Xero vs QuickBooks Online: Features Comparison, Pros, Cons

It’s particularly well-suited for businesses who prioritize an all-in-one bookkeeping for nonprofits scope of services foundation group® solution. Xero and QuickBooks Online are both powerful accounting software solutions for small businesses. However, when you compare features, QuickBooks Online inches ahead for its stronger feature set, ease of sharing with accountants and customer support. Both FreshBooks and Xero have a hearty number of apps you can integrate for further functionality. Xero offers built-in integrations for superior connections, including Shopify, Hubdoc, Stripe and HubSpot.

Accounting

Easy to share information with your accountant and to find QuickBooks experts and online resources if needed. It’s full of user guides, help articles and other learning tools so you can hopefully find answers to your questions faster. Let us know how well the content on this page solved your problem today. All feedback, positive or negative, helps us to improve the way we help small businesses.

FreshBooks also offers customized pricing for large enterprise customers, while Xero only offers three preset plans. QuickBooks Online does offer phone support for its customers but doesn’t have email support. Phone wait times are often short, but the helpfulness and knowledge of representatives vary, so resolving your issue may take some time. QuickBooks Online has a number of other support resources, including a help center, in-software help, training, and guides, to help you get the answers you need.

QuickBooks Online

We research and recommend products and services suitable for various business types, investing thousands of hours each year in this process. And if you find that neither company meets your needs, you may be better off with one of our top accounting software picks for small businesses. When it comes to integrations, QuickBooks Online and Xero are neck-and-neck, with each boasting more integrations than most accounting software options. QuickBooks Online also has advanced accounting features you won’t find with some contractor or employee time to get it right of its competitors. However, unlike Xero, the software is quite intuitive and easy to use — even beginners with no prior accounting experience can master the software quite easily.

1. FreshBooks brings some serious pizzazz and excitement to accounting, while Xero takes a more polished, business-like approach.
2. FreshBooks doesn’t offer built-in payroll features and requires integration with Gusto for payroll services, which may involve additional costs.
3. FreshBooks is a freelancer’s dream accounting software, as it comes with unlimited invoicing, estimates and time tracking.
4. QuickBooks Online offers much better invoicing with multiple templates to choose from as well as built-in packing slips.
5. Our partners cannot pay us to guarantee favorable reviews of their products or services.

QuickBooks is a popular accounting software used by small businesses, solopreneurs and freelancers. The software helps users to keep track of their finances, customers and vendors. Plans start at $15 per month for up to 20 invoices, five bills, bank account reconciliation, receipt capture and short-term cash flow snapshots. Its $78-per-month plan also includes multiple currencies, project tracking, in-depth analytics and employee expense claims.

Create Xero invoices for new WooCommerce orders

Another key difference between the two companies is the maximum number of users it allows. Xero has no limit to how many users can access data, whereas QuickBooks limits this to 40 with its Enterprise plan. Xero offers this through Hubdoc so you can access your documents online. QuickBooks offers receipt and document organization with its mobile app as well as the online version.

But Xero’s reporting is more robust thanks to its detailed accounting features. Integrating with third-party apps is important in today’s marketplace to ensure that your accounting software works with the other tools your company is using. This helps workflows move smoothly and prevents users from having to constantly toggle between two programs when working. Xero is also gearing up to launch Just Ask Xero (JAX), a generative AI assistant designed to help businesses complete accounting tasks like creating invoices or paying bills. While details on make or buy decision explained pricing and a hard launch date are still under wraps, JAX promises to reduce admin time by giving users a more intuitive, hands-free way to manage their finances.

Unfortunately, the lowest-priced Xero plan is quite limited, allowing users to enter only five bills and send 20 invoices per month. While this may be suitable for independent contractors or self-employed individuals, most users will need to upgrade to one of the more expensive plans. While Xero supports unlimited users on all plans, QuickBooks Online only supports up to 25 — and this is only available on the most expensive plan. However, the software itself is difficult to learn if you don’t have prior accounting experience, so it isn’t the best choice for beginners. All FreshBooks plans, except for the highest-tier custom plan, come with one user.