Melio vs Relay Comparison 2026
Melio pays your bills, contractors, vendors, invoices, by bank transfer for free or by card for a fee, with a real free plan for one user. Relay is a business bank account cut into twenty checking accounts so income can be split into envelopes on arrival, and its free Starter plan already includes unlimited users. Melio is the tool for the outgoing side of the business. Relay is where the money lives and gets organized before it goes out.
At a glance
- Melio starts cheaper, at $25.
- Both have a genuinely free tier.
Side by side
Melio | Relay | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price (they differ) | From $25 | From $30 |
| Pricing model | Free plan, paid tiers | Free plan, paid tiers |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Billing | Monthly or annual | Monthly or annual |
| Free trial (they differ) | 30 days | 14 days |
| API |
Melio
Pay the people who work for you, free
Melio is bill payment for a business too small to have an accounts payable department and too busy to keep writing bank transfers by hand. You schedule what goes out, pay by bank transfer at no cost or by card for a fee, and the recipient gets it however they want it. The free tier is not a trial and covers one user. Batch payments and approval rules are what the paid plans are actually selling.
Our note
Count your monthly payments before upgrading, because the paid tiers are mostly buying ACH volume and seats, and a solo creator paying five people has neither problem. Melio's genuinely useful trick is paying by card when the recipient only takes bank transfers, which buys you thirty days of float for a fee.
Relay
Business banking with twenty checking accounts
Relay's difference is that it hands you twenty checking accounts rather than one, which is what makes envelope budgeting work on a business rather than on a spreadsheet beside it. Income splits on arrival: tax here, contractors there, what is left is yours. It also issues a stack of cards and connects to the usual bookkeeping tools. The free plan is a real account rather than a trial.
Why people weigh these two
- Relay instead of Melio
- Relay from $30 with a free tier gives twenty checking accounts for splitting money, banking around the payments rather than the payments alone.
- Melio instead of Relay
- Melio focuses on paying contractors and vendors for free, the outgoing-payment half of what Relay's account-splitting handles as one piece of a bigger system.
Which one should you pick
Pick Melio if paying people is the actual chore, an editor, a designer, a virtual assistant, currently done through manual bank transfers. The free plan is permanent for one user, and $25 a month adds batch payments and 20 free ACH transfers if you are paying more people than that. Its card-to-bank-transfer trick, paying by card when the recipient only takes transfers, buys 30 days of float that Relay does not offer.
Pick Relay if the actual problem is money sitting in one account with no separation between tax, contractors and what is actually yours. The free Starter plan already includes unlimited users and twenty checking accounts, more generous on seats than Melio's paid tiers. Paying $30 a month for Grow raises the savings rate and adds approval rules, worth it mainly once a balance is large enough for the interest rate to matter.
Common questions
- Which one is actually free to use long-term?
- Both have a permanent free plan, not a trial. Melio's free tier covers one user. Relay's free Starter plan is more generous, including unlimited users and twenty checking accounts at no cost.
- Does Relay pay contractors the way Melio does?
- Relay lists accounting integrations and approval rules on payments, so it handles outgoing money too. Melio's entire product is built around that one job, including paying by card to a recipient who only accepts bank transfers, a trick Relay's listing does not offer.
- What does Melio charge that Relay does not?
- Melio meters ACH transfers by plan, 20 free a month at $25, 50 at $55, unlimited only at $80. Relay states no minimum balance, no hidden fees and no overdraft fees across its accounts, with its paid tiers instead priced for a better savings rate and approval workflows.
- Which is better for a solo creator paying a handful of people?
- Melio's free plan fits that exactly, one user paying bills with no monthly cost. Relay is built more for organizing income than for paying a short list of contractors, though its free Starter plan works fine for that too if you also want the envelope-style accounts.
Ratings are the average of reviews readers left. The facts are stated by each tool’s own listing and are not verified by CloutStack. How we make money.