Accounting Software · Invoicing Software
Xero review
New Zealand-built cloud accounting with three flat-priced plans and no per-user license fees.
Xero at a glance
- Category
- Accounting Software, Invoicing Software
- Starting price
- $27/month (Early)
- Pricing model
- flat per plan, no per-user license fee
- Public pricing
- Yes
- Free plan
- No
- Free trial
- Yes
- Contract
- monthly, auto-renews until cancelled
- G2 rating
- 4.4 (1,558 reviews)
- Founded
- 2006
- Headquarters
- Wellington, New Zealand
- Employees
- 4,000+ (Inc. Magazine figure)
- Funding or owner
- Public (ASX: XRO)
- Security
- ISO/IEC 27001:2022, SOC 2 (report on request), PCI DSS (level 2 merchant, card processing outsourced)
- Integrations
- Gusto
Who Xero is for
Choose Xero if
- Teams that need unlimited users without per-seat cost.
- Businesses with multi-currency needs.
- Firms working with accountants who use Xero practice tools.
Look elsewhere if
- Buyers needing annual billing discounts (none on the US page)
- Teams needing SAML SSO, which we could not confirm.
Xero pricing
| Plan | Price | Unit | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Early | $27/month | organization | 20 invoices and quotes, 5 bills; promo $2.70/month for 6 months |
| Growing | $59/month | organization | Unlimited invoices; auto-reconcile included; 60-day cash flow forecast |
| Established | $97/month | organization | Expense claims and project tracking included; 180-day forecast |
Promo is 90% off the base price for 6 months for new US customers, code valid until Nov 2, 2026. Payroll via Gusto adds $36/month plus $6 per employee or contractor. Prices rose in October 2025 and again October 1, 2026 per insightfulaccountant.com and the vendor page.
What Xero really costs
- Per seat per month
- $0 per user (no per-user license fees per vendor page)
- Billing
- Monthly only.
- 20 users per year
- Growing $59/month x 12 = $708 per year; user cap not stated on the page, so fit for 20 users is not confirmed.
- Add-ons
- Auto-reconcile $5/month on Early; Payroll via Gusto $36/month + $6 per employee; Inventory Plus (price not captured)
- Renewal terms
- Auto-renews monthly until cancelled; Xero may change pricing at any time.
- Recent price change
- Oct 1, 2026 US increase: Early $25 to $27, Growing $55 to $59, Established $90 to $97 (insightfulaccountant.com, xero.com/us/pricing-plans); earlier increase Oct 2025.
Xero features by buying criteria
| Criterion | What we found |
|---|---|
| Invoicing and billing | Quotes and invoices; Early plan limited to 20 invoices and 5 bills per month. |
| Bank feeds and reconciliation | Auto-reconcile $5/month add-on on Early, included on Growing and Established. |
| Financial reporting | Cash flow forecast 30/60/180 days by plan. |
| Expense and bill management | Expense claims and project tracking only on Established. |
| Payroll and sales tax support | Xero Payroll powered by Gusto, $36/month + $6 per employee. |
| Accountant access and integrations | No per-user fees; integrations count not verified. |
| Pricing model | Flat per plan; usage charges for payroll, projects and expenses billed monthly in arrears. |
| Target company size | Small businesses; Established for larger teams. |
| Recurring invoices and subscriptions | Not verified. |
| Online payment acceptance | Not verified. |
| Automated payment reminders | Not verified. |
| Sales tax and multi-currency | Not verified. |
| Accounting integration | Native accounting product. |
| Time and expense billing | Projects tracking on Established. |
| Branding and templates | Not verified. |
What reviewers say about Xero
Praised for
- Usable for owners without accounting background.
- Strong automatic bank reconciliation.
- No per-user fees.
Common complaints
- Repeated list price increases.
- US payroll and tax depth thinner than QuickBooks (general reviewer theme, not verified)
- Plan limits on bills and invoices on Early.
Themes paraphrased from public reviews on G2 and similar sites, not quotes.
What most Xero reviews leave out
- No per-user license fees, so seats do not affect price.
- Prices step up on October 1, 2026 to $27/$59/$97 from $25/$55/$90 (insightfulaccountant.com and vendor page)
- Pricing page says Xero may change pricing at any time and subscriptions auto-renew monthly.
- No annual billing option shown on the US pricing page.
- Auto-reconcile is a paid $5/month add-on on Early but included above it.
Xero alternatives
QuickBooks OnlineSmall businesses that work with an outside accountant who already uses QuickBooks.$38/month (Simple Start, 1 user)
FreshBooksFreelancers and service businesses billing a limited number of clients.$23/month (Lite, 5 billable clients)
Zoho BooksSmall firms already on Zoho CRM or other Zoho apps.$15/month billed annually ($20 monthly) for Standard; Free plan available
WaveFreelancers and micro businesses wanting free bookkeeping.$0 (Starter); Pro $19/month
Bill.comFinance teams that run both bill pay and invoicing in one tool with approval chains.$49 per user per month (Essentials)
HarvestAgencies and consultancies that bill clients by the hour from tracked time.$9/seat/month billed annually (Teams); Free plan $0
Xero compared
Sources
Every fact on this page comes from Xero's own pricing, product or documentation pages, G2 and company records, checked on October 24, 2026. Unknown values are left out instead of estimated.