Best European Alternatives to QuickBooks
Looking for a European alternative to QuickBooks? Accounting software has to match the tax regime it operates in, and QuickBooks fits European businesses poorly — no DATEV export in Germany, patchy support for national e-invoicing mandates, and a chart of accounts built for somewhere else.
These European platforms handle national VAT rules, Peppol and ZUGFeRD e-invoicing, and the accountant handover the way your tax adviser actually expects it.
How we rank these tools — 4-step process
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European ownership, verified
The company is headquartered and incorporated in the EU, EEA or Switzerland, and processes customer data in Europe. A US parent company disqualifies a tool from this page regardless of where its servers are.
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Category fit and hands-on review
What the tool actually does, who it suits, and where it falls short — checked against the vendor’s own documentation, changelog and pricing page rather than its marketing copy.
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Compliance and pricing check
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Placement on this page can be paid, and that can affect which tools appear here and the order they appear in. It never buys a good review: a tool that fails the checks above is not here at any price, and payment does not change the shortcomings we write about. A vendor can ask us to correct a factual error — not to remove a criticism.
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7 European Alternatives to QuickBooks
Pennylane
Accounting platform shared between founders and their accountant
Lexware Office
German bookkeeping with DATEV export built in
Moneybird
Dutch invoicing and administration for small business
sevDesk
Invoicing and bookkeeping with automatic bank matching
Fortnox
The Swedish market leader for SME accounting
Holded
ERP-style suite with accounting, invoicing, CRM and stock
Exact Online
Established Dutch accounting and ERP in the cloud
Key takeaways
- Intuit withdrew QuickBooks from France entirely: sales ended January 2023, the service stopped on 31 December 2023, and read-only access ended on 31 March 2024.
- There is no German QuickBooks site, and Spain and Italy get the Global edition rather than a localised product.
- The commonly quoted $30 to $200 QuickBooks Online prices are stale; US list prices are now $38, $85, $140 and $340 a month.
- Accounting software is tax software, so the right question is not which European tool is best but which is best in the country where you file.
- Ask which platform your accountant already works in before you shortlist anything, because in Europe that usually decides it.
Why people leave QuickBooks
For most of continental Europe this is not a page about leaving QuickBooks. It is a page about what to do now that QuickBooks has left.
Intuit stopped selling QuickBooks in France in January 2023, switched off access on 31 December 2023 and ended read-only access to downloaded data on 31 March 2024, covering the main product, QuickBooks Expert-Comptable and the mobile app.
There is no German QuickBooks site at all. Spain and Italy are served by the Global edition rather than a local product, and the Global edition is one generic international package: it tracks VAT and GST and files a return in no European country at all.
That is the argument, and it is a more useful one than the usual jurisdiction complaint. Intuit Inc. is an American company with 18,200 employees and $18.83 billion of revenue in its 2025 financial year, and it localises where the market pays for localisation.
Accounting software is tax software, tax law stops at a border, and a vendor with thirty markets ships for each national mandate in the order its revenue dictates. A vendor with one market ships for it first, because it has nothing else to ship.
- It withdrew from a G7 economy with fifteen months' notice The French timeline is the whole case in three dates: new subscriptions ended in January 2023, the product stopped working on 31 December 2023, and read-only access to exported data ended on 31 March 2024. Every French business using it had to migrate its ledger, its VAT history and its accountant relationship inside a window Intuit chose. Nothing about that was improper, and nothing about it is reassuring if you are in a market Intuit has not yet decided about.
- The Global edition is not a local product Where there is no national version, Intuit sells a Global edition with VAT and GST tracking and the same Simple Start, Essentials, Plus and Advanced tiers. What it does not carry is the specific machinery a European filing needs: DATEV export and ELSTER filing in Germany, the FEC export and the French chart of accounts, the Dutch btw-aangifte, Swedish payroll rules, Spain's modelos and the Verifactu regime. Those are not preferences. They are the reason your accountant will ask you to move.
- The prices everyone quotes are years out of date The familiar figures of $30, $60, $90 and $200 a month are gone. The US list prices are now Simple Start $38, Essentials $85, Plus $140 and Advanced $340 a month, discounted by half for the first three months. Anyone comparing a European tool against the old numbers is comparing against a product that no longer exists at that price, and the gap against EUR 9 to EUR 15 entry tiers in Germany, the Netherlands and Spain is now very wide.
- Your accountant is a switching cost you did not count In most of Europe the practice, not the business, decides the software, because a firm that has standardised on one platform works faster in it and bills accordingly. QuickBooks has almost no share of European accounting practices outside the UK and Ireland, so a business running it is usually paying its accountant to work in an unfamiliar tool and to reconcile exports by hand. That cost never appears on the subscription line and is frequently larger than it.
What you have to replace, not just match
There is no European QuickBooks, and looking for one wastes a month. This category is national rather than continental, and the shortlist is decided by where you file before any feature is compared.
Work out which of three things you actually need. A freelancer needs invoicing, receipt capture and a VAT return, and nothing more. A small company needs those plus the handover to its accountant in the format that accountant expects. A business with stock, projects or staff needs planning as well as recording, which is a different shape of product and a different budget.
Then pick by country, not by feature list: Lexware Office or sevDesk in Germany, Moneybird in the Netherlands, Pennylane in France, Fortnox in Sweden, Holded in Spain, and Exact Online when a Dutch business has outgrown bookkeeping entirely. A group filing in three countries usually runs three products, and that is not a failure of the market but a property of tax law.
The alternatives compared
| Position | Tool | Headquarters | Pricing | Jurisdiction |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | Pennylane | Paris, France | From about €29/month; accountant-led pricing varies | EU (France) |
| #2 | Lexware Office | Freiburg, Germany | From about €9/month; tiers by feature set | EU (Germany) |
| #3 | Moneybird | Enschede, Netherlands | From about €12/month; free tier for very low volume | EU (Netherlands) |
| #4 | sevDesk | Offenburg, Germany | From about €9/month; tiers by feature set | EU (Germany) |
| #5 | Fortnox | Vaxjo, Sweden | Modular, from about SEK 99/month per module | EU (Sweden) |
| #6 | Holded | Barcelona, Spain | From about €15/month; higher tiers by module | EU (Spain) |
| #7 | Exact Online | Delft, Netherlands | From about €50/month; scales by module and users | EU (Netherlands) |
How each alternative compares to QuickBooks
- Which law reaches it. EU (France). QuickBooks is run from the United States, so the CLOUD Act obliges the provider to hand over data on a valid order regardless of which country the servers are in.
- Where the data sits. France/EU.
- Source code. Closed source, as QuickBooks is.
Best for: French businesses whose accountant should be inside the books rather than emailed them
Pennylane SAS was founded in Paris in 2020, which is to say it was founded at roughly the moment Intuit was deciding to stop selling in France. It handles what a French filing actually requires: VAT returns, the French chart of accounts, the FEC export the tax administration asks for, and preparation for the national e-invoicing mandate.
Its organising idea is one that QuickBooks never attempted. The business handles invoicing, receipt capture and spending while the accountant works on categorisation, corrections and closing in the same live ledger at the same time, with questions raised against a specific transaction rather than in an email thread. Where QuickBooks assumes a quarterly export to a practice that may or may not know the product, Pennylane assumes the practice is the co-user, and adoption among French firms reflects that.
It is also more than a ledger: bank feeds, supplier invoice management, spend approval and dashboards push the point at which a growing company needs separate finance tooling further out. Pricing starts around EUR 29 a month, with accountant-led arrangements varying, and it is French only, which is the whole design rather than a limitation to be fixed.
What Pennylane does better than QuickBooks
- It is sold in France at all, which QuickBooks has not been since January 2023
- FEC export and the French chart of accounts are native, where the Global edition tracks VAT and stops
- The accountant works in the same live ledger rather than receiving an export after the quarter closes
- French company, French processing, so no transfer mechanism is needed for data that includes payroll and supplier detail
- Preparing for the French e-invoicing mandate as a national priority rather than as one market among thirty
Where Pennylane is a step down from QuickBooks
- France only, so it is the wrong answer everywhere else including for a French group with foreign subsidiaries
- From about EUR 29 a month, the dearest entry point among the small-business tools here
- Accountant-led pricing means the number you pay depends on a practice rather than on a published page
- No payroll of its own, where Fortnox and Exact Online include it
Standout against QuickBooks. It is the only tool here whose existence is a direct answer to the market QuickBooks exited, and the only one where your accountant is a live participant in the ledger rather than a recipient of it.
- Which law reaches it. EU (Germany). QuickBooks is run from the United States, so the CLOUD Act obliges the provider to hand over data on a valid order regardless of which country the servers are in.
- Where the data sits. Germany.
- Source code. Closed source, as QuickBooks is.
- Independently checked. GoBD.
Best for: German businesses whose Steuerberater asked for DATEV and got a QuickBooks export
Haufe-Lexware GmbH has been publishing German business software from Freiburg since 1989, which in a domain where continuity is a purchasing criterion is worth as much as any feature. Lexware Office hosts in Germany and does the two things a German tax adviser will ask for: bookings export to DATEV in the expected format, and advance VAT returns go to the tax office through ELSTER from inside the application.
Against QuickBooks the comparison is not close, because QuickBooks does neither and is not sold in Germany. The Global edition will track your VAT and leave you to file it, and it has no concept of GoBD, the German rules on the auditability and retention of digital records, which Lexware Office handles so the digital receipt is the legal record and the paper can go.
Day to day it covers invoicing with the mandatory German fields, quotes, bank feeds with automatic matching and receipt capture by photo, with payroll as an add-on and e-invoicing support for the German B2B mandate. Pricing starts around EUR 9 a month, against $38 for the entry QuickBooks tier once the introductory discount ends.
What Lexware Office does better than QuickBooks
- Files the advance VAT return through ELSTER, which no QuickBooks edition does anywhere in Germany
- Native DATEV export in the format a Steuerberater expects, against a generic CSV
- GoBD handled by the system, so the German retention and auditability rules are not your problem to demonstrate
- German company, German hosting, thirty-seven years of continuity behind the product
- From about EUR 9 a month, roughly a quarter of the US QuickBooks entry tier
Where Lexware Office is a step down from QuickBooks
- Germany only, so it is useless the moment you file anywhere else
- Payroll is an add-on rather than included, where Fortnox has it natively
- Reporting and dashboards are plainer than QuickBooks Advanced
- A smaller third-party app ecosystem than Intuit has assembled over two decades
Standout against QuickBooks. It sends the advance VAT return to the tax office from inside the app, which turns the single most reliable monthly annoyance in German small business into a click.
- Which law reaches it. EU (Netherlands). QuickBooks is run from the United States, so the CLOUD Act obliges the provider to hand over data on a valid order regardless of which country the servers are in.
- Where the data sits. Netherlands.
- Source code. Closed source, as QuickBooks is.
Best for: Dutch businesses that want invoicing, VAT and Peppol without an implementation
Moneybird BV has run from Enschede since 2008 and hosts in the Netherlands. It is deliberately small in scope: invoicing with the fields Dutch rules require, bank feeds with automatic matching, receipt capture, and the btw-aangifte prepared from the ledger and filed electronically.
The detail that matters most against QuickBooks is unglamorous and decisive. Moneybird sends and receives through Peppol on every paid plan, which is the network European public bodies and an increasing number of private buyers now expect, and files the Dutch VAT return electronically from its Start plan upwards. QuickBooks has no Dutch edition, so a Dutch business running it does the btw-aangifte by hand from an export.
Its ceiling is explicit and honestly advertised: invoicing and bookkeeping, with no inventory, no project accounting and no payroll. For a freelancer or a small agency that is the correct amount of software. For a company with stock, it is the wrong shape and Exact Online is further down this page for exactly that reason.
What Moneybird does better than QuickBooks
- Prepares and files the Dutch btw-aangifte electronically, which no QuickBooks edition does
- Peppol sending and receiving on every paid plan, where QuickBooks leaves structured e-invoicing to integrations
- Dutch company, Dutch hosting, Dutch support and Dutch terminology throughout
- Accountant access is built in rather than an export, so the bookkeeper works in the same system
- A free tier for very low volume, which QuickBooks does not offer at all
Where Moneybird is a step down from QuickBooks
- Netherlands only, and not useful for a business filing anywhere else
- No inventory, no project accounting and no payroll, all of which QuickBooks Plus and Advanced cover
- A much smaller integration catalogue than Intuit's app store
- Reporting is basic next to QuickBooks Advanced, which is built for businesses several times the size
Standout against QuickBooks. Peppol on every paid plan plus electronic VAT filing means the two things European invoicing is moving towards are included rather than being a roadmap item.
- Which law reaches it. EU (Germany). QuickBooks is run from the United States, so the CLOUD Act obliges the provider to hand over data on a valid order regardless of which country the servers are in.
- Where the data sits. Germany.
- Source code. Closed source, as QuickBooks is.
- Independently checked. GoBD.
Best for: German businesses whose bookkeeping is mostly data entry from paper
sevDesk GmbH was founded in Offenburg in 2013 and hosts in Germany, and the thing it does better than its neighbours is read documents. Its OCR is trained on German invoice layouts and the way German suppliers present VAT, which is why its automation rate holds up on exactly the paperwork a German business receives and a generic engine drops to manual entry.
Set against QuickBooks the comparison starts before features. QuickBooks is not sold in Germany, so the practical alternative for a German business has been the Global edition plus a spreadsheet, and the Global edition has no DATEV export, no ELSTER filing and no GoBD handling. sevDesk has all three, along with correct treatment of the Kleinunternehmerregelung and reverse charge, and e-invoicing support for the German B2B mandate.
It is the newer of the two German options here and it feels it, which for a freelancer or small agency choosing between sevDesk and Lexware Office is usually what decides it. Pricing starts around EUR 9 a month, though double-entry bookkeeping and some compliance features sit in higher tiers, so price the plan you will actually be on.
What sevDesk does better than QuickBooks
- OCR trained on German document layouts, against a generic engine that was never tuned for this paperwork
- DATEV export, ELSTER filing and GoBD archiving, none of which any QuickBooks edition offers in Germany
- Correct handling of the Kleinunternehmerregelung and reverse charge as built-in rules rather than manual entries
- German company and German hosting, so no transfer mechanism applies to payroll and supplier data
- From about EUR 9 a month against $38 for the comparable QuickBooks tier at list price
Where sevDesk is a step down from QuickBooks
- Germany only, with nothing to offer a business filing elsewhere
- Double-entry bookkeeping sits in a higher tier, so the entry price is not the real price
- Younger and smaller than Haufe-Lexware, which matters when continuity is part of what you are buying
- No payroll of its own and a thinner ERP story than QuickBooks Advanced
Standout against QuickBooks. Its OCR is trained on the documents a German business actually receives, which is the difference between bookkeeping becoming a review queue and staying a typing job.
- Which law reaches it. EU (Sweden). QuickBooks is run from the United States, so the CLOUD Act obliges the provider to hand over data on a valid order regardless of which country the servers are in.
- Where the data sits. Sweden.
- Source code. Closed source, as QuickBooks is.
- Independently checked. Peppol e-invoicing.
Best for: Swedish businesses that want accounting and payroll from the same supplier
Fortnox AB has operated from Vaxjo since 2001 and is a platform rather than a bookkeeping product: accounting, invoicing, payroll, time reporting and expense management are separate modules on one system, so a growing business adds capability without migrating.
Payroll is what separates it from everything else on this page and from QuickBooks in Sweden, where QuickBooks has no local product at all. Swedish payroll rules, collective agreements and reporting to Skatteverket are handled natively, which in a country where collective agreements shape pay is not something a generic package can approximate. Peppol-based e-invoicing is supported, which Swedish public-sector suppliers already require.
Two practical notes. Modular pricing from about SEK 99 per module means the real monthly cost is well above the headline once the necessary modules are in place, and its own company page carries the announcement of a public takeover offer from a consortium of EQT X and First Kraft, Olof Hallrup's holding company. Check where that process stands before signing, because ownership is changing shape; what it is not doing is leaving Sweden.
What Fortnox does better than QuickBooks
- Native Swedish payroll with collective agreements and Skatteverket reporting, which QuickBooks does not attempt in Sweden
- Peppol e-invoicing, already required of Swedish public-sector suppliers
- Several hundred Swedish integrations, so the odds your other systems already connect are high
- One platform from bookkeeping to payroll to expenses, where a QuickBooks setup in Sweden means a second payroll vendor
Where Fortnox is a step down from QuickBooks
- Sweden only, and the module structure makes the headline price misleading
- Modular billing adds up quickly, so a realistic configuration costs a multiple of the entry figure
- A public takeover offer has been announced for the company, which is a change of control worth checking the status of before a multi-year commitment
- Less polished than the newer tools here, with a platform feel rather than a product feel
Standout against QuickBooks. It is the only tool on this page where payroll is a module rather than a second supplier, which for a Swedish employer removes an entire vendor relationship.
- Which law reaches it. EU (Spain). QuickBooks is run from the United States, so the CLOUD Act obliges the provider to hand over data on a valid order regardless of which country the servers are in.
- Where the data sits. EU.
- Source code. Closed source, as QuickBooks is.
- Independently checked. Verifactu.
Best for: Spanish businesses that liked QuickBooks Plus and need Verifactu
Holded was founded in Barcelona in 2016 and belongs to the Norwegian Visma group, still run from Barcelona with Spanish support. Of everything on this page it is the closest in shape to QuickBooks: accounting, CRM, inventory and projects in one subscription, where a quote in the CRM becomes an invoice that reserves stock and books revenue against a project without an integration in between.
The difference is the part QuickBooks cannot do in Spain. Spanish VAT, the required modelos and Verifactu, Spain's invoicing certification regime, are handled natively, and Verifactu is precisely the requirement that disqualifies international packages in that market. QuickBooks in Spain means the Global edition, which tracks VAT and certifies nothing.
The trade is depth against breadth, the same one QuickBooks Plus makes. Each module is competent rather than best in class, which is the right trade for a fifteen-person company and the wrong one for a specialist operation. Pricing starts around EUR 15 a month with most modules in higher tiers, so the entry price is not representative of a working configuration.
What Holded does better than QuickBooks
- Verifactu implemented natively, which is the Spanish requirement that international packages fail
- Spanish modelos and VAT handled as built-in filings rather than as figures you carry elsewhere
- Accounting, CRM, inventory and projects in one subscription at around EUR 15 to start, against $140 for QuickBooks Plus
- European ownership through Visma, with operations and support still in Barcelona
Where Holded is a step down from QuickBooks
- Spain-centred, so the compliance advantage does not travel
- Most modules sit in higher tiers, so the entry price understates a real setup
- Each module is competent rather than deep, the same criticism levelled at QuickBooks Plus
- Part of a larger group, so roadmap decisions are made at Visma rather than in Barcelona
Standout against QuickBooks. It is the only tool here that implements Spain's invoicing certification regime as a core feature, which is the single requirement that most often rules an international package out of Spain.
- Which law reaches it. EU (Netherlands). QuickBooks is run from the United States, so the CLOUD Act obliges the provider to hand over data on a valid order regardless of which country the servers are in.
- Where the data sits. Netherlands/EU.
- Source code. Closed source, as QuickBooks is.
Best for: Dutch businesses that need to plan as well as record
Exact Group BV was founded in Delft in 1984, which gives it four decades of continuity in a market where longevity is a genuine purchasing criterion, and it hosts in the Netherlands and the EU. It is the only full ERP on this page: inventory, manufacturing, projects, HR and payroll, multi-country and multi-currency, alongside the ledger.
Against QuickBooks Advanced, which is the tier a growing business reaches for at $340 a month, Exact Online is a different category of product rather than a cheaper one. QuickBooks Advanced records what happened well and plans what will happen barely. Exact Online is built for the moment a business needs to know what is in the warehouse while quoting, or what a project has cost against its budget before invoicing it.
The deciding factor for many Dutch companies is not the feature list but the accountant network, which is the largest in the Netherlands, and a business whose practice already works in it inherits that efficiency. Pricing starts around EUR 50 a month and scales substantially with modules and users, and implementation is usually a partner engagement rather than a signup.
What Exact Online does better than QuickBooks
- Inventory, manufacturing, projects, HR and payroll in one system, where QuickBooks Advanced stops well short
- Multi-country and multi-currency operation, which is the one problem QuickBooks Global gestures at and does not solve
- The largest accountant network in the Netherlands, against almost no Dutch practice presence for QuickBooks
- Forty-two years of continuity from a Delft company, with Dutch and EU hosting
Where Exact Online is a step down from QuickBooks
- From about EUR 50 a month rising steeply with modules and users, so it is dearer than QuickBooks for a small business
- Implementation is a partner project rather than a signup, which is weeks rather than an afternoon
- Far more software than a freelancer or a small agency needs, and the configuration cost is wasted at that size
- Heavier and less pleasant day to day than the small tools on this page
Standout against QuickBooks. It is the only tool here a Dutch company will not outgrow, which is the opposite of the QuickBooks problem where the ceiling arrives before the ERP does.
What actually breaks when you switch
Time the move to a financial year boundary and almost everything else gets easier. Carry across opening balances, the chart of accounts, customers and suppliers rather than every historic transaction, and let the old system hold the closed period. Migrating a part-year ledger means reconciling two sets of books for months, and it is the single most common reason these projects go badly.
Then deal with the archive deliberately, because retention rules are not negotiable and access is not guaranteed. The French QuickBooks withdrawal is the worked example: after 31 March 2024 the only archive that existed was the one businesses had already downloaded. Export everything before you cancel anything, store it where your retention rules require, and confirm with your accountant that the export format satisfies them.
And do not migrate without the practice. In most of Europe the accountant is the constraint rather than a stakeholder: they know which balances matter, they have done this before, and if you choose a platform they already work in they will do a large part of it themselves. Choosing a tool your accountant does not use converts a one-off migration into a permanent billable inefficiency.
Is QuickBooks even available where I am?
Check before you plan a migration, because in several European markets the answer is no. France is explicit: Intuit's own French page carries a notice that QuickBooks products are no longer available there, with new subscriptions ending in January 2023, access removed on 31 December 2023 and read-only access to downloaded data ending on 31 March 2024.
Germany has no QuickBooks site. Spain and Italy route to the Global edition, which is the same four tiers with VAT and GST tracking and without national filing. The United Kingdom and Ireland have real local products, and the UK version is marked as ready for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax across every plan.
So the honest map is that QuickBooks is a British, Irish and North American product with a generic international edition attached. If you are filing in Germany, France, the Netherlands, Sweden, Belgium or Poland, it was never really competing for your business.
What does a local product do that the Global edition cannot?
It files. Lexware Office and sevDesk send the advance VAT return to the German tax office through ELSTER and export bookings to DATEV in the format a Steuerberater expects, and both handle GoBD, the German rules on auditability and retention, so the digital receipt is the legal record. The Global edition tracks VAT as a number and leaves the filing to you.
It also speaks the national plumbing. Moneybird sends and receives through Peppol on every paid plan and files the btw-aangifte electronically from Start upwards. Holded implements Verifactu, Spain's invoicing certification regime. Fortnox handles Swedish payroll with collective agreements and reporting to Skatteverket. Pennylane produces the French chart of accounts and the FEC export.
None of those is optional and none of them transfers across a border, which is precisely why seven national products exist here instead of one European one.
What does migrating a ledger actually involve?
More care than moving any other kind of business software, because an accounting migration has a legal dimension. You are not only moving data, you are deciding which system holds the statutory record for the period you are leaving behind, and in Germany that decision is governed by retention rules rather than by preference.
The practical sequence that works is to move at the start of a financial year, carry across opening balances, customers, suppliers and the chart of accounts rather than every historic transaction, and keep the old system readable until the retention period expires. The French QuickBooks withdrawal is the cautionary case: businesses had a fixed window to export before read-only access ended, and after 31 March 2024 there was nothing to go back to.
Do it with your accountant in the room, not after. They will have done it before, they know which opening balances matter, and if you pick a platform they already work in they will do half of it for you.
How much of this decision is really about jurisdiction?
Less than on most pages in this directory, and it is worth being straight about that. Intuit Inc. is American, so the CLOUD Act reaches it, and accounting data is unusually sensitive: it contains personal data on employees, customers and suppliers, plus a complete picture of what a business earns and owes.
But the argument that actually wins here is simpler. Every tool on this page processes inside the EU, so no transfer mechanism is needed at all, and that is a tidier compliance answer than a data processing agreement plus standard contractual clauses. It is a benefit that arrives free with choosing the tool that files your VAT return properly.
If your reason for looking is genuinely jurisdictional rather than practical, note one detail: Holded belongs to the Norwegian Visma group and Fortnox has announced a public takeover offer from a consortium of EQT X and First Kraft. Ownership in this category moves, and it has stayed European each time so far.
Which one to pick
Before comparing anything, check whether QuickBooks is even sold where you file. In France it is not, in Germany there is no local product, and in Spain and Italy what is on offer is the Global edition rather than something that files. For a large part of Europe this decision has already been made for you.
Then pick by country. Lexware Office or sevDesk in Germany, and sevDesk specifically if receipt volume is what is drowning you. Moneybird in the Netherlands for a freelancer or small agency, Pennylane in France, Holded in Spain, Fortnox in Sweden if you employ people.
Move up to Exact Online only when the signal is real: stock you need to know about while quoting, projects with budgets, or payroll at a scale where a ledger is the wrong shape of tool. It costs more and takes longer to put in, and both are justified at that point and wasted before it.
And ask your accountant which platform they work in before you shortlist a single product. In this category that answer is worth more than any comparison, including this one.
Frequently Asked Questions
Whichever one files in your country, because that decides it before any feature comparison. Lexware Office or sevDesk in Germany, Moneybird in the Netherlands, Pennylane in France, Fortnox in Sweden, Holded in Spain, and Exact Online for a Dutch company that has outgrown bookkeeping. There is no pan-European answer, and a vendor claiming to be one is either an ERP or is not filing anything.
No. Intuit's own French page states that QuickBooks products are no longer available in France. New subscriptions ended in January 2023, access to QuickBooks, QuickBooks Expert-Comptable and the mobile app was removed on 31 December 2023, and read-only access to downloaded data ended on 31 March 2024. French businesses that used it have already had to move.
There is no German QuickBooks product and no German site. What is available is the Global edition, which tracks VAT but does not export to DATEV, does not file through ELSTER and does not address GoBD. For a German business those three are the whole point of buying accounting software, which is why Lexware Office and sevDesk dominate that market and QuickBooks does not appear in it.
In the United States, Simple Start is $38 a month for one user, Essentials $85 for three, Plus $140 for five and Advanced $340 for twenty-five, all typically offered at half price for the first three months. The figures of $30, $60, $90 and $200 that circulate in comparison articles are several years old. Against them, EUR 9 entry tiers in Germany and EUR 15 in Spain look different than most guides suggest.
For a small business, substantially. Lexware Office and sevDesk start around EUR 9 a month and Holded around EUR 15, against $38 for the equivalent QuickBooks tier once the introductory discount ends. The honest caveat is that entry tiers understate real cost everywhere in this category: double-entry bookkeeping, payroll and some compliance features sit in higher tiers, and Fortnox prices per module so the headline is only the first one.
Far more readily than in QuickBooks, outside the UK and Ireland. Accountant access is a standard feature rather than an export in Moneybird, Lexware Office and sevDesk; Pennylane is built around the accountant working in the same live ledger; and Exact Online has the largest accountant network in the Netherlands. Ask your practice which platform they already use, because switching to their tool usually costs less than paying them to learn yours.
You keep it, and you have to plan how. The workable pattern is to migrate opening balances, the chart of accounts, customers and suppliers into the new system at the start of a financial year, and keep the old system readable until the statutory retention period expires. The French withdrawal is the reason to take that seriously: once read-only access ended on 31 March 2024, the archive was whatever had already been downloaded.
They are the reason the tools exist. Moneybird sends and receives through Peppol on every paid plan. Fortnox does Peppol too, which suppliers to the Swedish public sector have needed for some time. Lexware Office and sevDesk both support the German B2B mandate, Holded implements Spain's Verifactu regime, and Pennylane has been preparing for the French mandate. A national vendor ships for a national deadline because it has no other market to prioritise.
Not in the sense of the same features in the same order, no. What you get instead is a tool that does less internationally and considerably more in one country. The closest thing to QuickBooks in shape is Holded, which covers accounting, CRM, inventory and projects in one subscription. The closest in scope for a growing company is Exact Online, which is an ERP and is priced and implemented like one.
Who worked on this review
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