For UK accounting practices
The Dext alternative that doesn’t charge you for growing
Dext bills per client, so your software cost rises every time you win work. Receiptflow is £150, £275 or £500 a month, flat, whatever your client count does inside that tier.
No credit card required. Takes about ten minutes to set up.
Cost at 150 clients · ex-VAT
| Dext, per client | £894.75/mo |
| Receiptflow, flat tier | £275.00/mo |
| Annual difference | £7,437.00 |
Dext figures from its UK partner pricing calculator, verified 18/09/2026.
The short answer
The realistic alternatives to Dext for a UK practice are Receiptflow, AutoEntry, Hubdoc and Datamolino. All four collect receipts and invoices from clients and push the extracted data into Xero or QuickBooks Online. What separates them is how they bill: Receiptflow charges a flat monthly tier, Dext charges per client, AutoEntry charges per document credit, and Hubdoc is bundled with a Xero subscription. For a practice that is growing, the billing model matters more than the feature list.
Receiptflow vs Dext, side by side
The two tools do the same job. These are the differences that change what a practice actually pays and how the month-end runs.
| Compared on | Receiptflow | Dext |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Flat monthly tier: £150 / £275 / £500 | Per client, rising with client count |
| Cost at 50 clients | £150.00 | £391.00 |
| Cost at 150 clients | £275.00 | £894.75 |
| Cost at 300 clients | £500.00 | £1,542.00 |
| Adding a client mid-tier | No change to the bill | Increases the monthly bill |
| Pricing published openly | Yes, on our pricing page | Via a partner plan builder, defaulting to annual billing |
| Client submission | Mobile app, email forwarding, direct upload | Mobile app, email forwarding, direct upload |
| Accounting integrations | Xero, QuickBooks Online, CSV export | Xero, QuickBooks Online, and a longer list besides |
| Multi-client dashboard | Yes | Yes |
| Stored document images | Yes, retained against each entry | Yes, retained against each entry |
| Built for | UK practices specifically | International, with UK support |
All figures ex-VAT. Dext pricing taken from its UK partner pricing calculator and verified 18/09/2026. Rate cards change, so check the current one before you decide.
The numbers in full
What each model costs at three practice sizes
The gap is not a fixed percentage. It widens as the practice grows, which is why the decision looks different at 50 clients and at 300.
| Clients | Receiptflow | Dext | Difference / month | Difference / year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 50 clients, Practice Essential | £150.00 | £391.00 | £241.00 | £2,892.00 |
| 150 clients, Practice Pro | £275.00 | £894.75 | £619.75 | £7,437.00 |
| 300 clients, Practice Growth | £500.00 | £1,542.00 | £1,042.00 | £12,504.00 |
Two things to take from that table
- The gap widens. Around £2,900 a year at 50 clients, over £12,000 at 300
- One column is a number, the other is an estimate. Receiptflow changes three times, at the tier boundaries. The per-client column moves every time a client is onboarded or offboarded
How the Dext figure is reached
From the partner plan builder, on a realistic practice mix: at 50 clients, 25 business clients and 25 sole trader or landlord clients, on monthly billing.
The builder defaults to annual billing, so the monthly figure only appears once you switch the toggle. Quote the annual-billing number as a monthly cost and you understate it.
The difference that compounds
Per-client billing charges you for your own growth
The line item grows fastest in exactly the years a practice is investing hardest.
Every new engagement adds to the software bill. That is fine at twenty clients and uncomfortable at two hundred. Most firms only notice at renewal, when the annual figure has moved by four figures and nobody can point to a decision that caused it.
The effect practices mention more than the cost
When software is priced per client, onboarding a small client carries a marginal cost. Nobody turns work away over £8 a month, but it puts a number on what used to be a judgement call.
What a flat tier changes
- 60 to 140 clients costs nothing extra on the £275 plan
- The benefit lands on the practice that is growing, not the one standing still
- Next year’s software line is a known number, not a forecast
Below about forty clients, check the maths before you move. Flat pricing has a floor, and at twenty clients a per-client tool is likely to beat £150.
Run both numbers at your actual client count, not the one in the case study.
Beyond price
What you keep, and what actually changes
The core workflow is the same on both tools. Being specific about that is more useful than claiming a difference that does not exist.
The same in both
Clients submit by mobile app, by forwarding an email, or by uploading a file. Supplier, date, total and VAT are extracted for review. The document image is stored against the entry. Data publishes into Xero or QuickBooks Online, and your team reviews before anything hits the ledger.
Different in Receiptflow
One flat monthly figure per tier. A dashboard built around a UK practice’s client list rather than a general business account. A narrower feature set, which for most practices means less to configure and less to explain to a new starter.
Different in Dext
A longer integration list, a broader feature set including modules many practices do not use, and a larger support organisation. If you need an integration outside Xero and QuickBooks Online, this is the material difference and it may decide the question.
The honest part
When Dext is the better choice
There are three situations where we would not expect a practice to move, and it is quicker for everyone if they are said out loud rather than discovered during a trial.
You need an integration we do not have. Receiptflow connects to Xero and QuickBooks Online, and exports CSV for everything else. If a meaningful share of your clients sit on a ledger that needs a native connection, the integration list decides this and the pricing comparison is beside the point.
Your client count is small and static. At twenty or thirty clients with no growth plan, per-client pricing can land below a flat £150 tier. Flat pricing rewards growth; if you are not growing, it is not rewarding you for anything.
You are mid-contract. Switching before a renewal date usually means paying twice for the overlap. Unless the current tool is actively costing you time, the sensible move is to diarise the renewal, run a trial a month before it, and decide then.
Migration
What switching actually involves
Most practices move in stages over a week or two, running both tools in parallel for one month-end before switching fully.
1 · Connect your accounting software
Authorise Xero or QuickBooks Online. It is the same kind of connection your current tool already uses, so nothing changes on the ledger side and no historic data moves.
2 · Load your client list
Clients are added in bulk rather than one at a time. Categorisation rules are re-created as you go, and this is the part worth setting aside an afternoon for, and the part most often underestimated.
3 · Move client submissions across
Clients get a new forwarding address and the mobile app. In practice this step sets the timeline, because it depends on your clients responding rather than on you. Start with your highest-volume clients.
4 · Run one month-end on both
Keep the old tool live for a single cycle and reconcile the two. If the numbers agree, cancel at the next renewal date rather than mid-term so you are not paying twice.
5 · Export what you need to keep
Before the old subscription lapses, export the document images and data you are required to retain. This is a records obligation, not a software preference, and it is much harder after the account closes.
During the trial
Four things worth testing before you commit
A fortnight of trial is enough to answer all four, and they are the questions that actually predict whether a switch sticks.
Your worst documents
Faded card receipts, multi-page invoices, foreign currency, photographs taken in a car park. Clean samples tell you nothing you did not already know.
Time per correction
Every tool gets some fields wrong. What matters is how long it takes one of your team to spot it and fix it. Time it on twenty documents.
Your least engaged client
Client-side adoption decides whether any of this works. Pick the client you expect to struggle, not the one who will do it properly.
One full publish
Push a batch through to Xero or QuickBooks Online and check what lands, including the VAT treatment and the attached image.
Go deeper
More on Dext alternatives
Four pieces that go further than this page, each from a different angle.
Common questions
What is the best Dext alternative for a UK practice?
It depends on your client count and how fast it is moving. Practices that are growing tend to do better on flat-tier pricing, because the bill does not track the client list. Practices with a small, stable book should compare the actual monthly figures, because a per-client tool can be cheaper at low volumes. The integration list is the other deciding factor: if you need a native connection beyond Xero and QuickBooks Online, that narrows the field before price does.
How much does Dext cost for a UK practice?
Verified against its UK partner pricing calculator on 18/09/2026, Dext charges £391 a month for 50 clients, £894.75 for 150 clients and £1,542.00 for 300 clients, all ex-VAT, on monthly billing. Receiptflow charges £150, £275 and £500 at those same client counts. Note that the plan builder defaults to annual billing, so the monthly figure only appears once you switch the toggle.
Is Receiptflow cheaper than Dext?
At 50 clients and above, yes, on the figures above. The annual difference runs from roughly £2,900 at 50 clients to over £12,000 at 300. Below about 40 clients the comparison narrows and a per-client model can win, because flat pricing has a floor. Run your own client count through both before deciding rather than relying on a headline multiple.
Can I keep using Xero or QuickBooks?
Yes. Receiptflow connects to Xero and QuickBooks Online directly, and extracted data can be exported as CSV for other packages. Your ledger, chart of accounts and existing workflow stay where they are. Only the capture tool in front of them changes. No historic data needs to move for the switch to work.
How long does migrating from Dext take?
Connecting your accounting software and loading the client list is usually an afternoon. Moving client submissions across takes longer because it depends on your clients responding. Most practices allow one full month-end running both tools in parallel before cancelling, which puts the realistic end-to-end timeline at four to six weeks.
What happens to our documents if we switch?
Export the images and data you are required to retain before the old subscription lapses. That is a records obligation regardless of which tool you move to, and it is considerably harder once the account has closed. Going forward, Receiptflow stores the document image against each entry, so the audit trail continues uninterrupted from the switchover date.
Do clients have to learn something new?
They get a new forwarding address and, if they use it, a new mobile app. For most clients that is the entire change. The practical advice is to move your highest-volume clients first, since they are the ones whose habits matter most to your month-end, and to give the rest a deadline rather than an invitation.
Do I need a card to trial it?
No. The free trial does not require a credit card, so you can load a handful of real clients and see how the extraction and review step performs on your own documents before committing to anything.
Run it against your own receipts
Load a few real clients, push a week of documents through, and compare the review time and the monthly figure against what you pay now.
No credit card required.
