Accounts payable has always been the most automatable and the most stubbornly manual process in finance. Your AP team receives vendor invoices by email, keys them into Business Central line by line, chases approvals, and hopes nothing slips through before month-end.

For years, the answer in the Dynamics 365 Business Central world was clear: install an ISV solution, and Continia Document Capture was (and remains) the market leader. Then Microsoft changed the conversation. With the 2025 Wave 2 release, Microsoft made the Payables Agent generally available an AI agent that works your AP inbox the way a human clerk would, drafting purchase invoices directly inside Business Central, with no third-party app required.

So now every Business Central customer faces a genuine question: Do you go with Microsoft’s native AI agent, or the proven ISV powerhouse?

As a Microsoft Solutions Partner that also implements Continia solutions, Madhda sits on both sides of this decision every week. Here’s our honest, side-by-side comparison including the cost math most blogs skip.

First, What Is Each Product?

Microsoft Payables Agent (Native, AI-First)

The Payables Agent is one of Microsoft’s first-party AI agents built into Business Central. It is not “better OCR” – it’s an autonomous agent that:

• Monitors a dedicated shared AP mailbox (and SharePoint locations)
• Reads incoming vendor invoice PDFs using AI document understanding
• Drafts purchase invoices automatically in Business Central, including line details
• Uses your historical purchase data and accounting rules to code invoices the way your team would
• Applies confidence scoring high-confidence invoices are drafted for batch review; uncertain ones are flagged as exceptions for a human
• Keeps a native audit trail of every action it takes, plus operational metrics (invoices processed, estimated time saved, credits consumed)

It launched in public preview with Business Central 26.3 for the US and UK, reached general availability in the 2025 Wave 2 release, and is expanding capabilities (and country coverage) in the 2026 Wave 1 release.

The model: human-in-the-loop AI. The agent does the keying; your team does the judgment.

Continia Document Capture (Mature, ISV Suite)

Continia Document Capture is the most widely deployed AP automation solution in the Business Central/NAV ecosystem, refined over two decades. It’s a modular, end-to-end document processing suite:

• Essential module import purchase invoices and credit memos as PDF (via OCR) or XML e-invoices (PEPPOL BIS 3, XRechnung, OIOUBL, Finvoice, ZUGFeRD, and more via the Continia Delivery Network), with header-level data capture, batch registration, and a built-in fraud check that flags altered bank details
• Advanced Capture module line-level capture, automatic document splitting, and support for other/custom document types
• Order Matching module automatic 3-way matching of invoices to purchase orders and receipts, line by line, with configurable tolerances and variance handling
• Document Approval module full approval workflows with out-of-office delegation, web/mobile approval portal, and approval directly from the archive
• Digital archive audit-ready retrieval of every processed document

The model: template- and rule-based automation with deep, deterministic control plus a complete approval and compliance layer.

Head-to-Head Feature Comparison

The short version: the Payables Agent automates the keying; Continia automates the entire AP document lifecycle. Microsoft is closing the gap fast with each release wave, but today they are not the same product.

The Cost Comparison Everyone Asks For

This is where it gets interesting, because both products are usage-priced but on completely different meters.

A note on the numbers: Figures below are based on Microsoft’s published Copilot Credit billing rates and Continia’s published USD cloud price sheet at the time of writing. Both vendors can change pricing, regional prices differ, and Continia prices exclude tax. Always validate against current price lists (or ask Madhda for a current quote) before budgeting.

How Payables Agent Pricing Works

The Payables Agent has no per-user license fee. It consumes Copilot Credits, billed at roughly $0.01 per credit, either as prepaid credit packs or pay-as-you-go through the Power Platform admin center.

Microsoft’s published billing model for the Payables Agent:

• Processing one vendor invoice PDF from the mailbox: 50 credits
• Plus 5 credits per invoice line extracted

Microsoft’s own worked example: 100 emailed invoices per month, each with 3 lines: [50 + (5 × 3)] × 100 = 6,500 credits ≈ $65/month

How Continia Document Capture Pricing Works

Continia uses a “Use & Pay” model on Business Central Online: no fixed annual fee you’re invoiced monthly based on registered documents (per document, not per page) plus which feature modules you’ve activated. Activating a 2nd feature module earns a 25% discount on it; a 3rd earns 50%. There are no extra charges for additional companies, environments, or users.

Indicative monthly prices from Continia’s USD price sheet (Business Central Cloud):

(Approximate, excluding tax; Continia’s own example: 245 documents with all modules ≈ $199.50/month.)

Putting Them Side by Side

Three takeaways jump out:

1. At low volumes, the Payables Agent is remarkably cheap often under $100/month with zero ISV licensing, implementation app, or upgrade dependency.
2. At higher volumes, Continia’s tiered pricing wins on pure capture cost, because agent credits scale linearly with every invoice and every line, while Continia’s per-document price drops as volume grows.
3. Software cost is the small number anyway. Industry benchmarks put fully manual invoice processing at roughly $12–$18 per invoice at mid-market volume. At 500 invoices/month, that’s $6,000–$9,000 of monthly processing cost. Whether automation costs $250 or $450 a month, the ROI conversation is over in one line. The real decision is about capability fit, not a couple hundred dollars.

Also budget for the part neither price sheet shows: implementation. Continia requires partner-led setup (templates, matching rules, approval flows typically a fixed-scope project). The Payables Agent needs mailbox configuration, guardrail setup, testing, and credit-consumption monitoring. Either way, plan for a partner engagement it’s where success is actually determined.

So Which One Should You Choose?

Choose the Payables Agent if…

• You’re on Business Central Online in a supported country (US/UK first, expanding)
• Your AP volume is low to moderate and invoices are mostly straightforward PDFs
• You want fast time-to-value with minimal setup no templates, no ISV contract
• Your approval needs are covered by standard BC workflows
• You’re comfortable adopting a rapidly evolving product and monitoring consumption billing
• You want to start your AI/agent journey with a low-risk, high-visibility win

Choose Continia Document Capture if…

• You process high invoice volumes or complex, multi-page, multi-format documents
• You need mature 3-way PO matching with tolerances and variance handling
• E-invoicing compliance (PEPPOL, XRechnung, etc.) matters in your markets
• You need robust approval workflows with mobile/web approval and delegation
• You want a searchable digital archive and fraud checks for audit and control
• You run Business Central on-premises, or operate in countries the agent hasn’t reached
• You need predictable behavior deterministic rules over probabilistic AI for compliance-heavy industries

Or… Use Both (Yes, Really)

This isn’t always either/or. We increasingly see hybrid designs emerging: Continia handling structured e-invoices, PO matching, approvals, and archiving as the system of control, while AI agents pick up the unstructured long tail and inbox triage. Microsoft’s 2026 Wave 1 multi-agent and governance capabilities make these combinations more practical with every release. The right architecture depends on your document mix, volumes, and compliance needs which is exactly what an assessment is for.

How Madhda Helps You Get This Decision (and the Implementation) Right

Madhda Inc is a certified Microsoft Solutions Partner for Dynamics 365 Business Central and an implementation partner for Continia solutions which means we have no horse in this race except your outcome. Here’s how we help:

1. AP Automation Assessment.We analyze your real invoice data  monthly volumes, line counts, vendor mix, e-invoice requirements, PO coverage, approval complexity and model the actual monthly cost of each option (including Copilot Credit consumption forecasting, so agent billing never surprises you in month three).
2. Fit-Gap and Roadmap.We map your requirements against what each product does today andwhat’s coming in Microsoft’s release waves, then recommend Payables Agent, Continia, or a hybrid with a clear migration path if you want to start small and scale.
3. Implementation Done Right.From configuring the agent’s mailbox, guardrails, and review workflows, to building Continia templates, order-matching rules, and approval hierarchies our certified consultants have delivered 200+ Business Central projects and know where AP automation projects go wrong.
4. Beyond Go-Live.Dedicated post-go-live support, user training, consumption monitoring dashboards, and if you want it our BPO accounting team can run your entire AP function inside Business Central for you.

And because we deliver through a global team across the USA, UAE, and India, you get certified expertise at up to 40% less than typical Microsoft partners.

The Payables Agent is the most exciting thing to happen to Business Central AP automation in a decade genuinely intelligent, natively integrated, and priced for anyone to try. Continia Document Capture remains the deeper, broader, battle-tested AP platform that compliance-heavy and high-volume organizations still need.

The wrong move is doing nothing: every month of manual AP processing costs you more than a year of either solution.

Not sure which way to go? Let’s run the numbers on your actual invoices.

➤ Book a Free AP Automation Assessment with a Madhda Business Central expert

Call: USA +1 (302) 303-9860 | IND +91 97242 42267  Email: sales@madhda.com

FAQs

Is the Payables Agent included in my Business Central license?

There’s no additional user license, but the agent consumes Copilot Credits (≈$0.01 each) billed via prepaid packs or pay-as-you-go. Some credits are bundled with certain license types; heavy usage is billed on consumption.

Does Continia charge per user?

No. Document Capture pricing on Business Central Online is based on registered documents per month plus activated modules with no extra cost for additional users, companies, or environments.

Can the Payables Agent do purchase order matching like Continia?

Its matching capabilities are basic today and improving with each release wave. If mature 3-way matching with tolerances is a hard requirement right now, Continia is the safer choice.

Is the Payables Agent available in my country?

It launched in the US and UK and is rolling out to additional regions. Madhda can confirm current availability for your localization as part of an assessment.

Can we start with the Payables Agent and add Continia later (or vice versa)?

Yes, both are usage-priced with no long lock-in on BC Online, which makes phased strategies very practical. We design the roadmap so nothing you build is throwaway.