A quick look: ApprovalMax vs Lightyear
Most of us don't actually want "another finance tool" to manage. What we really want is to stop chasing people for approvals and finally have a clear answer to "who signed this off?"
Both ApprovalMax and Lightyear help with the chaos, but they’re built for different types of headaches.
Think of ApprovalMax as your governance partner. It’s for when you need tight controls and an audit trail that doesn't require digging through six months of emails. It stays close to your accounting software so everything feels like one smooth process.
Lightyear is more of a processing engine. If your desk is buried under supplier invoices and you're spending hours matching line items to delivery notes, that’s where it shines.
• Pick ApprovalMax if your “best” means strong approval controls, clear accountability, audit-ready history, and approvals tied to accounting.
• Pick Lightyear if your “best” means procurement + AP processing, especially PO→GRN→invoice matching and document-heavy work.
What each tool is built for
Both tools solve “approvals chaos,” but they start from different places.
ApprovalMax is built around governance and sign-off. It’s the layer that makes sure spend gets approved the right way, by the right people, with a clear record attached. It’s designed to sit close to your accounting workflows (Xero and QuickBooks Online), so approvals don’t become a separate world that finance has to reconcile later.
Lightyear is built around procurement and AP operations. It’s designed to help teams run the purchasing process end-to-end, with more emphasis on how supplier documents, receiving, and matching move through the system. If your pain is “we’re spending too much time processing and checking,” that’s the problem Lightyear is aiming at.
So the question isn’t which platform has more features on paper. It’s which one matches the part of the process that’s currently breaking for you: approval control or procurement/AP processing.
Lightyear vs ApprovalMax side-by-side comparison
A real workflow example: “new software subscription request”
Scenario (this is where AP usually breaks)
A multi-site business (hospitality/retail is a common one) raises a PO for stock. Deliveries arrive in two or three drops. Then the supplier invoice lands.
Finance needs:
- confirmation goods were received (not just ordered)
- matching against the PO (and ideally the delivery notes)
- a clean sign-off trail
- fewer “who’s holding this?” follow-ups at month-end
This is the exact type of workflow that shows up in reviews for both tools: teams want less manual entry, fewer matching errors, and a clear record for audits.
How it usually looks in ApprovalMax
ApprovalMax is typically used when finance wants approvals and accountability to come before anything is posted or paid.
- Raise the PO or bill with full context (supplier, coding, attachments)
- Route it through defined approval rules and thresholds
- Resolve exceptions before approval rather than after posting
- Keep a time-stamped approval trail attached to the transaction
- Post to accounting and run payments with the same control layer (batch approvals or ApprovalMax Pay, depending on setup)
How it usually looks in Lightyear
Lightyear is typically used when the main issue is processing, matching, and document handling.
- Create the PO with line items and coding
- Record partial deliveries (receipts/GRNs) as goods arrive
- Upload or receive the supplier invoice
- Capture invoice data and match it against the PO and receipts
- Flag mismatches (short delivery, price change, extra line, missing receipt)
- Route the invoice for approval once issues are resolved.
- Export or sync the approved invoice to the accounting system for posting and payment.
Key difference: ApprovalMax focuses on controlling decisions (who approves and when), while Lightyear focuses on controlling processing (how documents are matched and handled).
Who benefits most in this scenario:
- Teams struggling with approval ownership, delays, or audit clarity benefit more from ApprovalMax.
- Teams overwhelmed by invoice volume, partial deliveries, and manual matching benefit more from Lightyear.
Where Lightyear can be the better choice
Lightyear is a strong fit when your process is procurement-heavy and document-heavy.
It tends to win when you need:
- 3-way matching across PO → GRN → bill, line by line
- Purchasing operations built into the day-to-day (ordering, receiving, matching)
- A usage model that tracks with throughput: credits per document processed
- A platform story that explicitly includes data extraction as a core feature
Trade-off to be aware of: if your biggest problem is simply “approvals are messy,” procurement horsepower won’t automatically fix approval discipline. You still need clear rules, owners, and consistency.
Where ApprovalMax is the better choice (and why we’d pick it)
If you define “best” as better control before spend happens, ApprovalMax is the safer choice for most finance-led teams.
ApprovalMax tends to win when you need:
- An approvals platform that’s designed to work with Xero & QuickBooks Online
- Cleaner handoffs between requester, approver, and finance, because everything sits in one approval thread instead of scattered messages
- PO matching for Xero/QBO as part of an approvals-led control approach
- Faster month-end and fewer audit questions, because you can point to a complete approval trail without digging through email
- Payment execution that stays controlled: ApprovalMax Pay lets you pay approved bills directly from ApprovalMax, with batching and scheduling so payments follow the same rules as approvals
Why this matters in real life: when approvals are consistent, finance spends less time chasing, fewer purchases turn into “surprises,” and month-end has fewer “what is this and who approved it?” moments.
Pricing: how the models push you in different directions
Pricing can shape behavior more than teams expect.
- Lightyear’s pricing is credit-based: $199/month for 125 credits, with credits tied to processed or exported documents.
- ApprovalMax uses an organisation-based pricing model, with tiered plans depending on the accounting platform you use.
Rule of thumb:
- If your cost driver is the volume of documents, credit pricing can feel fair.
- If your cost driver is control complexity and approvals across teams, approvals-first pricing tends to be easier to plan around.
Bottom line
Lightyear is a solid option if you want a procurement/AP processing engine with matching, receiving, extraction, and credit-based pricing.
But if your definition of “best” is strong approval control that finance can trust, ApprovalMax is the better pick. It’s built to keep approvals clear and connected to the systems finance already runs (Xero and QuickBooks Online), with features like PO matching and batch payment approvals that close common control gaps.
Next step: list your top 3 workflows (PO approvals, bill approvals, payment approvals). If approvals are where things break down, start with ApprovalMax.
FAQs
Does Lightyear replace my accounting system?
Generally, no. It’s positioned as purchasing/AP tooling with workflows that connect into your finance stack, not a replacement for your accounting ledger.
Is ApprovalMax procurement software?
ApprovalMax is best described as an approvals and controls layer (POs and approval workflows are part of that), especially close to Xero/QBO.
Which is better for audit readiness?
If your audit questions usually sound like “who approved this, when, and based on what,” ApprovalMax’s approvals-first design is usually the stronger fit. (Lightyear can still provide records, but its core story is procurement/AP processing.)
Which is better for 3-way matching?
Lightyear puts PO → GRN → bill matching front and center.
Which is better for Xero batch payment approvals?
ApprovalMax explicitly supports batch payment approval workflows and pushes them to Xero once approved.
Can I execute payments after approval in ApprovalMax?
ApprovalMax highlights an Airwallex integration that lets you make payments for approved batches without leaving ApprovalMax.
