Softwr

Accounting · head to head

BlackLine vs Medius

BlackLine logo

BlackLine

Accounting

Close automation that sits on top of your ERP, covering reconciliations, journals and close task control

From
$29/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Medius logo

Medius

Accounting

Accounts payable automation and supplier payments for mid-market finance teams, Marlin Equity owned

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: BlackLine it sits on top of the ERP rather than replacing anything, so it is an additional annual platform cost against a general ledger you are already paying for, and the return has to come from reduced close effort and audit findings rather than from retiring another system.; Medius the sourcing, contract and procurement modules are considerably less developed than the AP core, so buying Medius as a full source-to-pay suite means accepting weak upstream tooling.
  • They diverge on capability: BlackLine covers Account reconciliation, Medius covers Invoice capture and coding.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which BlackLine and Medius actually diverge.

Attributes where BlackLine and Medius differ
AttributeBlackLineMedius
Starting price$29/monthOn request
Pricing modelsubscriptionquote
PlatformsWebWeb, iOS, Android
Founded2001Unknown

Identical on both: free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Accounting).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in BlackLine

  • Account reconciliation
  • Risk based certification
  • Journal entry management
  • Close task management
  • Transaction matching
  • Intercompany
  • Variance analysis
  • Evidence attachment

Only in Medius

  • Invoice capture and coding
  • Matching and exception handling
  • Fraud and anomaly detection
  • Supplier payments
  • Approval workflow
  • ERP integration

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

BlackLine

  • A listed company whose external auditors have raised findings about reconciliation evidence and reviewer sign offnot Medius
  • A group with dozens of entities where the close depends on someone chasing spreadsheets by email every monthnot Medius
  • A finance team matching very high volumes of bank or payment processor transactions that no longer fit in a workbooknot Medius
  • An organisation trying to shorten a close that runs past working day ten and cannot see where the time goesnot Medius

Medius

  • A mid-market finance team where most spend arrives as an invoice with no purchase order to match againstnot BlackLine
  • A group with several legal entities on different ERPs that wants one AP process across all of themnot BlackLine
  • Reducing invoice fraud exposure with automated detection of supplier bank detail changesnot BlackLine
  • Replacing a scanning bureau and a shared AP inbox with automated capture and exception-based reviewnot BlackLine

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

BlackLine

  • It sits on top of the ERP rather than replacing anything, so it is an additional annual platform cost against a general ledger you are already paying for, and the return has to come from reduced close effort and audit findings rather than from retiring another system.
  • The capability is split across separately licensed modules, so a reconciliation deployment that later needs journal entry, transaction matching and intercompany turns into three more commercial conversations rather than a configuration change.
  • Implementation runs for months and is normally partner led, because the value depends on how the account inventory, risk ratings, matching rules and ERP data feeds are configured, and a rushed configuration produces a system that certifies bad reconciliations on schedule.
  • The ERP data feeds have to be built and then maintained, so a chart of accounts change, an entity addition or an ERP upgrade turns into remediation work in BlackLine as well, and a broken feed stops the close rather than degrading it.
  • Licensing has a per user element and the close involves preparers, reviewers, controllers and auditors, so a finance function with many occasional reviewers pays for seats belonging to people who touch the system for a few days each month.

Medius

  • The sourcing, contract and procurement modules are considerably less developed than the AP core, so buying Medius as a full source-to-pay suite means accepting weak upstream tooling.
  • Pricing is quote-only and driven by invoice volume, so a business with many low-value invoices pays disproportionately relative to the spend being controlled.
  • Payments are billed on transaction volume separately from the AP subscription, which is easy to omit from a cost comparison against a licence-only AP tool.
  • Private equity ownership since 2017 has produced an acquisition-driven product line, so payments and adjacent capability come from bought-in technology rather than the original platform.
  • ERP integration depth varies sharply by system, and organisations on less common or heavily customised ERPs face integration work that lengthens the implementation.

Pricing, plan by plan

BlackLine

$29/month
  • EnterpriseFree
    • Custom pricing
    • Account reconciliation
    • Task management

Medius

On request
  • Medius AP Automation$undefined/year
    • Two packaged AP automation tiers
    • Priced by invoice volume and entity count
    • Sourcing, contracts and procurement modules sold separately

Which should you pick?

Choose BlackLine if

  • You need account reconciliation.
  • You also want risk based certification.
BlackLine review

Choose Medius if

  • You need invoice capture and coding.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want matching and exception handling.
Medius review

Questions people ask

Is BlackLine or Medius better?
Neither clearly leads. BlackLine starts at $29/month and Medius at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, BlackLine or Medius?
BlackLine starts at $29/month and Medius at On request.
Does BlackLine or Medius run on more platforms?
BlackLine runs on Web. Medius runs on Web, iOS, Android.
What is BlackLine best used for?
BlackLine is most often used for a listed company whose external auditors have raised findings about reconciliation evidence and reviewer sign off, a group with dozens of entities where the close depends on someone chasing spreadsheets by email every month, a finance team matching very high volumes of bank or payment processor transactions that no longer fit in a workbook, an organisation trying to shorten a close that runs past working day ten and cannot see where the time goes. Of those, a listed company whose external auditors have raised findings about reconciliation evidence and reviewer sign off and a group with dozens of entities where the close depends on someone chasing spreadsheets by email every month are not what Medius is typically brought in for.
What can BlackLine do that Medius cannot?
BlackLine covers Account reconciliation, Risk based certification, Journal entry management, Close task management. Medius covers Invoice capture and coding, Matching and exception handling, Fraud and anomaly detection, Supplier payments.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

BlackLine: Does BlackLine replace our ERP or general ledger?

No. It reads from the ledger and writes approved journals back. You keep the ERP and pay for BlackLine on top of it.

Medius: Is Medius a procurement suite or an AP tool?

Primarily an AP automation platform with procurement modules attached. If sourcing is your main requirement, look elsewhere.

BlackLine: At what size does it make sense?

The case is usually driven by control requirements and entity count rather than revenue. Companies under a control regime like Sarbanes Oxley, or groups with many entities and a long close, get the return. A single entity business with a short close will not.

Medius: Who owns Medius?

Marlin Equity Partners, which acquired it in 2017 and has funded several bolt-on acquisitions since.

BlackLine: How long does implementation take?

Months rather than weeks for the first module, longer for multi entity rollouts across several modules. The elapsed time is dominated by agreeing the account inventory and building the data feeds, not by installing software.

Medius: How is it priced?

By quote, driven by invoice volume and entity count, with payments billed separately on transaction volume.

BlackLine: Will it shorten our close on its own?

No. It makes the close visible and controlled, which is what exposes where the time goes. Shortening it still requires changing the underlying processes, and companies that skip that step get better documentation of the same slow close.

Medius: Does it replace our ERP?

No. It sits alongside the ERP and posts approved invoices into it.

BlackLine: Can our auditors use it directly?

Yes, giving auditors read access to sample reconciliations and approvals is a common deployment pattern and one of the clearer sources of saved effort during the audit.

BlackLine: What happens if our chart of accounts changes?

The account inventory, risk ratings and feed mappings need updating to match. Treat any significant ERP or chart of accounts change as a BlackLine work package in the same project plan.

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