4 top-rated AI agents for AP automation in 2025

The best AI agents for AP handle more than simple automation. They make decisions in real time, adapt to different invoice formats, and learn from each transaction. Features include automatic coding, fraud detection, card-based payment optimization, and clear, context-rich approval summaries.

Ramp is one of the first platforms to launch agentic AI for AP. While others are starting to explore similar features, most are still early in development. Let’s break down each of these solutions together.

What are AI agents for accounts payable?

AI agents for accounts payable are systems that handle AP tasks on their own. They make decisions, learn from past invoices, and adjust to new formats or vendors without needing constant human input.

Unlike traditional automation, which follows fixed rules and stops when something doesn’t match, AI agents can interpret unfamiliar layouts, handle exceptions, and recommend or take the next step based on what they’ve learned. Over time, they get better by learning from patterns and user feedback.

What sets them apart is how they adapt and improve. Traditional tools rely on static rules and send most exceptions to a person. AI agents reduce that back-and-forth by learning what counts as normal, spotting issues early, and supporting payment decisions with built-in controls.

The benefits of using AI agents for AP include:

• Less manual entry. They pull and validate data automatically from invoices, even in unfamiliar formats.
• Fewer errors. They cross-check details and flag inconsistencies before they cause downstream problems.
• Faster processing. Many invoices move in minutes instead of days, often with no human involvement.

Must-have features in the best AI agents for accounts payable

The best AI agents for AP all share a few essential features. These are the building blocks for reducing manual work, cutting errors, and keeping processes low-touch.

When you’re comparing AI solutions for AP, look for these features first. They’re what make the difference between basic automation and something that actually transforms your AP process.

Autonomous invoice capture

AI agents pull and validate data from any invoice format—PDFs, scans, or electronic feeds—without needing templates or custom setup. They extract vendor details, line items, amounts, and payment terms automatically, then match that data to your existing approval policies. As the system sees more invoices, it learns and adapts to new formats on its own.

Three-way matching

This feature matches each invoice to its purchase order and receipt, flagging any mismatches before they cause payment issues. Stronger systems handle tricky cases too, like partial deliveries or slight price differences. When something doesn’t align, the system recommends the next step based on your business rules and past decisions.

That means fewer reconciliation errors and better internal controls without slowing things down.

Exception handling

AI agents catch invoices that don’t match expected details and send them to the right person or step for resolution. Over time, the system learns from how these exceptions are handled and applies that knowledge to similar cases. This keeps processing times consistent and helps prevent backlogs in your AP workflow.

Fraud detection

AI agents scan for risky patterns like duplicate invoices, unusual payment requests, or changes in vendor details. When something looks off, the system flags it for review or holds the transaction before it moves forward. This lowers the chance of fraud and adds another layer of protection. These tools work best when used alongside your existing internal controls.

Payment optimization

AI agents review payment terms, cash flow, and early payment discounts to decide the best time to pay each invoice. They can schedule payments automatically or recommend timing that balances savings with working capital needs. As the system learns what works, it improves future decisions based on your goals and policies.

What software providers have AI agents for AP?

A growing number of providers now offer AI agents built specifically for accounts payable. Capabilities vary across platforms, but a few have launched more complete solutions. Here's a short list of providers offering AI agents for AP, starting with Ramp Bill Pay.

1. Ramp Bill Pay

Ramp Bill Pay is the first autonomous AP software system that processes invoices end-to-end. Ramp's AP agents include specialized tools for auto-coding, fraud prevention, approval management, and payment optimization. These agents work together to transform traditional manual processes into coordinated autonomous workflows.

Key features

• Auto-coding agent: Ramp's auto-coding agent automates transaction coding by analyzing your organization's historical coding patterns and applying that logic to new invoices automatically. The agent looks at invoice details like product IDs, descriptions, and shipping addresses to map expenses to the correct GL codes instantly. When you get a multi-line utility bill covering different locations, the agent automatically puts each line item to the right location-based GL code without any manual work.
• Fraud prevention agent: Ramp's fraud prevention agent spots suspicious activity before money goes out. The system flags potential fraud when vendor banking details change unexpectedly, especially for new or unverified accounts that fail authentication checks. The agent analyzes multiple fraud indicators including suspicious vendor email domains and unverified banking information. Verified vendors in Ramp's vendor network skip these checks, so legitimate payments go through smoothly while blocking suspicious transactions
• Approval agent: Ramp's approval agent creates comprehensive summaries based on vendor relationship history, contract details, purchase order matching, pricing comparisons and more. The agent also explains why specific approvers are included in the workflow and suggests approval or rejection based on its analysis of vendor history, contract compliance, and pricing patterns.
• Agent for automatic card payments: Ramp's agent for automatic payments finds card-eligible invoices and can fill card details directly into vendor payment portals, getting rid of manual data entry and verification phone calls. The agent also finds opportunities to earn cashback and capture it automatically.

Considerations

• Implementation timeline may vary based on how complex your existing systems are and what integration work is needed

2. AvidXchange

AvidXchange provides several AI agents within its invoice automation solution. In April 2025, the company announced new agent capabilities, including an approval agent, a purchase order matching agent, and enhanced invoice capture.

Key features

• Their AI Approval Agent looks at historical data to assess transactions and give real-time insights to approvers
• The PO Matching Agent automates line-item matching between purchase orders and invoices with visual indicators for differences
• Improvements to their Invoice Capture for better pattern recognition to deliver approval-ready invoices

Considerations

• The system focuses mainly on mid-market businesses, which may limit how well it works for larger companies
• AI capabilities seem to be more assistive rather than fully autonomous decision-making agents
• Pricing structure and total cost information isn't readily available

3. Automation Anywhere

Automation Anywhere offers an agentic solution for accounts payable that combines document processing with AI capabilities. The platform is designed to automate invoice payments while AI agents interact with stakeholders through conversational AI.

Key features

• Document agents that can pull data from handwritten invoices and various document formats
• Exception handling powered by Automation Co-Pilot with natural language interaction
• AI-powered invoice extraction that turns unstructured data into structured insights

Considerations

• Pre-trained models help, but you'll often need to customize them for your vendors, invoice types, and currency/tax differences
• Implementation might be more complex because of their comprehensive automation platform approach
• Pricing structure and total cost information isn't readily available

4. Hypatos

Hypatos provides what they call "AI co-workers" designed to cut down on manual work and automate invoice processing. However, their AI agents for accounts payable seem to mainly focus on improving order status clarity for purchase orders and acknowledgments.

Key features

• Automatically confirms acknowledgements instead of teams having to go through email threads and supplier portals
• Invoices and purchase orders get automatically cross-checked along with insights for price or quantity changes
• Takes in invoices and applies accounting codes to make sure you stay compliant with costs

Considerations

• The platform seems to focus mainly on order confirmation processing rather than complete AP workflows
• Integration capabilities and pricing information aren't publicly available
• There's limited information available about how well it scales across different business sizes

Which AP software providers don’t offer AI agents for AP?

Some well-known AP platforms advertise AI-powered automation or copilots, but haven’t released true agentic AI features. As of now, providers without AI agents for AP include BILL, Tipalti, Stampli, Airbase, Melio, and Centime.

Because product roadmaps can shift quickly, it’s worth confirming current capabilities directly with each vendor.

How to choose the best AI agent for your accounts payable needs

Choosing an AI agent for AP automation means getting clarity on how your AP process works today, what tools you're using, and where you want to improve. Here’s how to begin:

1. Map your current AP workflow

Trace the full path of an invoice from when it arrives to when it gets paid. Document each step, and call out where delays, manual entry, or errors tend to happen. These are often the best opportunities for an AI agent to step in.

2. Calculate your processing costs

Add up the true cost of processing invoices, including team time, late payment penalties, and missed early payment discounts. This gives you a baseline for measuring impact and helps clarify what kind of ROI to expect from AI.

3. Know what it takes to integrate with your systems

Start by listing every system the AI agent will need to connect with from your ERP, accounting tools, banking platforms, and anything else involved in AP. Outline what data needs to flow in and out, and flag any custom fields or workflows the agent needs to handle.

Check whether your systems support modern APIs or if you'll need older methods to connect. Doing this work early helps avoid surprises later in the rollout.

4. Handling legacy or custom setups

If you're using older systems or custom-built software, integration may take more planning. Some tools may not support APIs, have limited documentation, or need hands-on setup to work with an AI agent.

Custom systems often have unique logic that the AI agent will need to follow. Map that logic clearly so the agent can take over without breaking existing processes. Getting ahead of these issues helps ensure a smoother launch.

5. Compare total cost and ROI

AI agents come with more than just a software fee. You’ll also need to factor in the cost of implementation, training, support, and the time your IT team spends setting it up and maintaining it.

At the same time, estimate your expected savings. Putting these numbers side by side helps you build a realistic ROI timeline and decide whether the investment makes sense for your AP process.

6. Set your team up for a smooth transition

Rolling out AI agents will change how your team works, so a clear change management plan is essential. Start with open communication about what’s changing and why. Then build training around new workflows, and set expectations for how staff will work alongside the system.

Some pushback is natural. Spot where it may come from early, and prepare messaging that explains how the AI supports the team rather than replaces it.

7. Match your AI rollout to your company size

Your rollout plan should match your company’s size, systems, and available resources. Smaller teams can often move faster, with lighter training and full-team adoption. Larger or more complex orgs may need phased pilots, IT involvement, and broader change management support.

What works at one scale won’t always fit another. Set your rollout pace based on your structure and not someone else’s timeline.

Key questions to ask vendors about AI agent integration

When you're evaluating AI agent vendors, it’s important to dig into how their systems will actually work with your setup, especially if you have legacy tools or custom processes. These questions can help you uncover how truly autonomous and adaptable the solution is.

• Have you integrated with our specific systems before? What’s your approach for preserving our business rules and workflows?
• How do you connect to platforms without modern APIs? What options do you offer, and how do you keep data in sync?
• How does your system handle custom fields and processes? What does it need to learn our workflows?
• Can your platform process non-standard formats? What data transformation capabilities are built in?
• Do you have customer references with similar integration challenges?
• How do you validate that the agent is making the right decisions with legacy data?
• What steps do you take to prevent duplicate or conflicting records during sync?
• What support do you offer as our systems or data models change over time?

Key takeaways and next steps for bringing AI agents into AP

Choosing the best AI agent for AP automation starts with a clear look at your processes, systems, and how ready your team is to adopt autonomous technology. Focus on tools that offer real decision-making, learn from experience, handle exceptions, support compliance, and integrate cleanly with your setup.

The strongest implementations don’t just add AI. Instead, they align it with how your team works today.

Your action plan

1. Map your AP process. Document your end-to-end AP process, identifying all pain points, bottlenecks, and manual steps that could benefit from autonomous AI agent help.
2. Define AI agent requirements. Create a list of must-have agentic features, integration needs, and specific compliance requirements.
3. Shortlist vendors. Narrow your options to 3–5 solutions that fit your company size and have real AI agent capabilities.
4. Request demos. Ask for demos with your own invoice data to evaluate how the system performs in real-world scenarios.
5. Run a small pilot. Test the AI agent on a limited scope to confirm it works with your workflows and systems.
6. Train your team. Provide clear guidance on what’s changing, how to work with the AI, and how the new process will run.
7. Track your results. Set baseline metrics and monitor how the AI improves speed, cost, and accuracy over time.

You don’t need more tools. You need fewer things slipping through the cracks. Agentic AI helps AP run the way it should, without chasing every step.

Get touchless accounts payable with Ramp's AP agents

Ramp's AP agents work together within your existing workflow, connecting with your current ERP and accounting systems through pre-built connectors. You don't need to overhaul your entire AP process or retrain your team on complex new systems. The AI handles the heavy lifting while you keep control over approval hierarchies, coding rules, and payment preferences.

Finance teams using Ramp now process invoices with 7x fewer clicks than legacy systems like BILL, closing their books up to two days earlier and earning millions in cashback through optimized payments.¹

Step away from your keyboard. The future of touchless accounts payable is here—with Ramp Bill Pay’s AP agents.

¹Based on internal product testing performed in September 2025 evaluating the number of clicks used to process a typical invoice.