Supplier vs Vendor

“Supplier” and “vendor” are often used interchangeably in everyday finance language, but in Pleo’s Accounting Integrations they refer to two related, distinct concepts.

Supplier vs Vendor

Term	What It Means
Supplier	The real-world business you buy from. This is what a finance user thinks of as the “supplier” on an invoice or expense.
Vendor	The Accounting System’s master-data record that represents that supplier inside the target system (for example, a Vendor record in NetSuite or Xero). Pleo stores and syncs this record via the Vendors API.

A Supplier and a Vendor may refer to the same real-world business, or they may not: they are not guaranteed to be the same record.

Why the Terms Overlap

Two Pleo capabilities read data differently depending on whether Vendor Tagging is enabled:

The supplier object on an export item is Pleo’s long-standing representation of who an expense or invoice was paid to, available independently of Vendor Tagging but not guaranteed to be populated on every item.
The vendor object on an export item is populated once the expense or invoice has been tagged with a Vendor and Vendor Tagging is enabled.

For the resolution order between these two objects, see Accounts Payable Handling.

Creating a Vendor via the External API

Calling POST /v1/vendors creates a Vendor master-data record for the company in Pleo. What happens next depends on whether Vendor Tagging (Vendor-Based Bookkeeping) is enabled for that company.

Vendor Tagging Enabled

Area	Behaviour
Where it appears	The Vendor becomes selectable from the Vendor Tagging drop-down in Settings → Accounting, and can be tagged directly on an expense or invoice before export.
Export items	The `bookkeeping` object is populated on export items. Vendor Tagging is mandatory for `accounts_payable` and optional for `journal`. See How to Enable Vendor-Based Bookkeeping.
Sync loop	The Vendor participates in the full bidirectional loop: existing Vendors are kept current via Vendor Sync, and new Vendors added directly in Pleo are detected via the `v1.vendor.created` webhook so the integration can create them in the Accounting System. See Vendor Creation Overview.

Vendor Tagging Not Enabled

Area	Behaviour
Where it appears	The Vendor is stored as master-data in Pleo, but there is no Vendor Tagging UI for bookkeepers to select or tag it on an expense or invoice.
Export items	The `bookkeeping` object on export items returns `null`. Use the `supplier` object on the export item for bookkeeping instead.
Sync loop	The Vendor still exists as a record and can be updated or archived via the Vendors API, but it is not surfaced in any bookkeeping or tagging flow until Vendor Tagging is activated.

Summary

Topic	Vendor Tagging Enabled	Vendor Tagging Not Enabled
`POST /v1/vendors` creates	A Vendor master-data record in Pleo	Same record, but not surfaced in any bookkeeping UI
Visible in Pleo Web App	Yes, via the Vendor Tagging drop-down and on expenses/invoices	No dedicated Vendor Tagging UI
Sync behaviour	Full bidirectional loop: Vendor Sync in, Vendor Creation out	Vendor record exists and can be managed via the API, but is not used for tagging
Export item `bookkeeping` field	Populated; mandatory for `accounts_payable`, optional for `journal`. See Vendor Tagging in Export Items	Always `null`; use the `supplier` object instead

Creating Vendors and Suppliers in the Pleo Web App

If you are not building a custom accounting integration and just want to know how Pleo Web App works:

Suppliers can be created when paying an invoice in the Pleo Web App: if the Supplier does not already exist, you can add it and apply payment details as part of the invoice payment flow. See Paying a Supplier Invoice Using Pleo Web App (includes a walkthrough video).
Vendor Cards are a separate, unrelated Pleo feature: a card type restricted to a single merchant, used to control spend on subscriptions and digital services. Setting up a Vendor Card does not create a Vendor master-data record via the API, despite the shared name. See Control Your Subscriptions With Vendor Cards (includes a walkthrough video).

What Comes Next?

Pleo has two separate Vendor flows: Vendor Creation and Vendor Sync. See Vendor Creation vs Vendor Sync to find the right one for your scenario.

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Supplier vs Vendor