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Accounting · head to head

DATEV vs Soldo

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
Soldo logo

Soldo

Accounting

Prepaid company card and spend control platform for European businesses

From
£21/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.; Soldo cards are prepaid, so if the central wallet runs low the cards decline in front of a supplier, and treasury has to keep an idle float funded rather than using a credit line.
  • They diverge on capability: DATEV covers Unternehmen online, Soldo covers Prepaid company cards.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which DATEV and Soldo actually diverge.

Attributes where DATEV and Soldo differ
AttributeDATEVSoldo
Starting priceOn request£21/month
Pricing modelquotePer user per month
PlatformsWindows, WebWeb, iOS, Android

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 Soldo

  • Prepaid company cards
  • Card-level budgets
  • Receipt capture
  • Accounting export
  • Multi-currency wallets
  • Approval 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 Soldo
  • A payroll department that must file social insurance and wage tax returns to German statutory deadlines without an external bureaunot Soldo
  • An SME preparing an e-Bilanz and audit-ready GoBD document archivenot Soldo
  • A tax firm standardising dozens of client engagements on one chart of accounts and one document workflownot Soldo

Soldo

  • A construction firm giving site managers fuel and materials cards with hard per-card limitsnot DATEV
  • A marketing team issuing virtual cards per subscription so a cancelled tool cannot keep billingnot DATEV
  • A UK company that cannot get approved for a credit-based corporate card programmenot DATEV
  • A multi-entity European business needing EUR and GBP wallets without conversion on every purchasenot 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.

Soldo

  • Cards are prepaid, so if the central wallet runs low the cards decline in front of a supplier, and treasury has to keep an idle float funded rather than using a credit line.
  • The plan fee covers only three users, and per-user charges plus physical card fees mean the real monthly cost is several times the advertised headline for a team of twenty.
  • It does not extend credit, so it gives no working capital benefit and no card rewards of the kind US charge card issuers use to offset their cost.
  • Sole traders and some business types are not accepted, which catches out small consultancies expecting to sign up online.
  • Coverage is European; a company with US or Asian subsidiaries will need a second card programme and a second expense workflow for them.

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

Soldo

£21/month
  • Standard$21/month
    • Three users included
    • Around £7 per additional user per month
    • Physical card issuance fee around £5, virtual around £1
  • Plus$33/month
    • Three users included
    • Around £11 per additional user per month
    • Advanced approval and multi-currency features
  • Enterprise$undefined/month
    • Quoted pricing
    • Custom card volumes and entity structures
    • Dedicated account management

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 Soldo if

  • You need prepaid company cards.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want card-level budgets.
Soldo review

Questions people ask

Is DATEV or Soldo better?
Neither clearly leads. DATEV starts at On request and Soldo at £21/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, DATEV or Soldo?
DATEV starts at On request and Soldo at £21/month.
Does DATEV or Soldo run on more platforms?
DATEV runs on Windows, Web. Soldo 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 Soldo is typically brought in for.
What can DATEV do that Soldo cannot?
DATEV covers Unternehmen online, Lohn und Gehalt, Rechnungswesen, Jahresabschluss. Soldo covers Prepaid company cards, Card-level budgets, Receipt capture, Accounting export.

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.

Soldo: Is Soldo a credit card?

No. It is prepaid electronic money. You fund a wallet and cards spend from it, so there is no credit line and no interest-free period.

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.

Soldo: What licence does Soldo hold?

Soldo is authorised as an electronic money institution, including UK, Irish and Italian entities, which is why it can issue cards without a sponsor bank in those markets.

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.

Soldo: What does it really cost for twenty users?

Take the plan fee, add the per-user rate for the seventeen users beyond the included three, then add card issuance fees per physical card.

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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