Is DATEV or Qonto better?

Neither clearly leads. DATEV starts at On request and Qonto at €9/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, DATEV or Qonto?

DATEV starts at On request and Qonto at €9/month.

Does DATEV or Qonto run on more platforms?

DATEV runs on Windows, Web. Qonto 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 Qonto is typically brought in for.

What can DATEV do that Qonto cannot?

DATEV covers Unternehmen online, Lohn und Gehalt, Rechnungswesen, Jahresabschluss.

Accounting · head to head

DATEV vs Qonto

DATEV

Accounting

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

From: On request
Rated: -

Full review Website

Qonto

Accounting

French neobank and finance management platform for freelancers, SMEs and businesses

From: €9/month
Rated: -

Full review Website

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.; Qonto pricing in EUR only, not USD
Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which DATEV and Qonto actually diverge.

Attributes where DATEV and Qonto differ
Attribute	DATEV	Qonto
Starting price	On request	€9/month
Pricing model	quote	subscription
Platforms	Windows, Web	Web

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 Qonto

Nothing recorded that DATEV does not also cover.

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

Qonto

Business bankingnot DATEV
Team paymentsnot DATEV
Cash flow managementnot DATEV
Multi-currency transfersnot DATEV
Freelancer paymentsnot 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.

Qonto

Pricing in EUR only, not USD
Basic tier limited to 30 transfers per month
Add-ons for invoice automation and project tracking cost EUR 12-39/month extra
Business tier minimum commitment for small team accounts
Business plan minimum pricing EUR 49/month vs self-employed EUR 9/month

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

Qonto

€9/month

Basic (Self-Employed)$9/month
- 30 transfers
- 1 physical + 2 virtual cards
- Account remuneration 5% for 2 months
Smart (Self-Employed)$19/month
- 100 transfers
- 2 physical + 50 virtual cards
- Account remuneration
Premium (Self-Employed)$39/month
- 200 transfers
- 2 physical + 50 virtual + 50 Instant cards
Essential (Business)$49/month
- 250 transfers
- 5 physical + 50 virtual cards
- Multiple sub-accounts

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 Qonto if

Nothing in the data separates Qonto from DATEV on the points above - pick on price and on how each one feels to use.

Qonto review

Questions people ask

Is DATEV or Qonto better?: Neither clearly leads. DATEV starts at On request and Qonto at €9/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, DATEV or Qonto?: DATEV starts at On request and Qonto at €9/month.
Does DATEV or Qonto run on more platforms?: DATEV runs on Windows, Web. Qonto 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 Qonto is typically brought in for.
What can DATEV do that Qonto cannot?: DATEV covers Unternehmen online, Lohn und Gehalt, Rechnungswesen, Jahresabschluss.

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.

Qonto: How much does Qonto cost?

Qonto's self-employed plans range from EUR 9/month (Basic) to EUR 39/month (Premium). Business plans range from EUR 49/month (Essential) to EUR 199/month (Enterprise).

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.

Qonto: What is included in Qonto's Basic plan?

The Basic plan costs EUR 9/month and includes 30 monthly transfers, 1 physical card and 2 virtual cards, plus account remuneration at 5% for the first 2 months.

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.

Qonto: What is the difference between self-employed and business plans?

Self-employed plans (Basic to Premium) are for individuals and cost EUR 9-39/month. Business plans (Essential to Enterprise) offer more transfers and cards for teams, ranging from EUR 49-199/month.

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.

DATEV vs Qonto

DATEV

Qonto

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in DATEV

Only in Qonto

What people use each for

DATEV

Qonto

Where each one falls short

DATEV

Qonto

Pricing, plan by plan

DATEV

Qonto

Which should you pick?

Choose DATEV if

Choose Qonto if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on DATEV

More on Qonto

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