conAktiv
conAktiv is a German project-business ERP developed and distributed by connectiv! e-Business GmbH, headquartered in Konstanz on Lake Constance. The product targets agencies, consultancies, engineering offices, creative services and IT service providers — the DACH service-business segment that needs deep project accounting, time tracking, resource scheduling and profitability reporting without the trade-and-manufacturing baggage of a general-purpose Mid-Market ERP. conAktiv has been on the market since the late 1990s, which gives it a mature feature set and a stable installed base of several hundred DACH service-business customers, mostly between 20 and 200 employees.
Architecture and deployment
conAktiv is delivered as an on-premises native application (Mac and Windows clients) against a relational database backend, with a hosted-private-cloud option for customers that prefer to outsource infrastructure. The product is one of the few DACH ERP options with a genuinely first-class macOS client — a meaningful selling point for the creative-agency segment where Apple hardware is the studio standard. A browser-based front end exists for mobile and remote-access scenarios but the native clients remain the primary user interface. Multi-tenant SaaS is not the deployment model. Customisation is supported through the documented extension framework.
Functional scope
Project accounting is the strongest functional pillar: project structures with budgets, multi-level WBS, project cost tracking, milestone billing, retainer billing, time-and-materials billing and fixed-price project workflows. Time tracking (both real-time and after-the-fact entry) is mature, with mobile capture and offline-sync. Resource scheduling supports skills-based assignment, utilisation reporting and capacity planning. CRM is integrated with the project workflow, which matters for sales-pipeline-to-project conversion in service businesses. Financial accounting is GoBD-compliant with native DATEV integration; ZUGFeRD and XRechnung are supported. Manufacturing, EDI integration and warehouse management are outside the product's functional scope — conAktiv is deliberately a service-business specialist rather than a general-purpose ERP.
DACH localisation and DATEV
conAktiv's DACH localisation is mature across Germany, Austria and Switzerland. GoBD compliance is built in. DATEV integration is native and covers both the legacy export format and the current API-based exchange, with bookings, master data and document linkage flowing to the customer's tax adviser as the standard pattern. ZUGFeRD and XRechnung outbound invoicing are supported. Swiss localisation handles the QR-Bill workflow. Project-business-specific tax scenarios — cross-border consulting, reverse-charge invoicing, German VAT on services and similar — are handled in the standard product without bolt-on add-ons. The Konstanz location near the Swiss border has shaped the Swiss localisation depth, which is better than for many German-origin ERPs.
Pricing model and TCO
conAktiv is licensed either as a perpetual licence with annual maintenance or as a subscription. List pricing is published on the vendor's site for the standard tiers, which is unusual for DACH mid-market ERPs and makes early-stage budgeting easier. Indicative pricing lands in the range of 80 to 150 euro per user per month for the subscription model, with module-based variation. For a 50-user service business, all-in TCO over five years typically lands between 250,000 and 600,000 euro depending on modules and implementation scope. Implementation is faster than for general-purpose ERPs because the standard product matches DACH service-business workflows out of the box — typical projects complete within four to nine months.
Selection considerations
conAktiv is a strong fit for DACH service businesses (agencies, consultancies, engineering offices, creative services, IT service providers) between 20 and 200 employees that need deep project accounting and time tracking from a service-business specialist rather than a general-purpose ERP. The macOS-native client is a meaningful differentiator for Apple-centric studios. It is less compelling for trade-and-manufacturing businesses (general-purpose ERPs fit better), for organisations that need cloud-native SaaS with monthly release cycles (myfactory or weclapp fit better), for very large service businesses above 200 employees where Deltek Maconomy provides more scale, or for buyers needing wide international multi-country rollouts.
Related Topics
Vendor homepage of ConAktiv
Current view of the website https://www.conaktiv.de/
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Frequently Asked Questions
Is conAktiv available as a true cloud SaaS product?
Not in the multi-tenant cloud-SaaS sense. The deployment model is on-premises native clients with a hosted-private-cloud option managed by the vendor or partners. Buyers wanting a multi-tenant browser-first cloud ERP will find myfactory, weclapp or Scopevisio better matched. Customers that value the native macOS user experience usually accept the trade-off because no cloud-native alternative offers comparable Mac-first depth.
How does conAktiv compare with Deltek Maconomy?
Both target the project-business and professional-services-automation segment. conAktiv is a DACH-focused mid-market specialist with deep German finance and DATEV integration; Maconomy is an international upper-mid-market product with stronger multi-country and global-consolidation capabilities. For DACH service businesses below 200 employees, conAktiv usually fits better; for larger international consultancies and engineering groups above 200 employees, Maconomy or Deltek Vantagepoint fit better.
Does conAktiv have a real macOS client or is it just web?
conAktiv ships genuine native macOS and Windows desktop clients, which is unusual in the DACH ERP market. The Mac client is not a wrapped browser or a thin emulation — it's a real Cocoa application with macOS keyboard shortcuts, look-and-feel and integration. This is one of the key reasons creative agencies and design studios with Apple-centric workflows choose conAktiv over general-purpose Windows-first ERPs.