Softwr

APIs · head to head

Formance vs Melio

Formance logo

Formance

APIs

Open source double-entry ledger and payment orchestration for money-moving software

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Melio logo

Melio

Accounting

Simple business payments

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Formance formance holds no money and provides no regulatory cover, so it must be paired with a payments provider or bank, and buyers occasionally mistake a ledger for a treasury system and discover the gap late.; Melio card payments incur flat 2.9% fee on all plans
  • They diverge on capability: Formance covers Double-entry ledger, Melio covers Vendor payments.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Formance and Melio actually diverge.

Attributes where Formance and Melio differ
AttributeFormanceMelio
Pricing modelOpen source, no licence feefreemium
PlatformsLinux, Docker, Kubernetes, Web, APIWeb, Mobile app
CategoryAPIsAccounting
FoundedUnknown2018

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated).

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 Formance

  • Double-entry ledger
  • Numscript transaction DSL
  • Multi-currency
  • Payments connectivity
  • Reconciliation
  • Self-hosted deployment
  • Cloud offering
  • API and SDKs

Only in Melio

  • Vendor payments
  • Card to check
  • Payment scheduling
  • Approval workflows
  • QuickBooks sync
  • QuickBooks
  • Xero
  • FreshBooks

What people use each for

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

Formance

  • A marketplace splitting a single customer payment between seller, platform fee and tax that needs the split to be atomic and auditablenot Melio
  • A fintech whose homegrown balances table produced numbers finance could not reconcile and now needs proper double-entry before an auditnot Melio
  • A payments team that wants one normalised model across several PSPs so reconciliation is not written separately for eachnot Melio
  • A company that wants its ledger under a licence it can keep running even if the vendor disappearsnot Melio

Melio

  • Accounts payable automationnot Formance
  • Bill management and payment schedulingnot Formance
  • Multi-vendor payment processingnot Formance
  • Invoice receivables and payment collectionnot Formance

Where each one falls short

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

Formance

  • Formance holds no money and provides no regulatory cover, so it must be paired with a payments provider or bank, and buyers occasionally mistake a ledger for a treasury system and discover the gap late.
  • Numscript is a domain-specific language your team must learn, and while it makes complex splits expressible it also means transaction logic sits outside the languages your engineers already debug well.
  • Self-hosting a ledger that must never lose or duplicate a transaction is a serious operational commitment covering backups, upgrades and Postgres tuning, which is real cost the zero licence fee hides.
  • Enterprise pricing is not published, so the difference between the free path and the supported path cannot be evaluated without a sales conversation.
  • The company is much smaller than the incumbent alternatives, and while the MIT licence protects the code it does not protect the roadmap, so features on the hosted side may arrive slowly or change direction.

Melio

  • Card payments incur flat 2.9% fee on all plans
  • International payments charged $20 flat fee or 2.9% conversion rate plus international fees
  • Paper checks cost $1.50 per check
  • Wire transfers cost $10 standard or up to 1% plus $10 for same-day processing
  • Core and Boost plans charged $10/month per additional user beyond base

Pricing, plan by plan

Formance

Free
  • Open SourceFree
    • MIT licensed core ledger
    • Numscript transaction DSL
    • Multi-currency tracking
  • Enterprise$undefined/year
    • Managed or private deployment
    • Payments connectivity and reconciliation
    • Support with response commitments

Melio

Free
  • GoFree
    • 5 free ACH payments per month
    • Pay by card, wire, or check
    • Basic invoicing
  • Core$25/month
    • 20 free ACH payments per month
    • $20/month with annual billing
    • QuickBooks Online and Xero sync
  • Boost$55/month
    • 50 free ACH payments per month
    • $44/month with annual billing
    • QuickBooks Desktop sync
  • Unlimited$80/month
    • Unlimited free ACH payments
    • $64/month with annual billing
    • NetSuite sync

Which should you pick?

Choose Formance if

  • You need double-entry ledger.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Web, API.
  • You also want numscript transaction dsl.
Formance review

Choose Melio if

  • You need vendor payments.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Mobile app.
  • You also want card to check.
Melio review

Questions people ask

Is Formance or Melio better?
Neither clearly leads. Formance starts at Free and Melio at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Formance or Melio?
Formance starts at Free and Melio at Free.
Does Formance or Melio run on more platforms?
Formance runs on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Web, API. Melio runs on Web, Mobile app.
Can I use Formance for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Formance best used for?
Formance is most often used for a marketplace splitting a single customer payment between seller, platform fee and tax that needs the split to be atomic and auditable, a fintech whose homegrown balances table produced numbers finance could not reconcile and now needs proper double-entry before an audit, a payments team that wants one normalised model across several psps so reconciliation is not written separately for each, a company that wants its ledger under a licence it can keep running even if the vendor disappears. Of those, a marketplace splitting a single customer payment between seller, platform fee and tax that needs the split to be atomic and auditable and a fintech whose homegrown balances table produced numbers finance could not reconcile and now needs proper double-entry before an audit are not what Melio is typically brought in for.
What can Formance do that Melio cannot?
Formance covers Double-entry ledger, Numscript transaction DSL, Multi-currency, Payments connectivity. Melio covers Vendor payments, Card to check, Payment scheduling, Approval workflows.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Formance: Is Formance really open source?

Yes. The core ledger is MIT licensed with full source access and no deployment restrictions.

Melio: What does Melio charge for ACH payments?

Melio's free Go tier includes 5 free ACH payments per month. Core tier provides 20 free ACH payments per month at $25/month. Boost offers 50 free ACH payments at $55/month. Unlimited tier at $80/month includes unlimited free ACH payments.

Source
Formance: Does Formance move money?

No. It records and orchestrates movements; the actual payments happen at a PSP or bank you connect.

Melio: Does Melio charge fees for card payments?

Yes, Melio charges a flat 2.9% fee on all card payments. International card payments also include currency conversion charges and international fees beyond the base 2.9%.

Source
Formance: What does the enterprise version cost?

Not published. It is an annual subscription quoted per customer.

Melio: Can I use Melio for free?

Yes, Melio's free Go tier allows 5 free ACH payments per month with no subscription cost. Users can pay by card, wire, or check and access basic invoicing and payment link features.

Source
Formance: Do I have to use Numscript?

Yes for anything beyond the simplest transfers. It is how multi-party transactions are expressed atomically.

Share

Related pages

More on Formance

More on Melio

Keep looking

Other head to heads