Bill.com vs QuickBooks Online Comparison for 2021

QuickBooks Online is a comprehensive and customizable accounting solution that is ideal for many types of small businesses. Among its many features is the ability to pay bills online using its Bill Pay feature. It also allows you to track time, process payroll, and manage inventory.

Bill.com is for users that want more from their bill payment tool. It offers all of the features that are included in Bill Pay for QuickBooks Online and adds approval workflows, paperless document storage, and team collaboration tools. It is a standalone product that integrates seamlessly with QuickBooks software, simplifying data entry and reducing manual errors. However, Bill.com is not a double-entry accounting system like QuickBooks and lacks basic accounting capabilities like account reconciliation.

When to Use Bill.com

Bill.com is a partial accounting software platform designed for small to midsized businesses (SMBs) that manages your accounts payable (A/P) and accounts receivable (A/R). While the A/P function can automate payables and moves everything to the cloud, the A/R feature set has only basic invoicing capabilities.

Bill.com isn’t meant to replace other accounting software but rather to supplement it. It integrates directly with small business accounting software, such as QuickBooks Online or Xero, so that data is synced between the two programs. It is best for business owners who are looking to save time by moving their A/P process to the cloud where there is an electronic audit trail of all transfers. It’s also ideal for SMBs that process a large number of bills or need a strong approval process, and that use accounting software like QuickBooks.

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When to Use QuickBooks Online

QuickBooks Online is a complete small business accounting solution that allows users the ability to manage all of their financial data on one platform, with real-time dashboards and reports. It has consistently earned our top spot in our best overall small business accounting software. For businesses that want a flexible and comprehensive accounting program and not merely a supplement, QuickBooks is an excellent option.

Because of its strong inventory and reporting capabilities, it is a great option for product businesses. It also offers integrated payroll and time tracking, which is ideal for businesses that want to process payroll without a third-party integration. If your business works with 1099 contractors, you’ll find that QuickBooks gives you the ability to track 1099 payments and process 1099s. Businesses that track activity by class and location, such as real estate companies, may also want to consider using QuickBooks.

QuickBooks Online also offers a Bill Pay service which is powered by Bill.com. It enables one-click vendor automated clearing house (ACH) payments within QuickBooks Online and simplifies the bill-paying process. By enabling you to track payment status, such as estimated delivery times and remittance information, you can gain more control and insight when you pay. You can also save time on data entry because bills invoices sync automatically with QuickBooks Online, reducing data entry and speeding up account reconciliation.

For more information about the simplicity of using Bill Pay, check out our tutorial on how to pay bills in QuickBooks Online,

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Bill.com vs QuickBooks Online at a Glance

Are you not sure which is the best option for you? We evaluated the best alternatives to QuickBooks and came up with 10 possible options.

Bill.com vs QuickBooks Online: Pricing

Both Bill.com and QuickBooks Online offer a variety of subscription levels that vary in price depending on the features needed. While the price for QuickBooks Online’s plans factor in the number of users, Bill.com charges per user. It also charges additional fees for services like mailing checks and invoices and automatic data entry.

Bill.com Pricing

Unlike QuickBooks Online, which allows a certain number of users per subscription level, Bill.com’s monthly charges are per user. For the Essentials and Team plans, you can select between Payables, which streamlines your A/P procedures; and Receivables, which automates invoicing functions. The Corporate and Enterprise plans include both Payables and Receivables products.

There are four plans available, and below are the prices for each:

• Essentials: $39 per user, per month, for Payables or Receivables product
• Team: $49 per user, per month, for Payables or Receivables product
• Corporate: $69 per user, per month, includes both products
• Enterprise: Custom pricing, includes both products

There are also a few additional services available:

• Mail Checks and Invoices Service: Bill.com will mail your checks or invoices for you. This service costs $1.69 per check or invoice.
• Automatic Data Entry: Bill.com will do your payables data entry for 49 cents per each entry.
• Bill.com for Accountants: The Accountant Plan costs $49 per month and includes payables and receivables, a secure payment portal for clients, product training, accountant resources, and one-on-one coaching.

QuickBooks Online Pricing

QuickBooks offers five monthly subscription plans for different needs. Below are the prices for each:

• Self-Employed: $15 per month for one user
• Simple Start: $25 per month for one user
• Essentials: $50 per month for up to three users
• Plus: $80 per month for up to five users
• Advanced: $180 per month for up to 25 users

Bill Pay for QuickBooks Online allows you to pay and track bills from your QuickBooks Account. You can send international and domestic payments via ACH or check, track payment status, get full remittance information, and sync payments with QuickBooks Online for more control and insights. You pay as you go with this plan, so you’ll only be charged for the transactions you make.

Bill Pay is available with QuickBooks Online Essentials, Plus, and Advanced, but is not available for Self-Employed or Simple Start. To use Bill Pay for a client, it must be activated from their QuickBooks Online account. Here’s a summary of the available plans:

• Bill Pay for QuickBooks Online: 99 cents per ACH transaction; $1.99 per check for unlimited users and no monthly fee
• Bill Pay for QuickBooks Online Advanced: 20 free domestic ACH transactions per month during a two-month trial period. After the trial, fees are 99 cents per ACH transaction; $1.99 per check with unlimited users and no monthly fee.

Takeaway: Between the two, the subscription plans for QuickBooks Online are much more straightforward and less expensive than Bill.com when you consider the included features and allowed users.

Bill.com vs QuickBooks Online: Features

Bill.com Tiered Features Table

QuickBooks Online Tiered Features Table

Takeaway: With the integrated solution of Bill Pay, QuickBooks can be used to pay bills online for very little additional cost. However, if you want a more robust bill payment solution with approvals and a streamlined workflow, then Bill.com might be worth the additional cost.

Bill.com vs QuickBooks Online: Ease of Use

Both Bill.com and QuickBooks have intuitive user interfaces, but the latter is more complex with its features. If you’re considering one of the lower-priced levels of Bill.com, I recommend using it for A/P, especially if you have a large number of bills to pay and want to automate the process. This is also ideal for businesses with multiple decision-makers when it comes to approving payments. For any other accounting needs, QuickBooks is your best option.

Bill.com Ease of Use

While Bill.com does offer invoicing features, the A/R side of the software is lacking in function, especially compared to other software like Zoho Invoice. The A/P feature excels when it comes to automating bill payments when you consider the software’s recently redesigned user interface, which allows users to save time and streamline their A/P. The To Do list is also helpful for calling out action items.

Below is a view of the Bill.com Dashboard for Corporate and Enterprise plans, which you will see when you log into the program. It shows the bills to pay, open invoices, bill approvals, payments in, and payments out. The smaller plans will show graphs pertaining to A/R or A/P.

1. Left navigation bar: Use this to navigate to each section, which includes: Inbox, Documents, Vendors, Approvals, Bills, Payments Out, Customers, Invoices, Payments In, Reports, Support, and International Payment.
2. Bills to Pay: This feature allows you to enter a bill, with or without an invoice. All bills entered will appear here.
3. Open Invoices: You can start receiving money from your customers by creating an invoice here, and this section shows all invoices that have been created.
4. Bill Approvals: Invite your team members to enter, approve, and pay bills here. You can set up your team and view the status of each bill.
5. Payments In: View your money received through Bill.com in this section.
6. To Do list: Your list of action items is available here. When an item is completed, it will be removed.

QuickBooks Online Ease of Use

The QuickBooks Online Dashboard is easy to navigate and gives you access to your account balances, income and expense totals, and graphs that illustrate your cash flow during a specific time period. The interface is intuitive, especially with the left menu bar with tabs that navigate to each section.

1. Left menu bar: These tabs take you to each section, including Transactions, Expenses, Sales, Cash Flow, Projects, Payroll, Reports, Taxes, Mileage, Accounting, My Accountant, Capital, Apps, and Live Bookkeeping. Payroll and Live Bookkeeping services can be added for an additional fee.
2. Cash Flow: This report can be customized by time period and allows you to view your income, cost of goods sold, and expenses.
3. Income: All items related to your income, such as paid invoices, are shown here. You can use this information to follow up on invoices that are past due and view your A/R report, which is shown on the screen.
4. Expenses: Your total expenses, broken down by category, are shown here.
5. Profit & Loss: Generates your profit and loss (P&L) statement, which can be customized by date range or filtered by categories.
6. Sales: View your sales over a specific time period, which can be customized as well.
7. Bank Accounts: Your available bank balances are shown here. Once you connect QuickBooks to your online bank and credit card accounts, you will be able to view both the bank and QuickBooks balances.

With QuickBooks Online you can either pay bills by printing checks or submit electronic payments using the online bill-paying feature. An image of the bill pay screen is below and for more information about how to pay bills in QuickBooks Online, check out our tutorial.

After you have navigated to the Pay Bills screen, you will be provided with a list of all the bills that have been entered. Click the box next to the bills you want to pay and provide a payment date and check number if you plan to print checks now. You can also change the payment amount if you want to make a partial payment rather than the balance due.

Once you have completed the required information, click on the green Schedule payments online button at the bottom right corner of the screen. The first time you use Bill Pay, QuickBooks Online will walk you through the setup process.

If you’re paying bills inside your QuickBooks Online account, the per ACH transaction fee is 99 cents and $1.99 per check, in which there is no monthly fee. Payments are made either by paper check mailed on your behalf or a direct deposit into the payee’s bank account.

Takeaway: It is fairly simple to navigate both the QuickBooks Online and Bill.com dashboards, but QuickBooks’ is a bit more complex given its extensive features.

Bill.com vs QuickBooks Online: Integrations

Because of its limited integrations, Bill.com is better served as an integration itself as it can be connected to several accounting software packages. QuickBooks integrates with more than 650 apps and also has two built-in integrations to streamline your payroll and time tracking.

Bill.com Integrations

Bill.com offers ten integrations, and most of these integrations will connect your Bill.com profile to your accounting software, including QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Desktop, Xero, Sage Intacct, and NetSuite. However, not every integration is available with each plan. An application programming interface (API) is available for developers (Enterprise plan) only.

QuickBooks Online Integrations

QuickBooks Online integrates with more than 650 popular business apps, which can assist with other aspects of your business like customer relationship management (CRM) or ecommerce. Two built-in integrations can be accessed directly within the QuickBooks Online app, which are the payroll and timesheet functions. A summary of available integrations is below:

• QuickBooks Payroll: Pay and manage your team all in one place from directly within QuickBooks Online, with integrated payroll, taxes, human resources (HR), health benefits, workers’ compensation, and more.
• QuickBooks Time: The automated time tracking features available from within QuickBooks Online will simplify your payroll. Employees can track time from any location on any device, and time data syncs to your account in real-time.

The Team and Corporate plans of Bill.com also integrate with QuickBooks Online. Here’s an example of other integrations:

• A/R: Freedom Merchants, ARCollect, Invoiced, and Melio
• CRM: HubSpot, Method:CRM, and Insightly CRM
• Ecommerce: PayTraQer, Stripe by Connex, and Freedom Merchants
• Expenses: Expensify, Dext Prepare, Veryfi, and Greenback
• Inventory management: SOS Inventory, Katana, Magento, and Order Time
• Payroll: Gusto, RUN Powered by ADP, Wagepoint, and Justworks
• Time tracking: Time Tracker by eBillity, Timesheets.com, and Hour Timesheet

Takeaway: If you’re looking for a variety of integrations to help with various aspects of your business, QuickBooks is the best option.

Bill.com vs QuickBooks Online: Mobile App

Both Bill.com and QuickBooks have robust mobile apps that assist with payables and receivables. But while the software may have the same basic features, such as the ability to create invoices and receive payments, Bill.com has the added benefit of workflow functionality with A/P like the ability to view an audit trail of bill approval and review notes from vendors and customers. You can also scan documents with your phone’s camera and process them into bills or send them to your inbox.

QuickBooks has a greater depth of features when it comes to A/R, such as the ability to not only send invoices but also estimates and sales receipts. Neither app allows you to track time, but you can also track expenses using location and class fields and reconcile bank transactions from connected bank accounts. QuickBooks also provides GPS mileage tracking and access to reporting tools, two features that Bill.com lacks.

Takeaway: If your business requires multiple approvals on bills or processes large numbers of payments, then Bill.com may be a good option for convenient access to this information. For all other accounting needs, QuickBooks is the clear winner.

Bill.com vs QuickBooks Online: Customer Service

Although QuickBooks encourages you to try other support avenues before requesting phone support, Bill.com does not offer phone support at all and instead requires that you submit a support inquiry, which will be answered via email. However, they both have other resources, such as a help center and knowledge base, which can be consulted for less urgent needs.

Bill.com Customer Service

It can sometimes be a challenge to find the answers that you’re looking for with Bill.com. There is no phone support available, so the main support option is a support form. There are also a few other resources available:

• Support form: You can submit a support inquiry in the Message Center.
• Help center: There is a comprehensive help center available, with extensive how-to articles, getting started resources, frequently asked questions (FAQs), and announcements.
• Bill.com Resources: This page is a collection of webinars, case studies, white papers, and other Bill.com resources.
• YouTube videos: The YouTube channel features many customer testimonials and a few how-to videos.
• Bill.com blog: Updated frequently, the blog has everything you need to know about payments, going paperless, new integrations, and more.

QuickBooks Online Customer Service

QuickBooks has an extensive knowledge base that can be accessed from both within the program and on the website. Below is a summary of the available ways to access support:

• Telephone support: This is only available by completing a request on the website for QuickBooks to contact you.
• Email support: You can contact the support team by clicking on the “Contact us” button at the bottom of the help window.
• Messaging support: Live chat support is also available, although not 24/7.
• In-product help: Every time you open up a new feature, a step-by-step guide or video shows up, with the option to view more information.
• Searchable knowledge base: This includes how-to articles, webinars, tutorials, and FAQs
• User community: You can also post a question in the community forum, in which other users may be able to provide assistance.

Takeaway: Neither Bill.com nor QuickBooks Online has a direct phone support option, but you can receive a phone call from QuickBooks. They both have other useful resources, such as a searchable knowledge base, tutorials, and a user community, but Bill.com also lacks a chat support option.

Bottom Line

Compared to other invoicing solutions on the market, Bill.com falls short. The lack of invoicing customizations—as well as no estimates, time tracking, items lists, and project management—means this software is not a fit for any business that has these needs. Because of this, it is best used as an A/P solution for users with a large volume of bills or the need to streamline an approval process.

Bill.com’s integrations with QuickBooks and other small business software suggest there is no need to change if you are already satisfied with that solution. Because of its robust set of features, QuickBooks is by far the best choice for any small business that wants a comprehensive accounting solution.