What Is Online Check Writer & Is It Worth It?

Online Check Writer is more than just an app for printing checks. It’s an all-in-one cloud-based platform that combines making and accepting payments with online banking, invoicing, payroll management, and much more. Keep reading for the full scoop on Online Check Writer.

What Is Online Check Writer?

Online Check Writer is a cloud-based payment management platform. It offers check printing, credit/debit/ACH/wire payments (domestic and international), bill pay, invoicing, payroll management, online banking, physical and digital debit cards, and integrations with services like QuickBooks and Gusto.

Online Check Writer offers a pay-as-you-go plan with no monthly fee along with three paid subscription tiers. As such, it’s a scalable solution that fits a wide variety of business situations, from the small business needing a simple check printing service to enterprise-level businesses seeking a full financial management & banking package.

How Does Online Check Writer Work?

Unlike some check printing programs, Online Check Writer is completely cloud-based. When you create an Online Check Writer login, you can use the Pay As You Go plan to print and send up to five checks for no cost whatsoever. Once you’ve printed your five free checks, you can continue using the software while paying to recharge your check supply when needed. You’ll also have access to cloud banking, invoicing, and many other features.

Should you want more from Online Check Writer, such as premium check and invoice templates, dedicated support, Positive Pay for no extra charge, ACH processing, white labeling, free monthly credits, and more, you’ll need a paid monthly subscription plan.

The Benefits Of Using Online Check Writer

The appeal of Online Check Writer is in its versatility and its ability to scale with your business as it grows. Given the enthusiastic reception the software gets on popular review sites like Trustpilot, it’s a service model that works to the benefit of the vast majority of customers.

Online Check Writer can do the following things for your business:

• Print checks from your own printer
• Gives you access to a free business checking account from Zil with no minimum balance requirements
• Make payments from your free checking account with physical and virtual debit cards
• Print payroll checks for all your employees at once
• Send checks and invoices digitally via email or SMS
• Create bills with payee details and send them instantly on demand
• Fund your ACH Wallet with a credit card, ACH transfer, wire transfer, or check
• Integrate with various accounting and payroll platforms

Online Check Writer Pricing

Considering the fact that for $30, Online Check Writer gives you check-printing along with a host of other business features that competing check printing services don’t offer (some of which come as $60 downloadable programs), you have to respect OCW’s platform from a pricing perspective. The service gets quite pricey as you move up the subscription tier ladder, but smaller businesses won’t need that level of service anyway.

Pay As You Go

• $0/month, $30 for your initial check recharge after you print your five free checks
• Check printing fee: 1%, maximum $1
• Check mailing fee: Starts at $1.25
• Check emailing fee: 1%, maximum $5
• ACH fee: 1%, maximum $5
• Positive Pay: $99.99
• Business checking account from Zil
• Unlimited users
• ACH/direct deposit/domestic & international wire transfers (paying & receiving)
• RTP (real-time payments)
• Instant check printing
• Billing & invoicing
• eChecks & email checks
• One-click check mailing from UPS/FedEx
• Cloud banking & customizable physical/virtual debit cards
• Integrations with Stripe, PayPal, QuickBooks, & more

Business

• $49.99/month
• Check printing fee: 0.69%, maximum $1
• Check mailing fee: Starts at $1.25
• Check emailing fee: 0.69%, maximum $5
• ACH fee: 0.69%, maximum $5
• Positive Pay: $99.99
• 50 free credits per month (these credits cover transaction fees)
• Everything from the Pay As You Go plan

Premium

• $499.99/month
• Check printing fee: 0.19%, maximum $1
• Check mailing fee: Starts at $1.25
• Check emailing fee: 0.19%, maximum $5
• ACH fee: 0.19%, maximum $5
• Positive Pay: Included in plan
• 500 free credits per month
• Everything from the Business & Pay As You Go plans
• Bank data
• Manual ACH
• Premium check & invoice templates
• Dedicated support

Enterprise

• Custom pricing — starts at $999.99/month
• Check printing fee: 0.09%, maximum $1
• Check mailing fee: Starts at $1.25
• Check emailing fee: 0.09%, maximum $5
• ACH fee: 0.09%, maximum $5
• Positive Pay: Included in plan
• 1000 free credits per month
• Everything from the other plans
• Faster ACH processing
• White labeling
• Your own email server
• Customizable email templates
• SSO (SAML) and SCIM (Okta)
• Custom data retention policies
• Dedicated server

Online Check Writer Features

There are plenty of check printing services out there, but very few of them offer a full suite of business/payment features as well. From online banking to debit cards to payroll management to invoicing, Online Check Writer does it all.

The software’s dashboard (shown above) is easily navigable, and the features are powerful, easy to use, and do not require any special knowledge. The product’s satisfied users tend to agree on these points.

Checks

With OCW’s check printing software, you can print checks instantly from any printer. All you’ll need is some blank check stock paper.

• Send checks in the mail for $1.25 apiece with the USPS’s check mailing service
• Send checks via email as a one-time printable .pdf with a tracking facility
• Digitize your paper checks & make your payments via email or text

Deposit Slips

Online Check Writer lets you create & print deposit slips from any of the 22,000+ banks OCW integrates with.

• The software generates your deposit slip templates automatically when you add your bank account
• Every deposit you make is automatically reconciled

Payment Processing

Online Check Writer lets you send and receive the following payment types (besides checks):

• Credit/debit card payments
• ACH/RTP
• Direct deposit
• Wire transfers, domestic & international

Payroll Management

With Online Check Writer’s payroll features, you can print payroll checks for all your employees at once. You can also send your employees checks digitally via email or SMS.

Bill Pay

OCW makes it easy to pay your bills in whichever way you wish.

• Create bills with payee details and send them instantly
• Pay bills via printed check, eCheck, or ACH/direct deposit
• All transactions are recorded for accurate bank reconciliation

Invoicing

Online Check Writer’s invoicing solution lets you do the following:

• Create and send invoices online via email or text
• Get paid via checks, credit/debit card, ACH, RTP, PayPal, or BitPay
• If your client has an OCW account, the bill directly goes to the bill pay page
• Create an invoice tax list

Banking

OCW’s partnership with Zil Banking means you get a free Zil business checking account when you sign up with OCW. Some notable highlights:

• No minimum balance requirement or minimum opening deposit
• Get 100 free check stock papers when you make your first deposit of $1000
• Get paid fast with direct deposits
• Get physical & digital debit cards that let you choose your spending limit, lock your card if it gets stolen, and get multiple cards for a single account without any fees

Online Check Writer Integrations

Online Check Writer integrates with the following services:

• QuickBooks Online, Desktop, & Payroll
• Gusto
• Zoho Books & Payroll
• Zapier
• Xero
• BitPay
• Bill.com

Online Check Writer Reviews: Do Users Like It?

The short answer to this question is yes. From SiteJabber to G2 to TrustPilot, OCW consistently gets an average user score higher than 4 out of 5. OCW users have a lot of praise for the product, though the occasional criticism emerges as well.

Negative Online Check Writer Reviews

• Deposits take too long
• Reports of customer service problems
• Some text on the onlinecheckwriter.com website isn’t clear

Positive Online Check Writer Reviews

• Very user-friendly
• Can be tried for free
• Great customer support
• Makes payroll easy
• Good check templates

Is Online Check Writer Right For Your Business?

Not many software platforms offer such a wide variety of services under one umbrella, so it’s difficult to find a comparable provider. However, given that it offers pay-as-you-go check printing along with expanded capabilities (and lower transaction fees) for monthly plan subscribers, Online Check Writer stands to benefit a wide variety of business sizes and types.

The package as a whole may be overkill for smaller businesses seeking a simple check-printing solution, but considering the fact that the pay-as-you-go option is priced competitively with more specialized check-printing software platforms, these businesses may nonetheless find it to be a good fit.

Choose Online Check Writer If…

• You want a check writing service you can try for free
• You’re a high-volume business seeking discounted payment processing
• You want free online banking and free debit cards to go along with check printing
• You want business software that is easy to use for non-techies

If you’d prefer a simpler check-printing solution and aren’t interested in opening an online bank account, check out the other options listed in our rundown of the best check printing software platforms. But if Online Check Writer appeals to you, try it out for free — you have nothing to lose!

Online Check Writer FAQs