sevDesk alternatives
The 5 best sevDesk alternatives in 2026
The short answer: the best sevDesk alternative depends on why you want to switch. If you mainly bill your work and a tax advisor does your books, Backbone (from €19/month incl. VAT) is our pick: time tracking, invoicing, dunning and receipts with an AI assistant in one place. 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 in the tool, Lexware Office or easybill are the obvious candidates.
This roundup covers all five serious options — with verified pricing (competitors as of July/August 2026, Backbone as of October 2026), honest weaknesses and a clear "best for" per tool.
All alternatives at a glance
| Backbone | Lexware Office | easybill | FastBill | Odoo | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Best for | Hours, invoices, dunning & receipts; your tax advisor does the books | Full bookkeeping with ELSTER, Germany only | 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 | No limit stated (fair use per T&Cs) | Free: 50/month; Starter: 250/month | No invoice limit stated | No limit — even on "One App Free" |
| Price | from €19 / month incl. VAT (Solo) | from €12.90 / month (plan M) | 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 you must accept | NoAI drafts text, you decide | NoOCR; receipts checked manually | NoAI in places (documents) |
| Professional templates | Partially2 templates (Basic, Minimal), logo + accent color | Partially5 base layouts | Partially2 base layouts you clone | Partiallyeditor with own fonts; Solo: 1 template | Partiallyconfigurable layouts |
| Live preview | Yesyou write on the page itself | Nopreview is a separate step | Nopreview on click | Yes | – |
| Recurring invoices | Yesevery plan | Yesseries invoices | PartiallyProfessional (€25) and up | PartiallyPro (€27) and up | Yes |
| Automatic email sending | Yesinvoices by email; reminders on schedule from Studio | Partiallyseries invoices optionally automatic; no automatic dunning | 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 | Yesplan L and up | No | PartiallyVAT filing yes, EÜR no | Yesaccounting module |
| E-invoicing | PartiallyZUGFeRD; XRechnung coming soon | Partiallysending from plan M | 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 sevDesk mainly for invoicing and already leaves the books to a tax advisor. It connects time tracking, invoices with ZUGFeRD, dunning with statutory interest, receipts with AI matching and bank statements in one place. The AI assistant drafts invoices and reminders from one sentence and only sends after your OK — in the app or straight from Claude or ChatGPT.
Full transparency, since Backbone is our product: it is deliberately NOT accounting software, and its entry price is higher than sevDesk’s "Rechnung" plan. 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
Lexware Office
The accounting classic (formerly lexoffice)Lexware Office is the most established sevDesk alternative for anyone who wants accounting and invoicing in one tool: EÜR, VAT filing via ELSTER and payroll add-ons included. Note that the cheapest plan S cannot write invoices — realistically you start at €12.90 on plan M, and there is no annual discount.
Two things worth knowing: per its own help center it has no automatic dunning function (it points to a paid third-party extension), and it is suitable for Germany only.
Strengths
- Mature bookkeeping: EÜR, VAT filing via ELSTER (from plan L)
- Over 230,000 customers, very approachable interface
- Native iOS and Android apps
- E-invoicing: receiving on all plans, sending from M
Weaknesses
- No automatic dunning — per the vendor itself
- Germany only; Austria explicitly not supported
- Plan S (€7.90) cannot write invoices
- Only 5 base layouts, no freely placed text fields
easybill
The e-commerce specialisteasybill is the best sevDesk 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.
The flip side is tier gating: recurring invoices need Professional (€25), and the automatic dunning that genuinely self-sends is Premium only (€37).
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: the VAT pre-registration files via ELSTER in every plan — though an official EÜR is missing. 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.
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 sevDesk alternative when invoicing is only the beginning: the modular suite covers CRM, inventory, manufacturing and projects, and a single app is permanently free. Austria is supported 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.