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Xero

Xero

Overview

What is Xero?

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…

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Recent Reviews

Xero to Hero

8 out of 10
March 18, 2024
Incentivized
My business uses Xero as a gauge for all financial optics. It helps manage monies in and out, account visibility and solves invoicing …
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Xero the Hero

10 out of 10
March 04, 2024
Incentivized
I use Xero for invoicing, reconciling our monthly revenue and spending, and providing our accountants with the information they need for …
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Xero or Zero

1 out of 10
March 01, 2024
I use it as an accounting program. <br>The program constantly loses the ability to connect to my bank. When reported this problem takes …
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Xero

4 out of 10
February 02, 2024
It is an accounting system we use for billing, paying bills, and producing financial reports. It also has payroll capabilities, but I am …
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Awards

Products that are considered exceptional by their customers based on a variety of criteria win TrustRadius awards. Learn more about the types of TrustRadius awards to make the best purchase decision. More about TrustRadius Awards

Popular Features

View all 44 features
  • Bank reconciliation (189)
    9.1
    91%
  • Accounts receivable (182)
    9.0
    90%
  • Standard reports (184)
    8.3
    83%
  • Dashboards (181)
    8.0
    80%

Reviewer Pros & Cons

View all pros & cons

Video Reviews

1 video

"Straight-Forward" Accounting. How Xero Helped a Business Owner Manage Expenses
03:08
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Pricing

View all pricing

Early

$13

Cloud
per month

Growing

$37

Cloud
per month

Established

$70

Cloud
per month

Entry-level set up fee?

  • No setup fee
For the latest information on pricing, visithttps://www.xero.com/us/pricing-plans/

Offerings

  • Free Trial
  • Free/Freemium Version
  • Premium Consulting/Integration Services

Starting price (does not include set up fee)

  • $13 per month
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Features

Payroll Management

Provides for pay calculation and benefit plan administration, in addition to managing direct deposit, salary revisions and payroll tracking.

7.7
Avg 7.5

Customization

This addresses a company’s ability to configure the software to fit its specific use case and workflow.

7.5
Avg 7.1

Security

This component helps a company minimize the security risks by controlling access to the software and its data, and encouraging best practices among users.

8
Avg 8.0

Reporting & Analytics

Users can report on and analyze usage, performance, ROI, and/or other metrics of success.

8.1
Avg 7.6

General Ledger and Configurable Accounting

Financial management solution, including capabilities for general ledger and configurable accounting

7.4
Avg 7.4

Inventory Management

The ability to track and manage the flow of goods or materials into and out of an inventory.

6.5
Avg 7.0

Order Management

The ability to process orders, and track them from quote to cash.

6.8
Avg 7.4
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Product Details

What is Xero?

Xero is an online accounting software platform for small businesses and their advisors, as well as for personal finance. Xero competes most often with QuickBooks Online. Its features, beyond the ubiquitous general ledger and double-entry bookkeeping support, include invoicing with quotes, bank reconciliation, purchase order and expense management, tax management, and it is mobile-accessible. Xero integrates with over 800 third-party applications, covering everything from inventory and logistics to cash flow, project management, customer relationship management, and e-commerce.

The product is sold by subscription (a distribution model commonly known as software as a service or SaaS) requiring the payment of a monthly fee. This charge is proportionate to the number (and type) of company entities managed by the subscriber. The lowest tiered pricing option is the $9 per month Starter pack, which supports unlimited users but a limited number of transactions. The $30 Standard pack breaks open usage limits and adds e-filing and payroll options. The $70 Premium package doubles the number of supported employees on payroll from 5 to 10, and supports multiple currencies.

Xero Features

General Ledger and Configurable Accounting Features

  • Supported: Accounts payable
  • Supported: Accounts receivable
  • Supported: Cash management
  • Supported: Bank reconciliation
  • Supported: Expense management
  • Supported: Time tracking
  • Supported: Fixed asset management
  • Supported: Multi-currency support
  • Supported: Multi-division support
  • Supported: Regulations compliance
  • Supported: Electronic tax filing
  • Supported: Self-service portal
  • Supported: Global Financial Support
  • Supported: Primary and Secondary Ledgers

Inventory Management Features

  • Supported: Inventory tracking

Reporting & Analytics Features

  • Supported: Dashboards
  • Supported: Standard reports
  • Supported: Custom reports

Customization Features

  • Supported: Plug-ins

Security Features

  • Supported: Role-based user permissions
  • Supported: Multi-factor authentication

Xero Screenshots

Screenshot of Screenshot of Screenshot of Screenshot of Screenshot of Screenshot of

Xero Video

Xero is accounting software for small businesses and their advisors. It reveals a business's cashflow in real-time with online accounting, invoicing, payroll, billing & banking.

Xero Technical Details

Deployment TypesSoftware as a Service (SaaS), Cloud, or Web-Based
Operating SystemsUnspecified
Mobile ApplicationNo

Frequently Asked Questions

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.

Xero starts at $13.

Priority AccountEdge, QuickBooks Online, and Sage 50cloud Accounting are common alternatives for Xero.

Reviewers rate Journals and Reconciliations highest, with a score of 9.3.

The most common users of Xero are from Small Businesses (1-50 employees).
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Comparisons

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Reviews and Ratings

(721)

Attribute Ratings

Reviews

(76-100 of 166)
Companies can't remove reviews or game the system. Here's why
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I used QuickBoosk for years when I first started my companies. As someone who came from a science background, I struggled learning and using QuickBooks. It was never intuitive for me. Eventually, invoicing and normal bookkeeping took so much time for me that I had to outsource it to an external bookkeeping firm. They were the one that recommended that I try Xero and it was night and day for me. Now all the invoicing and bookkeeping are done in-house, which saved us significant amounts of money.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Within the range of solutions in which it is compared, which for us would be highly customizable web solutions, we find that this is the best option. This also includes having flexible hiring plans at reasonable prices for any type of company size. Additionally, the brand has a general acceptance with our clients so it is easy to recommend it for use.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
For the purpose of which we use Xero, I have not used any alternative systems. However, for certain aspects of it such as expense management, we decided to go with Webexpenses to replace the expense management features of Xero. This was because Xero lacked the automation, control and visibility we needed to correctly manage our company's expenses.
CiCi Reagan Twining 👑 | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I found the user interface for QuickBooks easier to use. I used it for businesses I worked for in the US but found that UK accountants tend to recommend Xero more here. I ended up choosing Xero as it offers more integrations with the existing systems I was already using at the time.
Score 1 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We used Sage One previously. It was relatively new and needed a lot of improvement. The improvements were very slow coming and we made the decision to leave. Their customer support was infinitely better than Xero's but did leave a bit to be desired too. In general though, they did try and at least, they could be contacted.
Jennifer Hess | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Used FreshBooks when the business was first starting out because they had a free plan. Quickly needed more features, and switched to QBO.

QBO worked well for many years, but they continually increased their fees and the interface got more and more difficult to use. Also, it had limited support for Mac and their app was always crashing. QBO had great reporting & complex features, but didn't integrate well with time tracking solutions.

We evaluated Zoho Books when searching for a QBO replacement. It also had built-in time tracking & project management, with support for other Zoho-based integrations. But its user management was very cumbersome (new users had to be manually added to every single project on the account if you wanted them to track their time). And there was some overlap between Zoho integrations, which seemed difficult to use.

Ultimately ended up with Xero on a recommendation from a colleague in a similar business. She liked the simplicity and automated solutions, which I also make use of. I liked the automated invoicing & billing solutions, and the integration with my existing time tracking system. The reporting limitations are still a concern, but so far, I have been able to get all the info I need.

Lori Feldman | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
QuickBooks was my grandmother's bookkeeping software. Nothing was automated and it forced me to know good accounting practices. That's what I pay my accountant for. Xero is intuitive and also limited on what you can do on each screen. If I'm ever confused, I send a support ticket and hear back within 1 day. Or I go to the forum which is very active. I am currently running Zoho Books in parallel to Xero and they stack up pretty evenly. With Zoho Books, I get 24/7 live chat help and they stay online with me till I resolve my issue. With Xero, help is via email. Usually I'm not in a big hurry, so that is fine, but the choice is to work on New Zealand or Indian time. Neither one has a payroll module for my state, and Zoho Books has many more integrations thru its API than Xero does. Depending on what other software changes we make in the near future (around marketing and project management), the integrations will determine which accounting program we'll end up with permanently.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • Xero is easier for new businesses that need cloud-based accounting software.
  • Xero has functional integration with other applications that our clients need.
  • Gusto is a great payroll application that is now used by all our clients with their Xero software.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Xero has been hands down so much better than Quickbooks. With reporting alone- Xero has exceeded Quickbooks. It is so much easier to logon - not have to back up the program having it all cloud-based. So many more functions and ease of multi-currencies is excellent as well.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We used this product before it was cloud software, so the comparison is harder to make. It was easier to pull off top spender reports from sage. However, reconciliation is so much easier on Xero when you link your accounts. A significant factor for us was that our managing accountant uses and prefers sage and helps us when we need it!
January 30, 2020

Xero Accounting Software

Michael Hanley | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
QuickBooks and Xero have many of the same functions and both will provide a business with the information a basic accounting software would. Xero provides better custom reporting options, and using cash coding it is more efficient for me to reconcile large volumes of transactions. FX converting function is also very good for entities with transactions in multiple transactions.
Haider Alleg | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Interface, price and open platform were our key criteria and Xero smashed the competition on these. It does everything better, but you have to master it and take the time and get some serious professional help to configure it. Yes local solutions like Bexio does a better job being a swiss product but it would take a week to Xero to catch up.
Alyssa O'Mara | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Xero is a lot easier for the non-accountant. Most of the language is easy to understand and not finance-speak. I can do what I need to do in 1/2 the time. They also have great support, so if I mess something up when I reconcile, they help me sort it out.
Steven Duran | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We really liked Xero because it was incredibly affordable when compared to the other solutions that we evaluated. There are some things that need to be improved but overall it's a really enjoyable online accounting solution. I'm happy with my experience of Xero and I know there are ways that I could use it more effectively moving forward.
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