# Melio

> Bill pay and invoicing for small US businesses, with a free plan

Melio pays supplier and contractor bills by ACH, check, wire or card, including card payments to vendors who do not take cards, and sends invoices with payment links. It syncs with QuickBooks, Xero and NetSuite, and its expense tool asks card holders for receipts by text or email. A free plan covers one user and five ACH payments a month; paid plans add more free payments, users and approvals.

- **Category:** Spend & Bill Pay
- **Made by:** Melio Solutions Inc.
- **Website:** https://melio.com
- **Runs on:** Web, iOS, Android
- **Facts last checked:** Oct 18, 2026

## Pricing

Melio has a free plan. Paid plans start at $20 per month, billed annually ($25 billed monthly).

- **Pricing model:** Free plan
- **Free plan:** Go: 1 user, 5 free ACH payments a month ($0.50 each after), payments by card, check or wire, international payments, invoices and payment links, and up to 10 QuickBooks or Xero syncs.
- **Free trial:** First 90 days of Core, Boost or Unlimited free, no credit card needed; then the account moves to Go.

| Plan | Price | What you get |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Go | $0 | 1 user and 5 free ACH payments a month. Pay by ACH, card, check or wire, capture bills with AI, send invoices and payment links. |
| Core | $20 per month for 1 user, billed annually ($25 billed monthly) | 20 free ACH payments a month, QuickBooks Online and Xero sync, batch payments, approvals, W-9s and 1099 sync. Extra users $8 a month ($10 monthly). |
| Boost | $44 per month for 1 user, billed annually ($55 billed monthly) | 50 free ACH payments a month, advanced user roles, QuickBooks Desktop sync, classes and locations, and phone support. Extra users $8 a month ($10 monthly). |
| Unlimited | $64 per month for unlimited users, billed annually ($80 billed monthly) | Unlimited free ACH payments and users, NetSuite sync, premium phone support and onboarding. |
| Platinum | Custom | Invite-only, for businesses paying over $300,000 a month by card: custom transaction and card fees, API access and an account manager. |

Read from https://melio.com/pricing/ on Oct 18, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with Melio before buying.

## Ways to pay less

- **Save 20% with yearly billing** (Annual discount): Core costs $20 a month billed yearly instead of $25, Boost $44 instead of $55 and Unlimited $64 instead of $80; extra users drop from $10 to $8. Source: https://melio.com/pricing/

## Key features

- **Pay bills any way:** Pay by ACH, paper check, wire or same-day transfer, or put a bill on a credit or debit card even when the vendor only takes bank payments.
- **Bill capture and approvals:** Bills arrive in a dedicated inbox or by upload and are read by AI. Paid plans route them through approvals by amount, vendor or user.
- **Invoices and payment links:** Every plan sends invoices and payment links. Customers pay by card or bank transfer, and the card fee can be passed on to them.
- **International payments:** Pay vendors in more than 80 countries in US dollars or their local currency, by bank transfer or Visa and Mastercard.
- **Expense receipts:** Connect the cards a business already uses; each purchase triggers a text or email asking for the receipt, which is coded and synced to Xero or QuickBooks.
- **Accounting sync and 1099s:** Two-way sync with QuickBooks Online and Xero from Core, QuickBooks Desktop from Boost and NetSuite on Unlimited, with W-9 collection and 1099s through Tax1099.

## Good for

- US small businesses that want to pay suppliers by card or ACH
- Owners who pay a few bills a month and want a free plan
- Accounting firms paying bills for clients

## Worth knowing

- ACH payments beyond the plan's free allowance cost $0.50 each, checks $1.50, wires $10 and paying a bill by card 2.9%.
- International USD transfers cost a flat $20 (fast ones 1%, $30 to $95); local-currency payments carry a currency conversion rate instead.
- Melio does not issue cards: the expense tool works with the cards a business already holds. Pay over time loans are made by Lead Bank.
- Melio says it serves businesses across the United States; extra users cost $10 a month ($8 yearly) on Core and Boost.

## ToolGPA grades

**GPA: 2.8 out of 4**, graded Oct 18, 2026. Melio pays supplier and contractor bills by ACH, check, wire or card, and will even put a bill on your card when the vendor only takes bank payments. It sends invoices too. The free Go plan is properly usable for one person, but past 5 ACH payments a month it's $0.50 each, and Melio has no cards of its own.

- **Value for money: B.** Graded against its bill pay alternatives. A ten-person company paying 20 supplier bills a month pays $7.50 on the free Go plan: 5 free ACH payments, then $0.50 each. Core at $20 a month yearly makes all 20 free. That beats BILL and Plooto, but Nickel and Ramp send ACH for nothing.
- **Free plan and trial: B.** Go is free for good: one user, 5 free ACH payments a month, card, check and wire payments, invoices and up to 10 QuickBooks or Xero syncs. The paid plans are free for the first 90 days with no card needed.
- **Features: C.** Bill pay is done fully: AI bill capture, approvals on paid plans, payments to 80+ countries, invoices, W-9s and 1099s. It's the smaller job, though, and Melio issues no cards: its expense tool works with cards you already hold.
- **Ease of use: B.** 4.6 from 1,485 App Store ratings. Bills come into their own inbox and get read for you, though you'll want the accounting sync set up early.
- **Platforms and integrations: B.** Web, iPhone and Android, with QuickBooks Online and Desktop, Xero, NetSuite, Tax1099 and Amazon Business. No desktop app is listed, and NetSuite sync needs Unlimited at $64 a month.

These are ToolGPA's own grades. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from Melio's own pages on 18 October 2026, and its App Store rating. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews.

## Where it stands among spend and bill pay tools

- Melio's GPA of 2.8 is higher than 5 of the 13 other spend and bill pay tools we grade, and level with 3.
- It stands best on value for money (B, above 7 of 13) and worst on features (C, above 0).
- Its paid plans start at $20 a month, against a middle price of $12 for the category: 9 of the 11 others that charge start lower.
- On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 2.7 out of 4. 7 tools score higher and cost less.

The category's chart of price against score: https://toolgpa.com/charts/expenses

## Keep it, or make your own?

**Keep it.** To replace Melio you would be making money moved between bank accounts, which takes a licensed payments partner. That is not a weekend's work, with an AI app builder or without one. It costs $240 a year.

- You could make: Invoicing and expense tracking: an app builder makes these well.
- You could not: Money moved between bank accounts, which takes a licensed payments partner.
- You could not: A real app for iOS and Android. Something home-made would be a web page.
- You could not: It plugs into other products, QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Desktop and Xero among them.
- You could not: AI features, unless you pay a model provider for each request yourself.

A judgement by ToolGPA from this listing, by rules that are the same for every tool. Nothing was built to test it.

## What people say

- **App Store rating of the iPhone and iPad app:** 4.6 out of 5 from 1,485 ratings in the United States, read Oct 18, 2026. This is the store's rating of the app, not a score from ToolGPA. Source: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/id1600209586

## Works with

QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Desktop, Xero, NetSuite, Tax1099, Amazon Business, Meta

**Tags:** Bill pay, Invoicing, Expense tracking, AI features

## Alternatives

- [BILL](https://toolgpa.com/tools/bill): Bill pay, invoicing and free company cards for small businesses. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/bill-vs-melio)
- [Plooto](https://toolgpa.com/tools/plooto): Bill pay and receivables for businesses in Canada and the US. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/melio-vs-plooto)
- [Nickel](https://toolgpa.com/tools/nickel): Free ACH invoicing and bill pay for US businesses. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/melio-vs-nickel)
- [Ramp](https://toolgpa.com/tools/ramp): Corporate cards, expenses, travel and bill pay, with a free plan. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/melio-vs-ramp)
- [Airwallex](https://toolgpa.com/tools/airwallex): Multi-currency business accounts, cards, bill pay and expenses. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/airwallex-vs-melio)

## Sources

The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Oct 18, 2026:

- https://melio.com/pricing/
- https://melio.com/mobile-app/
- https://melio.com/about-us/
- https://melio.com/international-payments/
- https://melio.com/expense-management/

Page: https://toolgpa.com/tools/melio
Listed by ToolGPA (toolgpa.com).