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Accounting · head to head

DATEV vs Payactiv

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
Payactiv logo

Payactiv

Payroll

Earned wage access and financial wellness benefit, free to employers and free for standard transfers

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Payactiv has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • 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.; Payactiv heavy repeat use of wage advances by an employee is a sign that base pay does not cover living costs, and offering the benefit does not address that underlying compensation problem.
  • They diverge on capability: DATEV covers Unternehmen online, Payactiv 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 Payactiv actually diverge.

Attributes where DATEV and Payactiv differ
AttributeDATEVPayactiv
Starting priceOn requestFree
Pricing modelquoteFree for employers, fees apply only to expedited transfers
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWindows, WebWeb, iOS, Android
CategoryAccountingPayroll

Identical on both: 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 Payactiv

  • Earned wage access
  • Payactiv Card
  • Free standard transfers
  • Bill pay and marketplace
  • Financial wellness tools
  • Broad HCM integration

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

Payactiv

  • A hourly-wage employer in retail, healthcare or hospitality wanting to reduce payday-loan reliance among staffnot DATEV
  • An HR team wanting earned wage access with no employer subscription feenot DATEV
  • A company already on ADP, Paychex or another supported HCM system wanting minimal integration effortnot DATEV
  • An employer wanting bundled financial wellness and bill pay features alongside wage advancesnot 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.

Payactiv

  • Heavy repeat use of wage advances by an employee is a sign that base pay does not cover living costs, and offering the benefit does not address that underlying compensation problem.
  • The product depends entirely on accurate, timely data from the employer's time-and-attendance and payroll systems, so errors upstream translate directly into wrong advance calculations for employees.
  • Free tiers apply to standard delivery only, and employees who need funds immediately outside the free instant-transfer conditions pay expedited fees that are easy to trigger without realising it.
  • Employer coverage and card acceptance skew toward the United States, so it does not serve multinational workforces without a country-specific alternative.
  • As an intermediary sitting between payroll and the employee, it introduces another vendor with access to sensitive payroll and time data, which adds a data governance and vendor risk conversation many employers underestimate before rollout.

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

Payactiv

Free
  • PayactivFree
    • No employer subscription cost
    • Free standard 1 to 3 day ACH and qualifying instant transfers
    • Fees apply only to expedited delivery options

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 Payactiv if

  • You need earned wage access.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want payactiv card.
Payactiv review

Questions people ask

Is DATEV or Payactiv better?
Neither clearly leads. DATEV starts at On request and Payactiv at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, DATEV or Payactiv?
Payactiv has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for DATEV and Free for Payactiv.
Does DATEV or Payactiv run on more platforms?
DATEV runs on Windows, Web. Payactiv runs on Web, iOS, Android.
Can I use Payactiv for free?
Yes. Payactiv has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. DATEV starts at On request.
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 Payactiv is typically brought in for.
What can DATEV do that Payactiv cannot?
DATEV covers Unternehmen online, Lohn und Gehalt, Rechnungswesen, Jahresabschluss. Payactiv covers Earned wage access, Payactiv Card, Free standard transfers, Bill pay and marketplace.

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.

Payactiv: Does it cost the employer anything?

No, the core benefit is free to employers, and standard employee transfers are also free; only expedited delivery options carry a fee.

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.

Payactiv: How is the advance calculated?

From wages already earned according to the employer's time and attendance or payroll data, not a loan against future unearned pay.

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.

Payactiv: Which payroll systems does it integrate with?

More than 70, including ADP, Paychex, Kronos, Workday and UKG.

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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