ExpensifyPaid
Expense reports and receipt scanning that employees will actually use, plus a corporate card and, since mid-2026, natural-language setup, AI workflow agents in beta, and an MCP server.
Finance & Admin comparison
Expensify vs Melio
Pricing, pros, cons, and ideal use cases — side by side.
MelioFreemium
Bill pay for small businesses with a real free tier — ACH, card, and check payments, AI bill capture, approvals, and QuickBooks and Xero sync, now owned by Xero.
At a glance
| Expensify | Melio | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | PaidSubmit plan free for individuals; Collect $5 per unique member/month; Control is listed as "Custom pricing, as low as $9 per active member/month" on the vendor's pricing page (rendered in a browser; it is client-side). Expensify's help center spells out the Control formula: $18 per member/month on an annual subscription plus $36 per active member above the subscription size, pay-per-use $36 per active member/month, discounted up to 50% (to $9 and $18) with Expensify Card spend. As read in early October 2026. | FreemiumGo $0, free forever, one user, 5 free ACH payments/month. Core $25/mo monthly or $20/mo annual, 20 free ACH/month, $10/mo per additional user ($8 annual). Boost $55/mo or $44/mo annual, 50 free ACH/month, same per-user add-on. Unlimited $80/mo or $64/mo annual with unlimited users and unlimited free ACH. Platinum is custom for $300K+/month volume. Paid plans are shown free for the first 90 days. As read on the vendor's pricing page in early October 2026. |
| Category | Finance & Admin | Finance & Admin |
| Ideal for | SMBs whose employees still email receipts to the bookkeeperFinance teams on QuickBooks Online, Xero, NetSuite, or Sage IntacctCompanies that reimburse travel and mileage more than they issue cardsMid-market finance teams that want an AI and MCP surface over expenses | Owner-operators paying a few dozen vendor bills a monthBookkeepers running AP for several small clientsXero and QuickBooks Online shops that want bill pay synced to the ledgerBusinesses that want to pay ACH-only vendors by card for the float |
Pros & cons
Expensify
Pros
- SmartScan receipt capture is the most-praised feature in the category
- Strong accounting integrations — QuickBooks, NetSuite, Xero, Sage Intacct
- Natural-language setup, AI agents in beta, and an MCP server
- Collect price published per member; the Control formula is documented in the help center
- Mature product with a very large review base (third-party ratings around 4.5/5)
Cons
- Control pricing roughly doubles without the Expensify Card
- Capterra reviewers report duplicate-expense and sync bugs
- Legacy-to-New Expensify migration is still in progress — two UIs in the wild
- Control is custom-priced — the published formula lives in the help center, not the pricing page
- Public company with revenue down year over year in Q2 2026, per its own results
Melio
Pros
- Free tier includes real ACH bill pay and AI bill capture
- Full price ladder published
- Pay ACH-only vendors by credit card
- Reliable QuickBooks Online and Xero sync, the most-cited positive in reviews
- Now part of Xero (acquisition completed October 2025, trade-press reported)
Cons
- Support is hard to reach by phone or chat
- Approval workflow is thin next to Bill.com or Stampli
- Some Capterra reviewers report failed payments without notice — reconcile often
- Free tier is one user and five ACH payments
- Capterra rating of 4.2/5 trails the category leaders (third-party)
Which should you choose?
Melio is the lighter-weight option (Freemium), while Expensify sits higher on the pricing ladder (Paid). Expensify is built around smbs whose employees still email receipts to the bookkeeper; Melio leans more toward owner-operators paying a few dozen vendor bills a month. Shortlist the one whose strengths line up with your biggest constraint.
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