An Exact Online MCP server lets an AI app like Claude, ChatGPT or Copilot read your Exact Online administration and, if you allow it, create or update records. Exact does not make one itself, so the choice comes down to a handful of third-party servers that work in different ways. This guide explains how they work, compares the options, and shows how to connect Exact Online to Claude in a few minutes.
The short answer
- What it is: an MCP server is the link between your AI app and Exact Online. You ask a question in plain language, and the AI uses the server to fetch the numbers.
- Two kinds: some servers call the Exact Online API live for every question. Others keep a synced copy of your data and answer from that copy.
- How to choose: for quick questions on one administration, a live server is enough. For history, many administrations or Exact Online combined with other apps, a synced copy works better.
Peliqan’s Exact Online MCP server is one of the synced-copy options. We compare it with the others below, including where another tool may fit you better.
What is an Exact Online MCP server?
MCP stands for Model Context Protocol. It is an open standard that lets AI apps use outside tools and data in the same way, whatever the app. Claude, ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini and Cursor all support it. Our guide to Claude MCP covers the protocol itself in more detail.
An Exact Online MCP server gives the AI a set of tools such as “list open receivables” or “create a sales invoice”. When you ask “Which customers owe us more than 60 days?”, the AI picks the right tool, the server gets the data from Exact Online, and the AI writes the answer.
The server signs in to Exact Online with your own Exact user, through Exact’s standard login. The AI app never sees your Exact password, and it can only reach what that Exact user is allowed to see.
Exact Online at a glance
Two kinds of Exact Online MCP server: live API vs synced copy
Live API servers
A live server turns each question into calls to the Exact Online API and returns the result. The answer is always current to the second, and your data is not stored anywhere else.
The catch is the API limit. A question like “What were our sales per customer over the last three years, for all twelve administrations?” can take hundreds of calls. That is slow, it eats into the 5,000 daily calls per administration, and the AI may give up halfway. A live server also only sees Exact Online, so it cannot combine your books with your CRM or webshop.
Synced-copy servers
A synced-copy server copies your Exact Online data into a database on a schedule. Questions run as SQL on that copy, so a question does not trigger a fresh round of API calls each time. History, totals across administrations and joins with other apps are quick. Changes, such as creating an invoice, still go to Exact Online through the API.
The trade-off is freshness. The copy is as current as the last sync. In Peliqan, Exact Online syncs every 6 hours by default. More frequent full syncs are not advised because of Exact’s daily limit, but specific tables can run on their own tighter schedule.
Peliqan stores the copy in its built-in Postgres warehouse, with Trino as the query engine on top. You can also save common queries as materialized tables, so repeat questions on large data stay fast.
How a synced-copy MCP server works
→ sync every 6 hours →
Peliqan warehouse
Postgres + Trino
→ SQL →
MCP server
→
Claude, ChatGPT, Copilot
→
MCP server
→ writeback via the API →
Exact Online
Questions run on the synced copy. Changes and a few live lookups go straight to the Exact Online API.
Exact Online MCP servers compared
These are the Exact Online MCP options we found in October 2026. The details come from each vendor’s own public pages, so check them again before you decide, as this market changes fast.
Which one fits you
- You want to try it for free on one or two administrations: a live server with a free plan, such as Praat met je Boekhouding, or CData’s free read-only server if you are happy to run it on your own computer.
- You mainly want the AI to do tasks in Exact Online, like booking purchase invoices or creating orders: a live server built for writing, such as Exact AI Connect or Ledger Botje, or Zapier if your other automations already run there.
- You want answers over years of data or across many administrations: a synced copy avoids hitting Exact’s API limits on every question.
- You want Exact Online in the same conversation as your CRM, webshop or HR system: you need a server that covers those apps too, which today means a multi-app option such as Peliqan.
Not ready for MCP yet? The older routes still work: exports to Excel, custom code on the API, or Exact Online reports in Power BI. They are fine for fixed reports, but none of them lets you ask a new question in plain language.
How to connect Exact Online to Claude
These steps use Peliqan. Other hosted servers follow the same pattern: sign in to Exact Online once, then add the server URL to your AI app.
- Connect Exact Online in Peliqan. Start a free trial on the Peliqan MCP page for Exact Online, click connect and sign in with your Exact Online user. Pick the administrations you want to sync.
- Add Peliqan to Claude. In Claude, open Settings, then Connectors, then Add custom connector. Give it a name, paste
https://mcp.peliqan.io/mcpas the URL, click Add, then sign in and approve. Anthropic’s guide to custom connectors shows the same screens. - Ask your first question. For example: “Show me aged receivables for all administrations, grouped by customer.”
The Exact Online to Claude video walkthrough shows these steps on screen.
If you use the full Peliqan data platform rather than Peliqan MCP, use the MCP URL shown in your Peliqan account, and see the help pages on connecting data for the Exact Online setup.
ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini and Cursor
The same URL works in other MCP apps. Peliqan MCP has one-click setup for ChatGPT and Gemini. Note that ChatGPT only allows custom MCP connectors on paid plans.
In Cursor, add the server to your mcp.json file and sign in when Cursor asks. The Cursor MCP docs explain where the file lives.
{
"mcpServers": {
"peliqan": {
"url": "https://mcp.peliqan.io/mcp"
}
}
}
In VS Code with GitHub Copilot, the setup is almost the same. The file is .vscode/mcp.json, the top key is servers and the server needs "type": "http", as described in the VS Code MCP server guide.
What you can ask, and what the AI can change
Example questions
- “Which customers are more than 60 days overdue, across all administrations, and how much do they owe?”
- “Find purchase invoices from the same supplier with the same reference that were booked twice.”
- “Compare revenue per month this year with last year for administration 2.”
- “Which projects have used more hours than budgeted this month?”
- “What is in stock in the main warehouse, against open sales orders and purchase orders on the way?”
See the Exact Online AI page for more use cases.
What the AI can read and write through Peliqan
More detail on the tables is on the Exact Online connector page.
How writes are kept safe
Every write runs with your own Exact Online user, so the AI can never do more than that user is allowed to do in Exact. Writeback is on by default and you can switch it off per connection if you only want the AI to read. On top of that, Claude asks for your approval before it runs a tool, unless you have chosen to always allow it.
Writes go through Peliqan’s writeback (reverse ETL) layer to the Exact Online API, so they follow Exact’s own rules and validation. A booking that Exact Online would refuse in its own screens is refused through the AI too.
Many administrations and accountancy firms
One Peliqan connection belongs to one Exact Online user and covers every administration that user can access. You choose which administrations to sync during setup. For an accountant, this means one question such as “Which clients have receivables more than 60 days overdue?” can run across all client administrations at once, instead of one file at a time.
Two Exact rules matter at scale. Exact does not allow two connections at the same time for the same user and app, and the daily API limit applies per administration. Firms with very many administrations may need more than one Exact user, so syncs can run in parallel.
Accountancy firms that serve clients on their own Peliqan accounts can use multi-customer management, where partner accounts run MCP tools against each client’s sub-account.
If some clients use a different package, they can sit next to Exact Online in the same MCP server. For clients on Yuki, see our Yuki and Claude guide.
Exact Online plus your other apps
Many useful questions do not stop at Exact Online. “Which deals did we win last quarter that still have no invoice?” needs your CRM and your books. A synced-copy server can answer it in one query, because both apps sit in the same warehouse. Peliqan’s help pages explain how joins across sources work.
Common pairs we see:
- CRM: won deals against invoices, using Teamleader, HubSpot or Pipedrive next to Exact Online.
- E-invoicing in Belgium: sales invoices in Exact Online checked against Peppol delivery status in Billit.
- Webshop and bank: orders from Shopify or WooCommerce, or a bank file, lined up with the bookings in Exact Online.
- HR and planning: hours and staff data from systems such as AFAS next to project margins.
Peliqan connects to 300+ apps, all available through the same Peliqan MCP server, so you add one URL to your AI app instead of one server per app.
Beyond chat, the same synced data can drive scheduled checks. You can set data quality alerts, for example when receivables jump by more than you expect.
You can also build AI agents in Peliqan that use the same Exact Online data.
What it costs
Peliqan MCP costs a flat €15 per connection per month, with a 7-day free trial and no credit card needed. There is no charge per user, but each connection belongs to one user, so two colleagues who both connect Exact Online are two connections. One connection covers all the administrations that user can access.
The other options price in different ways: per plan with a cap on questions and administrations, per machine, or per task. Compare them on the number of administrations and the number of questions you expect to ask, not only on the monthly price.
Before you connect, check these
- Where your data goes. A live server passes data through. A synced copy stores it. Peliqan is hosted on AWS in Frankfurt and holds SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001 and GDPR compliance.
- Who signs in. Use an Exact Online user with only the rights the AI should have. The AI can never do more than that user.
- Read or write. Decide if the AI should change anything. If not, pick a read-only server or switch writeback off.
- How fresh the data must be. For “right now” questions, a live lookup is better. For trends and totals, a copy synced a few times a day is enough.
- Your AI plan. Claude allows custom connectors on all plans, with one custom connector on the Free plan. ChatGPT needs a paid plan for custom MCP connectors.
Conclusion
There is no official Exact Online MCP server, but there are good options from Exact partners and data platforms. If you want to ask quick questions about one administration or let the AI book invoices, a live server does the job. If you want answers over years of data, across many administrations, or together with your CRM, webshop and bank, a synced copy is the better fit, because it does not hit Exact’s API limits on every question.
Whichever you choose, start with read-only questions on one administration, check the answers against Exact Online, and only then let the AI write.
