Comparison · Dext
ScanToExcel vs Dext
Honest pricing math, document-by-document feature scope, and the trade-offs of leaving Dext's per-seat firm tier for a flat-rate Excel-first workflow.
Verified: May 12, 2026
Side-by-side comparison
| ScanToExcel | Dext | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing & commitment | ||
| Cheapest paid plan | $4.99/mo | $31.50/mo |
| Per-user or flat? | Flat rate | Per-user (5 user min) |
| Monthly document cap | Unlimited daily conversions | 250 docs/mo on entry plan |
| Annual discount | No | Yes (~20%, ~$25.21/mo annual) |
| Contract length | Month-to-month, cancel anytime | Monthly or annual minimum |
| Documents supported | ||
| Receipts | ✓ | ✓ |
| Invoices | ✓ | ✓ |
| Bank statements | ✓ | ~ |
| Credit card statements | ✓ | ~ |
| Paystubs | ✓ | ✕ |
| Image of tables (screenshots, photos) | ✓ | ✕ |
| Multi-page PDFs | ✓ | ✓ |
| Scanned PDFs (image-based) | ✓ | ~ |
| Output & integrations | ||
| Native Excel export (.xlsx) | ✓ | ✕ |
| CSV export | ✓ | ✓ |
| Xero / QuickBooks CSV templates | ✓ | yes (direct API) |
| Direct Xero / QuickBooks / Sage sync | ✕ | ✓ |
| Bulk upload (parallel processing) | yes (up to 50 files) | ✓ |
| Practical & UX | ||
| Can test without account? | yes (10/day free) | ✕ |
| Data residency / GDPR | EU processing, zero retention | Global servers, persistent vault |
| Time to first export | Under 60 seconds, no install | Onboarding + chart of accounts mapping |
The verdict
Pick Dext if:
you're a firm with 20+ clients on Xero, QuickBooks or Sage, needing multi-user approval workflows and a persistent audit-trail vault.
Pick ScanToExcel if:
you need clean, immediately usable Excel output from complex documents — paystubs, bank statements, image tables — without per-seat firm pricing.
Neither if:
you're a 5+ accountant practice billing clients per Dext seat with dozens of supplier portals in active use. Dext's deeper Sage Accounting bundle, or AutoEntry's per-credit firm pricing, will be more cost-effective than rebuilding client onboarding inside a single-user spreadsheet tool.
Frequently asked questions
What does Dext actually cost for a 3-person bookkeeping practice?
Dext's $31.50/mo entry tier covers 5 users with a single 250-document cap shared across them. The realistic floor for an active practice is the next tier (~$65/mo for 1,000 docs) — roughly $780/year versus $60/year for ScanToExcel Premium. The crossover point is approximately three active client seats; below that, ScanToExcel's flat unlimited model is dramatically cheaper.
Does ScanToExcel handle Dext's separate sub-caps on bank and supplier statements?
Those sub-caps don't exist in ScanToExcel. Dext's entry plan limits bank-statement extraction to 10/month and supplier-statement extraction to 5/month regardless of the overall 250-document quota. ScanToExcel processes both under the same unlimited daily conversion allowance with no class-based throttling.
Can ScanToExcel auto-publish drafts to Xero, QuickBooks or Sage like Dext does?
No. Dext maintains certified ledger integrations that draft bills directly into the chart of accounts. ScanToExcel produces pre-mapped Xero and QuickBooks CSVs designed for one-click manual import. The trade-off: no per-publication API costs, no integration drift, and you keep manual review of every draft before it touches the ledger.
What about Dext's mobile receipt-snap and per-account email-in inbox?
ScanToExcel's web upload accepts mobile photos and bulk drops, but does not provide a dedicated receipt-snap mobile app or a personal email-in address per user. If field receipt capture by non-finance staff is the primary use case, Dext or Expensify remain stronger; if the documents already live on a desktop, ScanToExcel is faster.
Does ScanToExcel preserve a multi-year audit trail like Dext's vault?
No, intentionally. ScanToExcel processes documents in EU memory and discards them within minutes — the spreadsheet you download is the only artifact. Dext stores every document indefinitely with attachment links inside Xero. A strict audit-trail requirement is the one place ScanToExcel deliberately does not compete.
Will paystubs and credit-card statements work in ScanToExcel where Dext stalls?
Yes. Dext explicitly treats paystubs as out-of-scope and credit-card statements as a partial use case. ScanToExcel was built around the long-tail document set: paystubs, multi-page credit-card statements, scanned bank statements and image tables are first-class inputs alongside invoices and receipts.
Is the $4.99 plan really unlimited or are there hidden caps?
Unlimited daily conversions with parallel batch uploads up to 50 files at a time. There are no per-document credits, no per-page surcharges, no per-user multipliers and no annual lock-in. The trade-off is a single-user account model — multi-seat pricing is not offered.
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