AP automation cost by invoice volume
Cost per invoice changes with volume, so every comparison on this site states one. Pick the tier closest to your monthly invoice count, or type your own volume into the calculator.
- AP automation cost at 1,000 invoices a month
At 1,000 invoices a month, this site's own assumptions call for a two-person AP team, one preparer and one approver, which keeps most vendors on their cheapest published plan. Ramp and BILL both work out to $1.60 to $1.70 per invoice at this volume, since each vendor's payment fees are flat per transaction rather than a share of volume. A team this size rarely needs NetSuite or Sage Intacct yet, so fit on QuickBooks or Xero tends to decide more of the shortlist than the ERPs built for larger teams.
- AP automation cost at 5,000 invoices a month
At 5,000 invoices a month the assumed AP team grows to four people, and NetSuite or Sage Intacct start to matter because a team processing this volume is more likely to run one of them. Ramp holds its cost per invoice at $1.60 and BILL at $1.64, both still priced from flat per-transaction payment fees rather than a volume-based rate. This is also the volume where Tipalti's $99 base fee looks cheapest on paper and is most likely to understate the real bill, since its per-invoice and per-payment fees are not published.
- AP automation cost at 25,000 invoices a month
At 25,000 invoices a month the assumed AP team reaches twenty people, and a NetSuite, Sage Intacct or Dynamics 365 connection stops being optional for most finance teams running that volume on one ERP. Ramp and BILL hold their published cost per invoice flat at this tier too, $1.60 and $1.64, because neither vendor's payment fee schedule changes with volume. The nine vendors with no published own-site price are hardest to compare here, since a quote at this scale can carry volume discounts or minimums that never show up on a public pricing page.