Softwr

Accounting · head to head

Medius vs Vena Solutions

Medius logo

Medius

Accounting

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

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Vena Solutions logo

Vena Solutions

Accounting

FP&A planning that keeps Excel as the front end and puts a database and workflow behind it

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: 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.; Vena Solutions vena publishes no pricing and contracts are modular, so two organisations of similar size can pay very different amounts and neither can benchmark without going through procurement.
  • They diverge on capability: Medius covers Invoice capture and coding, Vena Solutions covers Excel add-in interface.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Medius and Vena Solutions actually diverge.

Attributes where Medius and Vena Solutions differ
AttributeMediusVena Solutions
PlatformsWeb, iOS, AndroidWeb, Windows, Excel add-in

Identical on both: starting price (On request), pricing model (quote), 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 Medius

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

Only in Vena Solutions

  • Excel add-in interface
  • Central multidimensional database
  • Workflow and approvals
  • Audit trail
  • Rolling forecasts
  • Close management
  • Power BI integration
  • ERP connectors

What people use each for

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

Medius

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

Vena Solutions

  • A finance team that wants governance and audit over budgeting but refuses to give up Excel formulasnot Medius
  • Replacing a shared drive full of departmental budget workbooks with routed templates and tracked submissionnot Medius
  • Consolidating actuals from more than one ERP into a single reporting set without a data warehouse projectnot Medius
  • Running monthly rolling forecasts where the model is complex enough to need real spreadsheet logicnot Medius

Where each one falls short

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

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.

Vena Solutions

  • Vena publishes no pricing and contracts are modular, so two organisations of similar size can pay very different amounts and neither can benchmark without going through procurement.
  • Implementation services for data integration and template configuration typically make up a large part of first-year cost, often exceeding the licence, and that figure only appears in the proposal.
  • Excel dependency is structural: organisations on Google Workspace, or staff working only in a browser or on Chromebooks, cannot use the primary interface as intended.
  • Because it accepts existing spreadsheets, it can preserve years of undocumented logic and circular workarounds rather than forcing the clean-up that a rebuild on a purpose-built modelling tool would require.
  • Model performance degrades with very large dimensional models, so organisations that grow into genuinely large planning problems eventually hit the limits of the spreadsheet-first design and face a second migration.

Pricing, plan by plan

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

Vena Solutions

On request
  • Vena Professional$undefined/year
    • Core planning platform and Excel add-in
    • Workflow, audit trail and version control
    • Standard support
  • Vena Complete$undefined/year
    • Everything in Professional
    • Power BI integration
    • Premium support and a customer success manager

Which should you pick?

Choose Medius if

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

Choose Vena Solutions if

  • You need excel add-in interface.
  • You work on Web, Windows, Excel add-in.
  • You also want central multidimensional database.
Vena Solutions review

Questions people ask

Is Medius or Vena Solutions better?
Neither clearly leads. Medius starts at On request and Vena Solutions at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Medius or Vena Solutions?
Medius starts at On request and Vena Solutions at On request.
Does Medius or Vena Solutions run on more platforms?
Medius runs on Web, iOS, Android. Vena Solutions runs on Web, Windows, Excel add-in.
What is Medius best used for?
Medius is most often used for a mid-market finance team where most spend arrives as an invoice with no purchase order to match against, a group with several legal entities on different erps that wants one ap process across all of them, reducing invoice fraud exposure with automated detection of supplier bank detail changes, replacing a scanning bureau and a shared ap inbox with automated capture and exception-based review. Of those, a mid-market finance team where most spend arrives as an invoice with no purchase order to match against and a group with several legal entities on different erps that wants one ap process across all of them are not what Vena Solutions is typically brought in for.
What can Medius do that Vena Solutions cannot?
Medius covers Invoice capture and coding, Matching and exception handling, Fraud and anomaly detection, Supplier payments. Vena Solutions covers Excel add-in interface, Central multidimensional database, Workflow and approvals, Audit trail.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

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.

Vena Solutions: Do we have to give up Excel?

No, that is the point of the product. Excel is the interface, backed by a central database and workflow.

Medius: Who owns Medius?

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

Vena Solutions: Is pricing published?

No. Vena quotes per organisation based on users, modules and services.

Medius: How is it priced?

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

Vena Solutions: How much is implementation?

It is quoted separately and commonly forms a large share of first-year cost. Get it itemised before comparing against Anaplan or Adaptive.

Medius: Does it replace our ERP?

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

Vena Solutions: Does it work without Microsoft Office?

Not properly. The Excel add-in is the main working surface.

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