includes unlimited users. ACH allowances and payment fees vary; annual discounts and temporary offers are separate.

PAYVY

$0 self-hosted license.

Self-hosters cover infrastructure, maintenance, storage, AI services and bank charges.

Planned hosted pricing is $39/company/month with your own agent or AI provider keys, or $99/company/month with a Payvy-managed agent. Both include unlimited users and agent connections. Provider usage is separate on the $39 plan; included AI limits on the $99 plan will be defined before launch.

Explore the hosted plans →

Hosted Payvy is in development. Availability has not been announced.

BEFORE YOU CHOOSE

Bring a real workflow
to the demo.

These are our suggested evaluation questions, not claims that Melio fails them.

  1. Does your plan support the required number of approval levels and specific approvers?
  2. For NetSuite, are you eligible for the rollout, and how will unsynced attachments, dimensions and later payment holds be handled?
  3. Which matching features and API access are included, and what do expedited, card and international payments cost?

Sources and scope

Reviewed November 9, 2026. We used official vendor documentation and pricing, not hands-on product testing. Buyer-fit notes are the Payvy team’s interpretation. Prices are in USD where published; fees, discounts, regions, modules and contracts can change the total.

“Not verified” means the reviewed sources do not establish a capability or entitlement. It does not mean the vendor lacks it. Confirm your requirements directly before choosing a system.