Hubdoc vs Zera Books: Document Scope Comparison
Hubdoc and Zera Books process financial documents, but they're designed for completely different workflows. Hubdoc focuses on receipts and bills for expense tracking, while Zera Books specializes in bank statements and financial statements for reconciliation. Here's what each platform actually handles.
What Each Platform Actually Processes
Hubdoc Document Scope
Receipts
Photos, scanned receipts, expense documentation
Vendor Bills
Accounts payable invoices, utility bills
Credit Card Statements
For expense categorization
Bank Statements
Limited transaction extraction
Financial Statements
Not designed for P&L/balance sheets
Checks
No check processing
Design Purpose: Expense tracking and accounts payable workflows
Zera Books Document Scope
Bank Statements
Any bank format, transaction-level extraction, multi-account detection
Financial Statements
Income statements, balance sheets, cash flow statements
Invoices
Vendor invoices with line item extraction
Checks
Check images, MICR extraction, reconciliation
Receipts
Not designed for receipt scanning
Expense Tracking
Not an expense management tool
Design Purpose: Bank reconciliation and financial statement processing
The Core Difference
Hubdoc is designed for expense tracking workflows (capturing receipts, categorizing expenses, managing bills). Zera Books is designed for reconciliation workflows (processing bank statements, extracting transactions, matching accounts). They solve different accounting problems.
Workflow Comparison: What Each Tool Is Built For
Hubdoc Workflow
Capture Expenses
Employees photograph receipts via mobile app, email receipts to Hubdoc, or scan paper documents
Extract Receipt Data
OCR extracts vendor name, date, amount, tax from receipts and bills
Categorize Expenses
Assign expenses to categories, projects, clients, or departments
Sync to Accounting Software
Auto-publish to QuickBooks/Xero as bills or expenses, attach receipt images
Manage Approvals
Route expenses for approval, track reimbursements, manage vendor bills
Best For: Businesses with significant employee expenses, vendor bill management, or expense approval workflows
Zera Books Workflow
Upload Bank Statements
Upload PDF bank statements from any bank format (checking, savings, credit cards)
Extract Transaction Data
Zera AI extracts every transaction with date, description, amount, balance
AI Categorization
Automatically categorize transactions for QuickBooks/Xero chart of accounts
Export to Excel/QuickBooks
Export clean, categorized transactions ready for reconciliation
Reconcile Accounts
Match bank transactions to QuickBooks entries, close books faster
Best For: Accounting firms managing client books, bookkeepers reconciling multiple accounts, businesses closing monthly books
Technical Capabilities Comparison
| Capability | Hubdoc | Zera Books |
|---|---|---|
| Bank Statement Processing | Basic OCR, limited extraction | Zera AI trained on millions of statements, 99.6% accuracy |
| Multi-Account Detection | Not available | Auto-detects checking, savings, credit cards in single PDF |
| Receipt Processing | Core feature, mobile app, email forwarding | Not designed for receipts |
| Financial Statement Extraction | Not available | P&L, balance sheet, cash flow extraction |
| Check Processing | Not available | MICR extraction, check reconciliation |
| AI Transaction Categorization | Basic rules-based categorization | ML-powered auto-categorization for QuickBooks/Xero |
| Invoice Line Item Extraction | Yes, for vendor bills | Yes, for vendor invoices |
| Batch Processing | Upload multiple documents | Upload 50+ statements at once |
| QuickBooks Integration | Auto-publish bills/expenses | Export categorized transactions (QBO/IIF) |
| Mobile App | iOS/Android for receipt capture | Web-based platform |
When to Choose Each Platform
Choose Hubdoc If You Need
- Receipt capture from employees via mobile app
- Expense approval workflows
- Vendor bill management and accounts payable
- Auto-publishing expenses to QuickBooks/Xero
- Document storage and organization by vendor
- Reimbursement tracking
Typical User: Businesses with field employees submitting receipts, companies managing vendor bills
Choose Zera Books If You Need
- Bank statement transaction extraction for reconciliation
- Multi-account processing (checking, savings, credit cards)
- AI-powered transaction categorization
- Financial statement data extraction (P&L, balance sheet)
- Client management for bookkeeping firms
- Month-end close automation
Typical User: Accounting firms, bookkeepers managing client accounts, businesses reconciling monthly statements
The Core Question: What Documents Do You Process?
If your primary workflow involves capturing receipts from employees and managing vendor bills, Hubdoc's mobile app and expense tracking features make sense.
If your primary workflow involves processing bank statements for reconciliation, extracting transactions from financial statements, or managing client bookkeeping, Zera Books' specialized AI and reconciliation features are designed specifically for these tasks.
Pricing Model Comparison
Hubdoc Pricing
$20-50/month
Per company (part of Xero pricing tiers)
Note: Often bundled with Xero subscription, pricing varies by plan
Zera Books Pricing
$79/month
Flat rate, unlimited conversions
No per-page fees. Process 10 statements or 1,000 statements, same price.
Pricing Reflects Different Use Cases
Hubdoc's pricing is competitive for expense tracking (where you're processing ongoing receipts). Zera Books' unlimited model makes sense for reconciliation workflows where you're processing large volumes of multi-page bank statements monthly.
"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."
Ashish Josan
Manager, CPA at Manning Elliott
Ashish's workflow: Processing bank statements from 20+ clients with different banks, extracting transactions for QuickBooks, reconciling accounts monthly.
This is exactly what Zera Books is designed for. Hubdoc would require him to manually extract transaction data from bank statement PDFs, because Hubdoc's OCR isn't trained for statement-level transaction extraction.
QuickBooks/Xero Integration Differences
Hubdoc Integration
Auto-Publish Expenses
Creates bills and expenses directly in QuickBooks/Xero
Attach Receipt Images
Receipt images attached to transactions
Vendor Matching
Automatically match to existing vendors
Two-Way Sync
Updates sync back to Hubdoc
Integration Type: Direct API integration with automatic publishing
Zera Books Integration
Export Categorized Transactions
Pre-categorized transactions ready for import (QBO/IIF format)
Chart of Accounts Mapping
AI maps to your QuickBooks/Xero categories
Clean Excel/CSV Export
Formatted for direct import, no manual cleanup
Reconciliation-Ready
Transactions match bank feeds for easy reconciliation
Integration Type: Export format optimized for QuickBooks/Xero import
Integration Philosophy Difference
Hubdoc auto-publishes documents as bills/expenses because it's designed for expense tracking workflows where you want receipts to become accounting entries automatically.
Zera Books exports transaction data because it's designed for reconciliation workflows where you're matching bank statement transactions to existing QuickBooks entries, not creating new entries from receipts.
Final Recommendation: Match the Tool to Your Document Workflow
Choose Hubdoc If Your Workflow Is
Choose Zera Books If Your Workflow Is
The platforms aren't really competitors because they solve different problems. Hubdoc is for expense tracking (receipts in, bills out). Zera Books is for reconciliation (bank statements in, categorized transactions out). Many accounting firms use both: Hubdoc for client expense management, Zera Books for bank statement processing.
Need Bank Statement Processing?
Try Zera Books for one week. Upload unlimited bank statements, get AI-categorized transactions, and see how much time you save on reconciliation.
Try for one week$79/month after trial. Unlimited conversions, cancel anytime.