Because Xero doesn’t charge more as you add users to your plan, it offers a cost-effective way to provide employees access to real-time financials. Furthermore, you can scale it up as your company grows; Xero integrates with over 1,000 third-party apps for payroll, time-tracking, and more. Due to its scalability and cost-effectiveness, Xero is a great choice for growing businesses. Because it supports unlimited users, it facilitates employee collaboration and allows them to quickly submit expenses and send invoices. Xero also grows with your company, integrating with your email, customer relationship management (CRM), or point-of-sale platforms to help streamline operations even further. With Xero, you have your own accounts payable tools accessible from any device.
- We feel Hubdoc’s ability to sync transactions with Xero will prove particularly useful for business owners that deal with a lot of paperwork.
- Invoices can also be converted from the quotes you created for a particular job or project.
- Xero’s pricing compares favorably with other accounting software we reviewed.
- ††Hubdoc is included in Xero Starter, Standard and Premium plans as long as it’s connected to your Xero subscription.
- We liked that the trial version of Xero is full-featured, meaning you can test it out with real data.
- Xero may be harder to learn than a simpler invoicing platform like Square Invoices or Zoho Invoice.
We evaluated inventory as part of our A/P and A/R testing, so there’s no separate video. Read our comprehensive review of Gusto to learn more about the features and capabilities of this robust HR solution. Xero also capably generates profit and loss statements, trial balance reports, balance sheets, and other traditional accounting reports. Sage 50 Accounting’s Cash Flow Manager tool is a helpful feature for people who want to better understand how future transactions could impact their business. The tool also lets you adjust the time frame to see how your business has changed over time. Instead, customers can visit the Xero Central support site or raise a case online.
For businesses that have to lay off or furlough employees and reduce operating hours during and after lockdowns, rearranging financial priorities is harder than ever. In general, accounting software companies should have open lines of communication with customers. Unfortunately, Xero only has a chatbot, a customer service email, and self-help information. In this area, we gave more weight to certain features like creating inventory items, viewing inventory levels, adding inventory to invoices, and calculating COGS automatically. Xero has all of these features alongside minor features that can help in inventory management, like viewing inventory cost information and POs. It can create recurring bills, but you’ll need to record the payment of that bill manually.
During our demo of the software, we found that Xero’s reporting features can help you make sense of the data analytics at your disposal. Xero’s reporting tool distills your accounting data into easily digestible bar charts, pie charts and other graphs. A few popular tools include your business’s top 10 customers, Xero’s budget manager and the ability to drill down into your best revenue generators. We appreciated that Xero includes time tracking in all of its plans (see the screenshot below from our demo).
Xero Review: Pricing, Features, Pros and Cons
Moreover, quotes that have been accepted and fulfilled can be converted into invoices, thus saving you time that you can use to focus on other urgent matters. In this article, we will look into Xero pricing plans—the features included in each and for whom each plan is ideal. Managing your finances is one of the most time-consuming and arduous parts of operating a business. Regardless of the size, businesses deal with the same challenges in accounting finances. But one of the major differences between SMEs and large corporations is that the latter have the capability to invest in sophisticated accounting software solutions.
Customizable reports and dashboards
If your operation’s inventory needs are complicated, consider implementing one of the best POS systems, which have extensive inventory management tools. If you decide to charge late fees or interest on an unpaid invoice, it’s crucial that your original contract clearly outlines that these charges may be assessed. Zoho Books’ paid plans all come with free live chat and phone support. An accountant or bookkeeper can be useful set of hands to help with the accounting heavy lifting.
Get set up faster
We researched and analyzed dozens of the best accounting and invoicing software solutions to help small businesses choose the ideal accounting software for their needs. Our information sources included the company’s website and software demos. Additionally, we studied user reviews for independent opinions on the software’s pros and cons. When looking for the best accounting software for growing businesses specifically, we focused on pricing tiers, the number of integrations, and the breadth of features and tools. While Xero offers unlimited users, it compensates for that by significantly limiting the number of invoices and bills allowed on the Early plan (20 invoices and five bills).
Time Tracking
We like its advanced search feature, which you can use to search invoices using multiple fields and filter them appropriately. In summary, Xero’s A/R management is competitive when compared to applications like QuickBooks and FreshBooks. Its ease-of-use score is also high, making it a great software for A/R. In addition to reaching out for live help, you can access valuable online support resources, including videos, a blog, podcasts, small business guides and training courses. Xero recently streamlined the ability to search for help while using the software, so you don’t have to leave the site. Wave is a solid choice for small businesses looking for free accounting software.
Xero offers a built-in integration with Hubdoc, a tool that extracts the data from bank statements and financial documents and uploads it into the system based on rules that you specify. Xero also has a mobile app, Xero Expenses, that allows you to snap pictures of receipts and create an expense instead of having to manually enter all the information. The Growing plan costs $42 per month and includes unlimited numbers of invoices and bills. In addition to the features on the Early plan, the Growing plan also includes bulk transaction reconciliation to speed things up. Despite some criticism I have about Xero, I feel they are a strong billing and invoicing software. The customization capabilities is probably the best out of all online accounting software.
Enter bills
Keep in mind that support is only available via email or one-way call. If you’re a larger company with multiple bank accounts, go for a more robust accounting system like QuickBooks Enterprise. For heavily inventory-based businesses, we suggest an ERP like NetSuite ERP or Sage Intacct. Xero is not free, though it does provide a free trial of the software for 30 days. Wave, Zoho Books, and ZipBooks are a few of our top picks for free accounting software. Also included in the Ultimate plan is Xero Analytics Plus, a set of tools to help small businesses gain a deeper understanding of how their business may be performing, and plan ahead.
The report showed digitally enabled small businesses were significantly more resilient throughout the COVID-19 crisis, and outperformed their peers in most performance metrics. More complex businesses in particular are wanting to make managing their employees easier and get deeper insights into their business performance. Danielle Bauter is a writer for the Accounting quickbooks competitors 2021 division of Fit Small Business. She has owned Check Yourself, a bookkeeping and payroll service that specializes in small business, for over twenty years. She holds a Bachelor’s degree from UCLA and has served on the Board of the National Association of Women Business Owners. She also regularly writes about business for various consumer publications.
Xero is a great QuickBooks alternative for budget-conscious small businesses. With its relatively affordable price points, you get features that you’ll only see in higher-priced plans of other accounting software. However, we found that Xero isn’t great for mobile accounting or businesses that need multicompany accounting features. Although overall, it’s ideal for daily accounting, inventory keeping, and project management. We recommend it for project- and product-based companies because of its flexible features.
Sending invoices is also included but limited to a maximum of 20 invoices directly from your mobile device. With the Starter plan, you can also enter up to five bills that you can pay by schedule https://quickbooks-payroll.org/ or by batch. Xero offers more than 1,000 integrations – among the most of the accounting apps we reviewed. These apps include Square, Stripe, PayPal, Gusto, DEAR Inventory and Expensify.