Best for
Best for bookkeepers and finance teams whose bottleneck is typing supplier paperwork into Xero, QuickBooks or Sage.
- Freelancers
- Small and mid-sized
- Enterprise
Accounting & Invoicing Comparison
Dext vs. Invoice Ninja
At a glance
At a glance
Best for
Best for freelancers and small businesses that want open-source invoicing with a free or self-hosted option and a wide choice of payment gateways.
- Freelancers
- Small and mid-sized
Cataleo does not name a winner. Both statements come from the vendors themselves.
Full Comparison
| Criterion | Dext | Invoice Ninja |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | From $25.21 / month Business Standard plan, or $302.50 a year for roughly 20 percent off, covering 250 documents a month and 5 users. Practice plans are priced per client per month with a minimum of 10 clients and 13 percent off annually. Extraction credits and several add-ons are billed separately. | lower value Free; Ninja Pro from $14 / month The free plan covers up to five clients with unlimited invoicing. Ninja Pro is $14 / month billed monthly ($140 / year) and adds a REST API, custom templates, US sales tax and financial reports. A free self-hosted option is also available. US pricing. |
| Free trial | 14-day free trial with full access to core features, no payment details required | Not stated |
| Users | 5 users on the business Standard plan; practice plans are sold per client | Not stated |
| Commercial use | Yes, a commercial subscription product | Not stated |
| Output | Extracted and categorised transaction data published into the accounting ledger, plus stored source documents | Not stated |
| API | Not stated | Yes, a full REST API on the Pro and Enterprise plans, plus Zapier, Make and n8n |
| Hosting | Cloud (SaaS), with mobile and web apps and a Chrome extension | Cloud (SaaS) or self-hosted |
| Invoicing and quotes | No sales invoicing or quoting. Dext captures purchase invoices, receipts and bank statements and publishes them into the ledger, where the invoice is raised. Dext Payments, which the vendor's product page describes as coming soon, pays supplier invoices and expense claims from within Dext with payment batches, multi-step approvals and automatic reconciliation back to the accounting software | Yes, invoices and quotes with real-time PDF preview, a product library, deposits and partial payments, multiple currencies and languages, and e-signature approval that auto-converts a quote to an invoice |
| Bookkeeping and bank feeds | Bank feeds and bank statement extraction, automatic categorisation, auto-fill of supplier, category and payment method from earlier transactions, supplier rules, reconciliation assistance and bank matching on the Advanced practice plan | Bank transaction import via Yodlee or GoCardless on the Enterprise plan |
| Expenses and receipts | Receipt and invoice capture by mobile app, email, Chrome extension or auto-fetch from the supplier, with data extraction the vendor states is over 99 percent accurate, employee expense management and GPS mileage tracking | Yes, log and categorize expenses, manage vendors and purchase orders, and mark expenses billable to re-invoice clients |
| Tax and compliance | Each captured expense is stored with its receipt, category, VAT data and approval trail, which Dext states keeps records complete, searchable and ready for a tax audit, and mileage claims use official mileage rates. Dext's published feature list includes no tax return filing of its own; the data is published into the connected accounting software | US sales tax calculation by state on the Pro plan, with tax rates set per line item or per invoice |
| Payroll | No payroll. Dext's published product range covers receipt and invoice capture, business expense management, the receipt scanner app, Vault document storage, accounting software integrations, the AI Assist bookkeeping agent and Dext Payments | No, the product covers invoicing, expenses, time tracking, payments and taxes; there is no payroll module |
| Reports and exports | Client data health scoring, practice insights, team productivity dashboards and client deadline dashboards on the Advanced practice plan | Yes, profit and loss, invoice, payment and expense reports and client statements, with CSV export |
| Integrations and API | 36 or more accounting software integrations, including Xero, QuickBooks, Sage and MYOB, plus e-commerce and payment sources such as Shopify, PayPal and Amazon | Yes, a full REST API on the Pro and Enterprise plans, plus Zapier, Make and n8n |
| AI features | stated Yes | No |
| Deployment | Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based | more entries Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based, On-premise |
| Support | Email helpdesk | more entries Email helpdesk, Community forum |
| Onboarding | Documentation and knowledge base, Live online demos and webinars | Documentation and knowledge base, Video tutorials |
| Company size | more entries Freelancers, Small and mid-sized, Enterprise | Freelancers, Small and mid-sized |
| Integrations | more entries Xero, QuickBooks, Sage, MYOB, Shopify, PayPal, Amazon | Stripe, PayPal, Square, GoCardless, Zapier |
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Row where the values differ The small markers point at the lower number, the longer list or the stated feature. They describe the data, they are not a verdict.
The short version
Key Differences
- Starting price Dext From $25.21 / month Invoice Ninja Free; Ninja Pro from $14 / month
- Deployment Dext Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based Invoice Ninja Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based, On-premise
- Company size Dext Freelancers, Small and mid-sized, Enterprise Invoice Ninja Freelancers, Small and mid-sized
- Hosting Dext Cloud (SaaS), with mobile and web apps and a Chrome extension Invoice Ninja Cloud (SaaS) or self-hosted
- Support Dext Email helpdesk Invoice Ninja Email helpdesk, Community forum
Every line is one datapoint from the table above, picked automatically. Nothing here is written text.
The trade-offs
Strengths and Limitations
Dext
Strengths
- Publishes straight into Xero, QuickBooks, Sage and MYOB rather than asking you to change ledger
- Pulls itemised transactions from marketplaces, point-of-sale systems and payment providers, not only from paper
- Secure document storage for seven years
Limitations
- An extra subscription alongside the accounting software, not a replacement for it
- Line item, supplier statement and bank statement extraction run on credits and cost extra beyond the included allowance
- Practice plans require a minimum of 10 clients
Invoice Ninja
Strengths
- Open source with a free self-hosted option
- Free cloud plan for up to five clients with unlimited invoicing
- More than 20 payment gateways including Stripe, PayPal, Square and GoCardless
- Client portal with online quote approval by e-signature
Limitations
- Bank transaction import is limited to the Enterprise plan
- The REST API and custom templates begin on the paid Pro plan
- Automatic sales tax calculation is US-focused
Plans
Pricing
Dext
- Business Standard $25.21 Per month, or $302.50 a year. 250 documents a month, 5 users, and free credits for 10 bank statement, 5 line item and 5 supplier statement extractions.
- Practice Essentials Not stated Per client per month, minimum 10 clients. Capture, bank feeds, smart suggestions, supplier rules, Vault storage, 36+ accounting integrations and employee expenses.
- Practice Advanced Not stated Per client per month, minimum 10 clients. Adds AI document detection, line item extraction, bank matching, auto-publish, team and location management, deadline dashboards and practice insights.
- Custom Custom For high document volumes, complex needs or more than 5 business entities.
Invoice Ninja
- Free $0 Up to five clients with unlimited invoicing, four templates, online payments, recurring invoices, expenses and the client portal.
- Ninja Pro $14 / month Billed monthly ($140 / year). Unlimited clients, removes branding, 11 templates, a REST API, US sales tax, financial reports and custom email.
- Enterprise $18 / month From $18 / month for one to two users, scaling to $300 / month for 51 to 100 users. Adds account users with permissions, bank account sync, file attachments and e-invoicing.
- Premium Business Not stated From $280 / year. Adds a developer concierge, priority support, an invoice design service, data migration help and custom reports.
What users say
Review Scores · opens after launch
Dext
- Ease of use
- Not rated yet
- User interface
- Not rated yet
- Onboarding
- Not rated yet
- Support and service
- Not rated yet
- Value for money
- Not rated yet
- Features
- Not rated yet
No reviews yet. Be the first to review this tool. Every review is checked for fairness before it appears, and the vendor cannot have one removed.
Invoice Ninja
- Ease of use
- Not rated yet
- User interface
- Not rated yet
- Onboarding
- Not rated yet
- Support and service
- Not rated yet
- Value for money
- Not rated yet
- Features
- Not rated yet
No reviews yet. Be the first to review this tool. Every review is checked for fairness before it appears, and the vendor cannot have one removed.
Where this comes from
Where this comes from
Dext https://dext.com · checked against the official source on 2026-09-11
Invoice Ninja https://invoiceninja.com · checked against the official source on 2026-09-08
This table lists factual criteria taken from information the vendors publish themselves. For how we put it together, see the methodology.