Best accounting software for UK sole traders under MTD
Best accounting software for UK sole traders, compared on what each one actually costs once VAT is added. Two of the four have a genuinely free route.
Xero
The catch in every open source Xero alternative
Open source Xero alternatives are free to license, not free to run. Akaunting’s free self-hosted tier stops at one user and 1,000 invoices.
What Xero alternatives cost at one, three and six users
Xero alternatives, minus one that’s gone: Sage retired its US cloud accounting product on 31 December 2024. Six live ones, each priced from its own page.
What Xero vs QuickBooks actually costs by team size
Xero vs QuickBooks Online on cost: past Xero Early’s 20-invoice cap, one person without bill tracking pays less on QuickBooks Simple Start.
Fake Xero login pages: how to spot the real one
Fake Xero login pages: a genuine sender address proves nothing. See which check holds, where Xero’s sign-in lives, and confirm before you type.
Does Xero collect your data or use it to train AI?
Does Xero collect your data? Sections 19 and 22 read identically in the February 2025 and August 2026 terms — the data licence never changed.
Did Xero get worse? Four markets repriced in 13 weeks
Did Xero get worse? One question, four repricings and one plan structure that was retired in September 2024 — the record, with every date attached.
Who owns Xero, and what the Melio deal changed
Who owns Xero has a two-part answer: no parent company sits above Xero Limited, and Xero is the buyer in the US$2.5bn Melio deal.
Xero import not working, and the full fix for each file
Xero import not working is two problems, not one. Bank statements map columns; invoice and contact templates match header names. Find which is yours.
Xero login problem, from the real cause to the fix
A Xero login problem is often the bookmark: Xero documents that only its login page should be saved. Five states, and the fix differs for each.
