Xero is cloud-based accounting software that has been giving quickbooks a run for its money since 2006 but is it a viable contender stick around to find out.
Xero is a robust accounting solution with sophisticated features ample reports and more than 800 integrations and unlimited users unlike quickbooks desktop xero also has the mobility and modern ui of cloud-based software it has over 2 million users and is the primary accounting solution for over 16 000 accounting firms the company recently added a project management feature correcting one of its most significant drawbacks however some of xero's most recent improvements have come at a steep cost and there's been an increase in customer complaints as a result xero recently increased its prices and it no longer includes built-in payroll with his plans the company has also limited expense claims projects and multi-currency support to the most expensive plan and since our last review xero's customer support has gone downhill a bit while the price may rule the software out for small businesses xero still has a lot to offer for medium and large businesses or those in need of multiple user support let's dive in to help you evaluate whether xero is a good fit for your business
but before we get started make sure you hit that subscribe button so xero used to offer incredibly scalable pricing the other appeal of the software was that each plan came with unlimited users access to every zero feature and payroll
but as of november 1st 2018 xero no longer includes payroll and it has limited some features to its most expensive plan such as expense management and multi-currency support each plan still offers unlimited users and live bank fees so businesses can download categorize and reconcile their transactions as usual xero offers three different plans each with monthly payments and there are no annual contracts so you can cancel your subscription at any time with 30 days notice xero also offers a free 30-day trial and even has a demo company set up for you already so you can explore the software before you buy it they also offer discounts for non-profits and owners of multiple companies and xero's been known to offer other discounts occasionally so be sure to check the company's website to see if it's having a sale so here's what you get with xero's new pricing structure xero's early plan costs 11 a month and includes 20 invoices and quotes the ability to enter up to five bills the ability to reconcile bank transactions inventory management features live bank feeds purchase orders document storage reports and unlimited users xero's growing plan costs 32 a month and includes everything in the early plan plus unlimited invoices and quotes and bill management and zeros established plan costs 62 a month and includes everything in the growing plan plus expense claims and project management and multi-currency support and as i mentioned earlier xero no longer includes payroll in its monthly subscriptions instead xero is now pointing users to gusto gusto is a great payroll platform that starts at 39 dollars a month plus six dollars a month per person we've written a complete review of gusto on our website i'll go ahead and drop that link in the description below okay let's dig further into xero's specifications first of all it's cloud-based so there are no downloads or installations required access to xero is easy as a cloud-based software xero is compatible with any device so long as you have internet access and you're using a popular browser like chrome or safari and it also has an accounting app for android and apple products and separate mobile apps for zero expense management and zero project management xero is best suited for mid to large size businesses the software is well developed and offers strong accounting and ample features reports and integrations xero also supports unlimited users for every plan which is almost unheard of in the accounting software world you can set multiple levels of user permissions and control feature access as well small businesses could benefit from the growing plan especially if they need unlimited users but if your business needs project management or multi-currency support xero doesn't come cheap also the early plan limits users to only 20 invoices if you run a small business explore all of your options by checking out the top alternatives to xero that i'm going to link in the description below we wrote an article about that really in depth could be some alternatives in there that could work for you business owners with multiple companies will have to purchase a separate subscription for each business and xero's primary market is in the us and that's the focus of this review
but it's also available in the uk new zealand and australia and in over 180 countries in total as you would expect xero supports both accrual and cash basis accounting and as for ease of use it's pretty solid xero has an attractive modern user interface while the software is well organized it does have a steep learning curve it's not as steep as quickbooks
but it is more difficult to learn than other cloud-based options it takes quite a while to explore all of xero's features but once you get acquainted with it xero is fairly easy to use xero tries to throw you as many bones as possible by adding a video or help article to the top of every page that you open if you need some extra help finding features or learning the software there's also a help center to turn to we also have a free comprehensive how to set up your xero account guide that teaches you how to use and optimize your xero account i'll drop a link to that guide in the description below xero often gets praised for its robust feature selection so here are a few of the key ones the customizable dashboard features a beautiful user interface with graphs labeled bank accounts invoices owed to you bills to pay and total cash flow you can rearrange the order of the graphs as well a brand new navigation menu now reads dashboard business accounting and contacts and you can access a quick create search button recent notifications and an in software help button along the top right in addition to a dashboard xero recently added a sales page overview with charts and graphs that break down your invoices and estimates although xero offers only a single invoice template you can create custom templates and customize them extensively
but xero could certainly provide more template designs to choose from xero offers time saving necessities including recurring invoices automatic invoice reminders default payment settings bulk invoicing and replication of previous invoices there's also a feature called zero to zero which makes it easy to send and receive invoices to and from other zero users you can easily create credit notes and send customer statements straight from the invoicing screen as pdf attachments with available payment gateways you can easily create quotes and convert them to invoices purchase orders or bills you can duplicate past quotes and add internal notes to quotes as well and xero uses the same invoice templates for quotes xero has recently added a nice client portal where customers can view print and pay invoices directly online potential customers can view accept decline or comment on quotes xero has some of the best contact management features i've seen you can add basic contact information as well as discounts and sales tax rates for customers the company takes this feature a step further through contact groups and smart lists act as marketing tools allowing you to target particular groups of contacts for example you can create a list for loyal customers or customers in a specific state to offer promotional deals you can also use these lists to invoice an entire group at once you can manage your suppliers in xero as well you can connect your bank and credit card account directly to xero or you can manually import your bank statements you can easily categorize your expenses and split transactions zero smart categorization remembers the past transaction categories you used and automatically categorizes new transactions for you although you still have to click each transaction individually to approve the categorization to clear up any confusion every xero plan comes with the expense tracking features listed above established plan users get access to additional expense features such as expense claims automatic receipt scanning extra expense analytics and the xero expenses app in other words full expense management note that existing xero users who were already using the expense claim feature will still have access to expense claims no matter which of the plans they're on loyal users aren't getting left behind you can reconcile your accounts and run a reconciliation report in xero xero automatically creates a default chart of accounts for you based on your organization type and industry you can customize the default version or choose to import your chart of accounts you can manage fixed assets and run depreciation schedules with xero you can choose between several depreciation schedules and add information such as the assets serial number and the warranty expiration date you can easily create and manage bills in xero you can enable recurring bills and attach relevant documents or photos of the bill to xero there's a nice new purchases overview screen that shows you details about your bills and purchase orders xero added the ability to write customize and print checks directly from your account i'll post a link to our article on the top places to purchase business checks so you can find the best deals you can add products or services to xero although xero is much better suited for product based businesses you can add items and record basic information create internal notes and add attachments to items you can also track inventory and make inventory adjustments with tracked inventory zero keeps tabs on your stock levels average purchase costs and the number of items committed to quotes there are no email reminders for low stock and xero does not allow your tracked items to go negative though the established plan offers projects and basic job costing a welcome addition that xero hasn't had in the past users can create projects attach expenses and time monitor budgets and easily create project invoices you can also use progress payments and the xero projects app if you use the established plan you can track billable time to add to projects xero offers ample accounting reports there are 55 reports in total covering everything from sales and budgeting to cash flow and more reports can be customized as needed and you can save your favorite reports for quick access you can use the budget manager report to create a 3 month 6 month 12 month or 24 month budget you can run a budget summary at any time to see if you're hitting your financial goals users with advisor or standard roles can create journals so long as they have access to all reports you can also create recurring journals xero allows you to set up two tracking categories with a hundred individual tracking options within each category these categories are a way to organize your information and get more detail on your reports some people create categories for locations departments teams manufacturing etc and you can easily create purchase orders and convert them into bills on top of the basics you can add internal notes delivery instructions and expected delivery dates to purchase orders if your supplier ships your order in parts you can record a part supply to keep track of how much inventory you've already received if your business needs packing slips you can download the packing slip with invoice template from xero's help center really though i'd like to see this template pre-loaded into xero so that the feature is already built into the software making it much easier to access xero offers eight default email templates and any number of custom templates you can set default sales taxes for purchases sales and customers compound and combined taxes are supported xero also has a sales tax lookup feature that automatically calculates sales tax based on your contact's address xero used to offer great tax support now that xero no longer has built-in payroll you'll only find help with sales tax though xero supports over 160 currencies so long as you have the established plan currencies are updated hourly through zero expenses and reports can be customized and run in different currencies xero has extensive import and export capabilities so most anything can be imported and exported using multiple file forms importing data can be quite cumbersome and time consuming
but xero does give a lot of guidance on how to do it xero used to offer strong customer support and while there are still a ton of great support resources available getting in touch with an actual representative is a lot more difficult these days xero has never offered phone support and has relied on email support users have complained about the lack of phone support forever
but this wasn't much of a problem before as xero usually answered emails within an hour or two now it can take up to a day to hear back from a representative there is no good way to get a quick answer from xero another issue i have with xero's customer service is that it's hard to find the support options before creating xero central the company had a beautiful well organized help center xero central is still well organized
but the option to post a question or email a rep is hidden you have to search for an article and when you scroll down to the very bottom of that article you'll see options to ask or email a question xero central aside xero's resource page puts many of xero's other support resources in a single location which is really helpful luckily xero offers a lot of other support options as well here are the ways that you can reach xero you can contact xero by email with questions a live chat feature is available on the actual xero website it's mainly for sales inquiries
but representatives were usually helpful with questions about features as well if nothing else they know what direction to point you in whenever you open a feature in xero you'll find a video or an article explaining exactly what the feature is and how to use it there's also a help button in the top right hand corner that will pull up relevant articles from xeros help center unfortunately xero removed the ability to chat with xero representatives directly in the software xero has a comprehensive help center called xero central with how-to articles and common troubleshooting issues xero central also encompasses the xero community so you can view comments and questions from other users and you can suggest new features as well at the bottom of each help article you can post questions in the xero community or email a representative directly when you email a rep you can choose to let a zero customer service agent have read-only access to your account so they can better assist you with any problems you may be experiencing xero offers a ton of business guides covering everything from invoicing and bank reconciliation to depreciation and more there's also a guide called how to start a small business the ultimate guide and an accounting glossary for new users xero tv offers hundreds of videos explaining how to use the software it's one of the best support resources xero offers and is a great help to new users if more than 700 videos aren't enough for you check out the xero podcast featuring digital marketing strategy advice and ceo talks xero also offers a training program called xero u which includes online courses like their getting to know zero class the xero blog is well developed and features business news advice articles ideas for success and more xero has facebook twitter youtube and linkedin accounts in the past xero received predominantly positive customer reviews and while there are still a large number of positive reviews there seem to be an increase in negative reviews as of late here are some of the recurring issues according to xero users one of the biggest issues for users is mobile access people are disappointed with the functionality of the apps especially compared to the desktop version there are also reports of bugs and crashes some xero users already found zero expensive
but now many more users are complaining about the increase in price not only do users dislike the new price plans and the removal of payroll but they also dislike that features such as project management are now limited to the most expensive plan many users say xero is not very intuitive there's a bit of a learning curve although it's not as bad as quickbooks pro some also don't like the new dashboard organization and say that features take far more clicks than it used to several users take issue with the lack of phone support and more users have complained of poor customer support and slow responses over the last few months despite the complaints xero still receives many positive reviews from users and accountants alike xero has 4.3 out of 5 stars on software advice that's based on over 1900 ratings it also has a 4.3 out of 5 on g2 crowd a score based on over 300 ratings and 8.7 out of 10 stars on trust radius based on over 200 ratings here are the most common reasons users like the software the biggest comment by far is that xero is easy to use many accounts like xero for this reason because they can teach their customers how to use the software quickly users like the large feature selection especially the reporting and automations users and accountants alike enjoy xero's strong accounting features several even say that they like the software better than quickbooks a common point of praise is for the mobility this cloud-based software gives business owners as opposed to the locally installed quickbooks desktop alternative some users also really like xero's mobile apps although the consensus is that they could use some work quite a few users commented that the more than 800 integrations make their lives easier and their businesses run more smoothly xero offers over 800 integrations to choose from if that's not enough xero also integrates with xavier connecting the software to hundreds of additional add-ons
but some zero integrations are country specific so make sure they are compatible before you make any additions or purchases xero also offers apis for developers and if you're interested in accepting online payments from your customers read our comprehensive merchant account reviews to learn the pros and cons of popular providers and see which payment processing option is best for your business i'm gonna post a link to that in the description below xero has a reputation for some of the strongest cloud security out there security measures include data encryption two-step authentication and 24-7 monitoring at multiple locations zero backs up data on a daily basis across various servers and performs security audits regularly xero also boasts an impressive record of 99.97 percent uptime for more details on xero security contact them directly xero is a robust cloud-based software with strong accounting ample integrations and some great features it offers tons of automations to save your business time such as automatic sales tax lookup group invoicing and default templates the new sales overview and bills overview pages are a nice addition and xero offers unlimited users to boot that said the software does have its drawbacks there's limited tax support limited invoice templates and a steep learning curve the recent navigation bar change seems to make accessing features more difficult by requiring more clicks rather than streamlining the software i can also understand why xero users are complaining about the recent price increase and feature changes one of the things that set xero apart was its built-in payroll and the fact that all features were accessible on all plans without built-in payroll xero also lost its great tax support and customer service has taken a turn for the worse however there are a few things to keep in mind first xero's built-in payroll was flawed from the get-go one of the biggest complaints i had about xero was that not all 50 states had payroll support
but with this transition to using gusto all 50 states are supported and businesses get added functionality such as health insurance and retirement support xero also added projects a feature users have been begging for for years this doesn't forgive the fact that some features are limited to the most expensive plan
but considering that xero offers unlimited users the established plan could very well still be cheaper for your business than quickbooks online if you have multiple users plus it's still slightly less expensive than quickbooks online in the end xero is a good solution for mid to large side businesses in need of strong accounting features and multiple users take advantage of users free trial to see if it's a good solution for you and so that wraps up my zero review i hope you liked this video if you did please hit that like button don't forget to leave your questions and your comments down in the comment section below we answer every comment thank you for watching until next time
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