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Accounting · head to head

Melio vs Very Good Security

Melio logo

Melio

Accounting

Simple business payments

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Very Good Security logo

Very Good Security

Cybersecurity

Tokenisation proxy that keeps card and personal data out of your own systems and out of PCI scope

From
$1000/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Melio has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Melio card payments incur flat 2.9% fee on all plans; Very Good Security vGS sits in the live path of every request carrying sensitive data, so its latency and availability become yours, and an outage in the proxy is a payment outage no matter how healthy your own systems are.
  • They diverge on capability: Melio covers Vendor payments, Very Good Security covers Aliasing proxy.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Melio and Very Good Security actually diverge.

Attributes where Melio and Very Good Security differ
AttributeMelioVery Good Security
Starting priceFree$1000/month
Pricing modelfreemiumPer month
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWeb, Mobile appWeb, API
CategoryAccountingCybersecurity
Founded2018Unknown

Identical on both: 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 Melio

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

Only in Very Good Security

  • Aliasing proxy
  • PCI scope reduction
  • Network tokenisation
  • Processor optionality
  • Card issuing data
  • Vault and access controls
  • Data residency options
  • Compliance artefacts

What people use each for

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

Melio

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

Very Good Security

  • A marketplace facing its first PCI DSS Level 1 assessment that wants to keep card data off its own estate rather than harden a dozen servicesnot Melio
  • A merchant negotiating with a second acquirer that needs card credentials portable so the negotiation is real rather than theoreticalnot Melio
  • A fintech collecting bank account and identity documents that wants sensitive fields absent from logs, backups and analytics warehouses by constructionnot Melio
  • A card issuer that must display a full PAN in its own mobile app without the app or its backend touching cardholder datanot Melio

Where each one falls short

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

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

Very Good Security

  • VGS sits in the live path of every request carrying sensitive data, so its latency and availability become yours, and an outage in the proxy is a payment outage no matter how healthy your own systems are.
  • Token portability is the whole selling point yet leaving VGS means migrating tokens back out, a project the vendor has no incentive to streamline, so the lock-in you removed from your acquirer partly moves to VGS.
  • Entry pricing at around one thousand US dollars a month is real money for a pre-revenue fintech, and it buys volume-limited throughput, so cost scales with exactly the growth that made you buy it.
  • Scope reduction is not scope elimination: your QSA still assesses how you integrate, and teams regularly discover that a support tool or an internal admin screen pulled plaintext back in and dragged systems into scope again.
  • Proxy-based interception constrains how you design request flows, and non-standard payloads, streaming uploads or binary formats often need custom routing rules that make debugging production issues noticeably harder.

Pricing, plan by plan

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

Very Good Security

$1000/month
  • Starter$1000/month
    • Aliasing proxy
    • Vault storage
    • PCI scope reduction
  • Growth$undefined/month
    • Network tokenisation
    • Multiple processors
    • Data residency options
  • Enterprise$undefined/year
    • Custom vault architecture
    • Dedicated support and SLA
    • Contractual compliance coverage

Which should you pick?

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

Choose Very Good Security if

  • You need aliasing proxy.
  • You work on Web, API.
  • You also want pci scope reduction.
Very Good Security review

Questions people ask

Is Melio or Very Good Security better?
Neither clearly leads. Melio starts at Free and Very Good Security at $1000/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Melio or Very Good Security?
Melio has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Melio and $1000/month for Very Good Security.
Does Melio or Very Good Security run on more platforms?
Melio runs on Web, Mobile app. Very Good Security runs on Web, API.
Can I use Melio for free?
Yes. Melio has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Very Good Security starts at $1000/month.
What is Melio best used for?
Melio is most often used for accounts payable automation, bill management and payment scheduling, multi-vendor payment processing, invoice receivables and payment collection. Of those, accounts payable automation and bill management and payment scheduling are not what Very Good Security is typically brought in for.
What can Melio do that Very Good Security cannot?
Melio covers Vendor payments, Card to check, Payment scheduling, Approval workflows. Very Good Security covers Aliasing proxy, PCI scope reduction, Network tokenisation, Processor optionality.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

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
Very Good Security: Does VGS make me PCI compliant?

No. It removes cardholder data from your systems so your assessment covers a far smaller boundary, but you still complete an assessment and your integration is part of it.

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
Very Good Security: Can I move to another processor without re-collecting cards?

Yes, that is a core reason people buy it. The vault reveals stored credentials to whichever processor you route to.

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
Very Good Security: What does it cost?

Published entry pricing is about one thousand US dollars per month; growth and enterprise tiers are quoted.

Very Good Security: Is it only for card data?

No. The proxy handles any sensitive field, including bank details, national identifiers and documents, though payments is where the product is now focused.

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