Finance AI Index
September 2026 Edition · The permanent record of this edition. The unqualified address always carries the latest edition.
Index › Spend and procurement › September 2026 Edition

Accounts payable automation

Asked as “accounts payable automation software”, and as “invoice processing automation”, on behalf of a mid-market B2B company. 43 first choices recorded across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, twelve models each.
Standing
Stampli and BILL, Melio
Contested
19% of first choices, contested.
ShowinginAll 41 categories in the September 2026 Edition →

By buyer segment

The same question asked on behalf of a different buyer. Each standing is computed within its segment; they sit side by side and are never added together.
Small businessBILL41%Clear leaderStanding →Mid-marketStampli19%ContestedThis pageEnterpriseTipalti18%ContestedStanding →

01The standing

Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, over all twelve models, for a mid-market B2B company. Ordered by share.
ProductFirst-choice shareNegative rateLabelsQuadrant
01Stampli19%0%37accepted challenger
02BILL19%23%52accepted challenger
03Melio19%6%17accepted challenger
04Ramp16%10%42accepted challenger
05AvidXchange12%16%38accepted challenger
06Tipalti7%11%44accepted challenger
07Medius5%0%16accepted challenger
Show the two products at 0%, ordered by negative rate
09Airbase0%18%11accepted challenger
08Coupa0%8%13accepted challenger
Bars are the share of first choices, 0 to 100Every product with at least 10 labels here. Every product name links to its vendor page.
Head to head
Stampli vs BILLStampli vs MelioBILL vs Melio

Recommended versus criticized

Every product with at least 10 labels here, on both axes. The 30% line names a quadrant, not the verdict above: that one needs more than 40%.

Criticized challengerCriticized default
Negative label rate →
01
02
03
04
05
06
07
08
09
Accepted challengerEndorsed leader
0%First-choice share → · lines at 30% share and 25% negative30%
Key
01Stampli19%
02BILL19%
03Melio19%
04Ramp16%
05AvidXchange12%
06Tipalti7%
07Medius5%
08Coupa0%
09Airbase0%

02What they warned about

Five of twelve models held their first choice under the paraphrase. Claude Haiku 4.5, Perplexity Sonar, Mistral Small, DeepSeek V4 Flash, Kimi K2, GLM 4.7 FlashX and MiniMax M2.5 changed. A high negative share on a product with few labels is a warning. A low share on a product with many labels is salience, not sentiment.
BILL
23%
12 of 52 labels negative · 8 of 12 models · 2 hard negative
“**Verdict:** Avoid if you have complex approval workflows, rely on tight cash flow, or have a low tolerance for support friction.” DeepSeek V4 Flash, negative prompt
AvidXchange
16%
6 of 38 labels negative · 6 of 12 models · 4 hard negative
“AP) automation tools you should approach with caution, along with the primary reasons why users often recommend avoiding them. ### 1. AvidXchange” Qwen 3.7 Flash, negative prompt
Tipalti
11%
5 of 44 labels negative · 4 of 12 models · 2 hard negative
“This is a cash-flow killer and was a major downfall for tools like Tipalti and Airbase.” Qwen 3.7 Flash, negative prompt
Ramp
10%
4 of 42 labels negative · 4 of 12 models · 1 hard negative
“**Verdict:** Avoid **if AP automation is your primary need**.” DeepSeek V4 Flash, negative prompt

03What they cite

Citations exist only for the models that return a source list: twelve of the twelve in this edition, and all six flagship models on the expanded tier.

Sites the answers cite

66 of 72 answers in this category came back with a source list, from 12 of 12 models: citations where the model returns them, or the search results it consulted. 6 of those lists are Google grounding redirects that name no site and are left out of the counts. 782 links across 190 sites, every framing counted. Ranked by the number of answers carrying the site or page.

ramp.com
vendor site · Ramp34 answers · 53 citations · 11 models
learn.g2.com
23 answers · 24 citations · 10 models
medius.com
vendor site · Medius22 answers · 23 citations · 10 models
highradius.com
vendor site · HighRadius21 answers · 28 citations · 10 models
layer3labs.io
17 answers · 17 citations · 9 models
stampli.com
vendor site · Stampli15 answers · 28 citations · 9 models
g2.com
14 answers · 36 citations · 7 models
corpay.com
vendor site · Corpay14 answers · 18 citations · 7 models
bill.com
vendor site · BILL14 answers · 16 citations · 8 models
sutisoft.com
14 answers · 14 citations · 7 models
conseroglobal.com
13 answers · 13 citations · 8 models
zoneandco.com
13 answers · 13 citations · 8 models

Pages the answers cite

The ten pages named in the most answers, by full address. A page here is one the models returned with a recommendation, not one the index endorses.

learn.g2.com/best-accounts-payable-automation-software
22 answers · 9 models
layer3labs.io/comparisons/best-accounts-payable-automation-software
17 answers · 9 models
conseroglobal.com/resources/best-accounts-payable-software
13 answers · 8 models
medius.com/blog/top-ap-automation-software-compared-features-fit-and-tradeoffs
13 answers · 9 models
zoneandco.com/articles/top-ap-automation-software-solutions
13 answers · 8 models
sutisoft.com/blog/best-accounts-payable-automation-software
12 answers · 7 models
bill.com/blog/best-invoice-automation-software
10 answers · 7 models
corpay.com/resources/blog/best-ap-automation-software
9 answers · 7 models
techrepublic.com/article/best-accounts-payable-software
9 answers · 9 models
alternativepayments.io/resources/best-accounts-payable-automation-software-…
8 answers · 8 models

04How they answered

Six framings of the same buying question, each sent to every model in a fresh session with search on. One row per model, so a row shows whether it held its answer under rewording, what it named when cost was the constraint, and what it argued against. Computed from the raw judge labels.
ModelDirect“What is the best accounts payable automation software for a mid-market B2B company?”Paraphrase“Which invoice processing automation would you recommend to a mid-sized B2B company?”Comparative“What are the top AP automation tools and how do they differ?”Budget-constrained“What is the best accounts payable automation software for a company with a limited budget?”Scale-constrained“We are a 500 person company evaluating an accounts payable automation software. What should we look at?”Negative“Which AP automation tools should I avoid or be cautious about?”
Claude Haiku 4.5AvidXchange, MineralTree
Five alternativesAirbase, Oracle NetSuite, Quadient AP, Ramp, Stampli
RampChanged
Four alternativesQuadient AP, Rillion, Stampli, Tipalti
Tipalti
Four alternativesBILL, Oracle NetSuite, Sage Intacct, Yooz
Melio, Ramp
One alternativeZoho Books
no first choicenothing named
GPT-5.4 miniStampli
Three alternativesBILL, Ramp, Tipalti
StampliHeld
Four alternativesBILL, Serrala Alevate AP, Softco, Tipalti
no first choice
Seven alternativesBILL, Brex, Ramp, SAP Concur, Sage Intacct, Stampli, Tipalti
Melio
One alternativeBILL
against: Rampno first choicenothing named
Gemini 3.5 FlashStampli
Four alternativesAirbase, AvidXchange, Ramp, Tipalti
against: BILL, Coupa, Melio, QuickBooks, SAP ConcurStampliHeld
Four alternativesAirbase, BILL, Ramp, Tipalti
no first choice
Seven alternativesAirbase, AvidXchange, BILL, Melio, Ramp, Stampli, Tipalti
Ramp
Four alternativesApprovalMax, Melio, QuickBooks, Xero
against: Tipaltino first choiceagainst: BILLagainst: AvidXchange, BILL, Tipalti
Perplexity SonarTipalti
Two alternativesAvidXchange, Stampli
BILLChanged
Four alternativesAvidXchange, Medius, Rillion, Tipalti
no first choice
Seven alternativesAvidXchange, BILL, Coupa, Ramp, SAP Concur, Stampli, Tipalti
Melio
One alternativeRamp
against: BILLno first choicenothing named
Grok 4.1 FastBILL
Three alternativesAvidXchange, Stampli, Tipalti
BILLHeld
Three alternativesAvidXchange, Ramp, Stampli
no first choice
Seven alternativesAvidXchange, BILL, Medius, Ramp, SAP Concur, Stampli, Tipalti
Melio
Two alternativesQuickBooks, Ramp
against: BILLno first choiceagainst: AvidXchange, BILL, Ramp, Tipalti
Mistral SmallTipalti
Three alternativesAvidXchange, BILL, Stampli
AvidXchange, BILLChanged
Two alternativesMineralTree, Stampli
AvidXchange, Ramp
Seven alternativesBILL, Coupa, DOKKA, SAP Concur Invoice, Stampli, Tipalti, Yooz
Melio, Ramp
Two alternativesQuickBooks, Xero
no first choicenothing named
DeepSeek V4 FlashStampli, Tipalti
Four alternativesAvidXchange, BILL, Precoro, Procurify
StampliChanged
Four alternativesAvidXchange, BILL, Ramp, Tipalti
no first choice
Eight alternativesAirbase, AvidXchange, BILL, Coupa, Ramp, SAP Concur Invoice, Stampli, Tipalti
Melio
Five alternativesApprovalMax, QuickBooks, Ramp, Tailride, Xero
no first choiceagainst: Corpay, HighRadiusagainst: AvidXchange, BILL, Hyperscience, Nanonets, Quadient AP, Ramp, Tipalti
Llama 4 MaverickMedius
Three alternativesAvidXchange, Stampli, Tipalti
MediusHeld
Two alternativesInvoiced, Perk
Ramp
One alternativeTipalti
no first choiceno first choicenothing named
Qwen 3.7 FlashBILL
Three alternativesAvidXchange, Medius, Tipalti
BILLHeld
Three alternativesAvidXchange, Basware, Tipalti
no first choiceRamp
One alternativeMelio
against: BILLno first choiceagainst: Airbase, AvidXchange, BILL, Tipalti
Kimi K2AvidXchange
Four alternativesBILL, MineralTree, Stampli, Tipalti
StampliChanged
Four alternativesBILL, MineralTree, Ramp, Tipalti
no first choiceRamp
Two alternativesMelio, QuickBooks
no first choiceagainst: AvidXchange, BILL, MineralTree
GLM 4.7 FlashXAvidXchange
Five alternativesBILL, Ramp, Stampli, SutiAP, Tipalti
AvidXchange, BILL, StampliChanged
Four alternativesMedius, Ramp, Rossum, Tipalti
Ramp
Nine alternativesAvidXchange, BILL, Brex, Medius, Melio, SAP Concur Invoice, Sage Intacct, Stampli, Tipalti
Melio, Ramp
Three alternativesBILL, Tipalti, Zoho Books
no first choiceagainst: Airbase, AvidXchange, BILL, Quadient AP, Ramp
MiniMax M2.5Procurify
Four alternativesAvidXchange, Medius, Stampli, Tipalti
BILLChanged
One alternativeAvidXchange
no first choice
Six alternativesBILL, Medius, Ramp, SAP Concur Invoice, Stampli, Tipalti
Melio
Three alternativesBILL, Ramp, Xero
no first choiceagainst: BILL
Bold is the first choiceAlternatives are counted; the count opens them.What the answer argued against

05The record

One row per call: the version string exactly as returned, whether the model searched, sources cited, and latency. Full answer text is in the free responses file. Download the record
Seventy-two rows: every prompt, every model, every answer.
PromptModelVersion stringTime (UTC)SearchedSourcesLatency
Direct recommendationClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 20:11yes98 s
Direct recommendationGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 18:05yes48 s
Direct recommendationGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 18:32yes1523 s
Direct recommendationPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 20:25yes207 s
Direct recommendationGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 20:22yes3116 s
Direct recommendationMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 17:53yes54 s
Direct recommendationDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 19:35yes2333 s
Direct recommendationLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 20:15yes52 s
Direct recommendationQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 19:55yes527 s
Direct recommendationKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 18:51yes1526 s
Direct recommendationGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 19:24yes1072 s
Direct recommendationMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 20:19yes921 s
ParaphraseClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 20:07yes1610 s
ParaphraseGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 19:24yes45 s
ParaphraseGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 18:53yes1821 s
ParaphrasePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 19:33yes205 s
ParaphraseGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 19:13yes2718 s
ParaphraseMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 19:50yes88 s
ParaphraseDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 19:01yes2016 s
ParaphraseLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 19:04yes53 s
ParaphraseQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 19:37no027 s
ParaphraseKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 19:40yes1530 s
ParaphraseGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 19:04yes1427 s
ParaphraseMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 20:38yes1037 s
ComparativeClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 18:56yes99 s
ComparativeGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 19:22yes58 s
ComparativeGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 21:19yes2057 s
ComparativePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 18:14yes209 s
ComparativeGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 20:23yes2414 s
ComparativeMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 19:46yes57 s
ComparativeDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 20:45yes1918 s
ComparativeLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 18:34yes53 s
ComparativeQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 18:41yes517 s
ComparativeKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 20:55yes835 s
ComparativeGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 20:55yes560 s
ComparativeMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 20:57yes818 s
Budget constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 18:09yes97 s
Budget constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 18:46yes35 s
Budget constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 18:42yes1621 s
Budget constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 20:43yes206 s
Budget constrainedGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 18:22yes3116 s
Budget constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 18:46yes55 s
Budget constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 19:54yes911 s
Budget constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 19:23yes52 s
Budget constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 19:48yes926 s
Budget constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 19:12yes919 s
Budget constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 20:46yes17102 s
Budget constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 20:59yes515 s
Scale constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 18:10no08 s
Scale constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 18:12no08 s
Scale constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 19:18yes1323 s
Scale constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 20:41yes209 s
Scale constrainedGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 20:12yes1411 s
Scale constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 19:32no09 s
Scale constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 19:20yes916 s
Scale constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 20:55yes53 s
Scale constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 20:14yes525 s
Scale constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 18:19yes1542 s
Scale constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 20:30yes1052 s
Scale constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 18:55no010 s
Negative framingClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 20:25yes169 s
Negative framingGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 21:01no06 s
Negative framingGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 19:32yes2326 s
Negative framingPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 19:51yes208 s
Negative framingGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 17:53yes4319 s
Negative framingMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 18:56yes57 s
Negative framingDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-09-17 17:59yes2886 s
Negative framingLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 18:36yes52 s
Negative framingQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 20:00yes1028 s
Negative framingKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 18:04yes3038 s
Negative framingGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 17:59yes23121 s
Negative framingMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 19:56yes1422 s

Normalization in this category

Every judgment call made between the raw labels and the numbers above, listed so it is visible and reversible.

Category-scoped readings
BILL AP/AR read as BILL
BILL AP/AR (formerly Bill.com) read as BILL
Bill.com read as BILL
Bill.com (BILL) read as BILL
NetSuite read as Oracle NetSuite
Quadient read as Quadient AP
Quadient (Beanworks) read as Quadient AP
Quadient (formerly Beanworks) read as Quadient AP
QuickBooks Bill Pay read as QuickBooks
Ramp Bill Pay read as Ramp
Unresolved, counted raw
DigiParser
Docparser
Hyperscience
Oracle AP Automation
Phacet (Control Layer)
Serrala Alevate AP
Discontinued, still offered
No shut-down product was recommended here.

Also in spend and procurement

The other categories of this function, with the leader in each.
← SaaS metricsContractor payments →