Dext alternatives for UK finance teams

Dext is the best-known invoice capture tool in the UK. It reads receipts and bills, extracts the data and publishes it to Xero, QuickBooks or Sage. Many finance teams outgrow it, or find they pay for capture they already get in Xero.

This guide compares five alternatives for UK businesses on Xero. It says what each one does well, what it costs, and when Dext is still the better choice. Prices were checked on 10 November 2026 and exclude VAT.

Quick comparison

Tool	Best for	Starting price	Moves money
Dext	Capture for businesses and bookkeepers	£24.17 a month, billed annually, for 250 documents and 5 users	Yes, with Dext Payments
Hubdoc	Basic capture on Xero at no extra cost	Included with Xero plans	No
AutoEntry	Pay-as-you-go capture with line items	£15.45 a month for 50 credits	No
Lightyear	AP automation with PO matching	From $199 for 125 credits	No
ApprovalMax	Approval workflows on Xero	Not published	Yes, with ApprovalMax Pay
Numra	AP workflow from the mailbox to the payment run, plus statements	From £129 a month	No

Why teams look for a Dext alternative

• Capture is now in Xero. Every Xero UK plan includes Hubdoc and smart document capture. For simple bills, a separate capture tool may add little.
• Add-ons add up. On Dext, line items, supplier statements and bank statements are each a paid add-on, and payments cost extra. See Dext pricing below.
• The work around the bill is still manual. Capture does not sort the AP mailbox, chase approvals, hold a disputed bill or check that a supplier’s bank details have changed.

Dext pricing

Dext prices for UK businesses, excluding VAT:

• Business plan: from £24.17 a month, billed annually as £290 a year. This includes 250 documents a month and 5 users. Paid monthly, the plan costs more.
• Line item extraction: from £16.50 a month, or 40p a document.
• Supplier statement extraction: from £16.50 a month, or 40p a document.
• Bank statement extraction: from £10 a month, or 25p a document.
• Dext Payments: from 25p a payment.

1. Hubdoc

Hubdoc is owned by Xero and is included with Xero subscriptions.

• Good at: fetching bills and receipts, extracting header data and publishing to Xero.
• Weaker at: line items. Hubdoc can reuse a supplier’s last lines, but it does not extract new line items automatically.
• Price: included with Xero.

Choose Hubdoc if your bills are simple, your volume is low, and you want to avoid another subscription.

2. AutoEntry

AutoEntry, owned by Sage, is a credit-based capture tool that works with Xero, QuickBooks and Sage.

• Good at: line item extraction, supplier statements and bank statements on one credit balance.
• Credits: an invoice uses 1 credit, or 2 with line items. A supplier statement uses 2. A bank statement uses 3 per page.
• Price: from £15.45 a month for 50 credits, up to £518.25 for 2,500.

Choose AutoEntry if you want line items and statements without separate add-ons, and your volume is steady.

3. Lightyear

Lightyear is AP automation for Xero and other ledgers.

• Good at: line-level matching, three-way PO matching, a bank detail checker and supplier statement reconciliation.
• Price: from $199 for 125 credits. Three-way matching starts at a higher plan.

Choose Lightyear if you match many bills to purchase orders and want that inside your capture tool.

4. ApprovalMax

ApprovalMax is an approval workflow tool for Xero and QuickBooks, rated highly on the Xero App Store.

• Good at: multi-step approval rules for bills and purchase orders, with an audit trail. In October 2026 it added an Approval Agent that shows supplier history to approvers.
• Moves money: ApprovalMax Pay can pay approved bills.
• Price: not published on its website.

Choose ApprovalMax if approvals are your main problem and capture already works for you.

5. Numra

Numra automates the accounts payable workflow around the bill. It works with Xero, QuickBooks, NetSuite, Business Central and other systems, and we connect yours as part of setup.

• Good at:
  • Sorting the shared AP mailbox into invoices, credit notes, statements, reminders and supplier queries.
  • Coding each line from your own history and rules.
  • Catching real duplicates and changed bank details.
  • Holding disputed bills, and marking direct debit and card bills so they are not paid twice.
  • Approvals from email, and payment runs with credit notes netted off.
  • Supplier statement reconciliation as a separate workflow.
  • Working from Claude and ChatGPT through the Numra MCP, with a person confirming each change.
• Does not: move money. Numra prepares the payment run and the bank file. You make the payment.
• Price: Accounts Payable from £129 a month, unlimited users, no implementation fee on SMB plans.

Choose Numra if capture is not your problem, and the mailbox, approvals, controls and payment run are.

When Dext is still the right choice

• You want capture and payments in one tool. Dext Payments pays suppliers and includes Confirmation of Payee checks. Numra and Hubdoc do not move money.
• Your accountant or bookkeeper already runs your books in Dext and you want to keep the same workflow.
• You mainly process receipts and expenses, which is where Dext started.

How to choose

1. Simple bills, low volume: use Hubdoc, which you already pay for in Xero.
2. You need line items and statements on one bill: look at AutoEntry or Dext with add-ons.
3. Heavy PO matching: look at Lightyear.
4. Approvals only: look at ApprovalMax.
5. The whole AP process, from the mailbox to the payment run, with controls: look at Numra.