What Xero vs QuickBooks actually costs by team size

Xero costs less than QuickBooks Online at most team sizes, because Xero charges no per-user license fees and QuickBooks caps users by plan. From 1 October 2026, Xero’s US plans run $27–$97 a month and QuickBooks Online runs $38–$340, verified 11 September 2026. The exception is one person sending over 20 invoices a month without bill tracking, who pays $59 on Xero and $38 on QuickBooks.

What Xero and QuickBooks Online cost each month

Xero’s US plans cost $27, $59 and $97 a month from 1 October 2026, per Xero’s pricing update notice. QuickBooks Online’s plans cost $38, $85, $140 and $340, per Intuit’s QuickBooks Online pricing page. Both pages were retrieved 11 September 2026.

Xero’s three plans

Xero bills per organization. Until 30 September 2026, Xero’s US pricing page lists $25, $55 and $90 (retrieved 11 September 2026).

QuickBooks Online’s four plans

QuickBooks Online bills by plan, and each plan includes a fixed number of users. Intuit also sells Free, Solopreneur and Lite tiers below Simple Start. Those tiers sit outside this comparison.

Why the ladders don’t line up

Xero has three plans and QuickBooks has four, and each moves you up for a different reason. Xero moves you up for volume and features. QuickBooks moves you up for people.

🗓️ Pricing verified 11 September 2026. Software pricing changes frequently. Confirm on the vendor’s site before purchasing.

What each price includes, and what it doesn’t

Two rules decide which plan you’re forced onto: QuickBooks’ user limits and Xero Early’s caps.

Seats: no per-user fees vs 1, 3, 5 or 25 users

Xero’s pricing page states there are no per-user license fees on its plans (11 Sep 2026). QuickBooks includes 1, 3, 5 or 25 billable users, per Intuit’s usage-limits help article (updated 5 Aug 2026, retrieved 11 Sep 2026).

Accountant firms sit outside that count, per the same article (11 Sep 2026). Time-tracking-only users (Essentials and up) and reports-only users (Plus and Advanced) don’t count either.

⚠️ This Costs You: At the user limit, Intuit’s article (11 Sep 2026) offers two options: upgrade, or remove users. It lists no single extra seat below Advanced, so a fourth person on Essentials moves you to Plus.

Xero Early’s 20-invoice, 5-bill ceiling

Xero Early allows 20 invoices and 5 bills a month, and approvals count toward the invoice limit, per Xero’s pricing page footnote (11 Sep 2026). If you want the detail of how those caps count, see how Xero Early’s invoice and bill caps count.

Intuit’s usage-limits article (11 Sep 2026) lists no invoice limit for Simple Start. Intuit’s Simple Start page says the ability to manage bills is added at Essentials (11 Sep 2026). Intuit’s pricing page, however, lists free-ACH bill pay on Simple Start.

Add-ons billed on top

Both vendors charge separately for payroll; the payroll section below prices it. QuickBooks sells inventory as a $40-a-month add-on for Simple Start and Essentials and includes it in Plus and Advanced, per Intuit’s August pricing notice (11 Sep 2026). The same notice prices Bill Pay Elite at $45 a month on the first three plans and includes it in Advanced.

Xero lists Inventory Plus as optional on Growing and Established. Its US pricing page states no price for it (11 Sep 2026), and we haven’t found one on a Xero page.

How each vendor’s latest price rise reaches you

Both vendors raised US prices in 2026, but existing customers feel the rises on different terms.

Xero: 1 October, new and existing subscribers

Xero’s pricing update notice raises Early by $2, Growing by $4 and Established by $7 a month from 1 October 2026. The rise applies to new and existing US subscribers (retrieved 11 Sep 2026), and existing discounts and promo codes keep applying until they expire. The full price path is in how Xero’s US price has moved, and invoice detail is in what changes on Xero’s 1 October invoices.

⚠️ This Costs You: The same notice says the multi-organization discount begins to be phased out from 1 October 2026 (11 Sep 2026). The notice doesn’t state the discount’s value, so a multi-entity subscriber’s rise is larger than the headline figures and can’t be sized from public pages.

QuickBooks Online: renewals from 1 August

Intuit’s August pricing notice changed Essentials, Plus and Advanced for renewals on or after 1 August 2026; Simple Start did not change (retrieved 11 Sep 2026). Recent subscribers keep their price for six months and move to the new price from their seventh invoice. Intuit says the exact date depends on each subscription.

Why “buy before the increase” fails on Xero

Xero’s rise applies to existing subscribers, so signing up in September doesn’t hold the old price. Xero’s pricing page (11 Sep 2026) offers new US customers 90% off base plans for six months if they buy by 30 September 2026. After that, the regular price applies. Xero also lets you move to a cheaper plan only one month after upgrading.

QuickBooks’ pricing page (11 Sep 2026) advertises 50% off for three months, with no end date shown.

Xero vs QuickBooks at six team sizes

Xero costs less at five of these six shapes. The exception is one person over Early’s invoice cap who doesn’t track bills.

Our calculation from list prices in USD, excluding tax, promotions and payroll. Xero prices take effect 1 October 2026; all prices were retrieved 11 September 2026.

Early ($27 from 1 Oct 2026) applies instead if you stay under its caps.

If you need project tracking, Xero requires Established at $97 from 1 October 2026 (verified 11 Sep 2026). Against Plus the gap is $43 a month; against Advanced it is $243.

One person in the books

Row two is the reversal. Past 20 invoices Xero moves you to Growing, while Simple Start stays at its price. If you also track bills, QuickBooks moves you to Essentials and Xero is cheaper again.

Two to five people

The fourth person widens the gap most, because Essentials stops at three billable users. Plus includes inventory and project tracking that Growing doesn’t. If you need neither, you’re paying for them anyway.

Six or more

Past five billable users, the only QuickBooks plan available is Advanced. Xero’s price doesn’t change with headcount.

🔍 Why It Works This Way: Xero prices the organization; QuickBooks prices the plan and caps the people on it. On Xero an extra person costs nothing until volume or a feature moves you up. On QuickBooks, the extra person alone can force the move.

✅ Do This: Count only the people who need full access to your books. Leave out accountant firms, and on Plus or Advanced, reports-only users; neither counts toward QuickBooks’ limit.

🧾 Not Tested: We didn’t subscribe to either product for this page. Every figure comes from Xero’s and Intuit’s public pricing pages, notices and help articles retrieved on 11 September 2026. The totals are our arithmetic, not vendor quotes, and nothing here describes using either product.

🗓️ Table figures verified 11 September 2026.

How payroll changes the gap

Payroll bills on top of the plan with both vendors. Adding it keeps Xero cheaper in three of the four shapes we priced.

How each vendor prices payroll

Xero Payroll, powered by Gusto, costs $36 a month plus $6 per employee or contractor on any plan, per Xero’s payroll add-on rate (11 Sep 2026). Intuit sells payroll bundled with an accounting plan. Intuit’s payroll bundle pricing (11 Sep 2026) lists three bundles:

• Workforce Payroll with Simple Start: $88 plus $6.50 per employee
• Workforce Payroll with Essentials: $125 plus $6.50 per employee
• Workforce Premium with Plus: $203 plus $10 per employee

Intuit’s payroll page shows conflicting promotional labels, so the table below uses list prices only. Xero’s per-head fee covers contractors; Intuit states its fee per employee.

Payroll shapes, totalled

These rows pair entry-level payroll prices, not matched feature sets. Neither figure tells you anything about your payroll tax obligations; that question belongs with your accountant.

What it costs to switch or leave either one

Xero charges a notice month when you leave. Intuit’s pricing page says QuickBooks Online has no annual contract and can be cancelled at any time (11 Sep 2026).

🛟 Back This Up First: Before cancelling either product, export your reports, contacts, invoices and bank transactions. Store the files outside both products.

Leaving Xero

Xero’s US offer terms require one month’s notice to cancel and still charge you for the notice period (retrieved 11 Sep 2026). How that final invoice lands is covered in how Xero’s notice month bills.

Leaving QuickBooks Online

Intuit’s help article on data after cancelling says a cancelled subscription keeps read-only access for one year, during which you can export (retrieved 11 Sep 2026).

Before you move your books

Switching isn’t a clean copy. What stays behind is listed in what doesn’t move from Xero to QuickBooks. We haven’t documented the reverse move.

Xero vs QuickBooks pricing questions

Which one costs less for you

Count the people who need full access to your books before comparing anything else. At two or more people, Xero’s list price was lower at every size we priced. The one exception is a single high-volume user who doesn’t track bills.