ApprovalMax and BILL both help finance teams bring more control to accounts payable, but they take different routes to get there. This comparison looks at where their capabilities overlap, where the gaps appear, and how those differences affect approvals, purchasing, payments and day-to-day finance operations.
ApprovalMax brings invoice capture, purchasing, matching, approvals and payments into one connected process, with customer invoicing alongside AP. For Xero and QuickBooks Online teams, unlimited approvers allow every budget holder take part without adding seat charges.
Key takeaways
- ApprovalMax includes unlimited approvers on current Xero and QuickBooks Online plans, so adding another reviewer does not add a seat charge.
- Managers approve in ApprovalMax without a Xero or QuickBooks Online licence or access to the wider ledger.
- Purchase-order approvals are included from Standard. Advanced and Premium add bill-to-PO matching and budget checks for Xero and QuickBooks Online.
- BILL charges US$0.59 for a bank-funded domestic ACH payment, on top of its subscription.
ApprovalMax vs BILL at a glance
| |
ApprovalMax |
BILL |
| Invoice capture |
ApprovalMax Capture reads supplier invoices automatically, which reduces manual entry. Included in current Xero and QuickBooks Online plans. |
Captures bills and routes them for approval |
| Purchasing before spending |
Raise and approve purchase orders before a supplier starts work, so nothing arrives unannounced. Included from Standard on Xero and QuickBooks Online. |
Purchase requests, orders, routing and matching through BILL Procurement |
| Invoice checks and matching |
Check the bill against what you agreed to buy and catch differences before payment. Bill-to-PO matching and budget checks on Advanced and Premium; three-way matching on NetSuite. |
Two- or three-way matching on selected integrations, with tolerance settings |
| Approval speed and flexibility |
Independent reviewers approve at the same time instead of queueing, with substitutes and reminders so absence never stalls a bill. |
Approval policies, approver groups and conditional routing |
| Supplier payments |
ApprovalMax Pay sends approved bills in 35 currencies across 150+ countries, in batches of up to 200. Available to UK businesses using Xero. |
Domestic ACH from US$0.59 when funded by a bank account, BILL Balance or Cash Account |
| Customer invoicing |
Create, approve and send customer invoices on every plan, so errors are caught before a client sees them. Sales quotes, and invoicing from an approved quote, on Xero Advanced and Premium. |
Creates customer invoices; AR invoice approvals and quote-based invoicing are not part of the offering |
| Accounting integrations |
Xero, QuickBooks Online and NetSuite, each with its own product and document coverage. |
Xero, QuickBooks Online, several QuickBooks Desktop editions, NetSuite, Sage Intacct and Microsoft Dynamics |
| Pricing and included participation |
From US$50 per organisation per month billed yearly (Standard Small, Xero and QuickBooks Online, excluding tax), with unlimited active approvers. Overage limits apply (rates). NetSuite quoted separately. |
Approver-only pricing is available by quote |
Product and pricing sources: ApprovalMax Xero plans; ApprovalMax QuickBooks Online plans; ApprovalMax NetSuite scope; BILL plans; BILL's AP controls; payment approvals documentation; BILL Procurement; BILL's integrations page; accounts payable service.
What is the difference between ApprovalMax and BILL?
ApprovalMax connects supplier invoice capture, purchase checks, approvals and payments, and also supports customer invoicing. BILL combines AP, AR, procurement and payments in a US-focused platform. ApprovalMax gives Xero and QuickBooks Online teams unlimited approvers within their organisation subscription.
With ApprovalMax, finance can check customer invoices before they reach a client and create invoices from approved sales quotes on Xero Advanced and Premium. The approved prices and terms stay connected to the invoice, helping prevent billing errors and disputes.
How do approval workflows compare?
ApprovalMax workflows support multiple steps, parallel or sequential review, and rules using criteria such as supplier, amount and department, with substitute approvers and automatic reminders. BILL provides approval policies, approver groups and conditional routing.
A department manager who signs off three invoices a month can join ApprovalMax without an extra approver charge or accounting licence. Current Xero and QuickBooks Online plans include unlimited approvers.
Yoco uses an ApprovalMax approval matrix involving 32 people. Finance can distribute responsibility across the people who understand each purchase while keeping the decisions together.
Both connect to Xero, QuickBooks Online and NetSuite. BILL also connects to several QuickBooks Desktop editions, Sage Intacct and Microsoft Dynamics.
Where ApprovalMax goes deeper is the range of documents it will put through approval on those ledgers. On QuickBooks Online, Advanced and Premium add journal-entry approval, supplier-onboarding approval and goods received notes. The NetSuite offering also covers expense reports, journal entries, vendor return authorisations and sales orders. If a manual journal needs management sign-off as much as a supplier bill does, that is a single workflow rather than a second system.
PartnerHero kept ApprovalMax when it moved from QuickBooks Online to NetSuite. Yoco also retained ApprovalMax when it moved from Xero to NetSuite in October 2023. Those teams kept a familiar process while changing accounting systems.
How do purchase orders and matching compare?
ApprovalMax includes purchase-order approvals from Standard, with bill-to-PO matching and budget checking on Advanced and Premium, and three-way matching of bills, POs and receipts on NetSuite. BILL Procurement covers purchase requests, purchase orders, routing and matching, with tolerance settings and two- or three-way matching on selected integrations.
ApprovalMax supports automatic approval of matched bills on QuickBooks Online and NetSuite. Xero teams can use bill-to-PO matching on Advanced and Premium; automatic approval of matched Xero bills is not yet available.
How does invoice capture compare?
BILL captures bills and routes them for approval. ApprovalMax Capture is included in current Xero and QuickBooks Online plans, reducing manual invoice entry and feeding the approval process directly.
How do supplier payments compare?
BILL charges for domestic ACH from US$0.59 when funded by a bank account, BILL Balance or Cash Account. ApprovalMax Pay sends approved bills in 35 currencies across 150+ countries in batches of up to 200, available to UK businesses using Xero.
What audit trail does each leave?
ApprovalMax produces an approval report for every approved document containing the decision history and document detail, plus read-only Auditor access for people who need to inspect evidence without changing it. BILL supports timestamped action records, user permissions and an auditor role.
On Xero, ApprovalMax flags supported documents approved directly in the ledger outside its workflow and emails administrators. This helps finance investigate a bypass alongside the approval history.
ApprovalMax vs BILL pricing
With automatic Xero or QuickBooks Online sync, ApprovalMax Standard Small starts at US$60 per organisation per month on monthly billing, excluding tax; BILL Team costs US$65 per user per month. BILL Corporate is US$89 per full-feature user per month and includes custom approval policies. Corporate and Enterprise offer discounted approver-only seats, whose rate is available by quote. These are subscription starting points; required controls, document volume and payment fees determine the complete cost.
ApprovalMax Standard Small costs US$50 per organisation per month on an annual plan, or US$60 with monthly billing, excluding tax. Advanced Small costs US$82.50 and Premium Small US$111.66 per organisation per month on annual plans. Current Xero and QuickBooks Online plans include unlimited approvers.
Document volume, not headcount, sets the size: Small includes 100 approved documents per month, Medium 300 and Large 500, and only fully approved requests count. ApprovalMax for NetSuite is quoted separately and these prices do not apply to it.
On payments, BILL charges US$0.59 for an ACH or ePayment funded by a bank account, BILL Balance or BILL Cash Account. On 200 domestic ACH payments a month that is US$118 in transaction charges before the subscription. ApprovalMax Pay is available to UK businesses on Xero and reaches 35 currencies across 150+ countries.
Try ApprovalMax free for 14 days to see its approval workflow with your team.
Which should you choose?
Choose ApprovalMax if:
- Approvers should be added freely rather than charged for, at any scale.
- Managers need to approve without holding a Xero or QuickBooks Online login.
- Journals, supplier onboarding, sales orders or goods received notes need the same approval discipline as bills.
- You need alerts when supported Xero documents are approved outside the configured workflow, alongside their approval history.
- You may change accounting platform and want the approval process to survive the move.
BILL may suit if:
- Your ledger is QuickBooks Desktop, Sage Intacct or Microsoft Dynamics.
- You want accounts receivable and supplier payments consolidated into the same platform as AP.
Choose ApprovalMax to bring supplier invoices, purchasing and customer invoicing into a connected finance process, with every Xero and QuickBooks Online approver included in the subscription.
ApprovalMax vs BILL FAQs
Is ApprovalMax better than BILL?
ApprovalMax connects invoice capture, purchasing, checks, approvals and payments. Its current Xero and QuickBooks Online plans include unlimited approvers, so involving more reviewers adds no seat charges, and those reviewers do not need an accounting login to sign off. BILL's strength is the breadth of US payment and receivables services around the invoice.
Is ApprovalMax cheaper than BILL?
ApprovalMax charges per organisation and document allowance, with unlimited approvers on current Xero and QuickBooks Online plans. BILL Team costs US$65 per user per month; Corporate costs US$89 per full-feature user, with discounted approver-only seats priced separately. The saving depends on the plans and participant roles required.
Does ApprovalMax charge for each approver?
No. Current ApprovalMax plans for Xero and QuickBooks Online include unlimited active approvers, so adding a reviewer does not add a seat charge under those offers. Price is set by feature plan, organisation count and approved-document volume: 100 documents a month on Small, 300 on Medium and 500 on Large.
Do approvers need access to Xero or QuickBooks Online?
No. ApprovalMax approvers do not need a Xero or QuickBooks Online login merely to review the requests assigned to them. That lets budget holders and department managers participate in the approval process without holding an accounting system seat or gaining access to the wider ledger.
Does BILL have multi-level and conditional approvals?
Yes. BILL supports approval policies, approver groups and conditional routing, with custom approval policies on Corporate. ApprovalMax includes multi-level approvals from Standard and unlimited approvers on current Xero and QuickBooks Online plans.
Does ApprovalMax include purchase order approval?
Yes. Purchase order approvals are included from the Standard plan on Xero and QuickBooks Online. Bill-to-PO matching and budget checking sit in Advanced and Premium, and the NetSuite offering supports three-way matching of bills, purchase orders and receipts.
Can ApprovalMax make international payments?
Yes. ApprovalMax Pay supports 35 currencies across 150+ countries and batches of up to 200 payments. Approve and pay bills in the same place, with payment records kept together. Available to UK businesses using Xero.
Bring your AP process together
Bring invoice capture, purchasing, checks, approvals and payments together with ApprovalMax. Include every approver on current Xero and QuickBooks Online plans, and keep the decisions with the transaction.
See how ApprovalMax handles your approvals
Bring the right managers into bill and purchase approvals while finance keeps control of the accounting process.
Bring your AP process together. Start your 14-day ApprovalMax trial.
Pricing reviewed on 14 September 2026. Editorial corrections and selected feature checks completed on 15 September 2026. Payment availability and transaction charges depend on country, accounting integration and payment method. Existing accounts may hold different contract terms.
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