Automating purchase invoices: Exact Purchase Agent, a separate tool or your own agent?
Erwin Berkouwer
What do we mean by processing invoices automatically?
A purchase invoice comes in by email, through Peppol or as a photo of a receipt. Processing it automatically means software reads the invoice, recognises the supplier and the amounts and prepares a booking proposal: general ledger account, VAT code and cost centre. You check the proposal and approve it. The difference lies in what happens with an invoice that doesn't fit the pattern.
Three options side by side
| Exact Purchase Agent | Separate tool (Finivo, Autoboeker) | Your own agent from UnifyAI | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it is | Built into Exact Online | A separate service on top of your accounting package | An agent we build for your process |
| Cost | € 0.39 per document in a bundle, € 0.50 outside it; the first three a month are in your subscription | Subscription, price on their site or on request | A one-off from € 750, then a fixed monthly amount for hosting and maintenance |
| Strong at | Starting fast, nothing extra to connect | Firms with many sets of books | Exceptions, matching against purchase orders, several systems |
| Weaker at | Work that happens outside Exact | Your own custom rules | Small numbers of predictable invoices |
| Control | You approve in Exact | You approve in the tool | You approve; the agent never books by itself |
Exact quotes an accuracy of 98%. That is good, but it also means that with 500 invoices a month you correct about ten yourself. So checking stays necessary, with every option.
When is which option smart?
The Purchase Agent is enough if:
- you do everything in Exact Online;
- your invoices come from regular suppliers with a predictable layout;
- an exception is rare and you handle it fine yourself.
A separate tool fits if:
- you are an accounting firm with many clients on different packages;
- you want one way of working across all those sets of books.
Your own agent pays off if:
- you have to match invoices against purchase orders or packing slips;
- there are many exceptions: partial deliveries, credit notes, different VAT situations;
- the information sits in more systems than just your accounting, for example an ERP or a project administration;
- you want the agent to handle the email around it as well: preparing a question to the supplier when a purchase order number is missing.
A worked example
Say you process 300 purchase invoices a month and someone now spends five minutes on each. That is 25 hours a month.
- Purchase Agent: 297 invoices × € 0.39 = about € 116 a month. Checking drops to a minute per invoice: 5 hours a month. With predictable invoices this is the cheapest route.
- Your own agent: a one-off from € 750 plus a fixed monthly amount. It only pays for itself when the exceptions are the work: if a quarter of your invoices now take half an hour of digging, that is where most of those 25 hours go.
Work it out for your own numbers with the payback calculator.
When is a standard tool enough?
More often than you think. If you have fewer than a few hundred invoices a month, work only in Exact and most invoices repeat last month's, start with the Purchase Agent. Your own agent is too much then. We say so in a first conversation too.
What does your own agent look like?
An agent for purchase invoices reads the invoice, looks up the purchase order, checks amounts and VAT and prepares a booking proposal in Exact Online. If something doesn't fit, it prepares the question to the supplier as a draft. You approve the proposal and the email. Read more about how we do that on invoices and administration.
Sources: Exact, Automatische factuurverwerking (exact.com, consulted 25 October 2026) for the 98% accuracy; the Purchase Agent's price per document as published in October 2026. For Finivo and Autoboeker we found no public price per document.
Frequently asked questions
Short, clear answers so you can decide faster.
What does Exact's Purchase Agent cost?
€ 0.39 per document within a bundle and € 0.50 outside it. The first three documents a month are included in your subscription (price checked in October 2026).
How accurate is automatic invoice processing?
Exact quotes 98% for the Purchase Agent. Expect to correct a small share yourself, with other tools too.
Can an AI agent match invoices against purchase orders?
Yes. That is one of the reasons to choose your own agent: it looks up the order or packing slip and flags a difference before anything is booked.
Does the agent book things itself?
No. The agent prepares a proposal and you approve it.
When is a standard tool enough?
With predictable invoices from regular suppliers, everything in one package and few exceptions.
