Lexware Office alternatives
The 5 best Lexware Office alternatives in 2026
The short answer: the best Lexware Office alternative depends on what is driving you away. The three most common reasons: no automatic dunning (Lexware states this itself in its help center), the Germany-only limitation, and the real entry price — plan S (€7.90) cannot write invoices, so you actually start at €12.90 on plan M, with no annual discount. If the first two bother you, Backbone is our pick: dunning with statutory interest, Germany and Austria in one interface, plus time tracking, receipts and an AI assistant — though at €19 incl. VAT it is not cheaper. It is our own product, and below we are transparent about where it wins and where it does not.
If you want to keep doing full bookkeeping with EÜR and VAT filing in the tool, sevDesk is the most obvious replacement. This roundup covers all five serious options — with verified pricing (as of July 2026), honest weaknesses and a clear "best for" per tool. Backbone details as of October 2026.
All alternatives at a glance
| Backbone | sevDesk | easybill | FastBill | Odoo | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Best for | Hours, invoices, dunning & receipts; your tax advisor does the books | Full bookkeeping (EÜR, VAT filing) with invoicing | Marketplace sellers (Amazon, eBay, Shopify) | VAT returns straight from the tool, deep template design | Growing companies with ERP needs (inventory, CRM, manufacturing) |
| Document limit | Monthly allowance per plan; numbers not published yet | Free: 3 invoices/month; paid unlimited | Free: 50/month; Starter: 250/month | No invoice limit stated | No limit — even on "One App Free" |
| Price | from €19 / month incl. VAT (Solo) | Free (3 invoices/month); from €12.90 / month | Free (50 docs/month); from €9 / month | from €9 / month (Solo) | "One App Free"; then per user/month |
| Invoice from AI prompt | Yesassistant Billy, asks before sending | No | No | No | No |
| All features via AI assistant | Yesnearly everything; also from Claude/ChatGPT (MCP) | Nosuggestions only (receipts, bookings) | NoAI drafts text, you decide | NoOCR; receipts checked manually | NoAI in places (documents) |
| Professional templates | Partially2 templates (Basic, Minimal), logo + accent color | Yes11 layouts, 6 of them Premium | Partially2 base layouts you clone | Partiallyeditor with own fonts; Solo: 1 template | Partiallyconfigurable layouts |
| Live preview | Yesyou write on the page itself | – | Nopreview on click | Yes | – |
| Recurring invoices | Yesevery plan | Yes | PartiallyProfessional (€25) and up | PartiallyPro (€27) and up | Yes |
| Automatic email sending | Yesinvoices by email; reminders on schedule from Studio | Partiallyseries invoices optionally automatic; dunning manual | Partiallyseries from Professional, dunning Premium only | Partiallydunning as a paid add-on | Partiallyfollow-up reminders automatic once configured |
| Bookkeeping | Nono EÜR/VAT filing; export for your tax advisor | Yesin the accounting plan | No | PartiallyVAT filing yes, EÜR no | Yesaccounting module |
| E-invoicing | PartiallyZUGFeRD; XRechnung coming soon | Yeseven in the free tier | Yeseven in the free tier | Yesin every plan | Yes |
Competitor pricing and feature claims per the vendors, verified on August 2, 2026, prices net. Backbone details per back-bone.io as of October 9, 2026, prices incl. VAT. Subject to change.
Backbone
The back office with an AI assistantBackbone is the alternative for everyone who uses Lexware Office mainly for invoicing — and runs into exactly its limits: no automatic dunning, Germany only. Backbone chases payment with statutory interest for Germany and Austria (scheduled from Studio), connects time tracking, invoices with ZUGFeRD and receipts in one place, and its AI assistant drafts invoices from one sentence — sent after your OK.
Full transparency, since Backbone is our product: it is deliberately NOT accounting software, and its entry price is higher than Lexware Office plan M. If you want to file EÜR and VAT returns from the tool yourself or need a DATEV export, the alternatives below serve you better.
Strengths
- An AI assistant that drafts invoices from one sentence — none of the other tools here can (as of July 2026, per their own sites)
- Dunning with interest and the €40 fee, scheduled automatically from Studio
- Time tracking, receipts with AI matching and bank-statement upload in every plan
- Germany AND Austria in one interface (§14 UStG / §11 öUStG), ZUGFeRD e-invoices
- ZIP export or a free login for your tax advisor; cancel monthly
Weaknesses
- No bookkeeping: EÜR, VAT filing and DATEV export are absent
- XRechnung for public-sector clients only coming soon (ZUGFeRD today)
- No free plan (7-day trial with a card on file)
- Web app rather than a native mobile app
sevDesk
The all-in-one accounting solutionsevDesk is the most direct replacement for Lexware Office: also a full accounting solution with EÜR, VAT filing and receipt management — but with e-invoicing even in the free tier, 11 invoice layouts (6 of them Premium) and dunning levels in its accounting plan, where Lexware Office offers no automatic dunning function at all. For Austria there is a separate offering (sevdesk.at).
It does not fully solve the dunning problem, though: reminders are sent manually per invoice, and dunning levels only come with the accounting plan. Design-wise, colors come from a palette — a custom layout is only available as a paid service.
Strengths
- Mature bookkeeping: EÜR and VAT filing in the accounting plan
- E-invoicing (XRechnung/ZUGFeRD) even in the free tier
- 11 invoice layouts, 6 of them Premium
- Native iOS and Android apps
- Austria via a separate offering (sevdesk.at)
Weaknesses
- Dunning is manual per invoice; dunning levels need the accounting plan
- Free tier limited to 3 invoices/month
- Colors from a palette only; custom layout only as a paid service
- No AI that creates documents — receipt capture and a support chatbot only
easybill
The e-commerce specialisteasybill is the best Lexware Office alternative for online sellers: orders from Amazon, eBay and your own shop are billed automatically, OSS and shipping labels included. Its permanently free plan (50 documents/month, e-invoicing included) is the most generous in the field — a stark contrast to Lexware’s €12.90 entry with invoicing.
The flip side is tier gating: recurring invoices need Professional (€25), and the automatic dunning that genuinely self-sends is Premium only (€37). easybill offers no bookkeeping with EÜR.
Strengths
- Permanently free plan: 50 docs/month incl. e-invoicing
- Strongest marketplace integrations (Amazon, eBay, Shopify, OSS)
- Automatic dunning that genuinely self-sends (Premium)
- Own fonts and colors, Liquid template language
Weaknesses
- Automatic dunning only in the Premium plan (€37)
- Recurring invoices only from Professional (€25)
- No native mobile app
- No Austrian version, no bookkeeping (EÜR)
FastBill
Invoicing plus VAT filingFastBill sits between a pure invoicing tool and accounting — and closes a gap Lexware Office leaves open: the VAT pre-registration files via ELSTER in every plan, from €9. An official EÜR is missing, though. For the design-minded: a real template editor with custom fonts and millimetre-precise positioning, plus a live preview while you type.
Its dunning does send automatically but is a paid add-on; recurring invoices need the Pro plan (€27), and the Solo plan allows just one template. Like Lexware Office, FastBill is built for Germany only.
Strengths
- VAT filing via ELSTER in every plan
- Template editor with custom fonts and mm-precise positioning
- Live preview while editing
- E-invoicing (XRechnung/ZUGFeRD) in all plans
Weaknesses
- Automatic dunning only as a paid add-on
- Recurring invoices only from Pro (€27)
- Solo plan: 1 template; the app only scans receipts
- Germany only, no official EÜR
Odoo
The open-source ERP suiteOdoo is the right Lexware Office alternative when invoicing is only the beginning: the modular suite covers CRM, inventory, manufacturing and projects, and a single app is permanently free. Unlike Lexware Office, Odoo also supports Austria via localization.
The price is complexity: setup takes time (or an implementation partner), billing is per user per month with prices that vary by country, and dunning consists of follow-up rules you configure yourself.
Strengths
- "One App Free": one app permanently free, unlimited users
- Grows with you: CRM, inventory, manufacturing, projects in one suite
- Germany and Austria via localization
- E-invoicing and an accounting module available
Weaknesses
- Setup takes time or a partner — no minutes-to-start
- Per user/month, prices vary by country
- Dunning only as self-configured follow-up rules
- Heavily oversized for pure invoice senders
How we evaluated
All pricing and feature claims come from the vendors’ own pricing and help pages, last verified on 31 July 2026 — including the inconvenient details like tier gating and dunning limitations. Where a vendor does not document something, we do not claim it. Backbone is our own product (details per back-bone.io as of 9 October 2026): we rank it #1 for the use case it is built for, and we state its weaknesses as plainly as everyone else’s.
Do not choose Backbone if …
Backbone is ranked first on this page, and this page belongs to Backbone (formerly Billy). So that you can weigh that: here are the cases where another tool is the better choice.
- You already invoice public-sector clients (XRechnung)Backbone produces ZUGFeRD e-invoices, but XRechnung (and Austria’s ebInterface) is only coming soon. sevDesk, easybill and FastBill ship XRechnung in their cheapest tier, and in Austria FreeFinance creates ebInterface and XRechnung. If you must bill public-sector clients today, choose one of those.
- You want to do your bookkeeping inside the toolBackbone collects receipts, matches them to payments and takes bank statements, but deliberately does no bookkeeping: no EÜR, no P&L, no VAT return via ELSTER or FinanzOnline. Your tax advisor does the books from the export. If you want everything from one tool, take sevDesk, Lexware Office, or FreeFinance in Austria.
- Your tax advisor insists on a DATEV or BMD exportBackbone has none. It delivers a named ZIP of receipts, sent invoices, bank statements and a CSV report — or a free bookkeeper login. Any accountant can open that, but it is not a DATEV interface. If your accountant insists on one, that rules Backbone out — sevDesk and Lexware Office are built for it.
- You want a native mobile appBackbone is a web app: it runs in your phone’s browser and you can upload receipt photos with it — but there is no native app in the store (a Mac app for the timer is coming soon). sevDesk, Lexware Office, FreshBooks, Wave, Zoho and Square all ship one.
- You never want to payBackbone has no free plan: after a 7-day trial (card on file at Stripe, €0.00 due today) it costs from €19 a month incl. VAT. easybill (50 documents a month) and sevDesk (3 invoices a month) have permanently free tiers, and in the US so do Wave and Zoho Invoice.
- Your business is based in the USBackbone is built for Germany and Austria. It invoices in English and in USD, GBP or CHF too — for a German or Austrian business billing clients abroad. It does not handle US sales tax. For a US-based business, QuickBooks, FreshBooks, Wave, Zoho Invoice or Square are the better-fitting tools.