Charlie Blomkvist
Fortnox, Sweden's most widely used cloud accounting software for small businesses, and Visma Net come up in the same question sooner or later: what should we grow into, and what are we in the process of outgrowing? They are built for different kinds of companies. Fortnox is made to keep bookkeeping simple, and its customer base shows who it is for. In March 2025, in its last report before delisting, Fortnox had 612,000 subscription customers and an average revenue of SEK 304 per customer per month. It is primarily a system for small businesses, often in companies where one or two people handle the finances. Visma Net is a cloud ERP for more complex companies: more workflows, more exceptions, more dimensions to follow up, more people in the system and often more companies. If you are looking for an alternative to Fortnox for a growing company, these are the differences that usually decide it.
Short answer: Fortnox or Visma Net?
- the finances are simple
- the same kind of invoices go the same way every time
- most things are in Swedish kronor
- few people are involved
This applies primarily to the smaller company.
- follow-up needs more dimensions than cost center and project
- approval should follow cost center and project, not supplier or reference
- currency should be reconciled in the system
- inventory is growing
- many people will work in the system
- you want an AI connection from the vendor itself
It is rarely the bookkeeping itself that makes companies switch. It is everything around it.
Seven signs you have outgrown Fortnox
It is rarely one single thing. Usually it is several of these at once:
- Management wants to see results by location, business area and project at the same time, and it is produced in a spreadsheet after the close.
- Supplier invoices should be approved by whoever owns the cost center or project, but approval is driven by the supplier or the reference.
- More and more people need their own licenses: approvers, project managers and managers who want to follow up.
- Customers or suppliers pay in euros, and the currency account is reconciled on the side.
- The company has become several companies, and the next one is on its way.
- Inventory is growing, and freight and customs are added to items by hand.
- The same thing is entered twice, in Fortnox and in another system.
If you recognize two or more, Visma Net is worth a closer look. Here are the differences, one at a time.
When everything is not the same
Fortnox makes the simple simple, when every invoice looks like the last one and goes the same way. Growing companies rarely look like that. Management wants to follow up departments, locations and projects at the same time, supplier invoices need to go to different approvers depending on what the lines relate to, some deals are in euros and the currency accounts need to be reconciled, and more and more people need to work in the system. It is the exceptions that take time, and that is where the systems differ.
Visma Net is built for companies with those kinds of workflows. The subaccount lets every line be followed up the way you choose, approval can follow cost center, project or line, each cash account has its own currency and is reconciled in the system, and the number of users is unlimited. Whatever is still unique to you, we build on top.
Fortnox vs Visma Net at a glance
Pricing and licenses: Fortnox compared with Visma Net
Fortnox is sold program by program, with a license per user and program, and since spring 2026 Fortnox has also introduced a mandatory base fee per company, Fortnox Access, which depends on how many journal transactions the company has had in the past twelve months. What makes Fortnox expensive for a growing company is the number of people: with an approval workflow, everyone who handles supplier invoices needs their own approval license.
Visma Net is priced on volume instead. It is sold in four packages with a fixed monthly fee plus transaction volume, meaning invoices and payments, and the number of users is unlimited. The packages start at SEK 2,744 a month. The license is an agreement with Visma and is paid to Visma. Our work is quoted separately.
A simplified view of the pricing models. Current prices are available from each vendor.
The more people who need to work in the system, such as project managers who approve and managers who follow up, the more the pricing model works in Visma Net's favor. Always check the current price list, since both vendors adjust their packages.
Follow-up: more than cost center and project
In Fortnox you follow up by account, cost center and project. In Visma Net you build a subaccount: a field of up to 30 characters where you decide the segments, their names and their length. Three segments is common, such as location, cost center and project, but you can have more. The subaccount sits on every line, so results come out per dimension directly from the system instead of in a spreadsheet after the close.
This is often where it shows that the company has outgrown Fortnox. Management wants to see results by business area, location and project at the same time. Fortnox Rapport & Analys can group cost centers and projects into business areas, but a third dimension on the line, such as location, does not exist. It has to be built into the codes or into a spreadsheet. Read more about how we set up accounting and the subaccount in Visma Net.
Supplier invoice approval in Fortnox and Visma Net
In Visma Net, approval is handled in Approval. The difference from Fortnox is what decides who approves.
The supplier or the reference on the invoice.
The person responsible for the cost center, the project manager on the project or whoever owns the subaccount line.
The whole invoice goes to one workflow, which can have several approvers.
Line by line: an invoice with costs for three departments can go to three different approvers.
Everyone who handles supplier invoices with an approval workflow needs their own approval license.
Unlimited approvers.
Approval per project manager requires project accounting, which is included in the Plus packages.
Currency in Visma Net and Fortnox
Fortnox handles invoices and bank transactions in foreign currency. The difference shows in reconciliation and in payments.
Cannot be reconciled in Fortnox's reconciliation views.
Each cash account has its own currency and is reconciled per account in the system.
Made with a file that is signed in the online bank.
AutoPay can pay suppliers in foreign currency from a Swedish company.
Fortnox Finans services for invoices, reminders and payments also only accept Swedish kronor. If you have customers or suppliers outside Sweden, or a currency account that is reconciled on the side, this is one of the clearest reasons to switch.
Inventory management in Fortnox and Visma Net
In Visma Net, inventory is part of the Finance & Logistics packages. On the surface the systems look alike: both have inventory, orders, purchasing and stocktaking. The difference shows when you scratch the surface, in how it works as volumes grow.
Always values by FIFO.
FIFO, average cost or standard cost per item class, with exceptions per item.
Warns when a customer exceeds their credit limit.
Can stop the order with a credit hold until someone releases it.
Shows a notification when fewer goods than ordered arrive.
Percentage thresholds per supplier. A purchase receipt outside them can be rejected or let through with a warning.
Freight and other costs are entered per unit on each line for manual receipts.
Allocates a freight or customs invoice across the receipt's items by quantity, value, weight or volume.
Currently no link to receiving the supplier invoice.
All the way, from purchase receipt to both supplier and customer invoice.
Done with a credit invoice, which restores the stock balance.
Dedicated return orders: return for credit, return with replacement and authorized return.
Batches always go out in FIFO order, and the purchase suggestion is based on max stock, balance and order shortage.
With advanced logistics, picking is driven by best-before date, and replenishment also accounts for safety stock, demand forecast and seasonality.
It is those kinds of details that decide how much runs by itself as inventory grows. Read more about logistics in Visma Net.
Ready for AI: AI Connect and custom agents
Visma Net has AI Connect, Visma's own connection between the ERP and AI assistants such as Claude and Microsoft Copilot. It has been generally available since June 2026 and is built on the open MCP standard.
The assistant can read and work in the general ledger, accounts receivable and accounts payable, sales orders, inventory, projects and time, always within the logged-in user's permissions. Deletion is permanently blocked, and a change is only made once the user has approved it. For Fortnox, connections to assistants such as Claude are available from third-party vendors in the Fortnox marketplace.
- Claude or Copilot
- AI Connect
- You approve the change
- Visma Net
The assistant reads and works within the user's permissions. Deletion is blocked.
- Your systems and email
- Agent via Visma Net's API
- Suggestion
- You approve
- Posted in Visma Net
The agent suggests, and you always approve before anything is posted.
AI Connect is the connection for the assistant that answers and helps out. Beneath it is Visma Net's open API, and with projects, inventory and subaccount in the same system, an agent can work against the same data as finance. That is where we build our own AI solutions, for example:
An agent that reads the daily report from a booking system and suggests the journal transaction.
An agent that matches bank transactions against invoices and suggests the reconciliation.
Documents from email are interpreted and presented for approval.
The agent suggests, and you always approve before anything is written to Visma Net. Read more about what we build on top of Visma Net and about AI agents.
Frequently asked questions
Fortnox or Visma: which should we choose?
It depends on what the company looks like, and on which Visma program you mean. For the smaller company with a simple workflow there is Spiris Bokföring & Fakturering, formerly Visma eEkonomi. Visma Net is Visma's ERP for companies that have outgrown their bookkeeping software: when follow-up needs more dimensions than cost center and project, approval should follow the organization, currency should be reconciled in the system, inventory is growing and many people will work in the system.
What is a good alternative to Fortnox for a growing company?
For a company that has outgrown Fortnox, Visma Net is the alternative we recommend: a cloud ERP from Visma, with unlimited users, a subaccount for follow-up, approval that follows the organization and all companies under the same license. If the company is still small and the workflows simple, Spiris Bokföring & Fakturering is closer to Fortnox.
How do the pricing models differ?
Fortnox charges per program and user, plus a base fee based on the number of journal transactions. Visma Net charges for volume, with unlimited users, from SEK 2,744 a month plus transaction volume. The more people who work in the system, the more it favors Visma Net. Implementation with us is a fixed price set before you say yes.
Why has Fortnox become more expensive?
Since spring 2026, Fortnox has introduced a mandatory base fee per company, Fortnox Access, on top of the licenses. It depends on how many journal transactions the company has had in the past twelve months, from SEK 9 to SEK 199 a month. Licenses are still counted per program and user, so for a growing company the bill follows both the number of people and the volume. In Visma Net the number of users is unlimited.
Is Visma Net only for large companies?
No. What decides it is not size but how complex the workflows are. A company with twenty employees, projects, currency and several approvers gets more out of Visma Net than a larger company where everything goes the same way.
How do you know you have outgrown Fortnox?
The most common signs are that results by location, business area and project at the same time are produced in a spreadsheet, that approval is driven by supplier or reference instead of by cost center, that currency accounts are reconciled on the side, that more and more people need their own licenses, or that the same thing is entered twice in two systems.
Can Visma Net handle multiple companies?
Yes. In Visma Net all companies sit under the same license, and the price per company drops the more you have. The next company starts from a template, and with access to all companies you see them in the same report. Read more in Visma Net for groups.
Can we use AI with Visma Net?
Yes. AI Connect, Visma's own connection, lets Claude and Microsoft Copilot read and work in Visma Net within the user's permissions, and changes are only made once the user has approved them. On Visma Net's API we build agents for your own workflows. Access is activated through your Visma partner, which for our customers means through us.
How do you move from Fortnox to Visma Net?
Chart of accounts, customers, suppliers and items are converted through our own conversion tool, Straviont Cloud Bridge, where they are cleaned and validated before they land in Visma Net. The conversion is included in the price. How the history should come along is something we decide together in the workshop.
Can our accounting firm work in Visma Net?
Yes. Since the license is not counted per user, the firm can get its own login at no extra license cost.
How long does a switch take?
With us it takes from four weeks to go-live, depending on the scope. The standard setup Visma Net Core costs SEK 75,000, or SEK 125,000 with logistics, excluding VAT and for one company. Integrations and custom apps are quoted separately.
How to move forward
We never start with the choice of system. We start with your workflows: how invoices, payments and documents move today, where time goes and what is missing. We do that in a free 45-minute workshop, and the review is yours whatever you choose afterwards. If you are on Spiris instead, read Visma Net vs Spiris, and if you are on Visma Administration, read Visma Net vs Visma Administration. If you are comparing with Business Central, read Visma Net vs Business Central. If you have already decided, read how the move from Fortnox to Visma Net works and what Visma Net costs.