Briefcase alternatives for UK accounting firms (2026): prices checked

Briefcase started as a capture and month-end tool for practices on Xero and QuickBooks. On 5 October 2026 its changelog added Briefcase Ledger for limited companies, supplier payments by open banking, and a way to work on the books from Claude or ChatGPT. If your firm only wants a capture layer for Xero or QuickBooks, it is a fair moment to look at what else is out there.

Quick answer: The main Briefcase alternatives for UK accounting firms are Dext, AutoEntry, Hubdoc, Apron, Xero's own smart document capture, Datamolino and tofu. Briefcase, Dext and Apron charge per client. AutoEntry, Datamolino and tofu charge by volume, so adding a client adds no fee. If you need prepayments, accruals and month-end close, Briefcase is still the strongest fit. For capture and coding across many clients, price a volume-based tool against your Briefcase total. Per-client fees grow with each client, while a volume plan is sized by total documents.

We make tofu, which competes with Briefcase and every tool on this list, so weigh our view accordingly. Every competitor price below comes from the vendor's own page, checked in October 2026.

What changed at Briefcase this autumn?

Briefcase's public changelog shows four releases since September. Each one moves it further towards being a full ledger, not only a tool that sits on top of yours.

The homepage now leads with Briefcase Ledger, which it calls the "AI-native ledger" for your business. Briefcase Connect, the product for practices, still publishes bills, sales invoices and journals to Xero or QuickBooks, and the books stay there.

None of this is bad news for its users. A practice that chose Briefcase as a capture layer may now be paying for a roadmap aimed at a different buyer. That is usually when firms start comparing.

How does Briefcase charge accounting firms?

Briefcase prices every client on its own plan. Each plan is set by how many invoices and receipts that client publishes in a quarter.

Prices exclude VAT. Every plan includes every feature and unlimited users. Bank and supplier statements count as two invoices each. If a client goes more than 10% over its limit in a quarter, auto-upgrade moves it to the plan that fits. Plans roll monthly with no contract, and there is a 14-day free trial.

Practices with 10 or more clients get partner pricing. The discount grows with the size of your client list: 10% from 10 clients, 20% from 25, 30% from 100, 40% from 500 and 50% from 1,000. That puts the Low plan at £17, £15, £13, £11 or £9 per client a month.

Which Briefcase alternatives should UK firms compare?

Here is Briefcase next to the seven alternatives UK practices raise most often.

Prices exclude VAT where the vendor states it, and were checked on each vendor's own page in October 2026.

Dext

Dext is the tool most UK practices already know. Its practice plans are Essentials and Advanced, both priced per client with a minimum of 10 clients. Advanced adds teams, locations, workflows and practice insights. Dext does not publish the per-client price for either plan, so you need its plan builder or a demo. Our longer list of Dext alternatives covers the trade-offs in more detail.

AutoEntry

AutoEntry sells credits, not client seats. A plain invoice is one credit, an invoice with line items is two, and a bank or credit card statement is three credits per page. Unused credits roll over for three months, and users and clients are unlimited. Watch the line-item and statement maths, because heavy months burn credits fast. See our AutoEntry alternatives for UK firms.

Hubdoc

Hubdoc extracts data from bank statements, bills, invoices and receipts and syncs to Xero or QuickBooks Online. Its own pricing page shows a standalone price of $12 a month with unlimited usage, in US dollars. Its pricing page does not mention line items, so test that before you rely on it. Our guide to Hubdoc alternatives goes further.

Apron

Apron mixes supplier payments, expense cards and bookkeeping. A practice can sign up free and pays per connected client. From 1 December 2026, its bookkeeping-only plans run from £5 per client for 100 documents a month to £21 for 1,000, where one bank statement sheet counts as one document. It suits firms that want to run client payments as well as capture. We covered the change in Apron's pricing and alternatives.

Xero smart document capture

Xero now reads receipts and documents inside Xero itself. It is marked as included on the Ignite, Grow, Comprehensive and Ultimate plans, and Xero says you don't pay extra for it. The page describes extracting "the amount, date, and other details," and lists receipts, invoices, bills and rental statements. It suits clients with light volume who already live in Xero. It is no help for clients on QuickBooks or Sage.

Datamolino

Datamolino's practice plans charge a monthly minimum that doubles as processing credit. LAUNCH is £39 a month, then £0.26 per bill or receipt and £0.60 per bank statement page. Every practice plan includes unlimited client companies and users. It suits smaller practices that want volume pricing with a low entry point. Unused credit does not roll over, and its line-item and auto-split charges are not shown on the page.

Per client or per volume: what does it cost?

This is the question most firms bring to a call. One UK practice told us Briefcase is strong on mixed VAT lines and prepayments, and planned to run it side by side with tofu. Here is the price half of that test.

The table puts each client on the cheapest Briefcase plan that covers its quarterly volume, at the partner rate for the size of the practice. Under 10 clients, the partner page lists no discount, so we used list price. tofu is shown on the plan whose entry allowance covers the whole practice's monthly volume.

The table counts invoices and receipts only, excludes VAT where the vendor states it, and uses Briefcase prices checked in October 2026. A client sending 35 documents a month publishes 105 a quarter, which is over Low's 75, so it sits on Medium.

To compare, take the Briefcase total for your practice and set it against the current price of the tofu plan in the last column on tofu's pricing page. Briefcase's bill grows with every client, while one tofu plan covers 4 to 30 clients here. One caveat keeps this honest. Briefcase's fee includes prepayments, accruals, fixed assets and working papers, which tofu does not offer.

Bank statements shift the maths on both sides. Briefcase counts each statement as two documents. tofu counts each statement page as one entry, so long statements use more of a tofu allowance. If you convert many statements, add them to your count before you compare.

For a head-to-head view, see our tofu vs Briefcase page.

When is Briefcase enough?

Briefcase is a good choice for plenty of practices.

• Your clients need month-end close. Briefcase Connect recognises prepayments as they arrive, builds the release schedule and posts the journal to Xero or QuickBooks each month. It also handles accruals, deferred income and fixed assets.
• VAT detail matters at capture. Briefcase gives every line its account, VAT treatment and tracking, and checks supplier VAT numbers with HMRC.
• You have a small client book. With a handful of clients on the Low plan, Briefcase's total stays low, so check it against tofu's pricing page before you switch.
• You want one vendor for clients without a ledger. Briefcase Ledger now covers sole traders, landlords and limited companies, with VAT returns and Making Tax Digital filing.

If most of your clients are limited companies with prepaid insurance, annual licences and accrued costs, Briefcase's per-client fee buys real work. If most are sole traders on the cash basis with a pile of receipts, you pay the same fee for features they rarely use.

How do you test an alternative fairly?

Run the same clients through both tools in the same month. Pick three: one with mixed VAT rates on a single invoice, one with foreign-language suppliers, and one with long bank statements. Compare the entries in Xero or QuickBooks, then compare the bills.

Where tofu fits

tofu is the capture and data-entry layer, not a ledger and not a month-end tool. It reads invoices, receipts and bank statements in 200+ languages, handwriting included, and extracts every line with description, quantity, unit price, account code and tax. It handles invoices with mixed tax rates. It learns your coding from your ledger history, then publishes to Xero, QuickBooks, Sage and Zoho Books, with CSV exports for other ledgers. Clients can send photos to a WhatsApp number.

Pro and above include unlimited users and entities, and an invoice or receipt counts as one entry however many lines or pages it has. A bank statement counts as one entry per page. Pro covers 800 entries a month and Business 2,500. If a practice hits its limit, documents wait until you buy another pack or upgrade.

tofu does not do prepayments, accruals, depreciation or VAT returns. Those stay in your ledger, your team or a tool like Briefcase.

"It's the extraction, and the way that it remembers what it's supposed to be doing with everything. Somebody actually remembers what you tell it to do."

Amanda Horsman, Head of Accounting, Genesis Chartered Accountants

Start a free trial with a few clients, or see pricing for the plan that covers your practice.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best Briefcase alternative for UK accounting firms?

It depends on what you use Briefcase for. For capture and coding across many Xero or QuickBooks clients, compare a volume-priced tool such as tofu, AutoEntry or Datamolino against your Briefcase total. Their fees do not rise with each client. If you rely on Briefcase for prepayments, accruals and month-end close, no capture tool on this list replaces that, so keep Briefcase for those clients.

How much does Briefcase cost per client?

Briefcase lists £19, £39, £79 and £119 per client a month, excluding VAT, for its Low, Medium, High and Ultra plans. Practices with 10 or more clients get partner pricing, with discounts from 10% to 50% depending on client count. The Low plan falls to £9 per client at 1,000 clients or more.

Is Briefcase cheaper than Dext?

We can't say for most practices, because Dext does not publish its Practice Essentials or Advanced prices. Both price per client, and both set a 10-client minimum for practice pricing. Dext's Solo plan for sole traders and landlords starts from £2.50 per client a month with a five-client minimum. Ask each for a quote on your real client list.

How do Briefcase and tofu count bank statements?

Briefcase counts each bank or supplier statement as two invoices once it is exported or reconciled. tofu counts one entry per statement page, with every transaction on that page included. A two-page statement costs the same on both. A ten-page statement uses more of a tofu allowance.

Does Briefcase still work with Xero and QuickBooks?

Yes. Briefcase Connect, its product for practices, publishes bills, sales invoices and journals to Xero or QuickBooks, and the books stay there. Briefcase Ledger is a separate product for clients who want Briefcase as their main ledger. Its 19 October 2026 release added migration from Xero or QuickBooks with up to two years of history.

Can I use Briefcase and another tool together?

Yes, and many firms should consider it. Keep Briefcase for clients whose month-end close earns the per-client fee, and put high-volume or receipt-heavy clients on a volume-priced capture tool.

Is Xero's smart document capture enough to replace Briefcase?

For a light client already on Xero, it may be. Xero includes it on its small business plans at no extra cost and reads amounts, dates and other details from receipts and documents. Its page does not mention line items or bank statements, and it does nothing for clients on QuickBooks or Sage.

Sources

• Briefcase changelog
• Briefcase pricing
• Briefcase partner pricing
• Briefcase Connect
• Briefcase homepage
• Dext pricing for practices
• Dext plans for accountants and bookkeepers (help centre, updated 29 July 2026)
• AutoEntry pricing
• Hubdoc pricing
• Apron pricing for accountants
• Apron bookkeeping-only pricing
• Xero smart document capture
• Datamolino pricing
• tofu pricing
• tofu homepage (200+ languages, handwriting)

Checked against the Briefcase, Dext, AutoEntry, Hubdoc, Apron, Xero, Datamolino and tofu pages above in October 2026.