colex.io

What Is It

Colex is an all-in-one business software platform for small and medium-sized businesses, tradespeople, agencies, and service providers in Germany. It aims to bring CRM, quotes, invoices, e-invoicing, finance, task collaboration, email, time tracking, and password management into a single system. Its core positioning is not as a standalone point solution, but as a continuous business workflow around “customer → quote → invoice → payment → tasks/email,” reducing duplicate data entry across Excel, email, and accounting software.

Core Features and Collaboration

Colex covers a broad range of features. On the document side, it supports quotes, invoices, credit notes, delivery notes, PDF export, and XRechnung/ZUGFeRD e-invoices. The CRM can manage customers, suppliers, contacts, history, and imports. For finance, it includes bank account connections, transaction matching, cash books, incoming invoices, and outstanding items.

For team collaboration, Colex offers Kanban boards, task assignment, due dates, Google Calendar integration, automation, project/customer-based time tracking, approval workflows, and embedded IMAP email. The Business plan also includes SafeBox password vault, Google review management, and built-in AI support chat. Its permission model is fairly granular, supporting read, write, and delete controls by module, along with organization-level tenant isolation.

Pricing and Trial

The pricing table lists Starter at 69€/month, Professional at 99€/month, and Business at 129€/month, each including 5 users. Annual billing saves 2 months, and VAT is not included. The main pricing section states that additional users cost 6 euros per user per month. However, the FAQ says pricing starts from 49€/month and that extra users cost 12€/month, so the information is inconsistent. Buyers should confirm with [email protected] before purchasing. Colex offers a 30-day free trial with no credit card required, but no permanently free plan was found.

Security, Deployment, and Integrations

Colex emphasizes German hosting, DSGVO/GDPR-oriented practices, HTTPS, tenant isolation, and role-based permissions. It also claims to provide the technical conditions required for GoBD-compliant, tamper-proof document archiving. Deployment is via a browser-based cloud service, which can be installed as a PWA desktop app through Chrome, Edge, or Safari, with support for desktop notifications and auto-start.

Visible integrations include Google Calendar, Google Business OAuth, IMAP email, bank connections, and SEPA direct debit. No public API, webhooks, or developer documentation were disclosed.

Pros, Cons, and Who It’s For

Colex’s strengths are its centralized modules, tightly linked business objects, and clear focus on German compliance contexts. It is suitable for small German teams looking to migrate from tools such as sevDesk, Lexoffice, or FastBill, and wanting to unify invoicing, CRM, and team collaboration.

Its limitations include inconsistent pricing information, compliance wording that is mostly framed as “oriented” or “ready,” and no visible third-party certifications. APIs, payment methods, and localization for Chinese taxation and finance requirements are also not disclosed.

Access from China and Alternatives

The official content does not provide information on access speed from mainland China, network availability, RMB pricing, or domestic Chinese payment options, so its accessibility from China remains unknown. Since the product is clearly designed around German tax and GoBD scenarios, Chinese companies mainly handling local invoicing, tax-control systems, finance, or approval workflows should first evaluate local alternatives such as Kingdee Cloud Stellar, Yonyou Changjie Tong, FXiaoke, and Feishu.