QuickBooks Online vs Xero

Verdict

QuickBooks Online is our pick for most trades businesses: it scales its user count and reporting depth by plan tier, and its top tier adds advanced project financials and a dedicated construction financials option.

Xero is the better fit when several people need access to the books, since unlimited users come with every plan at no added per-user fee, or when your bookkeeper already works in Xero.

Confirm your field service app's Xero integration before switching either direction.

QuickBooks Online vs Xero at a glance

Choose QuickBooks Online if

• You want the widest integration support from field service and payroll apps that already build QuickBooks Online connections first.

• Advanced project financials and a dedicated construction financials option, available on the top tier, matter for job costing by crew.

• Your bookkeeper or accountant already works in QuickBooks and you don't mind tiered user limits, from one user on the entry paid plan up to twenty-five on the top tier.

Choose Xero if

• Several people need access to the books and you want unlimited users on every plan with no added per-user license fee.

• You want project and job costing that compares estimated cost against actual cost, though that feature is limited to Xero's top published tier.

• Your bookkeeper prefers Xero's interface, or your field service and payroll apps already sync with it.

• Mobile tap-to-pay on both Android and iPhone matters for how your office collects payments.

Key differences

Job costing and project tracking

QuickBooks Online's top tier adds "advanced project financials" and a dedicated construction financials solution, along with expanded class and location tracking for separating jobs or crews.

Xero's Projects feature offers two levels: a high-level view of time, costs and invoicing tied to a project, and a deeper job-costing view that compares estimated cost against actual cost, but this is only listed on Xero's top published tier.

Both tools push their deepest job-costing tools to their highest tier, so a growing trades business should plan to budget for that top tier on whichever platform it chooses rather than assume the entry tier covers per-job cost tracking.

Users and access

QuickBooks Online caps users by tier: its entry paid plan allows a single user plus limited accountant access, rising through the tiers to twenty-five users on its top tier.

Xero states plainly that there are no per-user license fees, meaning every published plan includes unlimited users regardless of tier.

A business with an office manager, a dispatcher, an outside bookkeeper and an owner all needing simultaneous login access will hit QuickBooks Online's user caps sooner than it will hit any limit on Xero.

Integrations

QuickBooks Online has long been the default target for field service, invoicing and payroll apps building their first accounting integration, which is why most trades software vendors list it as a supported connection. Xero advertises integration with more than a thousand apps and is also directly supported by at least one major payroll and HR platform's payroll module as a connected accounting system.

Before switching either direction, check your specific scheduling, invoicing and payroll tools against both platforms' integration lists rather than assuming broad support extends to your exact stack.

Pricing model

Both platforms publish tiered plans with an introductory discount period before the plan reverts to its regular rate.

Xero also offers payroll as an add-on module powered by Gusto, layered on top of its core accounting plans rather than a native payroll build.

Neither page's exact numbers are appropriate to repeat here; the pricing table on this page has the specific figures Kitfinch has verified for each vendor, along with the length of each introductory discount period.

Which trades each suits

A plumbers or electricians business running several field service and payroll apps side by side benefits most from QuickBooks Online's broad integration support and its advanced project financials on the top tier.

A hvac or roofers business with an office manager, bookkeeper and owner who all need simultaneous access, and that doesn't run a long list of trades-specific integrations, may prefer Xero's unlimited-user model.

A landscapers business billing by job or crew should compare both platforms' top-tier job-costing tools directly, since neither includes its deepest job-costing feature on entry-level plans.

Switching between them

Neither QuickBooks Online's nor Xero's help documentation on data export and import between the two platforms could be independently verified in this review; the pages checked returned no accessible content confirming a specific conversion tool or data-mapping process between QuickBooks Online and Xero. No public export/import documentation between these two platforms was found in this review. Before switching, export a full backup of your existing books, confirm with your bookkeeper what historical transactions, open invoices and payroll history need to move, and run the new system in parallel for at least one month-end close before fully cutting over.

Other accounting and bookkeeping options are in Accounting and bookkeeping tools.