TrustRadius: an HG Insights company

Save this comparison

Save this comparison

Add Product

Recommended Comparisons

    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Workday Adaptive Planning

    Score7.8 out of 10
    Mid-Size Companies (51-1,000 employees)
    Workday Adaptive Planning streamlines planning workflows, using AI and real-time data integration to improve collaboration and provide predictive forecasts for better strategic analysis.N/A

    Xero

    Score8.4 out of 10
    N/AXero 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
    Workday Adaptive PlanningXero
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    Early
    $13
    per month
    Growing
    $37
    per month
    Established
    $70
    per month
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Workday Adaptive PlanningXero
    Free Trial
    YesYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    YesNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeOptionalNo setup fee
    Additional Details—Prices 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
    Workday Adaptive PlanningXero
    Considered Both Products
    Workday
    No answer on this topic
    Xero
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    89%
    Would buy again
    55 Answers
    93%
    Would buy again
    160 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    97%
    Delivers good value for the price
    56 Answers
    94%
    Delivers good value for the price
    153 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    92%
    Happy with the feature set
    57 Answers
    93%
    Happy with the feature set
    160 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    88%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    38 Answers
    94%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    131 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    90%
    Implementation went as expected
    47 Answers
    99%
    Implementation went as expected
    149 Answers
    Features
    Workday Adaptive PlanningXero
    BI Standard Reporting
    Comparison of BI Standard Reporting features of Workday Adaptive Planning and Xero
    Feature
    Workday Adaptive Planning
    8.1
    4 Ratings
    7% above category average
    Xero
    -
    Ratings
    Pixel Perfect reports9.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Customizable dashboards7.34 Ratings00 Ratings
    Report Formatting Templates8.04 Ratings00 Ratings
    Ad-hoc Reporting
    Comparison of Ad-hoc Reporting features of Workday Adaptive Planning and Xero
    Feature
    Workday Adaptive Planning
    8.1
    4 Ratings
    5% above category average
    Xero
    -
    Ratings
    Drill-down analysis8.34 Ratings00 Ratings
    Formatting capabilities7.74 Ratings00 Ratings
    Integration with R or other statistical packages8.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Report sharing and collaboration8.34 Ratings00 Ratings
    Report Output and Scheduling
    Comparison of Report Output and Scheduling features of Workday Adaptive Planning and Xero
    Feature
    Workday Adaptive Planning
    8.0
    1 Ratings
    1% above category average
    Xero
    -
    Ratings
    Publish to PDF8.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Report Versioning8.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Report Delivery Scheduling8.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Data Discovery and Visualization
    Comparison of Data Discovery and Visualization features of Workday Adaptive Planning and Xero
    Feature
    Workday Adaptive Planning
    7.7
    1 Ratings
    5% above category average
    Xero
    -
    Ratings
    Pre-built visualization formats (heatmaps, scatter plots etc.)7.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization8.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Predictive Analytics8.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Access Control and Security
    Comparison of Access Control and Security features of Workday Adaptive Planning and Xero
    Feature
    Workday Adaptive Planning
    8.5
    4 Ratings
    1% above category average
    Xero
    -
    Ratings
    Multi-User Support (named login)7.74 Ratings00 Ratings
    Role-Based Security Model8.74 Ratings00 Ratings
    Multiple Access Permission Levels (Create, Read, Delete)8.34 Ratings00 Ratings
    Report-Level Access Control9.03 Ratings00 Ratings
    Single Sign-On (SSO)9.03 Ratings00 Ratings
    Mobile Capabilities
    Comparison of Mobile Capabilities features of Workday Adaptive Planning and Xero
    Feature
    Workday Adaptive Planning
    7.5
    5 Ratings
    2% above category average
    Xero
    -
    Ratings
    Responsive Design for Web Access7.05 Ratings00 Ratings
    Mobile Application7.03 Ratings00 Ratings
    Dashboard / Report / Visualization Interactivity on Mobile8.03 Ratings00 Ratings
    Budgeting, Planning, and Forecasting
    Comparison of Budgeting, Planning, and Forecasting features of Workday Adaptive Planning and Xero
    Feature
    Workday Adaptive Planning
    7.8
    196 Ratings
    3% below category average
    Xero
    -
    Ratings
    Long-term financial planning7.8182 Ratings00 Ratings
    Financial budgeting8.6193 Ratings00 Ratings
    Forecasting8.0188 Ratings00 Ratings
    Scenario modeling7.0177 Ratings00 Ratings
    Management reporting7.7193 Ratings00 Ratings
    Consolidation and Close
    Comparison of Consolidation and Close features of Workday Adaptive Planning and Xero
    Feature
    Workday Adaptive Planning
    7.5
    161 Ratings
    4% below category average
    Xero
    -
    Ratings
    Financial data consolidation8.0121 Ratings00 Ratings
    Journal entries and reports7.782 Ratings00 Ratings
    Multi-currency management7.995 Ratings00 Ratings
    Intercompany Eliminations7.273 Ratings00 Ratings
    Minority Ownership7.843 Ratings00 Ratings
    Local and consolidated reporting6.6108 Ratings00 Ratings
    Detailed Audit Trails7.6134 Ratings00 Ratings
    Financial Reporting and Compliance
    Comparison of Financial Reporting and Compliance features of Workday Adaptive Planning and Xero
    Feature
    Workday Adaptive Planning
    8.1
    184 Ratings
    0% below category average
    Xero
    -
    Ratings
    Financial Statement Reporting8.3162 Ratings00 Ratings
    Management Reporting8.8177 Ratings00 Ratings
    Excel-based Reporting7.4177 Ratings00 Ratings
    Automated board and financial reporting8.1154 Ratings00 Ratings
    XBRL support for regulatory filing7.733 Ratings00 Ratings
    Analytics and Reporting
    Comparison of Analytics and Reporting features of Workday Adaptive Planning and Xero
    Feature
    Workday Adaptive Planning
    7.6
    153 Ratings
    1% above category average
    Xero
    -
    Ratings
    Personalized dashboards8.0135 Ratings00 Ratings
    Color-coded scorecards7.7112 Ratings00 Ratings
    KPIs7.1126 Ratings00 Ratings
    Cost and profitability analysis6.8127 Ratings00 Ratings
    Key Performance Indicator setting8.1109 Ratings00 Ratings
    Benchmarking with external data8.076 Ratings00 Ratings
    Integration
    Comparison of Integration features of Workday Adaptive Planning and Xero
    Feature
    Workday Adaptive Planning
    7.1
    174 Ratings
    13% below category average
    Xero
    -
    Ratings
    Flat file integration6.8137 Ratings00 Ratings
    Excel data integration8.2167 Ratings00 Ratings
    Direct links to 3rd-party data sources6.5124 Ratings00 Ratings
    Payroll Management
    Comparison of Payroll Management features of Workday Adaptive Planning and Xero
    Feature
    Workday Adaptive Planning
    -
    Ratings
    Xero
    7.5
    73 Ratings
    1% below category average
    Pay calculation00 Ratings8.065 Ratings
    Benefit plan administration00 Ratings8.023 Ratings
    Direct deposit files00 Ratings7.249 Ratings
    Salary revision and increment management00 Ratings7.141 Ratings
    Reimbursement management00 Ratings7.054 Ratings
    Customization
    Comparison of Customization features of Workday Adaptive Planning and Xero
    Feature
    Workday Adaptive Planning
    -
    Ratings
    Xero
    8.0
    169 Ratings
    6% above category average
    API for custom integration00 Ratings7.979 Ratings
    Plug-ins00 Ratings8.1156 Ratings
    Security
    Comparison of Security features of Workday Adaptive Planning and Xero
    Feature
    Workday Adaptive Planning
    -
    Ratings
    Xero
    7.1
    213 Ratings
    14% below category average
    Single sign-on capability00 Ratings5.572 Ratings
    Role-based user permissions00 Ratings8.7211 Ratings
    Reporting & Analytics
    Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of Workday Adaptive Planning and Xero
    Feature
    Workday Adaptive Planning
    -
    Ratings
    Xero
    8.3
    241 Ratings
    6% above category average
    Dashboards00 Ratings8.3237 Ratings
    Standard reports00 Ratings8.9239 Ratings
    Custom reports00 Ratings7.9212 Ratings
    General Ledger and Configurable Accounting
    Comparison of General Ledger and Configurable Accounting features of Workday Adaptive Planning and Xero
    Feature
    Workday Adaptive Planning
    -
    Ratings
    Xero
    8.3
    251 Ratings
    8% above category average
    Accounts payable00 Ratings7.9229 Ratings
    Accounts receivable00 Ratings8.1234 Ratings
    Cash management00 Ratings7.7217 Ratings
    Bank reconciliation00 Ratings8.6244 Ratings
    Expense management00 Ratings7.8224 Ratings
    Time tracking00 Ratings6.387 Ratings
    Fixed asset management00 Ratings7.7152 Ratings
    Multi-currency support00 Ratings7.9149 Ratings
    Multi-division support00 Ratings7.4129 Ratings
    Regulations compliance00 Ratings8.3131 Ratings
    Electronic tax filing00 Ratings8.6134 Ratings
    Self-service portal00 Ratings7.7153 Ratings
    Global Financial Support00 Ratings7.884 Ratings
    Primary and Secondary Ledgers00 Ratings7.881 Ratings
    Intercompany Accounting00 Ratings10.040 Ratings
    Localizations00 Ratings10.039 Ratings
    Journals and Reconciliations00 Ratings10.090 Ratings
    Enterprise Accounting00 Ratings10.033 Ratings
    Configurable Accounting00 Ratings10.059 Ratings
    Centralized Rules Framework00 Ratings6.033 Ratings
    Standardized Processes00 Ratings8.059 Ratings
    Inventory Management
    Comparison of Inventory Management features of Workday Adaptive Planning and Xero
    Feature
    Workday Adaptive Planning
    -
    Ratings
    Xero
    6.3
    119 Ratings
    14% below category average
    Inventory tracking00 Ratings7.1115 Ratings
    Automatic reordering00 Ratings6.224 Ratings
    Location management00 Ratings6.229 Ratings
    Manufacturing module00 Ratings6.016 Ratings
    Order Management
    Comparison of Order Management features of Workday Adaptive Planning and Xero
    Feature
    Workday Adaptive Planning
    -
    Ratings
    Xero
    7.3
    89 Ratings
    1% below category average
    Pricing00 Ratings10.062 Ratings
    Order entry00 Ratings10.056 Ratings
    Credit card processing00 Ratings6.358 Ratings
    Cost of goods sold00 Ratings6.366 Ratings
    Order Orchestration00 Ratings6.121 Ratings
    End-to-end order visibility00 Ratings6.124 Ratings
    Order exception Resolution00 Ratings6.117 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Workday Adaptive PlanningXero
    Small Businesses
    No answers on this topic
    QuickBooks Self-Employed (discontinued)
    Score4.2 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    IBM Planning Analytics
    Score8.5 out of 10
    MYOB
    Score8.3 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Oracle Fusion Cloud Enterprise Performance Management
    Score7.2 out of 10
    Microsoft Dynamics GP
    Score5.4 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Workday Adaptive PlanningXero
    Likelihood to Recommend
    7.3
    (225 ratings)
    8.3
    (266 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    10.0
    (46 ratings)
    4.7
    (38 ratings)
    Usability
    7.2
    (131 ratings)
    8.3
    (192 ratings)
    Availability
    9.0
    (12 ratings)
    3.1
    (12 ratings)
    Performance
    9.0
    (6 ratings)
    8.0
    (10 ratings)
    Support Rating
    8.2
    (34 ratings)
    5.6
    (40 ratings)
    In-Person Training
    8.2
    (2 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    Online Training
    7.3
    (9 ratings)
    10.0
    (6 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    8.6
    (27 ratings)
    7.6
    (13 ratings)
    Configurability
    8.2
    (5 ratings)
    8.1
    (3 ratings)
    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    7.3
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    CPA Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.1
    (10 ratings)
    Data Sharing and Collaboration
    7.5
    (17 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Data Sources
    7.6
    (17 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    7.3
    (8 ratings)
    7.4
    (150 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    8.2
    (12 ratings)
    7.0
    (8 ratings)
    Professional Services
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    8.2
    (4 ratings)
    6.5
    (4 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    6.4
    (4 ratings)
    6.5
    (4 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Workday Adaptive PlanningXero
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Workday
    It's well suited to any business where you have defined inputs, a layer of structured calculations and a defined output. In other words, any business situation! We use it in a law firm setting where it enables us to import staff plans, assign targets to each individual, thereby generating a revenue forecast linked to business capacity. From there, global assumptions determine staff and direct costs, with the user overlaying discretionary costs to arrive at a final P&L forecast. This is then summarised using the reporting and dashboarding layer to provide outputs to senior leaders for sign off.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Xero
    The only time I wouldn't be suggesting it is to consultants or solopreneurs. I think it's too overwhelming unless you are experienced or have a background related to finance. So it's not that the product isn't powerful, it's that it can be too powerful. For all other size businesses it really is what you need to use to make life simple to track everything in your business. It definitely saves me time by having it all in one place and not multiple spreadsheets etc
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Workday
    • It helps create dynamic plans for finances, operations and various functional units in an organization all under one platform
    • It helps in scenario modeling to help analyze various business events and report by any number of business dimensions including channel, customer or product
    • It can be integrated with any system including ERP, BI or CRM
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Xero
    • The bank feed integration makes reconciling transactions easy
    • Once you load a template for your invoices, every client gets a professional looking invoice
    • Bill paying and tracking of payments is also easy; you load your bill into Xero, pay it through the bank, and when the transaction is completed it comes through on bank feeds. If you need to query when a bill was paid, it is all there in Xero
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Workday
    • Budgeting either isn't included or an extra fee.
    • Expense reporting aspects are repetitive and hard to fully optimize.
    • Finance tracking is limited to basic reports with multiple levels or drill-down...hard to fully grasp without exporting data and massaging in something else (like Excel).
    Incentivized
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Workday
    For one we're in way too deep to not move forward with Adaptive. We're integrated with Workday, we do a ton of reporting with Adaptive, and it's working very well for planning and forecasting. No reason to look back or change course.
    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
    Workday
    It is an easy transition for Excel users, with more built-in analytical tools and no need to build formulas. It also has built-in reporting and integration with Microsoft Office products such as Excel and PowerPoint. For non-Finance users, there's an initial learning curve to get used to the tool.
    Incentivized
    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
    Workday
    There haven't been any lately. The only one issue I can think of is when there was an update in Adaptive that altered our reports. Before I realized there was an issue, Adaptive reached out to let me know, so that it could be fixed.
    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
    Workday
    All aspects of Adaptive Insights perform well. One area that I wish was quicker was integration. When importing data from Intacct our accounting ERP platform, it can sometimes take 4 hours for the import to process. The earlier imports are done, the quicker they complete. My estimate for a quick upload is about two hours.
    Read full review
    Xero
    On a good day, things worked but after upgrades, things began to slow and or not work at all at times. I coined the moving circle while I waited as the "Xero Wheel of Death". Sometimes it never stopped and force quitting was necessary.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    Workday
    Whenever we have had any questions, issues, or concerns, the support has been quick and thorough. [This] allow[s] us to be able to fully resolve any issues, or be connected with the right group quickly to attain the result we were after; be it from simple formatting to adding new detailed reporting.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    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.
    Read full review
    In-Person Training
    Workday
    This was extremely helpful so that they could walk you through the model and teach you more about the complexity of various areas. It is most helpful when it is specific to your organization's model. The larger in-person trainings were helpful but they tended to be more generic and entry level. The trainings that are more tailored to your specific needs are the most helpful.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Xero
    The format was great; someone was there to ask questions or help if you were stuck.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Online Training
    Workday
    They often times tended to be way too generic or entry level. They would also become sales pitches to upgrade or get new Adaptive Planning products. The questions in the training would be very niche and specific to other organizations. They were rarely helpful to the group at large.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    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.
    Read full review
    Implementation Rating
    Workday
    Trust the expertise of very strong 3rd party implementers. Having deployed Adaptive at a separate company before, I thought I knew it all (hubris, I know). Fortunately, I began to (very quickly) trust the judgment of our Carlson implementation team, and they provided invaluable insights and best-in-class processes that have benefitted me and my team greatly.
    Incentivized
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Alternatives Considered
    Workday
    Workday became our choice because it is fully web-based and easily integrates with other systems. The learning curve for Workday was shorter than that of Dynamics. The reporting tools in Workday are more user-friendly than that of Dynamics. However Workday did not have Check Printing tools which are available in Dynamics. The organization started a project to digitize all financial transactions so it was not a priority feature. When it comes to scaling up the functionalities of Workday it was much easier than Dynamics.
    Incentivized
    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.
    Read full review
    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    Workday
    Good read only seat access
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Xero
    No answers on this topic
    Scalability
    Workday
    We went from 2 users to 70+ users over a 2 year period of time. The application scaled wonderfully. 65 of those users were non-finance users so they were able to quickly learn the software and prepare budgets quickly and efficiently. That is the power of Adaptive and its ability to scale
    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
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Professional Services
    Workday
    This is now available in house at Workday which is convenient.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Xero
    No answers on this topic
    Return on Investment
    Workday
    • It's facilitated a better financial literacy and management by the non-financial managers in the company, giving them a much better ability to see what they're spending, control it, and plan better in the future.
    • It's hard to quantify the ease of model and version management, but we could never do what we're doing now with our current staff. It would take a small army to replicate anything close to what Adaptive pulls off using Excel, if it's even possible.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    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.
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    Workday Adaptive Planning Screenshots

    Screenshot of Workday Adaptive Planning AI Predictive ForecasterScreenshot of Workday Adaptive Planning AI AssistantScreenshot of Workday Adaptive Planning DashboardScreenshot of Workday Adaptive Planning Financial Planning DashboardScreenshot of Workday Adaptive Planning Financial Variance AnalysisScreenshot of Workday Adaptive Planning Process and Workflow Management

    Xero Screenshots

    Product screenshotProduct screenshotProduct screenshotProduct screenshotProduct screenshotProduct screenshot