Accounting software for freelancers in the Netherlands 2026
Five packages, real prices, and the honest answer on which ones you can actually use in English.
The short answer
The moment your KvK number is issued you owe a quarterly VAT return, an annual income tax return, and seven years of records the Belastingdienst can inspect. That is true whether you registered as a DAFT entrepreneur, went freelance after an employed job, or are running a BV under the 30% ruling.
For price, e-Boekhouden wins outright: €4,98 a month, and completely free for 15 months if your KvK registration is under 15 months old. No competitor offers a free period remotely that long. For language, Moneybird wins: it is the only one of the five with a genuine English version, at €15 a month for a tier you can actually work in.
Bottom line: if you read some Dutch or your bookkeeper will be in the system anyway, take e-Boekhouden and pay nothing for over a year. If working in Dutch is not realistic, pay the extra €10 a month for Moneybird rather than fighting a translated interface every quarter.
Table of contents
Registered in the last 15 months? Your bookkeeping is free
e-Boekhouden gives starters with a KvK registration under 15 months old the full package at €0 for 15 months, with no automatic direct debit when it ends. Afterwards the ZZP package is €4,98 a month. Read the honest assessment below first, including the Dutch-language catch, but if you registered recently there is no cheaper way to get compliant.
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What the software actually has to do
Before comparing prices it helps to know what you are buying, because the marketing pages all promise the same four things and the differences sit underneath. A Dutch freelancer has a short, fixed list of obligations, and any package worth paying for covers all of them.
| Obligation | How often | What the software does |
|---|---|---|
| BTW-aangifte (VAT return) | Usually quarterly | Totals the VAT you charged and paid, then files directly to the Belastingdienst |
| Compliant invoices | Every invoice | Sequential numbering, your BTW-id and KvK number, correct VAT lines |
| Expense records | Continuous | Receipt capture and matching against bank transactions |
| Income tax return | Annual | Produces the profit figure and the deduction totals you or your advisor file with |
| Seven-year retention | Continuous | Keeps the records inspectable, and lets you export them if you leave |
| Urenregistratie (hours log) | Continuous | Evidence for the 1.225-hour criterion behind the zelfstandigenaftrek |
The hours log is the one people forget
The zelfstandigenaftrek requires you to work at least 1.225 hours in your business across the year, and the burden of proof is yours. Reconstructing a year of hours after the Belastingdienst asks is miserable and rarely convincing. Every package below has an hours tracker. Use it from week one, even if the deduction is shrinking each year under current policy.
What you are not buying is tax advice. Software calculates from what you enter, so if you are in a migration year, starting or ending a ruling, or holding assets abroad, you still want a human. Our guide to English-speaking Dutch tax advisors covers when that is worth paying for, and our Dutch tax return guide covers the filing itself.
The five packages compared
Prices below were taken directly from each vendor's own pricing page in August 2026. Several are promotional rates that sit well under the standard price, which is noted where it applies.
| Package | Solo freelancer price | Free period | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| e-Boekhouden ZZP | €4,98/mo promo (standard €9,95), 240 bookings a year | 15 months for starters, otherwise 14 days | No |
| Moneybird Start | €15/mo (Compact is €3 but capped at 5 bank transactions) | 60 days, full feature set | Yes |
| Jortt ZZP | €19,95/mo (€9,95 for the first 3 months) | 30 days, plus a permanently free invoicing tier | Dutch site and help centre |
| Tellow Basis | €12,99/mo excl. 21% VAT | Permanently free tier with a Dutch IBAN | No |
| Taxmo Starter | €12,99/mo (Pro €22,99) | Permanently free tier | Partial, markets to expats |
Read the VAT line before you compare
Dutch business software is normally priced excluding 21% VAT, but the vendors are inconsistent about saying so. Tellow prints it plainly, others do not. If you are VAT-registered the excluding figure is your real cost, because you reclaim the VAT on your quarterly return. If you are on the KOR you cannot reclaim it, so add 21% to every number in the table above.
One number that is not in the table: the annual price. Moneybird discounts up to 25% for paying yearly, and most of the others do something similar. If you are confident you will still be freelancing in twelve months, annual billing is usually the single easiest saving available here.
The English problem nobody warns you about
Dutch accounting software is built for Dutch entrepreneurs, and English is an afterthought almost everywhere. This matters more than it sounds, because the vocabulary is not the everyday Dutch you might already have. You will meet grootboekrekening, omzetbelasting, debiteuren, kostenplaats and voorbelasting on your first afternoon, and machine translation handles these terms badly enough to make you file something wrong.
Here is where each one honestly stands, checked against the vendors' own sites in August 2026.
Moneybird: genuinely English
Runs a full English site at moneybird.com alongside Dutch, Belgian, German and French versions. This is the only one of the five where English is a first-class product rather than a partial translation. Support language is worth confirming during the 60-day trial.
e-Boekhouden: Dutch only
The site offers Netherlands and Belgium, and no English version of the interface or the support desk. Some software directories list English as supported, but the vendor's own site and its user reviews contradict that, so treat it as Dutch only until you have seen otherwise inside the trial.
Jortt: Dutch, with an in-app exception
The website, pricing pages and help centre are Dutch. An in-app English language option was reported during 2026, but it is not advertised on the site, so verify it in the 30-day trial rather than assuming it.
Tellow: Dutch
Dutch site, Dutch product, Dutch phone support. The free tier includes a Dutch business IBAN, which is its real draw rather than the language experience.
Taxmo: aimed at expats, partially English
Explicitly markets to expats alongside ZZP'ers and small businesses, and publishes English-language tax material, though much of the site itself is Dutch. Worth a look on the free tier if English is your hard requirement and Moneybird's price is not.
The workaround most freelancers land on
Pick the cheap Dutch package and give your bookkeeper access to it. Dutch accountants already work inside e-Boekhouden every day, so you are handing them something familiar instead of asking them to learn your tool. You do the invoicing, which is the part you actually need to understand, and they handle the ledger vocabulary you do not. This is why the language gap costs less in practice than it looks on paper.
e-Boekhouden: the cheap option
e-Boekhouden is the incumbent at the budget end of the Dutch market, with over 500.000 users and a 4,5 rating across roughly 2.000 Trustpilot reviews. It is not the prettiest software you will ever use and it is not trying to be. What it is, unambiguously, is the cheapest way for a Dutch freelancer to be properly compliant.
| Package | Promo price | Standard price | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| ZZP | €4,98/mo | €9,95/mo | Max 240 bookings a year, unlimited invoicing |
| Standaard | €7,25/mo | €14,50/mo | Unlimited bookings, no invoicing module |
| Standaard + Factureren | €12,00/mo | €24,00/mo | Unlimited bookings and unlimited invoicing |
Watch the 240-booking cap
The ZZP package is limited to 240 bookings a year, which is roughly 20 a month. A booking is any transaction entered, so every client invoice, every business purchase, every bank line. A consultant sending four invoices a month and buying little will never come close. Someone running an online shop, or expensing daily, will blow through it by autumn and need the €12,00 tier. Estimate honestly before choosing, because the cheap tier is only cheap if you fit inside it.
The starter offer, in detail
If your KvK registration is less than 15 months old you pay nothing for 15 months. It is a real free period rather than a trial that converts: there is no automatic direct debit at the end, and you decide then whether to continue. Nothing else in the Dutch market comes close, and it lines up almost exactly with a first tax year plus the filing season that follows it. For anyone who has just registered, including every DAFT visa holder, this is close to a free year of compliance.
The honest drawback
There is no English. Not a partial translation, not an English help centre, nothing. If you cannot work in Dutch and have no bookkeeper who will, this is the wrong tool for you regardless of the price, and Moneybird is the answer instead. Everyone else should take the 14-day trial and see how the interface feels before the starter clock begins.
Try e-Boekhouden on the 14-day trial
Fourteen days is enough to enter a month of real transactions and find out whether the Dutch interface is a genuine obstacle or just unfamiliar. If you registered with the KvK in the last 15 months, the starter offer takes over from there at €0. Over 500.000 Dutch entrepreneurs use it and most accountants already know it.
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Moneybird, Jortt, Tellow and Taxmo
Moneybird: the English answer
Four tiers: Compact at €3, Start at €15, Groei at €29 and Compleet at €41 a month. Ignore Compact unless you invoice almost never, because five bank transactions a month is not a working freelance business. Start is the realistic entry point at €15, and the 60-day trial on the full feature set is the most generous evaluation period of any package here. Annual billing takes up to 25% off.
You are paying roughly €10 a month more than e-Boekhouden for an interface you can read. If Dutch is genuinely a barrier, that is money well spent rather than a compromise.
Jortt: automation, at a price
Jortt sells a bookkeeping bot that claims to automate up to 90% of the work on the ZZP tier and up to 99% on Plus. The ZZP package is €19,95 a month, discounted to €9,95 for the first three months after a 30-day free trial, and it includes VAT filing, income tax preparation, annual accounts and one bank connection. There is also a permanently free Starter tier covering invoicing, quotes, hours and projects, but no bookkeeping automation.
At four times e-Boekhouden's price, Jortt makes sense when your time is worth more than €15 a month, which for most working freelancers it plainly is. The 90-day money-back guarantee lowers the risk of finding out.
Tellow: bookkeeping wrapped around a bank account
Tellow's hook is the free tier, which bundles a Dutch business IBAN, virtual cards, receipt scanning and basic invoicing at €0 permanently. Basis is €12,99 and Plus €22,99, both excluding VAT, with Plus adding automatic VAT filing. Compleet at €69,99 a month on annual billing includes an actual accountant, which undercuts hiring one separately if your affairs are simple.
The free tier is a serious option for a brand new freelancer who needs a business account anyway. Compare it against a dedicated business account from our Dutch banking comparison before deciding to run both.
Taxmo: the expat-facing newcomer
Taxmo targets ZZP'ers, expats and small businesses together, with a free tier, Starter at €12,99 and Pro at €22,99. It covers VAT calculations, invoicing, expense tracking, Belastingdienst filing and the KOR scheme, and publishes English-language tax material. Much of the site is still Dutch, so treat the English positioning as partial rather than complete, but the free tier costs nothing to evaluate.
When free is genuinely enough
Free tiers in this market are not demos. Tellow and Jortt both run permanently free products, and for some freelancers they are the correct answer rather than a stepping stone.
- You are on the KOR. Turnover under €20.000 and opted in means no VAT to charge and no quarterly returns to file, which removes the main thing you would be paying software to do.
- You invoice a handful of times a year. A side business with four invoices and six expenses does not need a bookkeeping engine.
- Your first months have no revenue. Start free, upgrade when the first client pays. Nothing is lost by waiting.
Where free stops working is the quarterly VAT return. Once you are filing btw-aangifte four times a year against dozens of transactions, the €5 to €15 a month buys back hours and removes the category of mistake that produces a correction letter. That is a low bar to clear.
Do not forget the rest of the setup
Bookkeeping is one line in a freelance budget. You also need to decide on income protection, which our Broodfonds versus AOV comparison covers, and the liability and professional cover set out in our freelancer insurance guide. Those cost considerably more than the software.
Which one should you take
Take e-Boekhouden if
- Your KvK registration is under 15 months old, which makes it free for longer than your first tax year.
- You read some Dutch, or a bookkeeper will be working in the system with you.
- You stay under 240 bookings a year, or you are happy at €12,00 for the unlimited tier.
- Price is the deciding factor and you want the option every Dutch accountant already knows.
Take Moneybird if
- Working in Dutch every quarter is not realistic and you would rather pay than fight it.
- You want a long evaluation, because 60 days on the full feature set tells you everything.
- You expect to add people later, since the Groei tier covers five users.
Take a free tier if
- You are on the KOR, or trading at a volume where quarterly VAT is not yet a chore.
- You need a business bank account more than you need a ledger, which is Tellow's case.
If you are still deciding, start the trials in parallel. They cost nothing, they overlap, and one afternoon entering the same real week of transactions into two systems settles the question faster than any comparison table. Just start before the KvK clock passes 15 months, because that free period is the largest single saving on this page and it expires quietly.
The cheapest way to be compliant in the Netherlands
e-Boekhouden covers the quarterly VAT return, compliant invoicing, expense matching and the hours log for €4,98 a month, or nothing at all for 15 months if you registered recently. Dutch interface only, so take the 14-day trial first and judge for yourself.
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Frequently asked questions
Do I legally need accounting software as a ZZP in the Netherlands?
No. The law requires you to keep an administration that lets the Belastingdienst check your returns, and to retain it for seven years, but it does not name a tool. A spreadsheet is legal. In practice almost nobody stays on a spreadsheet past the first year, because the quarterly VAT return has to reconcile with your invoices and your bank, and doing that by hand is where mistakes appear. Software is a practical choice rather than a legal requirement.
Which Dutch accounting software has an English interface?
Moneybird is the clearest case: it runs a full English site at moneybird.com alongside Dutch, German and French. The rest are Dutch-first. e-Boekhouden offers only Netherlands and Belgium with no English version at all. Tellow is Dutch. Jortt's website and help centre are Dutch, though an in-app English option was reported during 2026. Language support changes without announcement, so use the free trial to check before you commit.
Is e-Boekhouden really free for 15 months?
Yes, for genuine starters. If your KvK registration is less than 15 months old you get 15 months at €0, and there is no automatic direct debit when the period ends, so it does not quietly convert into a paid subscription. It is the longest free period any of the major Dutch packages offer. Everyone else gets a 14-day trial instead. The trade-off is that the interface and support are Dutch only.
What does accounting software cost for a Dutch freelancer?
Between €0 and roughly €25 a month for a solo freelancer in 2026. Tellow and Jortt both have permanently free tiers with real limits, e-Boekhouden's ZZP package is €4,98 a month, Moneybird starts at €15 for a usable tier, and Jortt's full ZZP package is €19,95. Above that you are paying for payroll, multiple entities or an included accountant rather than for better bookkeeping.
Are these prices including or excluding VAT?
Dutch business software is normally quoted excluding 21% VAT, and some vendors state this more clearly than others. Tellow, for example, prints excl. 21% BTW next to its prices. If you are VAT-registered you reclaim that VAT on your quarterly return, so the excluding figure is your real cost. Check the number at checkout rather than the one on the pricing page, because the two often differ by a fifth.
Can I switch accounting software mid-year?
Yes, and the cleanest moment is 1 January, because your annual figures then sit whole in one system. Mid-year is possible but you have to either import the year to date or keep the old system readable until the annual return is filed. Remember the seven-year retention rule applies to the data, not the subscription, so export everything before you cancel an account.
Do I still need an accountant if I use software?
For a straightforward ZZP with Dutch-only income, often not. The software files the VAT return and prepares the income tax figures. You want a human for the year you arrive or leave (the M-form), the year a 30% ruling starts or ends, any foreign income or assets, and the first year of a BV. Clean books from software also lower what an advisor charges, because they are billing for judgement rather than data entry.
What is the KOR and does it change which software I need?
The kleineondernemersregeling exempts you from charging and filing VAT if your Dutch turnover stays under €20.000 a year. If you opt in you stop filing quarterly VAT returns, which removes the single biggest reason to pay for software, and a free tier or a spreadsheet may genuinely be enough. You are locked in for three years once you join, so check the current threshold with the Belastingdienst before deciding.
Official sources
Prices, thresholds and filing rules change every year. Confirm the current position before you commit.
- • Belastingdienst: VAT return deadlines, the administration you must keep and the seven-year retention rule
- • KVK: the Chamber of Commerce on what a compliant freelance administration contains
- • Business.gov.nl: the government's English-language summary of administrative requirements
Related freelancer guides
The rest of the Dutch self-employed setup, in the order you will need it.
DAFT visa
The American route to a Dutch KvK registration
30% ruling for freelancers
When a BV makes the ruling available to you
English-speaking tax advisors
When software is not enough and what it costs
Dutch tax return
Filing the annual return, with deadlines
Freelancer insurance
AOV, BAV and AVB, and which you need
Broodfonds vs AOV
Income protection if you cannot work