Trace Alternative for AI Scope 3 Automation | ESGAgent vs Trace
Trace alternative

Trace speeds up your Scope 3.
ESGAgent takes it off your plate.

Trace combines carbon accounting software with advisory support, ingesting bills, invoices and financial data for ASRS reporting. ESGAgent is AI native: send spreadsheets, invoices, scanned bills and phone photos on top of your ERP feed, and Scope 1, 2 and 3 are calculated, mapped and evidenced with engineers owning the methodology.

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Trace is built for
Mid-market businesses preparing a first ASRS report, and accountants offering carbon services to SME clients.
ESGAgent is built for
Teams that want the most accurate Scope 1, 2 and 3 possible. ESGAgent connects to your ERP and source systems, then goes further, ingesting spreadsheets, invoices, scans and photos so no activity data is left out.
Head to head on Scope 1, 2 and 3

ESGAgent vs Trace, line by line.

Trace
ESGAgent
What you can send
Utility bills, invoices and financial systems
✓Spreadsheets, PDFs, invoices, scans and phone photos, plus ERP and accounting data
System integrations
Financial systems, including Xero
✓ERP, accounting, fuel systems, utility portals and lab systems
Invoices, bills and photos
Bills and invoices ingested. Photo ingestion not found on public site
✓Read and extracted automatically, including scans and phone photos of dockets and bills
Scope 3 method
Hybrid spend and activity, GHG Protocol with Australian factors
✓Activity data pulled from your documents wherever it exists, spend-based only to fill gaps
Who does the mapping
AI mapping with expert advisory support
✓Agents classify, extract and map every line to an emission factor. You approve the exceptions
Audit trail
Downloadable audit trail report
✓Every figure traces back to the document it came from
Methodology and boundaries
Your team, with Trace advisory support
✓Set and maintained by our forward deployed engineers, not your team

“Not found” and “not detailed” mean we could not find it on Trace’s website or public listings in September 2026. Sources are listed at the end of this page.

The trade-offs

Where Trace falls short.

–Positioned around “minimum viable compliance”: getting through year one rather than running a system that checks itself every day.
–Software is paired with advisory support, so complex Scope 3 work still runs through consultant hours.
–Much of the product, partner programme and training is built for accountants serving SME clients.
Trace may still suit you if
You want software plus advisory for a lean first ASRS report and are happy to manage the process in-house.
Where we differ

Scope 3, AI native.

01
Send it as it is.
Spreadsheets, PDF invoices, scanned bills, phone photos of fuel dockets and supplier files go in alongside your ERP feed. No templates to fill in and no data cleaning first.
02
Scope 1, 2 and 3, fully automated.
Agents read every document, classify each line, pick the emission factor and run the calculation. You review exceptions, not rows.
03
Someone else owns the method.
Our forward deployed engineers set your boundaries and methodology once and keep them current, so nobody on your team has to become a carbon accountant. See CarbonAgent
Questions

Switching from Trace, answered.

Is ESGAgent an alternative to Trace?

Yes. ESGAgent calculates Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions and prepares AASB S2 disclosures. The difference is the input: you can send spreadsheets, invoices, scans and photos as they are, and the extraction, factor mapping and calculations are automated.

Can Trace read invoices, bills and photos?

Trace says it ingests unstructured data such as utility bills, invoices and financial systems. We could not find photo ingestion on its public website as of September 2026. The bigger difference is who does the work: at ESGAgent, agents and engineers own the mapping and methodology.

Who is Trace a better fit for?

Mid-market businesses that want a lean first ASRS report, and accountants delivering carbon footprints for SME clients.

What do we need to send ESGAgent?

Whatever you already have. ERP and accounting exports, fuel and utility data, supplier spreadsheets, PDF invoices, scanned dockets and phone photos. Agents read and classify each item, and our engineers set the boundaries and methodology with you once.

More comparisons
ESGAgent vs Avarni ESGAgent vs Sumday ESGAgent vs Unravel Carbon
Sources, checked September 2026: Trace homepage · Trace for accountants · Trace methodology. Trace is a trademark of its owner. Spotted something out of date? Tell us and we will correct it.

Bring your messiest spreadsheet.
Watch Scope 3 calculate itself.

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