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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Dext

    Score9.5 out of 10
    N/ADext is a bookkeeping automation platform now from IRIS (acquired December 2024) that eliminates much of the manual work associated to accounting processes.

    $32

    per month for 5 users (minimum) and 250 documents per month

    Emburse Spend (formerly Abacus)

    Score6 out of 10
    N/AEmburse Spend is a Spend Management platform for small and growing businesses that monitors and controls card purchases, employee reimbursements, receipts, approvals, and expense policies. It connects to supported existing corporate and business card programs, so finance teams can add spend controls without replacing their current cards. Emburse Spend replaces the former Emburse Abacus. Abacus was acquired by Emburse in 2020. That application's capabilities are now completely superseded by…

    $9

    per active user/per month

    FreshBooks

    Score9.2 out of 10
    Small Businesses (1-50 employees)
    FreshBooks is an accounting service for small businesses. The solution enables users to send and manage invoices, track billable time and collect online payments. The vendor’s value proposition this that their solution provides a straightforward service that simplifies the billing process.

    $21

    per month

    Pricing
    DextEmburse Spend (formerly Abacus)FreshBooks
    Editions & Modules
    Dext Essential (Pricing for practices)
    $23.92
    per month per client (10 minimum, for accounting & bookkeeping firms)
    Dext Advanced (Pricing for practices)
    $25.64
    per month per client (10 minimum, for accounting & bookkeeping firms)
    Dext for Businesses
    starting at $31.50
    per month for 5 users
    Starter
    $9
    per active user/per month
    Professional
    Custom Pricing
    Enterprise
    Custom Pricing
    Lite
    $21
    per month
    Plus
    $38
    per month
    Premium
    $65
    per month
    Select
    Custom Pricing
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    DextEmburse Spend (formerly Abacus)FreshBooks
    Free Trial
    YesYesYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoYesYes
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoYesNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional DetailsDiscount available for annual pricing.10% discount for annual pricing.
    More Pricing Information
    Features
    DextEmburse Spend (formerly Abacus)FreshBooks
    Expense Management
    Comparison of Expense Management features of Dext and Emburse Spend (formerly Abacus) and FreshBooks
    Feature
    Dext
    10.0
    1 Ratings
    19% above category average
    Emburse Spend (formerly Abacus)
    -
    Ratings
    FreshBooks
    -
    Ratings
    Employee Expense Reporting10.01 Ratings00 Ratings00 Ratings
    Payment Management
    Comparison of Payment Management features of Dext and Emburse Spend (formerly Abacus) and FreshBooks
    Feature
    Dext
    10.0
    1 Ratings
    22% above category average
    Emburse Spend (formerly Abacus)
    -
    Ratings
    FreshBooks
    -
    Ratings
    Customizable Approval Policies10.01 Ratings00 Ratings00 Ratings
    Financial Document Management10.01 Ratings00 Ratings00 Ratings
    Payment Status Tracking10.01 Ratings00 Ratings00 Ratings
    Payment Audit Trail10.01 Ratings00 Ratings00 Ratings
    Duplicate Bill Detection10.01 Ratings00 Ratings00 Ratings
    Advanced OCR10.01 Ratings00 Ratings00 Ratings
    Customization
    Comparison of Customization features of Dext and Emburse Spend (formerly Abacus) and FreshBooks
    Feature
    Dext
    -
    Ratings
    Emburse Spend (formerly Abacus)
    -
    Ratings
    FreshBooks
    9.1
    35 Ratings
    18% above category average
    API for custom integration00 Ratings00 Ratings9.330 Ratings
    Plug-ins00 Ratings00 Ratings9.026 Ratings
    Security
    Comparison of Security features of Dext and Emburse Spend (formerly Abacus) and FreshBooks
    Feature
    Dext
    -
    Ratings
    Emburse Spend (formerly Abacus)
    -
    Ratings
    FreshBooks
    10.0
    41 Ratings
    20% above category average
    Single sign-on capability00 Ratings00 Ratings10.01 Ratings
    Role-based user permissions00 Ratings00 Ratings10.041 Ratings
    Reporting & Analytics
    Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of Dext and Emburse Spend (formerly Abacus) and FreshBooks
    Feature
    Dext
    -
    Ratings
    Emburse Spend (formerly Abacus)
    -
    Ratings
    FreshBooks
    7.5
    57 Ratings
    4% below category average
    Dashboards00 Ratings00 Ratings9.057 Ratings
    Standard reports00 Ratings00 Ratings8.855 Ratings
    Custom reports00 Ratings00 Ratings4.82 Ratings
    General Ledger and Configurable Accounting
    Comparison of General Ledger and Configurable Accounting features of Dext and Emburse Spend (formerly Abacus) and FreshBooks
    Feature
    Dext
    -
    Ratings
    Emburse Spend (formerly Abacus)
    -
    Ratings
    FreshBooks
    7.5
    56 Ratings
    2% below category average
    Accounts payable00 Ratings00 Ratings8.041 Ratings
    Accounts receivable00 Ratings00 Ratings9.455 Ratings
    Cash management00 Ratings00 Ratings7.03 Ratings
    Bank reconciliation00 Ratings00 Ratings7.02 Ratings
    Expense management00 Ratings00 Ratings6.651 Ratings
    Time tracking00 Ratings00 Ratings7.642 Ratings
    Multi-currency support00 Ratings00 Ratings7.01 Ratings
    Regulations compliance00 Ratings00 Ratings6.021 Ratings
    Self-service portal00 Ratings00 Ratings9.13 Ratings
    Order Management
    Comparison of Order Management features of Dext and Emburse Spend (formerly Abacus) and FreshBooks
    Feature
    Dext
    -
    Ratings
    Emburse Spend (formerly Abacus)
    -
    Ratings
    FreshBooks
    9.5
    49 Ratings
    25% above category average
    Pricing00 Ratings00 Ratings8.839 Ratings
    Order entry00 Ratings00 Ratings9.337 Ratings
    Credit card processing00 Ratings00 Ratings9.741 Ratings
    Cost of goods sold00 Ratings00 Ratings10.01 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    DextEmburse Spend (formerly Abacus)FreshBooks
    Small Businesses
    Brex
    Score9 out of 10
    Brex
    Score9 out of 10
    QuickBooks Self-Employed (discontinued)
    Score4.3 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Expensify
    Score9 out of 10
    Expensify
    Score9 out of 10
    MYOB
    Score8.3 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Emburse Expense Enterprise (formerly Chrome River)
    Score8.3 out of 10
    Emburse Expense Enterprise (formerly Chrome River)
    Score8.3 out of 10
    Microsoft Dynamics GP
    Score5.3 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    DextEmburse Spend (formerly Abacus)FreshBooks
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.9
    (14 ratings)
    6.0
    (17 ratings)
    7.6
    (75 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.6
    (18 ratings)
    Usability
    10.0
    (10 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.6
    (20 ratings)
    Availability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    Performance
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    Support Rating
    3.5
    (7 ratings)
    9.0
    (9 ratings)
    6.0
    (11 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    CPA Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.0
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    DextEmburse Spend (formerly Abacus)FreshBooks
    Likelihood to Recommend
    IRIS Software Group
    It is great for accounting firms. Easy to add and administer client accounts. Easy to integrate with QuickBooks Online. Easy for clients to capture and submit receipts on the go. It is hard to use for manual data entry, and if your clients frequently have very long receipts the Dext Mobile app does not work well as it compresses the image to the point where it is completely illegible. It does not seem to be designed for business owners to use directly rather than using it through their accounting firm.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Emburse
    Emburse Abacus is well suited for mid-market organizations that are open to - or embrace - the concept of real-time processing of expense transactions. Emburse Abacus takes a radically different approach from other platforms that rely on modeling paper-based monthly (or periodic) expense reports containing multiple expenses submitted simultaneously. Emburse Abacus allows each transaction to be very rapidly processed individually so that approving managers and accounting professionals are able to perform review tasks and identify potential problems throughout the entire month, relieving the massive monthly influx of large numbers of expense reports simultaneously.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    FreshBooks
    I recommend FreshBooks to anyone running a service-based business that needs invoicing, time reporting, and accounting tools. FB is adept in all three of these scenarios and isn't overly complicated like similar accounting packages I have used. I love how I can write estimates and proposals, manage the business development process from the software, and quickly convert prospects to invoiced clients.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    IRIS Software Group
    • Receipt Bank does a stellar job of extracting information from photos of receipts and bills. I'd say 95% of the time the information pulled is correct, so very rarely do I have to correct an amount or date.
    • One feature I really enjoy is not only the syncing with Quickbooks Online, but the fact that it also pushes the image to Quickbooks Online as an attachment! This means that for every expense/bill processed through Receipt Bank, an image of it is available inside of the transaction inside of Quickbooks Online. This makes researching a breeze.
    • Receipt Bank makes it very simple for users to add documents to the platform. Each company receives a dedicated Receipt Bank email address, which they can email to and upload documents, or users can use the phone apps (which are really easy to use), or they can upload documents from their computer. Training our clients to use it really can't be any easier!
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Emburse
    • User-Friendly Interface: Reviews from our employees (ages ranging from 20s-70s) are all positive in regards to the ease of submitting an expense and getting reimbursement on Abacus
    • Timely Reimbursement: After final approval, money hits user accounts within 2 days
    • Approval routing: ability to set up multi-tier complex approval routes
    • Syncs with Sage Intacct: pushes entries on a day to day basis in to Intacct and it hits our GL accordingly
    • Abacus is competitively priced compared to the competition
    • Abacus utilizes "by expense" management. Getting rid of expense reports and batch reports (they do have an option where you can batch if need be)
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    FreshBooks
    • Invoicing - FreshBooks basically ensures our accountants spend less time on invoices via its automated invoicing system, which sends invoices to our customers and clients alike and also send them regular reminders for them to pay up their bills.
    • Collecting business insights - FreshBooks enable our company analysts measure our business performances via data reports provided by FreshBooks' intuitive dashboard. Allowing us do a comparative analysis of key business metrics of a current month against past months and determine if the business is growing.
    • Expense tracker - We have recently embraced FreshBooks as an expense tracker for teams at our company branch. Thusfar, FreshBooks has performed very well, making our expense management a perfect operation; ensuring teams do not exceed their planned budget and also eliminating the need for tracking expenses on excel spreadsheets.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    IRIS Software Group
    • Receipt Bank Practice Platform has many great features. As they develop the platform I would like to see a rigorous review of all features so as not to add too many and overwhelm my team.
    • Having the flexibility to pick and choose from a suite of features and implement the ones that best suit my practice. A tailor made Receipt Bank Practice Platform. this would allow my practice to grow into the features rather than be overwhelmed by too many.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Emburse
    • When you upload a receipt to abacus it would be great to port in the information from the receipt to the text fields.
    • It would be good to have a more automated way for Abacus to integrate in with other payroll systems.
    • It would be nice to have more levels of permissions, e.g. manager level, administer level and employee level.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    FreshBooks
    • I can brand invoices with my business logo, but I might like to change colours of the invoices themselves to match the rest of my business documents. That isn't a major point at all, but it's something that I'd like to see.
    • Freshbooks doesn't remember the categories that similar expenses were previously assigned to. It would be nice if Freshbooks would suggest a category for an already saved vendor, to ensure the consistency of expense reporting.
    • The home page of a Freshbooks account has a great graph display of expenses and income, but it only shows the last 6 months. This is still very useful, but I'd like to be able to see this kind of graph for different periods of time.
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    IRIS Software Group
    Dext is the best way for us to manage our business expenses. Physical and PDF receipts/invoices will be around for a while, but the move to eInvoicing is very good and we look forward to Dext adding this feature
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Emburse
    No answers on this topic
    FreshBooks
    At the current needs of our business, FreshBooks suits us perfectly - it allows online access by our accountant to the system for GST purposes, easy input of expenses and tracking of Profit and Loss statements. FreshBooks customer service is great as well - very understanding and accommodating.
    Read full review
    Usability
    IRIS Software Group
    Dext Prepare's usability is great, it has lots of functions and you can scan any type of document, including hard copy handwritten documents. It is not very accurate but it is handwritten!! Apart from it, you can use multiple functions like one page at a time, multiple, in bulk. You can send emails with multiple attachments and one of the greatest function is the mobile application capabilities.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Emburse
    No answers on this topic
    FreshBooks
    FreshBooks is very easy to use even for novices. If you're looking for an online accounting software that is full of features, has great aesthetics and is user-friendly, then this is definitely the software for you. I've been using it for several years now and despite being tempted to switch by other vendors, I like the feel of FreshBooks and it's mobile features.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Reliability and Availability
    IRIS Software Group
    No answers on this topic
    Emburse
    No answers on this topic
    FreshBooks
    FreshBooks is easy to use and always works!
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    IRIS Software Group
    When I think I have broken the platform the help guys and girls are simply fantastic. They take time to understand the problem and usually resolve the issue on the spot. I have not had to wait more than an hour to get anything resolved - be that an issue I have created or a fault in my understanding of the program. Can't rate their support I have received to date highly enough.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Emburse
    I have never had to contact Abacus support and have not heard stories from any of my colleagues having to do so either. Our accounting department stresses the ease of Abacus and has not voiced any concerns with the software or the product support team or the product support process.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    FreshBooks
    I think the support level for FreshBooks is on par with a 6 because the folks behind this application do a fairly good job at providing support for their customer base. I still don't think they are at an elite level when it comes to supporting but are getting there although too slow in my opinion.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Implementation Rating
    IRIS Software Group
    No answers on this topic
    Emburse
    No answers on this topic
    FreshBooks
    I haven't changed my mind since my first evaluation. Freshbooks is still meeting my needs, easy to use, etc.
    Read full review
    Alternatives Considered
    IRIS Software Group
    Dext is much easier to use than Hubdoc. You can approve documents in batches whereas in Hubdoc you need to review each document separately. Once Dext is set up properly, there is little need to review every document.
    Hubdoc does have the ability to save documents to an external site, like Google docs as a backup.
    Read full review
    Emburse
    I chose Abacus because of its ease of use and flexible billing. The billing is based on the number of submissions rather than users in the system. Because we reimburse committee members, we have a lot of users in the system, but the activity can vary widely from month to month.
    Incentivized
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    FreshBooks
    FreshBooks does very well in comparison, especially since it is free software for Barclays bank users. Sage software is much worse than FreshBooks. However, Xero and QuickBooks, the market leaders, are still ahead with usability, additional features, reporting, and connection with third-party software providers. We chose FreshBooks as it does everything we require from this type of software.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    IRIS Software Group
    • I am a single operator Bookkeeping business and run a very profitable business because DEXT provides me a very efficient process to capture critical data without the need for additional manpower.
    • The information DEXT captures, stores and reports helps me plan an present relevant information to the client to support pricing increases at client reviews
    • The information DEXT contains helps me present business insights to the client thereby assisting in their business aspirations which helps deepen client relationships
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Emburse
    • It is giving reliable services.
    • I am happy with its user-friendly services. Since I have issued the virtual and physical cards, I am getting real-time, and end-to-end control over my employee expenses. They can now easily go to visits and this has built their trust too. Further through receipts and expense details, I can easily control the pre-set budgets and easily configure rules to control spending.
    • I will also like to praise their customer care team they are very helpful and always ready to assist.
    Read full review
    FreshBooks
    • In reality, we do not implement all of its use at the moment in order to determine an adequate ROI.
    • In our approach to the use of the system, it seems to us a considerable time saving by achieving the integration of the Mexican subsidiary with its parent located in the US.
    • Financial reports meet the necessary USGAAP requirements.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    Dext Screenshots

    Screenshot of Dext's time saving receipt captureScreenshot of where to extract and categorise data automaticallyScreenshot of some of the 11500+ banks and platforms that have pre-existing connectionsScreenshot of where to publish to accounting softwareScreenshot of the interface to manage users and permissionsScreenshot of the mobile app for managing expenses

    Emburse Spend (formerly Abacus) Screenshots

    Product screenshotProduct screenshotProduct screenshotProduct screenshotProduct screenshotProduct screenshot

    FreshBooks Screenshots

    Screenshot of the dashboardScreenshot of an invoice overviewScreenshot of an example of a customizable invoiceScreenshot of an invoice appearing across devicesScreenshot of expensesScreenshot of time tracking