Comparing Accounting Software for Freelancers: Which One Fits You?

This is the question most search results skip over, yet it's exactly the one that determines which software you actually need.

Accounting software (Exact, AFAS, Moneybird, e-Boekhouden, SnelStart, Twinfield, Xero, Sage, DATEV) is built around the general ledger: every transaction is posted to an account, at year-end that produces your annual accounts, and from that same software you (or your accountant) file the official VAT return with the Belastingdienst. This is where your financial administration legally 'lands'.

An invoicing tool like slimzaak does something different: it's where your day-to-day business life comes together before it heads to the books. Think creating VAT-compliant invoices and quotes, scanning receipts, tracking inventory if you run a webshop, and keeping your VAT organized per period. slimzaak isn't a replacement for a general ledger or annual accounts — it's the preparatory administration.

Where a lot of freelancers get stuck: they assume they have to choose between 'accounting software' and 'an invoicing tool'. You don't. As this article shows further down, combining the two is often the smartest route.

Whether you're after a full accounting package or a simple program just for invoicing, these four points largely determine whether a piece of software is the right fit.

• Price versus what you actually use. Many accounting packages charge a fixed monthly fee regardless of how many invoices you send. For a freelancer just starting out with ten invoices a month, that's often more than you need to pay. So don't just look at the entry price — look at what's actually included.
• Ease of use. A full accounting package usually comes with a learning curve: chart of accounts, posting rules, journal entries. An invoicing tool, by contrast, you can usually pick up in an afternoon. Ask yourself how much time you actually want to spend learning software on top of your real work.
• Integrations. If you sell through a webshop or marketplace, you don't want to be retyping orders by hand. Check whether the software connects with your sales channels and, if you work with an accountant, with their accounting package too.
• Do you have an accountant or not? This is the most important of the four questions. If you handle everything yourself, ease of use matters most. If you work with an accountant, what matters most is how well your tool connects to their package — that's the subject of the next section.

A common mistake is freelancers searching for the 'best accounting software' based on reviews, without first answering these four questions for their own situation. Software that's perfect for a webshop with ten employees is often overkill — and therefore unnecessarily expensive and time-consuming — for a freelancer sending twenty invoices a month. Start from your own situation, not from a ranking.

This is where slimzaak sets itself apart from 'yet another accounting program': you don't have to choose between slimzaak and the accounting package you already use. slimzaak connects directly with 9 accounting platforms: Exact Online, AFAS, Twinfield, SnelStart, Moneybird, e-Boekhouden, Xero, Sage, and DATEV.

With every connection, slimzaak automatically syncs:

• customers and contacts, so you never have to create them twice
• sales invoices, which land in the accounting software as a sales entry
• expenses and receipts (after AI scanning), delivered as a purchase entry
• VAT return data, prepared and ready inside the accounting software itself

One thing worth being clear about: slimzaak never files a return with the Belastingdienst itself. Your VAT and OSS data is prepared and made ready, but the actual filing always happens from the accounting software, by you or your accountant. That way you never do that step twice: your invoices, expenses, and inventory flow automatically from your sales channels into slimzaak, and from there through to the package your accountant already works in.

In practice, we see roughly two types of freelancers, and the ideal setup looks different for each.

Freelancing without an accountant. Do you handle your own administration and file it with the Belastingdienst yourself at year-end, or only have someone check the annual accounts? Then slimzaak on its own is often enough for your invoicing, expenses, and VAT overview. You don't need a separate, full accounting package as long as you keep track of what's coming in and going out — and that's exactly what you get from the invoices, receipt scanning, and VAT reports slimzaak already provides.

Freelancing with an accountant. Does your accountant already work in Exact Online, Moneybird, e-Boekhouden, or one of the other six packages? Then you simply connect slimzaak to that package. You keep invoicing and scanning receipts in slimzaak — the tool built for exactly that — and your accountant sees everything come in automatically in the software they already work in, including the annual accounts and the return. Nobody has to switch to a different accounting program; slimzaak adds to what's already there.

All prices are exclusive of VAT, cancellable monthly, and with an annual subscription you pay for two months less.

• Free ZZP — €0/month. Up to 250 invoices a month, no credit card needed. A solid starting point to see whether an invoicing tool works for you.
• Manual ZZP — €4.99/month. Unlimited manual invoicing, for anyone with a bit more volume than the free plan allows.
• Starter — €9/month. Automatic invoicing plus one store integration, worth it as soon as you sell through a webshop or marketplace and don't want to retype every order by hand.

Compared to a full accounting package — where the entry price is often higher already, while as a freelancer without an accountant you may not even use the general ledger functionality — this is a low-threshold way to get started and only pay for what you actually need.

Even if you already use accounting software, the math usually favors this combination: you keep paying what you already paid for the accounting package, and you add slimzaak for a few euros a month to automate invoicing and receipt processing. That's usually cheaper than switching to a pricier, all-in-one package trying to offer the same functionality.

There's no single 'best accounting software for freelancers' as an absolute answer — it depends on your situation. What should be clear, though: you don't have to choose between simple accounting software and a full package. Start with slimzaak for your invoices, quotes, and receipts. If you work without an accountant, that's already enough for most freelancers. If you do work with an accountant, connect slimzaak to the package they already use, so everything flows through automatically.

Want to see what that looks like in practice first? Check out our guides on creating invoices as a freelancer and the administration checklist for freelancers.