---
title: "AMS Commission Tools vs Lapidar: What Each Does"
url: https://getlapidar.com/compare/ams-commission-tools-vs-lapidar/
description: "What agency management systems typically do with commissions, what Lapidar adds beside them, and what it doesn’t do. No vendor-specific claims; ask your vendor."
last_modified: "2026-10-12"
source: getlapidar.com (HTML converted to Markdown at the edge)
---

Comparison

# AMS commission tools vs Lapidar

What agency management systems generally offer for commissions, what Lapidar adds beside them, and what it leaves to your AMS. No claims about any named vendor.

By Lapidar, the team building it · October 12, 2026

## In short

- An agency management system is the record of your book. Many include commission or accounting features; what they check, and how, varies by product, version and setup.
- Lapidar is not an AMS and doesn’t replace one. It takes an export of your book plus the statements carriers sent, and checks one against the other and against your schedule.
- Where it may add something: statements that arrive as PDFs, commission that never produced a line, duplicates and late chargebacks, with each finding tied to its source.
- We make no claims about any named AMS. Confirm what yours does with your vendor.

“My AMS already handles commissions” is often true, and it is the right place to start. This page compares what agency management systems generally offer for commissions with what Lapidar does, so you can see whether there is a gap in your own process. It describes the category, not any vendor. Our longer page on [whether your AMS reconciles commissions](https://getlapidar.com/ams-commission-reconciliation/) has the questions to ask your vendor.

## Side by side

**General description of the category. Individual systems differ, and features change; ask your vendor.**

| Area | AMS commission features (typical) | Lapidar |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Role | System of record for policies, clients and accounting | A check that sits beside it; not a system of record |
| Statement input | Varies: carrier downloads for some carriers, imports, or manual entry | Upload CSV, XLSX or text PDF as the carrier sent it |
| Expected commission | Depends on whether rates are stored and kept current | Book premium times the schedule you upload or type in |
| Commission never paid | Hard to see if no transaction was ever received | Starts from the book; reports policies due in the period with no payment as Missing |
| Duplicates and chargebacks | Varies by product and setup | Flags repeats; pairs reversals with the original payment |
| Posting, receivables, accounting | Often included | Not included |
| Integration | Native to the AMS | None; you upload an export |
| Output | Varies by product | Findings with file, page and row; CSV; printable letter per carrier |

## What an AMS is good at

Your AMS holds the policies, the clients, the producers and usually the accounting. Where it receives carrier transactions as data, it can post them and show what was received against what was billed. Nothing in Lapidar replaces that, and if your system already compares paid commission with an expected amount for every carrier, the gap may be small.

## What Lapidar adds

- **Statements in the form they arrive.** Many carriers still send PDFs or spreadsheets in their own layouts. Lapidar reads text PDFs, CSV and XLSX and remembers each layout once its columns are matched.
- **A check that starts from the book.** A policy that owed commission and appears on no statement is reported as Missing, with the book row it comes from.
- **A second, independent comparison.** Because it works from an export and the carrier’s own file, it doesn’t inherit what was or wasn’t entered in the AMS.
- **A letter you can send.** One printable report per carrier listing what is owed and the line behind each item.

## What Lapidar doesn’t do

- No integration with any AMS; you export the book as CSV or XLSX.
- No OCR for scanned statements, no carrier downloads and no AL3 or XML import.
- No posting, receivables, producer pay or bank reconciliation.
- It depends on your book export and schedule being right; a stale premium makes the expected amount wrong.

Full detail is on the [commission reconciliation software](https://getlapidar.com/commission-reconciliation-software/) page, and the output is shown on the [sample report](https://getlapidar.com/sample-report/).

## Using both

The usual pattern is simple: keep your AMS as the record, export the book once a month, upload it to Lapidar with that month’s statements, and work the findings. Corrections go back into the AMS, where they belong. Our guide on [statements that don’t match the AMS](https://getlapidar.com/guides/commission-statement-not-matching-agency-management-system/) explains which differences are ordinary and which are money owed.

## Frequently asked questions

### Does Lapidar replace my agency management system?

No. Lapidar is not an AMS. It checks carrier statements against an export of your book and your commission schedule, and leaves policies, clients and accounting in your AMS.

### Does Lapidar integrate with my AMS?

No. There is no integration with any agency management system. You export your book as CSV or Excel (.xlsx, not .xls) and upload it.

### Why use Lapidar if my AMS has commission features?

It may not be needed. It can add a check that starts from the book to find commission never paid, reads PDF and spreadsheet statements as carriers send them, flags duplicates and pairs chargebacks, and cites the source line for each finding. Ask your vendor what your system already does.

On this page

1. [Side by side](https://getlapidar.com/compare/ams-commission-tools-vs-lapidar/#table)
2. [What an AMS is good at](https://getlapidar.com/compare/ams-commission-tools-vs-lapidar/#ams)
3. [What Lapidar adds](https://getlapidar.com/compare/ams-commission-tools-vs-lapidar/#adds)
4. [What Lapidar doesn’t do](https://getlapidar.com/compare/ams-commission-tools-vs-lapidar/#not)
5. [Using both](https://getlapidar.com/compare/ams-commission-tools-vs-lapidar/#together)
6. [Frequently asked questions](https://getlapidar.com/compare/ams-commission-tools-vs-lapidar/#faq)

Lapidar is in its founding pilot. There are no customers or published results yet.

[Open an account — founding pilot](https://app.getlapidar.com/signup)

## Check this month beside your AMS.

Export your book, upload this month’s statements, and see what Lapidar finds. $99 a month plus applicable tax, cancel anytime.

[Open an account — founding pilot](https://app.getlapidar.com/signup) [What the pilot includes](https://getlapidar.com/pilot/)

Not ready? Get one email when Lapidar opens more widely.