Softwr

Accounting · head to head

DATEV vs Workiva

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
Workiva logo

Workiva

Accounting

Connected reporting platform for SEC filings, iXBRL tagging, SOX and sustainability disclosure

From
On request
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.; Workiva pricing is quoted per solution and per user and is not published, and because moving a filing cycle off the platform carries deadline risk, renewal negotiations favour the vendor heavily.
  • They diverge on capability: DATEV covers Unternehmen online, Workiva covers Linked data.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which DATEV and Workiva actually diverge.

Attributes where DATEV and Workiva differ
AttributeDATEVWorkiva
PlatformsWindows, WebWeb

Identical on both: starting price (On request), pricing model (quote), 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 Workiva

  • Linked data
  • Inline XBRL tagging
  • SEC filing
  • SOX and controls
  • Sustainability reporting
  • Audit trail
  • Collaboration
  • Data connectors

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

Workiva

  • A newly public company facing its first 10-K where the tie-out process in Word and Excel is not survivable at the deadlinenot DATEV
  • A European group preparing CSRD sustainability disclosure that must be assurance-ready rather than a marketing documentnot DATEV
  • A finance team whose auditors keep raising review points about version control and unsupported changes in the reporting packnot DATEV
  • A group with several statutory filers that wants one set of numbers feeding many jurisdictional reportsnot 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.

Workiva

  • Pricing is quoted per solution and per user and is not published, and because moving a filing cycle off the platform carries deadline risk, renewal negotiations favour the vendor heavily.
  • Cost is difficult to justify for smaller filers whose reporting burden is a single 10-K a year, where an outsourced financial printer is cheaper.
  • Getting the initial linked-data structure right is a substantial project, and companies that rush the first cycle end up with links that break and a manual tie-out anyway.
  • The spreadsheet interface is deliberately not Excel and finance teams accustomed to Excel keyboard behaviour and modelling features find it slower for anything analytical.
  • ESG and sustainability modules were added later than the financial reporting core and buyers report them as less mature, so a company buying primarily for CSRD is buying the newer and weaker half of the product.

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

Workiva

On request
  • Workiva Platform$undefined/year
    • Linked data across documents and spreadsheets
    • SEC and ESEF filing with iXBRL tagging
    • SOX, internal audit and statutory reporting modules

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 Workiva if

  • You need linked data.
  • You also want inline xbrl tagging.
Workiva review

Questions people ask

Is DATEV or Workiva better?
Neither clearly leads. DATEV starts at On request and Workiva at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, DATEV or Workiva?
DATEV starts at On request and Workiva at On request.
Does DATEV or Workiva run on more platforms?
DATEV runs on Windows, Web. Workiva 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 Workiva is typically brought in for.
What can DATEV do that Workiva cannot?
DATEV covers Unternehmen online, Lohn und Gehalt, Rechnungswesen, Jahresabschluss. Workiva covers Linked data, Inline XBRL tagging, SEC filing, SOX and controls.

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.

Workiva: Does Workiva do the XBRL tagging for me?

The platform provides tagging tools and validation, and Workiva offers services, but the tagging judgement remains the filer's responsibility.

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.

Workiva: Is it only for US SEC filers?

No. It supports European ESEF filings, statutory reporting in several jurisdictions and sustainability frameworks such as CSRD and ISSB.

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.

Workiva: What does it cost?

Not published. Expect tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars a year depending on solutions and user count.

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.

Workiva: Can it replace our consolidation system?

No. It reports on consolidated numbers and connects to ERP and consolidation tools, but it does not perform the consolidation.

Share

Related pages

More on DATEV

More on Workiva

Keep looking

Other head to heads