Xero Reviews

Pros

Xero has transformed our financial management and provides us with all the real time data we could imagine, and where it lacks, integrations take over. While more "accountancy" friendly than some of the more simple products, once you work with your accountants to get this right, you won't regret it. The detail, features and holistic approach to managing company finances means that we are using this every day and with pleasure.

Cons

The interface is being updated, and it is needed as it is a little old fashioned in its design. That said, it is clean and clear and otherwise we love everything about Xero.

Alternatives Considered

Sage 100 and FreeAgent

Reasons for Choosing Xero

FreeAgent was a little too simple and too many things were "locked in". We have much more flexibility and a wider range of integrations with Xero.

Switched From

FreeAgent

Pros

If you're not an accountant, Xero is still simple and straightforward to use. Daily operations are based on the straightforward processes of making payments to suppliers and receiving money. It's the best option for a company of that size. It's simple and straightforward to use this accounting software to keep track of your company's money. This program is something I use constantly.

Cons

Xero is designed for small businesses, therefore it has basic restrictions (journal approvals, etc.). As a company's billing operations reach a certain mass, they outgrow a single Xero instance and require the use of many instances running in parallel to process all of the bills.

Pros

Can link up with other apps like Mile IQ & Dext to automate more and keep track

Cons

Price is getting expensive nor they ahve increased from £33 to £40 pcm

Alternatives Considered

Quickbooks Online

Reasons for Switching to Xero

Like the feel of it better seemed more high end

Pros

The platform is fairly easy to use and the app is ok.

Cons

Here are the price increases for our mid tier subscription since 2019. 10/23 - 5.0011/22 - 3.0011/21 -2.0012/20 - 2.0012.00 monthly increase since 2019

Alternatives Considered

Quickbooks Online

Reasons for Switching to Xero

Simple set up

Pros

Xero is really easy to use and if you get stuck you can google answers and most of them are there in the search engine. If you need support, they're responsive and happy to assist. Overall a brilliant platform. No desire to move software.

Cons

There's not much to dislike really. Possibly the way that they block analytics and reporting features to upsell you but it doesn't harm the overall experience as we just don't use some functionality.

Alternatives Considered

Quickbooks Online

Reasons for Switching to Xero

Xero is easy to use, easy to get setup, and very intuitive.

Pros

Since I've been using Xero, I've really liked it, as it has proven to be an exceptional solution for optimizing our financial management. It has an intuitive and easy-to-use interface that allows me to quickly access key financial data such as balance sheets, income statements, and cash flows. It has an automated bank reconciliation feature, which is a real plus, because it saves us time and ensures the accuracy of our financial records. It has characteristics that are key to our objectives.

Cons

Xero is an almost perfect system, because it can have limitations in terms of customization. Some of the advanced reports and features may require technical knowledge or expert assistance. Another disadvantage is its integration with other business systems, which can be difficult in some cases and cause data synchronization difficulties.

Pros

Reporting is super useful, very segmentable. Integrations pull through data from credit cards etc with ease and give a live picture of financial health.

Cons

Limit of 2 bespoke integrations, a lot of complication that is useful for accountants but not user friendly.

Alternatives Considered

Quickbooks Online

Reasons for Choosing Xero

Became Ltd company

Pros

Xero has been reliable and so responsive to accounting needs. It helped us experience the easier and efficient side of accounting. The first impression we got from the intuitive user interface was so fulfilling. We also benefited alot from the support services that were 24/7 available to us. The reporting function caught my attention and made financial and accounting reporting such a flex.

Cons

Xero has been a perfect solution for me and there is no time i did have any troubles using it.

Pros

Xero has all the features you might need for your accounting and invoicing purposes.If you are looking for a tool that provides you with what you need for accounting and invoicing, no matter how it looks or works, then Xero is for you.

Cons

Xero's interface AND user experience are outdated, it feels like you are using a tool that hasn't been updated in a decade.It is extremely hard to find the things you need when you need them.Error and even success messages are hard to understand at times.Unless you are very used to Xero and how it works, you will need to spend your time figuring things out.

Pros

The application is simple and intuitive, no redundancy

Cons

I have no problems with this software, everything works perfectly

Pros

Ease of use - seriously. Nothing comes close. And trust me, I've tried a number of accounting software and they're all a nightmare to use unless you're an accountant.

Cons

Customer support could be quicker, and phone support would help.

Alternatives Considered

QuickBooks Online Advanced, Sage 50cloud Accounting, QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise, Sage 100 and Quickbooks Online

Reasons for Choosing Xero

Sage 50 Cloud was supposedly a cloud based software, but it wasn't truly cloud based, and it had all the legacy horrid pains associated with any Sage accounting system.

Switched From

Sage 50cloud Accounting

Reasons for Switching to Xero

None of them were truly cloud based. All of them were horribly complicated, made for accountants and not at all user friendly.

Pros

I loved how easy it was to integrate XERO with my bank accounts and Paypal. XERO seamlessly connected and kept my balances up to date. I also liked how easy it was to invoice clients and connect invoices to Paypal or Stripe.

Cons

Unfortunately, the reconciliation process in XERO is a no-go for me. Rather than the Quickbooks and standard approach, where you do a monthly reconciliation against a bank statement, XERO had no such function. Once an item was matched up to a bank transaction, it was considered "reconciled." No option to close out a month and double-check transactions. I went back to QBO to get that feature.

Alternatives Considered

Quickbooks Online

Reasons for Choosing Xero

I wanted better connection with online banks. At the time, XERO performed that better than QB.

Reasons for Switching to Xero

I wanted better connection with online banks. At the time, XERO performed that better than QB. I have since switched to Quickbooks Online.

Pros

Customisable dashboard is a time saver and ability to customise templates helps with consistency for our company branding. Customisation of user permissions means the bonus of staff being able to enter their own expenses which is a further time saver. Being able to work across multiple currencies now is a plus, albeit I wish we could manually adjust exchange rates being used.

Cons

Many advanced features that are standard for longer established accounting software solutions are available, but as "bolt on" packages, so costs can escalate quickly if you need full "bells and whistles".
Customer service response can be very slow compared to other cloud software providers we use - in the beginning they were responsive for engagement but over time they're clearly pushing all customers towards getting answers from their user community and/or through the Q&A section. I appreciate that customer service probably don't want to be wasting time with queries better addressed by professional book-keepers or accountants, but in our instance, as "advanced users", our customer service queries tend to be related to technical challenges with the product. It would be great of Xero could analyse the types of queries coming from their customers and perhaps have a priority helpline on offer for "low maintenance" subscribers.

Alternatives Considered

Quicken, Sage Business Cloud Accounting, QuickBooks Online Advanced and FreshBooks

Reasons for Switching to Xero

Felt more user friendly, especially for team members who, at the time, had limited or zero accounting knowledge

Pros

I like this software WHEN it works. However, that's generally never the case. My bank feeds haven't been accurate since May of this year. That's five months without accurate transactions and reconciliation.

Cons

This software would be good if it worked. I've gone five months without accurate reports and transactions. Xero blames it on "Yodlee" but never actually tells me that they've pressed Yodlee on this issue. I've had internal Xero employees tell me their [SENSITIVE CONTENT] doesn't care about small businesses and in my experience this is true. I would never recommend this software or company to anyone. The customer service is non existent. I think they have people there to help but when those people tell you the company doesn't care...there's not much you can do. They say they're good for small business but it seems like the [SENSITIVE CONTENT] feels exactly the opposite.

Alternatives Considered

QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise and Quickbooks Online

Reasons for Switching to Xero

I chose Xero because they said they were build for small business options. I didn't need everything Quickbooks offered. That was a huge mistake as Xero can't even do the basic things I need (accurate bank transactions).

Pros

Xero is very easy to navigate around and is user friendly. Even a non-finance employee is able to use Xero. The product is able to integrate seamlessly with a school management system importing invoices and contacts which are managed in the school management system. The integration is almost automatic and does not require a user to sync. AMAZING PLATFORM!

Cons

Nil - Honestly there is nothing I dislike about Xero.

Alternatives Considered

MYOB Business

Reasons for Choosing Xero

MYOB was not able to integrate with a school management system.

Switched From

MYOB Business

Reasons for Switching to Xero

Integration, Ease of use, ease of navigation, reporting

Pros

As a former quickbooks user of about 20 years, it was a big deal to switch platforms. At first glance it looked like it would do everything we wanted. I loved the price point, the interface and relative ease of use. The multi currency was great as was the ability to integrate with Stripe. You make a lot of compromises to save on the huge monthly cost of quickbooks but there are workarounds.

Cons

There are so many things that are just common/must have's for any business. Things like progressive billing, job costing and even the ability to make your own journal entries are missing. We had to hire a consultant and spend around $800 just to get it to add purchases easier to the mix with HubDoc. You see job costing catagories at the invoice level but not software or 3rd party app to back it up. The single most annoying thing about it is the support. It's non existent. You complain, They tell you its not a problem and ignore your requests. I struggle daily with the search function. I can't get about 50% of my searches to work. The clients I'm looking for are entered. I'm typing them in fine but you often have to visit contacts menu and find them manually by quote number or just never ending scrolling. Upon complaining numerous times the best they can do is say "it might take up to two weeks for your contacts to sync. " Xero: It's 2020 and the dark ages of cloud software have passed. You need to fix the search function and add job costing to be considered a contender. So here we are in 2020, manually adding each of our sales to a spreadsheet and adding the subsequent bills to it to see if we made $. They make it incredibly hard to contact support and they are quite unresponsive when they do reply to your ticket. They try really hard to push you to support forums, where there are literally hundreds of complaints on the same issue with the ability to comment closed.

Pros

Ease of use from a day-to-day perspective for a non accountant and integration with other cloud software such as Dext and Flowlens

Cons

We have had a couple of glitches where bank feeds have stopped working for periods of time, manual import of bank statements can take a few attempts to get right.

Alternatives Considered

Dynamics 365 Business Central

Reasons for Choosing Xero

Compatibility with CRM/ERP, Cloud system

Switched From

Sage 50cloud Accounting

Reasons for Switching to Xero

Ease of use, Established brand, Integrated Payroll, migration support, ongoing cost

Pros

Xero makes managing the finances for a business really straightforward. The user interface is intuitive and it centralises all my accounts information.

One of my favourite features is the the dashboard, which is clear and customisable, and gives a great summary of the position position at any time.

The software also integrates really well to other platforms for things like receipt capture and detailed business analysis.

Cons

I'm really happy with how it performs, however, our bookkeeper still does some levels of manual reporting, which he finds easier in Excel, than in Xero. The integration of BA tools does negate this issue.

Alternatives Considered

Quickbooks Online

Reasons for Choosing Xero

It wasn't SaaS at the time and was only able to be understood and used by our bookkeeper.

Switched From

MYOB Business

Reasons for Switching to Xero

At the time the product looked to have better features and functionality, and the user experience was excellent.

Pros

Provided it's set up properly, Xero is probably the most friendly accounting software - to non-accountants that is - of any I've ever come across. Back in the 90's, MYOB revolutionised accounting software for small business, but Xero takes it to a whole new level, by removing so much of the data entry work that takes time, leaves room for errors and is in general a pain, when you'd rather be - you know, running your business. With Xero, it's up to the individual operator how much they want to automate their accounting transactions; if you want to, you can use the really powerful, but still simple tools to do a lot of the legwork for you. If you prefer to do it more manually, that's OK too - it's still simple and very quick and easy to use.

Cons

Xero is constantly adding and refining its software. Inventory control is an area I'd like to see strengthened, but that's already way ahead of where it was a couple of years ago. Similarly processing payments in advance. But these are relatively small niggles which for the majority of small businesses don't present any issue.

Alternatives Considered

MYOB Business

Reasons for Choosing Xero

I was contracting to an accountancy firm who had converted their entire practice to Xero.

Switched From

MYOB Business

Pros

What is good about Xero are 1) Real-time bank feeds and bank reconciliation - this is what scared the pants off of Intuit and forced them to develop new functionality. 2) Xero fully embraces and enables third-party developers to provide niche solutions that have rich interaction with Xero. 3) The features keep getting better and better quarter after quarter. 4) Perhaps my relationship as a partner skews this, but I've had nothing but excellent support from Xero. I can call someone if I have to, but I almost always get issues resolved through technical support in a timely fashion.

Some of my favorite add-ons for Xero are GeoOp for field services, Deputy which integrates its scheduling, time and attendance functions with Xero payroll, and Float which projects cashflow. The new reporting and the tags are fantastic.

Cons

There are some features I would like to see "sooner," but they are on the roadmap for "later." People jump on Xero because of the price without having a Xero consultant evaluate their suitability for the application - that can create an expectation gap, and that inevitably leads to an unhappy customer. I just hate it when people let their wallet do their thinking for them and then blame the software because it "doesn't do enough."

The payroll is fine. I spoke to the VP in charge of payroll development and he is all about improving the functionality, so it will continue to improve. What is there now is very well designed to be comprehensive and flexible, but there are situations where a third-party payroll like Gusto will make more sense for your organization. They are the first ones to suggest you look at solutions like Gusto, ADP, Paychex and others that integrate seamlessly with Xero.

It is annoying that the tags are limited to two categories, and this won't be revised until they have their design for job costing completed. No word yet on when that will be.

Pros

It has some good features but unfortunately they are overcome by the poor ones.

Cons

There are so many negatives, it's hard to know where to start
They can't be contacted so if you have a problem, you'll have it for a long time (or maybe forever)
VAT retrun period can't be closed. So someone can amend an invoice or bill or add one in to a previous VAT period, which of course screws everything up
You can't set a date for stock to arrive. When you make the order, the system assumest that it's now in stock!
You can't save two customers with the same name! They will tell you to add a special character to duplicate names! Unbelievable but true!
There are no delivery notes/packing slips. They tout a "workaround" but be warned, it's exactly 10 extra clicks so it's really not an option if you need this feature
If you want to send a document after preparing it, first you have to save it, wait for it to save, it takes you out to a main screen, you have to click back into it and then send it (if you send directly, it will send a draft document only)
Invoice, quotation, calendar functions are jumpy and extremely diffult to edit. This applies to all browsers, incognito modes, etc., it's just a really bad editor.
If you enter a contact's account, system brings open documents to the top even if these are quotes which are no longer needed. Invoices, quotes, payments are then all muddled up together is it's very hard to see what you want. Extremely badly designed in this regard.
If you create a Draft invoice, it takes a sequential number. This screws up your sequences.

Pros

The service accomplishes most of what it was intended to do albiet at a bit of a learning curve for the new user.

Cons

There is no customer service support number to call. Bank feeds do not work properly. IOS app is mising some functionaility

Pros

The software is easy to setup, easy to use, very transparent and well-supported by many accountants. It is designed with the end-user in mind, rather than the accountant. Depending on your package, it allows filing direct with IRD for GST and Payroll.

Cons

There is no phone support, only via a web portal. Some matters are not documented well in any of the Xero-supplied "how to" e.g. best practice for issuing dividends.

Alternatives Considered

MYOB Business

Reasons for Choosing Xero

Accuracy and time.

Switched From

Microsoft Excel

Reasons for Switching to Xero

Easier to use.

Pros

I appreciate that Xero is responsive and simple to use for everyone, as it does not necessitate a great deal of prior experience. Once connected to the Internet, the user will be able to connect with all of his bank accounts, both those through which he wishes to make payments and those to which he wishes to transfer money, and monitor and follow them accurately and professionally, as well as track and report on them. It is extremely adaptable to a wide range of requirements, including those of freelancers and huge corporations. Furthermore, it serves as a vital database for all financial data, as it will allow you to download documents and invoices quickly and easily, and also through the phone application, where it is sufficient to scan documents and invoices in order to enter information from them into the system and schedule payments quickly and easily. I particularly appreciate the reports that are generated by Xero since they are comprehensive in that they include all of the financial transactions that occurred during the time period under consideration.

Cons

there are no noteworthy issues. The issue of dealing with recurring payments does not operate as expected, as you must occasionally complete the procedure manually.

Pros

I like the feature of seamless integration of thousands of transactions from my Amazon seller central account with my Xero account. I have my outsourced accounting team to set up for me using the API of Amazon. The user interface of Xero is very good and attractive, as it is very simple and easy to use. I love it because it is intuitive which allows me to track transactions, generate real time reports, and view my financial reports efficiently. The ease and flexibility to customise reports provides so much convenience for me.

Cons

Are there features you feel are missing or could be improved? Are there aspects of the product that are difficult to use? Was the integration with your existing business process difficult?It requires more professional knowhow with accounting background and technical skill to make some other customisation on reports, which I found it would cost more time and resources to hire someone to make these reports for us.