Xero Accounting Review 2024: Pricing, Features, Alternatives

Although overall, it’s great for daily accounting, inventory keeping, and project management. We recommend it for project- and product-based companies because of its flexible features. Xero and QuickBooks—two of our best small business accounting software programs—are tight competitors in the United States accounting software market.

  • The tool also lets you adjust the time frame to see how your business has changed over time.
  • With Xero, you can add an unlimited number of users to your account at each subscription level.
  • Despite some criticism I have about Xero, I feel they are a strong billing and invoicing software.
  • There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase, a SQL command or malformed data.
  • This plan is also ideal for freelance accountants and bookkeepers looking for a simple, easy-to-use, and robust platform for their services.

†Invoice limits for the Early plan apply to both approving and sending invoices. Hubdoc is included in Xero Early, Growing and Established plans as long as it’s connected to your Xero subscription. They keep the language simple which is great for users who don’t know accounting terminology.

Xero Pricing

You can also scroll through Xero’s default chart of accounts and customize it as needed, or import an already existing chart of accounts. If you have a list of customers and suppliers, you can import that, too. Includes tools that help automate the reconciliation process, along with a global search function; has a simple layout and a customizable dashboard. You will receive an email message with instructions on how to reset your password. If you’re looking for an accountant who specializes in Xero, you can search for an accounting advisor through their website by location and industry.

  • Its ease-of-use score is also high, making it a great software for A/R.
  • After a 30-day trial period, Xero will bill a monthly charge of $13 per month for the Early plan, $37 per month for the Growing plan and $70 per month for the Established plan.
  • Has robust reporting tools and report customization options, basic inventory tracking in all plans and a capable mobile app; Early plan limits the number of invoices and bills.

FreshBooks charges $17 per month and QuickBooks charges $30 per month). However, the best option and price point will depend on the specific capabilities and features you are looking for. Access all Xero features for 30 days, then decide which plan best suits your business. Use Gusto payroll to calculate pay and deductions, pay employees, simplify compliance, and update the Xero accounts. His experience runs several categories, including SaaS, Marketplaces, and professional services.

How to Reconcile Transactions in Xero

This means that FreshBooks is a good choice for small businesses that need to send more invoices than the Xero basic plan allows and need more users than the QuickBooks basic plan allows. Xero offers a highly guided setup process that walks you through every aspect of the software with pop-up windows and tutorials (Figure C). It also provides a demo company account that allows you to practice on dummy data. Customers who are brand new to accounting software will especially benefit from this level of help. We’re committed to the security of your data and provide multiple layers of protection for the personal and financial information you trust to Xero.

For businesses that have to lay off or furlough employees and reduce operating hours during and after lockdowns, rearranging financial priorities is harder than ever. Xero doesn’t provide a phone number on its customer support page, but a representative will call you if necessary. This is a serious drawback if you want to be able to pick up the phone and talk through an issue or are new to accounting software and have lots of questions. †Invoice limits for the Starter plan apply to both approving and sending invoices. Transactions initiated by app partners may automatically contribute to your invoice limit.

Let us help you pick a plan

Has robust reporting tools and report customization options, basic inventory tracking in all plans and a capable mobile app; Early plan limits the number of invoices and bills. Xero is not free, though it does provide a free trial of the software for 30 days. Wave, Zoho Books, and ZipBooks are a few of our top picks for free accounting software. You can access Xero-certified independent accountants and bookkeepers or accounting firms when you visit Xero’s Advisor Directory. Aside from Xero advisors, Bookkeeper360 also offers assisted bookkeeping services for Xero users.

In our expert evaluation, we found that Xero has many great, useful features that can work with different businesses. Overall, it did an excellent job in most of the areas we examined, even though it fell short in customer service and the mobile app. Let’s look at our accounting expert’s walkthrough, analysis, and evaluation of Xero’s accounting features. In other features, Xero and QuickBooks Online are head-to-head, and their differences don’t have a significant effect on the overall experience. However, the most notable difference is that Xero has no user limit—you can add as many users as you like, making it more scalable and flexible than QuickBooks Online. But if you intend to hire external bookkeepers and certified public accountants (CPAs) to handle your business’ accounting, QuickBooks Online is more popular for US accountants and bookkeepers.

Xero Reviews From Users

Our partners cannot pay us to guarantee favorable reviews of their products or services. To review this software, we signed up for a free trial of the Xero Established plan. We also reviewed official product documentation, watched demo videos and consulted user reviews on third-party websites. As on desktop, you can then choose to save the invoice as a draft, approve it, or send it via email. We liked that Xero gives you the option to attach files and preview the final look of your invoice at any point in the process. Danielle Bauter is a writer for the Accounting division of Fit Small Business.

Next Up in Business

With the Growing plan, you can also keep track of an unlimited number of bills that you can access and pay from anywhere using any device. These ratings are meant to provide clarity in the decision-making process, but what’s best for your business will depend on its size, growth trajectory and which features you need most. We encourage you to research and compare multiple accounting software products before choosing one. Xero helps transform the data you enter into actionable information at every subscription level. A dashboard provides a summary of your business’s financial health, including total cash in and out, outstanding invoices and overdue bills. Another page dedicated to short-term cash flow charts out how future bills and invoices can affect your bank balance over the next week or month.

Unfortunately, Xero only has a chatbot, a customer service email, and self-help information. To reiterate our point in the A/P section of our case study, the only shortcoming we see is with viewing inventory in the PO. Overall, we’re satisfied with how Xero’s inventory features performed based on our rubric.

The Xero app store offers more than 1,000 prebuilt connections that integrate with third-party apps. This is more integrations than all its main competitors, including QuickBooks and FreshBooks. All three plans come with an optional add-on for payroll with Gusto for $40 per month plus $6 per month per person. When it comes to Xero accounting software pricing, what is cost of goods sold and how to calculate it it is hard to imagine that cost is an issue but there may be features you’re looking for that are available in the Xero alternatives below. Moreover, you can set rules to categorize every transaction and match them with each receipt, bill, or invoice. In this way, you no longer have to manually check every transaction and match them with bill payments.

But one of the major differences between SMEs and large corporations is that the latter have the capability to invest in sophisticated accounting software solutions. For example, you can give all employees the ability to send quotes and invoices, allow some to enter expenses and limit who can see the company’s complete financial picture. To keep things organized, Xero logs every action users make and compiles the history of every transaction. Xero only allows one organization per subscription, so if you need to do accounting for more than one business, you’ll need to purchase an account for each one.


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