A Free Alternative to Treasury Software Bank Positive Pay
Treasury Software's Bank Positive Pay is one of the older names in this corner of the market. It works. If you process a high volume of checks across several accounts and want installed software with a deep library of bank layouts, it is a reasonable buy. But for many small businesses and bookkeepers, it costs more than the job requires and runs only where the software is installed.
PositivePayMaker is a free, browser-based alternative. You upload a check register as CSV or Excel, map your columns, and download a positive pay (check issue) file formatted for your bank. Your check data never leaves your browser: the conversion runs entirely client-side, so nothing is uploaded to a server. This page compares the two fairly and tells you where the paid tool still makes sense.
Side by side: the facts as of 2026
These figures reflect each vendor's public pricing and product pages, current as of 2026. Confirm current pricing on the vendor sites before you decide.
- Price. Treasury Software's Bank Positive Pay subscriptions run from about $29.95/month for a single-user desktop license to $89.95/month for a multi-user Corporate workgroup. That is roughly $360 to $1,080 per year. PositivePayMaker is free.
- Platform. Treasury Software is installed Windows desktop software, licensed per desktop or per workgroup. PositivePayMaker runs in any modern browser on Windows, Mac, or Chromebook. There is nothing to install.
- Bank layouts. Treasury Software advertises 350+ bank layouts, and will build a missing one for you. PositivePayMaker ships 11 verified layouts, 6 of them built from published bank specifications including Chase and Huntington, plus a custom format builder for any other bank.
- Where the file is built. Treasury Software processes your data on your machine inside the installed application. PositivePayMaker processes it in your browser tab. In both cases your check list is not sent to a third-party server.
Where Treasury Software is the better fit
This is not a one-size answer. Treasury Software earns its price in specific situations:
- You have an unusual or regional bank. With 350+ pre-loaded layouts and free custom-format creation, the odds your exact format is already on file are higher than with an 11-layout tool. PositivePayMaker's custom builder closes most of that gap, but a pre-built layout you never have to configure is genuinely less work.
- High volume across many accounts. If you generate issue files daily for multiple companies and bank accounts, installed software with saved profiles, scheduling, and reconciliation features can pay for itself in saved time.
- You also want bank reconciliation or ACH tools. Treasury Software sells a broader treasury suite. If you need more than positive pay, buying one product that covers several jobs can be simpler than stitching together free tools.
If any of those describe you, the paid tool is a defensible choice. For a single business cutting a normal batch of checks, the math usually favors free.
Where the free tool wins
For most bookkeepers and small-business owners, the workflow is the same a few times a month: export your check register, turn it into the file your bank wants, upload it to your bank's portal. PositivePayMaker covers that without a subscription, an install, or a Windows requirement.
- No cost, no license seats. One person or five, on any operating system, no per-user fee.
- Nothing to install or update. Open the page, do the job, close the tab.
- A custom builder for any bank. If your bank is not one of the 11 verified layouts, you define the columns, delimiter, date format, and headers once and reuse it.
- A built-in validator. Before you send anything, you can check the structure of a file you already have. See the file validator.
If your accounting software cannot produce a positive pay file directly, this matters. QuickBooks, for example, cannot export a positive pay file natively, which is the gap a converter fills. See how to create a QuickBooks positive pay file for the full walkthrough.
How to switch
- Export your check register from your accounting software as CSV or Excel. You need, at minimum, the account number, check number, issue date, amount, and payee.
- Open your bank's layout in PositivePayMaker, or build a custom one. If your bank is Chase or Huntington, start with the verified layouts on the Chase and Huntington pages.
- Map your columns to the bank's required fields and download the file.
- Verify the first file with your bank. This step is not optional. Upload one issue file, confirm your bank accepts it without errors, and only then make it your routine. Banks change formats, and no tool can guarantee a spec it has not been told about.
New to this control entirely? Read what positive pay is and how it stops check fraud before you set up files. You can browse the full set of supported bank formats to see whether yours is already covered.
The short version
Treasury Software is paid, Windows-only, installed software with a very large layout library and broader treasury features. It suits higher-volume and multi-account treasury users. PositivePayMaker is free, browser-based, cross-platform, and private by design, with 11 verified layouts and a custom builder that handles the rest. For a single business turning a check register into a bank file a few times a month, the free tool does the same job at no cost.