FastBill alternative
Backbone vs. FastBill: what does the AI actually do for you?
FastBill is a solid German invoicing tool with receipt recognition (OCR) and VAT return preparation. Backbone (formerly Billy) starts elsewhere: an AI assistant drafts invoices, quotes and reminders from one sentence, Backbone reads receipts and matches them to the right payment, and your tax advisor does the books from the export.
FastBill starts cheaper (€9 net on Solo); Backbone Solo is €19 incl. VAT. The difference is what the price includes — and whether you want to file the VAT return from the tool yourself (FastBill) or leave it to your tax advisor (Backbone).
Why freelancers switch from FastBill to Backbone
FastBill’s strengths are receipts and VAT filing. If your bottleneck is billing and chasing invoices, Backbone solves exactly that — and collects the receipts along the way.
- Invoice from one sentence to the assistant: describe it instead of filling it in, sent after your OK
- Dunning with interest and the €40 fee in every plan, scheduled automatically from Studio — a paid add-on at FastBill
- Recurring invoices and receipts with AI matching in every plan, not from a higher tier
- Germany and Austria in one interface
- Time tracking and a ZIP export for your tax advisor included
Backbone vs. FastBill at a glance
| Backbone | FastBill | |
|---|---|---|
| AI & automation | ||
| Create an invoice from an AI prompt | Yesassistant Billy, also in Claude/ChatGPT | No |
| AI executes actions (send, update) | Yesdrafts, sends after your OK, chases | NoOCR; receipts are checked manually |
| Automatic dunning | Yeswith interest + €40 fee; scheduled from Studio | Partiallyyes, as a paid add-on |
| AI receipt capture (OCR) | Yesreads receipts, matches payments | Yesfrom the Pro plan |
| Design & interface | ||
| Ready-made invoice designs | Partially2 templates: Basic, Minimal | Partiallytemplate editor; Solo has just 1 template |
| Live preview while typing | Yesyou write on the page itself | Yes |
| Custom branding | Partiallylogo, accent color | Yesown fonts, mm-precise positioning |
| Invoicing from a mobile app | Partiallyweb app, no native app | Partiallyreceipt scanning only, no invoicing |
| Invoicing workflow | ||
| Recurring invoices | Yesevery plan | Partiallyonly from the Pro plan |
| E-invoicing (XRechnung/ZUGFeRD) | PartiallyZUGFeRD; XRechnung coming soon | Yesin every plan |
| Countries, bookkeeping & price | ||
| Austria (§11 öUStG) | Yessame interface | Nobuilt for the German system |
| Bookkeeping (EÜR / VAT filing) | Noexport for your tax advisor | PartiallyVAT filing yes, EÜR no |
| Entry price (net/month) | €19 incl. VAT (Solo); net ≈ €15.97 (DE) / €15.83 (AT) | from €9 (Solo) |
FastBill pricing and feature claims per the vendor, verified on July 31, 2026, prices net. Backbone details per back-bone.io as of October 9, 2026; Backbone prices incl. VAT. Subject to change.
Backbone in detail
When FastBill is the better choice
To be fair: if you want to file the VAT pre-registration via ELSTER from the tool yourself, FastBill does that in every plan — Backbone does no bookkeeping and no tax filings. FastBill also has the deeper template editor (own fonts, mm-precise positioning), XRechnung today and the cheaper entry price.
See all FastBill alternatives