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“Have I paid that vendor yet?” you ask yourself as you sort through the dozens of invoices you’ve received this month. Definitely not the way you wanted to spend your Friday afternoon.
As your small business grows, manually managing accounts payable (AP) processes becomes more challenging, time-consuming and error-prone.
Enter accounts payable software. These platforms can automate processes like invoice management and payment processing while syncing to your accounting software to ensure nothing slips through the cracks.
This article offers an overview of the six best accounts payable software solutions for small businesses so you can find just the right platform for your needs. We’ll also give you a list of the features you should look for when choosing a platform, plus tips for how to make your decision.*
Financial admin eating up too much of your time? We can take it off your plate
Automate your accounts payable processes with Juni and free up your day for more impactful work.
*The information about all the platforms discussed in this article was collected between 9 January 2024 and 11 January 2024. This article was written and approved by Juni and is intended as marketing material.
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Whenever you’re researching software, whether that be an accounts payable solution or inventory management platform, you need to be clear on what functionalities your business needs. So before we get into our list, here are some features you should prioritise when selecting accounts payable software:
Let’s take an in-depth look at our list of software. For each platform, we’ll list its features (as well as its limitations), explain how pricing works and point out what kind of business it’s best fit for.
Juni’s platform for ecommerce entrepreneurs comes with automated accounts payable features that can help you run simpler, tighter and more accurate financial admin. With Juni, it takes just seconds to auto-collect, pay and even finance your invoices.
By collecting and scanning your invoices automatically, then pre-filling all the important payment details, Juni saves you time and reduces the risk of human error. You can also automatically import your receipts and invoices with your dedicated Juni inbox for effortless spend management, plus match receipts to transactions.
What’s more, if you need to reduce pressure on your cash flow cycles, Juni offers financing options for certain types of payments, giving you up to 120 days to pay.*
The platform goes beyond accounts payable features, also offering business accounts and cards, features to optimise cash flow management, powerful accounting automations, fast transfers and storefront integrations.
Most suitable for: Ecommerce entrepreneurs and small businesses
Juni has two plan options:
You can try our Scale plan for free for the first 30 days.
Based in Copenhagen, Pleo is a business spending solution with built-in AP automation software. Pleo’s invoice management features make it easy to capture, process, approve, pay and bookkeep invoices in a central location. With over 50 supported currencies, Pleo users can seamlessly pay vendors across the world.
Most suitable for: Companies that need to pay invoices in several currencies
Pleo has three plan options:
Spendesk is a spend management platform with accounts payable features like invoice automation and approval workflows, giving you greater control over the invoicing lifecycle and your AP processes. By using Spendesk, you can minimise (or eliminate) manual data entry for your invoicing processes, plus get real-time insights into your spending patterns.
Most suitable for: SaaS, tech and fintech companies
Spendesk doesn’t list its pricing options, so you’ll have to reach out to sales to get a quote
Sage Intacct’s cloud-based invoicing software helps small business owners and finance teams automate invoice management with the power of AI. For example, simply upload or email an invoice, and the software will automatically extract details and populate fields for your approval. The platform can also detect duplicate invoices, helping you stay in control of your expenses and avoid costly errors.
Most suitable for: Businesses that need powerful analytics tools
Sage Intacct has three plans for its accounts payable software. All plans come with three months free:
While SAP Concur isn’t specifically designed for small businesses, it’s still a good fit for solopreneurs and SMBs looking to automate their AP processes. The platform automates invoicing processes, meaning you can pay suppliers quickly without constantly having to double-check invoices and complete transactions yourself.
Most suitable for: Businesses with immediate plans to scale
SAP Concur doesn’t list its pricing options, so you’ll have to reach out to sales to get a quote.
Visma is the parent organisation for a number of accounting and invoicing solutions across Europe. It has designated products for 15 different EU countries, such as Visma eKonomi, its designated Swedish accounting platform. Visma eKonomi has basic AP features for paying vendors, but it has a range of other accounting features that can help you streamline your financial admin as a whole.
Most suitable for: Small businesses in Sweden
Visma platform prices range depending on which country you operate in and the Visma product you select. Visma eEkonomi has three plans that come with supplier invoicing features:
You can have all the software comparison guides in the world available to you, but if you aren’t intentional about your decision, you may end up choosing software that falls short for your needs. Here are a few steps you can take to help you make the right decision when selecting an accounts payable platform for your small business.
By digitising the traditionally paper-intensive process of handling invoices and payments, AP software is not only more efficient than manual processes, but also minimises the possibility of errors, like a missed or incorrect payment. Having more visibility over invoices, due dates and your general spending patterns can help you maintain tighter control over your financial operations.
But to get the most out of a platform, you need to make sure you’re choosing the right one for your needs. For example, if you run an online storefront, you’ll want to choose a solution like Juni that has the specific needs of ecommerce entrepreneurs in mind.
By choosing a software solution that’s a good fit for you, you’ll make your business more agile, resilient and competitive. Meanwhile, you’ll get back more time in the day to focus on what you most love about running your company, whether that’s marketing your product, interacting with customers or finding ways to scale.
Financial admin eating up too much of your time? We can take it off your plate
Automate your accounts payable processes with Juni and free up your day for more impactful work.
*Juni Invoices is available for EU-based companies only. Media financing is available for companies registered in NL, SE, DE, FR, ES, IT, FI and NO, upon eligibility. Fees and terms and conditions apply. Click here for more details.
Accounts payable automation software helps businesses manage and track the money they owe to suppliers, vendors and other parties. Essentially, this type of software helps business owners and finance departments handle their payment processes by recording invoices, tracking due dates and organising information.
While you can manually manage your accounts payable process, this approach can be time-consuming and error-prone. A better way to keep track of accounts payable is by using specialised accounts payable software that tracks and pays your invoices for you.
You can automate accounts payable processes by using specialised software. These platforms handle a number of tasks, including:
"Only six more to go," you tell yourself as you upload yet another receipt to your accounting software. We all know the pain of searching for receipts across emails and platforms and trying to match them to expenses.
This becomes even more challenging the larger your business becomes and the more vendors you have to pay. You can avoid most of that frustration and wasted time with the right spend management software.
But not all spend management platforms will be a good fit for your business. For example, digital commerce companies need solutions that take into account sector-specific expenses like ad receipts and multiple platform payments, while small businesses need tools that simplify their financial admin, not complicate it.
This article takes a look at the six best spend management software solutions so you can find just the right platform for your needs. We’ll also give you a list of the features you should look for when choosing a platform, plus tips for how to make your decision.*
Spend less time on spend management
With real-time spend overviews, receipt matching automation and powerful integrations, Juni will make you forget what a hassle managing your expenses used to be.
*The information about all the platforms discussed in this article was collected between 17 January 2024 and 19 January 2024. This article was written and approved by Juni and is intended as marketing material.
Before taking a closer look at the tools on our list, here are six features your spend management software (also known as expense management software) should come with:
Bonus: Look out for spend management platforms that come with built-in accounts payable and invoice automation features, which will help you centralise your financial admin and save time.
Now, let's explore the solutions on our list in depth. For each platform, we’ll list its key features (as well as its limitations), explain how pricing works and point out what kind of business it’s best fit for.
Juni helps businesses in digital commerce manage their cash flow, track their expenses and optimise their profits with features that are specifically designed with ecommerce companies in mind.
While it’s not specifically expense management software, you can use the platform for your spend management needs. Juni's goal is to give everyone in digital commerce, from the CFO to the accounting team to marketing managers, everything they need to focus on business growth.
Juni’s expense management features are especially valuable for users who have multiple receipts coming from different media buying channels and online transactions. With Meta and Google Ads integrations, plus powerful receipt matching, expense management suddenly becomes easy. On top of that, you can also manage your unpaid invoices and accounts payable processes within Juni, bringing your financial admin under one roof.
All of this comes with easy access to media and inventory financing for up to 2 million EUR, helping you free up your cash flow and grow your business.*
*Juni Invoices is available for EU-based companies only. Media financing is available for companies registered in NL, SE, DE, FR, ES, IT, FI and NO, upon eligibility. Fees and terms and conditions apply. Click here for more details.
Most suitable for: SMBs and mid-market companies in digital commerce
Juni has two plan options:
SAP Concur helps you streamline processes to deliver efficiency savings, with a focus on eliminating manual data entry, lost receipts and unclaimed VAT refunds. As such, it’s best suited to larger organisations. The platform helps you reduce the risk of human error and compliance issues with automations, plus the software can identify potential mistakes and discrepancies in real-time.
Most suitable for: Larger and enterprise organisations
SAP Concur doesn’t list its pricing options, so you’ll have to reach out to sales to get a quote.
Zoho Expense is the business expense tracking app from the Zoho suite of business tools, which means it integrates with Zoho’s other financial management apps. It’s a reasonably priced platform suited to handling all aspects of expense management and reporting for SMBs. Zoho Expense automatically records expenses from receipts, simplifying and automating the expense reporting process.
Most suitable for: People already using other Zoho products (namely Zoho Books)
Zoho Expense has three plans for its spend management software:
Expensify is a spend management solution for keeping track of business expenses on the go. Most of the expense management functionality can be done on your phone, while a series of handy integrations help to automate and streamline processes around uploading and allocating receipts. Plus, it’s easy for employees to create and submit expense reports for quick reimbursement.
Most suitable for: Small businesses with lots of employee expenses
Expensify has two plans:
One of the many features of smart accounting software QuickBooks is its built-in expense management tool. There are obvious advantages to expenses being handled via your accounting platform, like how easy it is to claim business expenses for tax purposes. And when you connect your bank to the platform, QuickBooks automatically matches and organises your receipts to transactions.
Most suitable for: Businesses who want more comprehensive accounting tools built into their spend management software
Quickbooks has five plans:
Fortnox is a cloud-based accounting software platform based in Sweden that helps businesses manage their accounting and bookkeeping processes, as well as other financial admin like spend management. Users can take photos of receipts and instantly upload them via a mobile app, and the platform automatically fills in date, amount and VAT.
Most suitable for: Businesses that operate in Sweden
Fortnox has three plans:
The information in this guide can help you make your decision, but ultimately, you need to factor in considerations about your business and its needs when choosing a platform. Here are three things you can do to ensure you’re choosing an ideal solution.
As you’ll notice from the list above, different software solutions are more suitable for different business industries and sizes. For example, Juni is spend management software built with the needs of ecommerce companies in mind. So when researching a platform, pay close attention to what type of business (big or small, ecommerce or SaaS) it’s best suited for.
While it shouldn’t be the only factor that guides your decision, you can’t ignore pricing when choosing a solution. You need to find a healthy balance between a platform you can afford (and doesn't go over budget) that still gives you all the key features and functionalities you need to run smarter, more efficient financial admin.
You may be a small business now, but if you have plans of scaling in the future, you want to make sure your expense management solution can scale with you. Juni, for example, caters to both SMBs as well as mid-market companies, meaning we can provide the solutions you need from the time your business is founder-led to when it has 100+ employees.
While you can never remove expense management from your to-do list, you can find a platform that does most of the work for you. The best spend management software is one that not only simplifies financial operations but also contributes to strategic decision-making and the long-term financial health of your organisation.
To find a platform that does all that, you need to make sure you’re making your selection with the unique needs of your business in mind. For example, if you operate in digital commerce, you want to choose a solution like Juni that comes with ecommerce-specific capabilities, like features designed specifically for media buying and online transactions.
So take your time finding the right platform—doing so can lead to significant time savings and valuable insights into spending patterns, helping you improve the overall financial health and success of your business.
Spend less time on spend management
With real-time spend overviews, receipt matching automation and powerful integrations, Juni will make you forget what a hassle managing your expenses used to be.
Spend management software is a platform or tool that helps businesses manage and control their expenses. This type of solution usually includes features for receipt management, expense reporting and approval workflows. Plus, these platforms often integrate with accounting software, as well as sync with banks and credit cards.
There are a number of benefits to using spend management software to control your expenses, including:
The price of expense management software varies depending on the size of your business and what industry you operate in, as this will impact which platform you choose. Prices range from as low as £7 per month to almost £100, and some spend management systems also offer free plans to certain users.
2023 is set to be an interesting year when it comes to media buying and marketing. Budgets are likely to stay the same and, in some cases, may be reduced. As a result, marketers will need to be strategic about where to put their spend in the coming months.
We spoke to Nick Knuppe, Senior Director of Marketing at Juni, to hear his take on what you can expect from digital media buying this year.
Nick suggests that “video-sharing platforms, like TikTok, will continue to see a rise in adoption throughout 2023, especially for those aged 30+.” With its growing user base, TikTok advertising will become more appealing to first-time marketers compared to the likes of Facebook.
“TikTok costs are considerably lower than Facebook and other social channels, which provides a new opportunity to optimise your spend,” says Nick.
The average spend on TikTok is just 3.7%, making it potentially fertile ground for brands willing to take the risk, but you’ll need to act fast. DTC ad spending on TikTok surged 231% over the past year, hitting $30m in Q2 of 2022, the highest growth among all major platforms.
“Investments in marketing analytics have hit a decade high and will continue to become a core pillar of a business’s data stack,” says Nick.
Data-driven decision making is the smartest way to improve ROAS, and investing in digital marketing analytics can pay off in the long run by making your budget go further.
“Having an oversight of all your channels’ performance will help you test and learn what’s working so you can optimise your spend,” says Nick.
By setting the right KPIs and tracking them with your data stack, teams will have the information they need to make informed decisions. As budgets become stretched, understanding your performance is essential so you can know where to allocate funds and kill anything that isn’t up to scratch.
Whether they’re visiting you in-store, on your website or across other channels, customers want a seamless experience. Enter omnichannel marketing.
“Omnichannel marketing will become more prevalent than ever before,” says Nick. “Consumers expect a consistent experience across all your channels, so you’ll miss out if you can’t deliver.”
Omnichannel marketing can make it easier for your customers to make purchases and increase brand loyalty, so it’s a worthy investment. “With increases in live shopping, smart speaker use and shopping via social media, there are an increasing number of channels to consider in your strategy,” says Nick.
Knowing where to place your focus is critical, especially if you’re working within a tight budget. Understanding your customer journey is the best place to start, so get to know the brand experience for each touch point. Then, you can decide where to invest.
“Personalisation is key in a successful omnichannel strategy,” says Nick. “You need to put your customer first and make interacting with your brand and purchasing a product an effortless experience. For example, showing them products you know they’re interested in across channels, or at the very least having a consistent localised approach.”
There are some low-cost tactics you can use too. Optimise your website content for voice search to help potential customers find you, no matter what device they’re searching on. Instagram Shopping is free and allows your customers to find the products you show in your feed. If you have a physical store, look at how you can integrate your website so customers can seamlessly move between the two, for example, having the option to buy online and pick up in-store.
While marketing analytics are seeing an increase in investment, the same can’t be said for paid channel attribution and other areas of lifecycle marketing.
“Investments in paid channel attribution, customer engagement and lifecycle marketing will continue to be talked about but still adopted at a sluggish pace,” says Nick.
While it's clear that investing in measuring marketing attribution and engagement will bring huge value to your business, in practice implementing it isn’t always straightforward. Plus, this could be a challenging year to secure an increase in investment in new initiatives for your department. “With marketing teams having to carefully choose where to put budget this year, introducing new systems like paid channel attribution or measuring customer engagement may not be a top priority,” says Nick.
Getting buy-in can also be tricky as these disciplines often cross multiple departments. Although the information gained is valuable for all involved, not only marketing and advertising teams, getting all stakeholders to align can prove tricky, especially if budgets are tight.
Beyond budget, other aspects can put off marketing managers. The learning curve of a new tech stack, which at least involves training and at most involves new employees, can be time-consuming.
“Depending on the channel, measuring customer engagement can be more straightforward and low cost than paid channel attribution, but it’s meaningless unless you turn the data into insights and act on them,” says Nick.
The success of lifecycle marketing hinges on having established paid channel attribution and customer engagement measurement tools in place. So, without making a real investment, you can’t put your insights into practice with a complete strategy.
Generative AI has received plenty of attention, especially within the marketing industry.
“AI’s ability to create short and long-form content will become increasingly important for content marketing and ecommerce website content creation,” predicts Nick.
Generative AI is already being used in different ways for content production, from Descript, which uses AI to create a video, to ChatGPT, which captured the world’s attention with its impressive text-generation tool.
“AI has the scope to speed up content production and create assets from blog posts to images,” says Nick. “This could be valuable for websites with a high volume of product pages, content teams that spend a lot of time researching long-form articles or creating product images at low cost. ”
While AI content creation is set to become a valuable tool, it’s not the best idea to rely on it entirely. Adding a human touch to AI-generated assets and performing quality control will ensure they have the right impact.
“We’re likely to see an increase in customers using live shopping,” says Nick. Live commerce through social media platforms such as TikTok Live, Twitch, YouTube, Facebook Live and Instagram Live is set to play a key role in commerce in 2023, with the market predicted to reach £2.4bn within the year.
YouTube is the most popular platform and claims its conversion rates are 10x higher than regular ecommerce methods. More and more big vendors are utilising the tool to reach new audiences and unlock an entirely new way of shopping.
“As the space is becoming more crowded,” says Nick, “you also have the option to live stream from your own site.” For example, if you use Shopify, you can easily integrate a live stream app and host live shopping sessions to turn your community into sales.
As brands become more cautious with their marketing budgets, paid channels will likely see less investment. This could have interesting implications for influencer marketing campaigns.
“Less expenditure across paid channels will drive down demand for influencers outside the top 1%,” says Nick. “This will make influencer marketing more accessible to small and medium sized businesses (SMMBs).”
Influencers may lower their rates if brands aren’t willing to pay what they have previously. On the other hand, brands are increasingly turning to micro influencers to run campaigns.
Nick believes that what micro influencers lack in follower numbers, they make up in engagement. Micro influencers on Instagram have an average engagement rate of 3.86%, which is significantly more than ‘mega influencers’ with only 1.21%.
“Micro influencers often have a loyal following and high engagement, plus they generally have lower rates than more ‘famous’ influencers. This makes them an interesting prospect for ROI,” says Nick. “As a result, they’re more accessible to SMMBs, but they’re also being used by big brands too.”
It’s all about choosing where to place your budget. “If you have limited spend, you face the choice of giving a large chunk to a small number of influencers or running more campaigns with several micro influencers. It’s about testing what drives the best ROI for your brand,” advises Nick.
Whether you try TikTok, move to micro influencer marketing or optimise your omnichannel experience, this year promises to offer the opportunity for innovation, whatever your budget.
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