Dext
AI receipt and invoice capture that pushes clean data into Xero, QuickBooks and Sage.
From $17.70/mo per client
Best for: accounting firms and bookkeepers processing high receipt volume
Receipt & invoice captureOpen →
Protooled
The right AI tool for your practice, without the guesswork.
Ledgers, receipt capture, bill pay, payroll and filings: the accounting stack sorted by the job it does, with the real pricing and feature detail the big lists skip.
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The ones to look at first
The highest-rated listings in this catalogue.
Xero
Cloud accounting platform that runs a firm's books: the ledger everything else plugs into.
From $25/mo
Best for: small firms and bookkeepers serving international clients
Accounting & ledger softwareOpen →
BILL
Category-leading AP/AR automation for US firms, with a free Spend & Expense module bundled in.
From $45/mo per userFree tier
Best for: US-based accounting firms and finance teams automating high-volume accounts payable and receivable
AP Automation & Bill PayOpen →
Gusto
Full-service US payroll, benefits and HR with a genuinely strong accountant partner dashboard.
From $35/mo
Best for: accountants managing US-based SMB clients who want one payroll, benefits and HR stack with a partner dashboard
Payroll & HROpen →
Zoho Books
Cloud accounting and ledger software for small and mid-size businesses, part of the wider Zoho suite.
From $15/moFree tier
Best for: cost-conscious small businesses & Zoho users
Accounting & ledger softwareOpen →
Synder
Connects e-commerce and payment platforms to accounting software, syncing and reconciling sales, fees and payouts.
From $65/mo
Best for: multi-channel e-commerce sellers on QBO/Xero
E-commerce & payment syncOpen →
AutoEntry
Sage-owned capture tool that publishes data from receipts, invoices and bank statements into accounting software.
From $13/mo
Best for: Sage users and multi-ledger firms
Receipt & invoice captureOpen →
Datamolino
Bookkeeping automation that extracts data from bills, receipts and bank statements into your cloud ledger.
From $20/mo
Best for: Xero/QBO firms wanting per-document pricing
Receipt & invoice captureOpen →
In this catalogue
The tools, at a glance
Every listing, logo first. The tile is the same size for all of them, so the wall stays even.
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Accounting & ledger software Core cloud accounting platforms that run a firm's books: the system everything else plugs into. AP Automation & Bill Pay Accounts-payable, bill-pay and AR automation for firms and their clients. Receipt & invoice capture AI tools that extract line items from receipts, bills and invoices and push them into your ledger. Tax Filing & Compliance Tax-prep outsourcing and IRS e-filing tools for year-end compliance. Compliance Invoicing Payroll & HR Payroll, benefits and HR platforms accountants run or recommend for clients.
Firms ask what AI bookkeeping costs and get a single number back, which is why the budget always slips. In practice you are buying two or three subscriptions, not one. Document capture runs $13–65/month (AutoEntry starts at $13 for 50 credits, Datamolino at $20 for 100 documents). The ledger underneath runs $15–90 (Zoho Books has a genuine free tier under $50K revenue and Standard at $15, Xero Early is $25 but caps you at 20 invoices a month, QuickBooks Online Simple Start is $38). Bill payment can be free (Melio Go and Nickel Core both cost nothing to start and charge per transaction instead) or $45 per user on BILL Essentials once you want approval workflows.
The pricing model matters more than the sticker price
The number that decides your annual bill is not the headline rate, it is the unit it is charged in. Dext bills practices per client (Essentials is $17.70 per client per month), so a book full of small clients costs the same as a book full of big ones. Datamolino bills per document with unlimited users and clients. AutoEntry bills in credits, where a plain invoice costs one, a line-item document two, and a page of a bank statement three. Map your actual document volume against all three before you commit, for a practice with many low-volume clients the difference runs to thousands a year. We worked the comparison through in our guide to Dext alternatives.
What AI actually does here, and what it does not
Extraction is the part that genuinely works: reading a supplier invoice, pulling the line items, and coding it to the right account with a confidence score. What still needs you is everything downstream; the judgement calls, the reconciliation exceptions, the client who photographs receipts at an angle. Treat the capture tool as a data-entry replacement, not a bookkeeper replacement, and the ROI maths stays honest. Since Xero shut Hubdoc down on 8 May 2026, most of the migration traffic has gone to the tools in our Hubdoc alternatives guide, and the pattern above is exactly what determines who lands where.
Common questions
How much does AI bookkeeping software cost in 2026?
Budget for a stack rather than a single tool. Receipt and invoice capture runs $13–65/month (AutoEntry from $13 for 50 credits, Datamolino from $20 for 100 documents). A cloud ledger runs $15–90/month (Zoho Books free under $50K revenue, Xero Early $25, QuickBooks Online Simple Start $38). AP automation starts free (Melio Go and Nickel Core charge per transaction rather than per seat) and reaches $45/user on BILL Essentials. A one-person practice can run the whole stack under $60/month; a multi-client firm should model per-client pricing carefully before committing.
Per-client, per-document or credit pricing, which is cheapest for a firm?
It depends entirely on your mix. Per-client pricing (Dext Practice, $17.70/client/month on Essentials) is predictable but punishes a book of many small clients. Per-document pricing (Datamolino, from $20 for 100 documents, unlimited users and clients) usually wins for exactly that profile. Credit pricing (AutoEntry, from $13 for 50 credits) is cheapest at low or irregular volume, but different document types burn different credit counts, so a statement-heavy month costs more than an invoice-heavy one.
What replaced Hubdoc after Xero shut it down?
Xero retired Hubdoc on 8 May 2026 and folded a lighter capture feature into Xero itself. Firms that only need the header total often stay with the built-in tool; firms that need line-item extraction, a multi-client dashboard and an approval workflow have mostly moved to Dext, AutoEntry or Datamolino. The right answer depends on which ledgers your clients run. AutoEntry is the natural fit if any of them are on Sage.
Does my ledger's built-in receipt capture make a paid tool unnecessary?
For simple clients, often yes. Xero and QuickBooks Online both read a receipt and post the total, which is enough for a sole trader with a handful of expenses. What they do not do reliably is extract line items, and they do not give a practice a multi-client queue with approvals. That is the line: native capture for your simplest clients, a paid tool where line-item detail or firm-wide workflow actually matters.
Latest guides
Comparisons, alternatives and how-tos
Head-to-heads and how-tos for the tools above.
Guide
The accounting firm software stack in 2026: what each layer actually does
QuickBooks, Xero, Dext, BILL, Gusto: firms get compared these as if they were competing for one slot. They are not. They are five different layers of one stack, and the expensive mistakes come from buying two tools for the same layer or leaving a layer empty. Here is what each one is for, what it costs, and where Hubdoc’s shutdown left a hole.
Aug 2026
Alternatives
Dext alternatives for accountants (2026)
Dext is excellent: until the per-client bill adds up. Here are the receipt-capture tools accountants actually switch to in 2026: AutoEntry (Sage-native, credit-based) and Datamolino (per-document, unlimited users and clients), with verified pricing and who each one fits.
Jul 2026
Comparison
Sage Accounting vs QuickBooks Online 2026: Which Cloud Ledger Should Your Firm Standardize On?
Sage Accounting vs QuickBooks Online in 2026 for firms and the businesses they serve: pricing, user limits, ledger depth, app ecosystem, and which fits your stack.
Jun 2026