Given that Wave’s single paid accounting plan is cheaper than all the other alternatives we’ve listed here, and that it offers a forever free plan, this is absolutely the best option if you need to save cash. However, Wave’s features are more limited than many competitors in order to keep the price low, so it may not suffice for growing businesses. Once you’ve got your bank information in Xero, the software will help you match up your transactions for reconciliation (Figure B). Keep in mind that bulk reconciliation is not included with the cheapest Early plan, so you might have to pay to upgrade if you want this feature. I wish it was included in all plans, because manually reconciling one transaction at a time is very tedious for many businesses. In the Early plan, the least expensive subscription, you can send up to 20 invoices and schedule up to five bill payments only.
Other features include reconciling bank transactions and capturing bills and receipts with Hubdoc. With Xero, you can add an unlimited number of users to your account at each subscription level. This is a notable feature for accounting software; often, lower-tier plans allow fewer users while only higher-tier plans allow unlimited users. After you start a free 30-day trial of Xero, you’ll activate the account and provide details about your business. Then, you can connect your bank accounts to Xero and decide if you'll accept electronic payments for online invoices. To accept payments from their clients, Xero allows businesses to connect to payment services without any monthly subscription.
How much does Xero cost?
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Expense Management
The Established plan costs $80 per month and includes unlimited numbers of invoices and bills. In addition to all the features of the other two plans, the Established plan includes the use of multiple currencies, tracking time and projects, claiming expenses and viewing in-depth analytics. The tradeoff for Xero’s unlimited users on the Early plan is that it enforces pretty stiff limits on other things, only allowing 20 invoices and 5 bills per month. Most small businesses will exceed that limit quickly and be forced to upgrade to a more expensive plan. We also ensure that the software offers most standard accounting features and reports, awarding higher rankings to those that provide advanced services, like tax filing. While Xero has a lot going for it, pricing increases, a lack of built-in payroll, and limited features on its least expensive plans are potential issues.
- Hubdoc is included in Xero Ignite, Grow, Comprehensive and Ultimate plans as long as it’s connected to your Xero subscription.
- For those seeking more specialized invoicing capabilities, exploring the best invoicing software can provide additional options.
- FreshBooks is another one of our favorites for small businesses — especially freelancers.
- These ratings are meant to provide clarity in the decision-making process, but what’s best for your business will depend on its size, growth trajectory and which features you need most.
Customizable reports and dashboards
Data is backed up daily across various servers, and regular security audits are performed. Xero has never offered phone support and has relied on email support. It may take a day or two to get a response to your email, but there are plenty of other forms of support available. Despite a few shortcomings, we margin of safety formula calculation example and faqs rated Xero 4.7/5 for its customer support.
Xero doesn’t provide a phone number on its customer support page, but a representative will call you if necessary. This is a serious drawback if you want to be able to pick up the phone and talk through an issue or are new to accounting software and have lots of questions. For example, you can give all employees the ability to send quotes and invoices, allow some to enter expenses and limit who can see the company’s complete financial picture. To keep things organized, Xero logs every action users make and compiles the history of every transaction. With Xero, businesses can automate the process of tracking and managing business expenses. They can categorize expenses, attach receipts, and assign them to specific projects or employees.
NerdWallet independently reviews accounting software products before determining our top picks. We collect the data for our software ratings from products’ public-facing websites and from company representatives. Information is gathered on a regular basis and reviewed by our editorial team for consistency and accuracy. Has robust reporting tools and report customization options, basic inventory tracking in all plans and a capable mobile app; Early plan limits the number of invoices and bills.
If your bank doesn’t already have a connection, you can import PDF statements. For most customers, Xero's direct bank feeds are available at no additional cost. Some UK banks charge fees for bank feeds, that we will pass on to you.
The software shows you potential transaction matches side by side, so you can immediately see if the match is accurate without having to click anything. When reconciling books, Xero suggests likely matches between bank statement lines and transactions entered in the software. For example, if you have an entry for an invoice of $1,000 and a recent $1,000 deposit in your bank account, it might suggest matching these two transactions. Click the "OK" icon between the two to verify the match is correct.