What is Tipalti?

Tipalti provides end-to-end AP automation, global partner payments, procurement, and business expense solutions. The software streamlines purchase requests, approval, and vendor selection with real-time visibility. 

The platform executes payments using various methods and currencies with automated payment approvals and fraud detection. The company was founded in 2010 and is based in Foster City, CA.

Tipalti use cases and offerings

Tipalti offers AP processing, including the capability to process mass payments using the Tipalti platform and API. The company also provides procurement and expense management solutions. This section answers many FAQs related to Tipalti.

Tipalti’s primary value proposition is to improve efficiency, controls, and visibility so businesses can scale with less manual effort.

1. AP automation

Tiplai offers an end-to-end payables solution designed for growing companies. The platform provides automated invoice processing, PO matching, approvals, and payment methods.

Here are some key features:

• Invoice processing: Uses OCR to scan, capture, match, and process invoice data at header and line levels. 
• Approvals: Approvers are notified and sent invoice documentation automatically.
• Payments: The payment solution provides a choice of payment methods and currencies, and payment scheduling makes the process touchless. 
• Mass payments: Send fast, secure, and cost-effective mass payments anywhere in the world with the Tipalti platform and API. Users can deliver branded, automated notifications for complete payee visibility into payouts and payment statuses.
• Multi-entity: Manage unique payables workflows and centralize AP for subsidiaries and entities within a single instance.

Did you know? We included Tipalti in our roundup of the best AP automation software.

2. Global payments

Tiplati provides cross-border payments to 196 countries in 120 currencies via six payment methods, plus multi-subsidiary and multi-language capabilities. Tipalti helps users meet regulatory requirements and provides fast, accurate, and secure payments.

Schedule payments in a single application using different methods, countries, and currencies. Users can trigger payments from invoices, a payment file upload, or the Tipalti API.

Each payment status and data from each payment method are reconciled and can be sent to ERP.

3. Procurement

Tipalti’s procurement solution manages all your purchases and enhances control and visibility over spending. 

Employees can easily submit purchase and supplier-related requests with simple, predefined custom intake forms. This helps drive employee adoption and ensures you collect all critical information upfront, including employee needs, amounts, budget items, and supplier data.

Tipalti provides a streamlined payment experience for vendors, and users can pay in multiple currencies under multiple entities. The procurement solution minimizes financial and compliance risks, including the risk of human error.

4. Expenses

The Tipalti Expenses solution manages all employee spend in a single platform to help you scale rapidly and reduce risk. Tiplati offers both a desktop and mobile interface for expense management.

Employees can create and submit expense reports, while managers can review and approve expenses quickly, easily, and on the go. Tipalti’s platform automates global employee reimbursements.

Tipalti Card provides complete control and visibility over your corporate credit and debit card spend with a solution integrated into a global payables solution with automated reconciliations.

Users can consolidate all spend – expenses, card, ACH, wire transfer, PayPal, and check – in one place and gain real-time visibility into their transactions. Tipalti Expense integrates directly with the Tipalti finance automation platform.

If you’re looking for a start-to-finish solution for expense management, our ultimate guide to expense management can help you effectively manage expenses and control spend.

Tipalti integrations

Tipalti supplies both pre-built integrations and APIs for ERP platforms. Tipalti integrates with NetSuite, Sage Intacct, Quickbooks, Microsoft Dynamics, Xero, and many other cloud-based ERPs.

Confirm if Tipalti has an ERP integration for your specific needs to determine the time and effort required to implement Tipalti’s platform. Some ERP integrations may require more ongoing work to sync data.

Who is Tipalti for?

For businesses with complex global payment networks looking for a point solution, Tipalti can support your AP automation needs, assuming the high costs and implementation time are acceptable.

Tipalti’s primary customers are small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in the U.S. and Europe.

Tipalti reviews

This section goes into detail on Tipalti and how well they serve customers. The discussion is based on verified user reviews from G2  and other third-party review sites.

Tipalti for AP automation

Invoice data is automatically captured, and the platform sends documentation to approvers. While some users are satisfied with Tipalti’s performance, others report glitches and lags in system processing.

Implementations can be challenging. Several users comment on Tipali’s steep learning curve and complex integrations, which are time-consuming and require additional resources. Some reviewers explain that an implementation can take months, regardless of company size.

Customer support is a problem for some users who report slow responses to platform issues.

Tipalti for global payments

The global payment functionality is a strength for Tipalti.

Users can pay vendors in several countries using USD or a country’s local currency. Tipalti also automates global tax compliance, including tax withholding calculations and reporting that meets each country’s requirements. 

Several reviewers mentioned the global payment solution’s ease of use.

Tipalti for procurement

Tipalti’s onboarding solution allows vendors to enter contact data, tax, and bank information into the platform. Offering a supplier onboarding process puts the vendor responsible for entering data to receive invoice payments.

After registering on the platform, vendors can submit their bills, which are coded and forwarded for approval. Many reviewers mention that Tipalti collects W-9s and other tax data from vendors and suppliers, making tax reporting easier.

Tipalti for expense management

The Tipalti Expenses AI tool reviews the invoice and codes the invoice based on the previous coding, allowing AP teams to process bills much faster. Users can facilitate payment processing directly from Tipalti by ACH, wire, or check.

According to several reviews, Tipalti’s fee for the core platform is relatively expensive, and customers must pay higher fees to upgrade to other features and tools.

Tipalti pricing

The Tipalti Starter plan is $129 monthly for the platform fee, allowing customers to use Tipali’s core product offering. To access advanced capabilities, including W-8 tax forms,  international tax IDs, and multi-entity support, you must upgrade your Tipalti account. 

You must contact Tipalti’s sales team to receive a specific quote. 

Tipalti pros and cons

Here are the pros and cons of using Tipalti’s platform:

Tipalti pros

Tipalti offers a user-friendly solution for global payments. Customers can make international payments to 196 countries in each country’s international currency, and Tipalti provides global tax compliance, including W-9s, 1099s, and eFiling integrations.

Tipalti’s procurement solution gathers vendor documents that can be accessed electronically. Vendor data validation is automated, which speeds up vendor payments. 

Tipalti cons

Tipalti has reporting, implementation, and performance issues that make managing payments and expenses more challenging.

Point-solution limitations 

AP point solutions make establishing full control and visibility over spending easier than integrated finance solutions with AP capabilities, such as Rho.

Implementation and customer service

Several reviewers report that an implementation can take months. Customer support can be difficult to contact, and some users need to get issues resolved promptly. According to some reviews, not all customer support staff have the required experience to fix problems.

User experience

Some reviews mention glitches and lags with the platform, and users must reenter lost data. There are sometimes delays when posting purchase orders into the platform. Finding data can also be difficult if the user needs more in-depth platform knowledge. Reporting capabilities are limited.

Platform costs

Tipalti’s fee for the core platform is relatively expensive, and customers must pay higher fees to upgrade to other features and tools.

What should you look for when picking finance automation software?

The best finance automation software provides business checking accounts, corporate cards, and AP automation. The platform should help you fully automate busy work, speed up accounting, and control spending.

Doing so eliminates the need to cobble together an extensive tech stack to perform financial operations, helping finance teams maximize time for strategy. Here are some key components:

Business banking

Safely manage payments and deposits with fee-free business banking built for scale, integrating your accounting software, and backed by expert support.

AP automation

Automate your AP in a single workflow — from invoice to payment — with integrated accounting to eliminate manual touches and save time.

Expense management

Expense management that allows users to create custom spending rules, capture receipts in real time, and automate approvals. This includes corporate cards that provide frictionless spend management and the ability to control company spending fully.

Treasury management

In high-interest rate environments, you especially want to ensure your finance stack provides capabilities to help manage your cash, earn additional yield, and diversify your funds. 

Tipalti competitors and alternatives

Several competitors offer financial automation; some provide other accounting and spend management capabilities on the same platform. Here are three competitors in the financial automation market.

1. Rho

Based in New York, Rho is a comprehensive finance automation platform that empowers startups, SMBs, and middle-market companies with tools to boost their bottom line and operate more efficiently. 

In one platform, businesses can access corporate credit cards with spend controls, automated expense management and accounts payable, business banking, and treasury management – all without platform fees. 

Features          

• Rho Corporate Cards have built-in spend controls, expense management capabilities as needed, and the ability to earn up to 1.25% cashback on spending. 
• Rho Expense Management allows users to create custom spending rules, capture real-time receipts, and automate approvals.
• Rho AP automates the end-to-end accounts payable process in just a few clicks and without payment delays that some experience with point solutions thanks to Rho’s integrated business banking.  Rho offers payment reconciliation automation.
• Rho Prime Treasury is a bespoke management solution that helps customers invest their excess cash in short-dated government securities held directly in their company’s name.
• Rho Treasury Management Account, built on a network of over 400 FDIC-insured banks, offers access to up to $75M in FDIC deposit insurance per entity. 
  

Rho integrates with QuickBooks Online, Oracle NetSuite, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, and Sage Intacct.  Rho also supports flat-file CSV exporting, so you can automatically tailor transaction categorization to your business needs.

Pros

• Responsive business banking: Rho clients enjoy platform fee-free business banking services like Same Day ACHs and responsive customer support. 
• Dedicated customer support: Dedicated customer support is available 24 hours a day, Mon-Fri and 10-7 pm ET on weekends to assist with any customer needs. 
• More comprehensive finance solution: Rho offers not only expense management, corporate cards, AP automation, and accounting but also business banking and treasury management – all in one platform. 
• No tiered payment plans: You don’t have to subscribe to Rho to access advanced features that you would have to subscribe to on many competitor platforms. 
• Dynamic integrations: Rho can easily be integrated with your accounting, HR, and other expense management platforms like Emburse and Certify. 

Cons

• Straight cashback vs. points: Some companies prefer legacy corporate card solutions like American Express, Chase, or Capital One for the point rewards they offer, even if that impacts process speed. 

Pricing

The Rho platform is free, though the Rho Prime Treasury capability does have a small annual management fee, which depends on the amount invested but caps out at 0.60%. Learn more about the latest rates at rho.co/treasury.

Best for

Rho is a great fit for SMBs and startups. Business owners use Rho as a single solution for corporate cards, expense management, payments, banking, and treasury. Startup founders can effectively manage finances with a lean team, saving time and money.

What customers say about Rho

"We want to focus on the brand’s growth, not manual processes. Rho is instrumental in this. It has everything we need, and the automation will allow us to scale to a 100-person team without spending much more time on banking or expense management."—Craig Bartlett, Director of Finance & Strategy at Munk Pack

Rho vs. Tipalti

The Tipalti platform has a monthly fee, while the Rho platform is free. Tipalti also has a time-consuming implementation process. 

For businesses looking to simplify their financial automation processes overall, implementing Rho takes less time, and Rho offers a more intuitive user experience with both spend and cash management capabilities.

2. BILL

Following BILL’s announced acquisition of Divvy, BILL rebranded the Divvy credit card and expense management platform as BILL Spend & Expense. The company provides the BILL Divvy credit card, an AP automation solution, and accounts receivable software.

Features

BILL offers credit cards, expense management, vendor management, and AR automation. BILL provides checks, ACH, and other payment options, including international payments.

BILL’s corporate pricing level integrates with QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Pro/Premier, and Xero. The Enterprise pricing level integrates with QuickBooks Enterprise, Oracle NetSuite, Sage Intacct, Microsoft Dynamics, and other ERPs.

Pros

• Invoice processing: The solution generates invoices using email attachments from vendors
• Approval workflows: BILL can manage multiple invoice approvers
• AR support: BILL offers both AP and AR support

Cons

• UX: AP process and workflows are more complex than other AP automation providers
• Expensive: Depending on your organization's size and payment volume, the solution can get costly.
• Extensive workflows: Paying vendors requires more steps than other AP automation solutions
• Errors: G2 reviews indicate issues with payment times and responsive customer support

Pricing

BILL’s corporate pricing level is $79 per user per month, and BILL offers Enterprise (custom pricing) for more complex organizations. You must contact sales to receive an Enterprise price quote. 

Additional fees for some ACH, check, and wire payments can quickly add up depending on your payment volume.

‍Best for

BILL can be expensive for organizations with significant payment volume. The BILL Spend and Expense has a complicated process for earning corporate card points and rewards. 

BILL vs. Tipalti 

G2 reviewers give Tipalti a slightly higher overall rating than BILL. Specifically, reviewers feel that Tipalti provides more ongoing product support. Both platforms charge monthly fees and do not provide Rho’s single solution for banking, treasury, corporate cards, and AP automation.

3. Stampli

Stampli provides AP automation for companies that want to improve efficiency without reworking their ERP or changing existing AP processes.

Features

Stampli’s platform is easy to navigate and provides integrations with dozens of ERPs. The Stampli solution can be deployed in a matter of days with no disruption to your business.

‍Pros

• Visibility: Invoice tracking at every stage of the approval process
• Invoice management: Centralized communication hub that includes all invoice documentation
• Customer support: Experienced and responsive customer support team

Cons

• International payments: New functionality that is unproven for customers
• UX: Credit memo processing can be confusing, and some ERP interfaces do not smoothly sync all invoice data

Stampli offers more than 70 ERP integrations.

Pricing

Stampli uses month-to-month pricing that varies based on the needed services. You have to contact Stampli’s sales team for a specific quote.  

Best for

Stampli performs well for businesses that want an AP point solution with some payment and corporate card features. Most of Stampli’s customer base is in the SMB market.

Stampli vs. Tipalti

Reviewers rank Stampli slightly higher than Tipalti as an AP automation point solution. Both companies charge monthly platform fees.                                                                

Stampli and Tipalti do not offer cash or treasury management functionality, and users must rely on other platforms for these financial solutions.

Wrap-up: is Tipalti right for you?

Tipalti is an adequate solution for AP automation, global payments, expense management and supplier management. However, the platform charges monthly fees and does not always provide a smooth user experience. Customer support may not be responsive.

Rho's scalable platform offers an end-to-end solution encompassing corporate cards, expense management, AP automation, business banking, and treasury management under one roof. 

This means startups and SMB businesses do not have to juggle multiple services as they grow, saving time and streamlining operations. 

Schedule time with a Rho payments expert today to learn more about Rho!

Competitive data was collected as of March 1 and is subject to change or update.