Dext vs Hubdoc vs AutoEntry: UK Receipt Capture Showdown 2026

Three tools dominate the UK receipt capture conversation: Dext Prepare, Hubdoc, and AutoEntry. They all scan documents, extract data, and push it into your accounting software. But the differences between them — in pricing, accuracy, GDPR risk, and MTD ITSA readiness — matter more than most comparison articles acknowledge. If you're a UK bookkeeper or sole practitioner deciding which to recommend to clients (or use yourself), this is the comparison you actually need.

The short version: Hubdoc is only attractive if you're already on Xero and your document volumes are modest. AutoEntry is a sensible credit-based option for Sage users and anyone wanting predictable costs. Dext costs more, extracts more accurately, and handles MTD for Income Tax directly — which, from April 2026, is no longer optional for sole traders and landlords earning over £50,000.

Dext offers a 14-day free trial — no card required. Test it against your own document types before committing.

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The Comparison at a Glance

Prices exclude VAT. Dext pricing applies to the sole trader business plan — practice pricing differs. AutoEntry Bronze plan (50 credits) is sufficient for sole traders processing roughly 40–45 standard invoices per month.

Dext Prepare — The High-Accuracy Option

Dext has been the dominant receipt capture tool in UK accounting practices for years, and in 2026 it remains the best-featured option. The AI-assisted OCR sits at around 95% first-time accuracy — tested against real UK documents including faded thermal till receipts and handwritten invoices. That gap over Hubdoc (85–88%) represents roughly one in seven or eight documents requiring manual correction. At 100+ documents per month, that translates to a meaningful time cost.

2026 UK pricing (excl. VAT):

• Sole Trader / Solo plan: ~£20–25/mo (150 documents, 1 user)
• Small Business: ~£29–36/mo (250 documents, 5 users)
• Business: ~£54–57/mo (500 documents, 10 users)
• Annual billing reduces costs by approximately 20%

The bigger story for 2026 is Dext Solo, the purpose-built MTD for Income Tax product. It's HMRC-recognised, handles quarterly update submissions directly to HMRC, and covers up to five income streams per licence. For practices managing clients who entered the first MTD wave in April 2026, Solo is worth serious consideration. Practice pricing starts at £12.50/month for a minimum 5-client bundle (£2.50 per client), or £3.25 per client individually. That's substantially cheaper than a standalone accounting software subscription for each client, and it makes MTD ITSA operationally manageable at scale.

What Dext does well that the others don't: supplier statement reconciliation, WhatsApp document submission, advanced coding rules that learn from corrections, and multi-currency handling for clients with international suppliers. Our in-depth Dext review covers the full feature set and where the tool earns its premium — and where it doesn't.

Where it falls short: Pricing is not straightforward. Business plans are priced per entity, but practices with multiple clients end up on the practice-specific pricing, which can escalate significantly. The 2023 pricing restructure that pushed some UK practices into increases of 200–400% is not forgotten in the community, and it's worth negotiating before committing.

Hubdoc — Free, but Only If You're Already on Xero

Hubdoc was acquired by Xero in 2018 and is now bundled into Xero Grow (£28/month), Comprehensive (£36/month), and Ultimate (£45/month) plans at no extra charge. If you're already on one of those plans, Hubdoc is there waiting for you — and the cost argument is obvious.

Its best feature is auto-fetch: connect supplier portals — energy providers, phone companies, insurance firms — and Hubdoc retrieves invoices on a schedule without any manual capture step. That's genuinely useful for sole traders with predictable recurring suppliers. The Xero integration is tight; documents sync directly into Xero's bank reconciliation queue with suggested coding.

But Hubdoc's limitations are real, and the 3.3/5 rating on the Xero App Store reflects them honestly. OCR accuracy at 85–88% is noticeably lower than the alternatives. There is no line-item extraction. The mobile app is functional but not polished. Development pace has slowed compared to standalone competitors. And critically for practices advising UK clients on data protection: Hubdoc's data is stored on Canadian and US Amazon Web Services infrastructure. That's a legitimate GDPR consideration worth raising with clients, particularly those in regulated sectors. See our guide on automating bookkeeping with AI for broader context on what to check before deploying any tool with client data.

Hubdoc is also not available as a standalone product. If a client is evaluating Xero alongside other platforms — QuickBooks, Sage, FreeAgent — Hubdoc doesn't factor into those options. Our Sage vs Xero vs QuickBooks comparison works through this decision if you're advising a client who hasn't yet committed to an accounting platform.

Bottom line on Hubdoc: Use it if you're on Xero and document volumes are modest (under 50–60 per month). Enable it; it reduces manual work. But don't build a practice workflow around it, and don't recommend it to clients where GDPR data residency is a formal requirement.

AutoEntry — The Credit-Based Alternative

AutoEntry was acquired by Sage in 2019 and integrates natively with Sage Accounting — which alone makes it worth considering if you run a Sage-based practice. It also connects to Xero and QuickBooks. The OCR accuracy sits at around 93%, meaningfully above Hubdoc and below Dext.

2026 UK pricing (excl. VAT):

• Bronze: £14/mo — 50 credits, unused credits roll over 90 days
• Silver: £25/mo — 100 credits
• Gold: £47/mo — 200 credits
• Platinum: £108/mo — 500 credits

The credit model works as follows: 1 credit per standard invoice or receipt; 2 credits per invoice with line-item extraction; 3 credits per bank statement page. Unused credits roll over for 90 days, which makes AutoEntry considerably more forgiving for seasonal businesses than a flat monthly subscription. The 30-day free trial is the most generous of the three tools compared here.

For a sole trader processing 35 standard invoices and receipts per month, the Bronze plan at £14/month covers them comfortably. For the same volume with line-item extraction, they'd need 70 credits — pushing them into Silver at £25/month. It's predictable, and it scales in a way that makes sense. That said, AutoEntry's credit pricing can become expensive for high-volume users or anyone processing bank statements — 3 credits per page adds up fast on a 12-month statement.

Data storage is in Ireland and EU servers, which simplifies GDPR compliance considerably compared to Hubdoc.

Where AutoEntry falls short relative to Dext: no direct MTD ITSA submission (it relies on the connected accounting software to handle that), no WhatsApp capture, and the mobile app is functional but basic. For practices with clients entering the MTD ITSA system, this indirect approach requires a clear workflow to avoid compliance gaps.

The MTD ITSA Factor

From April 2026, sole traders and landlords with qualifying income over £50,000 are mandated to maintain digital records and submit quarterly updates to HMRC via recognised software. The threshold drops to £30,000 in April 2027 and to £20,000 around 2028. This changes the receipt capture decision for a growing segment of your client base.

Only Dext offers direct MTD ITSA submission via Dext Solo. Hubdoc and AutoEntry both rely on the accounting software layer to handle submissions. That's not necessarily a problem — if your clients are on Xero or a Sage product with MTD capabilities — but it requires clear coordination. Our guide to HMRC-approved MTD software covers which platforms have confirmed recognition for 2026, and our Best MTD Software roundup compares the full stack options.

Recommended Workflow: Anna, 15-Client Practice in Leeds

Anna runs a sole practitioner bookkeeping practice handling 15 small business clients — a mix of tradespeople, a couple of landlords, and three retail businesses. Her accounting platform of choice is Xero, supplemented with one Sage 50 client inherited from a previous firm.

For the 14 Xero clients, Anna uses Dext Prepare on a practice plan. The accuracy and supplier rules save her roughly 3–4 hours per week across the client base, and Dext's direct Xero integration means documents arrive pre-coded and ready for reconciliation. For the five clients who entered the April 2026 MTD wave, she's added Dext Solo — those clients' quarterly updates go directly from Dext to HMRC without Anna touching a separate submission step.

For the one Sage 50 client, she uses AutoEntry's Silver plan (100 credits/month). It integrates natively with Sage, handles that client's 80-odd monthly invoices cleanly, and costs £25/month — justifiable at the billing rate she charges for that client.

Hubdoc sits enabled on four of the Xero client accounts for clients who want to use auto-fetch for their utility bills. Anna doesn't run those through Hubdoc for anything requiring high accuracy or line-item detail — those go through Dext. Hubdoc is essentially doing the filing work for recurring, predictable supplier documents.

This kind of layered approach — using each tool for what it actually does well — is more common in well-run UK practices than the all-in-one single-tool narrative suggests. The Complete AI Bookkeeping Stack guide covers how the full toolset fits together, including how receipt capture connects to bank reconciliation and reporting.

The Right Pick For...

• Sole traders on Xero with simple needs: Hubdoc. Already included at no extra cost. Enable it, connect a few suppliers, use it as the baseline.
• Sole traders entering MTD ITSA in 2026: Dext Solo. The only tool here with direct HMRC-recognised quarterly submission. If accuracy and MTD compliance both matter, this is the clear answer.
• Sage-based practices: AutoEntry. Native integration, EU data storage, no awkward middleware layer between AutoEntry and Sage Accounting.
• High-volume businesses (100+ documents/month): Dext Prepare. The accuracy gap over the alternatives is most significant at volume. The per-document cost also compares favourably on Dext's unlimited plans once you're above ~150 documents.
• Cost-sensitive seasonal businesses: AutoEntry Bronze or Silver. The 90-day credit rollover absorbs quiet months and the credit model means you only pay for what you process.
• Practices wanting the strongest multi-platform flexibility: Dext. The only tool here with excellent ratings across Xero, QuickBooks, and Sage simultaneously. If your practice serves clients across multiple accounting platforms, the breadth matters.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use Hubdoc without a Xero subscription?

No. Hubdoc is not available as a standalone product. You must hold an active Xero subscription (Grow plan or above) to access it. If you're not on Xero, AutoEntry (from £14/month) or Dext Prepare are the relevant standalone options.

Does AutoEntry handle MTD for Income Tax submissions?

Not directly. AutoEntry captures and categorises documents, then pushes the data to your connected accounting software — Sage, Xero, or QuickBooks. MTD ITSA quarterly submissions are handled by that accounting software, provided it holds HMRC recognition. AutoEntry itself does not submit to HMRC. Dext Solo is the only product in this comparison with built-in direct HMRC submission capability.

Is Hubdoc's data storage a GDPR problem for UK practices?

Potentially. Hubdoc stores data on Canadian and US AWS infrastructure. Transfers of personal data outside the UK/EEA require either an adequacy decision or appropriate safeguards (Standard Contractual Clauses). Xero has published a Data Processing Agreement that covers Hubdoc, but practices in regulated sectors — particularly those handling client financial data — should review their own obligations. AutoEntry (Ireland/EU) and Dext (EU/UK servers) both present a cleaner data residency position for UK practices.

Has Dext changed its pricing recently?

Yes. The 2023 pricing restructure caused significant disruption for some UK practices, with reported increases of 200–400% for multi-client arrangements. The current 2026 pricing model has stabilised, but business pricing is not publicly listed — you need to request a quote or negotiate with a sales contact for practice volumes above around 10 clients. Annual billing reduces costs by approximately 20% versus monthly. Our full Dext review covers the pricing picture in more detail.

What's the difference between Dext Prepare and Dext Solo?

Dext Prepare is the main receipt capture and expense management platform — it handles invoices, receipts, bank statements, and pushes coded data to accounting software. Dext Solo is a separate, purpose-built product for MTD for Income Tax: it includes receipt capture but is specifically designed for sole traders and landlords who need to maintain HMRC-compliant digital records and file quarterly updates. Solo is priced per client (from £2.50/client/month in bundles) and sold to practices managing MTD ITSA clients. If you're comparing Dext against Receipt Bot for solo bookkeeping, Solo's MTD functionality is a significant differentiator.

Related Reading

• Best AI Receipt Capture Tools for UK Bookkeepers (2026) — the wider field beyond Dext, Hubdoc, and AutoEntry
• Dext vs Receipt Bot: Which Is Right for Your Solo Bookkeeping Practice? — how Dext stacks up against the leading budget alternative
• Best MTD Software for UK Sole Traders (2026) — full comparison of HMRC-recognised platforms for the April 2026 wave

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