Looking for the best Xero alternatives? We’ve got it sorted.
Choosing a reliable accounting platform is crucial for your business’s financial efficiency.
Xero, a popular choice for small businesses, is known for its extensive features, user-friendly interface, and mobile-friendly design. It offers three plan options to cater to various business sizes and industries.
But like most other software, Xero has its drawbacks. For instance, it comes with a learning curve, making it less suitable for those with limited accounting knowledge. Additionally, its customization options are somewhat limited.
If Xero doesn’t suit your needs, you might want to consider other alternatives.
This article explores the best Xero alternatives, examining their features, pricing, pros, and cons. The goal is to help you find the perfect financial management tool for your specific needs.
When figuring out a tool’s worth, you need to consider various factors. Typically, each factor holds varying importance for different businesses. Yet, there are some universally crucial factors.
In creating this list of Xero alternatives, we’ve carefully checked these key criteria:
Handling finances involves numerous precise tasks that can be overwhelming.
And that’s not it.
Failure to adhere to financial reporting standards poses legal risks, potentially resulting in penalties and damage to the company’s reputation.
By investing in accounting software such as Xero, it is possible to streamline this complex process. However, Xero may not be the optimal choice for every business.
Luckily, you have various options to help you make the right decision.
Here are some benefits of using accounting software:
If you’re looking for powerful accounting software, consider these top alternatives to Xero.
Image via Zoho Books
Zoho Books is an excellent online accounting software for small businesses. It’s part of the Zoho One Suite—an extensive suite for all-in-one business management.
It provides features such as tax compliance, invoicing, automated payment reminders, and custom reports, as detailed in this Zoho Books Review.
Zoho Books is more than just a typical “accounting software.” It also comes with robust features for project and inventory management, giving it a slight edge.
While small businesses appreciate its affordability, Zoho Books is also suitable for large enterprises with sophisticated accounting needs.
What’s more?
Zoho Books supports 10 languages, including Swedish, Chinese, and Japanese. This allows multilingual teams to access various features in their preferred language.
Additionally, if your business deals with multilingual clients, know that the software can create and send invoices in several languages.
Key Features
Pros
Cons
Pricing
Zoho Books offers a free forever plan and five paid plans to meet the needs of businesses of different sizes:
Image via Zoho Books
Pro Tip: You can efficiently handle stock shortages in Zoho Books by creating partial invoices for available products.
Tool Level
Usability
Image via QuickBooks
QuickBooks, a widely recognized and favored business accounting software, empowers you to craft professional invoices and manage banking tasks seamlessly.
With robust tools automating data collection, tax calculation, and features for sales monitoring and custom report generation, QuickBooks proves to be a comprehensive alternative to Xero.
Notably, it provides advanced reporting capabilities. This includes the basics such as balance sheets, cash flow tracking, and more, in every plan. Higher-tier plans enjoy more detailed accounting reports.
And the best part?
You get to enjoy compatibility across multiple devices with auto-syncing options, ensuring you stay consistently informed.
Plus, there’s a 30-day free trial for you to explore its features and assess its alignment with your business needs.
Key Features
Pros
Cons
Pricing
QuickBooks provides four pricing options, and you can explore them for free using a 30-day trial.
Pro Tip: Save time by connecting your bank and credit card accounts to QuickBooks using the Bank Feeds feature, instead of manually inputting data into each statement.
Tool Level
Usability
Image via FreshBooks
FreshBooks emerges as a noteworthy alternative to Xero. It offers a swift and dependable accounting solution that transforms financial management into a breeze for you.
Its prowess lies in client invoicing, expense tracking, and seamless payment processing. Beyond these, it offers time tracking, project management, client estimates, and proposal creation.
One of its standout features is the effortless handling of subscriptions and invoices. This is coupled with the convenience of online payments via credit cards, PayPal, and Google Checkout—all within a unified system.
The rollout of FreshBooks’ Accounting Partner Program encourages active collaboration between users and their accountants. This initiative promotes transparency and efficiency in financial operations.
For users who want to explore FreshBook’s features for free, there’s a 30-day free trial.
Key Features
Pros
Cons
Pricing
FreshBooks offers four premium plans, all available for exploration through a free 30-day trial.
Note that these prices reflect discounts as of December 2023.
Image via FreshBooks
Pro Tip: Using FreshBooks, effortlessly monitor outstanding balances and due dates by simply clicking on “Accounts Aging” at the bottom of your home screen.
Tool Level
Usability
Image via FreeAgent
If you’re a freelancer or a small business owner, you might wonder which accounting software is best for you.
The answer is FreeAgent. Trusted by over 150,000 businesses, this tool helps you manage your finances, covering everything from invoicing and expense management to project management and sales tax.
How does FreeAgent stand out from other tools?
Firstly, it takes a different approach to pricing. It offers only a single tier, making the choice of this accounting solution a simple ‘all or nothing’ decision.
For starters, new users enjoy a free 30-day trial. After that, users get a 50% discount for the 6 months before moving to the full price.
Additionally, FreeAgent provides unique features, including pension auto-enrolment, time off management, user permissions, and access control.
Key Features
Pros
Cons
Pricing
FreeAgent provides one plan for users, and a 30-day free trial is available before subscription.
Image via FreeAgent
Pro Tip: Effortlessly monitor expenses by capturing a picture with your smartphone and then uploading it to FreeAgent.
Tool Level
Usability
Image via Kashoo
Kashoo is yet another invaluable tool catering to sole proprietors, freelancers, and small businesses. Here’s why it secures a spot among the top Xero alternatives.
Kashoo doesn’t just offer standard invoicing; it provides the flexibility to create recurring invoices for those billed monthly—a particularly helpful feature for consultants.
Moreover, managing payments is a breeze. Once an invoice is settled, you can effortlessly enter payment details directly from the same screen.
A standout feature is Kashoo’s robust bill payment capability, allowing you to cut checks for vendor payments.
You have the option to connect your Kashoo account to your bank account. But even if you opt otherwise, the tool provides alternative methods to record your income and expenses.
Key Features
Pros
Cons
Pricing
This alternative to Xero offers two paid plans with annual billing. There’s no free plan.
Image via Kashoo
Pro Tip: Connect your bank to Kashoo for quick generation of essential business reports, all within 5 minutes or less.
Tool Level
Usability
Image via Sage
Sage stands out as an extensive accounting software perfect for medium-sized companies. It provides a diverse set of features, including financial reporting, expense management, invoicing, and inventory management.
Sage offers impressive invoice customization along with providing convenient invoice templates. It is also equipped with time-saving automation features to streamline financial tasks.
Additionally, it seamlessly connects with your bank, facilitating the quick import of transactions for efficient reconciliation.
The best part?
All your data on the software is backed up, minimizing the risk of data loss. And its cloud-based nature means you can access Sage from anywhere. This fosters effortless collaboration while ensuring real-time updates to your data.
Key Features
Pros
Cons
Pricing
Sage offers three paid plans, and regardless of your choice, you can enjoy the first three months for free.
Image via Sage
Pro Tip: Sage’s AutoEntry snap and post feature will help you speed up the processing of invoices and receipts.
Tool Level
Usability
Image via Wave
For small business owners seeking free, cloud-based accounting software, Wave stands out as a worthy option. This holds especially true if you’re new to accounting and desire a user-friendly, fully functional tool.
As one of the few free options available, Wave provides a convenient platform to manage all your accounting processes.
And that’s not it.
Its plans come with no usage restrictions, allowing you to generate unlimited invoices and collaborate with as many people as you want.
That said, Wave does charge for features like online payments, mobile receipts, and payroll. This means that you can pay only for what you need, making Wave one of the top Xero alternatives.
Beyond cost considerations, Wave covers essential functions like invoicing and receipt scanning, while also simplifying tax calculations for you.
Key Features
Pros
Cons
Pricing
Wave provides free invoicing and accounting services. Nevertheless, charges apply for additional services such as payments, payroll, and mobile receipts. Here is the breakdown of costs:
Image via Wave
Pro Tip: When you sign up for Wave, you can opt for a 30-day free trial to explore the payroll software.
Tool Level
Usability
Image via ZipBooks
Next on the list of top Xero alternatives is ZipBooks. It has earned acclaim for its user-friendly interface and robust features despite being relatively new to the market.
With a generous free plan, it surpasses some competitors’ paid plans by allowing unlimited invoice sending—an invaluable feature for small businesses.
For enhanced capabilities beyond the free plan, you can always upgrade to a paid version. This unlocks advanced features such as income and expense tracking, detailed reporting, multi-bank account connections, and automated reminders.
ZipBooks further distinguishes itself with a striking dashboard. It offers a visual overview of your company’s financial performance over the last 12 months.
While ZipBooks’ dashboard lacks Xero’s to-do reminders, it compensates with insightful charts for tracked time, sales by customer, monthly revenue, and expenses.
Key Features
Pros
Cons
Pricing
ZipBooks offers a free plan and three paid plans to choose from:
Image via ZipBooks
Pro Tip: Make the most of ZipBooks’ valuable feedback to improve your daily operations and steer clear of unnecessary fees.
Tool Level
Usability
Image via OneUp
OneUp may be one of the best Xero alternatives out there. It’s an ideal choice for small businesses and startups aiming to streamline financial operations.
With excellent custom invoicing, seamless handling of customer quotes, and the ability to include payment links in invoices, OneUp stands out.
But what makes this alternative to Xero unique?
Instead of feature-driven, OneUp’s pricing is user-based, granting access to the same robust features across all plans. This means that you’ll only need to scale up when adding users, not to unlock more robust features.
Moreover, although designed with a mobile-first approach, recent interface changes ensure a smooth experience across browsers.
Key Features
Pros
Cons
Pricing
With OneUp, you can enjoy a 30-day free trial. Additionally, there are five paid plans for you to choose from:
Image via OneUp
Pro Tip: Click the Help icon for context-sensitive assistance that adapts as you move between screens.
Tool Level
Usability
Image via ZarMoney
If you’re in search of an online accounting software rich in inventory management features, ZarMoney is an excellent choice.
It provides inventory capabilities typically found in larger and pricier platforms. What’s more, these features are available to all users across plans. They include pick lists, multisite inventory, barcodes, real-time data, and split transactions.
Beyond inventory management, ZarMoney excels in bookkeeping, time-tracking, and invoicing. It also offers some of the best reporting capabilities in the market.
But it doesn’t stop there.
As an alternative to Xero, ZarMoney is cost-effective, making it a budget-friendly choice for small to medium-sized businesses.
Overall, ZarMoney helps businesses boost productivity while minimizing costs and errors associated with manual processes.
Key Features
Pros
Cons
Pricing
ZarMoney provides three paid plans, and you can enjoy a 30-day free trial with the two lower-tier options.
Image via ZarMoney
Pro Tip: Effortlessly transfer customer and vendor data from your existing accounting systems to ZarMoney during onboarding.
Tool Level
Usability
Image via Patriot
Closing our top Xero alternatives, Patriot is an ideal pick for small businesses seeking straightforward and budget-friendly income and expense management.
What’s more, its standout customer support makes it particularly beginner-friendly.
As far as features are concerned, expect functionalities covering payroll processing, invoicing, time tracking, and thorough financial reporting.
Notably, it provides unlimited users and invoicing, features that often come at an additional cost with other software.
To test out the tool’s features, you can always enroll in its free 30-day trial.
Key Features
Pros
Cons
Pricing
Patriot provides pricing based on the selected software. You can test both out using a 30-day free trial.
Image via Patriot
Pro Tip: Edit or delete transactions as necessary, and rest assured with the recorded changes in Patriot’s Modified Transactions Report for your reference.
Tool Level
Usability
Q1. Is there an alternative to Xero?
Yes, there are various Xero alternatives that you can utilize for efficient financial management. They include:
Many of these tools offer either a free plan or a trial period. This allows you to effortlessly explore their features and determine the optimal fit for your business.
Q2. Is there a free version of Xero accounting?
Unlike some Xero alternatives mentioned in this article, Xero itself lacks a free plan. However, every paid plan includes a 30-day free trial, enabling you to evaluate the tool’s features before committing.
Q3. How different is Xero from QuickBooks?
Xero and QuickBooks differ in several aspects. QuickBooks is suitable for businesses outsourcing accounting to a bookkeeper, with a user limit of 40 for the highest plan.
In contrast, Xero supports unlimited users, making it ideal for businesses with in-house accounting teams.
QuickBooks has a more user-friendly interface and excels in inventory management. Xero, on the other hand, is great for tracking project profitability in real time and offers multicurrency support. This makes it a better fit for businesses expanding globally.
Q4. What are the disadvantages of Xero?
Xero, like any software, has some downsides.
It has a learning curve, making it less user-friendly for those with limited accounting knowledge. The customization options are somewhat restricted.
Additionally, premium features like unlimited invoices and multi-currency support are exclusive to the high-tier plans. There’s also no free plan.
Q5. How can I choose the right Xero alternative for my business?
Choosing the right Xero alternative requires you to consider various factors. Here’s a step-by-step guide:
While Xero serves as a reliable accounting software, beginners seeking user-friendly options or advanced customization may want to explore suitable alternatives.
Robust features like unlimited invoices on low-tier plans may also drive the need for a Xero alternative.
During the selection process, carefully examine the features to ensure they align with your business needs. Additionally, assess the responsiveness of customer support.
The Xero alternatives in this article deliver excellent functionality at reasonable prices, catering to small businesses, freelancers, and enterprises seeking scalable solutions.
When you find a tool worth considering, acquaint yourself with its capabilities using a free trial or free plan. Commit to a paid plan only when you’re sure it aligns with your requirements.
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