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The 9 closest of 10, each with its real monthly cost at 25 clients and what it does that Xero does not. See all 14.
Kashoo does everything we verified about Xero for $39 a month less at 25 clients, $20 against $59. It is a price cut rather than an upgrade: on the two features checked against the vendors’ own pricing pages the two are level. The trade: Xero is built for a mature platform with a large ecosystem and Kashoo is not, so this is a swap with a cost.
The cheapest plan is tight (20 invoices and 5 bills a month, no multi-currency or projects), so a busy freelancer outgrows Early fast, and payroll, inventory and auto-reconcile on Early are all paid add-ons.
It runs $59 a month at 25 clients with the add-ons it forces on you included. 8 of the 10 alternatives to Xero cost less than that.
Ranked by how much of what we record for Xero each platform also does. Kashoo is the nearest, and it is $39 a month cheaper at 25 clients. Nothing we verified is missing; the only gaps are features Xero lists and Kashoo does not, which is weaker evidence.
$39 a month cheaper$20 at 5
A small business that wants double-entry books with bank feeds, sales tax tracking and unlimited users for one flat price, without a per-client or per-invoice meter.
Everything this site records for Xero is also recorded for these, and they cost less at 25 clients. That is not the same as saying they are better: the last column is what Xero is built for that they are not, and for someone who needs that, the saving is not a saving.
| Platform | At 25 clients | You save | What Xero does that it does not |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zoho Books | $20 | $39 | what accountants expect, a mature platform with a large ecosystem and one price for everyone |
Prices are the real monthly cost at 25 clients with the add-ons each platform forces on you included, from the same engine the shortlist quiz uses.
$39 a month cheaper$20 at 5
A small US business that wants a real free plan to start on and a ladder it can climb without changing software, up to multi-currency, inventory and a fifteen-user finance team.
$52.30 a month cheaper$0 at 5
A UK sole trader or small company that wants free, MTD-ready bookkeeping with unlimited users and only pays once the ledger passes 1,000 entries a year.
$1.37 a month cheaper$57.63 at 5
A VAT-registered UK small business that wants accounting and payroll from one established vendor, with MTD, CIS and an AI assistant on every plan, and an accountant who already knows Sage.
$11 a month dearer$70 at 5
A freelancer or small service business whose job is getting invoices out and paid, with time tracking and projects attached.
$41 a month cheaper$18 at 5
A freelancer or small studio that wants a full invoicing, quoting and time-tracking tool for $14 a month or less, and the option to run it on its own server for nothing.
$26 a month dearer$85 at 5
A US business that wants the accounting software its accountant already uses, with a path from one user to a 25-seat finance team.
$40 a month cheaper$19 at 5
A US or Canadian sole trader or very small business that wants to invoice and keep basic books for nothing, paying only when it takes card payments.
$59 a month cheaper$0 at 5
A freelancer or very small business that wants to invoice, chase payments and log expenses for nothing, and does not mind two users and 500 invoices a year.
A small business that wants proper double-entry books its accountant will recognise, with unlimited users on one flat price.
On this site it is the pick for what accountants expect, a mature platform with a large ecosystem and one price for everyone. If that is you, read the savings above and then ignore them.
The pairs people actually search for, each one priced at the same four sizes off both vendors' own pages.
Kashoo. It is $39 a month cheaper at the size we compare on and gives up nothing we verify, though you should read why it exists before swapping: no two of these do exactly the same job.
Zoho Books is cheaper and level with Xero on every feature we verify. Nothing here is strictly better: each one exists to do a slightly different job.
Xero is $27 a month at 5 clients and $59 at 100 clients, read off their own pricing page and re-checked every week.
The cheapest plan is tight (20 invoices and 5 bills a month, no multi-currency or projects), so a busy freelancer outgrows Early fast, and payroll, inventory and auto-reconcile on Early are all paid add-ons.
We compare 10 of them here, every one priced at the same size off its own pricing page, and the whole list of 14 is on the accounting page.
Should yours be on this list? If you make accounting and invoicing platforms and it is not compared here, ask to be shortlisted. Listings are free and cannot be bought.
Two features were checked against each vendor's own pricing page: a price that does not move with clients and a free plan. Those are the ones written above as does and does not. The other 14 are read out of each vendor's own pricing page, so an absence there means we did not find it listed, not that the product lacks it, and those lines say lists and does not list instead. How all of this gets checked.
This page compares everything to Xero. The shortlist asks 7 questions about what you need the books to do and where you are based, and gives you four picks priced at your own numbers, which is a better question than “what is like the one I already have”.
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