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Accounting · head to head

DATEV vs Immediate

DATEV logo

DATEV

Accounting

German accounting, payroll and tax software built around the tax adviser rather than the business

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Immediate logo

Immediate

Payroll

On-demand pay, off-cycle payments and digital tips for US hourly employers

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: DATEV dATEV does not publish transparent per-customer pricing the way a SaaS vendor does; your real cost is buried in your tax adviser's fee note, so comparing it against Lexware or sevdesk on price is genuinely hard.; Immediate as with the whole category, the employee pays a fee for instant access, so a benefit sold internally as free to staff is not free to the staff using it.
  • They diverge on capability: DATEV covers Unternehmen online, Immediate covers Earned wage access.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which DATEV and Immediate actually diverge.

Attributes where DATEV and Immediate differ
AttributeDATEVImmediate
PlatformsWindows, WebWeb, iOS, Android
CategoryAccountingPayroll

Identical on both: starting price (On request), pricing model (quote), free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in DATEV

  • Unternehmen online
  • Lohn und Gehalt
  • Rechnungswesen
  • Jahresabschluss
  • DATEV DMS
  • Meine Steuern
  • DATEV-Schnittstelle

Only in Immediate

  • Earned wage access
  • Digital tip disbursement
  • Off-cycle payments
  • Pay cards
  • Payroll deduction
  • Employer reporting

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

DATEV

  • A German GmbH that wants its Steuerberater to keep doing the books but wants receipts to stop travelling in a shoeboxnot Immediate
  • A payroll department that must file social insurance and wage tax returns to German statutory deadlines without an external bureaunot Immediate
  • An SME preparing an e-Bilanz and audit-ready GoBD document archivenot Immediate
  • A tax firm standardising dozens of client engagements on one chart of accounts and one document workflownot Immediate

Immediate

  • A restaurant group ending end-of-shift cash tip handouts and the cash handling that goes with itnot DATEV
  • An employer that must issue final pay quickly on termination in states with strict deadlinesnot DATEV
  • A hotel or care operator with unbanked staff needing pay cards alongside wage accessnot DATEV
  • A high-turnover hourly employer using same-day pay access as a recruiting messagenot DATEV

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

DATEV

  • DATEV does not publish transparent per-customer pricing the way a SaaS vendor does; your real cost is buried in your tax adviser's fee note, so comparing it against Lexware or sevdesk on price is genuinely hard.
  • The board has decided to wind down the Austria-specific portfolio: existing products remain usable to 31 December 2028, are free of charge during 2029, and cannot be used after 31 December 2029, so any Austrian entity on DATEV has a forced migration dated in advance.
  • It is built for German statutory practice, so a group with subsidiaries outside the DACH region will run DATEV for Germany and something else everywhere else, with a consolidation step in between.
  • Large parts of the suite are still Windows desktop software installed on a workstation or terminal server, which means IT overhead most companies no longer budget for when they think they are buying cloud accounting.
  • The lock-in is social as well as technical: because your adviser holds the installation and the history, changing accounting software usually forces you to change or retrain your adviser, which is a far bigger decision than a software migration.

Immediate

  • As with the whole category, the employee pays a fee for instant access, so a benefit sold internally as free to staff is not free to the staff using it.
  • It is a smaller provider than DailyPay or Payactiv, so the library of certified payroll and time system integrations is narrower and custom file work is more likely.
  • Earned wage access rules differ by US state and continue to change, which creates compliance work for multi-state employers that the vendor cannot remove.
  • Tips, off-cycle payments and advances are priced separately, so the apparent low headline cost fragments into several line items once you use the full bundle.
  • Pay card programmes attract regulatory and reputational scrutiny in the US, and an employer defaulting staff onto a card rather than a bank account risks complaints and state law problems.

Pricing, plan by plan

DATEV

On request
  • DATEV Unternehmen online$undefined/month
    • Receipt and bank data exchange with your tax adviser
    • Cash book and master data modules
    • Ordered and usually rebilled through the adviser
  • DATEV Mittelstand$undefined/month
    • In-house financial accounting and invoicing
    • Payroll modules licensed separately
    • Per-workplace licensing
  • Lohn und Gehalt$undefined/month
    • German payroll runs and statutory electronic filings
    • Priced by number of payslips
    • Typically operated by the adviser on the client's behalf

Immediate

On request
  • Immediate$undefined/year
    • Employer pricing quoted, often minimal or per employee per month
    • Employee transaction fee for instant access to funds
    • Tip disbursement and off-cycle payments priced separately

Which should you pick?

Choose DATEV if

  • You need unternehmen online.
  • You work on Windows, Web.
  • You also want lohn und gehalt.
DATEV review

Choose Immediate if

  • You need earned wage access.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want digital tip disbursement.
Immediate review

Questions people ask

Is DATEV or Immediate better?
Neither clearly leads. DATEV starts at On request and Immediate at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, DATEV or Immediate?
DATEV starts at On request and Immediate at On request.
Does DATEV or Immediate run on more platforms?
DATEV runs on Windows, Web. Immediate runs on Web, iOS, Android.
What is DATEV best used for?
DATEV is most often used for a german gmbh that wants its steuerberater to keep doing the books but wants receipts to stop travelling in a shoebox, a payroll department that must file social insurance and wage tax returns to german statutory deadlines without an external bureau, an sme preparing an e-bilanz and audit-ready gobd document archive, a tax firm standardising dozens of client engagements on one chart of accounts and one document workflow. Of those, a german gmbh that wants its steuerberater to keep doing the books but wants receipts to stop travelling in a shoebox and a payroll department that must file social insurance and wage tax returns to german statutory deadlines without an external bureau are not what Immediate is typically brought in for.
What can DATEV do that Immediate cannot?
DATEV covers Unternehmen online, Lohn und Gehalt, Rechnungswesen, Jahresabschluss. Immediate covers Earned wage access, Digital tip disbursement, Off-cycle payments, Pay cards.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

DATEV: Can I buy DATEV directly without a tax adviser?

In practice, no for most of the range. Membership of the cooperative is restricted to the tax and legal professions, and companies get access through their adviser or as a client of one.

Immediate: What does the employer pay?

Pricing is quoted and often minimal or a small per-employee-per-month charge; most vendor revenue comes from employee instant transfer fees.

DATEV: Is DATEV usable outside Germany?

It operates in Austria, Italy, Spain, Poland, Czechia, Slovakia and Hungary, but the depth is German. The Austrian product line is being discontinued with a hard end date of 31 December 2029.

Immediate: Can it replace cash tip-outs?

Yes. Digital tip disbursement is one of its main draws for restaurants and hospitality.

DATEV: What is the DATEV-Schnittstelle everyone mentions?

It is the standard export format German invoicing and ERP tools produce so bookkeeping data can be handed to a DATEV-based adviser. Supporting it is effectively a requirement to sell accounting-adjacent software in Germany.

Immediate: Is Immediate still trading?

Yes. It is an independent Birmingham, Alabama company and joined the American Fintech Council in 2025.

DATEV: Does DATEV handle e-invoicing under the German B2B mandate?

Yes, the accounting and invoicing modules were extended for the XRechnung and ZUGFeRD formats that the German B2B e-invoicing rules require.

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