PayFile Pro vs ACH Pro

No. ACH Pro generates US NACHA files. Their own FAQ says they do not yet support Canadian EFT files and that they plan to add support.

So if you bank with TD, RBC, BMO, Scotiabank, CIBC, ATB or a credit union on PaymentStream, ACH Pro cannot produce the file your bank wants today.

PayFile Pro ships named profiles per bank and format: TD EFT 80-byte · BMO 1464 and EFT 80-byte · RBC Standard 152 and CPA-005 · ScotiaConnect EFT Import and Scotiabank CPA-005 1464 · CIBC CPA-005, 1464 and EFT 80-byte · ATB 1464 · Central 1 PaymentStream AFT.

(ACH Pro says Canadian support is planned. This page was last checked on the date shown above — if you are reading it much later, check their site.)

• You send three or fewer US ACH files a month and want a free option.
• You want a system of record for payees.
• You need returns and NOC handling.
• You want files pushed to your bank automatically, via SFTP.
• You need an API, or CTX and WEB entries.
• You want QuickBooks to feed the tool directly, Online or Desktop.
• You need SOC 2 Type 2 certification from your vendor.

• You pay anyone through a Canadian bank. Today, this is the only one of the two that produces a Canadian EFT file.
• You pay on both sides of the border. One tool, one spreadsheet layout, US ACH and Canadian EFT.
• Your payee list already lives in a spreadsheet. Add a vendor by adding a row; skip one this run by leaving the amount blank — blank-amount rows are skipped automatically and every skipped row is shown before you generate.
• You pay people a few times a year. Credits never expire and there is no monthly plan, so a quarterly run costs four credits.
• You want to know your payment data is valid before creating an account. Full field-level validation against your bank’s layout, no signup. It checks the payments you’re about to turn into a file, not a file you already have.
• You would rather your payees’ banking details not sit in a payments vendor’s database. We build the file in your browser; account numbers, transit numbers and amounts never reach our servers.
• More than one person prepares payments and you would rather not choose a tier by seat count.

Worth understanding before it decides your evaluation, because it does less than the name suggests — and the limit isn’t ACH Pro’s fault.

QuickBooks doesn’t store vendor bank details in a form an integration can read. ACH Pro’s own documentation says it plainly: recipients synced from QuickBooks need account information added before they can be used in an ACH file, either when the sync notification appears or while you’re configuring the file.

So the sync brings across who you’re paying and how much. The routing and account numbers are entered once per payee and then stored in ACH Pro’s recipient database.

That’s the setup you’re choosing between. With ACH Pro you build a payee database once and QuickBooks feeds transactions into it. With PayFile Pro your spreadsheet is the payee list, and the same file goes in each run with new dates and amounts.

That is also why the two products store different things. ACH Pro holds your recipients and their bank details, encrypted on their servers; PayFile Pro assembles the file in your browser and holds nothing. Worth being clear that this is not a difference in care taken with data — ACH Pro’s free validator is client-side too, and the file never leaves your device. It is a difference in whether the tool keeps your payee list for you.