Xero

Cloud accounting that reconciles your bank feed, reads incoming bills, and forecasts cash flow, aimed at replacing desktop bookkeeping software.

Money & invoicing Agents

Checked 25 Sep 2026

Open xero.com

What you'd use it for

Reconciling a business bank account and seeing how much cash you'll have in the weeks ahead, without entering the transactions by hand.

Match incoming bank transactions to invoices and bills automatically so you confirm the match rather than type each entry
Capture bills and receipts by photo or forwarded email instead of entering them manually
Forecast cash flow between 30 and 180 days out depending on plan
Send invoices and quotes, capped at 20 a month on the cheapest plan and unlimited above it
Track multi-currency transactions, project time and costs, and employee expense claims on the Established plan

The verdict

Xero is solid, unglamorous bookkeeping: connect a bank feed and it handles most of the matching, which is the daily grind it actually removes. The three tiers are one decision sold three times — how far out you want the cash-flow forecast and how many currencies and projects the business runs — and the number that matters is the regular price from month seven, not the six-month promotional rate. It suits a business that already has a bank feed and wants reconciliation and forecasting handled; it does not suit anyone looking for invoicing-to-payment automation, which has to be built separately.

What it costs

Tier	Price	For	Includes
Early	$25/month -- currently $2.50/month for the first 6 months if you buy by 30 September 2026	Businesses just starting out, needing the essentials.	Up to 20 invoices and quotes, 5 bills, basic bank reconciliation, document capture, reports, 30-day cash flow forecasting.
Growing	$55/month -- currently $5.50/month for the first 6 months if you buy by 30 September 2026	Expanding businesses ready to automate more of the bookkeeping.	Everything in Early plus unlimited invoicing, automated bill tracking, auto-reconciliation, customisable dashboards, 60-day forecasting.
Established	$90/month -- currently $9/month for the first 6 months if you buy by 30 September 2026	Scaling businesses wanting advanced tools and analytics.	Everything in Growing plus 180-day forecasting, multi-currency support, project tracking, expense management, international payments.

Read from Xero's own pricing page on 25 Sep 2026. Vendors change prices without notice.

What you need to start

A business bank account you can connect a live feed to
A supported modern browser such as Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari with cookies and JavaScript enabled
A payment method to continue after the 30-day free trial, though not to start it

A working account in minutes; the bank feed that makes reconciliation useful can take anywhere from the same day to about two weeks to activate, depending on the bank.

Your first run Sign up free with no credit card in a few minutes, then connect a bank feed; once it authorises, Xero starts proposing matches between your transactions and your invoices for you to confirm, though feed activation itself can take anywhere from the same day to around two weeks depending on the bank.

Where it breaks

The prices above lead with the regular rate deliberately. Xero is running an introductory offer of roughly 90% off for six months, and the offer is tied to buying by 30 September 2026 -- so it may well be over by the time you read this, and the number to budget against was always the second one anyway. A business that signs up on the discount sees its bill go up roughly tenfold in month seven, which is the part that catches people. Online invoice payments carry separate processing fees on top of the subscription; standard ACH bill payments are free.

Browser-based, with iOS and Android apps. Payroll (via Gusto) and Inventory Plus are separate paid add-ons, not included in any tier above.

First entry in this reference. There is no previous check to compare it against.

When not to use it

Not for a business that wants bills chased, approved or paid automatically — Xero reconciles what already exists in the bank feed and stops there. Not for anyone comparing tiers on the six-month promotional price alone; budget for the regular monthly rate, which is roughly ten times higher from month seven.

Xero’s pitch has not changed much since it was just “accounting software in a browser” — what has changed is how much of the reconciling it now does for you. Connect a bank feed and it proposes matches between transactions and invoices; you are confirming rather than typing.

The three tiers are really one decision, repeated three times with more headroom each time: how far out do you want the cash-flow forecast to look, and how many currencies and projects does the business actually run. Early’s 30-day forecast is a warning system. Established’s 180-day forecast, multi-currency support and project tracking are for a business that has outgrown a single bank account and a single price list.

What the promotional price hides

Every published figure is a first-six-months rate roughly a tenth of the ongoing price. That is a normal SaaS tactic, but it means the number that should drive a decision is the smaller, second figure in each row above — the one you will actually be paying from month seven onward.

Where it fits

Xero is the record-keeping layer, not the automation layer. It reconciles and forecasts from data that already exists in the bank feed; it does not go and collect that data from anywhere else. A business chaining invoicing, approvals and Xero together on autopilot is doing that through something like Make talking to Xero’s API, not through Xero’s own automations alone.

Alternatives

Money & invoicingAgents

QuickBooks

Bookkeeping, invoicing and payroll for small businesses, with Intuit's AI categorising bank transactions, matching receipts and chasing unpaid invoices on its own.

Checked 25 Sep 2026