BuchhaltungsButler vs sevdesk (October 2026): which German bookkeeping tool fits your team

BuchhaltungsButler or sevdesk: the verdict

BuchhaltungsButler vs sevdesk: comparison table

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BuchhaltungsButler vs sevdesk: what it costs per year

Pricing: sevdesk publishes every number, BuchhaltungsButler hides its base prices

sevdesk lists all prices on one page. The free plan covers 3 invoices or e-invoices per month for 1 user. The paid plans are Rechnung, Buchhaltung and Buchhaltung Pro. On monthly billing they cost 11.90, 25.90 and 34.90 euros per month. On annual billing they cost 9.90, 22.90 and 30.90 euros, and on a 2-year contract 8.90, 19.90 and 27.90 euros. Prices as of October 2026.

The page also shows an introductory discount of up to 50 percent without naming an end date, and discounted monthly figures next to the list prices. Plan on the list prices. A review by selbststaendigkeit.de, updated in September 2026, notes that reviewers criticize unclear contract and price information, so read the order summary before you click.

BuchhaltungsButler advertises plans from 24.95 euros per month with annual billing on its homepage, 70 percent off the first month on monthly billing, and a 14-day free trial. Its pricing page compares Light, Smart and Premium, then Smart, E-Commerce and Vereine (associations). The base prices were not readable when we checked in October 2026. Add-ons range from 3.90 to 129.90 euros.

Two independent sources give a different picture from the homepage. Gründerküche listed Light at 29.90, Smart at 34.90 and Premium at 59.90 euros per month in April 2026, with annual billing paid monthly. OMR Reviews lists plans from 29.90 euros up to 99.90 euros for E-Commerce Premium. The 24.95 euro entry may be a promotion or an older figure, so ask for a written quote.

Contract terms: BuchhaltungsButler cancels in 7 days, sevdesk renews automatically

BuchhaltungsButler's terms run for an indefinite period with no minimum term. You can cancel with 7 days' notice to the end of a billing period, by email. The vendor may adjust fees once a year with 6 weeks' notice. Below a 10 percent increase there is no special cancellation right, although the normal one remains.

sevdesk sells fixed terms of 1 month, 12 months or 24 months, and the lower prices depend on the longer term. The terms say the contract renews automatically for the same term, up to a maximum of 2 years, unless you cancel with 2 weeks' notice. Cancellation is done in the customer account, by email or in text form.

This matters for the cheapest numbers. The 8.90 euro price for Rechnung is only reached by committing for 2 years, and missing the notice window means another term. Reviewers on selbststaendigkeit.de and on review platforms name this as a common complaint. If you are unsure whether you will still invoice in two years, the monthly or annual term is the safer choice.

Data after the contract is the second point. sevdesk states that storage that meets GoBD rules, the German principles for keeping digital books, only works while the subscription is active, and the account is locked after expiry. BuchhaltungsButler deactivates accounts after termination, and reactivation costs a storage and administration fee. In both cases, export your data and receipts before the last day. sevdesk itself cites a retention duty of 6 to 10 years for tax-relevant documents, so plan the export, not just the cancellation.

AI features: both read receipts, they differ in how much they book for you

BuchhaltungsButler names AI receipt recognition, learning booking suggestions and automatic matching of receipts to payments from more than 5,000 connected banks and payment services. According to the vendor, receipt recognition runs in every plan. The homepage claims 76 percent faster bookkeeping through automation, and OMR reviewers repeat the 76 percent figure as time saved on routine tasks. We treat both as vendor claims, not measurements.

sevdesk names AI-supported receipt capture, AI booking suggestions with receipt assignment, intelligent bank matching and AI-supported posting of incoming payments in its online banking module. You upload a paper receipt or e-invoice by drag and drop, smartphone scan or email forwarding. The tool reads the data, suggests a category and proposes a bank transaction, and you confirm before the entry is final.

AI receipt capture starts in the Buchhaltung plan at 22.90 euros per month on annual billing, not in the invoicing plan. That is a real gap if you only compare the 9.90 euro entry price. A person who invoices and photographs a few receipts a month will not feel the difference between the two tools. A person who clears hundreds of bank lines a month will.

Neither vendor publishes an accuracy figure for its AI that we could verify, and neither lists a works council or AI Act statement. Treat the suggestions as drafts. The legal responsibility for the books stays with the company and, at year end, with the advisor.

Teams and online retail: where BuchhaltungsButler pulls ahead

Seats are the clearest split. sevdesk includes 1 user in every plan and sells an additional user for 5.90 euros per month. BuchhaltungsButler includes 1 user plus 1 tax advisor in Light and Smart and 5 users in Premium, which it describes as a package for growing companies.

Take 3 users. sevdesk Buchhaltung at the annual price plus two extra users comes to 34.70 euros per month. That is below the 59.90 euro Premium price reported by Gründerküche. So the seat count alone does not make BuchhaltungsButler cheaper. What it buys is the feature set around those seats, such as the Bilanz capability the vendor names for Smart and the bank connections.

Online sellers get dedicated BuchhaltungsButler plans that connect marketplaces such as Amazon, eBay and Shopify, according to OMR reviewers and the vendor. Associations get a plan built on the SKR42 and SKR49 charts of accounts. sevdesk has neither a retail plan nor an association plan.

sevdesk answers with breadth at the top: Buchhaltung Pro adds BWA (the business management report), cost centers and REST API access. If you need to connect your own systems through an API, that is a point for sevdesk. OMR reviewers criticize BuchhaltungsButler for high cost for small firms, limited invoice layouts, no native mobile app and an overwhelming setup. For sevdesk, reviewers mention support, bank reconciliation and app performance.

Tax advisor, DATEV and e-invoices: both are ready, check your advisor first

The handoff to the tax advisor decides more than the feature list. DATEV is the dominant software of German tax firms, and both tools export to it. BuchhaltungsButler lists the DATEV export in all plans. sevdesk includes a DATEV and ADDISON compatible export in every paid plan and a Steuerberaterportal where advisors see client data directly.

sevdesk offers advisors a free 45-minute onboarding session. BuchhaltungsButler has a separate product, BHB Pro, for tax firms that manage many clients. If your advisor already works in BHB Pro, that is a practical argument for BuchhaltungsButler. If your advisor uses ADDISON, sevdesk has the explicit export.

E-invoices are now a legal subject. Since January 1, 2025, German businesses must be able to receive structured e-invoices from other domestic businesses. Under § 27 (38) of the VAT Act, issuing paper invoices stays allowed until December 31, 2026. It stays allowed until December 31, 2027 for firms with prior year turnover up to 800,000 euros. A second letter from the Federal Ministry of Finance dated October 15, 2025 clarified errors and, for e-invoices, that keeping the structured data is sufficient.

sevdesk creates and sends ZUGFeRD and XRechnung invoices, validates them against EN 16931 and books incoming ones, including in the free plan. BuchhaltungsButler calls itself e-invoice capable on its homepage, and Gründerküche lists XRechnung and Peppol e-invoicing at no extra cost. Test your actual workflow in the trial: send one e-invoice and receive one before you commit.

Country fit: built for Germany, thin for Austria and Switzerland

Both tools are built for German companies. BuchhaltungsButler stores data in German high-security data centers, calls itself GoBD and tax office compliant, and offers a data processing agreement under Art. 28 GDPR for download. sevdesk states that it deliberately chose a server location in Germany and runs on AWS. It uses Cloudflare against DDoS attacks, offers two-factor authentication and publishes its processing agreement and list of subprocessors. We could not verify the TÜV Saarland certification that an older version of this page named, so we removed it.

For companies in Austria the picture is mixed. sevdesk runs a separate Austrian site and states its focus on self-employed people and companies based in Germany or Austria. Austria has no general B2B e-invoice mandate. It requires e-invoices for suppliers to public bodies, according to Onventis. We found no Austria-specific feature list for BuchhaltungsButler, so ask about chart of accounts, VAT return and advisor export before buying.

For companies in Switzerland, sevdesk says on sevdesk.ch that it is aimed at businesses based in Germany or Austria. BuchhaltungsButler announced a Swiss adaptation in October 2018, with a 24 franc entry price at the time, but we could not confirm today's Swiss scope on its current pages. Swiss firms that need the QR bill and Swiss VAT should ask both vendors in writing or look at Swiss tools.

Works councils are rarely an issue at this size. Under § 87 Abs. 1 Nr. 6 BetrVG, a works council co-determines technical systems that are meant to monitor behavior or performance. A bookkeeping tool with several users and logs can fall under it. Neither vendor publishes works council guidance, so involve the council early if one exists.

Ownership changes can affect support and roadmaps. Visma took over BuchhaltungsButler, announced on January 17, 2023, and it stayed a separate company. Cegid completed the sevdesk acquisition on February 6, 2025, and sevdesk's co-founder became Cegid's General Manager DACH.

Switching and what to ask: a short checklist before you sign

Moving between the two is possible but not automatic. Both export receipts and bookings, and the DATEV format is the common ground. Run a parallel month in the new tool before you leave the old one, and keep the archive of the old tool for the full retention period.

For BuchhaltungsButler, ask for the exact monthly net price of your plan and what the 24.95 euro entry refers to. Ask which plan includes the features you need and whether Premium seats cover your team. For sevdesk, ask which term the displayed price assumes, what happens at renewal and what an extra user costs for your plan.

Both vendors also need a check against your advisor. Which format do they accept? Do they want receipts as files or only booking data? Do they want direct access? A short conversation with the advisor settles the format question before you pay.

Who should pick BuchhaltungsButler and who sevdesk

The bottom line

Decide by transactions, people and contract risk. If one person writes invoices, sevdesk is cheaper and easier to test, but watch the renewal terms. If a small team clears many bank transactions or marketplace payouts, BuchhaltungsButler does more of the booking itself, with a 7-day notice period; get its price in writing first. Outside Germany, ask both vendors before you buy.