Why larger vendors wait longer to get paid

We surveyed 417 small and mid-sized vendors about how quickly they get paid, and company size revealed one of the clearest patterns in the data.

Solo vendors are paid within 15 days 77.8% of the time. Among vendors with 51 to 100 employees, that figure falls to just 41.1%. In other words, business growth often comes with slower payment.

Payment speed by company size

The pattern is clear: vendors generally wait longer as their businesses grow.

Cross-tab of company size and days to payment, calculated from survey responses. Group sizes range from 54 (Just me / 1) to 115 (2–10) respondents.

Solo vendors and teams with 2 to 10 employees are paid within 15 days most of the time, at 77.8% and 72.2%, respectively.

The biggest drop occurs after a business grows beyond 10 employees. Only 52.6% of vendors with 11 to 25 employees are paid within 15 days. That figure falls to 41.0% among vendors with 26 to 50 employees, then remains nearly unchanged at 41.1% for vendors with 51 to 100 employees.

Why larger vendors may wait longer

The survey did not ask vendors to explain this pattern directly, but the broader results suggest a likely reason: larger vendors often take on larger projects, which may involve bigger clients and more complex approval processes.

That aligns with another finding from the survey. 12.2% of vendors identify excessive manual approval steps as a payment-related frustration. It is reasonable to assume that this issue may be more common for vendors working with larger, more bureaucratic clients.

"It's a little bit of the wild west. A lot of options with similar capabilities that don't always work well together. I want things better integrated."

-Construction vendor, 51 to 100 employees

What this means

For solo operators, the data is encouraging: they receive payment within 15 days most of the time. For growing vendors, the trend is more concerning.

Once a business grows beyond 10 employees, payment speed drops sharply. It does not recover as the business grows. Larger vendors may face more approval steps, disconnected systems, and administrative delays before payment is released.

Payment speed by company size is just one of six themes we found in the 2026 Vendor Payment & Portal Report. Want to learn more? Check out the full report, or read the recap of all six findings.