Lightyear and CostCode, compared
Lightyear: Accounts payable automation: invoice data capture, purchase orders, approvals and accounting integrations, with users in more than 20 countries. (source: Lightyear home page)
CostCode does one job: it checks every supplier invoice against the prices and charges you agreed with that supplier, before you pay, and holds the ones that are over with the proof beside the original.
Side by side
| Item | Lightyear | CostCode |
|---|---|---|
| Price checks | Lightyear: Lists automatic price checking: each line's product code compared with the supplier's agreed price list, flagging any overcharge. (source: Lightyear: Full feature list) | CostCode: Checks each line against the price list that was in force on the invoice date, including price breaks, and holds a line only when it's at least $25 and 3% over (both changeable). |
| Delivery fees and levies | Lightyear: Not stated on the pages we checked. | CostCode: Checks freight, fuel levies, waiting time, minimum loads and pallets against the charges you agreed. |
| Queries to suppliers | Lightyear: Not stated on the pages we checked. | CostCode: Drafts a query to the supplier that quotes only what they agreed to, or the duplicate. Supplier email starts switched off, and a person always presses send. |
| Lines it can't check | Lightyear: Not stated on the pages we checked. | CostCode: A line with nothing to check against is shown as Unverified, with the reason. It's never marked as fine. |
| Duplicates | Lightyear: Says it alerts you to duplicate bills already in your approval workflow. (source: Lightyear: Full feature list) | CostCode: Holds the same file sent twice, or the same supplier and invoice number twice. |
| Bank details | Lightyear: Says it checks the bank details extracted from an invoice against your own records. (source: Lightyear: Full feature list) | CostCode: Not yet: CostCode doesn't compare the bank details printed on an invoice with earlier ones. |
| Purchase orders and approvals | Lightyear: Lists purchase orders and automated approval workflows, with three-way PO matching on its Standard plan. (source: Lightyear: Pricing (Australia)) | CostCode: CostCode doesn't raise purchase orders. Import yours by CSV and an invoice billed past the PO, or quoting an unknown or closed one, is held for your team. A person approves each invoice for payment, in full or short, before it goes on the payment run, and held invoices wait on your dashboard for a person to decide. Optional: release limits per role, and a second person to approve a supplier's ABN or email and price list changes. |
| Accounting systems | Lightyear: Lists integrations with Xero, MYOB, QuickBooks, Sage and Oracle NetSuite, among others. (source: Lightyear home page) | CostCode: Not yet. You keep paying invoices the way you do now; CostCode tells you which are cleared and which are held. |
| Price | Lightyear: Its Australian pricing page shows Essentials at $155 a month for 125 credits and Standard at $255 a month for 250. A bill, credit note or receipt uses one credit when it's exported or archived, a supplier statement or a purchase order one each, and an employee expense three. It's a 30-day rolling contract, and the page doesn't say whether prices include GST. (source: Lightyear: Pricing (Australia)) | CostCode: Free for 20 invoices a month, no card and no contract. Paid plans from A$39 a month, by card, cancel any time. No GST is charged: we're not registered for GST. |
CostCode may suit you if
You're an Australian construction business and want item prices, delivery fees and levies checked against the price list in force on the invoice date, starting free, with a query to the supplier that cites only what they agreed.
Lightyear may suit you if
You want accounts payable automation across the board: purchase orders, approval workflows, expenses, statement reconciliation and an export to your accounting system.
Would CostCode pay for itself?
Your numbers, not ours: this works out what share of your spend would have to be overcharged and credited back to cover CostCode's price.
Starter covers that, at $39.00 a month. It pays for itself if
0.098%
of your supplier spend is overcharged and credited back.
Questions
Is CostCode an alternative to Lightyear?
For one job: checking supplier invoices against the prices and charges you agreed, before you pay. CostCode may suit you if you're an Australian construction business and want item prices, delivery fees and levies checked against the price list in force on the invoice date, starting free, with a query to the supplier that cites only what they agreed. Lightyear may suit you if you want accounts payable automation across the board: purchase orders, approval workflows, expenses, statement reconciliation and an export to your accounting system.
What does CostCode cost?
Free for 20 invoices a month, no card and no contract. Paid plans from A$39 a month, by card, cancel any time. No GST is charged: we're not registered for GST.
Does CostCode do purchase orders?
CostCode doesn't raise purchase orders. Import yours by CSV and an invoice billed past the PO, or quoting an unknown or closed one, is held for your team. A person approves each invoice for payment, in full or short, before it goes on the payment run, and held invoices wait on your dashboard for a person to decide. Optional: release limits per role, and a second person to approve a supplier's ABN or email and price list changes.
Does CostCode connect to Xero or MYOB?
Not yet. You keep paying invoices the way you do now; CostCode tells you which are cleared and which are held.
What happens to a line CostCode has nothing to check against?
A line with nothing to check against is shown as Unverified, with the reason. It's never marked as fine.
Where do the facts about Lightyear come from?
From Lightyear's own public pages, linked beside each statement, as they read on 30 Sep 2026. Where its pages don't say, neither does this page.
Sources, checked 30 Sep 2026
Lightyear is a trade mark of its owner, named here only to compare. CostCode isn't affiliated with Lightyear. Products change: Lightyear's own site is the authority on what it does today.
Got a supplier invoice handy? Check it now.
About ten seconds. No account. We don't keep the file.
Or start free: 20 invoices a month, no card