This page compares Planyard with Dext so you can choose the right fit for your team. We look at ease of use, rollout speed, budgeting capability, pricing clarity, and how each handles UK and Ireland specifics such as valuations, retentions, and CIS.
You’ll also see how Planyard goes beyond bookkeeping automation to manage live job costing, forecasting, subcontractor claims, and client applications—and where some teams use Dext alongside Planyard for highly specific OCR needs.
On this page
Current public ratings from the Xero App Store and Capterra.
| Programme | Rating | Summary |
|---|---|---|
| Planyard | 4.6 / 5.0 |  Praised for visibility, budgeting control and fast setup. |
| Dext (Xero App Store) | 4.8 / 5.0 | Excellent for automating invoice and receipt capture via OCR. |
| Dext (Capterra UK) | 4.2 / 5.0 | Good ratings from accountants and bookkeepers.  Not for project cost tracking. |
If you are deciding between Dext and Planyard, here’s the short version.
| Aspect | Planyard | Dext |
|---|---|---|
| Core focus | Construction cost control, forecasting, valuations, retentions | Invoice and receipt capture for bookkeeping |
| Budgeting | Advanced multi-level budgets with real-time CVR and cost-to-complete |
No budgets or forecasting |
| Reporting | Live CVR, EAC and margin forecasts |
Expense summaries only |
| Integrations | Xero, QuickBooks, Sage Accounting | Xero, QuickBooks, Sage Accounting |
| OCR | Built-in document capture |
Industry-leading OCR for high-volume invoices |
| Pricing | Public per-user GBP plans with free trial |
Subscription tiers by document volume; quote for larger accounts |
| Best for | Contractors seeking full job costing, CIS, valuations and forecasting | Finance teams automating data entry to Xero or QuickBooks |
Cost control and forecasting detail compared, using the same four screenshots.
Planyard: Tracks budgets down to cost codes, showing EAC and CVR in real time. Budgets update automatically when orders, variations or valuations are approved.
Dext: No budgeting or forecasting functions; focuses on invoice capture.
Planyard: Lets QSs and PMs raise, approve and track POs and subcontracts, syncing approved costs to Xero, Sage or QuickBooks.
Dext: Uploads invoices and pushes them to accounting; no commitment layer or project context.
No credit card required. No sales or IT support needed.
Planyard: Logs and approves variations with full audit trail and automatic forecast updates.
Dext: No change control functionality.
Planyard: Handles subcontractor and client valuations, retention schedules and certificates inside the app.
Dext: No valuation or retention features; relies on accounting data only.
| Product | Typical duration | Steps |
|---|---|---|
| Planyard | A few days to a week |
|
| Dext | Same day |
|
Planyard offers transparent per-user GBP pricing with a free trial. Dext pricing is tiered by document volume and available by quote.
Cost Estimating
Estimating and Budget Control
Estimating, Cost Control and Purchase Orders Management
Full Functionality
Dext is excellent at automating invoice and receipt capture but doesn’t manage budgets, valuations or retentions. Planyard gives you full commercial visibility—live budgets, forecasting, CIS and CVR—integrated with your accounting system. Many UK contractors use Dext for document OCR and Planyard for cost control, gaining the best of both worlds.
Sources and last updated: Capterra UK, Xero App Store listings, Dext and Planyard product pages. Last reviewed 6 November 2025.
ApprovalMax automates purchase order and bill approvals for finance teams using Xero or QuickBooks but doesn’t connect to project budgets. Planyard goes further, giving UK contractors live cost control with valuations, retentions, CIS workflows and forecasting built in.
Replace spreadsheets with live budgets, CVR, POs, valuations and retentions alongside Xero, QBO or Sage.
We've got your questions covered. If you can't find the answer below, then feel free to contact us via the chat.
Yes. Many contractors use Dext for OCR capture of supplier invoices and Planyard for live budgeting, forecasting and CIS management. They complement each other well.
No. Dext speeds up bookkeeping but doesn’t include budgets or forecasting. For commercial visibility, you’ll need Planyard or similar software.
Yes. Planyard manages these natively and keeps them synced to Xero, QuickBooks or Sage.
Dext connects in minutes. Planyard typically pilots one live project in a few days and rolls out within a week.
Planyard has transparent per-user GBP pricing and a free trial. Dext pricing depends on document volume and is provided by quote.
No credit card required. No sales or IT support needed.