AutoEntry vs Hubdoc Client Management: Multi-Client Comparison
AutoEntry offers unlimited clients with credit-based pricing. Hubdoc charges $12 per client monthly. Neither provides a unified client management dashboard. Accounting firms managing 10+ clients need a better solution.
The Client Management Challenge for Accounting Firms
Accounting firms managing 20+ clients face a workflow problem: client organization. AutoEntry and Hubdoc both process bank statements, but their client management approaches differ significantly.
AutoEntry uses a credit-based model where credits are shared across unlimited clients. Hubdoc charges $12 per client monthly with separate organization logins. Both lack a unified dashboard to view all client activity, track conversion history, or organize multi-client workflows in one place.
For bookkeeping firms processing statements for 30 clients monthly, these limitations create workflow friction. You're either tracking credit usage across clients (AutoEntry) or paying $360/month just for client access (Hubdoc 30 clients).
AutoEntry Client Management: Credit-Based Model
AutoEntry allows unlimited client companies, users, and cloud storage at no additional cost for accountants and bookkeepers in practice. The pricing model is credit-based: you purchase monthly credits that are shared across all clients.
How AutoEntry Credits Work
- Credits shared across unlimited clients (no per-client fee)
- Pay As You Go pricing structure with monthly credit purchase
- Credits can be carried forward month-to-month
- Bank statements cost more credits than invoices (higher usage per document)
- No unified dashboard to track which clients used how many credits
AutoEntry integrates with Sage for Accountants, allowing users to access client AutoEntry accounts directly from the Client details page in Sage. The onboarding process is simple for adding new clients and team members.
The Partner Programme offers 50% off for clients in the first 6 months, making it cost-effective to onboard new clients initially. However, tracking credit usage across 20+ clients becomes complex without per-client reporting.
Hubdoc Client Management: Per-Client Pricing
Hubdoc charges $12 per month per client for unlimited documents and storage. Each client requires a separate organization login, and users with multiple organizations must select the appropriate company from their Organizations page to access that specific dashboard.
How Hubdoc Organizations Work
- Each client is a separate organization ($12/month per client)
- Unlimited documents and storage per organization
- Can invite clients or team members to specific organizations
- No unified multi-client dashboard (switch between organizations manually)
- Costs scale linearly: 30 clients = $360/month just for client access
Hubdoc integrates with Xero, QuickBooks Online, and Bill.com for data syncing. The platform focuses on document capture and storage with automatic data extraction, but lacks centralized client workflow management for firms handling dozens of clients.
The per-client pricing model is predictable but expensive at scale. A firm with 50 clients pays $600/month before processing a single document—just for organizational access.
Client Management Feature Comparison
| Feature | AutoEntry | Hubdoc | Zera Books |
|---|---|---|---|
| Client Organization Model | Unlimited clients, credit-based usage | Separate organization per client | Unified dashboard, all clients in one view |
| Pricing per Client | $0 (credits shared across clients) | $12/month per client | $0 (included in $79/month) |
| Multi-Client Dashboard | No | No (switch between orgs) | Yes |
| Client Onboarding | Simple (Sage integration) | Manual (create new org per client) | Instant (add client to dashboard) |
| Conversion History per Client | Limited visibility | Per organization | Full history per client |
| User Management | Unlimited users (included) | Invite per organization | Team access (all clients) |
| Credit/Billing Tracking | Manual (track credit usage across clients) | Predictable (fixed per client) | No tracking needed (unlimited) |
| Cost for 30 Clients | Varies (depends on credit usage) | $360/month (30 × $12) | $79/month (unlimited) |
What This Means for Multi-Client Workflows
The difference between client management models becomes clear when managing 20+ clients monthly. Here's how each platform handles a typical accounting firm workflow:
AutoEntry
- Add unlimited clients without per-client fees
- Track credit usage manually across all clients
- No unified view of all client activity
- Higher credit cost for bank statements vs invoices
Hubdoc
- Predictable per-client pricing ($12/month)
- Costs scale linearly (30 clients = $360/month)
- Switch between organizations manually
- No multi-client dashboard or overview
Zera Books
- $79/month unlimited (all clients included)
- Unified client management dashboard
- Track conversion history per client
- No usage tracking or per-client billing
ROI Calculation: 30-Client Firm
No per-client fee, but tracking credit usage across 30 clients adds administrative overhead. Bank statements consume more credits than invoices, making budgeting unpredictable for firms focused on bank reconciliation.
30 clients × $12/client = $360/month just for organizational access. This doesn't include processing costs or integration fees. Total cost before processing a single document.
Flat $79/month for unlimited clients, unlimited conversions. Client management dashboard included. AI categorization included. No per-client fees, no credit tracking, no usage anxiety.
Savings: $281/month vs Hubdoc ($3,372/year)
Client Management at Scale: Manning Elliott
Ashish Josan, Manager, CPA at Manning Elliott
"My clients send me all kinds of messy PDFs from different banks. This tool handles them all and saves me probably 10 hours a week that I used to spend on manual entry."
The Challenge
Manning Elliott manages bookkeeping for multiple small business clients across different industries. Ashish was spending 2-3 hours per client per month on bank statement processing—retyping transaction data from PDFs into Excel, then importing to QuickBooks or Xero. With 20+ clients, that's a massive amount of time on data entry alone.
The Solution
Zera Books provides a client management dashboard where Ashish can organize all clients in one place, track conversion history per client, and process bank statements with AI categorization. Upload statement, get CSV, review, import—done. No credit tracking, no per-client fees, no switching between organization logins.
The Results
- Saves 8-10 hours per week on bank statement processing
- Handles every client monthly with consistent turnaround
- Reduced errors from manual transcription
- Can take on more clients without hiring additional staff
What Both AutoEntry and Hubdoc Are Missing
Neither AutoEntry nor Hubdoc provides a unified client management dashboard for accounting firms. You can't view all client activity in one place, track conversion history across your entire client base, or organize multi-client workflows efficiently.
No Unified Dashboard
AutoEntry: No client overview. Credits are shared but you can't see per-client usage breakdown without manual tracking.
Hubdoc: Separate organization per client. Switch manually between client logins to view activity.
No Per-Client Tracking
AutoEntry: Can't track which clients used how many credits without external spreadsheet.
Hubdoc: Can track per organization but no aggregate view across all clients.
Complex Billing Models
AutoEntry: Credit tracking adds administrative overhead. Bank statements cost more than invoices.
Hubdoc: Per-client fees add up fast. 50 clients = $600/month before processing anything.
Limited AI Categorization
AutoEntry: Basic categorization but not integrated with client management.
Hubdoc: Focused on document capture, not transaction-level categorization for QuickBooks/Xero.
What Accounting Firms Actually Need
- Unified client dashboard: See all client activity, conversion history, and workflow status in one place
- Predictable unlimited pricing: No per-client fees, no credit tracking, no usage anxiety
- AI categorization built-in: Auto-categorize transactions for QuickBooks/Xero chart of accounts
- Multi-account auto-detection: Process statements with multiple accounts automatically
- Conversion history per client: Access past statements, re-run conversions, maintain audit trail
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