Inside Ramp’s AP software: How it works for small businesses

For small businesses, accounts payable can quietly become one of the most resource-draining parts of finance. With limited headcount, growing vendor lists, and everything from operations to customer support pulling on the same team, it's easy for invoice processing to fall behind or get buried under other priorities.

Ramp’s AP automation software, Ramp Bill Pay, eliminates these headaches with automation that works for small teams, processing invoices automatically, routing them for approval, and scheduling payments to optimize cash flow.

This guide explains how Ramp Bill Pay’s AP features deliver real ROI for small businesses through efficiency, control, and cost savings.

How Ramp’s AP software helps small businesses automate AP end-to-end

Ramp’s AP software is designed to simplify the entire accounts payable process for small teams—without requiring complex setup, custom development, or dedicated AP staff. It handles the full invoice lifecycle, from capture to payment to accounting sync, all within one platform.

Here’s how the workflow comes together:

• Invoice capture: Invoices are ingested from multiple sources, including email forwarding, direct uploads, CSV import, and accounting system syncs. Ramp Bill Pay extracts key details—vendor name, invoice number, due date, line items—automatically using OCR
• Approval routing: Based on your rules, Ramp sends invoices to the right team members for review. Approvers can respond from anywhere, with full context available on desktop or mobile
• Payment scheduling: Once approved, you can schedule payments via ACH, check, card, or wire—either immediately or for a future date
• Accounting sync: All payments and related details sync directly with your accounting software, reducing manual reconciliation and ensuring clean financial records

Ramp Bill Pay brings automation without complexity, with an intuitive interface designed so that small business owners can use it with ease.

Key AP features for small businesses

The best AP software for small businesses should be tailored to the specific challenges they face: limited bandwidth, high-impact cash flow decisions, and the need to maintain control without adding headcount. Here’s a breakdown of Ramp’s top AP features:

Invoice capture and data extraction

Manual data entry slows teams down and introduces errors. Ramp automatically extracts invoice data with its advanced OCR, reducing processing time and eliminating common mistakes like incorrect amounts or duplicate entries. The system also learns from corrections—improving accuracy the more you use it.

Approval workflows that match your team’s structure

Whether you're routing based on department, vendor, amounts, and more, Ramp makes it easy to define approval rules that reflect how your business actually operates. Approvers receives alerts and can review from mobile, reducing the delays that often come from manual handoffs or out-of-office bottlenecks.

Payment scheduling and visibility

Ramp lets you choose when payments go out—not just pay them as they come in. Schedule by due date, vendor terms, or cash position. Ramp also surfaces early payment discounts and calculates their value, so you can make informed decisions.

Centralized vendor management

Each vendor has a profile with key details such as payment account details, W-9s, and 1099 vendor tax documentation. Send vendors to Ramp’s Vendor Network to upload their tax and banking information. You get clean records, fewer errors, and full visibility into vendor spend.

Real-time accounting sync and integrations

Ramp integrates with a large range of ERP and accounting systems like QuickBooks Online, Xero, Sage Intacct, NetSuite, and Acumatica. For direct integrations, once a payment is made, all data flows into your accounting system—including vendor bills, reimbursements, transactions, accounting fields, and more. This reduces double entry, shortens close, and keeps your books accurate throughout the month.

AP software with affordable pricing for small businesses

Ramp’s platform starts with a free tier, giving small businesses access to core AP automation and spend management features compared to other solutions that start with a paid platform subscription. Ramp combines AP, corporate cards, and spend controls into one unified system. The free plan includes:

• Unlimited physical and virtual cards
• Card issuing controls and spend limits
• Expense policy enforcement and employee rewards
• Integrations with QuickBooks Online and Xero
• And much more

For accounts payable, the free tier specifically includes:

• Invoice capture with AI-powered OCR
• Bill payments by check, ACH, card, and wire
• Advanced exports
• Vendor onboarding and tax management
• Ability to create bills using CSV uploads
• Mobile bill approvals
• Approval rules and routing

For a complete list of available features across all tiers, visit Ramp Pricing.

Ramp also offers two paid tiers: Ramp Plus and Ramp Enterprise. Ramp Plus starts at $15 per user per month, with additional platform fees based on team size. In addition to everything included in the free plan, it unlocks more advanced AP capabilities—such as batch payments, payment release approvals, and support for two- and three-way matching. For Ramp Enterprise, even more advanced features are available.

As your business grows, Ramp scales with you. You can manage higher invoice volumes, onboard more users, and build more complex workflows—all without switching platforms. Pricing is transparent and predictable, so you can budget confidently as you expand.

How much time and money can small businesses save with Ramp’s AP automation?

Many small businesses that have adopted Ramp’s AP software have already saved time and money—reducing invoice processing times by up to 50% and processing bills twice as fast. Here are a few customer stories from small businesses using Ramp:

1. How Dragonfly Pond Works scaled AP and simplified bill payments with Ramp

As Dragonfly Pond Works expanded, its bill pay process couldn’t keep up. The company had outgrown its bank-based scheduling tool, which lacked flexibility, vendor visibility, and control at scale. Payments were hard to track, and managing timing across growing responsibilities became increasingly manual.

Ramp Bill Pay gave the team a more scalable and reliable way to handle payments. Rather than batching payments through a limited banking portal, Dragonfly’s staff accountant now enters invoices into Ramp, selects the vendor, and schedules payments via ACH or check within the platform.

“Before Ramp, we had a bill pay scheduling function through our bank. The solution worked well, but we simply outgrew the system. We wanted to find ways to improve our process, optimize our days payable outstanding, and allow visibility for our vendors on payments,” says Austin Mcilwain, CFO at Dragonfly Pond Works.

“We also wanted a more scalable way to pay vendors via ACH. Our staff accountant enters all the information through Ramp Bill Pay and can easily schedule, whether via ACH or a check, in a way that we weren’t able to before.”

Since implementing Ramp, Dragonfly has cut a full week off its month-end close. With automated payment scheduling, real-time visibility, and a platform built to scale, the finance team now spends less time chasing down due dates—and more time planning ahead.

2. Crossings Community Church: How Ramp helped process bills 2x faster

Crossings Community Church had AP and procurement processes that were highly manual and time-consuming. The finance team had to cut hundreds of checks each week, as their previous system, Concur, did not support automated check payments. This resulted in significant time spent on processing, printing, and mailing physical checks.

Additionally, limited visibility into invoice approvals, vendor documentation, and purchase order workflows made it difficult to track spending and manage procurement efficiently. The manual nature of reporting also meant that budget reports were frequently outdated and inaccurate.

Crossings Community Church implemented Ramp Bill Pay to fully automate its check payments, invoice approvals, and AP workflows. Ramp’s system eliminated the need for manual check processing, allowing the finance team to issue vendor payments digitally with just a few clicks.

By automating invoice approvals and purchase order workflows, the finance team gained greater control over procurement while reducing delays in vendor payments. Ramp also provided real-time visibility into spending, ensuring more accurate budget forecasting and financial planning.

With Ramp Bill Pay, Crossings Community Church transformed its AP and procurement workflows, eliminating manual inefficiencies and significantly improving financial oversight.

• 2x faster bill processing time: Automated invoice approvals and check payments eliminated delays in vendor payments.
• More accurate financial reporting: Real-time budget insights improved cash flow forecasting and procurement planning.
• Significant time savings for finance teams: Automating AP processes allowed the finance team to focus on higher-value projects.

“Thanks to Ramp, I can review questions about specific invoices, and it'll probably take me a matter of hours as opposed to weeks. ” — Mandy Mobley, Finance Invoice & Expense Coordinator, Crossings Community Church

By automating AP with Ramp Bill Pay, Crossings Community Church eliminated check payment inefficiencies, improved vendor relationships, and freed up finance teams to focus on strategic financial planning instead of administrative tasks.

3. How the Hospital Association of Oregon used Ramp to reduce invoice processing times

When Jason Hershey became VP of Finance and Accounting at the Hospital Association of Oregon, he inherited strong processes—but outdated, manual systems. Invoices were emailed as attachments, approvals came through scattered replies, and check runs required printing, stamping, and mailing. Nothing was connected to their accounting system, which meant hand-keying each entry twice and constantly double-checking for errors.

To reduce their invoice processing time, Jason turned to Ramp. With Ramp Bill Pay, his team could upload invoices directly into the platform, route them automatically for approval, and issue payments—without waiting for a weekly batch or re-entering data into their accounting system. Department heads gained visibility into what they were approving and everything stayed in sync.

“Doing it the old way probably took a good 10 hours per AP batch,” Jason says. “Now it just takes a couple of minutes between getting an invoice entered, approved, and processed.”

With Ramp, invoice approvals happen as they come in, not once a week. That’s helped the team move faster, reduce email back-and-forth, and speed up month-end close by as much as five days.

“Ramp is such a valuable time-saver,” Jason says. “Especially in an environment where you’re maybe a small or one-person finance shop. You can feel a little bit more comfortable that the system is going to help you do those things you’re worried about—and it handles those things well.”

The Hospital Association of Oregon’s story shows how automating AP with Ramp doesn’t just save time—it creates space for lean finance teams to work smarter, stay audit-ready, and move their organizations forward with confidence.

Why small businesses choose Ramp’s AP automation software

Ramp’s AP software is built for small teams that want to move faster without adding complexity. From automatic invoice capture to easy approval routing and accounting integrations, Ramp Bill Pay helps you save time, reduce errors, and stay on top of payments.

See how simple AP automation can be. Try Ramp Bill Pay.

Explore how Ramp Bill Pay supports AP automation across teams, company sizes, and industries