# What is the difference between UBL and Peppol?

> UBL is the file format of an e-invoice, Peppol the network you deliver it over. When you need which, what NLCIUS and Peppol BIS are and how you send.

URL: https://factuurmaken.nl/en/kennisbank/verschil-ubl-en-peppol
By: Sander Hannema
Last updated: 2026-09-27

The two words often land in one sentence, but they mean different things. **UBL** is the file: the invoice as structured XML instead of a PDF. **Peppol** is the post: a network over which that file goes straight from your software into your client's books. You can use UBL without Peppol; using Peppol without UBL is not possible.

## UBL: the file

A PDF is a picture of an invoice. A UBL file is the same invoice as data: every field (number, date, lines, VAT per rate, totals) sits in a fixed place, so your client's software imports it without anyone retyping. The European standard for it is EN 16931, and there are two Dutch applications of it:

- **NLCIUS** (also SI-UBL 2.0): the Dutch flavour, what most Dutch bookkeeping suites and government bodies expect when you e-mail or upload a file.
- **Peppol BIS Billing 3.0**: the international flavour, which the Peppol network requires and which you also use for clients outside the Netherlands.

You can simply attach a UBL file to an e-mail, next to the PDF. Many clients want nothing more. Read more in [what is a UBL invoice](https://factuurmaken.nl/en/kennisbank/wat-is-een-ubl-factuur).

## Peppol: the network

Peppol is a network of access points. Your software hands the invoice to an access point, which looks up in a central register where your client can be reached (by KVK number or VAT number) and delivers the file to the client's access point. No e-mail, no attachment, no spam filter: the invoice is in your client's books as soon as it is sent, and you get a confirmation.

Two things to know:

1. **Your client must be connected to Peppol.** A client with a perfectly good KVK number is unreachable until their own software provider has listed them in the register. Good software checks that before sending.
2. **Sending and receiving are separate.** You can be connected as a sender without being a receiver. That is deliberate: whoever is registered as a receiver gets the incoming invoices for their KVK number there, and you do not want to take that over casually from a bookkeeping suite you already use.

## When do you need what?

| Situation                                                  | What you need                                          |
| ---------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------ |
| A client asks for "a UBL" or "an e-invoice"                | A UBL file (usually NLCIUS), e-mailed as an attachment |
| You invoice the Dutch central government or a municipality | Peppol, or their own portal with a UBL upload          |
| A large client wants invoices straight into their system   | Peppol                                                 |
| A client abroad asks for e-invoices                        | UBL in the Peppol BIS flavour, over Peppol             |
| Nobody asks for anything                                   | A PDF is enough                                        |

## How it works in factuurmaken

Every invoice [downloads as UBL](https://factuurmaken.nl/en/functies), in NLCIUS or Peppol BIS as you choose, and when switched on goes along automatically as a second attachment to the invoice e-mail. Sending over the Peppol network is available from Pro: factuurmaken registers you as a sender, checks whether the client is reachable and delivers the invoice to the access point. The confirmation then sits in the invoice's timeline.