Updated July 2026 · written by a vendor, every price checked at the source
Dext alternatives for small bookkeeping practices
Dext is the most capable extraction suite on the market. That is also the problem: most small practices are paying for depth they re-check by hand anyway.
Fair to Dext first. For a firm processing serious volume it earns its price. The complaints that send people looking are specific and they repeat: per-client pricing that climbs since unlimited packages went away, tiers that get fidgety the moment you need line items, an interface heavier than a small practice wants, and OCR output you review anyway. Those are what practitioners report, not numbers we can verify, because Dext's public pricing page was down when we checked.
We make Sorted Receipts, one of the alternatives below. Prices are as published or as practitioners report them in July 2026. Corrections to [email protected].
What you're actually replacing
"Dext alternative" means different things depending on which part you use. Split it into the three jobs:
- Deep line-item extraction. The hardest part to replace. AutoEntry and Datamolino are the credible rivals.
- Getting documents out of clients. Dext's mobile app and email-in do work, but the client has to adopt them. If yours never did, you aren't really using this part.
- A tidy month-end handoff: publishable data plus the source documents sitting where the ledger expects them.
The alternatives, honestly
| Best for | Pricing model | The catch | |
|---|---|---|---|
| AutoEntry (Sage) | Statements, irregular volume | Credit packs ~$13-469/mo | Credits fluctuate with client behavior |
| Datamolino | Invoice-heavy books, line items | Volume-based, from ~€20/mo per 100 docs | Still metered, no client collection |
| Xero Smart Document Capture | Xero orgs, basic capture | Free (July 2026) | Per-org only, region-uneven, no practice view |
| Sorted Receipts | Collect-sort-chase for practices | $8/mo flat, documents never metered | Header-level extraction only, no line items |
The decision rule is short. If you bill for line-item data entry at volume, stay on Dext, or move sideways to AutoEntry or Datamolino and keep living with metering. If what you actually need is for the pile to arrive, sorted, with the gaps chased, and header-level data (date, vendor, amount, type) is enough because you re-check everything anyway, that's what Sorted Receipts does at a flat price: one upload link per client with no login and no app, sorting by month, vendor and type, reminders under your name, month-end as a CSV plus renamed originals for QBO, Xero, Desktop or folders.
Questions people search
Is there a cheaper Dext alternative?
At small-practice scale, yes. Hubdoc at $12/mo for simple capture, AutoEntry's small credit packs, or a flat-rate collection tool at $8/mo. At firm scale with real line-item needs, get Dext's quote and compare it to its actual rivals. Cheap alternatives stop being cheap once you add the features back.
What's the difference between Dext and Sorted Receipts?
Dext is extraction-first, so deep capture after the documents arrive. Sorted Receipts is collection-first: getting the documents in, sorted and chased, with header-level extraction. Some practices genuinely need both. Most small ones need the second one.
How does Dext compare with Hubdoc?
Both are capture tools. Hubdoc is $12 a month, flat and simple. Dext is deeper and quote-priced. Our Hubdoc vs Dext comparison and Hubdoc alternatives roundup go through all of it.