Relay Bill Pay makes it easy to stay on top of your accounts payable—whether you’re a solo founder, managing a growing team, or running a mature business. With tiered access and smarter automation, you can upload, approve, and pay bills all in one place—directly from your Relay account.
This article walks you through how to enable Bill Pay, who can use it, and what to expect based on your subscription tier.
What You Can Do with Relay Bill Pay
Bill Pay functionality differs slightly across Starter, Grow, and Scale plans—but all tiers include:
- Upload bills manually or forward invoices to your unique Relay Bill Pay inbox
- Track bill statuses (approved, scheduled, paid) in a central dashboard
- Pay bills via ACH, check, or wire without needing a separate bill pay platform
- Connect to your accounting software (QuickBooks Online, Xero) for seamless syncs
- Mark bills as paid when handled outside Relay
- Manage vendor records with stored remittance details and audit trails
Advanced features (Grow & Scale only):
- Approve Bills add team members and admins to approve bill payments
- Custom approval rules based on vendor or amount
- Batched vendor payments to save time
- Partial payments for flexibility in managing cash flow (coming soon)
- Custom categorization rules to automate accounting classifications
- Bulk payments and CSV exports (Scale only, coming soon)
- Bill insights dashboard to spot trends and improve cash planning (Scale only, coming soon)
Who Can Use Bill Pay?
Bill Pay access is role-based. Here’s what each role can do:
- Administrators: Manage bills, schedule payments, and assign role
- Approvers: Review and approve bills, but can’t pay them
- Contributors: Upload and edit bills, without approval or payment permissions
These roles help streamline your bill workflow while maintaining control and oversight.
How to Enable Bill Pay
To enable this feature follow these steps:
- Sign in to your Relay account.
- Go to Payments and click on Bills
- You can now start uploading/emailing a bill or connecting your accounting integration.
What Happens Next?
Once Bill Pay is enabled, you can:
- Forward invoices to your dedicated forwarding email
- Assign contributors and approvers to support your approval workflow
- Schedule payments in advance by ACH, check, or wire transfer
- Track each bill’s lifecycle from submission to payment
- Ensure bill activity remains organized, transparent, and audit-ready
Features by Subscription Tier
Feature |
Starter |
Grow |
Scale |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bill upload & email forwarding | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Approval rules | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Batched vendor payments | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Custom categorization rules | ❌ | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| Partial payments | ❌ | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| Bill insights dashboard | ❌ | ❌ | Coming soon |
| Bulk payments | ❌ | ❌ | Coming soon |
| Custom CSV exports | ❌ | ❌ | Coming soon |
Learn more about tier pricing and benefits here.
Tips for a Smooth Start
- Use your Relay inbox email
Every business has a unique forwarding address. Forward invoices here for quick intake. - Set up your approval workflow
In Grow and Scale, use custom rules to avoid delays or unauthorized payments. - Invite vendors securely
Use secure links to collect vendor payment info—no more handling sensitive data manually. - Watch payment cutoff times
ACH and wires process have timelines and cut-off times. Schedule payments ahead of deadlines to avoid delays.
Next Steps
Now that you're set-up, dive deeper with these guides:
- Creating and Sending a Bill in Relay
- Setting Up Bill Approval Workflows (Grow & Scale only)
- Adding and Managing Payees
Still have questions? Our team is ready to help! Talk to our Customer Experience team