# Exact Online — ERP

Exact Online by Exact GmbH holds a panel rating of 2.5/5 from 6 AI judges (category median 3/5), as of 2026-10-28. Provenance: EU-Made; sovereignty: not determined.

- Vendor: Exact GmbH (https://www.exact.com/de)
- Category: [ERP](https://whats-best.ai/software/erp.md)
- Provenance (editorial classification): EU-Made
- Canonical page: https://whats-best.ai/software/erp/exact-online
- Alternatives: https://whats-best.ai/software/erp/exact-online/alternatives ([markdown](https://whats-best.ai/software/erp/exact-online/alternatives.md))
- Data as of: 2026-10-29 · evaluated 2026-10-28 · oldest source captured 2026-10-26

**AI-generated.** Every score, rationale and verdict here is written by a panel of AI judges from public evidence — an analysis, not a hands-on test. Every fact quotes the vendor page it was read from. No score can be bought. How scores are made: https://whats-best.ai/methodology

## At a glance

- Vendor: Exact GmbH
- Headquarters: Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 26 Oct 2026
- Data hosting: Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 26 Oct 2026
- Free plan: Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 26 Oct 2026

## The panel's verdict

Exact Online is a cloud ERP for SMEs from Exact GmbH of Cologne, strongest on the goods side: orders and inventory scored 7-8 and production and projects 7-8, with judges citing multiple warehouses, serial and batch numbers, a mobile WMS app with barcode scanning, and bills of materials through multi-level and phantom forms to MRP in higher editions. Its weakest column is pricing transparency at 2: the captured pricing pages show the four-edition ladder — Essentials, Plus, Professional, Premium — but we found no price figure, scaling rule, contract term or implementation fee, and the Premium editions are sold through a partner channel. Integration and portability scored 3-4, with no public information on a documented API, webhooks or a full export on exit, and finance and compliance scored 4-5, with no public information on GoBD compliance, a DATEV export or e-invoice formats. Rollout and operations sits at 4 and sovereignty at 3-4, the privacy policy relying on Standard Contractual Clauses for transfers outside the EEA. Scores diverge by at most one point per criterion; persona-weighted totals span 4.1 to 5.7.

**Speaks for it:**
- Orders and inventory scored 7-8, with multiple warehouses, serial and batch numbers and a mobile WMS app with barcode scanning documented.
- Manufacturing depth is documented edition by edition, from work orders to multi-level and phantom bills of materials, by-products and Material Requirements Planning.
- Bookkeeping, bank feeds, invoicing, automatic invoice processing and receivables management are named modules, with an offering for tax advisers and accounting offices.
- The contracting entity is documented precisely as Exact GmbH in Cologne, registered at the Cologne local court under HRB 93414.
- A free trial is offered, an FAQ invites contact, a Service Level Agreement is referenced in the terms, and 2,000 experts are named as help.

**Held against it:**
- Pricing transparency scored 2, with no price figure, per-user scaling rule, contract term or implementation fee on the captured pages and the Premium editions sold through a partner channel.
- Integration and portability scored 3-4, with no public information on a documented API, webhooks or a full data export on exit.
- We found no public information on GoBD compliance, a DATEV export, or e-invoice formats such as XRechnung and ZUGFeRD.
- Sovereignty scored 3-4, the privacy policy relying on Standard Contractual Clauses for transfers outside the EEA, with no public information on hosting location or subprocessors.
- Rollout and operations scored 4, with no public information on user roles and permissions, an audit log, implementation durations or availability figures.

**Best for:**
- You run purchasing, sales and stock across several warehouses and want barcode-driven picking documented out of the box.
- You manufacture with bills of materials and work orders and want planning depth up to MRP in the higher editions.
- You want bookkeeping, bank feeds and invoicing alongside the goods chain, with a dedicated offering for your tax adviser.

**Avoid if:**
- You need to compute an annual cost from published prices before shortlisting — the Premium editions are quoted through a partner channel.
- You must wire the ERP to your own systems through a documented API or export all data when you leave.
- Your close process requires documented GoBD compliance, a DATEV export or e-invoice formats such as XRechnung or ZUGFeRD.
- You must confirm where the ERP data is hosted and which subprocessors are involved before signing, given the privacy policy's reliance on Standard Contractual Clauses for transfers outside the EEA.

## Scores by judge and criterion

Scores out of 5, each judge scoring independently against the published rubric (v1). "n/r" = not rated: the vendor publishes no price, or the judge found no public information on that criterion.

| Criterion | The Managing Director | The Head of Finance | The Operations Lead | The Online Retailer | The IT Integrator | The Skeptic |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Finance, tax & compliance | 2/5 | 2.5/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 |
| Purchasing, inventory & order processing | 4/5 | 3.5/5 | 4/5 | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 |
| Manufacturing, services & projects | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 | 4/5 | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 |
| Integration, API & data portability | 2/5 | 2/5 | 1.5/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 1.5/5 |
| Rollout, roles & operations | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 |
| European sovereignty | 1.5/5 | 1.5/5 | 1.5/5 | 1.5/5 | 2/5 | 1.5/5 |
| Pricing transparency | 1/5 | 1/5 | 1/5 | 1/5 | 1/5 | 1/5 |
| **Weighted verdict** | **2.5/5** | **2.5/5** | **3/5** | **2/5** | **2/5** | **2/5** |

### The judges

- **The Managing Director** (v1.0): Runs a sixty-person wholesaler that outgrew an invoicing tool, two Excel stock lists and a shop backend nobody reconciles. Wants one system that goes live without stopping the business for a quarter, an implementation path and cost they can plan before signing, and a vendor that will still be there when the contract renews.
- **The Head of Finance** (v1.0): Closes the books for three companies every month and has retyped one supplier invoice too many. Wants incoming e-invoices read and matched to the purchase order, GoBD stated with a procedure documentation, DATEV for the tax adviser, intercompany postings that balance, and every figure traceable to the order and the person behind it.
- **The Operations Lead** (v1.0): Runs purchasing, two warehouses and a small assembly line, and is the one called when a delivery is promised from stock that is not there. Wants goods receipt booked on a scanner, stock per bin and batch, purchase proposals from real demand, and bills of materials that plan next week's production instead of a whiteboard.
- **The Online Retailer** (v1.0): 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.
- **The IT Integrator** (v1.0): Looks after IT for a mid-sized manufacturer and has to connect the ERP to the shop, the bank, payroll, the BI tool and a supplier's EDI. Wants a public, versioned API with webhooks and a sandbox, roles and an audit log, hosting and subprocessors named, and a full export the day the company leaves.
- **The Skeptic** (v1.0): Has watched ERP projects run a year late and twice over budget, the partner's day rate the real price. Reads "ERP" that is an invoicing tool with a stock column, "GoBD-ready" with no procedure documentation, "open API" without a public reference, and a module price list that stops where implementation starts, and asks how the data gets out again.

## European sovereignty — proven facts

Built only from facts on the vendor's own pages; a dimension we could not prove is left open, never scored as zero. Headline: not determined.

| Dimension | Finding | Points | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Legal entity | Not determined | — | — |
| Ownership | Not determined | — | — |
| Data residency | Not determined | — | — |
| Subprocessors | Not determined | — | — |

## Key facts

Each fact is the vendor's own statement, cited to the source page it was read from ([S*n*] → Sources).

**Data**
- Retention: Retention only as long as required for collection purposes or by law [S7]
- Transfer mechanism: Transfers outside EEA rely on adequacy decisions or Standard Contractual Clauses [S7]

**Hosting**
- Entity address: Exact GmbH · Im Medienpark 8-10, 50670 Köln [S2]

**Legal**
- Company name: Exact Software GmbH · Im Medienpark 8-10, 50670 Köln, Germany [S5]
- Exact gmbh: Köln · Exact GmbH · Im Medienpark 8-10, 50670 Köln [S1]
- Registry: Amtsgericht Köln · HRB 93414 [S5]
- VAT id: DE811736195 [S5]
- Website: www.exact.com/de [S5]

**Product**
- Accountants: Lösung für Steuerberater und Buchhaltungsbüros [S2]
- Accounting: Buchhaltung · CRM · Bank-Feeds · Rechnungsstellung [S2]
- Addons: Add-ons: Kassa (POS), Webshop koppeling, App store [S4]
- Addons available: Kassa (POS) · Webshop koppeling · App store [S3]
- Automate premium only: Automate · Premium [S3]
- Automated decision making: yes [S7]
- Capabilities: Rund-um-die-Uhr-Zugriff auf Zahlen/Daten, Online-Zusammenarbeit, Datensicherheit [S2]
- Collected data: Name, telephone number, email address, postal address, social media details, company information, IP address, credentials [S7]
- Customer count: 675.000 Unternehmer [S2]
- Customer count: 675000 · 2000 [S8]
- Distribution channel: Partnerkanal [S1]
- Dora page: financial entities within DORA scope · yes [S8]
- Erp cloud sme: ERP-Cloud-Software für KMU [S1]
- Essentials features: Inkoop- en verkoopbeheer · Voorraadbeheer · Artikelen met prijzenbeheer [S3]
- Essentials manufacturing features: Uitgebreid voorraad- en orderbeheer; stuklijsten beheren; werkorders plannen en uitvoeren [S4]
- EU data act page: yes [S8]
- Flex premium only: Flex · Premium [S3]
- Free trial: yes [S2]
- Free trial: yes [S7]
- General modules: Mobiele app, boekhouding, CRM, automatische factuurverwerking, debiteurenbeheer [S4]
- Handel premium features: Lagerhaltung, Prozessautomatisierung, Optimieren von Komissionsreihen [S1]
- Hq premium only: HQ · Premium [S3]
- Incoterms availability: Professional · Premium [S3]
- Manufacturing: Kalkulation · Planung · Produktion [S2]
- Mobile app: yes [S3]
- Mobile availability: yes · yes · yes · yes · yes [S4]
- Modules: Buchhaltung · CRM · Warenwirtschaft · branchenspezifische Lösungen [S2]
- Plus additional features: Meerdere magazijnen · Serie- en batchnummers · Samengestelde artikelen [S3]
- Plus additions: Meerlaagse stuklijsten, bijproducten ontvangen, serie- en batchnummers registreren [S4]
- Power bi connector premium only: Power BI Connector · Premium [S3]
- Power bi dashboards: individuell anpassbare Power BI Dashboards · yes [S1]
- Premium additional features: Voorraadreserveringen · Geavanceerd MRP · Efficiënt orderpicken [S3]
- Premium additions: Voorraadreserveringen, geavanceerd MRP, efficiënt orderpicken [S4]
- Premium bookkeeping: Premium · Boekhouden Premium [S3]
- Premium multi site: größere mittelständische Handels- und Produktionsunternehmen · yes [S1]
- Privacy version: Version December 2025 [S7]
- Products covered: Exact Business Software · Exact Globe · Exact Synergy · Exact Event Manager · Exact Connectivity · Exact Online · Exact SRXP · Exact Cloud Services [S6]
- Produktion premium features: Auftragsverwaltung, Stückmengenverwaltung, Materialplanung [S1]
- Professional additional features: Materiaalplanning (MRP) · Order- en offertegoedkeuring · Variabele opslaglocaties [S3]
- Professional additions: Phantom stuklijsten, verkoopprognose en productieplan, Material Requirements Planning [S4]
- Project management: Projektmanagement mit Einblick und fakturierbaren Stunden [S2]
- Security section: security · yes [S8]
- Smart closing premium only: Smart Closing · Premium [S3]
- Standard included: WMS app · Boekhouden Professional · AI-agents [S3]
- Target industries: verarbeitende Industrie · Produktion · Handel [S1]
- Tracking features: yes [S7]
- Trading: Bestellungsmanagement · Beziehungsmanagement · Bestandsmanagement [S2]
- User rights: Access, correction, deletion, restriction, portability, objection, withdrawal of consent [S7]
- Weclapp scope: kleine mittelständische Unternehmen · Einkauf · Verkauf · Lager · yes [S1]
- Wms barcode scanning: Barcode scannen · Mobiele WMS app [S3]

**Support**
- Expert network: 2000 [S1]
- Experts: 2000 [S2]
- Faq contact: yes · yes [S3]
- Privacy contact: privacy@exact.com [S7]
- SLA reference: yes [S6]

## Questions

### Is Exact Online European?

Yes. whats-best.ai classifies Exact Online as EU-Made.

### Where does Exact Online store data?

Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 26 Oct 2026.

### Does Exact Online have a free plan?

Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 26 Oct 2026.

### What are the best alternatives to Exact Online?

As of 29 Oct 2026, the panel rates [Odoo (4/5)](https://whats-best.ai/software/erp/odoo-erp), [weclapp (3.5/5)](https://whats-best.ai/software/erp/weclapp-erp) and [Haufe X360 (3.5/5)](https://whats-best.ai/software/erp/haufe-x360) highest among the other 13 ERP products evaluated. Ratings that look equal are rounded to half stars; the order uses the unrounded rating, then the name. The highest-rated European alternative is [Odoo](https://whats-best.ai/software/erp/odoo-erp) (EU-Made). Ratings are the AI panel’s opinion, formed from public evidence: [how scores are made](https://whats-best.ai/methodology#ordering). The full list, with European products first: [Exact Online alternatives](https://whats-best.ai/software/erp/exact-online/alternatives).

## What this page leaves out

- We could not confirm any pricing information on the vendor’s own pages as captured, so this page shows none rather than a statement we cannot stand behind.
- We could not confirm any compliance information on the vendor’s own pages as captured, so this page shows none rather than a statement we cannot stand behind.
- 12 legal facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 5 product facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 1 subprocessors fact could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and was left out of this page and of the panel’s material.

## Sources

- [S1] Vendor homepage: https://www.exact.com/de (checked 2026-10-26)
- [S2] Features page (Exact Online): https://www.exact.com/de/software/exact-online (checked 2026-10-26)
- [S3] Pricing page (trade, Dutch): https://www.exact.com/nl/bedrijven/handel/features-en-prijzen (checked 2026-10-26)
- [S4] Pricing page (manufacturing, Dutch): https://www.exact.com/nl/bedrijven/productie/features-en-prijzen (checked 2026-10-26)
- [S5] Legal notice: https://www.exact.com/de/impressum (checked 2026-10-26)
- [S6] Terms of service: https://www.exact.com/terms-and-conditions (checked 2026-10-26)
- [S7] Privacy policy: https://www.exact.com/trust/privacy/privacy-statement (checked 2026-10-26)
- [S8] Trust centre: https://www.exact.com/trust (checked 2026-10-26)

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Cite as: whats-best.ai, "Exact Online — ERP", AI panel analysis, as of 2026-10-29. https://whats-best.ai/software/erp/exact-online

Corrections: https://whats-best.ai/correct/1005?target=page