Cortena is a Blue10 alternative for teams that want an agent, not a heavier document workflow.
Blue10 is an established Dutch invoice management suite around recognition, approval, archive and matching, especially for Exact environments. Cortena.ai starts from a different premise. You brief an agent the way you would brief a bookkeeper, and it codes every field with a reason you can read. Here is a fair, factual comparison so you can decide which one fits.
Comparison written and reviewed October 2026. Where a Blue10 detail is not publicly documented, we mark it "varies" rather than guess.
What Blue10 does well.
We are not here to run Blue10 down. It is a serious workflow product for Dutch finance teams. Credit where it is due.
End-to-end invoice workflow
Recognition, routing, approval, archive and matching sit in one suite. Teams that want a guided document process get a clear story.
Strong Exact Online focus
Blue10 is well known with Exact Online buyers and supports stock and purchase scenarios where matching matters.
Implementation-led rollout
Guided onboarding and reporting, including Power BI options, suit organisations that prefer a project-style start over self-serve setup.
If a full document and matching suite with guided implementation is what you need, Blue10 may be the right fit. The rest of this page is for teams who want agent-first coding with readable reasons.
Document workflows still leave humans to finish the coding.
Blue10-class tools organise the document journey well. Coding depth and explainability still sit with your team. Cortena.ai is agent-first. You instruct it once, in plain language, and it does the coding with a reason on every field.
Explainable AI on every field, not a black-box guess.
Cortena.ai codes the GL account, cost centre and VAT code, and shows why it chose each one: the precedent it followed, the rule it matched, the line it read. Your team reviews reasoning, not a bare suggestion.
- Account, cost centre and VAT code coded per line
- A plain-language reason attached to every field
- Precedent learning from your own corrections
Recurring office supplies from Staples Nederland B.V. Last 5 invoices booked to 4200 (office expenses), cost centre 100. Dutch VAT 21 %, reverse charge not applicable.
You brief it like a bookkeeper, not a workflow project.
Instead of designing a heavy document process first, you write guidelines in plain language. Cortena.ai follows the briefing and asks when it is not sure.
- Guidelines in plain language, not rule trees
- Judgement on edge cases, questions when unsure
- One briefing that improves as your books do
The honest comparison.
Row by row, on the dimensions that actually change your week. Cortena facts are what we ship today. Blue10 facts we keep to what is publicly documented, and mark the rest "varies".
Blue10 is a capable product and its exact behaviour depends on plan, configuration and your Exact setup. Where we could not verify a detail from public sources, we wrote "varies" instead of inventing one. If any fact here is out of date, tell us and we will correct it.
Who should pick which.
Blue10 is the better fit when
- You want a full document suite with archive and matching first.
- Your Exact Online process depends on PO and goods receipt matching.
- You prefer a guided implementation project over agent briefing.
Cortena is the better fit when
- You want coding done for you, with a reason on every field.
- You would rather brief an agent than run a heavier document suite.
- You run several entities and want workflows to inherit.
- You want free white-glove setup and booking proposals into Exact or Twinfield.
Moving from Blue10 takes about 15 days.
There is no ledger migration to dread. Your books stay where they are and your accountant keeps their tool. We connect your invoice inbox, learn your accounts and rules from your history, and run alongside you until the coding earns your trust.
See multi-entity onboarding- 1Connect and brief, day 1Point your invoice inbox at Cortena and write your first briefing. No migration, no project team.
- 2Learn from your historyCortena studies past codings and your chart of accounts, then codes new invoices side by side with you.
- 3Go live in 15 daysOnce the coding is right, you review by exception and export booking-ready batches into Exact Online or Twinfield.
Questions people ask before switching.
Yes, for teams that want an agent to do the coding rather than a heavier invoice document suite to supervise. Both serve Exact Online buyers, but Cortena.ai codes every field with an explainable reason and is briefed in plain language.
Cortena focuses on agent-first coding, approvals and booking-ready export. Deep document archive and 3-way matching are Blue10 strengths. If those are your primary needs, Blue10 may fit better.
No. There is no ledger migration. Your books stay where they are, your accountant keeps their tool, and Cortena connects to your invoice inbox and learns from your history. Most teams are live in about 15 days with free white-glove setup.
Cortena is built for multi-entity work. Workflows and briefings inherit across administrations, and a root mailbox can route invoices to the right entity automatically.
We have tried hard to keep it fair. We credit what Blue10 does well and, where a detail is not publicly documented, we mark it "varies" rather than invent a fact. If anything here is wrong or out of date, tell us and we will fix it.
See the difference on your own invoices.
Book a demo and bring a week of real supplier invoices. We will code them live, reason on every field, so you can compare for yourself.