Comparison · checked 10 October 2026
Owlly vs the government KSeF app: when free is enough.
The Ministry of Finance’s tools are free and compliant with the regulations. For a single venue they are real competition. The question is what happens to the invoice after you receive it.
14 days free · no card
Owlly and the government KSeF app, point by point.
| What | Owlly | the government KSeF app |
|---|---|---|
| Price | from 149 zł net per venue | free |
| Purchase invoices from KSeF | on their own, every hour | by hand, after logging in |
| Invoices from e-mail and from a photo | yes | no |
| One ingredient under different suppliers’ names | yes | no |
| Price history and price rise alerts | yes, every night | no |
| Dish food cost | on the 249 zł net plan | no |
| Issuing invoices | from the Owlly till, on the 249 zł net plan | yes |
Scope of the Ministry of Finance tools according to ksef.podatki.gov.pl, checked on 10 October 2026. The government tools’ features may change, so check their current scope before you decide.
What it costs.
| Venues | Ministry of Finance tools | Owlly (from) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 venue | 0 zł | 149 zł net | the Ministry’s tools are free |
| 2 venues | 0 zł | 298 zł net | the Ministry’s tools are free |
From 3 venues Owlly sets a group price on a call.
Is the free KSeF app enough for a restaurant?
For some venues it really is. It is free, compliant with the regulations and receives invoices, which is what it was made for.
With a dozen or so invoices a month, a fixed menu and one venue, the app and a well-kept spreadsheet can work for a long time.
What do the government tools not do?
They keep no price history: the March invoice and the September invoice sit side by side as two documents.
They do not know your recipes, so they will not recalculate the cost of a dish. They will not warn you about a price rise.
They will not take an invoice that is not in KSeF, and some suppliers still send a PDF by e-mail or leave paper.
That is not a criticism: it is an invoice archive, and it does the archive well.
When is it worth moving to a costing system?
When updating prices after every rise starts taking an evening.
When you buy the same ingredient from several suppliers under different names and stop seeing whether it is getting dearer.
When you need the answer to “what does this dish cost today”, not “what did it cost last month”.
And when a second venue appears, because from then on everything you do by hand, you do twice.
What the government tools do better
Questions
Is the Ministry of Finance KSeF app free?
Yes. Aplikacja Podatnika KSeF, the mobile app and e-mikrofirma are free.
Does the government app calculate food cost?
No. It is an invoice tool: it does not know recipes, keeps no price history and does not recalculate dish costs.
Can I use the government app and Owlly at the same time?
Yes. Owlly connects to KSeF with read permission and fetches purchase invoices, which does not get in the way of using the Ministry’s app.
Connect KSeF in fifteen minutes and see your prices from your invoices.
14 days free · no card
Know your numbers.