Tipalti Review: Features, Pricing & Alternatives 2023
This article is part of a larger series on Accounting Software.
Tipalti is a cloud-based accounts payable (A/P) automation system that offers an end-to-end payment solution to help you speed up the processing of vendor billings. Its most distinctive feature is its self-service portal, where your vendors can bill you, provide relevant tax information, and manage where payments are wired. Its pricing isn’t publicly available because prices are customized based on each company’s needs. However, Tipalti charges a platform fee of at least $149 per month.
What We Like
- Choice of six payment methods and 120 currencies
- Ability to view invoice and payment history
- Purchase order (PO) matching
- Ideal for businesses that bill many vendors locally and internationally
- KPMG-prescribed tax forms and vendor self-registration requirements
What's Missing
- No mobile app
- Pricing is not transparent or straightforward
- No free trial
- Too advanced for small businesses that only need basic bill payment features
Tipalti Deciding Factors
Supported Business Types | Businesses with multiple entities and those who pay international vendors |
Pricing | Custom priced but with a platform fee of $149 per month |
Free Trial | None |
Accounting Software Integrations | QuickBooks Sage Xero Oracle NetSuite Microsoft Dynamics |
Special A/P Features | Automatic bill capture from email Optical character recognition Workflows Batch processing of bills Audit trails Vendor portal |
Tipalti New Features for 2023
- Tipalti Card: Subscribers can use the Tipalti Card as an alternative or replacement to corporate card programs because it works perfectly within the Tipalti environment. Managers can issue cards to employees for spending, set limits, and reconcile faster every month-end.
- Bill Talk: With this messaging feature, vendors and employees can directly message approvers via chats. It helps facilitate a conversation between the submitter and approver for a smoother reimbursement and payment process.
- Bill Docs: Submitters can upload and review bill-related documents through Bill Docs. In combination with Bill Talk, users can also submit documents to approvers via chat.
Tipalti Alternatives
Best for: Smalls businesses looking for an A/P solution without a platform fee | Best for: Businesses seeking a complete bookkeeping system | Best for: Businesses that need mobile accounting functionality |
Cost: Free for platform; Transaction fees apply | Cost: Starts at $55 per month for QuickBooks Online Essentials with free online bill pay | Cost: Starts at $70 per month for A/P features |
Tipalti’s pricing model is based on the features that your business requires. Tipalti scored low in pricing because it doesn’t display plan features and pricing details on its website. We believe that having pricing and feature details on the website can help small business owners gain a basic understanding of the software they want to purchase.
You must contact Tipalti directly for a personalized quote, but its platform fee starts at $149 per month. Because it is designed to grow with your company, it can accommodate the need for advanced features, such as W-8 tax forms, international tax IDs, and multientity payables.
Tipalti Features
Tipalti has several features that make it a robust automated A/P application, including a supplier management portal, which allows suppliers to organize and input their taxation details. This ensures that you’re tax-compliant.
Users can conduct payment in 196 countries, with the option of 120 currencies, and payment configuration offers numerous financial controls, such as signatory rights, audit trails, and advanced payment reconciliation. You can also opt to pay your invoices early with the help of NetNow, which accelerates the payment of an invoice by rewarding the payee with a discounted bill.
Tipalti got an above-average score in general A/P features because it has enough basic features. However, since it highlights A/P automation, some general A/P features, such as creating recurring expenses and viewing transactions by vendor, must be covered in the accounting software your business is using. Here are some of the notable general A/P features of Tipalti.
The supplier management module is an onboarding self-service portal where vendors, suppliers, and other payees provide payment, contact, and any other necessary information. After enrolling, they’ll have access to payment history and statuses of their invoices, which eliminates the need to research payment issues.
Example of Tipalti’s Supplier Management module (Source: Tipalti)
Tipalti assigns unique vendor IDs automatically to prevent duplicates, and it has a proprietary rules engine―driven by 26,000 global rules―that identifies any potential errors before payments are made. It supports international payments and up to 11 languages. The tax form selection wizard allows the supplier to complete the tax form and verifies that the information is accurate.
The global payment system can support 196 countries in 120 currencies across six payment methods: PayPal, wire, prepaid debit card, United States automated clearing house (ACH), global ACH, and local bank transfer. If you need to pay multiple vendors in bulk, you can do so from a single screen rather than through individual bank portals.
Example of global payments with Tipalti (Source: Tipalti)
Tipalti also handles regulatory screening before any outbound payment to prevent fraudulent payments. It also provides payment transparency to your suppliers, such as informing them if a payment fails or if a tax form hasn’t been uploaded sufficiently.
NetNow allows your business to pay your suppliers earlier in exchange for a payment discount. Presented to the supplier as an offer via the self-service portal, you can determine which suppliers to offer this option to, with the discount and payment deadline. The software will then calculate the offer based on the payment due date on the invoice. This feature also rewards you with a referral fee from Tipalti for every dollar that’s paid early.
Tipalti allows you to view all of your invoices at a glance, whether they’re uploaded via the web portal or emailed. OCR and advanced data extraction features can be used to convert paper invoices into accessible electronic versions, eliminating data entry. You can also match POs to invoices and receipts by using machine learning (ML), which provides additional invoice data prediction.
You can set up business rules to assign multiple invoice approvers and invoice-level codings, such as departments, accounts, and payer entities. Tipalti will send automated routing emails for in-mail or online approval, and approvers can view the status of each invoice. The platform also allows you to group invoices for payment easily, regardless of vendor or type of payment method.
We commend Tipalti’s special A/P features that help businesses organize and manage A/P more efficiently. Its A/P automation features help users process transactions through workflows with platforms that enable vendors to speak with you directly. Let’s discuss the special A/P features we like.
Tipalti’s best feature is its outstanding A/P workflow, which enables you to stay on top of vendor bills with accuracy. Here are the steps in the workflow:
- The supplier or vendor enters the Supplier Hub where they can provide billing information, tax details, contact number, and the bill creation feature.
- The supplier or vendor can upload their invoices to enter the bill in your system. Tipalti’s optical character recognition (OCR) feature will scan the invoice and fill in the necessary fields for you.
- Automatically keyed bills from vendors will be forwarded to the approver for review and approval.
- During approval, the approvers will review and approve bills, update general ledger (GL) accounts, send bills back to A/P for a different routing process, or reject bills.
- Approved bills can be grouped for payment scheduling. Rejected or disputed bills will be returned to the A/P staff for correction.
- After approved bills have been scheduled for payment, they’ll undergo one final review called executive approval.
- Once executive approval has been given, Tipalti will generate an email that will be sent to the vendor. This email will inform the vendor that payment has been sent.
- Once payment clears, Tipalti will reconcile the accounts automatically. Data is forwarded automatically to enterprise resource planning (ERP) programs, such as NetSuite, or accounting software programs, such as QuickBooks Online.
In the payment reconciliation module, you can consolidate multiple entities, locations, accounts, and payment methods into a single file that’s available as payments are processed. Its instant reconciliation feature improves cash flow visibility and reduces potential fraudulent payouts. To streamline operations, you can also auto-sync payment results with your ERP or accounting system.
Example of payment reconciliation in Tipalti (Source: Tipalti)
The KPMG-certified tax compliance module helps businesses stay in compliance with tax and other regulatory bodies. Integrating directly with the supplier management portal, suppliers can submit the requested W-9 or W-8 forms before receiving payment. Because the tax form collection process is all automated, there’s no need for paper scanning or physical signatures.
Did You Know?
KPMG is one of the Big Four accounting organizations in the world, alongside Deloitte, Ernst & Young, and PwC. KPMG offers audit, taxation, consulting, actuarial, and legal services to many companies globally, including those listed in the Fortune 500 list.
Tipalti will calculate the 1099 and 1042-S year-end tax forms, along with the correct withholding of taxes. It also includes taxpayer identification number (TIN) matching.
Example of Tipalti’s tax compliance (Source: Tipalti)
Tipalti offers an advanced reporting system, with the ability to generate detailed payment, invoice, payee, and tax reports. The reconciliation reports can be accessed in the payment reconciliation module, and you can consolidate multiple entities, accounts, locations, or payment methods in one report. You can also drill down into transaction details and filter reports by date, account, or payment. Reports are downloadable to Excel if further analysis is desired.
Tipalti’s ease of use score is above average because the provider has enough support channels for customers to raise their concerns. However, it could’ve garnered more points if it provided 24/7 phone support to accommodate users across the US.
Customers can contact support by phone, email, or by submitting a support request through an online form. Tipalti prides itself on its customer service, maintaining that it’s the company’s top priority.
In addition to contacting customer support, you can access the Knowledgebase, which has information about product features and can help you troubleshoot your own issues. There are other useful resources on Tipalti’s website, including calculators, articles, and guides.
The user interface is both clean and uncluttered, and it has been set up to make your workflow as intuitive as possible. All of your data is laid out on the dashboard for easy viewing, which is especially useful if your business has a large customer or client base. Tipalti also offers many useful features that’ll help to speed up your workflow, including a self-service supplier management portal that invites vendors to set up their own accounts.
Tipalti Integrations
Tipalti has prebuilt integrations with accounting and ERP systems and a full-featured application programming interface (API) that handles complex data sources. Integration partners include Oracle NetSuite, Sage Intacct, QuickBooks, Affise, Cake, Everflow, HitPath, LinkTrust, Paladin, and TUNE.
Tipalti User Reviews
Tipalti reviews have high scores because of the platform’s ability to make A/P management more efficient. Most testimonials praise it for its smooth integration with accounting and ERP software, while some users found problems with generating reports and lag times.
Here are Tipalti’s scores on third-party sites:
- Software Advice: 4.65 out of 5 stars based on more 100 reviews
- G2.com: 4.4 out of 5 stars based on more than 130 reviews
- Featured Customers: 4.7 out of 5 stars based on more than 2,400 reviews
Featured Customers awarded Tipalti with the following awards: Winter 2022 Market Leader for Accounts Payable Software, 2022 Top Rated Software Award, and 2022 Hot 100 Vendor Award.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Is Tipalti secure?
Yes, Tipalti uses industry-grade encryption standards for maximum security. Since it processes payments, it uses Advanced Encryption Standard or AES to protect identifiable information.
How much are Tipalti fees?
The platform fee starts at $149 per month. Other features are custom priced.
Can Tipalti replace accounting software?
No, it can’t, as Tipalti specializes in A/P automation. However, it integrates with major accounting software like QuickBooks and Xero to make it easy to facilitate data transfer to and from Tipalti.
Bottom Line
Tipalti is a great option if your business is expanding and you need to process and pay a high volume of bills regularly. The cloud-based billing software is fully scalable, so it can adjust to your company’s requirements. If your operation deals with international suppliers and vendors, you’ll appreciate that it provides multiple methods of payment in 120 currencies.
While it may have advanced features that aren’t necessary for smaller businesses, it’s worth considering for companies with a higher volume of A/P tasks to manage. We can say that Melio is the best alternative to Tipalti, especially for small businesses with few billing transactions.