PaperHound vs Dext
Dext is the UK market leader in invoice capture, and it's good at what it does. But it's built to file the invoices that reach you — not to tell you which ones never did. If your worry is being audit-complete, that difference is the whole decision.
Which one is right for you?
Choose Dext if you need mature portal fetch across many pre-connected suppliers, sell through an accountancy practice, and want a deep, established capture tool.
Choose PaperHound if you're a small business that wants a provable answer to one question — is any invoice missing? — reconciled straight from your Xero payments.
They're not quite the same category. Dext captures. PaperHound reconciles, then captures.
Side by side
| PaperHound | Dext | |
|---|---|---|
| Invoice capture from email | Yes (inbox monitoring, no forwarding) | Yes (email-in + mobile) |
| Supplier portal fetch | Roadmap (demand-ranked) | Yes — ~1,400 portals |
| Bank statement extraction | — | Yes |
| Payment-triggered missing invoice detection | Yes | No |
| Provable nothing's missing audit report | Yes | No |
| Reads Xero bank feed to find gaps | Yes | No |
| Xero / QuickBooks | Xero first, QBO planned | Both |
| Sold via | Direct to SMB owners | Mainly via accountants |
| Entry price | Flat, per business (TBC at launch) | ~£25–30/mo, volume tiers |
The two middle rows — missing-invoice detection and a provable completeness report — are the reason PaperHound exists. Everything else, Dext does well.
Credit where it's due
Dext's 1,400-portal fetch and billion-document extraction training are a genuine moat — years of work. For businesses drowning in portal-only invoices from supported suppliers, it's hard to beat. We're not pretending otherwise.
The gap Dext leaves open
Dext Fetch only retrieves from suppliers you've already connected and that are on its list. It has no concept of "a payment exists with no invoice." So the invoice you never knew about — the silent one — stays invisible.
PaperHound starts from the Xero bank feed. If money left your account, it looks for the invoice behind it. That's how you get a provable completeness report instead of a pile of captured documents you hope is complete.
Why we start from the payment: The silent invoice problem →
On price
Dext's pricing has climbed since its 2024 acquisition by IRIS, and it's a common complaint. PaperHound is planned as flat per-business pricing — no per-document credits, because reconciliation-first means you're not processing hundreds of documents to get value. Exact pricing is TBC at launch.
Frequently asked questions
Is PaperHound a Dext alternative?
For small businesses who care most about being audit-complete, yes. For heavy portal-fetch needs across many suppliers, Dext is still ahead.
Does PaperHound fetch from supplier portals like Dext?
Not yet — portal connectors are on the roadmap, built in order of real customer demand. Today it finds invoices in email and reconciles against Xero payments.
Is PaperHound cheaper than Dext?
It's planned as flat per-business pricing with no per-document credits; exact pricing is TBC at launch.
Want completeness, not just capture? Join the PaperHound waitlist.