Your accounting sits in Exact Online, you sell through a webshop and your customers live in a CRM. Three systems, the same data, and still you retype every order into an invoice by hand. A waste of your time, and error-prone on top of that. An Exact Online integration removes that manual work: you connect Exact to your other software so data flows back and forth automatically. In this guide you will read which integrations exist, how they work, what they cost, and when a ready-made connector or custom work is the better call. No sales pitch, just an honest picture for small and mid-sized businesses.
Want the wider context on automation first? Read our guide to AI automation for SMEs. And to ask the right questions up front, our checklist for automating a process is a good place to start.
What is an Exact Online integration?
An Exact Online integration is a connection that lets Exact Online exchange data automatically with another system, such as your webshop, CRM, bank or payroll package. Instead of retyping orders, invoices or payments, you let the software do it through the Exact API. The integration pulls data, translates it and writes it to the right place, on a fixed schedule or the instant something happens.
That retyping is not a small problem. According to MuleSoft’s Connectivity Benchmark Report (2024), large organisations use nearly 1,000 separate applications on average, of which only about 29 percent are actually connected to one another (MuleSoft). The rest are islands. And every island means double entry and mistakes you only spot once it is too late.
Which integrations are available for Exact Online?
Almost any type of business software can be connected to Exact Online. The most requested integrations revolve around sales, payments and staff. Below are the most common categories.
| Integration | What it does | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Webshop / e-commerce | Orders and invoices straight into the books | Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento |
| CRM | Keeps customer and invoice data in sync | HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive |
| Bank (PSD2) | Reads bank transactions in and reconciles | ING, Rabobank, ABN AMRO |
| Payroll / HR | Posts salary journal entries automatically | Nmbrs, Loket, AFAS |
| POS / till | Daily turnover from the till into the books | Lightspeed and other till integrations |
| Scan & recognise | Reads and books purchase invoices automatically | Basecone and other invoice processing |
| Accountant | Your accountant works in the same administration | Exact Online accountancy |
Not seeing your system? As long as it has an API, an integration is almost always possible. The only question is which route, and that decides the price and the reliability.
Standard connector or custom via the API?
You can set up an Exact Online integration in three ways. Which one fits depends on how standard your process is and how much control you want to keep.
- Ready-made app from the Exact Online App Store. Exact has its own App Store with hundreds of integrations you switch on in a few clicks. For common combinations, like Shopify to Exact, this is often the fastest and cheapest route.
- No-code integration platform. Tools like Zapier, Make or an iPaaS connect Exact to apps that have no ready-made connector. You set which data goes where yourself, no programming. Handy for light, non-critical flows.
- Custom integration through the Exact Online API. A developer builds an integration that does exactly what your process needs: custom logic, two-way synchronisation and strict error handling. Pricier, but fully yours. The setup and cost of such a custom integration work the same as for any other API integration. what an API integration costs.
| Route | Suited to | Rough price | Control |
|---|---|---|---|
| App Store connector | Common standard integrations | € 0 to 50 per month | Low, you follow the app |
| No-code platform | Light, non-critical flows | € 20 to 100 per month | Medium |
| Custom via API | Custom logic, critical data, sync | € 1,500 to 7,500+ one-off | High, you own the code |
Torn between no-code and custom? Putting Zapier, Make and n8n side by side will point you in the right direction. And our piece on no-code versus custom automation shows exactly where the line sits between clicking it together yourself and having it built.
How does the Exact Online API work?
The Exact Online API is the official way external software talks to your administration. It is a REST API with OAuth 2.0 as the login method, which means an integration gets access with your permission without you sharing your password (Exact Online REST API). An app asks, for example, “give me all of today’s sales invoices”, and Exact answers with that data in a fixed format.
REST is the standard for a reason. Postman’s State of the API report (2023) found that more than 85 percent of developers work with REST APIs (Postman). Do watch the limits, though: Exact enforces daily caps on the number of API calls. An integration that wants to process thousands of records at once has to handle that smartly. A good developer plans for it from the start.
What does an Exact Online integration cost?
What an Exact Online integration costs depends mostly on the route. A ready-made App Store app usually sits at a fixed monthly fee. A custom integration is a one-off cost, plus maintenance. Here is a rough guide per type.
| Integration type | Example | Rough cost |
|---|---|---|
| App Store connector | Shopify orders into Exact | € 0 to 50 per month |
| No-code platform | CRM contact into Exact via Make | € 20 to 100 per month |
| Custom, one direction | Own webshop reads invoices from Exact | € 1,500 to 4,000 one-off |
| Custom, two-way + sync | Real-time sync between ERP and Exact | € 4,000 to 7,500+ one-off |
On top of the build, always budget for maintenance. An API changes, a token expires, Exact rolls out an update: then the integration has to move with it. Those recurring costs are what people underestimate most. How to weigh them against the gains is covered in our breakdown of custom software costs, and whether an integration pays for itself you can work out with our guide to the ROI of automation.
The maths is simpler than it looks. According to Gartner, poor data quality costs organisations an average of 12.9 million dollars per year (Gartner). Every time someone retypes an order wrong, you pay a slice of that. An integration that removes the manual work often pays for itself faster than you would think.
Connecting your bank to Exact Online (PSD2)
A bank integration lets bank transactions come into Exact Online automatically, so all you have to do is reconcile them. This runs through PSD2, the European law that requires banks to share account data securely through an API with your permission. You usually set the integration up straight from Exact: you select your bank and confirm the authorisation. Major Dutch banks like ING, Rabobank and ABN AMRO are supported. Note that a PSD2 authorisation expires over time, so you have to renew it periodically or the integration stalls.
Connecting your accountant to Exact Online
Connecting your accountant means they look into the same administration, without emailing files back and forth. In Exact Online you invite your accountant or accounting firm as a user and grant the right permissions. They then work live in your books, which makes filing and the annual accounts a lot smoother. The other way around, an accountant can also set up your administration and give you access afterwards.
How secure is an Exact Online integration?
A well-built integration is secure, but security does not come for free. Because financial data travels over the internet, you want a modern login method (OAuth 2.0), encrypted traffic over HTTPS and access to only the data that is truly needed. If you process personal data, the GDPR applies in full: you must be able to show that data is exchanged securely and shared no more than necessary (Dutch Data Protection Authority). At TopDevs we build integrations with token management, encryption and logging as standard, not as an upsell.
What to watch when having an Exact Online integration built
Before you have an integration built, check a few things. They decide whether your integration lasts for years or breaks after the first update.
- Does a ready-made app already exist? Look in the Exact Online App Store first. If the integration already exists and fits, custom work is a waste of money.
- One direction or two? Pulling data from Exact is simple. Keeping both sides in sync is more complex, and therefore pricier.
- What happens when it goes wrong? Ask explicitly about error handling, automatic retries and logging. An integration fails eventually; what matters is that you notice.
- Who owns the code? Make sure you keep a custom integration in your own hands. Why that matters so much is covered in code ownership and vendor lock-in.
- Who maintains it? Agree on upkeep up front, so an API change does not catch you off guard.
If you run a bigger ERP alongside Exact, say AFAS, the question is often whether you build custom on top of the standard package and connect it through the API. We cover that trade-off in off-the-shelf versus custom software. And a customer portal almost always runs on integrations quietly doing their work in the background, for example to show invoices from Exact.
Do it yourself or have it built?
A common integration you set up fine yourself with an App Store app or a no-code tool. The moment money, customer data or reliability is on the line, you want custom work with proper error handling and maintenance. That is exactly the difference between a demo that works once and an integration you run on for years. Connecting systems is not an Exact-only story, by the way, since almost any package with an API connects the same way. the wider guide to connecting software.
At TopDevs we build Exact Online integrations at a fixed price agreed up front, with code that stays yours. No subscription to your own integration, no lock-in.
TopDevs is a Dutch software agency that builds custom software, AI integrations and automations. Want to spar about which integration fits your systems? Book a free call and we will look together at where the gains are.
