Lightyear vs Ottimate

Lightyear is an accounts payable, purchase order and expense management platform for automating finance administration. It extracts invoice data, supports approval workflows and statement reconciliation, and keeps searchable documents for archiving and reporting. Teams can create and approve purchase orders, record goods received and match orders and receipt notes against supplier bills. Its iOS and Android apps support document capture, approvals and collaboration; mobile approvals require Double Approval or higher in company settings. Lightyear offers API and integration options for accounting software, ERPs and other finance systems, with an additional monthly fee possible depending on requirements. Essentials costs $199 a month for 125 credits, while Standard costs $319 a month for 250 credits. Exported invoices, supplier statements and purchase orders use one credit each; an employee expense report uses three. Browser uploads are limited to 10 MB and supported image and document formats. There is no free plan, but a 30-day trial is listed. The maker is based in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Ottimate automates accounts payable across invoice capture, coding, approvals and vendor payments. It uses machine learning to capture invoice headers and line items, learn GL coding from invoices, route approvals, and match invoices to purchase orders and receipts. Its features page reports 99.5% header-level capture accuracy, 95% line-item accuracy, and automatic coding for 93.3% of line items. Teams can pay vendors centrally by virtual card, ACH or check, while spending analysis surfaces trends, outliers, invoice risk and cash-flow insights. The maker lists QuickBooks, NetSuite, Acumatica and Sage Intacct integrations, and says it connects with hundreds of accounting systems. Web, iOS and Android access is available; the mobile app supports invoice and document capture, coding, payment approvals and scheduling, expense management, notifications, reporting and spend tracking. Ottimate states that its AP automation is SOC 2 Type 1 and Type 2 compliant and uses industry-standard encryption and security. Pricing for the product is on request, and the maker says implementation takes 6–12 weeks. Listed payment issue costs range from complimentary ACH to $20.99.