Best for
Best for freelancers and small service businesses that want invoicing-first accounting with time and expense tracking, double-entry books and a simple plan lineup.
- Freelancers
- Small and mid-sized
Accounting & Invoicing Comparison
FreshBooks vs. sevdesk
At a glance
At a glance
Best for
Best for German freelancers and small businesses that keep their own books and want e-invoicing, bank sync and ELSTER filing without paying for a plan they have not grown into yet.
- Freelancers
- Small and mid-sized
Cataleo does not name a winner. Both statements come from the vendors themselves.
Full Comparison
| Criterion | FreshBooks | sevdesk |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | From $23 / month Lite plan at its regular monthly price, for up to five billable clients. | Free for up to 3 invoices per month, otherwise from €11.90 / month plus VAT Billed monthly, per month plus VAT: Rechnung €11.90, Buchhaltung €25.90 and Buchhaltung Pro €34.90. Annual billing lowers these to €9.90, €22.90 and €30.90 per month, and a 24-month term lowers them further. sevdesk additionally advertises a promotional discount on top of these rates. |
| Free trial | Free for 30 days | 14 days free, no credit card required, alongside a permanently free plan limited to 3 invoices per month |
| Users | Not stated | More than 130,000 companies |
| API | Yes, a JSON API with OAuth2, plus more than 100 integrations | Yes, a REST API, available from the Buchhaltung Pro plan |
| Hosting | Cloud (SaaS) | Cloud (SaaS) |
| Made in | Not stated | Germany |
| Invoicing and quotes | Yes, professional invoices that auto-add tracked time and expenses and calculate taxes, plus estimates and proposals | Yes, quotes and invoices from customisable templates, with XRechnung and ZUGFeRD e-invoices and payment reminders |
| Bookkeeping and bank feeds | Yes, double-entry accounting with a general ledger and bank reconciliation via bank connection or CSV upload | Yes, online banking for more than 4,000 banks with automatic transaction matching, and single or double-entry bookkeeping |
| Expenses and receipts | Yes, mobile receipt scanning, bank imports and automatic expense categorization | Yes, AI-assisted receipt capture through the mobile app or by email |
| Tax and compliance | Yes, sales tax applied to invoice line items, posted to a Taxes Payable account, with tax reports | Yes, VAT advance return (UStVA), EÜR and P&L filed to ELSTER directly, plus DATEV-compliant and ADDISON exports for the tax adviser (Germany) |
| Payroll | Available as a paid add-on at $40 per month plus $6 per user per month | No, sevdesk does not produce payroll or salary statements |
| Reports and exports | Yes, financial and accounting reports, including profit reports and the general ledger | Yes, BWA, trial balance lists and a real-time financial dashboard |
| Integrations and API | Yes, a JSON API authenticated with OAuth2, plus more than 100 integrations | Yes, a REST API, from the Buchhaltung Pro plan |
| AI features | No | stated Yes |
| Deployment | Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based | Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based |
| Support | Email helpdesk, Phone | more entries Email helpdesk, Phone, Chat |
| Onboarding | Documentation and knowledge base, Guided onboarding | Not stated |
| Company size | Freelancers, Small and mid-sized | Freelancers, Small and mid-sized |
| Integrations | more entries PayPal, Stripe, Affirm, Afterpay | DATEV, ADDISON |
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The short version
Key Differences
- Starting price FreshBooks From $23 / month sevdesk Free for up to 3 invoices per month, otherwise from €11.90 / month plus VAT
- Free trial FreshBooks Free for 30 days sevdesk 14 days free, no credit card required, alongside a permanently free plan limited to 3 invoices per month
- Support FreshBooks Email helpdesk, Phone sevdesk Email helpdesk, Phone, Chat
- AI features FreshBooks No sevdesk Yes
- API FreshBooks Yes, a JSON API with OAuth2, plus more than 100 integrations sevdesk Yes, a REST API, available from the Buchhaltung Pro plan
Every line is one datapoint from the table above, picked automatically. Nothing here is written text.
The trade-offs
Strengths and Limitations
FreshBooks
Strengths
- Invoices automatically pull in tracked time and expenses
- Double-entry accounting with bank reconciliation and a general ledger
- JSON API with OAuth2 and more than 100 integrations
- Unlimited billable clients from the Premium plan
Limitations
- Plans are capped by billable client count on the lower tiers
- Payroll is a paid add-on rather than part of the plan
sevdesk
Strengths
- Permanently free plan for up to three invoices a month, no credit card
- AI-assisted receipt capture and automatic matching against bank transactions
- UStVA, EÜR and P&L filed to ELSTER directly, with DATEV and ADDISON exports
- Personal support by live chat, email and phone on the paid plans
Limitations
- No payroll: salary statements cannot be produced in sevdesk
- The REST API only comes with the top plan, Buchhaltung Pro
- Built around German tax rules, ELSTER and DATEV, so it suits German businesses specifically
- The lowest advertised rates need a 12-month or 24-month commitment
Plans
Pricing
FreshBooks
- Lite $23 / month Up to five billable clients; invoicing, expense tracking, estimates, payments and tax reports.
- Plus $43 / month Up to fifty billable clients; adds proposals, accounting reports, receipt scanning and accountant access.
- Premium $70 / month Unlimited billable clients; adds project profitability, bill receipt scanning and automated client emails.
- Select Not stated Custom pricing; adds lower card fees, data migration, two team members, dedicated phone support and removes FreshBooks branding.
sevdesk
- Kostenlos Free Permanently free, no credit card. Limited to 3 invoices or e-invoices per month, with unlimited contacts and products.
- Rechnung €11.90 / month plus VAT Billed monthly; €9.90 / month on annual billing and less on a 24-month term. Unlimited invoicing and e-invoices, templates, payment reminders, tax adviser access.
- Buchhaltung €25.90 / month plus VAT Billed monthly; €22.90 / month on annual billing and less on a 24-month term. Adds AI receipt capture, online banking, UStVA, EÜR and P&L, cash book.
- Buchhaltung Pro €34.90 / month plus VAT Billed monthly; €30.90 / month on annual billing and less on a 24-month term. Adds cost centres, the REST API and BWA reporting.
What users say
Review Scores · opens after launch
FreshBooks
- 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.
sevdesk
- 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
FreshBooks https://www.freshbooks.com · checked against the official source on 2026-08-19
sevdesk https://www.sevdesk.com · checked against the official source on 2026-08-27
This table lists factual criteria taken from information the vendors publish themselves. For how we put it together, see the methodology.