Bill.com vs QuickBooks Online: Which is Best for Your Business in 2024?

Running your small business without accounting software and a qualified accountant can be a headache, especially when it continues to scale. These programs help you crunch the numbers and effectively assist you in daily financial operations. Among the popular accounting solutions today are Bill.com (now BILL) and QuickBooks Online.

While both are capable tools, you may find it challenging to choose the right software based on its price, key features, customer support, and other factors. This article will compare BILL and QuickBooks Online in depth to help you decide between the two platforms. We will also include an overview of their additional features and their claim to fame, giving you all you need to know about which accounting system works best for your business.

Read this guide to learn more.

Bill.com vs QuickBooks Online: An Overview

Bill.com

Bill.com (or BILL) is cloud-based accounting software focused on streamlining your accounts receivable (A/R) and accounts payable (A/P) processes, such as invoice creation, payment processing, and bill approvals. The platform also supports integrations with third-party platforms and has a mobile app for managing cash flow, tracking your expenses, paying bills, setting budgets, and more.

QuickBooks Online

QuickBooks Online is among the best cloud-based accounting software today. It offers a comprehensive solution for tracking business finances, including accounts receivable and accounts payable features, vendor invoice creation, account reconciliation, tax management, and more. It also seamlessly integrates with over 750 apps, from payment processing and e-commerce platforms to payroll services.

Bill.com vs Quickbooks Online: Side-by-Side Comparison

Key Features

Accounts Receivable & Accounts Payable Features

Bill.com
BILL is a robust platform when you’re mainly considering accounts payable & receivable features for your business. It can automate several A/P tasks, including invoice capture, automated data entry through its intelligent virtual assistant, approval workflows, and bill processing. It can also help you create professional invoices and automate invoicing tasks.

QuickBooks Online
QuickBooks offers various tools for A/P and A/R tasks, including automated payment workflows (only available in the Advanced plan), schedule payments, and receipt capture. It has robust A/R features, like custom invoice creation, professional invoice templates, and tax management. QuickBooks can also track invoices and send automated payment reminders to your clients.

Cash Flow Management

Bill.com

BILL lets you optimize your cash flow management through different dashboards using QuickBooks direct sync. You can generate cash flow forecasts for up to 13 months using historical accounting data. You can also create and customize graphs using BILL’s data visualization tools.

QuickBooks Online
QuickBooks offers more robust tools for tracking cash flow, including cash flow insights and projections for the next month or more. You can run customized cash flow projections, where you can import balance sheets and profit and loss statements for a more accurate analysis.

Bill.com – Additional Features

International Payment Processing
Among BILL’s advantages over QuickBooks Online is its ability to process payments internationally (over 130 countries). This allows you to pay overseas businesses in their local currencies or USD via international wire transfer with no fees; USD transactions, however, will cost $14.99. You can also benefit from competitive exchange rates and no intermediary bank costs.

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BILL AI
BILL uses artificial intelligence in its tools for accounts payable tasks, including automated data extraction on receipts and documents, significantly reducing data entry time. Its intelligent virtual assistant can also assist in categorizing multi-page documents and invoices and automating bill payments with high accuracy.

Automated Payment Approvals
BILL allows you to set up workflows for payment approvals and reimbursements. This allows you and your group to request and accept approvals electronically instead of requiring physical signatures. You can verify and track the approval status for each payment directly on the software or your phone via the BILL mobile app.

Note: Automated approval workflows are a premium feature in BILL, which will cost you at least $45 monthly. If you want more budget-friendly and robust expense management software, try Envoice. It supports a multi-level approval process; you can automatically assign approval tasks to specific team members, reducing manual delegations and ensuring timely expense or reimbursement approvals. Sign up now for a free trial.

QuickBooks Online – Additional Features

Automation Tools

QuickBooks Online has various automation features for invoicing, bookkeeping, and expense management, including automated email reminders for pending invoices to your customers, recurring invoices, and bill payments. The platform also applies machine learning capabilities to remember your spending habits and categorize your expenses more accurately.

Expense Tracking
With QuickBooks, you can automate expense tracking tasks, such as automatically importing and sorting transactions from your connected bank or wallet account. Since it tracks expenses throughout the year, it can predict your cash flow and generate reports, providing you with insights to make smart financial decisions. You can also use the platform to track business expenses and create tax categories to maximize tax deductions.

Receipt Capture
QuickBooks Online allows you to take pictures of your receipts for more efficient expense tracking. You can attach them accordingly to your business expenses so your accountant can find them during tax time. Also, you can easily attach receipts of billable expenses when invoicing your clients.

Note: Receipt capture is only available in the Advanced plan, costing you $100/month. If you prefer a cost-effective and accurate expense tracking solution, consider an add-on like Envoice. It provides Human-in-the-Loop review and corrections with ExactExtract if needed for complete accuracy of your receipt data. Register now for a free trial.

Ease of Use

Bill.com
BILL has a user-friendly interface that suits both seasoned users and beginners. Since it’s cloud-based, you’ll have an easy time setting it up. The dashboard displays your cash flow summary, invoice payments, visualization tools for A/R and A/P data, and bills to be paid. It also offers an excellent bill approval system, which lets you manage all pending invoices for approval and the person in charge.

QuickBooks Online

QuickBooks Online provides users with a seamless user setup and an intuitive dashboard. It shows invoice data, balances, a cash flow summary, income and expense graphs, and more. One of QuickBooks Online’s advantages is its data visualization tools, which are helpful if you want an in-depth and customized view of a data set.

Invoicing

Bill.com
BILL has various professionally designed invoice templates, which you can customize by adding logos, brand colors, or rearranging fields. The platform allows you to track the status of each invoice through automated email reminders (only if they’re also enrolled with BILL) and set up recurring invoices.

QuickBooks Online
QuickBooks Online helps you create custom, professional invoices that contain essential details about your brand, billable expenses, payment details, and more. The platform can track your invoices in real-time and send automated email reminders for payment reminders and recurring invoices. Also, one of QuickBooks’ unique invoicing features is the ability to transform an estimate into a complete invoice in just one click.

Integrations

Bill.com
Seamless integration with notable third-party accounting solutions, such as QuickBooks Online, Xero, FreshBooks, and Sage 50. It also integrates with CRM and ERP services, like Oracle NetSuite and Microsoft Dynamics. BILL supports automatic two-way sync, which lets third-party platforms sync automatically with your account data, eliminating the hassle of switching from one program to another.

QuickBooks Online
QuickBooks Online is a robust platform for integration support, with over 750 apps to choose from. It includes popular e-commerce platforms, time-tracking tools, payment billing services, HR and payroll tools, CRM software, etc. These apps include Amazon, PayPal, Shopify, Etsy, Gusto, and Method: CRM.

Pricing

Bill.com

BILL offers these pricing plans (they charge per user): Essentials ($45 monthly), Team ($55 monthly), Corporate ($75 monthly), and an Enterprise plan if you have customized accounting needs. They have a 30-day free trial where you can test its features by adding vendors, bills, customers, and invoices. BILL also has additional fees for sending checks and invoices via mail ($1.69 per check/invoice) and an automated data entry service (49¢ per entry).

QuickBooks Online
QuickBooks Online has the following pricing plans: Simple Start ($30/month), Essentials ($60/month), Plus ($90/month), and Advanced ($200/month). They offer a discounted subscription rate, where you can save 50% on your first three months or a 30-day free trial. QuickBooks offers different pricing plans for their add-ons, like QuickBooks Payroll, QuickBooks Money, etc.

Who is it For?

Bill.com
If you want a stand-alone A/P and A/R solution, BILL is the right accounting software for your small business. If your vendors also use BILL, you can benefit from the platform, which allows you to track invoices in real-time. BILL also integrates with notable accounting software, like QuickBooks Online, Xero, and Sage 50.

QuickBooks Online
QuickBooks Online is the best choice if you need a robust accounting solution for your scaling business. Compared to BILL, it’s much cheaper and offers various tools for A/P and A/R tasks, professional invoicing, bookkeeping, accounting reports, inventory management, and more. QuickBooks also provides various integrations and add-ons, giving you all you’ll need to manage your business’s financial operations.

Claim to Fame

Bill.com
BILL excels in accounts payable tasks, like automated invoice capture and upload, payment approvals, and AI tools that eliminate mistakes from manual data entry. The platform provides different payment options, allowing you to pay bills to vendors via card, check, ACH, and international wire transfer.

QuickBooks Online

QuickBooks Online is excellent for accounts receivable tasks and streamlining your accounting processes. It has various invoice creation and tracking tools, like professional invoice templates, real-time tracking, automatic payment reminders, and converting estimates to invoices with one click. QuickBooks also supports integrations with over 750 apps.

Conclusion

BILL and QuickBooks Online are two popular accounting software solutions for businesses today. BILL is a great option for small businesses needing robust accounts payable and bill processing tasks. In contrast, QuickBooks Online works best if you want accounting software with scalable plans depending on the features and number of users your business currently needs.

If you want a cost-effective alternative to BILL with more well-rounded A/R features, consider Envoice. It automates various expense management tasks, like receipt capture, multi-level payment approvals, invoicing, and more. It also integrates with popular accounting software like QuickBooks, Xero, and Sage Accounting.

Want to know more about how Envoice compares against BILL and other accounting software? Check its key features now and streamline your pre-accounting process today!