Best for
Best for European freelancers and small companies that want banking, invoicing and receipt collection in one account.
- Freelancers
- Small and mid-sized
Accounting & Invoicing Comparison
Qonto 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 | Qonto | sevdesk |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | lower value From €9 / month Basic for the self-employed, excl. VAT and billed annually at €108; monthly billing is also available. Team plans start at €49 a month (Essential). Transfers and cards beyond the plan allowance, international transfers and card payments taken are charged per transaction. | 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 | 1 month | 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, API and EBICS connections, plus an official MCP server | Yes, a REST API, available from the Buchhaltung Pro plan |
| Hosting | Cloud (web and mobile apps) | Cloud (SaaS) |
| Made in | France (founded 2017) | Germany |
| Invoicing and quotes | Yes, unlimited quotes and invoices with deposit and balance invoices, credit notes, automatic numbering, payment matching and payment links, and electronic invoicing through Qonto's government-approved platform. Supplier invoices are imported, read by OCR and paid by transfer. Automated reminders, recurring invoices and e-signed quotes are a paid add-on | Yes, quotes and invoices from customisable templates, with XRechnung and ZUGFeRD e-invoices and payment reminders |
| Bookkeeping and bank feeds | Pre-accounting rather than a general ledger: transactions, receipts and invoices are matched automatically and AI generates accounting entries for approval. The accountant gets read-only access from the Smart plan, or the data goes to Pennylane, Sage, Cegid, DATEV and other tools. Other bank accounts can be synced in | Yes, online banking for more than 4,000 banks with automatic transaction matching, and single or double-entry bookkeeping |
| Expenses and receipts | Yes, physical and virtual Mastercards, receipts matched from a photo or a forwarded email and digitized and legally certified from Smart, expense reports for out-of-pocket costs, missing-receipt reminders and team budgets | Yes, AI-assisted receipt capture through the mobile app or by email |
| Tax and compliance | A real-time VAT estimate from invoices and transactions, rules that set funds aside for tax, and electronic invoicing ready for the French requirement to receive e-invoices from 1 September 2026. No tax return of its own is listed; that stays with the accountant | 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 | No pay-run calculation is listed. Salaries and freelancer payments can be sent as one batch at month-end, which the AI agents can prepare | No, sevdesk does not produce payroll or salary statements |
| Reports and exports | A dashboard with inflow and outflow charts, an advanced dashboard on higher plans, cash-flow tracking and forecasting with scenarios from Smart, CSV exports and a live Google Sheets and Excel connection | Yes, BWA, trial balance lists and a real-time financial dashboard |
| Integrations and API | Yes, API and EBICS connections to ERP and accounting systems, more than 2,000 listed integrations and an official MCP server for Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor and Notion | Yes, a REST API, from the Buchhaltung Pro plan |
| AI features | Yes | Yes |
| MCP-ready | stated Yes | No |
| Deployment | Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based | Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based |
| Support | Chat, Phone, Email helpdesk | Email helpdesk, Phone, Chat |
| Company size | Freelancers, Small and mid-sized | Freelancers, Small and mid-sized |
| Integrations | more entries DATEV, Pennylane, Sage, Cegid, Google Sheets, Microsoft Excel, Google Drive, Gmail, Notion, Zapier, Make, Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor | DATEV, ADDISON |
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The short version
Key Differences
- Starting price Qonto From €9 / month sevdesk Free for up to 3 invoices per month, otherwise from €11.90 / month plus VAT
- Free trial Qonto 1 month sevdesk 14 days free, no credit card required, alongside a permanently free plan limited to 3 invoices per month
- Hosting Qonto Cloud (web and mobile apps) sevdesk Cloud (SaaS)
- Support Qonto Chat, Phone, Email helpdesk sevdesk Email helpdesk, Phone, Chat
- Made in Qonto France (founded 2017) sevdesk Germany
Every line is one datapoint from the table above, picked automatically. Nothing here is written text.
The trade-offs
Strengths and Limitations
Qonto
Strengths
- Business account, cards, invoicing and pre-accounting in one place
- Electronic invoicing through a government-approved platform, no third-party tool needed
- AI drafts transfers, invoices and accounting entries for approval
- Official MCP server for Claude, ChatGPT and Cursor
- One-month free trial
Limitations
- No general ledger, so an accountant or accounting software is still needed
- Each plan caps included transfers and cards, with fees beyond the allowance
- Invoice reminders and recurring invoices cost extra as an add-on
- Accountant access starts on the Smart plan
- No payroll calculation
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
Qonto
- Basic €9 Per month excl. VAT, billed annually at €108. For the self-employed: 30 transfers a month, 1 physical and 2 virtual cards, electronic invoicing and 24/7 support.
- Smart €19 Per month excl. VAT, billed annually at €228. Adds account remuneration, 1 sub-account, 100 transfers, 50 virtual cards, cash-flow forecasting and accountant access.
- Premium €39 Per month excl. VAT, billed annually at €468. Adds 4 sub-accounts, 200 transfers, lower international transfer fees, priority support and subscription tracking.
- Essential €49 Per month excl. VAT, billed annually at €588. For small teams: 250 transfers, 5 physical and 50 virtual cards, unlimited team members with roles, expense reports and full invoice management.
- Business €109 Per month excl. VAT, billed annually at €1,308. Adds 500 transfers, unlimited virtual cards, dedicated support, auto-sync to accounting tools and EBICS.
- Enterprise €199 Per month excl. VAT, billed annually at €2,388. Adds 10,000 transfers and the full cash-flow management suite; custom plans on request.
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
Qonto
- 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
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Where this comes from
Where this comes from
Qonto https://qonto.com/en · no check date recorded yet
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.