80+
Countries with local payment rails, native to the ledger
Comparison · Light vs Exact Online
Light vs Exact Online
Exact Online is a default choice for Dutch accountants, built around one administration per company, with group features arriving through higher editions and add-ons. Light runs every entity in one AI-native ledger, with continuous consolidation, multi-currency by default, AP, AR, cards and spend in the same system, and agents that do the work.
Book a demo$2B
Revenue Tillo runs on Light across 8 entities
76%
Cut in Tillo's month-end processing time
4
People on the finance team scaling Lovable to $500M revenue
Compare Light vs Exact Online
| Light | Exact Online | |
|---|---|---|
| Implementation | Weeks, with a dedicated implementation team and account manager included | Self-serve or set up with your accountant; quick for a single administration |
| Architecture | One AI-native ledger; consolidation posts as transactions happen | One administration per company; multi-administration management and HQ views arrive with the Premium tier and above. Arrive with the Premium edition |
| Agents | Agents complete work end to end inside your controls; every action logged and attributable | AI agents for purchase invoices, bank matching and debtor chasing, scoped to bookkeeping inside one administration |
| Configuration | Astra learns from your data and suggests workflow and configuration changes to increase performance; applied in-product, no consultants | Self-service per administration; sector editions and a 220+ app marketplace for the rest |
| Subscription management | Contract-based invoicing and deferred revenue automated | Recurring invoicing; revenue automation varies by edition and add-on |
| Spend management | Corporate and virtual cards with Apple Pay and Google Pay, expense capture via Slack, Teams and email, native to the ledger | Expense management as a separate product, Exact SRXP; no card product of its own |
| Global bill pay | AP and vendor payments executed on local rails in 80+ countries, from the ledger itself | Direct payment initiation for major Dutch and Belgian banks under its own PSD2 licence; payments outside those rails via your banks |
| Advanced reporting | Real-time multi-entity reporting with instant drill-down; no spreadsheet exports | Per-administration reports; Premium HQ aggregates across administrations, and elimination needs Exact Consolidation or another tool |
| SaaS metrics | ARR, MRR, NRR, churn and cohort metrics computed from the ledger and contracts, in real time | Not native; separate tools |
| Global coverage | Local payment rails in 80+ countries; multi-entity, multi-currency by default | Localised editions for the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France, Spain, the UK and the US, each sold and run as its own country product |
Why finance teams choose Light over Exact Online
Exact Online earned its position: it is one of the accounting packages Dutch businesses and accountancy firms use most, with real-time accountant collaboration, scan-and-recognise bookkeeping and a marketplace of 220+ integrations. For a single Dutch company whose bookkeeping runs with its accountant, it is a sound choice.
The model is one administration per company, with group capabilities arriving through the Premium edition and add-ons, and country editions that each run as their own product rather than one group system. Light is built for the case beyond that: several entities, several currencies, one AI-native ledger, with consolidation that stays current, cards and payments in the same system, and agents that carry out the routine work inside controls you define.
Multi-entity: one ledger instead of a stack of administrations
In Exact Online each company is its own administration. The Premium edition helps at the seams: an intercompany invoice posts into both administrations, and HQ functions let the parent see subsidiaries and produce consolidated reports corrected for intercompany transactions. It is genuinely useful, and it is still consolidation over separate books, produced periodically.
On Light there is nothing to stitch. Every entity posts into the same ledger, intercompany eliminations and currency translation apply as transactions happen, and you drill from the group figure straight down to the underlying document in any entity. The consolidated position is a report you open, not an exercise you run.
Beyond the Netherlands: currencies, countries and coverage
Exact Online sells localised editions in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France, Spain, the UK and the US, but each is its own country product with its own administrations, so a group with entities in several of them is running several Exact instances rather than one. In practice, foreign subsidiaries often end up in other systems, and the group is reassembled in spreadsheets or separate consolidation software.
Light is multi-entity and multi-currency by default, with local payment rails in 80+ countries, so a Dutch group's UK, US or Nordic entities run in the same ledger as the parent, consolidated continuously, without a second system to reconcile against.
Where Exact Online fits
Worth saying plainly: a single Dutch or Belgian company whose bookkeeping runs together with its accountant is on home ground with Exact Online, and switching buys it little. The accountant knows it, the integrations exist, and the administration does its job.
The calculation changes with the second and third entity, with foreign subsidiaries and currencies, and when the finance team wants to run group finance itself rather than assemble it. That is the point at which the administrations, the exports and the add-ons start costing more than the software.
Signs you’ve outgrown Exact Online
Every entity is another administration
Each company lives in its own administration with its own books. An intercompany entry posts an automatic counter-entry in the other administration, and Premium HQ gives a view across subsidiaries, but the group picture is still aggregated over separate administrations, with elimination left to a separate product. On Light, every entity posts into one ledger and the group figure is simply the default view.
Built for your accountant, outgrown by your controller
Real-time collaboration with an external accountant on a single Dutch administration is what Exact Online does best. A controller running several entities lives between administrations, in exports and spreadsheets. Light gives the accountant live ledger access and gives the controller one system for the whole group.
Growth arrives as an upgrade prompt
Extra administrations, extra users and higher transaction volumes are edition and add-on questions, and growing companies find themselves moved up tiers to keep working. Light runs from a handful of entities to hundreds on the same platform, so growth changes your dimensions, not your product.
“We evaluated several vendors. Light won because it covers our full finance stack, revenue, AR, AP, expenses, and consolidation, without stitching together a patchwork of point solutions.”
TanjaDirector of Finance, Omnea
Top 3 reasons leaders pick Light over Exact Online
An all-inclusive platform
Leverage native products for AP, AR, Procurement and budgeting that seamlessly leverage AI and integrate to Slack and Teams.
Superior performance
Whether you are processing 100,000 or 50 million transactions, the Light Ledger is based on a hyper-performant database.
Beautiful reporting
Stop the reporting headache of spreadsheets, and get fast, intuitive reports with instant drill-down capabilities.
More reasons to love Light
Enjoy integrated products that both finance and the employees enjoy using.
Expense Management
Automate expense approvals, track spending in real-time, and gain insights with AI-powered analytics.
Vendor Management
Streamline vendor relationships with simplified onboarding, tracking supplier performance, and enforcing procurement policies.
Cards
Issue vendor and employee cards with Apple Pay and Google Pay globally. Upload receipts via Slack, Teams or email.
Frequently asked questions
Is Light a good alternative to Exact Online?
For groups with several entities, and especially international ones, yes: one ledger for all companies, continuous consolidation, AP, AR, cards and spend included, and agents that carry out the work. For a single Dutch company whose bookkeeping sits with its accountant, Exact Online remains a sound choice.
Can we keep working with our accountant on Light?
Yes. Your accountant gets live access to the ledger, full audit trails and exports, so questions get answered against current data instead of period-end files passed back and forth.
Does Light cover Dutch requirements?
Light runs your entities in one ledger with the rest of the group, and holds SOC 1 Type 2 and SOC 2 Type 2 reports. Which filing formats you need, and how the collaboration with your accountant should work, is worth walking through concretely in a demo.
What is the practical difference in multi-entity accounting?
In Exact Online each company is its own administration, and the group view is aggregated over those separate books using Premium HQ functions, with elimination handled by a separate product. On Light every entity posts into one ledger, with intercompany elimination and currency translation applied continuously, so the consolidated position is available at any time with drill-down to the document.