Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
QuickBooks Online
Score 8.2 out of 10
N/A
QuickBooks Online is a SaaS version of the QuickBooks product. It contains all of the features found in the local version. Higher-priced plans include greater automation, payment management, inventory and time tracking, and analytics features.
$20
per month
Xero
Score 8.3 out of 10
N/A
Xero is an online accounting software product for small businesses and personal finance. Its features beyond general ledger and double-bookkeeping include quotable invoicing, bank reconciliation, purchase order and expense management, and tax management. Third party apps can extend its features further.
$13
per month
Pricing
QuickBooks OnlineXero
Editions & Modules
Solopreneur
$20
per month
Simple Start
$35
per month
Plus
$99
per month
Advanced
$235
per month
Early
$13
per month
Growing
$37
per month
Established
$70
per month
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
QuickBooks OnlineXero
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsPrices in table are in USD and just apply to the US - other markets & prices are listed below: Canada - Starter $18 CAD/month, Standard $45 CAD/month, Premium 5 $58 CAD/month UK - Starter £14/month, Standard £28/month, Premium £36/month AU - Starter $29 AUD/month, Standard $59 AUD/month, Premium 5 $76 AUD/month NZ - Starter $31 NZD/month, Standard $66 NZD/month, Premium $84 NZD/month
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
QuickBooks OnlineXero
Considered Both Products
QuickBooks Online
Chose QuickBooks Online
Xero provides similar functionality. It recently added a payroll function for my state. It also has the more robust document management system that QBO needs to move towards.
Chose QuickBooks Online
QuickBooks is the grand daddy of accounting. They cater to the end user. Xero caters to accounting and the cloud. Xero is constantly improving their products and services. QBO seems to be just doing enough to stay ahead.
Chose QuickBooks Online
QuickBooks Online and Xero offer many similar features. I believe QuickBooks Online is easier to use. Xero offers tax features for companies that operate in other companies that you have to turn off in several locations if you are using it for a US company.
Chose QuickBooks Online
They are tough competitors. I believe each has their own strengths and weaknesses. Overall, QBO is slightly less expensive than Xero (at the moment, at least), so that is a plus. The real reason that we went with QBO in the beginning is that it was a more mature product, and it …
Chose QuickBooks Online
We liked the fresh approach and the clean aesthetics of Wave, Xero and ZipBooks. However they all lacked the ability to customize a invoice template, which is sad to say, but that was the #1 feature for us, since we had existing customers that we didn't want to disrupt; i.e., …
Chose QuickBooks Online
No competitor quick stacks up. FreshBooks has a speedy UI, but lacks features for a more complex small business. Xero has a UI that I personally don't like as much and it never felt quite right to me. Not as many accountants are familiar either. Zoho Books came the closest …
Chose QuickBooks Online
While my experience with Xero is limited, QuickBooks Online and Premier versions both seem to be more polished overall. Xero's user interface is a bit more oqaque and clunkier, and Intuit just offers a more seamless experience with its QuickBooks products. However, pricing …
Chose QuickBooks Online
Xero is very comparable to QuickBooks Online, they are both good systems. QuickBooks has more integrations, works better for construction in the U.S., and the price is right. There are thousands of resources online and pro advisors to help if you need anything. Typically any …
Chose QuickBooks Online
We liked the QB interface and also read positive reviews about the product online and from direct referrals
Chose QuickBooks Online
Quick and easy to set up. QuickBooks Online has a full suite of bookkeeping tools and pricing is affordable. QBO is best suited for Small Businesses and it's cloud-based, which is also well suited for the owners who work remotely. It is flexible and integrates well with …
Chose QuickBooks Online
It is a platform that we consider to be mid-range. Where we are below cost and functionality relative to the more robust players like a SAP Business One, but still powerful enough for a medium or large size operation. In addition to being one of the few global solutions that …
Chose QuickBooks Online
Ultimately, QuickBooks/Intuit has the most market share when it comes to accounting software. The benefit of so many people using this software is that there's always an answer to a problem that you may be having when it comes to using the software. Intuit has provided a …
Chose QuickBooks Online
Quickbooks has a very friendly user interface and it also integrates with other softwares. Honestly, I think other software may function just as well and if I wasn't so familiar with QuickBooks I may consider using them.
Chose QuickBooks Online
Tried Xero briefly but did not like it. Seemed less well organized and used too many terms commonly used outside the US. Xero also lacked payroll processing at the time. We looked a couple lower end products but did not like them. You cannot go wrong with QuickBooks in the US. …
Chose QuickBooks Online
We chose QuickBooks online because it was the only option other than QuickBooks Desktop that supports the sub-class functionality that is essential for our business.
Chose QuickBooks Online
My bookkeeper introduce me to QBs, I haven't had a chance to compare to other providers like Xero.
Chose QuickBooks Online
Only used QuickBooks Online because customer had already started with it and didn't want to switch. It provided better integration with Bill.com.
Chose QuickBooks Online
It's similar and each program has its pros and cons. QuickBooks Online is a bit more "familiar" if you are used to QuickBooks.
Chose QuickBooks Online
Xero is good. Very good, however, Intuit does a better job of marketing to me.
Chose QuickBooks Online
I do use Xero and NetSuite for other companies. I started using Xero a few years ago because QuickBooks Online features were very limited and didn't have the ability to convert a QuickBooks desktop file. I have been impressed with QuickBooks Online's advancements. I think it …
Chose QuickBooks Online
Quickbooks was the software I was first introduced to, and have stayed with it for familiarity and ease for my boss.
Specifically for invoicing, I have used Freshbooks Online, and while it does have some features that would be useful in Quickbooks, overall, it is not as …
Chose QuickBooks Online
We use Xero. I prefer working with clients using Xero over QuickBooks Online. Xero is simpler to use. The clients we have using Xero love it.

We also have many clients using QuickBooks Desktop on a hosted environment. However, hosted QuickBooks is much more expensive than …
Xero
Chose Xero
I prefer to just say I'm a Xero only practice. U cannot sign up if u do not want to use Xero.
Chose Xero
We selected Xero specifically for accessibility.
Chose Xero
Xero is far ahead in terms of innovations and cost looking at what you get out of Xero.
Chose Xero
Xero is far more robust and perfectly tailored to the Australian market with our tax laws, compliance and standards.
Chose Xero
Each of the products I listed had their own list of drawbacks, but the one thing they all had in common, which was right on top of that list of drawbacks, was ease of use. I struggled to get myself accustomed to each system and struggled, but when it came to getting a client to …
Chose Xero
Xero could be slightly more expensive compared to these products but to me, Xero is the most user-friendly platform. It is very easy to use. Their support page and email support are also great. Apart from the platform, Xero has lots of integrations with other software providers …
Chose Xero
For one QB, customer service is terrible! The software is clunky and not as user-friendly as Xero. We have chosen Xero for many reasons: Custom Reports, Cost, support, and perks of being a partner.
Chose Xero
Xero is 100% better than Quickbooks. Xero was recommended to me by our CRM software and in doing my research, I was highly impressed with the ease of use and the great reviews it received. The customer support from day one of setting this up through my questions over time, …
Chose Xero
Xero is just as infuriating as Quickbooks. We only use it because the last CFO set it up and it's taking us a while to establish a new accounting platform that will allow us to migrate away from this dumpster fire.
Chose Xero
In my opinion, the main competitor to Xero is QuickBooks but I migrated from QuickBooks to Xero because I was looking for an accounting software with an interface easier to use.
Chose Xero
Xero ranks highly among the competitors, however multi-level reporting is better done in QuickBooks. More price sensitive, micro-businesses can find decent cheaper or free alternatives. Those wanting integration with other apps like cashflow management, inventory, reporting …
Chose Xero
Xero is easily to use than other accounting software.
Chose Xero
Xero has more intuitive user interface which makes it much more easier to use as compared to the other products. It also offers a wider collection of accounting and financial management features which makes it possible to have just one product for manning all the financial …
Chose Xero
Xero is really basic and our team can easily adapt with it rather than using other some other non-user friendly apps. We could focus on the work itself rather than having problems with learning its complexity. Xero is very user-friendly and also gives tutorial which is great! …
Chose Xero
I've used a lot of different accounting systems. Many of them so big and powerful, but a hassle to get set up. Xero is light, inexpensive, and easy to use. When I originally selected them they seemed like they were developing new features at a quick rate as well. I was invited …
Chose Xero
Xero is very much a market leader and is at a sensible cost point. It offers a wealth of functionality with all accounting features coming as standard. It's easy to add bolt ons such as payroll at any time.
Chose Xero
Xero has a more modern user interface, better bank account synchronization, better automations, and an overall more pleasurable user experience. The setup is more simple.

Quickbooks Desktop has easier to use and more robust reporting; however, for my needs that is overkill. What …
Chose Xero
Just simpler and has a cleaner interface. I would say that quickbooks is designed for less savvy business owners, but that makes it slower to use than Xero. I'm not suggesting that Xero is hard to use, it's really simple, but it does assume you have a level of financial …
Chose Xero
Sage at the time we moved to Xero did not really have a suitable Cloud offering and the full SaaS solution it did have was only applicable to very small businesses. Quickbooks was very similar to Xero but during testing, most users preferred Xero for various reasons. Xero's UI …
Chose Xero
Xero is superior to Quickbooks. It is user friendly
Chose Xero
Xero is alot more user-friendly and easy to integrate with other solutions
Chose Xero
No product thus far can even compare to Xero.
Pastel is tedious and tiresome with everything that has to be captured manually and if an error is made a new journal needs to be drafted to correct it.
Zoho Reports are horrible and pulls through limited data.
Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
QuickBooks OnlineXero
Payroll Management
Comparison of Payroll Management features of Product A and Product B
QuickBooks Online
6.5
80 Ratings
12% below category average
Xero
7.5
73 Ratings
2% above category average
Pay calculation5.771 Ratings8.065 Ratings
Benefit plan administration6.133 Ratings8.023 Ratings
Direct deposit files7.166 Ratings7.249 Ratings
Salary revision and increment management7.845 Ratings7.241 Ratings
Reimbursement management5.647 Ratings7.154 Ratings
Customization
Comparison of Customization features of Product A and Product B
QuickBooks Online
8.1
71 Ratings
8% above category average
Xero
8.1
153 Ratings
8% above category average
API for custom integration8.457 Ratings7.979 Ratings
Plug-ins7.758 Ratings8.3140 Ratings
Security
Comparison of Security features of Product A and Product B
QuickBooks Online
9.3
111 Ratings
12% above category average
Xero
7.3
191 Ratings
12% below category average
Single sign-on capability9.183 Ratings5.772 Ratings
Role-based user permissions9.5105 Ratings8.9189 Ratings
Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
QuickBooks Online
8.0
135 Ratings
3% above category average
Xero
8.5
215 Ratings
9% above category average
Dashboards7.9127 Ratings8.4211 Ratings
Standard reports8.1131 Ratings8.7213 Ratings
Custom reports7.9119 Ratings8.3189 Ratings
General Ledger and Configurable Accounting
Comparison of General Ledger and Configurable Accounting features of Product A and Product B
QuickBooks Online
8.0
146 Ratings
4% above category average
Xero
7.2
225 Ratings
6% below category average
Accounts payable8.5125 Ratings8.7205 Ratings
Accounts receivable8.5134 Ratings8.9211 Ratings
Cash management8.6123 Ratings8.3193 Ratings
Bank reconciliation8.6140 Ratings8.9218 Ratings
Expense management8.2125 Ratings8.2199 Ratings
Time tracking4.557 Ratings8.275 Ratings
Fixed asset management8.455 Ratings8.5139 Ratings
Multi-currency support6.824 Ratings7.9132 Ratings
Multi-division support9.245 Ratings8.2114 Ratings
Regulations compliance8.940 Ratings8.6114 Ratings
Electronic tax filing8.168 Ratings9.3118 Ratings
Self-service portal7.168 Ratings8.2132 Ratings
Global Financial Support8.418 Ratings6.969 Ratings
Primary and Secondary Ledgers7.337 Ratings8.567 Ratings
Intercompany Accounting8.931 Ratings4.540 Ratings
Localizations8.423 Ratings8.039 Ratings
Journals and Reconciliations8.176 Ratings9.890 Ratings
Enterprise Accounting8.327 Ratings2.533 Ratings
Configurable Accounting7.840 Ratings3.059 Ratings
Centralized Rules Framework8.226 Ratings3.433 Ratings
Standardized Processes8.151 Ratings3.859 Ratings
Inventory Management
Comparison of Inventory Management features of Product A and Product B
QuickBooks Online
7.3
49 Ratings
3% above category average
Xero
6.4
103 Ratings
10% below category average
Inventory tracking7.346 Ratings7.599 Ratings
Automatic reordering6.523 Ratings6.224 Ratings
Location management8.423 Ratings6.229 Ratings
Manufacturing module6.818 Ratings6.016 Ratings
Order Management
Comparison of Order Management features of Product A and Product B
QuickBooks Online
8.0
89 Ratings
5% above category average
Xero
6.2
89 Ratings
20% below category average
Pricing7.756 Ratings6.262 Ratings
Order entry7.754 Ratings6.256 Ratings
Credit card processing8.965 Ratings6.358 Ratings
Cost of goods sold7.770 Ratings6.366 Ratings
Order Orchestration7.722 Ratings6.121 Ratings
End-to-end order visibility8.721 Ratings6.124 Ratings
Order exception Resolution7.819 Ratings6.117 Ratings
Best Alternatives
QuickBooks OnlineXero
Small Businesses
Dext Prepare (with Receipt Bank)
Dext Prepare (with Receipt Bank)
Score 9.6 out of 10
Dext Prepare (with Receipt Bank)
Dext Prepare (with Receipt Bank)
Score 9.6 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Accounting Seed
Accounting Seed
Score 7.4 out of 10
Accounting Seed
Accounting Seed
Score 7.4 out of 10
Enterprises
Oracle Fusion Cloud ERP
Oracle Fusion Cloud ERP
Score 6.8 out of 10
Oracle Fusion Cloud ERP
Oracle Fusion Cloud ERP
Score 6.8 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
QuickBooks OnlineXero
Likelihood to Recommend
7.0
(164 ratings)
8.4
(240 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
2.2
(24 ratings)
8.5
(35 ratings)
Usability
7.9
(79 ratings)
8.5
(165 ratings)
Availability
2.0
(5 ratings)
9.0
(10 ratings)
Performance
1.0
(4 ratings)
10.0
(8 ratings)
Support Rating
1.3
(68 ratings)
9.3
(36 ratings)
In-Person Training
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(1 ratings)
Online Training
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(5 ratings)
Implementation Rating
3.0
(6 ratings)
7.3
(10 ratings)
Configurability
10.0
(1 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Ease of integration
1.3
(2 ratings)
7.1
(124 ratings)
Product Scalability
1.0
(2 ratings)
10.0
(6 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
1.0
(2 ratings)
9.0
(2 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
1.0
(2 ratings)
10.0
(2 ratings)
User Testimonials
QuickBooks OnlineXero
Likelihood to Recommend
Intuit
QuickBooks Online is well suited for businesses looking for a cloud-based accounting software package allowing staff to work remotely or in a hybrid setting. QuickBooks Online is great for companies that want an efficient accounting software package that lends well to basic financial reporting (income statement and balance sheet). We enjoy working in QuickBooks Online.
Read full review
Xero
Xero is loaded with exceptional features that make it a perfect fit for all accounting and financial management needs. It makes it easy to budget for our financial resources and to track how they are spent, which helps ensure no spending beyond the budget. Xero also has analytics that help determine our financial health position.
Read full review
Pros
Intuit
  • It enables me to do a P&L for each specific program as requested by the county for the grant money that they give us.
  • It enables me to do [an] organizational budget as well as a budget for each specific program
  • It enables the accountant and the auditor access at any time for transparency
Read full review
Xero
  • Repeating invoices (most of my business is monthly recurring invoices) - it does these very well.
  • Reporting - particularly being able to dig into the different lines of the P&L statement.
  • Tracking categories - I assign a category to every line of every invoice so it's easy to see how much has been sold of each type of service every month and year, and compare them to previous periods.
Read full review
Cons
Intuit
  • Purchase Orders cannot be linked to multiple bill payments which makes tracking purchase orders in QuickBooks Online obsolete. Without the function we have to track this within a different more manual spreadsheet.
  • Would be helpful if you could "split" bank transactions directly from the "review" downloads from the bank. Currently, to split transactions to multiple accounts we need to first categorize, then review after assigning to 1 account.
Read full review
Xero
  • Having different email addresses for different parts of a customer's business (eg invoices and statements to different places)
  • Easily seeing the text of emails that have been sent through Xero
  • More easily archiving old pay items. Our HR software updates rates when awards are updated which means a lot of old pay rates are in the system and they have multiple clicks to archive each one. Clicking the ones to archive in bulk and then just click archive for all would be much more efficient.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
Intuit
It like the product 'right out of the box' and I trust Intuit will continually improve it over the years based on my experience with their desktop products. The large providers of Apps makes customizing the entire package relatively easy and seamless for a wide variety of business types.
Read full review
Xero
In addition to the matters covered in this review, my reason for renewing this product is that Xero's functionality and the constant updates that the company provides, makes the software even more business friendly. The software therefore builds a brand loyalty among customers.
Read full review
Usability
Intuit
While QuickBooks Online is generally easy to navigate, there are some features and functions that often require a Google search in order to find out where they are actually hidden. Additionally, there are some simple customization features that are surprisingly not available for an otherwise advanced program (e.g. only having a pool of 4 fonts to choose from, only having 4 very limited templates for invoicing, not color selection, etc). While I would say that about 75% of users shouldn't have a problem finding their way around with basic functions, there is a learning curve if you want to be able to dive into some of the more useful features, almost to the point that you need to have a dedicated account manager in order to use QuickBooks Online most effectively.
Read full review
Xero
As a standalone software, it allows users to fulfill most of the basic functions (e.g. transaction input and report generation) simply and conveniently. It also allows for multiple APIs to help augment various tasks that accounting-adjacent (e.g. claims processing). The cloud based model and portability to mobile devices allows tasks to be carried out in a more convenient way.
Read full review
Reliability and Availability
Intuit
We have rarely had outages in the last 10 years. I can only recall 2 times in the last 10 years where we were not able to access our client files.
Read full review
Xero
We have been actively using and 100% Xero based for our ecommerce accounting practice for over 4 years. There has on been one real outage for more than 5 minutes. Xero was open and transparent about the outage, what they were doing to resolve the issue, and provided 15 minute updates. Showing how they care about their customers and partners. Plus, showing that their customers care too, were understanding, and went surfing or in our case took a nap. Couldn't run our business without Xero as a partner.
Read full review
Performance
Intuit
There are tab issues. When I tab the field doesn't highlight and I have to backspace or delete what is in the field. Happens on the memo field and sometimes other fields. Very time consuming.
Read full review
Xero
Pages generally load quickly, but it's a fairly common occurrence to have pages taking a bit longer than I'd like to load (as in, 4+ seconds). Occasionally I have to refresh a page to get it to work. Bank feed and integrations tend to be slow in general, but that could easily be due to API latency on the side of the other parties. Most of the time, though, the bank feeds refresh before I login so it's not a huge problem. Not necessarily good performance compared to a local app like QuickBooks desktop, but definitely good performance for a cloud application. Room for growth? yes.
Read full review
Support Rating
Intuit
In my experience, most representatives keep me on the phone for hours, literally, for a single issue and then usually cannot resolve it satisfactorily. I have 10 open cases that need resolution and, in my experience, there has been NO follow-up communication on any of them.
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Xero
Always respond and keep issues open until you are satisfied with the result. Generally good responses, in the past, I had some support responses that were really basic and really annoying. They type where "have your tried restarting your computer" style of answers. Well, of course, I went through all the basics before contacting them. Duh, but I suppose not everyone does. Otherwise, it would be a 10. The last year has shown a marked improvement in the support responses however.
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In-Person Training
Intuit
No answers on this topic
Xero
The format was great; someone was there to ask questions or help if you were stuck.
Read full review
Online Training
Intuit
No answers on this topic
Xero
All of Xero's training is online and available for anyone (business owner or accountants) to learn and become experts in their system. There is a range of content from product training to real world webinars from their partners. Xero is beautiful accounting software and their training is the same.
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Implementation Rating
Intuit
The person in charge of QB needs to be very accurate with record keeping and is recommended to stay on top of tasks. The biggest issue we have is reconciliation, and those issues occur only when too much time has occurred between reconciliations
Read full review
Xero
If it can be done, time the implementation near a new fiscal year so you can start clean. Otherwise, you have to go back and do historical data from the beginning of the fiscal year, which can be brain draining.
Read full review
Alternatives Considered
Intuit
Quick and easy to set up. QuickBooks Online has a full suite of bookkeeping tools and pricing is affordable. QBO is best suited for Small Businesses and it's cloud-based, which is also well suited for the owners who work remotely. It is flexible and integrates well with Third-Party Payments. Bank reconciliation is a breeze.
Read full review
Xero
Each of the products I listed had their own list of drawbacks, but the one thing they all had in common, which was right on top of that list of drawbacks, was ease of use. I struggled to get myself accustomed to each system and struggled, but when it came to getting a client to even try and use it was when the true struggle started. Just found it easier to make use of Xero from the very beginning.
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Scalability
Intuit
As we have grown along our professional path, we have also expanded our use of QB. The scalability is easy and features seem to be waiting for you until you need them. We have increased profits by over 10x from our first year in business to the current and have yet to find a reason to look elsewhere
Read full review
Xero
I have yet to fully stress test the product given the size of the company where I am using it. I am sure as we scale to more customers, more vendors and more reporting requirements, I will have a better understanding of what it is capable of in terms of bandwidth and processing
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Return on Investment
Intuit
  • It has created a lot of cost and in-efficiency whenever we need to talk to support.
  • I spent a lot of time setting up their automatic reminders for past due invoices and it worked for a couple of months and then it stopped. It's currently being worked on by their tech team but it has been months and it is still not working. It would have saved me a lot of time.
  • Their multi-currency saves time in sending invoices abroad but it's limiting when a customer wants an invoice in USD instead of a foreign currency so I have to set up different customer accounts for different currencies.
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Xero
  • Xero is a basic accounting system that performs basic accounting tasks easily and accurately. For that, it provides a positive impact on our day to day accounting operations.
  • Because of Xero's basic structure, I feel it lacks some of the sophistication that some users want and need. The ability to create unique custom reports would enhance the impact Xero would have on meeting business objectives by providing current and useful accounting information.
  • In my opinion, Xero's lack of focus on their customers - their users - is a real issue with me. In my opinion, those of us that are in the trenches that work with the system on a daily basis have to deal with the shortcomings of the system with the knowledge that Xero support refuses to address the operational issues that make their user's lives difficult. I feel if Xero would focus on truly making their software better from a users point of view, it has the potential to be a great system.
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ScreenShots

Xero Screenshots

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