Bill.com's standard plans cap approvals at 2 levels, and every user costs extra. Proper gives you unlimited multi-channel approval workflows, org-tree data visibility, and flat pricing with unlimited users. Here's the full breakdown.
| Capability | Bill.com | Proper |
|---|---|---|
| Approval levels | Limited (2 on most plans) | Unlimited |
| Multi-channel approval | ✕ Not available | ✓ Bills qualify for multiple channels |
| Cross-channel auto-approval | ✕ | ✓ One click covers all channels |
| Approver inline edits | ✕ Must reject to change GL codes | ✓ Edit GL codes without rejecting |
| Data visibility / access control | Role-based only (no entity-level isolation) | ✓ Node-based org-tree isolation |
| Invoice capture | AI-assisted OCR | ✓ AI vision model, no templates needed |
| Smart GL coding | ✕ Manual | ✓ Learns from history + custom rules |
| Multi-page PDF splitting | Limited | ✓ Automatic boundary detection |
| Duplicate detection | Basic | ✓ Multi-method detection |
| Delegation & escalation | Basic | ✓ Full OOO routing + escalation timers |
| Audit trail | Basic | ✓ Full append-only audit log |
| Pricing model | $49-89/user/mo + transaction fees | $49-349/mo flat, unlimited users |
| Setup time | Varies (depending on complexity) | Under 30 minutes |
| Customer support | Available, but users report difficulty reaching humans | Real human support |
These aren't cherry-picked. They're the most common themes from Reddit, G2, and Capterra.
"$5/mo per user to $69/mo per user. They are insistent that they have no discounts available for us."
Reddit, r/Accounting (58 upvotes), nonprofit user reporting a 1,280% increase
"Around April or May 2024 their customer service took an absolute tank when they put most of their help chat to AI."
Reddit, r/Accounting (user report)
"Signed up yesterday... A couple hours later, boom, account canceled. No explanation, no warning, nothing."
Reddit, r/Accounting, new small business owner
"Bill.com is like a 90s version of how people think about AP."
Reddit, r/Accounting (6 upvotes)
"Bill.com has the worst customer support I've ever seen. No updates. No fixes. No one cares."
Reddit, r/Accounting (28 upvotes)
"Them spamming my clients trying to get their business was tacky."
Reddit, r/Accounting, accountant managing client relationships
Your org has three, four, five layers of approval. Maybe it's amount-based, department-based, or both. Bill.com's standard plans give you two levels (custom policies need the Corporate tier). Proper gives you unlimited channels with unlimited steps, all running in parallel.
Now Entity A's AP clerk can see Entity B's invoices and vendor data. Bill.com has no way to isolate this. Proper's org-tree controls who sees what, automatically, on every query.
Bill.com charges per user. When your team grows from 3 to 10 people, costs balloon. Proper charges a flat rate. Add your whole team without doing per-seat math.
Someone miscoded an account. In Bill.com, you reject the whole thing and restart the approval chain. In Proper, an approver fixes the GL code inline and keeps moving. No wasted cycles.
Users report that reaching a real person at Bill.com has gotten harder. When something breaks, you don't want to be stuck in a chatbot loop. Proper gives you real humans who actually pick up.
Bill.com uses AI-assisted OCR, but Proper's vision model reads any invoice format without templates or training, including handwritten ones. No setup required.
Bill.com charges $49-89 per user per month. Proper charges a flat rate. Here's what that looks like.
Bill.com's standard plans cap approval workflows at 2 levels (custom policies require the Corporate tier at $89/user/mo). Proper offers unlimited multi-channel approval workflows where a single bill can qualify for multiple independent channels running in parallel. Proper also includes org-tree data visibility and charges a flat monthly rate with unlimited users instead of per-user pricing.
Bill.com charges $49-89 per user per month, plus transaction fees. A 5-person team costs $245-325/month. Proper starts at $49/month with unlimited users. A 10-person team on Bill.com runs $490-650/month vs $49-149/month on Proper.
Yes. Proper connects to QuickBooks Online with one click and syncs your chart of accounts, vendors, and history. You can be live in under 30 minutes. No implementation fees, no professional services.
Yes. No limit on approval levels. Create unlimited approval channels, each with unlimited steps and approver groups. Bills qualify for multiple channels at once, and cross-channel auto-approval means approvers only need to act once across all their channels.
Bill.com offers role-based user permissions (6 standard roles on the Corporate tier), but no entity-level or node-based data isolation. Proper uses an org-tree hierarchy where each user only sees data scoped to the nodes they're granted access to.
Many users report big price increases. One nonprofit saw costs jump from $5/user/month to $69/user/month (a 1,280% increase). Proper uses flat monthly pricing with no per-user fees, so your cost stays the same as your team grows.
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