ReconLens vs Dext: the alternative built for small firms
Dext (formerly Receipt Bank) is the category leader, and for larger practices it's a strong product. But its per-client pricing with a 10-client minimum — roughly $250/month before your eleventh client, as of 2026 — prices out exactly the solo bookkeepers and small firms who need automation most. Here's a straight comparison, including where Dext is still the better choice.
Side by side
| Dimension | ReconLens | Dext |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Flat monthly fee, metered by pages processed. $0 / $29 / $49 / $99 per month. | Per client per month (around £18.97/client/month on standard plans, as of 2026 — check their pricing page). |
| Minimums | None. Free plan exists; no client minimum on any plan. | Typically a 10-client minimum for practices — roughly $250/month before your eleventh client. |
| Cost at 25 clients | $29–$49/month, depending on page volume — the same price at 8 clients or 25. | Scales with client count; at per-client rates, 25 clients runs into hundreds per month. |
| Balance verification | Yes, on every statement: opening + transactions must equal closing (to $0.01), plus row-by-row running-balance checks. Failures are flagged, never silently exported. | Extracts statement data, but doesn't reconcile opening + transactions = closing as a gate on every statement. Accuracy checking is largely on you. |
| Review workflow | Exceptions-only: rows that pass checks are collapsed; you review the handful that are flagged, with the source page image alongside. | Item-by-item inbox review; no concept of "these rows mathematically reconcile, skip them." |
| Privacy & retention | Originals auto-delete after 90 days (configurable to 0 = delete right after processing). Documents never used for model training. Only last-4 of account numbers stored. | Retains documents long-term as an archive (often positioned as a feature). Review their privacy policy for training and retention terms. |
| Bank feeds / document fetch | No. ReconLens processes the PDFs and photos you (or your clients, via email-in) send it. | Yes — automated invoice fetch from supplier portals and bank statement fetch. A genuine advantage. |
| Getting data out | QuickBooks 3-column and 4-column bank CSV, Xero bank statement CSV, generic CSV with categories and confidence. Direct OAuth push is on the roadmap. | Direct publish to QuickBooks, Xero, Sage and others — mature, deep integrations. |
Comparison reflects our understanding of Dext's practice plans as of 2026. Dext's pricing and features change; always check dext.com for current terms.
When Dext is still the better choice
We'd rather you pick the right tool than churn out of the wrong one:
- You rely on automated fetch. If your workflow depends on Dext pulling invoices from supplier portals and statements from banks automatically, ReconLens doesn't replace that — we process what you send us.
- You're a larger practice with 40+ clients on direct integrations. Dext's mature publish-to-ledger integrations, approval workflows, and practice dashboard are built for that scale. (Though at that size, our $99 Firm plan is still worth a spreadsheet comparison.)
- You need employee expense management. Dext covers expense claims and employee submissions; ReconLens deliberately doesn't — we're a bookkeeper's document-to-clean-data tool, not an expense app.
If, on the other hand, you're a solo bookkeeper or a 2–5 person firm whose main job is turning monthly statements and shoebox receipts into clean, reconciled ledger entries — that's exactly what ReconLens is built for, at a price that doesn't scale against you.
Switching from Dext: what migration looks like
- Nothing to import from Dext itself. Your ledgers live in QuickBooks/Xero, not in Dext. Export any document archive you want to keep from Dext before your subscription ends.
- Set up clients in minutes. Create each client, pick their currency, and load their chart of accounts — copy a standard template or import your existing CoA as CSV.
- Run one month in parallel. Process one client's statement in both tools on the Free plan (50 pages) and compare output quality and review time before you commit a dollar.
- Expect the first month to teach it your categories. ReconLens learns vendor-to-category mappings per client from your corrections. Month one you'll confirm more rows; by month two, recurring vendors auto-categorize from memory.
The bottom line: Dext charges per client and trusts you to verify the numbers. ReconLens charges per page, serves unlimited clients, and verifies the numbers before you see them.
Run one client through both, then decide
The Free plan gives you 50 pages a month with balance verification and QuickBooks/Xero export included — enough to A/B test against your current Dext workflow.
Start the comparison freeNo credit card. See pricing for all plans.