QuickBooks vs Xero Pricing (2026)
How do these two stack up on price? Here's what each one costs, what you get, and where the value sits.
| QuickBooks | Xero | |
|---|---|---|
| Starts at | $38/mo | $25/mo |
| Number of plans | 4 | 3 |
| Free plan | — | — |
| Free trial | ||
| Pricing model | per-seat | flat-rate |
Simple Start
- Expert-guided setup and onboarding
- AI Chat for instant insights
- Categorizes expenses
- Maximizes tax deductions
- Run general business reports
- Automated bookkeeping
- Invoice and get paid
- Automate bill pay with free ACH
Essentials
- Expert-guided setup and onboarding
- AI Chat for instant insights
- Cleans up your books
- Gets you paid faster
- Run enhanced reports
- Add employee time to invoices
- Get customer referrals, feedback, and work requests
- Collect leads from a custom form on your website
- Link your calendar and let customers schedule meetings with you directly
Plus
Popular- Expert-guided setup and onboarding
- AI Chat for instant insights
- Reconciles your books
- Surfaces profit & loss insights
- Finds and fixes anomalies
- Catches discrepancies before filing
- Sources leads and helps with follow-up
- Run comprehensive reports
- Plan budgets
- Track project profitability
- Track and manage inventory
- Track classes and locations (40)
Advanced
- Expert-guided setup and onboarding
- AI Chat for instant insights
- Auto-creates projects and allocates costs
- Gives tailored financial insights
- Customize dashboards with personalized KPIs and metrics to measure what matters most
- Track performance with unlimited classes, locations, and custom KPIs
- Build custom management-ready reports
- Automate workflows
- Sync data with Excel
- Customize user permissions and access
- Forecast cash flow and profit
- Batch invoices and expenses
- Backup and restore your data
- Get priority support and training
- Track classes and locations (unlimited)
Early
- Send quotes and 20 invoices†
- Accept online invoice payments^
- 5 bills
- Reconcile bank transactions
- Smart Document Capture
- View real-time reports
- W-9 + 1099 management
- Sales tax
- Visualize performance with basic graphs
- 30 day cash flow forecast
- Make online bill payments (Domestic - Free ACH)
- Make online bill payments (Cross Border)
Growing
- Send invoices and quotes
- Accept online invoice payments^
- Automate bill entry and track bills
- Auto-reconcile bank transactions (Beta)
- Smart Document Capture
- View real-time reports
- W-9 + 1099 management
- Sales tax
- Visualize performance with graphs
- 60 day cash flow forecast
- Make online bill payments (Domestic - Free ACH)
- Make online bill payments (Cross Border)
- Customize performance dashboards
- Tailored financial health scorecards
Established
Popular- Send invoices and quotes
- Accept online invoice payments^
- Automate bill entry and track bills
- Auto-reconcile bank transactions (Beta)
- Smart Document Capture
- View real-time reports
- W-9 + 1099 management
- Sales tax
- Visualize performance with graphs
- 180 day cash flow forecast
- Make online bill payments (Domestic - Free ACH)
- Make online bill payments (Cross Border)
- Customize performance dashboards
- Tailored financial health scorecards
- Analyze KPIs and ratios
- Use multiple currencies
- Track time and costs for projects
- Employee expense and mileage claims
- Benchmark against the industry
- Make online bill payments (International)
QuickBooks vs Xero FAQ
- Which one is cheaper?
- Xero is the cheaper option, starting at $25/mo vs $38/mo for QuickBooks.
- Can I use either one for free?
- Neither has a free plan. But QuickBooks and Xero offer a free trial.
- How do they charge?
- Different approach here. QuickBooks uses per-seat pricing, while Xero goes with flat-rate. That changes the math depending on your team size and usage.
- Which one is a better deal?
- Depends on what you need. QuickBooks: QuickBooks is the incumbent premium play in SMB accounting — they're not trying to be cheap, they're trading on brand trust and accountant familiarity. At $115-275/mo at full price, they're significantly more expensive than alternatives like Wave (free) or Zoho Books, and they know it. Xero: At $25–$90/mo, Xero sits in the same ballpark as QuickBooks Online but positions slightly more premium on the low end while staying competitive at the top. They're clearly targeting small-to-mid businesses that have outgrown spreadsheets and want a polished, accountant-friendly platform — not the budget-first crowd.
Keep tabs on both.
We'll monitor pricing changes for QuickBooks and Xero and let you know when something moves.