DATEV vs Zoho Books Comparison
Compare DATEV vs Zoho Books features, pricing, and more.
Last updated: November 2026
DATEV
6.3/10
German cooperative's accounting, payroll and tax software, built around shared bookkeeping between businesses and their DATEV-member tax advisors.
Zoho Books
7/10
Cloud accounting software from Zoho for small and growing businesses, covering invoicing, bank reconciliation, bills, inventory and financial reporting.
Feature-by-Feature Comparison
| Feature | | |
|---|---|---|
| Scores | ||
| Overall Rating | 6.3/10 | 7/10 |
| Analytics | 6/10 | 7/10 |
| Compliance | 9/10 | 7/10 |
| Cost | 6/10 | 8/10 |
| Customization | 5/10 | 8/10 |
| Ease of Use | 3/10 | 7/10 |
| Integration | 7/10 | 7/10 |
| Scalability | 7/10 | 6/10 |
| Security | 8/10 | 7/10 |
| Support | 4/10 | 5/10 |
| Pricing | ||
| Free plan | No | Yes |
| Cheapest paid plan | €12/mo DATEV Unternehmen online | $20/mo Standard |
| Estimated cost for 10 users | €12/mo DATEV Unternehmen online | $70/mo Premium |
| Features | ||
| Accountant Access | ||
| Accounts Payable | ||
| Audit Trail | ||
| Bank Reconciliation | ||
| Financial Reporting | ||
| General Ledger | ||
| Invoicing | ||
| Tax Compliance | ||
| Budgeting and Forecasting | Not listed | |
| Expense Management | Not listed | |
| Inventory Accounting | Not listed | |
| Multi-currency | Not listed | |
| Online Payments | Not listed | |
| Payroll | Not listed | |
DATEV vs Zoho Books cost by team size
| Team size | DATEV | Zoho Books |
|---|---|---|
| 1 user | €12/moDATEV Unternehmen online | FreeFree |
| 5 users | €12/moDATEV Unternehmen online | $50/moProfessional |
| 10 users | €12/moDATEV Unternehmen online | $70/moPremium |
| 25 users | €12/moDATEV Unternehmen online | FreeFree |
| 50 users | €12/moDATEV Unternehmen online | FreeFree |
The plan that fits each team size, billed monthly, before add-ons and usage charges. Each cost opens that tool's pricing calculator for the team size.
Which One Should You Choose?
Why choose DATEV
- Higher Compliance score (9/10 vs 7/10)
- Higher Scalability score (7/10 vs 6/10)
- Better fit for accountants and bookkeepers (10/10 vs 7/10)
Why choose Zoho Books
- Has a free plan (DATEV does not)
- Higher Ease of Use score (7/10 vs 3/10)
- Higher Customization score (8/10 vs 5/10)
- Better fit for small business (9/10 vs 6/10)
Pros & Cons
DATEV
Pros
- Records cannot be altered after posting, which reviewers say helps with GoBD rules and tax audits
- Direct link to the tax advisor's DATEV system removes manual handover of receipts and reports
- Supports e-invoice processing under EN 16931 and bank access via EBICS or PIN/TAN
- Data centre certified to ISO/IEC 27001 and ISO/IEC 27701
- Low base licence price compared with full ERP suites
Cons
- Reviewers describe the interface as dated and hard to learn
- Many services are charged separately, such as storage, receipts and the liquidity module
- Users report slow support and unannounced maintenance windows
- Cannot be bought without a DATEV-member advisor, and the product is focused on Germany
- Some reviewers miss recurring invoices and real-time reporting
Zoho Books
Pros
- The free plan includes online payments, bank reconciliation, recurring invoices and 1099 tracking for one user plus an accountant.
- Pricing is per organization, not per user, so small teams avoid per-seat costs.
- It connects natively with Zoho CRM, Zoho Payroll, Zoho Inventory and Zoho Analytics.
- Professional and higher plans include custom workflows, custom roles and approvals, and Premium adds custom modules and functions.
- On the Elite plan, inventory features cover warehouses, serial and batch tracking, and marketplace sync.
Cons
- Budgets, multi-currency and advanced inventory are only available on higher-priced tiers.
- Reviewers on Capterra and in NerdWallet's write-up describe slow or unhelpful customer support.
- It has fewer third-party integrations than its main competitors, according to NerdWallet.
- A PeerSpot reviewer found it awkward to invoice the same customer in different currencies.
- Even the top plan has a hard cap of 15 users, plus annual transaction limits.
Not sold on either?
Frequently Asked Questions
Zoho Books scores higher on our Finance Software criteria: 7/10 against 6.3/10 for DATEV. The largest gap is in Ease of Use: 3/10 for DATEV and 7/10 for Zoho Books.
Zoho Books has a free plan; DATEV does not list one.
DATEV is the better fit for accountants and bookkeepers: we rate it 10/10 for them, against 7/10 for Zoho Books.
