Dext alternative
Built for the quarter-end pile, not the daily drip.
Dext is built for continuous daily capture that pushes codes into your ledger. Pileform is built for the 200-page PDF that lands before a VAT deadline: drop it, and get a per-supplier Excel workbook with the VAT computed per line and the receipt embedded as proof, ready to post to Xero or QuickBooks.
Dext's strength is continuous daily capture: snap a receipt, forward an invoice, let a bank feed run, and it is pushed straight into Xero, QuickBooks, Sage, or Zoho Books. That fits a business logging expenses day by day. It fits less well when a client hands you a whole quarter's paperwork at once, in several languages and VAT regimes, the week before a return is due.
Pileform takes that pile exactly as it arrives, separates it, computes the VAT per line, and hands back a workbook you can review and post in an afternoon.
Where Pileform differs
The batch, the VAT, and the file you keep.
We are not trying to out-integrate Dext. We are trying to fix the day before the VAT return.
Batch, not continuous.
Drop one PDF of 200 mixed pages. Pileform separates the receipts, groups them by supplier, and processes them in parallel, no pre-splitting, no per-document shuffling.
Per-line, multi-jurisdiction VAT.
The rate is computed per line across 55 jurisdictions, with inclusive-vs-exclusive detection in 11 languages, reverse-charge, and a cash-rounding Adjustment column. Reviewers have described Dext's own VAT handling as codes mapped to the downstream ledger, with EU reverse-charge reported to break on the hand-off.
A workbook you keep.
You always get the Excel, one tab per supplier, with the original receipt embedded as proof. A Dext reviewer has noted that the platform pushes records into your accounting software rather than handing back a file you can keep; Pileform gives you both.
Eleven languages.
Greek, English, Malay, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Turkish, Russian, Arabic, each line description kept in its source language for audit. Dext's extraction is tuned for Latin-script receipts.
Computed, never guessed.
Every figure is calculated by deterministic code, and anything inferred is yellow-flagged for your review rather than silently applied. Dext quotes a single self-reported accuracy figure and, since late 2025, an AI Agent it describes as suggestion- and learning-based.
Being fair about it
Where Dext genuinely has the edge.
Choose Dext if…
You run continuous daily capture across a large client base and want the broadest bank-feed and integration network in the category (11,500+ bank connections, 30+ accounting platforms), an established, award-winning brand, and an end-to-end platform that also handles portfolio data-quality health scores, e-commerce sales data, and paying suppliers.
Choose Pileform if…
Your bottleneck is the pile that arrives all at once at quarter end, your documents span several VAT jurisdictions or languages, including Greek, and you want a portable per-supplier workbook with the receipt embedded as proof, VAT you can defend to an auditor, and no lock-in.
Side by side
Pileform vs. Dext.
| Pileform | Dext | |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | The quarter-end or period-end pile, arriving all at once | Continuous daily capture, pushed straight into the ledger |
| Output | A per-supplier .xlsx with the receipt embedded as proof, plus posting to Xero or QuickBooks; CSV fallback; no lock-in | Sync into the accounting platform; a reviewer has noted you cannot upload an Excel spreadsheet back in |
| VAT | Cyprus 19/9/5/0 plus 55 jurisdictions, computed per line, inclusive/exclusive detection in 11 languages, reverse-charge, a cash-rounding Adjustment column | Handled as a code mapped to the downstream ledger; a Sage community thread describes EU reverse-charge breaking on the hand-off |
| Languages | 11, each line description kept in its source language | Tuned for Latin-script receipts |
| How the numbers are produced | Computed by deterministic integer-cents code; anything uncertain is yellow-flagged for review, never silently applied | A single self-reported accuracy figure; its newer AI Agent and AI Assist are described as suggestion- and learning-based |
| Bank statements | A parallel pipeline extracts every transaction and proposes double-entry postings | Extracted, but metered as separate purchasable credits from document capture |
| Pricing | Named monthly plans with pages included and a flat per-page rate beyond that; no per-seat or per-client fee; any over-estimate refunded automatically | Per-client practice pricing with a 10-client minimum, plus per-user fees, with bank-statement, line-item, and supplier-statement extraction metered as further credits |
| Integration network | Xero and QuickBooks, plus the workbook and CSV as a fallback | 30+ accounting platforms and 11,500+ bank connections, genuinely the broader network |
We are not trying to out-integrate Dext. We are trying to fix the day before the VAT return.
Switching from Dext
What actually moves, and what doesn't.
There is no bulk data-migration tool between Dext and Pileform, and Dext's own export options do not include a portable bulk file you could re-import elsewhere. That mostly does not matter: bring the same original receipts, invoices, and bank statements you already have, or that your client can resend, and Pileform processes them fresh. Anything Dext has already posted to Xero or QuickBooks stays exactly where it is; Pileform's posting is idempotent, so running both tools against the same ledger will not create duplicates.
Pileform vs. Dext, fairly.
For the quarter-end batch, yes. Dext is built for continuous daily capture that pushes records into your accounting platform. Pileform is built for the 200-page PDF that lands before a VAT deadline: drop it, and get one clean Excel workbook per supplier, VAT computed per line, with the entries ready to post. Different job, different design.
Many firms do. Keep Dext, or any continuous-capture tool, for the daily drip if it works for you, and use Pileform for the quarter-end pile that arrives all at once. Both post into the same Xero or QuickBooks account, and Pileform's posting is idempotent, so it will not duplicate what Dext has already posted.
Dext maps VAT as a code and leans on the downstream ledger to get it right, which is where cross-border cases like reverse-charge get fragile; a Sage community thread documents this breaking on hand-off. Pileform computes the rate per line across 55 jurisdictions, detects inclusive-vs-exclusive phrasing in 11 languages, handles reverse-charge, and surfaces a cash-rounding adjustment so every workbook reconciles.
Dext entered Cyprus, Malta, and the UAE through a partnership announced in February 2025, bundled with Zoho Books rather than Xero or QuickBooks. If your clients run Xero or QuickBooks, that route does not serve them, and Pileform's per-line Cyprus VAT (19/9/5/0), reverse-charge handling, and Greek-language support go further than code-mapping either way.
Try it on your messiest quarter-end PDF.
Sign up free, no card. Run the first batch on us and see the workbook before you commit to anything.