Best for
Best for German freelancers and small businesses that want quotes, e-invoices, bookkeeping and the VAT return in one place, with a direct DATEV handover to the tax adviser.
- Freelancers
- Small and mid-sized
Accounting & Invoicing Comparison
Lexware Office vs. TallyPrime
At a glance
At a glance
Best for
Best for Indian small and mid-sized businesses that want GST compliance, inventory and books in one application.
- Small and mid-sized
Cataleo does not name a winner. Both statements come from the vendors themselves.
Full Comparison
| Criterion | Lexware Office | TallyPrime |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | From €7.90 / month plus VAT Four versions, each per month plus VAT and cancellable monthly: S €7.90, M €12.90, L €21.90 and XL €32.90. Payroll (Lohn & Gehalt) is a separate add-on at €12.90 / month plus VAT that combines with any version. A 50% discount for the first three months is currently advertised. | From ₹750 / month TallyPrime Silver (single user) rental on the India licence, plus 18% GST. Twelve months cost ₹8,100 and a lifetime licence ₹22,500. Gold (multi-user) starts at ₹2,250 a month. Licences for international use and for North America are sold separately. |
| Free trial | 30 days free, with the full XL feature set | 7-day free trial |
| Users | Over 450,000 customers | Silver for a single PC, Gold for multiple users on multiple PCs |
| API | Yes, the Lexware Office Public API (REST), available from version XL at no extra cost | TDL customisation, XML requests over HTTP through the Tally Connector and JSON data exchange |
| Hosting | Cloud (SaaS) | Installed on your own computer; optional TallyPrime Cloud Access hosted on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure |
| Made in | Not stated | India, Tally Solutions in Bengaluru |
| Invoicing and quotes | Yes, quotes, invoices, delivery notes and credit notes, with XRechnung and ZUGFeRD e-invoicing included | Yes, GST invoices, quotations, sales and purchase orders, debit and credit notes, multi-currency billing, price levels and payment QR codes or links on invoices |
| Bookkeeping and bank feeds | Yes, multibanking with automatic matching proposals for bank transactions, and GoBD-compliant records | Yes, bank statement import that creates vouchers, one-click auto bank reconciliation, and connected banking with live balances and payments for Axis Bank, State Bank of India, Kotak Mahindra and ICICI |
| Expenses and receipts | Yes, receipt capture from a phone photo or an email import, with automatic categorisation | Docs by Ira scans or imports purchase invoices from the mobile app or the desktop and creates draft vouchers for review; 100 pages are free with a TSS renewal |
| Tax and compliance | Yes, VAT advance return (UStVA) filed from the software, EÜR and year-end preparation, plus a direct DATEV handover to the tax adviser (Germany) | Yes, Indian GST: direct GSTR-1 upload and filing, GSTR-2A and 2B reconciliation, the Invoice Management System, e-invoices and e-way bills, TDS and TCS, MSME payment tracking and an MCA-compliant audit trail |
| Payroll | Yes, as a paid add-on (Lohn & Gehalt) at €12.90 / month plus VAT, combinable with any version | Yes, salary processing with attendance and production types, and statutory returns and reports for PF, ESI, professional tax, gratuity and income tax |
| Reports and exports | Yes, a dashboard with account balances and open invoices, plus P&L (GuV) and BWA reports | Yes, configurable dashboards and business reports with saved views and filters, shared by email or WhatsApp, and key reports viewable in a web browser |
| Integrations and API | Yes, the Lexware Office Public API (REST), from version XL at no extra cost | Yes, customisation and integration through Tally Definition Language (TDL), XML requests over HTTP via the Tally Connector, JSON data exchange since Release 7.0, and payment links through Razorpay and PayU |
| AI features | No | stated Yes |
| Deployment | Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based | On-premise, Cloud (SaaS) |
| Support | Email helpdesk, Phone | more entries Phone, Email helpdesk, Chat |
| Onboarding | more entries Documentation and knowledge base, Video tutorials, Live online demos and webinars | Documentation and knowledge base |
| Company size | more entries Freelancers, Small and mid-sized | Small and mid-sized |
| Integrations | DATEV, PayPal, Shopify, Amazon | more entries Razorpay, PayU, WhatsApp, Axis Bank, State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank |
Add a tool
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 Lexware Office From €7.90 / month plus VAT TallyPrime From ₹750 / month
- Free trial Lexware Office 30 days free, with the full XL feature set TallyPrime 7-day free trial
- Deployment Lexware Office Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based TallyPrime On-premise, Cloud (SaaS)
- Company size Lexware Office Freelancers, Small and mid-sized TallyPrime Small and mid-sized
- Hosting Lexware Office Cloud (SaaS) TallyPrime Installed on your own computer; optional TallyPrime Cloud Access hosted on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure
Every line is one datapoint from the table above, picked automatically. Nothing here is written text.
The trade-offs
Strengths and Limitations
Lexware Office
Strengths
- XRechnung and ZUGFeRD e-invoicing included in the product
- Direct DATEV handover, so the tax adviser works on the same data
- UStVA and EÜR prepared and filed from the software
- Public REST API at no extra cost once you are on version XL
Limitations
- Bookkeeping, EÜR and VAT only start in version L, and the API only in XL
- Payroll is a paid add-on rather than part of any version
- Built around German tax rules, ELSTER and DATEV, so it suits German businesses specifically
TallyPrime
Strengths
- GST filing, reconciliation, e-invoices and e-way bills handled inside the software
- Accounting, inventory and payroll with Indian statutory reports in one application
- Lifetime licence available instead of a permanent subscription
- Connected banking with four major Indian banks
Limitations
- Compliance depth is built for India and gives little to businesses elsewhere
- A lifetime licence needs a paid TSS renewal after the first year to keep upgrades and connected services
- Desktop software; hosted remote access is a separate Cloud Access subscription
Plans
Pricing
Lexware Office
- S €7.90 / month plus VAT Receipt capture and receipt archive.
- M €12.90 / month plus VAT Adds quotes, invoices and e-invoices, and dunning.
- L €21.90 / month plus VAT Adds bookkeeping, EÜR and VAT (UStVA).
- XL €32.90 / month plus VAT Adds EU invoices, part invoices and the Public API.
- Lohn & Gehalt (add-on) €12.90 / month plus VAT Payroll add-on, combinable with any version.
TallyPrime
- Silver ₹750 Per month, single user on one PC, India licence, plus 18% GST. ₹8,100 for 12 months or ₹22,500 for a lifetime licence with one year of TSS.
- Gold ₹2,250 Per month, multiple users on multiple PCs, India licence, plus 18% GST. ₹24,300 for 12 months or ₹67,500 for a lifetime licence with one year of TSS.
- Tally Software Services (TSS) ₹4,500 Per year for Silver, ₹13,500 for Gold, plus 18% GST; 10% off a two-year renewal. Carries product upgrades and connected services, and is included for the first 12 months with every new licence.
- TallyPrime Cloud Access ₹600 Per month for the Personal pack (one user), plus 18% GST. Hosted on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure; larger packs cover 2 to 16 users.
What users say
Review Scores · opens after launch
Lexware Office
- 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.
TallyPrime
- 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 a review reaches us as soon as its author confirms it, 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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Every review is read by a person before it appears. An email address is required and is confirmed: we send a link to it, and a review does not reach us until the author opens that link, so a review has a sender who was reachable at least once rather than being anonymous. Where what somebody writes needs backing, we ask them for evidence that they used the product, and a review that does not get it is not published. We publish positive and negative reviews alike, we pay nothing and offer nothing for a review, and we accept none that was bought or incentivised.
What we cannot do is verify a purchase. There is no shop here and no account, so whether the author really used the tool rests on their own declaration, on whatever we ask them for, and on the plausibility of what they write. We say so rather than implying a check that does not exist.
A vendor cannot buy a review, and cannot have one removed or changed because they dislike it. We remove or edit a review only if it breaks our rules or the law, for example a false statement of fact. Paid placement has no effect on which reviews appear or on any score.
Where this comes from
Where this comes from
Lexware Office https://www.lexware.de · checked against the official source on 2026-08-27
TallyPrime https://tallysolutions.com/tally-prime/ · checked against the official source on 2026-09-25
This table lists factual criteria taken from information the vendors publish themselves. For how we put it together, see the methodology.