Xero Pricing: Features, Costs and Top Accounting Solution Alternatives

Xero is a cloud-based accounting software for small businesses. Businesses have access to their cash flow in real time so they can pay their bills faster. Other features of Xero include quick bank reconciliation, expense management and inventory management.

We’ve reviewed Xero and compared it to other accounting solutions in terms of features and other attributes. In this post, we’ll detail Xero’s pricing plans as well as pricing of alternative vendors. 

How Much is Xero? 

Xero offers three main monthly subscription pricing tiers: Early, Growing and Established.

Early – The Early plan costs $15 per month and offers the ability to:

  • send 20 invoices and quotes
  • enter five bills
  • reconcile unlimited bank transactions
  • capture bills and receipts with Hubdoc app
  • track short-term cash flow and see a snapshot of their business finances

Growing – The Growing plan costs $42 per month and includes unlimited invoice and quote sending and bills and reconciling transactions in bulk.

Established – The Established plan starts at $78 per month and supports multi-currency, expense management and project tracking. It also includes features of Analytics Plus, such as basic scenario planning and AI-powered predictions.

Xero offers an optional full-service payroll solution via its partnership with Gusto. Users are able to run unlimited payroll via an intuitive interface. Payroll data syncs with Xero for faster reconciliation, so users won’t need to manually re-enter data. Finally, full-service payroll and tax filings are available in all 50 states. Gusto Payroll has three pricing tiers – its Simple plan starts at a $40 base price per month plus $6 per employee, per month.

Top Alternatives to Xero 

While Xero has strong accounting features for small businesses. If you’re a small business owner looking for a comparable solution, we’ve listed a couple of alternatives.

QuickBooksQuickBooks’ solutions is available on on-premise and in the cloud. QuickBooks online has five pricing tiers: Self-Employed ($15 per month), Simple Start ($30 per month), Essentials ($60 per month), Plus ($90 per month) and Advanced ($200 per month). Users can optionally add self-service payroll that starts at $22.50 per month (for the first three months) plus $5 per employee.

For desktop users, there are the QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise that has an annual subscription license that starts at $1,830.

Wave – Wave’s accounting and invoicing solution is free. However, its payroll solution’s pricing is dependent on where your company is located. For companies that are located in California, Florida, New York, Washington, Illinois and Texas, there is a $35 monthly base fee plus $4 per employee. It covers tax services, such as automatic tax filing and payments. For all other states, the monthly base fee is $20 plus $4 per employee.

Takeaways 

Xero, QuickBooks and Wave are all mainly accounting solutions with either built-in or add-on payroll functionality. When looking into any of these three vendors, you’ll need to consider the number of employees on your payroll and what specific features you need. 

We want to note that Xero and its alternatives are intended for smaller businesses. Larger organizations looking for payroll solutions can check out other vendors, such as APS Payroll. 

If you’re researching other vendors, check out either our Accounting Software Reviews page or our Payroll Software Reviews page.

If you’re looking for more information on payroll solutions in general, our definitive guide can help. This guide details benefits, features and what to look for when purchasing a solution.