The ERP is D365, Business Central, NetSuite, Sage Intacct, QuickBooks or COINS
Integration depth is where Stream separates from connector-based tools.
Compare
Five ways to automate payables, and where each one stops.
Finance teams weigh Stream against doing nothing, buying capture, extending the ERP, or a generic AP suite. This is an honest view of what each approach covers.
Side by side
Capability comparison
Descriptions of categories are general; specific products differ. Ask us for a comparison against a named alternative you are evaluating.
| Capability | Manual AP / email | Capture-only tools | ERP-native workflow | Generic AP suite | Skalable Stream |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Header and line capture with confidence | Keyed by hand | Yes, header; lines vary | Limited or add-on | Yes | Yes, with click-to-source highlighting |
| Vendor, GL and dimension prediction | Tribal knowledge | Vendor only | Defaults only | Varies | Yes, validated against the ERP, explainable |
| Duplicate detection | After the fact | Exact only | Invoice number only | Exact and some fuzzy | File-based, exact and fuzzy before approval |
| 2-way and 3-way matching | Manual | No | Yes, inside the ERP | Yes | Yes, with receipts synced from the ERP and discrepancy routing |
| Header and line approval rules | Email chains | Basic | Yes, technical to change | Yes | Yes, configurable by finance, up to five one-off approvers |
| Email and mobile approval | PDF attachments | Basic | Limited | Yes | Digests for invoices and expenses, mobile and desktop |
| Expense management | Spreadsheets | No | Separate module | Separate product | Same platform, same approvals and digests |
| Procurement: requests, POs in the ERP, receipts | No | Yes, for ERP users only | Sometimes | Yes, connected to invoices and the ERP | |
| Multi-entity, multi-currency, multilingual | No | Partial | Yes | Varies | Yes, entity-specific rules from one instance |
| ERP integration depth | Re-keying | Export file | Native | Connector | Two-way, built by the ERP implementation team; errors fixed in Stream |
| Visible integration errors and retries | N/A | No | ERP logs | Varies | Yes, assigned owners, retries, no re-keying |
| Analytics and bottleneck reporting | None | Volume only | ERP reports | Yes | Cycle time by stage and approver, touchless rate, integration status |
| Conversational assistant | No | No | ERP copilot for ERP users | Emerging | Stream Assistant across AP, expense and procurement |
| Implementation and support | N/A | Self-serve | ERP partner project | Vendor PS | 45-day go-live guarantee; product and ERP team in one organization |
When Stream fits
Choose Stream when
And when to look elsewhere: if you have one entity, a handful of invoices a month and no approvals, a capture tool or your accounting system's inbox may be enough.
Approvals are the bottleneck
Amount, department, entity, project and role rules at header and line level, with digests, mobile and escalation.
Multiple entities, currencies or languages
Entity-specific rules from one instance.
You want AP, expenses and purchasing together
One platform, one approval engine, one audit history.
Exceptions cost you time
Duplicates, mismatches and ERP errors are visible, owned and resolved in Stream.
You need a predictable go-live
Scoped implementation with a 45-day guarantee.
Next step
Compare against the alternative you are evaluating
Tell us what else is on the shortlist. We will give you a straight comparison and show the differences on your invoices.