How good is Heylara really? (Image: Per Lööv, Unsplash)
For many small and medium -sized companies (SMEs), bookkeeping is an annoying but inevitable task.
Book invoices, sort documents, send reminders – all this costs time and nerves. Comes here Heylara In the game, a AI-based bookkeeping tool that automates the entire process with simple WhatsApp integration. But how well does it really work?
We have tested Heylara extensively and share our experiences here.
How does Heylara work?
The heart of Heylara is that AI-based chatbot technologythat communicates with the users via WhatsApp. The entire accounting process can be divided into four main functions:
1. Record receipts and invoices via WhatsApp
Instead of cumbersome to upload evidence or manually typing them up, it is enough to send a photo of the document to Lara via WhatsApp. The AI automatically reads relevant data such as Invoice, tax rate, supplier and payment term and assign them to the right booking categories.
Example from our test:
- We have one Hotel bill uploaded via WhatsApp. Lara immediately realized that it was operational travel expenses acts, has the VAT correctly calculated and automatically transferred the entry to the accounting.
- The whole thing did not take 30 seconds – faster than any manual recording.
2. Automatic bookings and account comparison
As soon as invoices or documents are uploaded, Heylara creates automatic booking sentences and compensates for them with the account movements. If an invoice remains unpaid, Lara even sends memories of the entrepreneur.
Our test:
- With an unpaid Customer bill (45 days overdue) Lara proposed a reminder and asked:
“Should the payment reminder now be sent to the customer by email?” - After confirmation, the reminder was created and sent directly – Without additional intervention on our part.
3. Financial reports in real time
By integrating Heylara with DATEV and Elster, companies can almost fully automate their tax obligations. Heylara created at the push of a button:
- Business evaluations (BWA)
- VAT advance registrations
- Profit and loss invoices
Practical example:
- We have one Monthly BWA Requested- a few seconds later we received an Excel and PDF file with a clear presentation of all income and expenses.
- Particularly practical: A liquidity preview shows how much money will be available in the coming months – A great help for financial planning!
4. Tax conformity & dunning system
Heylara knows each other German tax and accounting rules and automatically holds the applicable laws. For example:
- Calculation of the correct sales tax (19 % or 7 %)
- Categorization of deductible operating expenses
- Automatic creation and shipping of Reminders for unpaid bills
A user reported that his average time for the Monthly degree from 16 to 2 hours has reduced.
Heylara In practice: a typical working day with Lara
What does a typical day with Heylara look like? A practical example of one Craft business shows how seamless the system integrates into everyday life:
8:15 a.m. – The boss sends a photo of a material calculation (€ 420 + 19 % VAT) via WhatsApp to Lara.
8:17 a.m. – Lara confirms the booking and automatically ordered the amount to the account “Materials” to.
11:30 a.m. – Heylara realizes that a customer calculation is overdue.
11:31 a.m. – The boss gives the OK for a reminder via WhatsApp.
3:00 p.m. – Lara creates a business evaluation and shows: the Liquidity surplus is 12 % higher than in the previous month.
The accounting is thus done almost by itselfwhile the entrepreneur can concentrate on day -to -day business.
Booklike ki: These are the most important functions of Heylara
Heylara offers a variety of functions that can be seamlessly integrated into everyday work:
- Automated accounting: Simply send invoices as a photo – Lara books everything automatically.
- WhatsApp integration: No extra login, no complicated interface – simply communicate via chat.
- DATEV compatible: Perfect for working with the tax advisor.
- Automated dunning processes: Heylara is reminiscent of open invoices and can send reminders directly.
- Tax compliance: Lara knows all relevant German tax rules and correctly uses them.
- Financial reports & analyzes: Profit and loss account, liquidity planning and further evaluations via WhatsApp.
- Easy furnishings: Ready to use within 20 minutes.
Our experiences with Heylara in the practical test
We tested Heylara with a craft business that previously used classic accounting software. The switch was surprisingly simple:
- registration: Heylara is activated via WhatsApp message. Lara queries some company data and automatically sets up the account.
- Upload the first invoice: A photo of the invoice is sent, Lara recognizes the amount, supplier, tax and books the invoice automatically.
- First reminder: An unpaid invoice was marked as “open”. After 30 days, Lara asks if a reminder should be sent – done with one click.
- Financial analysis: Monthly profit and loss account came as a WhatsApp PDF- clear and immediately understandable.
We were particularly impressed by how Fast and intuitive Heylara works. The complete accounting was digitized within a week, and the entrepreneur had significantly less effort.
Comparison with classic accounting
| Heylara | Classic accounting | |
|---|---|---|
| Furnishings | 20 minutes | 2-3 hours with software installation |
| Service | WhatsApp chat | Software or tables |
| Booking of invoices | Upload photo | Manual input required |
| Automated reminders | Yes | Mostly manually or expensive additional modules |
| Tax compliance | Automatically integrated | Manual review necessary |
| Cost | From 49 €/month | Tax advisors often from € 300/month |
| Error rate | Very low (through AI validation) | Frequent errors by manual input |
Experience with Heylara: What do other users say about AI accounting?
We have analyzed various user ratings to get a better overview. The majority of 142 experience reports were positive:
- 89 % praise time savingssince the bookkeeping hardly requires manual work.
- 8 % are neutralmostly because of small requests for improvement (e.g. better individualization of account frames).
- 3 % are criticalespecially with regard to Tax ID assignmentsthat did not work correctly in individual cases.
Here are some original quotes from the user reviews:
- “Finally no more accounting on weekends – Heylara does everything automatically!” (Craftsmanship, 12 employees)
- “In the past, open bills were a huge problem, now Lara reminds me and sends reminders for me.” (Sole trader, cleaning company)
- “In the beginning I was skeptical, but after a week I don’t want to go back to tables and prove!” (Startup coach, freelancer)
Cost: How expensive is the bookkeeping at Heylara?
Heylara offers various subscription models:
| Model | Price per month | Target group | Benefits | Limits | Current actions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| basic | 49 € (instead of € 79 for 3 months) | Freelancers, small companies (<2 employees) | ✅ unlimited invoicing and archiving
✅ Automated dunning control control (up to 3 memories/month) ✅ WhatsApp integration for document digitization via OCR ✅ Base BWA (business evaluation) |
❌ max. 50 transactions/month
(€ 1.80/exceeding) ❌ No DATEV export ❌ only 2 user accounts |
Spring start: First 3 months for 29 €/month |
| Premium | 79 € | KMUS (up to 20 employees) | ✅ 150 documents/month (instead of 100)
✅ new AI function for automatic sales tax optimization ✅ DATEV-compliant interface for tax consultants ✅ expanded cash flow forecasts (ML-based) ✅ Multi-Bank account support (up to 5 accounts) ✅ Digital document processing via email-parser |
❌ Limitation to 150 transactions/month (then € 1.50 per additional booking)
❌ No API access for external software |
Bonus up to Q2/2025: Free Onboarding webinar with tax experts |
| Enterprise | 179 € | Medium -sized companies and corporations | ✅ unlimited transactions and users
✅ Industry -specific modules for craft, gastronomy, consulting ✅ API access for ERP integration (SAP, Microsoft Dynamics) ✅ Automated annual financial statements according to HGB ✅ Realtime dashboard with 50+ KPIS ✅ Dedicated Account Manager (8 a.m. to 6 p.m.) |
❌ No self-service setup (requires onboarding by Heylara team) | Enterprise funding until April 30, 2025: Free GOBD certification worth € 1,290 |
Compared to tax consultants or classic accounting software, Heylara is significantly cheaper.
The switch is particularly worthwhile for self -employed and SMEs with high transaction volume.
Heylara: Our conclusion after 3 months of use
After 3 months of test we can say: Heylara is a real gamechanger for small companies.
The combination of WhatsApp usage, artificial intelligence and automation of accounting makes it particularly interesting for entrepreneurs who have little time for office work.
Advantages:
- Extremely simple operation By WhatsApp
- Automatic accounting without tax knowledge
- Real-time finance overview & liquidity planning
- Big time savings (Completion of the month in 2 hours instead of 16)
- Cheaper than classic accounting solutions
Disadvantages:
- Not ideal for companies with a complex group structure
- Tax advisors often want more detailed audit trails
- Occasionally misunderstandings in the AI-based booking
Conclusion: Who a Smart, fast and intuitive solution for his bookkeeping is looking forwill be happy with Heylara. The tool offers enormous time savings, especially for self -employed, freelancers and smaller companies with many bookings – and makes classic accounting software almost superfluous.
Our assessment: 4.8 out of 5 stars – clear recommendation.