Skip to main content
New German e-invoicing mandate from 2027: Kontier issues XRechnung and ZUGFeRD natively German e-invoicing 2027: XRechnung native

Built for Europe

The billing layer for Europe.

Kontier turns catalogs, seats and usage events into paid, audit-proof invoices - EU VAT OSS, XRechnung, SEPA and DATEV in one API.

Start free for 14 days

Problem

Every pricing change becomes an engineering project.

176 hours of a sample team's month go into fixing its own billing by hand.

≈ 1 full-time role (40 h/week)

  1. Price change as a release: 2 × 22 h = 44 hours
  2. Fix proration: 12 × 1.5 h = 18 hours
  3. Resubmit XRechnung: 20 × 1 h = 20 hours
  4. Chase returned debits: 36 × 0.5 h = 18 hours
  5. Correct the VAT rate: 8 × 2.5 h = 20 hours
  6. Credit double-counted usage: 6 × 4 h = 24 hours
  7. Reconcile the month-end close: 1 × 32 h = 32 hours
Sample data Worked example: count × effort per item

2,184

tax rules under 2006/112/EC are encoded in Kontier for invoicing in the EU, versioned. Every pricing change has to respect all of them.

Kontier rule set, own count

1 Jan 2027

From this day, companies in Germany with more than €800,000 prior-year turnover issue B2B invoices electronically. From 2028 it applies to everyone.

Section 27 (38) UStG (Growth Opportunities Act)

€10,000

in sales to consumers in other EU countries is enough, and the customer country's VAT applies. From then on every invoice uses the rate of the country the customer is in.

Section 3c (4) UStG, Art. 59c VAT Directive

Self-serve and usage-based models have multiplied what billing has to do. Generic payment plugins and home-grown pipelines break at the first pricing change. Kontier is one layer that bills the way Europe audits.

See the four systems

Four systems. One billing layer.

Monetize, bill, collect, close: standalone or chained into one pipeline. Each card shows a real object from Kontier, before and after.

  1. Sample: in plan Pro a draft lowers the price for api_calls from 10,001 from 0.004 to 0.0035 euros. After publishing, version 4 is live; 38 subscriptions follow from the next period, 214 stay pinned to version 3.

    Monetize

    Prices, tiers and meters are versioned data. You change a draft, publish it, and pinned subscriptions keep their price.

    Catalog · version 4 live

  2. Sample: a usage event with 18,402 api_calls is recorded. It becomes the invoice line: 10,000 included, 8,402 times 0.004 euros equals 33.61 euros net, 19 percent VAT 6.39 euros, 40.00 euros gross, as an XRechnung 3.0 with no findings.

    Bill & tax

    One event in, one validated invoice out. Tier, included quantity and VAT are decided per line, and the XRechnung exists before anything is sent.

    Invoice · validated against EN 16931

  3. Sample: a 40.00 euro direct debit comes back on 9 October with reason AM04, insufficient funds. Because AM04 is retryable, Kontier schedules another collection on 12 October; on 14 October the invoice is paid. A return with MD01, no valid mandate, is not collected again.

    Collect & recover

    SEPA direct debit through your bank, GoCardless, Mollie or Stripe. Returns come back with their reason from camt.054; Kontier only collects again where another attempt can help.

    Collection · returns with a reason

  4. Sample: the DATEV export for October 2026 holds 1,284 bookings in the SKR03 chart and carries a SHA-256 fingerprint. Its documents sit in a hash chain that is verified daily at 02:15 UTC.

    Close & audit

    Invoices, credit notes and payments go to your accountant as a DATEV booking batch. Every document sits in a hash chain that Kontier re-verifies every day.

    Archive · chain verified daily

Sample data

Watch Kontier work.

Eighteen months of a charging platform with 59 customers, run through the billing engine: licences in advance, kWh and charging sessions by usage, invoices, payments, e-invoices. This is what it looks like in Kontier.

Four views from Kontier with demo data of the fictional Kilowende GmbH. Dashboard: monthly recurring revenue 57,089.90 euros, up 46.6 percent; outstanding receivables 49,178.11 euros; payments received 1,291,027.76 euros in twelve months. Revenue: opening 38,955.00 euros, new plus 19,304.20, expansion plus 1,160.50, contraction minus 933.00, churn minus 1,396.80, closing 57,089.90 euros. Invoice INV-2026-000635: among other lines 185,373 kilowatt hours of charging energy for 2,353.73 euros, subtotal 9,362.15 euros, 19 percent tax 1,778.81 euros, total 11,140.96 euros, paid on 2 September 2026. E-invoices: every document in profile EN16931 UBL 2.1, status clean.

invoices
712
payments
704
usage events
33,525
months of history
18

18 months, run through in days on a test clock. Every number in these views was produced by the billing engine itself: the same one that issues your invoices.

Start the 14-day trial

The EU billing comparison.

14 criteria against Lago, Chargebee and Hyperline, from their public documentation.

  • Fully supported
  • Partially supported
  • Not supported
Where Kontier wins, and where it doesn't.
Feature Kontier Lago Chargebee Hyperline
EU VAT (OSS, reverse charge, VIES) Fully supported Not supported Partially supported Partially supported
SEPA Direct Debit (CORE + B2B) Fully supported Not supported Fully supported Fully supported
XRechnung (native, with Leitweg-ID) Fully supported Not supported Not supported Not supported
Revenue accruals (accrued, unbilled, deferred) Fully supported Fully supported Fully supported Fully supported
Plan & price versioning (replay-safe) Fully supported Not supported Not supported Not supported
Per-invoice FX pinning Fully supported Partially supported Partially supported Partially supported
Volume discounts, graduated tiers & packages (with formulas) Fully supported Not supported Partially supported Not supported
Wallets + holds + prepaid Fully supported Not supported Not supported Not supported
Marketplace settlements Fully supported Partially supported Partially supported Partially supported
AI dunning + R-transaction routing Fully supported Partially supported Partially supported Partially supported
RFC 9457 errors + idempotent webhooks Fully supported Not supported Partially supported Partially supported
Test clocks + sandbox keys Fully supported Not supported Not supported Not supported
German UI + support Fully supported Partially supported Fully supported Fully supported
Managed cloud in the EU Fully supported Partially supported Partially supported Partially supported

EU VAT (OSS, reverse charge, VIES)

  • Kontier Fully supported
  • Lago Not supported
  • Chargebee Partially supported
  • Hyperline Partially supported

SEPA Direct Debit (CORE + B2B)

  • Kontier Fully supported
  • Lago Not supported
  • Chargebee Fully supported
  • Hyperline Fully supported

XRechnung (native, with Leitweg-ID)

  • Kontier Fully supported
  • Lago Not supported
  • Chargebee Not supported
  • Hyperline Not supported

Revenue accruals (accrued, unbilled, deferred)

  • Kontier Fully supported
  • Lago Fully supported
  • Chargebee Fully supported
  • Hyperline Fully supported

Plan & price versioning (replay-safe)

  • Kontier Fully supported
  • Lago Not supported
  • Chargebee Not supported
  • Hyperline Not supported

Per-invoice FX pinning

  • Kontier Fully supported
  • Lago Partially supported
  • Chargebee Partially supported
  • Hyperline Partially supported

Volume discounts, graduated tiers & packages (with formulas)

  • Kontier Fully supported
  • Lago Not supported
  • Chargebee Partially supported
  • Hyperline Not supported

Wallets + holds + prepaid

  • Kontier Fully supported
  • Lago Not supported
  • Chargebee Not supported
  • Hyperline Not supported

Marketplace settlements

  • Kontier Fully supported
  • Lago Partially supported
  • Chargebee Partially supported
  • Hyperline Partially supported

AI dunning + R-transaction routing

  • Kontier Fully supported
  • Lago Partially supported
  • Chargebee Partially supported
  • Hyperline Partially supported

RFC 9457 errors + idempotent webhooks

  • Kontier Fully supported
  • Lago Not supported
  • Chargebee Partially supported
  • Hyperline Partially supported

Test clocks + sandbox keys

  • Kontier Fully supported
  • Lago Not supported
  • Chargebee Not supported
  • Hyperline Not supported

German UI + support

  • Kontier Fully supported
  • Lago Partially supported
  • Chargebee Fully supported
  • Hyperline Fully supported

Managed cloud in the EU

  • Kontier Fully supported
  • Lago Partially supported
  • Chargebee Partially supported
  • Hyperline Partially supported

As of July 2026. Based on publicly available documentation from each provider. ZUGFeRD, Factur-X, Peppol, and DATEV are available in Kontier.

Sources: lago.app · chargebee.com · hyperline.co

Logos and trademarks are property of their respective owners. No endorsement implied.

Run next month's billing on Kontier.

With your real data, in your own workspace. 14 days is enough to know.

  • 14 days free
  • from €199/month net
  • cancel monthly
Start free trial

Card required to start. Continues on your plan unless you cancel before day 14.

From usage event to paid invoice.

Sample data

Connect catalog & usage.

REST API, SDKs or dashboard. One event is enough.

Pick a blueprint.

12 business models, from per-seat SaaS to outcome-based. With formula and API example.

Bill & close.

XRechnung out, SEPA collection in, DATEV export to your accountant.
Business Models

Pick your business model. The blueprint is already here.

Twelve documented blueprints with ready-made API calls. Configure them; don't rebuild them.

See all blueprints in the docs
  • SaaS per-seat
    Billing formula seats × price/month, day-exact proration API example 
    POST /v1/subscriptions
{ "price": "pro_seat_v3", "quantity": 12 }
  • API platform
    Billing formula calls × €0.0004, tiered from 5M API example 
    POST /v1/usage
{ "meter": "api_calls", "quantity": 18402 }
  • Cloud infrastructure
    Billing formula vCPU-h × €0.031 + egress GB × €0.02 API example 
    POST /v1/usage
{ "meter": "vcpu_hours", "quantity": 713.5 }
  • Marketplace + payouts
    Billing formula GMV × 12% commission → split payout API example 
    POST /v1/charges
{ "amount": 10000, "split": { "fee": 1200 } }
  • Reseller network
    Billing formula list price − 30% margin, per partner tier API example 
    POST /v1/invoices
{ "customer": "reseller_…", "price": "tier_gold" }
  • Domain registrar
    Billing formula registration + renewal × years, promo-ready API example 
    POST /v1/subscriptions
{ "price": "domain_renewal" }
  • Hybrid PaaS
    Billing formula base €49 + usage beyond free quota API example 
    POST /v1/usage
{ "meter": "build_minutes", "quantity": 420 }
  • Subscription box
    Billing formula €29.90/month, −15% annually API example 
    POST /v1/subscriptions
{ "price": "box_monthly" }
  • Telco carrier
    Billing formula base price + GB tiers API example 
    POST /v1/usage
{ "meter": "data_gb", "quantity": 38.2 }
  • Creator platform
    Billing formula revenue − 10% platform fee → payout API example 
    POST /v1/charges
{ "amount": 500, "split": { "creator": "acct_…" } }
  • Enterprise SaaS
    Billing formula flat per entity + PO reference API example 
    POST /v1/invoices
{ "customer": "entity_de_…", "price": "ent_flat" }
  • Outcome-based services
    Billing formula flat fee + bonus per milestone API example 
    POST /v1/invoices
{ "price": "milestone_golive" }

Questions we hear often.

Is Kontier a payment provider?
No. Kontier sits on top of your payment providers: Stripe for cards, GoCardless for SEPA direct debit. You don't need a new PSP contract. Kontier drives collection, retries and dunning through the providers you already have.
How does migration work?
We guide the switch personally. You first bill in the sandbox in parallel with your current system and compare every invoice. Once they match, Kontier takes over. How long that takes depends on data volume and pricing model.
Where is my data stored?
We process platform data in data centres in the EU; the subprocessor register lists which provider handles what. Payment data processed by Stripe can be transferred to the US (EU-US Data Privacy Framework and standard contractual clauses).
What does Kontier cost?
From €199/month net (plus VAT), cancel monthly, no setup fee. The 14-day trial covers Starter and Scale: it starts on the pricing page with a card and continues on the chosen plan unless you cancel before day 14. Enterprise and On-Premise run through a conversation.
Can I cancel and export my data at any time?
Yes. Kontier is cancellable monthly, and your data (customers, invoices, accounting data) is fully exportable at any time. No lock-in.
What support do I get at launch?
Migration concierge, blueprint setup, and a direct line to engineering. We stay on it until your first OSS filing runs through cleanly.

See Kontier on your business model.

  • 14 days free (Starter & Scale)
  • from €199/month net
  • cancel monthly

  1. Pick a plan and start

    14 days with your real data in your own workspace.

  2. Get an API key

    Sandbox with real EU tax rules.

  3. Issue your first invoice

    XRechnung-compliant from day one.

Start 14-day free trial

or 15 minutes with an engineer

Book a demo

A technical demo: 15 minutes with an engineer on your pricing model and tax setup.

How we handle your details: privacy policy.

Prefer email? contact@frontieralgorithmics.com

Message Kontier

Write to us right here. We reply by email, usually within one business day.

How we handle your details: privacy policy.