Shine and Accountable are invoicing solutions for freelancers and small businesses in Germany. On this page, you’ll find an overview of their features to help you decide which one is the better choice for you and your business.
Create quotes
Create invoices
Send payment reminders
Manual / automatic
Manual / automatic
Overview of outstanding invoices
Custom logo
Paid plans only
Custom design (font & colors)
Paid plans only
Paid plans only
Create contacts
5 / 30 / unlimited
Recurring invoices
Plus plan only
Paid plans only
Invoices in English
Paid plans only
Invoices in foreign currencies
Paid plans only
Both Shine and Accountable offer a wide range of invoicing features for freelancers and small businesses, but there are some key differences.
Accountable provides a more comprehensive free plan, though with fewer branding options. In the paid plans, the features are similar, but Shine offers them at a much lower price – an advantage for founders and solopreneurs who are just starting out.
Create e-invoices
Record received e-invoices
All freelancers and small businesses working in B2B in Germany will have to switch to e-invoicing over the next few years. When you need to make the switch depends on your business’s income. Both Shine and Accountable offer e-invoicing in all pricing plans.
Connect online banking
1 / 5 / 10
Record receipts
10 / 20 / unlimited
5 / unlimited
Email receipt capture / Scout
Plus plan only
Smart accounting suggestions
Paid plans only
Access for your tax advisor
Paid plans only
Accounting features are where users will see a big difference. Accountable offers only very limited accounting features in its free plan and doesn’t include email receipt capture or automatic receipt reminders in any plan.
One advantage Accountable does offer is the ability to connect multiple online banking accounts – though this is likely only useful for larger businesses with several income streams.
Automatic calculation of your VAT
Dashboard of your finances (expenses/income)
Understanding your business’s finances quickly and easily is an important part of ensuring long-term success. Both solutions offer these dashboards in all pricing plans, helping founders and small businesses (Kleinunternehmer) better visualise their growth from the very beginning.
Chat & email support
Phone support
Paid plans only
From accounting plan
Priority phone support
Plus plan only
Help center
The service customers can expect from Shine and Accountable does vary somewhat – particularly when it comes to telephone support.
While Accountable offers phone support at every pricing level, Shine provides prioritised telephone support for Plus users, ensuring that any questions or issues are resolved as quickly as possible.
Shine and Accountable both support freelancers and small businesses with invoicing, but Shine offers more value early on with affordable invoicing, useful receipt features, and financial dashboards in every plan.
If you’re managing a larger business with multiple income streams and bank accounts, Accountable may be the better option for you.
Questions about Shine? Here you’ll find some answers. If your question isn’t covered, our customer support team will be happy to help.
Shine is a European financial platform designed to simplify day-to-day business administration for freelancers and small businesses. It combines tools for invoicing, estimates and accounting in one intuitive online platform, so entrepreneurs can spend less time on administrative tasks and more time on their work.
Accountable is a fintech and accounting software company that builds an all-in-one financial and tax management app for self-employed people, freelancers, sole proprietors, and small business owners — especially in Germany and Belgium. It’s designed to help users manage bookkeeping, invoicing, banking, and tax filing from one platform, often with the help of AI and expert support.
You may not have all your receipts organised in one place when it’s time to do your taxes. One of the best places to start looking is usually your email inbox. Shine’s email receipt capture function is a simple and useful feature that searches your inbox for receipts for tax-deductible items such as software subscriptions, travel expenses, or mobile phone costs, and compiles them for you. This saves you time and reduces manual work.
Shine Plus users benefit from prioritised support. For this, they receive a different telephone number to call. Their calls are automatically moved to the front of the queue, to ensure the fastest answers possible.
Most freelancers and small businesses work with a single account. However, it can become advantageous if your business has multiple income streams. But you’ll need a higher level account with Accountable in order to do that. Generally speaking, if you’re a solopreneur, you probably won’t need to connect multiple accounts.
Stay on top of your finances by managing expenses, invoices and estimates. All from one solution.