The question always comes at the same moment. You have understood that electronic invoicing is becoming mandatory, you have read three articles about Factur-X, and you simply want to know what it is going to cost you.
Nobody answers clearly. Vendors display “request a quote”. Comparison sites list ranges from 0 to 200 € per month without explaining what those ranges cover. Here is the honest answer, expense by expense.
There are two expenses, not one
This is the point almost every article leaves out, and it explains most of the unpleasant surprises.
Producing the compliant file. Turning your invoice data into a file that meets the European EN 16931 standard: a Factur-X PDF for France and Germany, an XML file in UBL format for Belgium and the Netherlands.
Transmitting that file. Getting it to your customer through the channel their country requires. In France, that means an accredited platform, known as a PDP. In Belgium and the Netherlands, the Peppol network. In Germany, a plain e-mail is still enough today.
These two expenses are separate. Some providers sell them together, others separately. Comparing an all-inclusive offer with a tool that only produces the file is like comparing a plane ticket with a pair of shoes: both get you moving, but not to the same place.
If terms like PDP, PPF or UBL are unfamiliar, our glossary of electronic invoicing explains them without jargon.
The three routes
The module in your accounting software
If you already use accounting or business management software, it probably offers an electronic invoicing option, usually as an add-on to your existing subscription.
The advantage is obvious: nothing to learn, your data is already there.
The thing to watch is less obvious. That add-on is generally billed monthly, regardless of how many invoices you actually issue. If you invoice three customers a quarter, you pay for twelve months to send twelve invoices. Also check that the module covers your customers’ countries: many French solutions produce Factur-X without handling Belgian or Dutch UBL.
The accredited platform
In France, transmitting your invoices will have to go through an accredited platform. That is a regulatory constraint, not a commercial choice: sooner or later you will have one, whatever method you use to produce your files.
These platforms usually charge a monthly subscription, sometimes with a bundled invoice allowance. Rates vary widely between providers and change regularly as the deadlines approach — check directly with each one rather than relying on a comparison site.
What matters here: an accredited platform does far more than produce a file. It transmits, it archives, it talks to the tax authorities, it tracks the status of every invoice. If you issue dozens of invoices a month, it is the right tool and its cost needs no defending.
The pay-per-invoice generator
A third route, less well known: produce the compliant file on demand, with no subscription, and transmit it afterwards through whatever channel suits you.
This makes sense in two specific situations. You invoice rarely — a few invoices a month — and a monthly subscription would mostly buy you empty space. Or you invoice abroad occasionally and need a format your usual tool does not produce.
That is what Factilix does: you enter the data, you get a validated Factur-X or UBL file, you pay for that invoice and nothing else.
What it works out to, by volume
The only calculation that matters is your own. Take three profiles.
You issue 3 invoices a month. A 40 € monthly subscription works out at more than 13 € per invoice. A pay-per-invoice tool at 3.90 € costs you 11.70 € a month. The annual gap exceeds 300 €, and you only pay in the months you actually invoice.
You issue 20 invoices a month. The ratio flips. A monthly subscription around 29 € works out at 1.45 € per invoice, against 3.90 € one by one. At this volume, the subscription is clearly the right call.
You issue 100 invoices a month. You are no longer in this conversation. You need a full platform, with status tracking, reminders and integration into your management system. The cost of such a solution should be weighed against the time it saves you, not against the unit price of a file.
The tipping point sits somewhere around 8 to 10 invoices a month. Below that, per-invoice is cheaper; above it, the subscription wins.
What should never be charged to you
Compliance checking. Finding out whether a file meets EN 16931 is an automated technical check that takes a few seconds. No provider should charge you simply for telling you whether your file is valid.
You can in fact check a file you already have, at no cost, with no account needed. Drop in your Factur-X PDF or XML file and the report is immediate.
Setup fees. With an online tool there is nothing to install. Setup fees can be justified for a bespoke integration into your information system, never for access to a web application.
A surcharge per country. EN 16931 is a European standard. Producing a file for a Belgian customer rather than a French one costs no more: it is the same standard with a different syntax. A provider who bills the “Belgium module” as an extra is selling you a technical constraint as though it were a feature.
The cost nobody puts a number on
There is one more, invisible on any invoice: the time you spend working it out.
Electronic invoicing is not complicated in itself, but it is badly explained. Between the acronyms, deadlines that differ by company size and customer country, and formats that carry three names for the same thing, it is easy to lose several hours before understanding what you actually have to do.
Two reads to spare you that: our plain-language explanation of Factur-X and the timeline of obligations across the four countries.
So, how much?
If you invoice regularly and in volume, budget for a monthly subscription, plus an accredited platform for transmission in France. That is the normal route and it is justified.
If you invoice occasionally, you need none of that. You need a compliant file, when you need it, and nothing more.
That is exactly what Factilix is for: 3.90 € per invoice with no account to create, or 29 € a month once you pass twenty invoices. The prices are public and set out in full on our pricing page — there is no quote to request.