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.

  • When reconciling books, Xero suggests likely matches between bank statement lines and transactions entered in the software.
  • With this feature, you can monitor your employees’ spending with ease and reimburse their expenses without delay.
  • With digital copies on hand, it is easier to manage bills and financial statements and organize them by folders and by using tags.
  • Our partners cannot pay us to guarantee favorable reviews of their products or services.

It also flags Xero transactions that appear to match bank statement lines, making reconciliation more straightforward. Xero costs start at $0 per month with a free plan and paid plans start at $22 per month and go up to $47+ per month. Xero offers a choice of three subscription plans, which range in price from $13 to $70 per month. From accountant tools to CRM solutions, it’s easy to integrate Xero with your existing software services. In general, accounting software companies should have open lines of communication with customers.

How does Xero work?

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.

  • More than 3.5 million users all over the globe use Xero to manage their billing and invoicing each month.
  • Includes tools that help automate the reconciliation process, along with a global search function; has a simple layout and a customizable dashboard.
  • Feel confident with the most comprehensive software search resource out there.
  • You will receive an email message with instructions on how to reset your password.
  • It can create recurring bills, but you’ll need to record the payment of that bill manually.

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 temporarily restricted funds 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.

Start using Xero for free

Xero lets new customers sign up for a 30-day free trial to test out its features. You can add Gusto payroll to any plan for an extra $40 per month, plus $6 per month per person. The number of users is also technically unlimited, but FreshBooks does charge an extra fee per user.

Early Plan

If you’re a larger company with multiple bank accounts, go for a more robust accounting system like QuickBooks Enterprise. For heavily inventory-based businesses, we suggest an ERP like NetSuite ERP or Sage Intacct. In this area, we gave more weight to certain features like creating inventory items, viewing inventory levels, adding inventory to invoices, and calculating COGS automatically.

Xero Review: Features, Pricing & Alternatives

This influences which products we write about and where and how the product appears on a page. If you didn’t receive an email don’t forgot to check your spam folder, otherwise contact support. If you’re a beginning, Xero has a whole set of videos available to help teach you the software.

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.

While Xero offers unlimited users, it compensates for that by significantly limiting the number of invoices and bills allowed on the Early plan (20 invoices and five bills). Most businesses will soon find themselves needing to upgrade to a more costly plan. That’s why it’s our best ecommerce accounting software for companies needing to include multiple users in the program.

Customizable reports and dashboards

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.