Hubdoc vs Xero Smart Document Capture: which should you use? (2026)

Updated October 22, 2026 · 7 min read · By the Utilly team

If you're on Xero, you now have two ways to get bills and receipts read for you, and both come with your plan: Hubdoc, the capture app Xero has bundled for years, and Smart Document Capture, the newer AI extraction built into Xero itself. They overlap a lot, so the real question is which one each document should go through. This page compares them on what Xero and Hubdoc publish, says when to stay with Hubdoc, and is upfront about the small gap where neither one fits.

Who wrote this: Utilly, which makes a pay-per-batch receipt and invoice extractor. We don't sell Hubdoc or Xero and aren't affiliated with either. For most Xero users, one of the two built-in options below is the right answer and costs nothing extra, so start there. Every Xero and Hubdoc fact on this page was checked on Xero's or Hubdoc's own website on October 22, 2026 and is linked at the source. Xero is changing Smart Document Capture every few months, so check the current version in your organization.

Short answer: new to capture, Xero-only, and want line items and tax rates read off the document? Use Smart Document Capture (Accounting → Documents). Already running Hubdoc with supplier rules and autosync that work, or you also publish to QuickBooks Online? Keep Hubdoc for now. Both are included in Xero's US Early, Growing and Established plans, so you can test Smart Document Capture on a few documents without cancelling anything. Just send each document through one route, not both.

On this page

What each one is
Hubdoc vs Smart Document Capture, side by side
When Smart Document Capture is the better pick
When to stay with Hubdoc
Using both without duplicates
Moving from Hubdoc to Smart Document Capture
When neither fits
What Utilly does and doesn't do
FAQ

What each one is

Hubdoc is a separate app, made by Xero, that collects bills and receipts (phone, email, upload or scanner), extracts the key details and publishes a transaction to Xero with the document attached. Xero's App Store listing says it's included in Xero Early, Growing and Established in the US, and you open it from Xero by clicking your organization name and choosing Hubdoc. On its own, without Xero, Hubdoc costs $12 a month and also syncs to QuickBooks Online. (Xero App Store, Hubdoc pricing)

Smart Document Capture is extraction built into Xero, powered by Xero's AI, JAX. You upload a document, email it to your Xero address or photograph it in the Xero Accounting app; Xero reads it, pre-fills a transaction for you to review, and suggests matches with your bank records. It lives in Documents, which Xero renamed from Files in September 2026 and moved from the organization name menu to the Accounting menu. Xero's US pricing page lists it on every plan, and Xero says it's free whatever your small business plan. In October 2026 Xero said it had been released in all regions. (Xero Smart Document Capture page, Xero US pricing, Xero blog: Files is now Documents, Xero Product Ideas, October 20, 2026)

Hubdoc vs Smart Document Capture, side by side

Only what Xero and Hubdoc publish, checked October 22, 2026. Where neither says, we've written "not stated" rather than guess.

	Smart Document Capture	Hubdoc
Price with Xero (US)	Included on Early, Growing and Established; no extra cost	Included on Early, Growing and Established while connected; $12/month standalone
Where it lives	Inside Xero: Accounting → Documents	Separate Hubdoc app, opened from your organization name menu
Ways in	Xero Accounting app photo, forward to your Xero email, upload or drag and drop	Mobile app, email, upload, scanner
Speed	About 30 seconds per document; under 20 seconds in the Xero app (Xero's figures)	Not stated on the pages we checked
Line items	Multi-line, itemised extraction	You add multiple lines yourself or reuse a supplier's last lines; Xero says no further line item work is planned for Hubdoc
Tax	Extracts the local tax rate from the document	You adjust the tax if it isn't a flat rate
Credit notes	Extracted and drafted as transactions	Detected, but must be reviewed and published by hand
Matching	Suggests and auto-matches existing transactions (can be turned off) and flags documents uploaded twice	Publishes a new transaction that's ready to match to the bank feed
Supplier rules	Planned "in the coming months"	Yes: save a supplier configuration and turn on autosync to publish automatically
Publishes to	Xero only (it's part of Xero)	Xero and QuickBooks Online
Bank statements	Not yet; Xero lists bank statement extraction as coming	Not covered here
Attachments	Original attached to the record	Attached if under 3 MB, otherwise a link

Sources for the table: Xero's Smart Document Capture page and US pricing page; Xero blog posts "Faster record-keeping with smart document capture" and "Files is now called Documents"; Xero Central, Publish Hubdoc documents to Xero; Xero Product Ideas, Hubdoc line item extraction (Xero's reply, July 31, 2025).

When Smart Document Capture is the better pick

You're setting up capture for the first time. It's already in Xero, so there's no second app to connect, no separate login for clients, and nothing to keep in sync.
Your bills have several lines. Xero says it extracts itemised lines and the local tax rate. With Hubdoc you key those lines in or reuse the last ones for that supplier.
You want documents attached to transactions that are already there. Auto-matching attaches an upload to an existing transaction, which suits businesses whose bank feed arrives before the receipt.
Credit notes are common. Smart Document Capture drafts them; Hubdoc stops and waits for you.
Speed matters. Xero quotes about 30 seconds per document and says this used to take up to 24 hours.

One thing to check on the Early plan: Xero's US pricing page lists "Enter 5 bills" for Early, so if capture is mostly creating bills, see how that limit applies to you before relying on it.

When to stay with Hubdoc

Hubdoc already works for you. It's still included with your Xero plan while connected, and we found no announcement from Xero that it's being discontinued as of October 22, 2026. Changing a working setup has a real cost: retraining clients, new forwarding addresses, rebuilt rules.
You rely on supplier rules and autosync. Hubdoc can publish a supplier's documents straight to Xero with the account and type you saved. Xero lists supplier rules for Smart Document Capture as planned, not shipped.
You also keep books in QuickBooks Online. Hubdoc publishes to both. Smart Document Capture only works inside Xero.
Your bills are one line each. If you post every bill to a single account, Hubdoc's header-level extraction is all you need.

Using both without duplicates

Both are included, so nothing stops you running them side by side, for example Hubdoc for suppliers with autosync rules and Smart Document Capture for everything else. The risk is the same document arriving twice: once published by Hubdoc and again captured in Documents becomes two transactions. Give each supplier or email address one route. Xero Central also describes a Hubdoc supplier setting, Autosync to Xero Files, that sends that supplier's documents to your Xero Documents inbox instead, which is a tidy way to move suppliers across one at a time. If duplicates do slip in, our guide to duplicate transactions after an import covers the patterns to look for.

Moving from Hubdoc to Smart Document Capture

Test first. Send a week of documents through Accounting → Documents and compare the extracted contact, date, total, lines and tax with what Hubdoc gave you.
Write down your Hubdoc supplier configurations (account, tax rate, publish-as type). Smart Document Capture doesn't have supplier rules yet, so you'll be setting these as you review.
Turn off Hubdoc autosync for each supplier you move, before you start forwarding their bills to Xero, so nothing is posted twice.
Update forwarding addresses with clients and suppliers, and any email rules that point at your Hubdoc address.
Check older documents are attached in Xero. Hubdoc links rather than attaches files over 3 MB, so if you'd ever disconnect Hubdoc, make sure the documents you need are saved somewhere you control.

When neither fits

Both tools are built around a flow of documents into one Xero organization, reviewed one at a time. That's what most businesses want. There are a few jobs it doesn't suit:

A one-off batch you want to check in a spreadsheet first, such as a year-end shoebox, a new client's backlog or a quarter of contractor invoices.
Work for someone else's books, where you need a file to hand over rather than access to their Xero organization.
Importing a batch as draft bills in one go with Xero's own bill import (Purchases → Bills → New bill → Import from CSV), after you've reviewed every row. Our Xero bill import template guide explains the columns.

That's the gap a pay-per-batch extractor fills. For a wider comparison with Dext and AutoEntry, see Dext, Hubdoc and AutoEntry alternatives, and for manual entry, scanner apps and an OCR checklist, see receipt OCR without a subscription.

What Utilly does and doesn't do

Does: reads PDF receipts and invoices and photos (JPG, PNG, WEBP, TIFF, BMP, GIF), up to 25 files per batch, one receipt or invoice per file. It extracts vendor, date, due date, number, subtotal, tax, tip, total, currency and card type with last 4 digits, and flags rows to check, such as when subtotal plus tax doesn't equal the total. Every field is editable before download.
Downloads: CSV, Excel, a CSV in Xero's bill import template (unique bill numbers, tax inclusive, your account code), and a QuickBooks Online bills CSV.
Doesn't: extract line items (Smart Document Capture does), publish directly to Xero, give you an email-in address or mobile app, store documents (files are read in memory and results are deleted after 1 hour), or match bank transactions. iPhone HEIC photos need converting to JPG first.
Price: preview always free; batches of up to 3 receipts download free with no sign-up; 4 to 25 receipts use 1 credit from a one-off $9 pack of 5 credits; or unlimited on Pro at $19/month.

Need a batch as a Xero bill import instead?

Upload PDFs or photos, check every field in the preview, then download a Xero bill import CSV, a plain CSV or Excel. Up to 3 receipts per batch are free; 4 to 25 cost 1 credit.

Convert invoices for Xero

Just need a spreadsheet? Use receipt to CSV.

Sources, all read October 22, 2026: Xero, Smart Document Capture (US), https://www.xero.com/us/accounting-software/store-files/ ; Xero US pricing plans, https://www.xero.com/us/pricing-plans/ ; Xero blog, "Faster record-keeping with smart document capture", https://blog.xero.com/product-updates/smart-document-capture/ ; Xero blog, "Files is now called Documents", https://blog.xero.com/product-updates/files-now-called-documents/ ; Xero Product Ideas, "Bills - Improve auto creation from files" (Xero reply October 20, 2026) and "Hubdoc - Extract all line item details" (Xero reply July 31, 2025); Xero Central, "Publish Hubdoc documents to Xero"; Xero App Store, Hubdoc listing, https://apps.xero.com/us/app/hubdoc ; Hubdoc pricing, https://www.hubdoc.com/pricing . Xero and Hubdoc are trademarks of Xero Limited; Utilly isn't affiliated with Xero.

FAQ

What's the difference between Hubdoc and Xero Smart Document Capture?

Both are made by Xero and included in its plans. Hubdoc is a separate app that extracts the key details from bills and receipts and publishes them to Xero or QuickBooks Online, with supplier rules and autosync. Smart Document Capture is built into Xero under Accounting, Documents: Xero says it reads documents in about 30 seconds, extracts line items and the local tax rate, drafts credit notes and matches documents to existing transactions, but it only works inside Xero and doesn't have supplier rules yet.

Is Smart Document Capture free? Which Xero plans include it?

Yes. Xero's US pricing page lists Smart Document Capture on Early, Growing and Established, and Xero says you can use it for free whatever your small business plan. Checked October 22, 2026.

Is Hubdoc still included with Xero?

Yes. Xero's App Store listing says Hubdoc is included in Xero Early, Growing and Established in the US, and Xero's pricing pages say it stays included as long as it's connected to your Xero subscription. On its own Hubdoc costs $12 a month. We found no announcement from Xero that Hubdoc is being discontinued as of October 22, 2026.

Does Smart Document Capture extract line items?

Yes. Xero describes multi-line, itemised extraction. Hubdoc doesn't do this: Xero Central has you add multiple lines yourself or reuse the supplier's last lines, and Xero said in July 2025 it has no further developments planned for line item extraction in Hubdoc.

Where is Smart Document Capture in Xero?

In Documents, on the Accounting menu. Xero renamed Files to Documents in September 2026 and moved it there from the organization name menu. You can also send documents by photographing them in the Xero Accounting app or emailing them to your Xero address.

Can I use Hubdoc and Smart Document Capture at the same time?

Yes, both are included. Send each document through only one of them, or the same bill can end up in Xero twice. Hubdoc has a per-supplier setting, Autosync to Xero Files, that sends that supplier's documents to your Xero Documents inbox instead, which helps you move suppliers across one at a time.

Can Smart Document Capture read bank statements?

Not yet. Xero lists bank statement extraction as coming. For PDF bank statements today you need a statement converter, such as Utilly's bank statement to Excel tool, and then Xero's statement import.

Is there an option for a one-off batch as a spreadsheet?

Yes. A pay-per-batch extractor such as Utilly reads up to 25 PDF or photo receipts into rows you check, then downloads CSV, Excel or a Xero bill import file. Batches of up to 3 are free; 4 to 25 use 1 credit from a one-off $9 pack of 5 credits. It reads header totals only, not line items.

Related guides

Related tools

Bank reconciliation checker: compare a bank statement to your books and list missing, duplicate and mismatched transactions.
Receipt to CSV: turn PDF or photo receipts and invoices into CSV, Excel, or QuickBooks and Xero bill imports.