Best for
Best for French companies that want invoicing, supplier purchases, a business account and their accounting firm working on one shared set of data.
- Freelancers
- Small and mid-sized
Accounting & Invoicing Comparison
Pennylane vs. Zoho Invoice
At a glance
At a glance
Best for
Best for freelancers and small consultancies that need to quote, track billable time and chase invoices without paying for a full accounting package.
- Freelancers
- Small and mid-sized
Cataleo does not name a winner. Both statements come from the vendors themselves.
Full Comparison
| Criterion | Pennylane | Zoho Invoice |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Free for micro-entrepreneurs, otherwise from €7 / month excluding VAT Per user and month excluding VAT, no commitment: Starter €7, Basique €14, Essentiel €24 and Premium €79. Companies invited by their accounting firm use the free Collaboratif plan, and micro-entrepreneurs have a free plan of their own. All plans cover up to 1,200 invoices a year. | Free There is no paid tier. The free plan covers up to 2 users, 500 invoices per year and 2 organisations under one Zoho account, and adds a Zoho Invoice line to documents. |
| Free trial | 15 days free, no commitment | Free plan; no paid tier |
| Users | Not stated | Up to 2 users on the free plan |
| API | Yes, a public Company API with a sandbox environment, available from the Essentiel plan | Yes, a REST API on the free plan, limited to 1,000 requests per day, 100 requests per minute and 5 concurrent calls |
| Hosting | Cloud (SaaS) | Cloud (SaaS), with apps for iOS, Android, Windows and Mac and a Chrome extension |
| Invoicing and quotes | Yes, quotes with e-signature, invoices, part invoices, recurring invoices and subscriptions with automatic reminders, plus electronic invoicing for the French mandate | Yes, professional invoices and custom quotes that convert to invoices, recurring invoices, a client portal for viewing and paying, and payment collection by card, ACH and e-wallet through integrated gateways |
| Bookkeeping and bank feeds | Yes, bank synchronisation with automatic categorisation, and a full accounting module with rule-based automatic entries in the Premium plan | No, Zoho Invoice covers billing and payment collection rather than bookkeeping; bank reconciliation and the general ledger sit in Zoho Books |
| Expenses and receipts | Yes, supplier invoices centralised with approval workflows and payment from the platform, plus expense reports and mileage allowances | Yes, expenses are recorded and converted into billable line items on an invoice |
| Tax and compliance | Yes, tax filing management and year-end closing tools in the Premium plan, built around French accounting rules | Yes, taxes are calculated automatically from the tax authorities and rates defined for the organisation |
| Payroll | No payroll of its own. Payroll stays in a connected tool, with partner integrations for the French payroll platforms PayFit and Silae | No |
| Reports and exports | Yes, real-time cash flow monitoring and forecasting, with custom dashboards and accounting reports in the Premium plan | Yes, a dashboard and business reports covering accounts receivable ageing, top customers, product performance and expenses |
| Integrations and API | Yes, a public Company API with a sandbox environment, from the Essentiel plan | Yes, a REST API covering invoices, estimates, recurring invoices, contacts, expenses, projects, payments, credit notes, items, taxes and time tracking, plus integration with Zoho CRM |
| AI features | No | stated Yes |
| Deployment | Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based | Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based |
| Support | Chat, Phone, Community forum | Not stated |
| Onboarding | more entries Documentation and knowledge base, Video tutorials, Live online demos and webinars | Documentation and knowledge base |
| Company size | Freelancers, Small and mid-sized | Freelancers, Small and mid-sized |
| Integrations | more entries Qonto, Stripe, Shopify, PayFit, Silae | Zoho CRM, Zoho Books |
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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 Pennylane Free for micro-entrepreneurs, otherwise from €7 / month excluding VAT Zoho Invoice Free
- Free trial Pennylane 15 days free, no commitment Zoho Invoice Free plan; no paid tier
- Hosting Pennylane Cloud (SaaS) Zoho Invoice Cloud (SaaS), with apps for iOS, Android, Windows and Mac and a Chrome extension
- AI features Pennylane No Zoho Invoice Yes
- API Pennylane Yes, a public Company API with a sandbox environment, available from the Essentiel plan Zoho Invoice Yes, a REST API on the free plan, limited to 1,000 requests per day, 100 requests per minute and 5 concurrent calls
Every line is one datapoint from the table above, picked automatically. Nothing here is written text.
The trade-offs
Strengths and Limitations
Pennylane
Strengths
- Built to be shared with the accounting firm, which works on the same data
- Free Collaboratif plan for companies invited by their accounting firm
- Electronic invoicing for the French mandate included at no extra cost
- Business account with physical and virtual Mastercards inside the platform
Limitations
- Shaped around French accounting rules and a French business account
- The accounting module and tax filing only arrive in the Premium plan, which is a large step up in price
- The public API starts at the Essentiel plan
- Plans are priced per user, so a larger finance team multiplies the cost
Zoho Invoice
Strengths
- Genuinely free rather than a trial, with no paid tier to upgrade to
- REST API included on the free plan, with a 1,000-request daily allowance
- Time tracking and expenses convert straight into invoiced line items
- Client portal lets customers view invoices, pay and respond to quotes
Limitations
- Billing only: no bank reconciliation, no general ledger and no payroll
- Capped at 2 users, 500 invoices per year and 2 organisations
- Documents carry a Zoho Invoice line
- Outgrowing the limits means moving to a different Zoho product
Plans
Pricing
Pennylane
- Free (micro-entrepreneurs) Free For micro-enterprises, 1 user. Invoice creation and reception, supplier centralisation, mobile app, up to 1,200 invoices a year.
- Starter €7 / month excluding VAT Per user. Business account with virtual and physical cards, invoice management, supplier payment, payment links, bank synchronisation.
- Basique €14 / month excluding VAT Per user. Adds part and advance invoices, delivery notes and purchase orders, supplier management and supplier invoice payment.
- Essentiel €24 / month excluding VAT Per user. Adds automated reminders, quote e-signature, recurring invoices, expense management, automatic categorisation, cash flow forecasting and API access.
- Premium €79 / month excluding VAT Per user. Adds the accounting module, validation workflows, custom dashboards, accounting reports, rule-based automatic entries, tax filing management and year-end closing.
Zoho Invoice
- Free $0 The only plan. Up to 2 users, 500 invoices per year and 2 organisations under one Zoho account. Includes invoices and quotes, recurring invoices, payment gateways, expenses, time tracking, the client portal, tax calculation, reports and the REST API. Documents carry a Zoho Invoice line.
What users say
Review Scores · opens after launch
Pennylane
- 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 Invoice
- 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
Pennylane https://www.pennylane.com · checked against the official source on 2026-08-27
Zoho Invoice https://www.zoho.com/invoice/ · checked against the official source on 2026-09-05
This table lists factual criteria taken from information the vendors publish themselves. For how we put it together, see the methodology.