BILL publishes plans at $49–89 per user per month — but the fee that catches people is the $0.59 per standard ACH payment (as of June 1, 2026) and $1.99 per mailed check, on top of the subscription. At any real invoice volume, those add up.
| Subscription | Per ACH | Per check | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ramp | AP is free (Plus $15/user for more) | $0.59 (waived if funded from Ramp Checking) | $1.99 (waived with Ramp Checking) |
| Melio | free (1 user, 5 payments/mo) → $25–80/mo | $0.50 above the free allowance | free ACH on base plan; cards ~2.9% |
| BILL | $49–89/user/mo | $0.59 | $1.99 |
Ramp is the disruptor here: its core accounts-payable — AI bill capture with high-accuracy OCR, approval workflows, spend controls — is free, versus BILL's $45+/user. And if you fund payments from a Ramp Checking account, Ramp waives the ACH fee, the check fee, same-day ACH, domestic wires and SWIFT. For a company that runs its cards and banking through Ramp anyway, bill pay becomes a near-zero add-on.
Melio is genuinely free for very low volume — one user, five payments a month, free ACH — which makes it the cheapest option for a small business paying a handful of vendors. But cross into 40–50 payments a month and the $0.50 per-transaction charges plus a $25–80 plan fee put you close to a BILL seat anyway. Melio's Unlimited plan is $80/month for unlimited users and ACH.
BILL is the incumbent with the deepest accounting-software integrations and the most mature approval workflows — the reason mid-size finance teams stay on it despite the per-transaction fees. If your accountant runs on BILL and the volume justifies it, the fees are a cost of that maturity.
Low volume, few vendors: Melio's free tier. Already on Ramp for cards: Ramp AP, and fund from Ramp Checking to zero out the transaction fees. Established finance team with deep accounting integrations: BILL, with the ACH and check fees budgeted in.