Best for
Best for German freelancers and small businesses whose tax adviser works in DATEV and who mainly need to invoice and collect.
- Freelancers
- Small and mid-sized
Accounting & Invoicing Comparison
Billomat vs. Zoho Books
At a glance
At a glance
Best for
Best for growing small businesses, especially those already using Zoho, that want scalable accounting from invoicing and bank reconciliation through inventory, projects and analytics.
- Freelancers
- Small and mid-sized
Cataleo does not name a winner. Both statements come from the vendors themselves.
Full Comparison
| Criterion | Billomat | Zoho Books |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | From €19 / month plus VAT Professional plan billed annually; €29 / month on monthly billing. Business is €29 annually or €39 monthly, Enterprise €99 annually or €119 monthly. Each further user is €10 / month on Business and Enterprise; Professional allows a single user. | Free; Standard from $15 / month The Free plan suits small businesses. The Standard plan is $15 / month billed annually ($20 billed monthly) and adds bank feeds, sales-tax tracking and API access. US pricing. |
| Free trial | 14 days free with all features, no credit card needed, and the trial ends automatically | Not stated |
| Users | Not stated | From 1 user on the Free plan up to 15 on Ultimate, by plan |
| API | Yes, the billomat[API] over HTTP with XML or JSON, with webhooks; 100 API calls per 15 minutes on Business, more in blocks of 100 for €33 / month, and a sandbox account on Enterprise | Yes, a REST API from the Standard plan, plus integration with the wider Zoho suite |
| Hosting | Cloud (SaaS); Billomat states that its servers are in Germany | Cloud (SaaS) |
| Made in | Germany (Nuremberg) | Not stated |
| Invoicing and quotes | Yes, invoices, quotes with an acceptance function, order confirmations, delivery notes, recurring and correction invoices, cancellations, XRechnung and ZUGFeRD e-invoices, reminders with individual dunning levels and a customer portal; Professional is capped at 30 invoices a month | Yes, professional invoices and quotes with online payment links and recurring invoices; progress invoicing from the Standard plan |
| Bookkeeping and bank feeds | Bank connection through the partner finAPI, which matches incoming and outgoing payments against invoices and receipts, on Business and Enterprise; SKR 03 and SKR 04 charts of accounts and cost centres on every plan | Yes, bank reconciliation and transaction categorization, with bank feeds from the Standard plan |
| Expenses and receipts | Yes, incoming invoices imported and sorted by drag and drop with automatic text recognition, receipts scanned in the mobile app, and a document inbox | Yes, expense tracking with receipt autoscan and mileage tracking |
| Tax and compliance | The EÜR (cash-basis profit statement) with the matching ELSTER line shown for each amount, individual tax rates, GoBD compliance as stated by the vendor, and on Business and Enterprise DATEVconnect, the DATEV Buchungsdatenservice and a tax adviser login | Yes, sales and use tax tracking, 1099 and W-9 management and an audit trail |
| Payroll | No payroll module is named on the feature, pricing or add-on pages | Not built in. Zoho Payroll is a separate product, and its integration mirrors every pay run in Zoho Books, posting salary and tax expenses into the accounts mapped for them |
| Reports and exports | A Reports and Exports menu with the EÜR for a chosen period and the DATEV transfer of booking data and receipt images | Yes, 50-plus reports including profit and loss and balance sheet, with advanced analytics on the Ultimate plan |
| Integrations and API | Open billomat[API] over HTTP with XML or JSON and webhooks, plus add-ons for DATEV, WooCommerce, Mollie, Commitly, Agicap, clockodo, mite, Debitor-Inkasso, PixelLetter, EMAILBRIEF, OneDrive, Google Drive and Dropbox | Yes, a REST API available from the Standard plan; integrates with Zoho CRM, Inventory and Expense |
| Deployment | Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based | Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based |
| Support | Email helpdesk | more entries Email helpdesk, Phone, Chat |
| Onboarding | Documentation and knowledge base, Guided onboarding, Live online demos and webinars | Not stated |
| Company size | Freelancers, Small and mid-sized | Freelancers, Small and mid-sized |
| Integrations | more entries DATEV, WooCommerce, Mollie, Commitly, Agicap, clockodo, mite, Debitor-Inkasso, PixelLetter, EMAILBRIEF, OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox, finAPI | Zoho CRM, Zoho Inventory, Zoho Expense, Zoho Payroll, Shopify |
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Adds a column to the table, from the tools in this category.
Row where the values differ The small markers point at the lower number, the longer list or the stated feature. They describe the data, they are not a verdict.
The short version
Key Differences
- Starting price Billomat From €19 / month plus VAT Zoho Books Free; Standard from $15 / month
- Hosting Billomat Cloud (SaaS); Billomat states that its servers are in Germany Zoho Books Cloud (SaaS)
- Support Billomat Email helpdesk Zoho Books Email helpdesk, Phone, Chat
- API Billomat Yes, the billomat[API] over HTTP with XML or JSON, with webhooks; 100 API calls per 15 minutes on Business, more in blocks of 100 for €33 / month, and a sandbox account on Enterprise Zoho Books Yes, a REST API from the Standard plan, plus integration with the wider Zoho suite
- Invoicing and quotes Billomat Yes, invoices, quotes with an acceptance function, order confirmations, delivery notes, recurring and correction invoices, cancellations, XRechnung and ZUGFeRD e-invoices, reminders with individual dunning levels and a customer portal; Professional is capped at 30 invoices a month Zoho Books Yes, professional invoices and quotes with online payment links and recurring invoices; progress invoicing from the Standard plan
Every line is one datapoint from the table above, picked automatically. Nothing here is written text.
The trade-offs
Strengths and Limitations
Billomat
Strengths
- Business and Enterprise send booking data and receipt images to DATEV from inside the app
- XRechnung and ZUGFeRD e-invoices are included on every plan
- Bank matching through finAPI covers over 4,700 banks in Germany, Austria and other countries
- Annual billing lowers each plan by €10 to €20 a month
Limitations
- Professional allows one user and 30 invoices a month, without DATEVconnect or bank connection
- API access starts on the Business plan
- Payroll is not named among the features, so wages need a separate tool or the tax adviser
- Ticket support starts on Business; Professional has the knowledge base only
Zoho Books
Strengths
- Free plan with invoicing, bank reconciliation, 1099/W-9 handling and 50-plus reports
- Six plans scaling to multi-currency, projects, inventory and advanced analytics
- Sales and use tax tracking, 1099/W-9 management and an audit trail
- REST API and tight integration with the wider Zoho suite
Limitations
- API access, bank feeds and sales-tax tracking begin on the paid Standard plan
- The six plan tiers can make it hard to pick the right one
Plans
Pricing
Billomat
- Professional €19 Per month billed annually, €29 on monthly billing, plus VAT. Basic feature set, one user, 30 invoices a month, knowledge base support.
- Business €29 Per month billed annually, €39 on monthly billing, plus VAT. Full feature set, unlimited invoices, one user included and €10 / month for each further user, 100 API calls per 15 minutes, ticket support.
- Enterprise €99 Per month billed annually, €119 on monthly billing, plus VAT. Five users included, a sandbox account, a personal contact and one hour of technical support a month.
Zoho Books
- Free $0 For small businesses: invoices, quotes, expenses, receipt autoscan, bank reconciliation, 1099 and W-9 handling and 50-plus reports; 1 user plus 1 accountant.
- Standard $15 / month Billed annually ($20 billed monthly). Adds bank feeds, sales and use tax tracking, e-file 1099, API access and custom reports; 3 users.
- Professional $40 / month Billed annually ($50 billed monthly). Adds sales and purchase orders, multi-currency, timesheet billing, project profitability and inventory; 5 users.
- Premium $60 / month Billed annually ($70 billed monthly). Adds revenue recognition, fixed assets, budgets, cashflow forecasting and a vendor portal; 10 users.
- Elite $120 / month Billed annually ($150 billed monthly). Adds advanced inventory with warehouses, batch and serial tracking and Shopify; 10 users.
- Ultimate $240 / month Billed annually ($275 billed monthly). Adds advanced analytics with pre-built dashboards; 15 users.
What users say
Review Scores · opens after launch
Billomat
- Ease of use
- Not rated yet
- User interface
- Not rated yet
- Onboarding
- Not rated yet
- Support and service
- Not rated yet
- Value for money
- Not rated yet
- Features
- Not rated yet
No reviews yet. Nothing has been published here yet, and no score is shown. How a review is checked before it appears is described below.
Zoho Books
- Ease of use
- Not rated yet
- User interface
- Not rated yet
- Onboarding
- Not rated yet
- Support and service
- Not rated yet
- Value for money
- Not rated yet
- Features
- Not rated yet
No reviews yet. Nothing has been published here yet, and no score is shown. How a review is checked before it appears is described below.
How we check reviews
Reviews are not published yet. The form on a tool's page works and reaches us, but nothing from it appears on this site, so no score here is based on a review. The rules below are the ones that will apply once reviews go live.
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Where this comes from
Where this comes from
Billomat https://www.billomat.com/ · checked against the official source on 2026-10-29
Zoho Books https://www.zoho.com/us/books/ · checked against the official source on 2026-08-19
This table lists factual criteria taken from information the vendors publish themselves. For how we put it together, see the methodology.