Xero pricing and plan limits (US plans)

Xero has three US plans, each one price for the business with no charge per user: Early at $27 a month, Growing at $59 a month, and Established at $97 a month. Early is capped at 20 invoices a month and 5 supplier bills a month; Growing removes both caps, and it’s where a business that invoices every week lands. Billing is monthly only, cancelling takes a month’s notice, and new customers choose one way to start: a discount on the first three months or a 30-day trial, or, if Xero offers it to you, a free first month.

Which plan should a one to five person business pick?

Count invoices and supplier bills, not people. Every plan includes the whole team at one price, so the question is how much paperwork goes through it each month.

• A few invoices and hardly any bills: Early at $27 a month. It reconciles your bank transactions, reads receipts and bills with Smart Document Capture, and runs reports, but it stops at 20 invoices a month and 5 bills a month.
• You invoice every week or pay supplier bills through it: Growing at $59 a month. Invoices and bills have no cap, bill entry is automated, and it adds budgets and performance dashboards.
• You bill in other currencies or cost out projects: Established at $97 a month. It adds multiple currencies, project time and cost tracking, and expense and mileage claims for employees.

Paying US suppliers by ACH from Xero is free on every plan, so bill pay isn’t a reason to move up on its own; the bill count on Early is.

Say you run a four-person market research firm: two researchers, a project manager, and you. You send about a dozen invoices a month and pay eight supplier bills: panel providers, survey software, a transcription service, the office.

The invoices fit Early, but the bills don’t: Early stops at 5 a month, and you have eight. So it’s Growing at $59 a month, and all four of you log in on that one price. Here is its first year, with the discount and with the trial:

If you’ve already settled on Xero, the discount is the cheaper year. If you’re still comparing, take the trial. If Xero offers you the free month when you sign up, it costs the same as the trial row and gives you every feature while you decide, as long as you’re happy to put a card on file.

What moves you up a plan?

Volume on Early, features after that. On Early, the month you need to approve or send one invoice past 20, or enter one bill past 5, you need Growing. Invoices that a connected app creates count toward the limit, and anything past it saves as a draft until you upgrade or the next month starts. If you’re near the limit most months, start on Growing rather than upgrade mid-month.

From Growing, features move you: multiple currencies, project costs, or expense claims for a team are the reasons for Established. Going back down takes a while: Xero lets you change to a less expensive plan one month after upgrading.

Skip Xero if

• You want to pay nothing. Xero has no free plan, only a trial, and for some new customers a free first month. When free invoicing is enough compares the free plans that last.
• You’re one person and want the smallest bill for full books. For one person, the lowest paid bill in this guide is Wave (Pro) at $19 a month; which tool fits a 1 to 5 person business weighs it against what you give up.
• You want a yearly price to save on. There isn’t one in the US.
• You may not stay long. A month’s notice to cancel makes a short trial run expensive once you’ve started paying. Use the trial, or the free month if you’re offered it, to decide.

Plans and prices

One price per plan for the whole business. The figures to watch on Early are its invoice and bill limits, not the price.

Costs that are easy to miss

• The start you choose is the only one you get. The discount, the 30-day trial, and the free month (offered to some new customers) can’t be combined. On Early the discount is worth $64.80 and the trial $27. The trial has limited features; the free month has them all but needs a card.
• Leaving costs a month. Cancelling takes one month’s notice, and you’re charged for it.
• Prices don’t include sales tax. Xero adds tax based on your billing address at checkout.
• Getting paid online has its own fees. Xero’s invoice payments run through Stripe, priced per payment. On an invoice of $1,000, a card payment costs $29.30 and a bank transfer $9. What invoicing costs once customers pay by card works it out at your volume.
• Payroll is extra. Xero Payroll, powered by Gusto, is an add-on priced on its own.

The rates are Stripe’s through Xero, the same on every plan.

Our view

Xero is a good fit for a small team that wants full books with everyone logged in, because the price never depends on how many of you there are. Our position: start on Early only if you’re sure you’ll stay under its invoice and bill limits, otherwise go straight to Growing; take the discount if you’ve decided; if you’re still comparing, take the trial, or the free month if Xero offers it to you. What you give up is flexibility at the edges: no free plan, no yearly price, and a month’s notice to leave. For a one-person business that only needs to invoice, it’s more than you need.

Your next step

Count last month’s invoices and supplier bills. If both sit inside Early’s limits with room to spare, start on Early; if either is close, start on Growing. Then pick one start: the discount if you’ve decided, the trial (or the free month, if Xero offers it to you) if you haven’t, and put a reminder in your calendar a week before the paid months begin. See Xero’s plans.