About Xero
Xero is a cloud-based small business accounting software with tools for managing invoicing, bank reconciliation, inventory, purchasing, expenses, bookkeeping and more. Xero is an alternative to QuickBooks. It is a modern, small business accounting software that lives in the cloud. It's accessible from any computer or mobile device, making for a smarter and easier accounting process, with features including cash flow tracking, payment processing, bank reconciliation, expense tracking, inventory management, financial reporting, and more.
The Xero dashboard presents users with a clear and concise overview of their financial situation. It provides small business owners with a greater understanding of their cashflow by highlighting bank balances, outstanding invoices, upcoming bills and expense claims in a visually appealing way. Daily bank and credit card transactions are automatically imported into Xero and matched to their corresponding accounting transaction. Doing bank reconciliation is as easy as confirming the match is corrected and clicking "OK."
Xero integrates with over 1,000 third-party apps commonly used by small businesses including Stripe, PayPal, Capsule, HubSpot, and more in order to streamline workflows and synchronize data such as sales invoices, client data, cashflow reports, payroll data, and more. Data flows directly into the Xero ledger, removing the time and effort required for manual data entry. Every Xero plan comes with unlimited users, so there's no need to pay for extra licenses. Collaborate with colleagues or invite financial advisors to view data remotely and get valuable real-time advice.
Pricing starting from:
US$5.50/month
- Free Version
- Free Trial
- Subscription
Top 5 alternatives to Xero
Key benefits of Xero
Devices
Business size
Markets
Supported Languages
Pricing starting from:
US$5.50/month
- Free Version
- Free Trial
- Subscription
Top 5 alternatives to Xero
Images
Features
Total features of Xero: 160
- "What If" Scenarios
- 401(k) Tracking
- ACH Payment Processing
- API
- Access Controls/Permissions
- Accounting
- Accounts Payable
- Accounts Receivable
- Accrual Accounting
- Activity Dashboard
- Activity Tracking
- Ad hoc Reporting
- Alerts/Notifications
- Approval Process Control
- Approval Workflow
- Asset Accounting
- Asset Tracking
- Audit Trail
- Automated Quoting
- Automatic Backup
- Automatic Billing
- Bank Reconciliation
- Benefits Management
- Billing & Invoicing
- Billing Portal
- Budgeting/Forecasting
- CPA Firms
- Calendar Management
- Case Management
- Cash Flow Management
- Cash Management
- Cataloging/Categorization
- Charting
- Check Printing
- Check Processing
- Check Writing
- Client Management
- Client Portal
- Collections Management
- Compliance Management
- Consolidation/Roll-Up
- Construction Breakdowns
- Contact Database
- Contact Management
- Contingency Billing
- Contract/License Management
- Cost Tracking
- Credit Card Processing
- Cross Ledger Posting
- Currency Conversion
- Customer Database
- Customer History
- Customer Statements
- Customizable Branding
- Customizable Invoices
- Customizable Reports
- Customizable Templates
- Data Import/Export
- Direct Deposit
- Discount Management
- Document Management
- Document Storage
- Document Templates
- Drag & Drop
- Due Date Tracking
- Dunning Management
- Duplicate Payment Alert
- Electronic Payments
- Email Management
- Email Templates
- Expense Claims
- Expense Management
- Expense Tracking
- Fee Calculation & Posting
- Financial Analysis
- Financial Management
- Financial Reporting
- Fixed Asset Management
- For CPA Firms
- For Government
- Forecasting
- Fraud Detection
- Fund Accounting
- General Ledger
- Hourly Billing
- Income & Balance Sheet
- Inventory Control
- Inventory Management
- Inventory Optimization
- Inventory Tracking
- Invoice History
- Invoice Management
- Invoice Processing
- Job Costing
- Kitting
- Mobile Access
- Mobile Payments
- Monitoring
- Multi-Channel Management
- Multi-Company
- Multi-Country
- Multi-Currency
- Multi-State
- Nonprofits
- Online Invoicing
- Online Payments
- Order Management
- Order Processing
- Order Tracking
- Overpayment Processing
- Overrun Reporting
- Partial Payments
- Payment Processing
- Payroll Management
- Payroll Reporting
- Price / Margin Management
- Pricing Management
- Product Identification
- Profit/Loss Statement
- Progress Tracking
- Project Accounting
- Project Billing
- Project Management
- Purchase Order Management
- Quotes/Estimates
- Real Time Data
- Real Time Reporting
- Receipt Management
- Receivables Ledger
- Recurring/Subscription Billing
- Reimbursement Management
- Reorder Management
- Reporting/Analytics
- Requisition Management
- Retail Inventory Management
- Revenue Recognition
- Sales Reports
- Sales Tax Management
- Search/Filter
- Self Service Portal
- Shipping Management
- Sourcing Management
- Spend Management
- Staff Management
- Status Tracking
- Stock Management
- Supplier Management
- Tax Calculation
- Tax Compliance
- Tax Management
- Template Management
- Third Party Integrations
- Time & Expense Tracking
- Time Tracking
- Transaction History
- Vacation/Leave Tracking
- Vendor Management
- W-2 Preparation
- Wage Garnishment
- Warehouse Management
Alternatives
QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise
Odoo
Quickbooks Online
NetSuite
Reviews
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- Industry: Arts & Crafts
- Company size: Self Employed
- Used Weekly for 1+ year
-
Review Source
Overall rating
- Value for Money
- Ease of Use
- Customer Support
- Likelihood to recommend 10.0 /10
Affordable professional level accounting software for small business
Reviewed on 26/08/2019
It's been easier to use Xero than I expected, but I had a nasty surprise at tax time when I...
It's been easier to use Xero than I expected, but I had a nasty surprise at tax time when I realized the default accounts/descriptions for expenses did not correlate 1:1 to IRS categories. (I should have checked this more closely when I set up my accounts because it's a New Zealand company, and the previous product was local.) This means I will need to double-check all my transactions for 2018 and the IRS has my vastly overestimated tax payment until I can do that and file my return on an extension.
I've had a much better experience importing data from financial institutions because Xero uses a well-known importing service that is trusted by the institutions.
I like being able to match multiple invoices to bank deposits because I usually don't run to the bank for each check. This will be more valuable as my company grows.
I should probably find an accountant to assist me with this, but I haven't found an accountant who understands both craft businesses and Xero.
Pros
Professional double entry software at a very affordable price
Accommodates both cash and accrual accounting
Links to financial institutions to get transactions
Uses standard importer recognized by the financial institutions instead of just trying to log in remotely (and triggering fraud alerts)
Can match multiple invoices to a single deposit transaction imported from bank
Can keep using Xero as company grows
Cons
Pre-existing expense categories/descriptions don't map 1:1 with IRS definitions, so I'm having to go back to all my receipts to make sure expenses are entered in proper accounts because I didn't realize this when I switched
More difficult to focus on specific expense categories to check transactions
Have not been able to import historic data from previous app (possibly because it's not double entry) so I am still paying the subscription on that software to retain access to my data
No integration with Craftybase, so I have to enter supply purchases and customer invoices there independently
Alternatives Considered
Quickbooks OnlineReasons for Choosing Xero
Outright depends on importing data from financial institutions but they were extremely unreliable (apparently they don't use a standard importing service and my credit union kept flagging them as hackers for remote logins) and customer service kept giving me the runaround. It also isn't "professional" double-entry bookkeeping and can't be audited. Outright can't handle Cost of Goods Sold properly and requires manual workarounds. It can't generate professional reports needed when applying for loans.Switched From
GoDaddy Online BookkeepingReasons for Switching to Xero
QuickBooks introduced a special product for Etsy integration, but early adopters had problems with data disappearing and no way to recover it. Otherwise, the cost of QuickBooks to cover the same features I use in Xero would have been very expensive; even a QB consultant told me it's overkill for a business of my size. I forget which other products I looked at, but Xero was recommended by several owners of similar businesses.
- Industry: Accounting
- Company size: 2-10 Employees
- Used Weekly for 1+ year
-
Review Source
Overall rating
- Value for Money
- Ease of Use
- Customer Support
- Likelihood to recommend 10.0 /10
Xero is the One
Reviewed on 16/08/2021
I am very satisfied to be building my practice on Xero. They have a good product with a good...
I am very satisfied to be building my practice on Xero. They have a good product with a good company behind it. They seem to really care about their advisors and see them as key to their business model. They have a great community and great support.
Pros
What I like most about Xero is its open-platform ethos. It's not one particular feature, it's the whole way that Xero approaches what it does, and it shows up all over the product. One small example is how easy it is to manually import bank transactions via CSV file, and then how easy it is to undo that import if it went wrong. It's less about features (although Cash Coding and Find & Recode are brilliant) and more about design choices.
Cons
I want them to hurry up and integrate Hubdoc into Xero itself. And when that happens, I want there to be a way to generate a report that shows which GL transactions don't have a source document.
Alternatives Considered
Sage 50cloudReasons for Choosing Xero
Quickbooks treats their ProAdvisors the way Scar treats the hyenas in the Lion King. For Quickbooks, the advisor community will always be a means to an end. Their products are built for consumers, not professionals, and I expect they always will be.Switched From
Quickbooks OnlineReasons for Switching to Xero
In the end, I decided that the ability to integrate apps was going to be determinative over the long term. Xero and QBO are way out in front when it comes to integration and I expect that as the market matures, they will end up with a Coke-and-Pepsi-level of market dominance. They may already be there. Early on, I tried to get someone to sell me Accounting Power and/or Sage 50, but neither company seemed organized enough to close the sale. I was looking for a software partner that I could build my practice on and Xero were the ones who showed me they wanted to be that and had a plan to make it happen.- Industry: Accounting
- Company size: 2-10 Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
-
Review Source
Overall rating
- Value for Money
- Ease of Use
- Customer Support
- Likelihood to recommend 0.0 /10
ACCOUNTANT WARNING DO NOT PARTNER - I was 2nd partner in Canada not a smart move heres why!
Reviewed on 13/07/2019
Pros
Not much to say here anymore, they pretty much used to be good and totally lost faith.
Cons
As an accounting firm I would be very cautious with using Xero or recommending it to clients. Outside of Xero billing for things that were supposed to be free, which after complaining they claim they will reconcile but I had to threaten with a lawyer to get that reaction. As an accounting firm it is a very risky move to partner with the Xero software platform. As a firm Your clients will know your using Xero and as a result will likely start to follow Xero using social media. When this happen your clients will receive advertisements about other Accounting firms partnered with Xero. The problem isn’t that you will loose your clients, but this makes you look really bad in front of your clients that you are recommending a software that recommends other accountants outside your firm. This actually happened to me in Canada, and the response of the Canadian Xero team was simply that they didn’t intend on these promotions to be received by the clients of my firm. They didn’t care, they didn’t apologize, they didn’t even acknowledge what they did was wrong, it was evident that they prioritized their growth over their existing partners, at least in Canada. Even The Canadian director of Xero comments where limited to telling me ” I understand that you need to make important decisions in the best interest of your firm”. To me this was a clear message that he doesn’t care. As a small business the software was historically leading, recently, many clients are having issues logging in
- Industry: Marketing & Advertising
- Company size: 11-50 Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
-
Review Source
Overall rating
- Value for Money
- Ease of Use
- Customer Support
- Likelihood to recommend 10.0 /10
Perfect Accounting Software - Nothing Comes Close
Reviewed on 24/05/2021
Xero changed the face of accounting for our business. It has made accounting work far less painful...
Xero changed the face of accounting for our business. It has made accounting work far less painful than it used to be. And the true cloud-based setup makes it so much easier to access from anywhere.
Pros
Ease of use - seriously. Nothing comes close. And trust me, I've tried a number of accounting software and they're all a nightmare to use unless you're an accountant.
Cons
Customer support could be quicker, and phone support would help.
Alternatives Considered
Quickbooks Online, Sage 100cloud, QuickBooks Online Advanced, QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise and Sage 50cloudReasons for Choosing Xero
Sage 50 Cloud was supposedly a cloud based software, but it wasn't truly cloud based, and it had all the legacy horrid pains associated with any Sage accounting system.Switched From
Sage 50cloudReasons for Switching to Xero
None of them were truly cloud based. All of them were horribly complicated, made for accountants and not at all user friendly.- Industry: Real Estate
- Company size: 2-10 Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
-
Review Source
Overall rating
- Value for Money
- Ease of Use
- Customer Support
- Likelihood to recommend 10.0 /10
Xero - Overall Great Product
Reviewed on 04/06/2021
The benefits are the ability to have all our accounting record keeping in one place, and to get...
The benefits are the ability to have all our accounting record keeping in one place, and to get reports on any side of our accounting process with the click of a button.
Pros
Easy to use and provides all the information to run our business - from an accounting standpoint. What I like most is the ability to import bank transactions.
Cons
The feature I like the least is Fixed Assets. I find it confusing at times and cannot understand why we cannot attach a copy of the Vendor Invoice to a Fixed Asset file. Find this frustrating when we seem able to attach invoice copies to most other types of transactions.
Xero FAQs
Below are some frequently asked questions for Xero.Q. What type of pricing plans does Xero offer?
Xero offers the following pricing plans:
- Starting from: US$5.50/month
- Pricing model: Subscription
- Free Trial: Available
Q. Who are the typical users of Xero?
Xero has the following typical customers:
Self Employed, 2-10, 11-50, 51-200, 201-500, 501-1,000
Q. What languages does Xero support?
Xero supports the following languages:
English
Q. Does Xero support mobile devices?
Xero supports the following devices:
Android (Mobile), iPhone (Mobile), iPad (Mobile)
Q. What other apps does Xero integrate with?
Xero integrates with the following applications:
Accelo, Actionstep, ActiveCollab, Acuity Scheduling, Administrate Training Management, Agile CRM, ApprovalMax, AroFlo, Authorize.Net, AutoEntry, BarTab, Batchbook, BigCommerce, BlueFolder, BookingBug, BuilderTREND, Capsule, Chargebee, Chargify, Chaser, Checkfront, Checkmybooks, Chrometa, Cin7, ClicData, Clio, CollabSpot, Constant Contact, Copper, Corecon, Current RMS, CustomerSure, Cyfe, DEAR Systems, Datamolino, Debtor Daddy, Deputy, Dext Prepare, Dryrun, EZRentOut, Ecwid, Emburse Nexonia Expenses, Emburse Tallie, Entryless, Epos Now, Everhour, Expensify, Exsalerate CRM, FUTRLI, Fathom, Fergus, FieldAware, Financial Driver, Fishbowl, Float, Float Cash Flow, FreshBooks, Freshdesk, GeoNext, Google Workspace, Grow, Handshake, Harvest, Hike, Hotelogix, Hubdoc, Insightly, InvoiceSherpa, JobAdder, Kickserv, Klipfolio, Lightspeed POS, LivePlan, MRPeasy, Magento Commerce, Mailchimp, Manu Online, Microsoft 365, Microsoft Power BI, Mindbody, MinuteDock, MyBuys, Nobly, OnePageCRM, OneSaas, Onsight, Operations Hub, Panalitix, PandaDoc, PayPal, Payment Evolution, Payoneer, Pepperi, Plooto, Podio, Practice Ignition, ProWorkflow, ProfitSee, Proposify, QuickBooks Commerce, QuickBooks Time, Quickbooks Online, Quoter, Quotient, Qvinci, Qwilr, RESULTS.com, Re-Leased, Really Simple Systems CRM, Rydoo, Sage 50cloud, Sage Business Cloud Accounting, SalesSeek, Sapaad, Satago, ServiceM8, Shoeboxed, Shopify, Simple Salon, Solve CRM, Spotlight Reporting, Square Point of Sale, Starshipit, Streamtime, Stripe, SugarCRM, Synchroteam, Synergy Practice Management, Tidy, Time Tracker, TimeCamp, Timely, Tradify, Trigger, Unleashed, Veeqo, Vend, WORKetc, WooCommerce, Workato, WorkflowMax, XEDI Web EDI, XO Cashflow, ZENOTI, Zahara, Zapier, Zendesk Sell, Zoho Analytics, Zoho Books, Zoho CRM, ezyCollect, ezyVet, simPRO, vWorkApp, webexpenses
Q. What level of support does Xero offer?
Xero offers the following support options:
Email/Help Desk, FAQs/Forum, Knowledge Base, 24/7 (Live rep), Chat
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