Dext vs SortBooks: Which Bookkeeping Tool Do You Need?

Two Tools, Two Different Problems

Dext and SortBooks are both popular bookkeeping automation tools that integrate with Xero, but they serve fundamentally different purposes. Understanding what each tool does helps you decide whether you need one, the other, or both.

The short version: Dext captures and processes source documents (receipts, invoices, bank statements). SortBooks categorises and reconciles bank transactions using AI. They are complementary, not competitive.

What Dext Does

Dext (formerly Receipt Bank) is a document processing tool. Its primary function is to capture data from paper and digital documents and push that data into Xero.

Core Features

Receipt capture - Photograph a receipt with your phone, and Dext extracts the vendor, date, amount, tax, and other details. The data is sent to Xero as a draft expense or bill.

Invoice processing - Forward supplier invoices to your Dext email address. Dext reads the invoice, extracts the data, and creates a draft bill in Xero.

Bank statement upload - Upload bank statements and Dext will extract the transactions, which can be useful when bank feeds are unavailable.

Supplier rules - Dext learns which account code to assign to each supplier over time, suggesting the correct code for future documents from the same vendor.

Approval workflows - Documents can be routed through an approval process before being published to Xero.

Where Dext Excels

Dext is best at solving the "paper problem" - turning physical and digital documents into structured financial data in your accounting software. It is particularly valuable for:

• Businesses that receive many paper receipts
• Companies with employees who incur expenses that need to be captured
• Businesses with suppliers who send PDF invoices by email
• Situations where you need the original document attached to the transaction for audit purposes

What SortBooks Does

SortBooks is an AI-powered transaction categorisation and reconciliation tool. Its primary function is to automatically categorise bank feed transactions in Xero and reconcile them against invoices and bills.

Core Features

AI transaction categorisation - SortBooks analyses every bank feed transaction and assigns the correct account code, tax rate, and tracking categories using machine learning.

Bank reconciliation - SortBooks matches incoming payments against outstanding invoices and outgoing payments against outstanding bills, completing reconciliation automatically.

Pattern learning - The AI learns from your specific categorisation patterns and improves over time. Corrections are fed back into the model to increase future accuracy.

Exception flagging - Transactions that the AI cannot categorise with high confidence are flagged for human review, ensuring nothing falls through the cracks.

GST/VAT handling - SortBooks applies the correct tax treatment to each transaction based on the vendor, amount, and context.

Where SortBooks Excels

SortBooks is best at solving the "categorisation and reconciliation problem" - taking the hundreds of transactions that flow through your bank feeds each month and coding them correctly without manual intervention. It is particularly valuable for:

• Businesses with high transaction volumes
• Bookkeepers managing multiple clients
• Business owners who want real-time, up-to-date books
• Anyone who finds bank reconciliation tedious and time-consuming

Head-to-Head Comparison

Data Input

Dext: Takes data from documents (receipts, invoices, statements) and pushes it into Xero

SortBooks: Takes data from bank feeds already in Xero and categorises it

These are different steps in the bookkeeping process. Dext gets data into the system; SortBooks organises data that is already in the system.

Automation Approach

Dext: Rules-based with some machine learning for supplier recognition

SortBooks: AI-first with machine learning that improves over time

Primary Benefit

Dext: Eliminates manual data entry from documents

SortBooks: Eliminates manual categorisation and reconciliation of bank transactions

Pricing

Dext: From approximately $30/month (plans vary by region and features)

SortBooks: From approximately $49/month depending on transaction volume

Do You Need One or Both?

You Need Only Dext If:

• Your main pain point is processing paper receipts and supplier invoices
• Your transaction categorisation is already well-handled by bank rules
• You have a small number of transactions each month
• Your bookkeeper handles reconciliation efficiently

You Need Only SortBooks If:

• Your main pain point is categorising and reconciling bank transactions
• You do not deal with many paper receipts (most of your expenses are electronic)
• You have high transaction volumes that make manual categorisation impractical
• You want real-time, always-up-to-date financial data

You Need Both If:

• You receive a lot of paper or PDF documents AND have high transaction volumes
• You want end-to-end automation from document capture through to reconciliation
• You are a bookkeeper managing multiple clients and want maximum efficiency
• You want the best possible accuracy and completeness in your bookkeeping

How They Work Together

When you use both tools, the workflow is:

1. Supplier invoices arrive by email or paper
2. Dext captures the data and creates draft bills in Xero
3. Bank transactions flow into Xero via bank feeds
4. SortBooks categorises the transactions and matches payments against the bills Dext created
5. You review the results and approve

This is about as close to fully automated bookkeeping as you can get with current technology. The only manual steps are reviewing the output and handling the occasional exception.

The Bottom Line

Dext and SortBooks solve different problems in the bookkeeping workflow. Dext is about getting data into your accounting system. SortBooks is about organising and reconciling that data once it is there. For businesses that want maximum automation and minimum manual bookkeeping, using both together delivers the best results.