Who can approve an invoice, and how many approvals it needs, depends on the plan as much as the vendor. Ramp lists configurable approval workflows on its Free plan, which works out to $1.60 an invoice, while payment release approvals and advanced approval workflows sit in the Plus block. BILL Essentials costs $1.64 to $1.70 an invoice with standard approval policies, and custom approval policies start at Corporate, $89 a user a month. Tipalti lists a $99 a month base fee and charges no per-approver fee.
Four approval controls: routing rules by amount, department, vendor or location; multi-level or parallel approvals; mobile or email approval; and an audit trail of approvals. A vendor needs at least two to be ranked.
G2 review count, to break ties.
Ramp and Coupa both sell all four controls, and Ramp ranks higher because list cost comes first. Coupa ranks ahead of the other quote only vendors. Airbase, Medius, Corpay, AvidXchange and MineralTree sell fewer than two and are left off.
What each BILL plan adds
All four BILL plans come with standard approval policies and six standard user roles. Team, at $65 a user a month, adds custom user roles. Corporate, at $89, adds custom approval policies and discounts for approver-only users. Enterprise, priced by quote, adds dual control. Essentials, at $49, has none of these.
Ramp Plus is $15 a user a month, and Tipalti has no per-user or per-approver fees, so a team with many occasional approvers pays differently at each vendor. At 1,000 invoices a month BILL Essentials costs $1.70 an invoice, and at 25,000 invoices a month it costs $1.64.
Where approval sits in the AP flow
Approval follows OCR invoice capture and matching, and it is the stage an invoice approval workflow automates: the invoice reaches the people with authority to pay it, and the system records who signed.
An approved invoice posts to the ledger. NetSuite and Sage Intacct syncs sit on upper plans at Ramp and BILL, and QuickBooks syncs on every Ramp plan.
The ranking, with cost at 5,000 invoices a month
1. Ramp: Best for approval routing that starts on a plan costing $0 a user
Ramp routes each bill to an approver, from routine spend to CFO sign-off, and says routing can follow invoice amount, department, vendor type or other business rules, with automated reminders. Configurable approval workflows sit in the Free block of Ramp's plans. Parallel approvers, mobile bill approvals and approval rules and routing are listed without a named plan. AI-driven approval recommendations, payment release approvals and advanced intake and approval workflows appear in the Plus block. Roles set who can view, approve or pay, which keeps separation of duty, and approval histories and activity logs sit among the audit controls Ramp lists. The Free plan's listed fees put it at $1.60 an invoice at every volume tracked.
Ramp features
Best for
approval routing that starts on a plan costing $0 a user
Price disclosure
Full list price. Every fee needed for a cost per invoice has a list price.
Pricing
Per-user monthly plans including a free plan, plus listed Bill Pay fees per payment; several fees are waived when paid from a Ramp checking account
2. BILL (Bill.com): Best for approvers on a phone, with plan tiers that add control step by step
BILL matches each incoming invoice to a workflow and routes it to the right people, and says a team can add as many rules, roles and steps as it needs. Approvers can act from the iPhone and Android apps, reminders chase late sign-offs, and any back-and-forth about a bill is stored with it in a permanent, time-stamped audit trail. Standard approval policies come with all four plans. Corporate adds custom approval policies and discounts for approver-only users, and Enterprise adds dual control. Essentials works out to $1.70 an invoice at 1,000 a month and $1.64 from 5,000 up.
BILL (Bill.com) features
Best for
approvers on a phone, with plan tiers that add control step by step
Price disclosure
Full list price. Every fee needed for a cost per invoice has a list price.
Pricing
Per-user monthly plans, plus a listed fee for each payment sent
3. Tipalti: Best for adding approvers without adding seat fees
Tipalti routes invoices through approval workflows with audit trails, and a buyer can approve or reject a matching exception by email without logging in. Tipalti charges no per-user or per-approver fees, and its pricing rests on transaction volume, enabled features and usage. Pricing starts at $99 a month for unlimited users.
Tipalti plans and prices
Best for
adding approvers without adding seat fees
Price disclosure
Base fee only. Only the base fee has a list price, so no cost per invoice can be worked out.
Pricing
Monthly platform fee with unlimited users, plus per-invoice and per-payment transaction fees with no dollar figure listed
4. Coupa: Best for multi-level approvals and auto-approval rules for non-PO invoices
Coupa runs multi-level approval workflows, and reviewers can approve invoices directly from mobile devices and receive automated reminders. For invoices without a purchase order, a team can set rules for automatic approval by vendor, amount or department. Audit trails track every action on an invoice. Tolerance levels on matching involve reviewers only when necessary.
Best for
multi-level approvals and auto-approval rules for non-PO invoices
5. Rillion: Best for approval rules by amount, location, vendor or department, with AI route prediction
Rillion lets a team set approval rules by amount, location, vendor or department, and add or remove approvers and define who signs off on what, on its own or with AI and without IT help. Its AI predicts the approval route for each invoice and flags exceptions or predicts when an invoice needs extra review. Approvers review and approve from mobile or desktop, with automatic reminders and notifications, and a single dashboard shows invoice status and complete audit trails.
Rillion features
Best for
approval rules by amount, location, vendor or department, with AI route prediction
Price disclosure
Quote only. The vendor has no dollar list price.
Pricing
Quote based; three packages, each with unlimited users and legal entities and a 12-month minimum term
6. Stampli: Best for approvers who ask questions inside the invoice itself
Stampli offers dynamic approvals, where machine learning suggests approvers for each invoice, and predefined approvals built in a workflow builder. Approval limits can be set for specific users or for everyone. Discussions with colleagues and vendors stay attached to the invoice, and one click opens the audit trail. Stampli includes a mobile app, and invoices can be routed and approved from anywhere.
Stampli features
Best for
approvers who ask questions inside the invoice itself
Price disclosure
Quote only. The vendor has no dollar list price.
Pricing
Quote based; features are listed with no prices
Monthly cost at 5,000 invoices
Quote only
Cost per invoice at 5,000 invoices
Quote only
ERP integrations
NetSuite, Sage Intacct, Dynamics 365, QuickBooks, SAP
7. Yooz: Best for routing by total spend, cost center or vendor account
Yooz routes invoices to department heads or project managers based on thresholds such as total spend, cost center codes or specific vendor accounts. Approvers get automated notifications and can review, code and authorize a document in one step. Every action, change and approval is logged with exact timestamps.
Yooz plans and prices
Best for
routing by total spend, cost center or vendor account
Price disclosure
Quote only. The vendor has no dollar list price.
Pricing
Subscription priced by the number of documents processed; no US dollar prices
Ramp's Free plan costs $0 a user and $1.60 an invoice in payment fees. BILL Essentials costs $1.64 to $1.70, with custom approval policies from Corporate. Coupa sells all four approval controls this list tracks.
How does invoice approval software route an invoice?
It applies rules the buyer sets, such as amount, department, vendor, location or cost center, and sends the invoice to the named approvers with reminders until they act.
Does invoice approval software charge per approver?
Ramp Plus is $15 a user a month, and BILL discounts approver-only users from the Corporate plan.
Can invoices be approved from a phone?
BILL has iPhone and Android apps for approvals. Ramp, Rillion, Coupa and Stampli list mobile approval, and Tipalti lets a buyer approve matching exceptions by email.
Which approval software keeps an audit trail?
BILL, Tipalti, Rillion, Coupa, Stampli and Yooz describe audit trails or approval logs. Ramp lists approval histories and activity logs among its audit controls.
Which approval software has no per-user fee?
Tipalti does not charge per-user or per-approver fees, and pricing rests on transaction volume, enabled features and usage.
Tipalti 
Coupa 
Rillion 
Stampli 
Yooz 
1. Ramp: Best for approval routing that starts on a plan costing $0 a user 
