Those who left Xero reviews left a lot of positive feedback and excellent ratings on third-party user review websites. Most cited that they switched to the platform because it’s easier to use than those of competitors. Others also mentioned that it integrates with third-party apps that they use in their business.
- Some negative feedback seems to focus on very niche features, like problems with foreign exchange (forex) translations and customization options.
- We are able to keep our service free of charge thanks to cooperation with some of the vendors, who are willing to pay us for traffic and sales opportunities provided by our website.
- The first two plan tiers put a limit on billable clients, but not on invoices.
- And if you don’t like how the dashboard looks, you can reorganize panels and hide the ones that aren’t useful.
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.
About Xero
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. You can do a lot with QuickBooks Online, but all the options may feel like information overload starting out. Xero is designed for small businesses, therefore it has basic restrictions (journal approvals, etc.). As a company’s billing operations reach a certain mass, they outgrow a single Xero instance and require the use of many instances running in parallel to process all of the bills. In general, accounting software companies should have open lines of communication with customers. Unfortunately, Xero only has a chatbot, a customer service email, and self-help information.
- Xero includes extensive features that make it suitable to handle complex accounting processes for small- and medium-sized businesses as well as larger ones.
- All three plans come with an optional add-on for payroll with Gusto for $40 per month plus $6 per month per person.
- Account holders are able to customize online invoices to add a logo, accept payments instantly through the invoice, set automatic reminders for clients to pay and invoice directly from the Xero app.
Xero does provide an account to hold undeposited checks, but the feature doesn’t track when checks are removed and deposited and doesn’t allow cash to be added to the deposit. Though such a feature doesn’t impact the overall performance of Xero that much, not being able to group payments into bank deposits makes it difficult to reconcile your bank account. Accounts payable (A/P) management is one of Xero’s strongest features in our evaluation. From vendor creation to recording of payments, Xero can help in keeping your billing system organized. It also has an outstanding PO system to convert POs into bills, track unpaid bills, record e-payments, and apply vendor credits. It allows you to estimate and prepare quotes that you can convert into digital invoices.
With the Starter plan, you can also enter up to five bills that you can pay by schedule or by batch. Additionally, Xero supports more than 160 currencies that you have the option to automatically convert to your local currency based on up-to-date exchange rates. After you start a free 30-day trial of Xero, you’ll activate the account and provide details about your business.
Xero Pricing Packages
Xero is a cloud-based, double-entry accounting software tool that is designed with small businesses in mind. More than 3.5 million users all over the globe use Xero to manage their billing and invoicing each month. In this Xero accounting software review, we’ll break down the pros and cons to help you figure out whether Xero is the right accounting tool for your needs. Wave Accounting is a free accounting solution for very small service-based businesses, contractors, freelancers and consultants.
Xero Ease of Use
If you can’t justify paying for QuickBooks Online or Xero or they have too many features your business doesn’t need, Wave might be an ideal alternative. It has comparable severance pay estimation worksheet invoicing features, but lacks an audit trail and doesn’t integrate with third-party apps. Both accounting software products let users invite their accountants by email.
Xero Accounting – Starter – Good for sole traders, new businesses, and the self-employed.
Overall, we gave it a high score since it performs well in most of the A/P aspects we want to see in accounting software. FinancesOnline is available for free for all business professionals interested in an efficient way to find top-notch SaaS solutions. We are able to keep our service free of charge thanks to cooperation with some of the vendors, who are willing to pay us for traffic and sales opportunities provided by our website.
Xero lets users create two active tracking categories, while QuickBooks Online allows users to create 40 in the Simple Start, Essentials and Plus plans. The more categories you create, the more reports you can run to get a better idea of how your business functions and where there’s room to grow. Can support larger small businesses with dozens of employees; all three plans include an unlimited number of users. In the accounts receivable (A/R) management portion, we evaluated major aspects like invoice creation, inventory adjustments, and customer payments.
She also regularly writes about business for various consumer publications. Check out these popular alternatives that are closest in terms of key features, functionality, and benefits. Instead, customers can visit the Xero Central support site or raise a case online. 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.
