Which PDP to Choose in 2026: A Comparison of SME Platforms

Key Takeaways

• The reform is now in effect: as of July 2025, PDPs are officially known as Approved Platforms (PA). As of July 2026, there were 137 such platforms registered with the DGFiP.
• Effective September 1, 2026, this requirement applies to all businesses subject to VAT, regardless of their size—including micro-entrepreneurs.
• Reporting is mandatory as of September 1, 2026, for large companies and mid-sized companies, and as of September 1, 2027, for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), very small businesses, and micro-enterprises.
• Pricing ranges from 0 to 150 €/month for an SME: Tiime is free, Pennylane starts at 14 €/month, Axonaut at 70 €/month, and Sage and Cegid are available upon request. The PPF (Chorus Pro) is free but no longer supports B2B invoice exchange: a private accounting platform is still required to send and receive invoices.
• Choosing an AP solution isn't just about checking a compliance box —it's about selecting the tool that will manage your billing cycle for years to come. Integration with your accounting software or ERP system is the most critical factor.
• IT Systèmes assists small and medium-sized businesses in selecting, integrating, and deploying their certified platform—in a neutral, vendor-independent manner.

PDP, PA, PPF: Terms You Should Know Before You Start

Before comparing the solutions, we need to clarify the terminology, since the reform has changed the terminology along the way, which is still causing a great deal of confusion.

Approved Platform (PA): This has been the official term since July 2025 (2026 Finance Act). It replaces “Partner Dematerialization Platform” (PDP), which is still widely used in search engines and on many websites. Both terms refer to the same thing: a private operator registered with the DGFiP to issue, receive, transmit, and archive compliant electronic invoices.

PPF (Public Invoicing Portal): This is the government’s free public platform, operated through Chorus Pro. Be aware of a common misconception: since the 2024 revision, the PPF no longer facilitates the free exchange of invoices between businesses. Its role has been refocused on two functions: the central business directory (which routes each invoice to the recipient’s platform) and the consolidation of invoicing and e-reporting data transmitted to the DGFiP. To issue and receive your B2B electronic invoices, you must use an Approved Platform—the PPF does not serve this purpose. Chorus Pro, meanwhile, remains the invoicing channel for the public sector (B2G).

E-reporting: an additional requirement beyond electronic invoicing. It involves submitting data on B2C transactions (sales to consumers) and transactions with foreign companies—which do not use B2B electronic invoicing—to the DGFiP. The same timeline as for issuing invoices applies. All authorized parties (PA) must manage e-reporting.

Schedule: Who Should Do What and When

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What this means in practice for an SME today: You must be able to receive electronic invoices as of September 1, 2026. If you do not select an electronic invoicing provider (PA) by that date, you will not be able to process the invoices that your large enterprises (GE) and mid-sized companies (ETI) send you in electronic format. The deadline for receiving these invoices is not just a theoretical one—it will affect your relationship with your suppliers starting in September 2026.

You have until September 1, 2027, to go live. But waiting until September 2027 to select and deploy your PA is a poor strategy: ERP integrations take time, users need to be trained, and the first few weeks always involve some growing pains.

Recommendation: Select your PA by the end of 2026, activate reception first, and then roll out transmission during the first half of 2027.

If you are unsure of your business category or your exact obligations, IT Systèmes can conduct an assessment in less than an hour—taking into account your actual size, your industry, and your existing software.

The 4 Legal Responsibilities of an Accredited Platform

Every PA registered with the DGFiP is contractually obligated to fulfill four responsibilities:

1. Issue and transmit: generate electronic invoices that comply with regulatory formats (Factur-X, UBL 2.1, CII) and transmit them to the recipient’s public administration via the interoperability network.

2. Receive and process: Receive incoming invoices from your suppliers and make them available in your interface, ideally with automatic data extraction.

3. Submit data to the DGFiP: Submit B2B invoicing and e-reporting data (B2C, international) to the tax authorities, in accordance with the required deadlines and technical formats.

4. Archive with legal validity: Store invoices securely, intact, and in a traceable manner for the legally required period (6 years for tax purposes, 10 years for accounting records).

Registration is valid for 3 years and is renewable following an audit. Always verify your PA’s registration number on the DGFiP’s official list before committing to a service. A “PA” logo on a website is not sufficient, and “pending approval” status does not guarantee that your invoices are compliant.

The 3 Types of Electronic Invoices You Need to Know About

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For a small or medium-sized service business or a firm, Factur-X covers 95% of cases. UBL 2.1 becomes relevant if you work with European partners. All reputable accounting software supports all three formats.

Comparison of the Leading Approved Platforms for SMEs in 2026

137 PA units are registered as of July 2026. This table compares the 10 most relevant solutions for French SMEs, based on pricing and feature data verified as of that date.

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Sources: comparateur-efacturation.fr (updated June 2026), blog.tiime.fr (April 2026). Prices are approximate and exclude tax; please check with each provider.

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How to Choose an Accredited Platform Based on Your Profile

Micro-entrepreneur et indépendant (CA < 85 000 €)

Your priority is compliance at no cost. You issue few invoices each month and don't need a multi-level approval workflow.

Recommended: Tiime (unlimited and free), the best free option for sending and receiving B2B invoices. PPF/Chorus Pro isn’t sufficient here: it doesn’t support the exchange of invoices between businesses. If you work with an accountant on Pennylane, it’s best to keep the workflow consistent—Pennylane at €14/month makes sense.

What not to do: Overpay for CRM or ERP features that aren't necessary at this stage.

TPE (1 à 10 salariés, CA < 2 M€)

You need more than just invoicing: payment tracking, customer reminders, cash flow forecasting, and collaboration with your accountant.

Recommended: Pennylane (€14–79/month) if you work with an accounting firm, or Evoliz (€16+/month) if you’re a tradesperson or work in construction. For very small businesses with a Qonto account, having invoicing integrated into the same tool makes sense.

PME (10 à 250 salariés, CA < 50 M€)

Your needs are more complex: multiple users, internal invoice approval, integration with an existing ERP or accounting software, and perhaps multiple entities.

Recommended: Axonaut (€70/month) if you don’t yet have an ERP system and are looking for an all-in-one solution. Sage or Cegid (based on a quote) if you’re already part of their ecosystem—native integration eliminates connector costs and duplicate data entry. Sellsy if you have a sales team that manages the CRM.

The key factor here isn't the subscription price, but the cost of integrating it with your existing stack. That's exactly what the IT Systems team evaluates during an audit of your IT system before recommending a solution: compatibility with your current tools, data volumes, industry, and your clients’ requirements.

Mid-sized companies and large corporations

The challenges vary: high volumes (thousands of invoices per month), EDI, supply chain, multiple entities, and contractual SLAs. Solutions are available upon request.

Recommended: Generix, Cegid Enterprise, Sage X3, depending on the existing ERP system. Integration via EDI or REST API is the primary criterion. Support from a specialized integrator is required.

The 5 Key Factors to Consider When Making Your Choice

1. Integration with your accounting software or ERP system

This is the most important criterion. An accounting software that integrates natively with your accounting tool eliminates the need for manual re-entry, reduces errors, and speeds up the month-end closing process. There are three levels: native (ideal), via API (acceptable with proper configuration), and manual import/export (to be avoided if possible).

If you use Sage 100, choosing Sage PA makes sense. If you use Cegid Loop, the same logic applies. If you use a less common software program (such as Quadratus, Silae, or Secib for accounting firms), be sure to explicitly check for compatibility before signing a contract.

2. The total cost over 3 years, not the advertised price

The monthly fee is rarely the actual cost. Costs to anticipate: setup and data migration (€0 to €3,000, depending on complexity), team training (€500 to €1,000 for an SME), third-party integrations (Zapier, Make, or API development if the integration isn't native), and premium support if you need phone assistance.

Always request a 3-year TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) calculation based on your actual invoice volume. The cheapest subscription-based PA may end up being the most expensive overall if it incurs high integration or migration costs.

3. Verification of the DGFiP registration number

Before signing anything, verify that the platform is included on the official list of registered payment service providers (PSPs) published on impots.gouv.fr. The status “pending approval” does not guarantee that your invoices will be compliant by the effective date. As of July 2026, 137 PSPs are registered—solutions not listed are outside the legal scope.

4. Supported Formats and the Peppol Access Point

Make sure that the PA supports at least Factur-X and UBL 2.1. If you work with European partners, the Peppol Access Point is required. For industrial sectors where clients require the CII format, explicitly verify compatibility.

5. Support and the ability to assist you

A PA should be able to respond quickly when you run into a problem. Check the communication channels (chat, phone, email), availability hours, and whether setup assistance is provided. For an SME without an in-house IT department, the responsiveness of support often makes all the difference.

That is also why many small and medium-sized businesses turn to IT Systèmes to manage the project from start to finish: from selecting the accounting software to post-deployment support, including training accounting teams and overseeing integrations via the Hypergérance platform.

Recommendations by Industry

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IT Systèmes primarily serves the sectors it knows best: accounting firms, law firms and legal services, architectural firms, manufacturing, and service companies. For each sector, the integration of office automation systems with industry-specific software (Cegid, Quadratus, Silae, Secib, iManage, etc.) is part of the initial assessment.

IT Systems: Why Hire an Independent Consultant

Choosing an ERP system isn't just an IT decision. It's a decision that affects accounting, procurement, supplier relationships, and potentially tax compliance. ERP vendors will try to sell you their solution, which may not necessarily be the best fit for your specific situation.

IT Systèmes acts as an independent consultant and has no resale agreements with software publishers. Its support covers three areas.

Assessment and Selection: audit of the existing information system (ERP, accounting software, management tools); inventory of billing volumes; identification of industry-specific constraints (formats mandated by clients, critical integrations); shortlisting of 3 to 4 compatible solutions based on a 3-year total cost of ownership (TCO); and a well-reasoned recommendation.

Integration and deployment: configuring the connection between the selected application and your Microsoft 365 ecosystem or ERP system, setting up approval workflows, conducting end-to-end testing before going live, and providing support during the first few weeks of the migration.

Team Training: IT Systèmes offers training tailored to digital tools for your accounting and administrative teams. The electronic invoicing reform is not just a technical project—users must understand the new workflows and the resulting compliance requirements. Training courses eligible for OPCO funding are available.

In addition, IT Systèmes’ Hypergérance platform monitors your IT environment, including the connectors and APIs that enable your accounting software to communicate with your information system. If an integration issue arises, engineers take proactive action before it disrupts your billing process.

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FAQ — Approved Platforms and the 2026 Electronic Invoicing Reform

What is the difference between PDP and an approved platform (PA)? There is no functional difference. “PDP” (Partner Dematerialization Platform) is the former term used until July 2025. It was replaced by “PA” (Approved Platform) in the 2026 Finance Act to better reflect the registration process administered by the DGFiP. Both terms are still widely used; when an article or publisher refers to a “PDP,” it means exactly the same thing as a “PA.”

Is Chorus Pro / the PPF sufficient to ensure compliance? No, not for B2B. Contrary to what was originally planned, the PPF no longer offers a free service for sending or receiving invoices between businesses: this function was removed during the 2024 revision. Every business must therefore choose an Approved Platform to send and receive its B2B electronic invoices, even a very small business or a micro-entrepreneur who only wishes to receive invoices. Chorus Pro remains useful and free for invoicing the public sector (B2G), but it does not cover the B2B requirement. For an SME that issues dozens or hundreds of invoices per month, a private Approved Platform is also necessary to avoid manual re-entry.

How can you verify that a platform is truly DGFiP-approved? Check the official list on impots.gouv.fr (under the “Electronic Invoicing and Approved Platforms” section). Every registered PA is listed there with its registration number and validity date. A “PA” logo or badge on a website is not enough—only the DGFiP list is authoritative. The “pending approval” status does not guarantee that your invoices are compliant before the official registration date.

Can we switch to a different PA after the initial deployment? Yes, technically. But switching to a different PA involves costs: data export, reconfiguring integrations, training teams on the new interface, and the risk of an interruption in the billing process during the transition. Opt for a platform with an open API and data that can be exported in standard formats to facilitate a potential migration. This is a criterion to consider during the initial selection process.

What is e-reporting, and does my accounting firm need to handle it? E-reporting is the requirement to submit transaction data to the DGFiP for transactions that do not go through B2B electronic invoicing: sales to individuals (B2C) and transactions with foreign companies. If you have individual or foreign customers, your accounting firm must handle e-reporting. Be sure to verify this explicitly before making your choice—not all accounting firms handle e-reporting with the same level of automation.

Which accounting software should an SME already using Microsoft 365 choose? Microsoft does not currently offer any proprietary accounting software registered with the DGFiP. However, accounting software providers such as Sage, Cegid, Pennylane, and Axonaut offer connectors or APIs compatible with Microsoft 365 tools (Power Automate, SharePoint, Dynamics). IT Systèmes, as a a Microsoft partner specializing in SMEs, can set up automation workflows between your accounting software and your Microsoft environment—for example, automatically syncing received invoices to SharePoint or triggering a Power Automate workflow upon receipt of an invoice.

What penalties will apply if an SME is not ready by September 2026? The law provides for penalties in the event of non-compliance, but the exact terms of enforcement (amounts, grace periods, formal notice procedures) have not been definitively established as of the date of publication of this article. One thing is certain: if you are unable to receive electronic invoices as of September 1, 2026, it will disrupt your relationships with large enterprises and mid-sized companies that will have transitioned to electronic invoicing by that date. Operational risk takes precedence over regulatory risk. Failing to be ready will, first and foremost, disrupt your own supply chain.

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