Other features include reconciling bank transactions and capturing bills and receipts with Hubdoc. sales tax rate calculator If you want affordable cloud-based accounting with inventory tracking and expansive collaboration opportunities, Xero is your software. Sure, Xero could use a few improvements—most notably, expense tracking for its cheaper plans—but with those features at that price, you’ll be hard-pressed to do better than Xero. If you’re an employer currently managing your team across multiple systems and spreadsheets, the Ultimate plan can help you maximise efficiency by bringing employee management tools like payroll, projects and expense claims into Xero. In Australia and the United Kingdom, the Ultimate plan includes Payroll for 10 employees, and Expenses and Projects for five employees. While Xero’s plans start at a cheaper price, QuickBooks offers more features across its plans.
Capture bills and receipts with Hubdoc
We’re committed to the security of sales tax and its use your data and provide multiple layers of protection for the personal and financial information you trust to Xero. All of Xero’s plans also include improved data entry and bank reconciliation via Hubdoc. When you use Hubdoc to scan receipts and bills, the financial data will automatically sync with your software so you don’t have to enter the numbers yourself. †Invoice limits for the Early plan apply to both approving and sending invoices.
Plus, if you’re new to accounting software, you can’t go wrong with FreshBooks’ easy interface, but if you do get lost, you can easily access the help center through your account.Want to save a little money? For instance, if you need multiple users, choose Xero—each Xero plan includes unlimited users, while QuickBooks’ Simple Start plan includes only one user. Even QuickBooks’ most expensive plan, QuickBooks Online Advanced ($180 per month), allows for only 25 users. Oddly, Xero only includes expense and project tracking with its most expensive plan. Project tracking tends to matter more for bigger businesses with complex time and project tracking needs, but expense tracking is crucial for every business owner—freelancers and sole proprietors included.
Xero’s key features
Most accounting software providers limit users by plan, like QuickBooks, or charge an extra fee for each user, like FreshBooks or Zoho Books. Unlike many other competitors that cap the number of users per plan (looking at you, QuickBooks), Xero offers unlimited users even on the lowest tier plan. This is beneficial to small businesses that need multiple people to be able to log into the accounting software and don’t want to pay extra or upgrade to get more seats. Xero is also one of the few accounting software providers with an accounting app for both iOS and Android. While Xero’s app isn’t as popular or well-reviewed as QuickBooks’, it still lets users securely send invoices, reconcile bank transactions, and check business finances from any web-enabled device.
Reconcile bank transactions
I also reviewed official product documentation, watched demo videos, consulted user reviews and cross-referenced software reviews in industry publications. At nearly 1,000 integrations, Xero syncs with even more apps than QuickBooks Online—which is quite a feat given QuickBooks’ immense popularity. More complex businesses in particular are wanting to make managing their employees easier and get deeper insights into their business performance.
With plans starting at $15 a month, FreshBooks is well-suited for freelancers, solopreneurs, and small-business owners alike. I’m particularly passionate about supporting small businesses to use more technology, and the right technology, to help them build a resilient business. With the addition of Ultimate, we now have more plans to suit the needs of small businesses at each stage of their journey, offering more choice, flexibility and value in their plan. Today’s leading accounting platforms offer standard security features like data encryption, secure credential tokenization and more.
Gusto plans start at $39 a month (plus an additional $6 a month per payee) and include automatic payroll tax filing. Xero is better for inventory tracking too, especially if you’re keeping an eye on your budget. Payments are due virtual services by the end of your monthly billing period based on the date you purchased your subscription. After a 30-day trial period, Xero will bill a monthly charge of $13 per month for the Early plan, $37 per month for the Growing plan and $70 per month for the Established plan. For free invoicing platforms, consider Zoho Invoice, Square Invoices or PayPal Invoicing, although these platforms provide fewer capabilities. All three plans come with an optional add-on for payroll with Gusto for $40 per month plus $6 per month per person.
- The report showed digitally enabled small businesses were significantly more resilient throughout the COVID-19 crisis, and outperformed their peers in most performance metrics.
- The drastic price jump from $13 to $37 a month means Xero isn’t particularly scalable—another reason we’re more comfortable recommending it to midsize businesses rather than small ones.
- All three of these offer the ability to scale their accounting for larger businesses and both Xero and QuickBooks offer specific training for accountants.
- I’m excited to share that customers in Australia, New Zealand and the UK can now purchase a new comprehensive Xero plan to better suit their business needs.
- You’re able to send 20 quotes and invoices per month, enter five bills, reconcile bank transactions, capture bills and receipts with Hubdoc and view a short-term cash flow and business snapshot.
While human error will always play some role in security breaches, you can be confident in your accounting platform when it comes to keeping your information safe. Xero may be harder to learn than a simpler invoicing platform like Square Invoices or Zoho Invoice. Read our 2024 Xero review to find out if it’s the right solution for your business. Alternatively, you can search Xero’s help posts and discussion boards about common problems on Xero Central. While you can’t call Xero directly, you can request a phone call from the company, and a customer service agent will call you instead.
Want to compare more accounting software providers before you make the final call? Read our piece comparing QuickBooks and Wave for two more accounting software options. The report showed digitally enabled small businesses were significantly more resilient throughout the COVID-19 crisis, and outperformed their peers in most performance metrics. Across New Zealand, Australia and the United Kingdom, small businesses that had higher levels of ICT spend relative to their total spend on all expenses experienced greater sales and fewer job losses throughout the pandemic. Given that there are several invoicing software on the market, it’s worth putting in some time to research your options before choosing one for your business.
