Stop Paying for 5 Users When You Only Need 3
Lower minimum, simpler pricing, nothing important sold as an add-on.
Dext's business plan starts at £24.17/month billed annually — for 5 users and 250 documents, whether you need five seats or not. Line-item extraction and bank statement extraction are separate paid add-ons on top. SparkReceipt includes 3 users, unlimited documents, line-item categorisation, and bank statement extraction for £14.99/month billed annually.
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Dext vs SparkReceipt
What you actually pay, and what you actually get.
| Dext (business plan) | SparkReceipt Elite | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | £24.17/month billed annually (£290/year, excl. VAT) | £14.99/month billed annually (£179.88/year) |
| Users | 5 | 3 included |
| Documents | 250/month | Unlimited |
| Line-item extraction | Paid add-on, from £16.50/month | Included |
| Bank statement extraction | Paid add-on, from £10.00/month | Included |
| Receipt-to-transaction matching | Not offered | Included |
| Income tracking | Expense-focused | Auto-detects expense vs income |
| Email receipt capture | Available | Gmail, Outlook, Microsoft, any IMAP |
| Currencies | Limited | 150+ with purchase-date conversion |
| AI agent | AI Assist, priced separately | SparkAgent included |
| Free trial | Yes | 7 days, full access |
Where the Price Difference Actually Comes From
Dext's headline figure is competitive on its own. The gap opens up because of how the plan is packaged.
The 5-user minimum. Dext's business plan is built around 5 users and 250 documents. If you're a sole trader, a two-person consultancy, or a small firm where only you and your accountant touch the books, you're paying for seats nobody uses. SparkReceipt includes 3 — designed for exactly the you-plus-partner-plus-accountant shape most small businesses actually have.
Line-item extraction is an add-on. Pulling the individual lines out of a supplier invoice — rather than just the total — costs extra on Dext, from £16.50/month or £0.40 per document. On SparkReceipt it's part of the plan. If you buy from wholesalers, trade suppliers, or anywhere the VAT treatment differs line by line, this is the difference between a usable record and a single lump sum.
Bank statement extraction is another add-on. Dext charges from £10.00/month, or £0.25 per document, to extract PDF bank statements. SparkReceipt includes it — and then matches each extracted transaction back to the receipt that proves it, which Dext doesn't offer at any price.
Add the two add-ons to Dext's base plan and you're comparing roughly £50/month against £14.99/month.
What SparkReceipt Does Differently
Receipt-to-transaction matching — Upload a bank statement and your receipts, and the AI links them automatically. Matched transactions point at their proof of purchase; unmatched ones get flagged so you know what's missing before your accountant asks.
Reads the document, not a template — SparkReceipt's extraction reasons about the whole receipt: language, currency, the country it came from and how tax works there, and the individual line items. It isn't a template lookup keyed to known merchants, so an unfamiliar supplier or a crumpled till receipt is handled the same as a clean digital invoice.
Income as well as expenses — SparkReceipt detects whether a document is money in or money out and files it accordingly. Dext is built around purchases.
Email receipt capture — Connect Gmail, Outlook, Microsoft, or any IMAP inbox. Receipts are found, extracted, and categorised without forwarding anything by hand.
Xero and QuickBooks sync — Direct integrations with both, plus Zapier, Make, and Google Drive automation.
SparkAgent — A built-in AI agent you can hand work to in plain language: search the archive, categorise a batch, pull a summary, update records.
150+ currencies — Every receipt processed in its original currency and converted at the purchase-date rate, which matters if you buy from suppliers abroad.
What Dext Does Well
Worth being straight about this. Dext is a mature product with deep roots in UK accountancy practices, and its practice-side tooling for firms managing many clients is more developed than ours. If you're an accountant running document collection across dozens of clients, Dext's practice plans are built for that workflow specifically.
SparkReceipt is built for the business owner keeping their own records — and for the accountant who wants that owner to arrive with clean, matched data rather than a folder of photos.
Dext pricing above is taken from Dext's UK business pricing page (annual billing, GBP, excluding VAT) as of August 2026. Prices and packaging change — check dext.com for current figures. SparkReceipt is not affiliated with or endorsed by Dext.
Loved by Small Business Owners
“SparkReceipt is one of the very few software purchased that exceeded my expectations. Great product, great features, great value.”
Robert Connolly
The Internet Design Co. · Scotland
“SparkReceipt takes care of the busy work, allowing me to quickly save receipts and create expense reports.”
Tim Heller
HellerWeather · United States
“The scan accuracy is the most precise out there. Just try it!”
Christina Sust
INMIZE · Spain
Join 37,021 businesses that chose SparkReceipt — 4,319,868 receipts processed and counting.
Start Free TrialFrequently Asked Questions
SparkReceipt is built for freelancers, sole traders, and small companies rather than accountancy practices. It includes 3 users instead of a 5-user minimum, unlimited documents instead of a 250/month cap, and bundles line-item extraction and bank statement extraction that Dext sells as add-ons.
Dext's business plan is £24.17/month billed annually (£290/year, excluding VAT) for 5 users and 250 documents. SparkReceipt Elite is £14.99/month billed annually (£179.88/year) for 3 users and unlimited documents. The gap widens if you need line-item extraction (from £16.50/month on Dext) or bank statement extraction (from £10.00/month on Dext), both included with SparkReceipt.
For most small businesses and freelancers, yes — receipt capture, expense tracking, bank statement extraction, and accountant access are all covered. If you're an accountancy practice collecting documents across many clients, Dext's practice tooling is more developed and may still suit you better.
Yes. Line-item categorisation is part of the Elite plan at no extra cost. Dext charges for it as an add-on from £16.50/month, or £0.40 per document on pay-as-you-go.
Yes, and it goes a step further. Bank statement extraction is included rather than a paid add-on, and once transactions are extracted the AI matches each one to the corresponding receipt or invoice in your archive. Unmatched transactions are flagged so you can see exactly which receipts are missing.
Yes. SparkReceipt has a direct Xero integration, plus QuickBooks Online, Zapier, Make, and Google Drive. Scanned and categorised expenses sync across with the receipt image attached.
Yes. The Elite plan includes 3 users, which is intended to cover you, a partner or colleague, and your accountant or bookkeeper. Additional people count against that seat allowance like any other user.
Yes. SparkReceipt detects whether a document represents money in or money out and categorises it accordingly, so sales invoices and purchase receipts both live in one place. Dext is oriented primarily around expenses.
Yes. SparkReceipt reads receipts in virtually any language and processes 150+ currencies, converting each at the exchange rate that applied on the purchase date rather than today's rate.
Yes. SparkReceipt is billed annually with no long-term lock-in beyond the term you've paid for, and starts with a 7-day free trial with full access to every feature.