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Accounting · head to head

DATEV vs Invoicera

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
Invoicera logo

Invoicera

Accounting

Online invoicing and billing platform for multi-entity businesses

From
$50/month
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.; Invoicera pricing quoted annually by default, with monthly billing costing roughly 20% more.
  • They diverge on capability: DATEV covers Unternehmen online, Invoicera covers Multi-entity billing.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which DATEV and Invoicera actually diverge.

Attributes where DATEV and Invoicera differ
AttributeDATEVInvoicera
Starting priceOn request$50/month
Pricing modelquotesubscription
PlatformsWindows, Webweb

Identical on both: free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Accounting).

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 Invoicera

  • Multi-entity billing
  • Recurring invoices
  • Approval workflows
  • Client portal
  • Project and time/milestone billing
  • Reconciliation workflows

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 Invoicera
  • A payroll department that must file social insurance and wage tax returns to German statutory deadlines without an external bureaunot Invoicera
  • An SME preparing an e-Bilanz and audit-ready GoBD document archivenot Invoicera
  • A tax firm standardising dozens of client engagements on one chart of accounts and one document workflownot Invoicera

Invoicera

  • Businesses managing invoicing across multiple legal entitiesnot DATEV
  • Organizations requiring multi-step invoice approvalnot DATEV
  • Agencies billing clients by project milestones or timenot DATEV
  • Companies needing a self-service client billing portalnot 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.

Invoicera

  • Pricing quoted annually by default, with monthly billing costing roughly 20% more.
  • Add-ons for extra users, entities, and support increase the effective cost beyond base plans.
  • Advanced reconciliation workflows are locked behind the top Scale tier.
  • Interface and workflow complexity may be more than very small freelance businesses need.

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

Invoicera

$50/month
  • Operate$50/month
    • 1 entity
    • 3,000 invoices/year
    • 5 users
  • Grow$125/month
    • 3 entities
    • 12,000 invoices/year
    • 10 users
  • Scale$250/month
    • 10 entities
    • 48,000 invoices/year
    • 20 users
  • Enterprise$undefined/mo
    • Custom entities and limits
    • Implementation and dedicated account management
    • Custom integrations

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 Invoicera if

  • You need multi-entity billing.
  • You work on web.
  • You also want recurring invoices.
Invoicera review

Questions people ask

Is DATEV or Invoicera better?
Neither clearly leads. DATEV starts at On request and Invoicera at $50/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, DATEV or Invoicera?
DATEV starts at On request and Invoicera at $50/month.
Does DATEV or Invoicera run on more platforms?
DATEV runs on Windows, Web. Invoicera runs on web.
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 Invoicera is typically brought in for.
What can DATEV do that Invoicera cannot?
DATEV covers Unternehmen online, Lohn und Gehalt, Rechnungswesen, Jahresabschluss. Invoicera covers Multi-entity billing, Recurring invoices, Approval workflows, Client portal.

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.

Invoicera: What does Invoicera cost?

Invoicera has four tiers: Operate at $600/year, Grow at $1,500/year, Scale at $3,000/year, and a custom-priced Enterprise plan, with monthly billing costing about 20% more.

Source
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.

Invoicera: Is there a free trial?

Yes, Invoicera offers a 14-day free trial of its Grow plan with no credit card required.

Source
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.

Invoicera: Can I add more users or entities to my plan?

Yes, add-ons are available including 5-packs of additional users, extra entities, priority support, and an integration operations pack.

Source
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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