BILL vs CPAY: Which Is the Better Buy in 2026?

Same yardstick, side by side (as of August 2026). Valuation lined up like this is most meaningful for two names in the same corner of the market, which these are. Figures are approximate; verify before investing.

The metrics above tell you which is the marginally better business. The bigger risk for most people is not picking the slightly worse stock, it is over-concentrating. BILL and CPAY share themes, so owning both, or adding either to what you already hold, can quietly push a large share of your portfolio into one bet.

This is the part a generic comparison page cannot answer, because it depends on what you own. Connect your brokerage and Walnut shows your real, combined BILL and CPAY exposure, flags overlap with your existing positions, and tells you if adding one would tip you past a concentration you are comfortable with, read-only by default, with your login staying at your broker. Walnut is not an investment adviser.

BILL Holdings, Inc. sells the software that small and midsize businesses use to run money in and money out. The core BILL AP/AR product handles invoice capture, approval routing and payment execution across checks, ACH, cards, real-time payments and cross-border rails, while BILL Spend and Expense (the former Divvy business) issues corporate cards and enforces budgets. A third channel, Embedded Solutions and Other, distributes the same plumbing through accounting firms, financial institutions and software partners. Revenue arrives in three shapes: fixed subscription fees, transaction fees (including interchange on card volume), and interest earned on customer funds sitting in transit. For the March 2026 quarter, subscription fees were ~$74.5 million, transaction fees ~$296.6 million and float revenue ~$35.4 million, adding to total revenue of ~$406.6 million. The platform moved ~$88.7 billion of payment volume across ~34.0 million transactions in that quarter, about 12% and 14% above the prior year respectively.

Full BILL guide

Corpay, Inc. sells payment products to businesses rather than consumers. It runs three reportable segments: Corporate Payments (virtual cards, AP automation, and cross-border FX and global bank accounts), Vehicle Payments (the legacy fuel and fleet card franchise that started the company), and Lodging Payments (workforce and crew hotel booking and settlement). Roughly 11,800 employees serve customers across North America, Brazil, the UK and Europe, and the company earns money on interchange, FX spreads, program fees, and interest on customer funds it holds between authorization and settlement.

Full CPAY guide

Both fit overlapping themes, but they are not interchangeable. The useful comparison is which set of drivers and risks you want exposure to.

• BILL drivers: Monetization per customer, not customer count; Operating leverage and the buyback.
• CPAY drivers: Corporate Payments is doing the heavy lifting; Cross-border scale after Alpha and Mastercard.

A faster-growing, richer-valued name usually swings harder, so it suits a longer horizon and a higher tolerance for volatility; a steadier, more cash-generative business suits a more conservative or income-minded investor. The honest test is which set of risks you could hold through a drawdown: Float revenue, which was ~$35.4 million in the March quarter and ~$112.7 million over nine months, fell year over year as interest rates declined, and further cuts would keep pressuring a high-margin revenue line BILL does not control. For CPAY, the FTC matter is the most visible overhang: the Eleventh Circuit affirmed judgment for the FTC in January 2026 over fuel card advertising and billing practices, and Corpay booked a ~$100 million charge in Q2 2026 for a preliminary settlement that still requires the agency's approval process to conclude.

Growth-minded investors who believe the theme has years to run tend to accept the richer multiple for more upside; value-minded investors lean toward the cheaper forward earnings and steadier profile. Pick BILL if you believe its drivers more; CPAY if you believe its. Many investors hold both, but since they share themes, that is a concentrated bet, not diversification. Decide deliberately and check overlap. For the full detail, see the BILL and CPAY guides.

BILL. Valuation looks very different depending on which earnings number is used. On GAAP net income, which is essentially breakeven on a trailing basis, no meaningful multiple exists; on guided fiscal 2026 non-GAAP earnings of ~$2.61 to ~$2.64 per diluted share, the stock sits around ~18x, and on forward consensus estimates closer to ~15x. Cash and short-term investments of roughly ~$2.2 billion against ~$1.9 billion of largely zero-coupon convertible debt leave enterprise value slightly below market cap, so the ~2.8x EV/sales figure is the cleanest cross-company comparison.

CPAY. Corpay trades near the high end of a 52-week range of roughly $253 to $406, yet the forward multiple of about 14x sits well below its guided ~28% adjusted EPS growth. The discount reflects the size of the GAAP-to-adjusted bridge, acquisition-related amortization, added leverage from Alpha, and the unresolved FTC settlement. Beta of about 0.87 is lower than most fintech peers, a function of the recurring, contract-based nature of fleet and corporate card revenue.

Headline figures (approximate, August 2026): BILL shows market cap ~$4.8B (shares near ~$48, ~99.6M outstanding), revenue (ttm) ~$1.60B, up ~12% year over year, q3 fy2026 revenue ~$406.6M total, ~$371.1M core (+16% YoY), profitability GAAP operating loss ~$61M TTM; non-GAAP operating income ~$79.8M in Q3 FY2026; CPAY shows revenue (ttm) ~$5.02B (+20% YoY), net income (ttm) ~$1.13B, GAAP EPS ~$16.41, q2 2026 revenue ~$1.34B (+21% YoY), adjusted EPS ~$7.00, 2026 guidance Revenue ~$5.31B, adjusted EPS ~$27.35.

BILL and CPAY are related but distinct: same themes, different businesses and risks. Neither wins in the abstract; the right pick is whichever thesis you actually believe, sized so you are not over-concentrated in one theme. Walnut can show your combined BILL and CPAY exposure against your real portfolio. It is not an investment adviser.