Best for
Best for small businesses that want to pay vendor bills and collect invoice payments without adding a per-seat licence on top of the accounting system they already run.
- Small and mid-sized
- Enterprise
Accounting & Invoicing Comparison
Melio vs. Navan
At a glance
At a glance
Best for
Best for companies whose expenses come mostly from travel and who want booking, cards and expense reports in one place.
- Small and mid-sized
- Enterprise
Cataleo does not name a winner. Both statements come from the vendors themselves.
Full Comparison
| Criterion | Melio | Navan |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Free; Core from $25 / month Go is free for one user with five free ACH payments a month. Core is $25 / month plus $10 per user, Boost $55, Unlimited $80 with users included; 20 percent off with annual billing. Transaction fees apply on top, for example $0.50 per ACH beyond the plan allowance, $1.50 per mailed check and 2.9 percent for card payments. | lower value Free up to 300 employees; Expense $15 / user / month Navan Business is free for companies with up to 300 employees and carries no per-trip booking fee. Navan Expense is free for the first five users, then $15 per expensing user per month. Navan Enterprise is priced on request. |
| Free trial | Not stated | Free plan for companies with up to 300 employees |
| API | A B2B payout API and embedded payments for partner platforms, rather than a general customer API | Yes, the Navan Expense API with OAuth 2.0 and webhooks, a Booking API, and an official MCP server |
| Hosting | Cloud (SaaS) | Cloud (SaaS) |
| Invoicing and quotes | Yes, branded invoices with a built-in payment link, automated reminders and payment by card or bank transfer, with customers paying without a Melio account | No customer invoicing, accounts receivable or supplier invoice processing; the platform covers travel booking, employee expenses, corporate cards and reimbursements |
| Bookkeeping and bank feeds | No general ledger of its own; bills, invoices and payments sync two-way with QuickBooks Online, Xero, QuickBooks Desktop or NetSuite depending on the plan | No general ledger of its own; auto-enriched transactions sync to Oracle NetSuite, QuickBooks, Xero, Sage Intacct and Campfire, or by custom CSV, SFTP or API |
| Expenses and receipts | Yes, on every plan including the free one: connect the credit or debit cards already in use, and each time one is used the spender is prompted by text or e-mail to upload the receipt, which is then stored, categorized and synced to QuickBooks or Xero | Yes, this is the core alongside travel: Navan corporate cards, Navan Connect for existing Visa, Mastercard and American Express cards, personal-card reimbursement, automatic receipt and invoice matching, and policy checks at the point of spend |
| Tax and compliance | W-9 collection and 1099 automation, from the Core plan upwards | VAT reclaim support rather than filing: Navan books travel as a disclosed agent so the supplier invoices the customer directly and the reclaim right is preserved, airline invoices are available in the platform, travellers can upload hotel invoices and an invoice collection service gathers them on the customer's behalf |
| Payroll | No payroll. Melio pays vendors and contractors and handles W-9 collection, TIN validation and 1099 e-filing through Tax1099, but running employee payroll is not part of the platform | No payroll module; HR systems including ADP, BambooHR, Gusto, HiBob, Personio, Rippling and Workday connect for user provisioning instead |
| Reports and exports | A dashboard that tracks outgoing payments and what is owed and when, plus a payment history export as CSV over a chosen date range of up to twelve months back, carrying the date, status, invoice number, amount, customer name and who initiated each payment, and downloadable Audit Trail reports; the ledger reports themselves stay in the synced accounting system | Yes, transactions arrive pre-coded to legal entity, subsidiary, region, department, cost centre and GL code, with real-time payment tracking, budget guardrails and a Partner Console for accountants handling several clients |
| Integrations and API | A B2B payout API and embedded payments for platforms that want to build on Melio's payment rails, rather than a general customer API | Yes, the Navan Expense API for expenses, custom fields and receipts, authenticated by OAuth 2.0 client credentials and supporting webhooks, plus a Booking API, a Custom Fields SFTP feed and an official MCP server for AI assistants |
| AI features | Yes | Yes |
| MCP-ready | No | stated Yes |
| Deployment | Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based | Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based |
| Support | Chat, Phone | Not stated |
| Onboarding | Not stated | Documentation and knowledge base |
| Company size | Small and mid-sized, Enterprise | Small and mid-sized, Enterprise |
| Integrations | QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Desktop, Xero, NetSuite, Meta, Amazon Business | more entries Oracle NetSuite, Sage Intacct, Xero, QuickBooks, Workday, ADP, BambooHR, Gusto, HiBob, Personio, Rippling, Okta, Slack, Google Calendar, Microsoft Outlook, Concur, Coupa, Expensify, Uber for Business, Lyft |
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Row where the values differ The small markers point at the lower number, the longer list or the stated feature. They describe the data, they are not a verdict.
The short version
Key Differences
- Starting price Melio Free; Core from $25 / month Navan Free up to 300 employees; Expense $15 / user / month
- MCP-ready Melio No Navan Yes
- API Melio A B2B payout API and embedded payments for partner platforms, rather than a general customer API Navan Yes, the Navan Expense API with OAuth 2.0 and webhooks, a Booking API, and an official MCP server
- Invoicing and quotes Melio Yes, branded invoices with a built-in payment link, automated reminders and payment by card or bank transfer, with customers paying without a Melio account Navan No customer invoicing, accounts receivable or supplier invoice processing; the platform covers travel booking, employee expenses, corporate cards and reimbursements
- Bookkeeping and bank feeds Melio No general ledger of its own; bills, invoices and payments sync two-way with QuickBooks Online, Xero, QuickBooks Desktop or NetSuite depending on the plan Navan No general ledger of its own; auto-enriched transactions sync to Oracle NetSuite, QuickBooks, Xero, Sage Intacct and Campfire, or by custom CSV, SFTP or API
Every line is one datapoint from the table above, picked automatically. Nothing here is written text.
The trade-offs
Strengths and Limitations
Melio
Strengths
- Free plan for a single user, with five free ACH payments a month
- Charged per company rather than per seat, with users included outright on the Unlimited plan
- Pays vendors by card even where the vendor accepts only a bank transfer or check
- Invoicing and payment collection are included at no extra software cost
- International payments to more than 80 countries in 15 currencies
Limitations
- Not a general ledger; a separate accounting system is still needed
- Transaction fees apply on top of the subscription, including 2.9 percent for card payments
- QuickBooks Desktop sync needs Boost and NetSuite sync needs Unlimited
Navan
Strengths
- Travel booking and expense management in one app, so a trip generates its own expenses
- Navan Business is free for companies with up to 300 employees, with no per-trip booking fee
- Navan Connect works with existing Visa, Mastercard and American Express cards, so the card programme need not be replaced
- Transactions arrive pre-coded to entity, subsidiary, region, department, cost centre and GL code
- Official MCP server and an Expense API with OAuth 2.0 and webhooks
- Partner Console lets an accounting firm manage several client accounts
Limitations
- No supplier invoice processing, accounts payable, customer invoicing or accounts receivable
- Not a general ledger; a separate accounting system is still needed
- The free plan stops at 300 employees, above which pricing is quoted
- Expense is only free for the first five users, then charged per user per month
- The public API covers expenses and booking rather than the whole platform
Plans
Pricing
Melio
- Go Free One user, five free ACH payments a month and $0.50 per additional one. Includes payment by card, AI bill capture, international payments and invoicing.
- Core $25 / month plus $10 per user $20 per month plus $8 per user with annual billing. Twenty free ACH payments a month, QuickBooks Online and Xero sync, batch payments, approval workflows, W-9 and 1099 handling, priority chat support.
- Boost $55 / month plus $10 per user $44 per month plus $8 per user with annual billing. Fifty free ACH payments a month, QuickBooks Desktop sync, advanced user roles, vendor credits, premium phone support.
- Unlimited $80 / month $64 per month with annual billing. Unlimited users at no extra cost, unlimited free ACH payments and NetSuite sync.
- Platinum Not stated Custom pricing for high-volume businesses paying more than $300,000 a month by card, with custom transaction fees and priority processing.
Navan
- Navan Business Free For companies with up to 300 employees. Unlimited trips with no per-trip booking fee, global inventory and negotiated rates. Navan Expense is free for the first five users, then $15 per user per month.
- Navan Enterprise Not stated Priced on request. The full travel and expense suites for unlimited users, global coverage, negotiated rates, a dedicated account executive and customer success manager, and custom implementation.
What users say
Review Scores · opens after launch
Melio
- Ease of use
- Not rated yet
- User interface
- Not rated yet
- Onboarding
- Not rated yet
- Support and service
- Not rated yet
- Value for money
- Not rated yet
- Features
- Not rated yet
No reviews yet. Be the first to review this tool. Every review is checked for fairness before it appears, and the vendor cannot have one removed.
Navan
- Ease of use
- Not rated yet
- User interface
- Not rated yet
- Onboarding
- Not rated yet
- Support and service
- Not rated yet
- Value for money
- Not rated yet
- Features
- Not rated yet
No reviews yet. Be the first to review this tool. Every review is checked for fairness before it appears, and the vendor cannot have one removed.
Where this comes from
Where this comes from
Melio https://melio.com · checked against the official source on 2026-09-02
Navan https://navan.com · checked against the official source on 2026-09-08
This table lists factual criteria taken from information the vendors publish themselves. For how we put it together, see the methodology.