Ledger Botje or the built-in AI Assistant?
The difference is where you work. The Exact Online AI Assistant lives inside Exact Online: you open the package and ask your question there. Ledger Botje brings your administration to the AI assistant you already use - ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot or Gemini - so you can combine Exact Online data with everything else happening there.
Do you mostly work inside Exact Online and want faster answers there? Then the built-in assistant is the obvious pick. Do you spend the day in ChatGPT or Copilot and want your administration alongside email, documents and spreadsheets? Then an MCP integration makes more sense. They do not exclude each other.
The differences side by side
| Ledger Botje (MCP) | Exact Online AI Assistant | |
|---|---|---|
| Where you work | In your own AI assistant | Inside Exact Online |
| Which assistants | ChatGPT, Copilot, Claude, Gemini, Mistral, Perplexity, Grok, Cursor, OpenClaw | The Exact Online assistant |
| Combine with email and documents | Yes, in the same conversation | No, within Exact Online |
| Number of actions | 292 MCP tools (122 read, 170 write) | Determined by Exact Online |
| Multiple administrations in one conversation | Yes, switch mid-conversation | Within the selected administration |
| Write access | Off by default, you enable it | Determined by Exact Online |
| Cost | From €39 per month on top of Exact Online | Part of Exact Online |
| Separate setup needed | Yes, once, via OAuth | No, already included |
Pick the built-in AI Assistant when...
- bookkeeping is your main job and you are inside Exact Online all day anyway.
- you do not want an extra subscription or a separate integration.
- your questions stay within the boundaries of one administration.
Pick Ledger Botje when...
- your working day happens in ChatGPT, Copilot or Claude and you want Exact Online in there with it.
- you want to combine administration data with an email, a quotation PDF or a spreadsheet in one conversation.
- you manage several administrations and want to switch between them mid-conversation.
- you want to choose an AI assistant that fits your organisation rather than one that came bundled.
Can you use both?
Yes. They are two entrances to the same administration and they do not know about each other. You use the built-in assistant while you are working in Exact Online anyway; you use the MCP integration when the question starts somewhere outside Exact Online - an email from a customer, a supplier list in Excel, a quotation you are drafting.
In practice that is often the dividing line: does the question belong to the bookkeeping, or to the work around it?
What the difference means in practice
An example. A customer emails asking whether an order has shipped and whether the previous invoice has been paid. With the built-in assistant you open Exact Online, look up the order, look up the invoice and type a reply. With an MCP integration you ask that question in the assistant where the email is already open, and get both answers plus a draft reply back.
That gap widens the more of your work happens outside the accounting package.
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Does Ledger Botje replace the Exact Online AI Assistant?
No. They are two different entrances to the same data and can coexist. What Ledger Botje adds is the ability to query your administration from the AI assistant you use yourself.
Am I then paying twice for AI?
The built-in assistant comes with your Exact Online subscription. Ledger Botje is a separate subscription from €39 per month. On top of that you need a subscription to the AI assistant itself, for example ChatGPT Plus or Microsoft 365 Copilot.
Which of the two can do more in Exact Online?
That varies per task and shifts as both sides keep developing. Ledger Botje currently offers 292 tools across stock, orders, manufacturing, finance and projects. For your own situation, check which actions you perform most often and whether they are covered.
Does Ledger Botje work if I do not have the AI Assistant?
Yes. Ledger Botje connects through the regular Exact Online API using OAuth and is independent of the built-in assistant. All you need is an Exact Online account and an AI assistant that supports MCP.
Key facts
- 292 MCP tools for Exact Online: 122 read-only and 170 write.
- Works with 9 AI assistants: ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, Claude, Gemini, Mistral, Perplexity, Grok, Cursor and OpenClaw.
- Connects via the Model Context Protocol (MCP) over Streamable HTTP, using OAuth 2.1 and PKCE.
- From €39 per month. Every plan starts with a free 14-day trial, no credit card.
Tool counts verified on 25 July 2026.
Further reading from our blog
Querying your accounting via chat - without exports or reports
Stop setting up reports and exporting to Excel. Query your Exact Online administration directly via chat and get an instant answer in plain language.
Ledger Botje vs Exact Online AI Assistant: an honest comparison
Exact Online AI Assistant or Ledger Botje? An honest comparison of Exact built-in assistant and an external AI connection - including when to choose which.
Exact Online now has a USB port for AI: how Ledger Botje works
Imagine Exact Online with a USB port for AI. That is Ledger Botje - a no-code MCP connection to ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, Gemini and more.