LYON — Accounts payable departments are drowning in paper. Invoice volumes climb. Regulatory demands tighten.
The teams caught in the middle often spend their days chasing exceptions and matching documents by hand. Esker, a company that builds automation software for finance offices, has been telling clients for years that this model is unsustainable.
Now two major analyst firms agree. Gartner named Esker a Leader in its 2026 Magic Quadrant for Accounts Payable Applications. The Forrester Wave for Accounts Payable Invoice Automation Software, Q2 2026, gave the same designation.
These are not participation trophies. The Gartner ranking evaluates both the completeness of a vendor’s vision and its ability to execute.
Esker landed in the top category on both counts. Forrester went further. The firm singled out Esker’s customer focus and its ability to manage disputes.
Forrester noted that Esker’s vision “stands out for its customer centricity” and delivers “seamless AI-powered communication for internal users and suppliers in dispute workflows.” Dispute resolution is a grinding pain point in AP. When an invoice does not match a purchase order, someone has to call, email, and track down answers. Esker’s software tries to automate that conversation.
The company’s broader pitch is that AP should not just be a cost center that processes paper. Esker’s AI automation suite aims to shift the department toward a strategic role.
That means cutting manual data entry, flagging exceptions automatically, and linking accounts payable data to the rest of the finance operation. The goal is best-in-class outcomes for organizations that face rising invoice volumes, growing process complexity, and shifting regulatory requirements. Esker has been building toward this for years.
The company started in document automation and gradually moved into finance-specific workflows. Its technology now sits inside the Office of the CFO, a space where accuracy matters and mistakes cost money.
The AI component is not a bolt-on feature. It is baked into how the software reads invoices, routes approvals, and resolves mismatches. The timing matters.
Many companies are still running AP on spreadsheets and email chains. The pandemic exposed the fragility of those systems. Remote work made paper-based approvals nearly impossible.
Finance leaders started looking for automation not as a nice-to-have but as a necessity. Esker’s dual recognition from Gartner and Forrester gives those buyers a shortcut.
Two independent analysts looked at the market and picked the same company as a leader. Esker’s own view is that these evaluations validate its approach. The company believes its AI-powered strategy is the right one for AP teams trying to keep up with evolving demands.
The recognition is not just about the technology. It is about whether the technology actually helps organizations achieve their goals.
Analyst firms put weight on customer references, market presence, and real-world outcomes. Esker scored well on all three. The market for AP automation is crowded.
New vendors appear regularly. Incumbents update their platforms. But the Leaders quadrant in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant is a small space.
Forrester’s Wave is similarly selective. Esker occupies that space now.
The question for buyers is whether the company can hold that position as the market evolves. For now, the analysts have placed their bets.
