Lexware Office vs sevDesk

Lexware Office

SKR03 and SKR04 are both there, I can switch charts and existing bookings migrate automatically, and the monthly lock with a timestamped protocol gives me a real period close. But I found no public information on manual journals, opening balances, cost centres or accruals — and the business year is fixed to the calendar year with the calendar month as the booking period. A solid mid-level ledger, none of the accountant's extras shown.

sevDesk

Real double-entry is confirmed — 'Für einfache und doppelte Buchführung' plus trial balance, cashbook, depreciation, and cost centres/BWA in Pro, which is past the EÜR-only tools. But nothing on SKR03/SKR04, opening balances, journals, or a period close with locking, so I can't credit it beyond the mid anchor.

Lexware Office

Postings genuinely become unalterable: the lock is automatic and GoBD-conform each month, logged with execution timestamps, and submitting the VAT advance return fixes that period's bookings too. What's missing for the audit-minded is everything around it — I found no public information on a Verfahrensdokumentation template, a stated retention period, an auditor's data export, or corrections handled as reversals.

sevDesk

Not one word about GoBD, immutability, a change log, retention periods, or a Verfahrensdokumentation anywhere on the captured homepage, pricing, or privacy pages — the retention-heavy pages came back silent. For a product holding my books through a ten-year audit window, that silence is the score.

Lexware Office

One click sends the VAT advance return to the Finanzamt with ELSTER confirmation, an automatic receipt is booked and the SEPA debit just happens — that is precisely the hour of my Sunday I want back. Cash and accrual timing, the minimum-cash rule, §13b reverse charge and Dauerfristverlängerung are all handled, but the pages themselves route destination-country tax to OSS or separate registration outside the product, and I found no public information on EÜR or balance-sheet output, the Zusammenfassende Meldung, or small-business rules. Above the middle mark, well short of the full filing year.

sevDesk

UStVA goes to ELSTER directly and without an extra certificate, and EÜR/GuV are in the plan — that's the Sunday-evening VAT return I actually want. But reverse-charge and intra-community handling are unmentioned, and nothing on OSS, §19, or Dauerfristverlängerung, so it sits a notch under the full anchor.

Lexware Office

Bank accounts are connected, refreshing fetches new transactions, and every Umsatz gets matching suggestions checked in both directions against a receipt or an accounting category — but a booking only exists after I click accept, so the ledger is suggesting rather than matching itself. Receipts are linked to their postings (the VAT return lines expand to the vouchers), while I found no public information on OCR receipt capture, e-invoice formats inbound and outbound, or replacement scanning.

sevDesk

Feeds from 4,000+ banks, receipt scanning with AI category recommendations, and e-invoices both directions (ZUGFeRD/XRechnung, EN 16931-validated) cover most of my weekly grind. Missing: rule-based matching with learning, replacement scanning documentation, and compliant archiving of the digital original — so exceptions may still be my problem.

Lexware Office

The DATEV handover is genuinely professional: the Steuerberaterzugang export builds two coordinated ZIP files that link booking to receipt image automatically after import into DATEV Kanzlei Rechnungswesen, DATEVconnect online transfers in the background via the Buchungsdatenservice, and the adviser seat costs nothing. But the access cannot be scoped — the Kanzlei sees everything including my connected bank accounts — with only a last-login visible, no audit of what they changed, and nothing coming back the other way. Best-in-class one-way export, one-sided collaboration.

sevDesk

A named DATEV and ADDISON interface, plus the option to invite the Steuerberater into the account to work rather than just receive files — that's genuinely useful. Whether receipt images travel correctly linked, and whether his access is scoped or audited, is unproven, so it stays under the 8.

Lexware Office

The vendor is German through and through per the provenance line, and a manual export of receipts and booking data still works after cancellation, which is a real exit door. Beyond that I found no public information: nothing on hosting location, nothing on subprocessors, nothing confirming the contracting entity, and the captured privacy pages only link onward to separate statements rather than stating any of it. An absent subprocessor list lands this in the low band for me, not the floor.

sevDesk

German GmbH in Offenburg, German register court and VAT ID, 'Serverstandort Deutschland', plus a published AVV, TOM and Subunternehmer section — the bones of a sovereign setup. But infrastructure isn't named, the AI capture/Sevi chain is unexplained, and there's no stated export keeping me compliant on retention if I leave, so the pipeline's 'unknown' flags still bite.

Lexware Office

I found no public information on pricing at all — no tier, no monthly figure, no booking or document limits, not even a hint of what an adviser seat or an extra bank account costs, so no annual invoice can be computed from what is published. As the person who checks the invoice against the headline, that is the bottom.

sevDesk

I got tier structures, billing periods, and limits (3 invoices free, 1 user per plan), but not a single euro figure for the paid tiers in the captured pages, no VAT treatment, no price for extra users or adviser access — and 'Preis pro Monat ab*' only holds for 24-month terms with a 70% teaser on top. That's exactly the headline-that-isn't-the-invoice game I hate, and marketplace partner costs are 'not inkludiert'.