Is DATEV or Tripletex better?

Neither clearly leads. DATEV starts at On request and Tripletex at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, DATEV or Tripletex?

Tripletex has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for DATEV and Free for Tripletex.

Does DATEV or Tripletex run on more platforms?

DATEV runs on Windows, Web. Tripletex runs on Web.

Can I use Tripletex for free?

Yes. Tripletex 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 Tripletex is typically brought in for.

What can DATEV do that Tripletex cannot?

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

Accounting · head to head

DATEV vs Tripletex

DATEV

Accounting

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

From: On request
Rated: -

Full review Website

Tripletex

Accounting

Norwegian cloud accounting and ERP system for bookkeeping, invoicing and payroll

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

The short version

Only Tripletex 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.; Tripletex pricing only in Norwegian Krone, limited for international customers
Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which DATEV and Tripletex actually diverge.

Attributes where DATEV and Tripletex differ
Attribute	DATEV	Tripletex
Starting price	On request	Free
Pricing model	quote	subscription
Free tier	No	Yes
Platforms	Windows, Web	Web

Identical on both: 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 Tripletex

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

Tripletex

Small business accountingnot DATEV
Invoice managementnot DATEV
Payroll processingnot DATEV
Project trackingnot 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.

Tripletex

Pricing only in Norwegian Krone, limited for international customers
Mobile app features not fully detailed

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

Tripletex

Free

Basis$199/month
- Invoice (Faktura)
- Accounting (Regnskap)
- Mobile app
Smart$299/month
- Everything in Basis
- Smart automation
- Optional: payroll, travel, integrations
Pro$479/month
- Everything in Smart
- Integrations included
- Payroll, travel, hours tracking
Komplett$649/month
- Everything in Pro
- Project management
- Project budgeting

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 Tripletex if

You want to start without paying.

Tripletex review

Questions people ask

Is DATEV or Tripletex better?: Neither clearly leads. DATEV starts at On request and Tripletex at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, DATEV or Tripletex?: Tripletex has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for DATEV and Free for Tripletex.
Does DATEV or Tripletex run on more platforms?: DATEV runs on Windows, Web. Tripletex runs on Web.
Can I use Tripletex for free?: Yes. Tripletex 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 Tripletex is typically brought in for.
What can DATEV do that Tripletex 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.

Tripletex: Does Tripletex offer a free trial?

Yes. Tripletex offers a 14-day free trial with no payment details required. Additionally, new companies starting an AS (limited company) through Tripletex get 30 days of free access.

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.

Tripletex: Can you upgrade or downgrade Tripletex plans?

Yes. According to the pricing page, 'upgrade or downgrade when needs change.' All plans are modular, and you only pay for features you use.

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.

Tripletex: Is support included in Tripletex plans?

Yes. Free support (Gratis support) is included in all plans. Premium support levels are available on higher tiers.

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 Tripletex

DATEV

Tripletex

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in DATEV

Only in Tripletex

What people use each for

DATEV

Tripletex

Where each one falls short

DATEV

Tripletex

Pricing, plan by plan

DATEV

Tripletex

Which should you pick?

Choose DATEV if

Choose Tripletex if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on DATEV

More on Tripletex

Keep looking

Other head to heads