As of 28 Oct 2026, the panel rates JTL-Wawi 3.5/5 and Xentral 3/5 in ERP. Weighted by what each judge cares about, 6 of the 6 judges pick JTL-Wawi and 0 pick Xentral. JTL-Wawi scores higher on 6 of 7 criteria (Finance, tax & compliance, Rollout, roles & operations, Pricing transparency, plus 3 more). Xentral scores higher on 1 of 7 criteria (European sovereignty). Provenance — JTL-Wawi: EU-Made; Xentral: EU-Made. Ratings are the AI panel’s opinion, formed from public evidence: how scores are made.
JTL-Wawi holds the higher mean on six of seven criteria, firmest in finance and compliance, 6.8 versus 5.8 with five judges leaning JTL-Wawi and one tie, and rollout and operations, 7.2 versus 6.5 with four leaning JTL-Wawi and two ties. Sovereignty leans the other way, 4.3 versus 4.0 with two judges for Xentral and four ties: Xentral's data residency is listed as EU-only, though its subprocessor exposure is listed as US Cloud Act, while JTL-Wawi's pages state the software remains on JTL's server with no public information on hosting country. Orders and inventory sits at 8.3 versus 8.0, two leans to JTL-Wawi and four ties, Xentral holding a flat 8 on batch, serial and best-before tracking. Weighted totals run 6.1 to 7.3 for JTL-Wawi and 5.8 to 6.8 for Xentral; the leans split by criterion, so no overall winner.
Choose JTL-Wawi if
You need GoBD-conform archiving, ELSTER and One-Stop-Shop transmission from the ERP — finance and compliance leans JTL-Wawi 6.8 to 5.8, five judges to one tie.
Your team sells across Amazon, eBay and 30+ marketplaces and needs automatic order import with real-time stock synchronisation that prevents overselling — orders and inventory runs 8.3 to 8.0.
You want edition prices up front: three editions are publicly priced and pricing transparency leans JTL-Wawi 6.0 to 5.5, while Xentral's pages cannot compute an annual total from the from-prices.
Your rollout and day-to-day operations load matters most — that criterion leans JTL-Wawi 7.2 to 6.5, four judges to two ties.
You file VAT returns directly from the ERP — JTL-Wawi documents ELSTER transmission, while Xentral's pages mark VAT advance returns as a long-term goal or limited to corrections.
Choose Xentral if
Your procurement requires an EU-only data residency listing — Xentral's data residency is listed as EU-only, though its subprocessor exposure is listed as US Cloud Act.
You need batch, serial and best-before tracking across warehouses with scanner goods receipt and batch picking — orders and inventory holds a flat 8 for Xentral, while JTL-Wawi's sharpest judge gap turned on serial-number and recall gaps.
Your data protection review needs a published data processing agreement and an external German data protection officer — both are published for Xentral; JTL-Wawi's pages give no public information on a data processing agreement.
Sovereignty is your deciding criterion — it is the only criterion where judges lean Xentral at all, 4.3 versus 4.0, two judges leaning Xentral and four ties.
Read this comparison as one judge. Each weighs the same scores by what they care about.
The Online Retailer
Sells on a Shopware shop, Amazon and eBay from one warehouse with eight staff, and oversold a bestseller twice last Christmas. Wants stock synchronised across every channel, orders, labels and returns handled in one place, OSS VAT done right, and a price that does not jump with every thousand orders.
JTL-Wawi
This judge's pick
Xentral
Criterion by criterion
Finance, tax & compliance
JTL-Wawi
Invoicing, dunning and tax management are already in the free Start edition, booking data exports to my accountant's DATEV software in a few clicks, VAT pre-registration can go straight to ELSTER, and One-Stop-Shop is explicitly named for EU selling — exactly the OSS handling I need. Bank accounts via HBCI/FinTS and payments from PayPal, Amazon Pay and Mollie are matched to orders in real time, ZUGFeRD and XRechnung documents are received and processed lawfully, and GoBD conformity is promised out of the box. A full general ledger or a published procedure documentation is not described on the pages I reviewed.
Xentral
One-Stop-Shop readiness, a one-click DATEV export covering invoices, credit notes, liabilities and accounts, automatic VAT splitting and GoBD-compliant invoice processing are exactly what my tax adviser wants, and invoices go out as PDF (ZUGFeRD) and XML while incoming ZUGFeRD and XRechnung are read in. But the finance pages state that balance lists, VAT advance returns and direct booking from inside Xentral are a long-term goal, with the journal and the customer/supplier balance view still in development — so the ledger itself stays with the accountant. A solid hand-over rather than full accounting.
Purchasing, inventory & order processing
JTL-Wawi
This is my core business covered: orders from Amazon, eBay, Shopware 6 and 30+ marketplaces import automatically, stock levels synchronise in real time and overselling — my Christmas failure twice over — is explicitly prevented. Purchasing with demand determination, automatic purchase lists built from minimum stock, delivery times and sales forecasts, goods receipt, drop shipping, multi-warehouse, batch and best-before capture by barcode, mobile picking, shipping labels via Shipping 2.0 and returns with credit notes are all documented, plus EDI and a fulfilment network in the ecosystem. On serial-number tracking or a documented recall trace from supplier to end customer I found no public information.
Xentral
This is the strongest part for me: ready-made Shopware, Amazon and eBay connections with orders flowing in automatically and stock played back to every channel in real time, which is precisely what would have prevented my overselling. Multiple warehouses with storage-location scanning, batch and best-before tracking, pick-and-pack with the label printed while packing, DHL/DPD/UPS, returns with credit notes and automatic reordering at minimum stock are all documented, plus EDI and purchase-order suggestions. The plan comparison greys out purchase orders and order proposals in lower plans, and I found no public information on drop shipping, so it sits just below the top.
Manufacturing, services & projects
JTL-Wawi
For my finishing-style production the core is there: multiple bills of materials per article, three production types, production orders with automatic stock movements plus batch and best-before handling directly in the ERP, demand-driven manufacturing and a touch workbench with instructions at the line. Multi-level bills of materials, routings, work centres and capacity planning are not described on the pages I reviewed — enough depth for a trading house like mine, thin for a real factory.
Xentral
Bills of materials with production orders, material consumption and time per order via tablet or scanner are documented, and service firms get projects with sub-projects, logged hours exported to the invoice in two clicks, plus subscriptions, repair orders and digitally signed service reports — both models are named publicly. The vendor itself states the system is built for simple to medium production and not for multi-stage manufacturing, capacity planning or machine connection, which is honest but caps the depth. Fine for my kit sets, not for a factory.
Integration, API & data portability
JTL-Wawi
A REST API is named (in the Enterprise plan as beta) plus 700+ extensions in the store, and out-of-the-box connectors cover Amazon, eBay, Kaufland, Otto, Shopify and precisely my Shopware 6, with setup said to need no developer knowledge. A migration team transfers data from my previous system, banks connect via HBCI/FinTS, the DATEV export exists, and running it locally on my own server is an option. I found no public information on a versioned API reference with webhooks or a documented full export of my data when leaving.
Xentral
The connector marketplace is broad — Shopware, Amazon and eBay at no charge, over 200 further integrations, CSV/XML/API fallback for other channels, legacy documents importable via the document importer, and an old warehouse system like Pixi connectable via API, FTP or CSV. I found no public information on API reference documentation, webhooks, or a documented full export when a company leaves, and the Scale plan promises maximum API rate limits without stating them. Open in practice, less open on paper.
Rollout, roles & operations
JTL-Wawi
Free initial consultation, installation by remote maintenance from support staff, certified service partners with on-site care, plus the JTL-Guide, help centre, video tutorials and free webinars give my eight-person crew a clear path to go live. Response times are published per edition (community forum at Start, phone callback within half a working day at Gold), an availability promise at the data-centre router exit with three-day maintenance notice and status pages exist, and every posting is timestamped and traceable. On typical project durations, uptime history or sandbox tenants I found no public information.
Xentral
A typical go-live of eight to twelve weeks with named customer examples as fast as 18 days, 56+ certified partner agencies for implementation and first-level support, help centre, community and academy, a ticket system with an emergency flag, and no-code flows that survive automatic updates give me a migration I can plan. I found no public information on an uptime figure behind the premium service level, a status page, or a role and permissions model beyond the per-order processing log. Rollout is plannable; the operations guarantees stay vague.
European sovereignty
JTL-Wawi
The contracting party is JTL-Software-GmbH of Hückelhoven with a German commercial register entry and a named data protection officer, and the hosted software stays on JTL's own server — where that server sits is not stated on the pages I reviewed. The firms behind the modules are at least visible (JERA, countX, FOC, GREYHOUND, Dealavo), but I found no public information on hosting location, an infrastructure subprocessor list, a data processing agreement or an ISO 27001 or BSI C5 certification; running it locally on my own server is the one sovereign option stated.
Xentral
The contracting entity is clearly German — Xentral ERP Software GmbH in Augsburg, registered at Amtsgericht Augsburg — with a data processing agreement offered and an external German data protection officer. The privacy policy names Amazon Web Services Inc., a Seattle company, as provider while locating the server in Germany, and Google and Facebook tools run on the website; I found no public information on where the ERP data itself is hosted, on the ownership chain, or on further subprocessors. European front door, partly unproven chain behind it.
Pricing transparency
JTL-Wawi
Prices sit in the open: Start at 0 € / Monat, Advanced ab 99 € / Monat, Pro ab 329 € / Monat, Enterprise only 'Preis auf Anfrage', with add-ons like Cloud ERP ab 49,99 € / Monat, Auftragsbezogene Produktion 69 € / Monat and Workbench 125 € / Monat per user. My catch: orders from Amazon, eBay and Shopware need an order package, 'Ab 0,22 € je weiterem Auftrag' at Start and 'Ab 0,11 € je weiterem Auftrag' at Pro — the bill grows with every thousand orders, though at least it is openly published. Implementation fees, minimum term, VAT treatment and what happens to my data on cancellation I found no public information on.
Xentral
Edition prices are public — from 99 €/Monat for Launch up to 849 €/Monat for Pro, users unlimited at no extra cost, a 14-day trial without credit card — and the inclusions per plan are listed in detail. But the Scale plan is only on request, implementation costs are not priced, and the pricing page itself says prices depend on revenue and shipping volume without publishing the rule — for me that is exactly the bill that moves when Christmas orders spike. I can see the entry price, not my real annual cost.
Sovereignty, side by side
Dimension
JTL-Wawi
Xentral
Legal entity
Not determined
Not determined
Ownership
Not determined
Not determined
Data residency
Not determined
Not determined
Subprocessors
Not determined
US CLOUD Act reach
Facts, side by side
Only facts both products carry under the same definition — anything else would not be a fair row.
As of 28 Oct 2026, the panel rates JTL-Wawi higher: 3.5/5 against 3/5. Weighted by what each judge cares about, 6 of the 6 judges pick JTL-Wawi and 0 pick Xentral. Which one fits depends on the criteria that matter to you; the table on this page shows both side by side, and each judge’s reading has its own page. Both were scored by the same AI bench under the same rubric, from public evidence only, as the methodology describes.
Is JTL-Wawi or Xentral European?
JTL-Wawi is European (EU-Made). Xentral is European (EU-Made). Provenance is read from each company’s own legal pages: who builds it and who owns it.
Do JTL-Wawi and Xentral have a free plan?
As of 28 Oct 2026, JTL-Wawi’s own pages state a free plan; Xentral’s pages as captured do not. Each product page links the pricing page it was read from.