Comparison
EU-wide shared bookkeeping vs. a France-first accounting platform
Pennylane is a fast-growing accounting and financial management platform that has become a strong default in France. But its product, integrations, and compliance depth are built France-first, and its experience outside France is still maturing. Financica is built for EU SMEs from the start, with native Peppol e-invoicing, Belgian VAT workflows, and a shared founder-accountant ledger.
| Feature | Financica | Pennylane |
|---|---|---|
| Peppol and UBL e-invoicing | Yes | Partial (France-focused) |
| Belgian VAT current account tracking | Yes | No |
| PFORM671 VAT statement extraction | Yes | No |
| Belgian chart of accounts (PCMN) | Yes | French chart of accounts first |
| AI-powered transaction categorization | Yes | Yes |
| Shared founder-accountant workspace | Yes | Accountant-led with client access |
| Invoice OCR | Yes | Yes |
| Factur-X and ZUGFeRD invoices | Yes | Yes |
| Conversational AI assistant over your books | Core and above | Yes |
| Assistant in Claude, ChatGPT, Telegram and email | Core and above | No |
| Automatic invoice import from your cloud and payroll vendors | Yes | Via integrations |
| Fixed-asset register with automatic depreciation | Scale, and on practice plans | Yes |
| Year-end close checks and period lock | Yes | Yes |
| Annual accounts filed with the National Bank (XBRL) | Yes | No |
| Belgian corporate income tax computation | Yes | French liasse fiscale instead |
| Burn rate and cash runway | Yes | Cash dashboard |
| Multi-currency accounting | Yes | Limited |
| Free Peppol e-invoices, no per-document fees | Yes | No |
| Transparent self-serve pricing | Yes | Usually via accounting firm |
| Primary market | EU-wide (Belgium-first) | France |
Pennylane's depth is in French accounting standards and the expert-comptable channel. Financica is built for EU SMEs with native Peppol e-invoicing, Belgian VAT returns, PFORM671 extraction, corporate tax and annual accounts filed with the National Bank, and country charts of accounts for Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.
Pennylane is sold primarily through accounting firms, with the firm as the main operator and the client getting a portal view. In Financica, founder and accountant work from the same live ledger in real time, with equal visibility.
Financica publishes its pricing and you can start on your own in minutes. Pennylane is typically purchased and configured through a partner accounting firm, which makes cost and onboarding harder to compare upfront.
Financica includes free UBL and Peppol e-invoices on every plan, ready for Belgium's e-invoicing mandate, unlimited on Core and above. Pennylane's e-invoicing is built around the French reform and is less complete for cross-border Peppol flows.
Pennylane is a French fintech founded in 2020 that combines bookkeeping, invoicing, spend management, and a real-time financial dashboard, sold heavily through accounting firms. It is well funded and polished, with deep coverage of French accounting standards (FEC, French VAT, expert-comptable workflows). Its strongest market by far is France; localization, banking coverage, and compliance for other EU countries such as Belgium are less complete, and pricing typically runs through a partner accounting firm.
Pennylane is a strong fit for French businesses and their expert-comptable who want an all-in-one platform tuned to French accounting. Financica is the better choice for Belgian and broader EU SMEs that need native Peppol e-invoicing, Belgian VAT current account tracking, and a shared workspace where founder and accountant work from the same live ledger.
No credit card required. See the difference for yourself.