Disclosure: Mercura publishes this comparison. Information about Workist comes solely from its public website and documentation (as of October 28, 2026, sources listed at the end of the article). Found an error? Write to us via /contact; we review and correct within 5 business days.

Highlight Summary

• Looking for a Workist alternative? For distributors and manufacturers that want to answer GAEB tenders as X84, detect contingency items and send supplier price requests from the bill of quantities (BoQ) alongside their orders and ERP, Mercura is the better fit.

• Both offer AI order entry from email and PDF, read GAEB X83 files and connect to SAP S/4HANA, ECC, Business One and Microsoft Dynamics 365. Workist returns trade quotes as GAEB X94.

• Security: Mercura is ISO/IEC 27001 certified; Workist states “We are SOC 2 Type II audited”.

• Choose Workist for phone orders, inbox reply drafts or published package terms.

What is Mercura, what is Workist?

Mercura is AI software for quote and order automation in technical sales, for distributors and manufacturers. It reads requests, BoQs and orders (email, PDF, Excel, Word, GAEB, photos, handwritten notes), matches every line to your item master incl. long text, sends supplier price requests and writes approved quotes and orders into your ERP. Uncertain lines are flagged, not guessed. How AI differs from classic text recognition here is explained in our article on OCR vs. AI in order entry.

Workist’s homepage says: “Automate order entry - from inbox to ERP within seconds”. It serves wholesale and manufacturing, with agents for orders, inquiries, lists of services, inbox and phone. What order automation covers in general is described in our article on sales order automation.

Mercura vs. Workist comparison at a glance

Legend: ✅ documented = described on the vendor’s website. ◐ partly = described in part (reason in brackets). – not mentioned = not mentioned on Workist’s website or in its documentation, as of October 28, 2026; this does not mean it is missing. ✗ not offered, per vendor = the vendor’s own pages say so (quote in the source). Mercura column: standard features, as of October 2026; “–” in “Only at Workist” rows: not in Mercura’s criteria list.

Workist wins the pricing row: it publishes packages and its minimum term.

Can Workist read GAEB files and return a GAEB X84?

Workist’s blog and documentation describe its LV Assistent reading BoQs as GAEB X83 or PDF and creating the trade price offer as GAEB X94 from the X83 and your price list. D83, P83, X81 and an X84 export are not mentioned. Alternate and contingency items can be set in Workist’s quote; detecting them in the incoming BoQ is not described. Mercura reads X83, D83, P83 and X81, detects optional and contingency lines in the incoming BoQ and exports the quote as X84, the GAEB phase for bid submission; X94 belongs to GAEB’s trade phases. More on quotes and tenders.

Example (illustrative): An installer sends an X83 with 240 lines, six of them contingency items. Mercura marks those six and, after approval, returns the quote as X84. File endings and phases are explained in our guide to the GAEB file format.

Can Workist create supplier price requests straight from the BoQ?

Workist’s website does not mention supplier price requests from the BoQ. Workist documents processing supplier order confirmations, invoices and delivery notes with “Matching with order data”. Mercura creates price requests from the BoQ as GAEB P93 or Excel. It sends them from the rep’s mailbox and files the replies on the same record.

Example (illustrative): Twelve of 180 BoQ lines are non-stock valves. Mercura sends one request to two manufacturers and files the replies for the quote.

How traceable are the item suggestions?

Workist documents confidence thresholds per field, several items or item sets per BoQ line, and keywords, such as competitor products, that the assistant always highlights. A reason and source passage per suggestion, accessories with multiplier and mandatory flag, and a cross-reference for named competitor products are not mentioned. Workist also documents validation against master data (“It detects discrepancies and asks your team for a quick decision”) and support for “complex variant configurations”. Mercura shows reason, source passage and confidence per suggestion, adds accessories with multiplier and mandatory flag, substitutes competitor products and offers a product configurator.

Example (illustrative): For “Brand A or equal”, Mercura suggests your equivalent item, cites the long-text passage, shows the confidence and adds seals as a mandatory accessory.

Which security credentials do Workist and Mercura name?

Workist’s website does not mention ISO/IEC 27001. It states: “We are SOC 2 Type II audited and GDPR-compliant”. It names “Hosting in the EU” and a multi-tenant platform where “every customer has a strictly separated environment”. Its documentation describes single sign-on with Microsoft Entra ID or SAML; SCIM is not mentioned. Mercura is ISO/IEC 27001 certified and hosted in Europe, with a separate tenant per customer and Entra ID SSO with SCIM.

Example (illustrative): If IT requires SOC 2 rather than ISO 27001, raise it early with both vendors.

Choose Workist if …

• you receive BoQs as GAEB X83 or PDF and want trade quotes returned as GAEB X94, on the same platform as order entry.

• you want phone orders and help with status emails: its Voice Agent “takes calls around the clock” and “captures orders and quote requests”; the Inbox Agent “drafts email responses with the relevant information”.

• you want terms up front: packages by document volume and users, a 12-month minimum term and a free test on your documents.

• you run SAP ECC, S/4HANA or Business Central and want Workist’s dedicated integration pages.

• your procurement policy asks for a SOC 2 Type II report.

Choose Mercura if …

• you are a distributor or manufacturer answering GAEB tenders (X83, D83, P83, X81) with X84 rather than X94.

• you want supplier price requests from the BoQ as GAEB P93 or Excel.

• you need contingency items detected and suggestions with reason, source passage, accessories and a configurator.

• supplier requests, quotes and orders should run in one system, through to order processing.

• your IT requires ISO/IEC 27001 and user provisioning via SCIM; you can test on your own data, usually within 2 working days.

At building-services manufacturer REHAU, Mercura suggests products for up to 98% of BoQ lines, with a hit rate of up to 90% and up to 60% time saved on quotes, as its success story shows. Mercura’s average match rate is 92%; it varies by customer and catalog.

Methodology

Sources: Workist’s public website (all sitemap pages, incl. blog and customer stories) and its public documentation, retrieved October 27, 2026 and re-checked in full on October 28, 2026, without login, forms or downloads. Status legend: see the table. Mercura information: standard features, as of October 2026. We review this page quarterly. Corrections via /contact, reviewed within 5 business days. All comparisons: Mercura vs. competitors.

FAQ

Is Mercura a Workist alternative?

Yes, for distributors and manufacturers handling orders and BoQs. Both read GAEB X83 and capture orders. Mercura adds D83, P83 and X81, X84 export, contingency detection and supplier price requests; Workist adds X94 trade quotes and phone and inbox agents. Another comparison for order entry: Mercura vs. Turian.

What do Workist and Mercura cost?

Neither publishes amounts; Workist’s pricing page shows three packages and a 12-month minimum term. Mercura: on request via /contact.

Which ERP systems do Workist and Mercura connect to?

Workist “natively supports over 40 ERP systems”, incl. SAP R/3 (ECC), S/4HANA, Business One, Business Central and proALPHA. Mercura: SAP S/4HANA, ECC and Business One, Microsoft Dynamics 365, proALPHA, Salesforce and UniTrade. Both document a REST API, webhooks and SFTP. More on Mercura’s integrations.

Can Mercura take orders by phone?

No. Mercura processes written input such as email, PDF, Excel, GAEB and photos; Workist documents a Voice Agent. How EDI and AI processing of email orders complement each other is covered in our article on EDI vs. AI for orders.

Sources

• Workist website, homepage (“AI document processing”): positioning, validation against master data, SOC 2 Type II audit, hosting in the EU and separated customer environments. Retrieved October 27, 2026.

• Workist website, page “Pricing”: packages by document volume, users and teams, minimum term, free test and a feature list with input formats, SSO and article variants. Retrieved October 27, 2026.

• Workist website, page “Process lists of services with AI”: information on extracting BoQ lines, matching with master data and complex variant configurations. Retrieved October 27, 2026.

• Workist website, German blog articles on answering a GAEB X83 and on comparing AI assistants for BoQs: X83 and PDF import, X94 trade price offer, several items per line, alternate items. Retrieved October 28, 2026.

• Workist website, German field report and success story on its customer ACO: keywords for competitor products, suggested item sets or alternatives. Retrieved October 28, 2026.

• Workist documentation (German), pages on incoming documents, document processing, validation checks, output formats, login, API and webhooks: X83 files, confidence thresholds, duplicate check, X94 with contingency items, Entra ID and SAML, REST API. Retrieved October 28, 2026.

• Workist website, page “Inbox Agent: AI email automation for sales”: information on mailbox connection, classification and draft replies. Retrieved October 27, 2026.

• Workist website, page “Workist Voice Agent”: information on taking calls and capturing orders. Retrieved October 27, 2026.

• Workist website, page “ERP Integrations: Connect Your AI Sales Agent”: information on more than 40 native ERP integrations and SFTP. Retrieved October 27, 2026.

• Workist website, German page “KI für SAP S/4HANA” (ERP integrations section): information on the SAP S/4HANA connection. Retrieved October 27, 2026.

• Workist website, German page “SAP-ECC-Auftragserfassung automatisieren” (ERP integrations section): information on the SAP ECC and R/3 connection. Retrieved October 27, 2026.

• Workist website, German page “KI für Microsoft Business Central” (ERP integrations section): information on the Business Central connection. Retrieved October 27, 2026.

• Workist website, page “Automated order confirmation processing with AI”: information on order confirmations, invoices and delivery notes matched with order data. Retrieved October 27, 2026.

• Workist website, German industry page “Automatisierte Dokumentenverarbeitung im Großhandel”: offering for wholesalers. Retrieved October 27, 2026.

• Workist website, German industry page “Automatische Dokumentenverarbeitung für Hersteller”: offering for manufacturers. Retrieved October 27, 2026.

• All pages listed in Workist’s sitemap and all pages of its documentation (checked for the “not mentioned” rows). Retrieved October 27, 2026, re-checked in full October 28, 2026.

Bring a real BoQ or a real order: in 30 minutes you’ll see how Mercura processes it. Book a session