Xero vs Sage: A head to head comparison

Either is perfect for a business of this size while also leaving room to grow and expand if you have greater ambitions for your company. After a 30-day trial period, Xero will bill a monthly charge of $13 per month for the Early plan, $37 per month for the Growing plan and $70 per month for the Established plan. For free invoicing platforms, consider Zoho Invoice, Square Invoices or PayPal Invoicing, although these platforms provide fewer capabilities. Payroll costs £5 per month extra for up to five employees and £1 per month for any extra employees over that initial figure. If you only deal with customers in the UK then handling VAT is pretty simple; once the VAT feature has been enabled, just type in your VAT number and you are good to go. If you deal with customers in European countries, you will have to manually configure VAT entries for each country you do business with.

This package offers just about every accounting feature under the sun, including multi-currency record payments, employee labor calculations, and custom reporting tools. In fact, with advanced capabilities like inventory management available on FreshBooks’ lowest tier, the value of the accounting tool is unmatched when the discount is applied. It provides easy-to-read reports on bank accounts, cash in vs. cash out, pending invoices, and bills that need to be paid. The top of the interface has a simple menu with options for Dashboard, Business, Accounting, Payroll, Projects, and Accounting. Xero accounting software is an online tool with lots of features and connects with over 800 other apps. It’s great for many types of businesses, like online shops and law firms.

Xero vs Sage (2024 Comparison)

Xero keeps track of exchange rates between primary currency you bill in and other foreign ones. The Customers page is where you create customers, either manually or by importing a CSV file, and see how much money they owe you. You can send reminders for payment as well as create statements, invoices and sales receipts. Oddly, you can only delete customers one-by-one; batch deletion isn’t available.

It’s particularly handy for businesses which have people out on the road, or working from different locations. Sage 200 is aimed at SMB’s and medium sized businesses and is a comprehensive finance management and ERP solution that can manage more complex accounting processes. Xero has three pricing plans for their Cloud accounts system, Starter, Standard and Premium. Both Xero and Sage have optional extra’s for their products, these could be extra modules, apps or integration with software such as Payroll. Sage and Xero are both market leading accounting software solutions for their respective target markets in the UK. Xero is predominately used by smaller businesses and the self-employed, whilst Sage cover’s a wider spectrum of business sizes from small businesses to SMB’s and medium sized businesses.

Customer Service and Support

But having the options available means there’s always likely a solution for your issues. You can sort by specific function or narrow down the options by industry. Some popular add-ons include Timely, Shopify, Stripe, PayPal and Airwallex. The Sage Intacct product is marketed towards medium sized business and larger companies, Sage has a policy to not publish Intacct prices online, so please call us for a quote. The closest product to Xero from the Sage product range is Sage Accounting, see latest costs, pricing plans, and deals, further information.

The bank feeds are encrypted, so they don’t need to be uploaded manually every time you connect the program; instead, it does this automatically on your behalf! Xero’s invoicing capabilities allow you to create and customize an invoice for clients and then accept credit card, debit card or bank transfer payments within the invoice itself. Account holders are able to customize online invoices to add a logo, accept payments instantly through the invoice, set automatic reminders for clients to pay and invoice directly from the Xero app.

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All of these but the last option were half price for the first 30 days. When ranking and reviewing different accounting software, our in-house team of experts zeroed in on nine specific metrics. These categories of interest included factors like price, software functionality, advanced features, bookkeeping, financial reporting, and customer support tools, to name a few. FreshBooks offers a decent suite of features too, especially for customer-serving businesses like stores and restaurants.

• For up to date costs and more details go to Xero pricing plans.
• You can create unlimited projects, either for sharing with team members or for private access.
• Because once you implement the accounting software it will be difficult and time consuming to change and migrate your accounting data to other software.
• In our opinion, a lot of the features that Xero includes as standard for £22 a month, you’ll need to buy as add-ons with Sage 50, or opt for a more expensive price plan.
• Customers are added as contacts and Xero’s importation standards for these are very specific, mostly requiring a CSV file of them to import from other packages.

The same product we looked at earlier in this guide with all its features intact – just under a different moniker (Sage One becomes “Sage Business Cloud”). Younger entrepreneurs and small business owners will love Xero. It’s an easy-to-use, all-in-one platform for your accounting needs that caters specifically to new businesses.

Final Verdict: Which Accounting Software is the Best?

Both made our list of the best accounting software because of their invoicing capabilities and bank transaction reconciliation. We compare Xero vs. Sage so you can decide on the perfect accounting solution for your needs. All the same features of the Sage accounting software are there, but pricing plans are slightly different. Depending which subscription plan you choose, Sage 50cloud is compatible with Windows, Apple, iOS and Android.

Looking at Xero vs. Sage, you can see they stack up quite well. Because both software come with a 30-day free trial, you’ll have plenty of time to give each a test run before committing. However, there are some key features missing from Sage, including bill pay and time tracking. While Sage does offer accounts payable, it seems you still have to manually pay bills from your bank account. Sage does have the upper hand against Xero when it comes to quotes and invoices, as well as multi-currency support.

Xero vs Sage: A Quick Overview

On the other hand, FreshBooks may be a better fit for freelancers and solopreneurs, as the capabilities are easier to navigate. If financial management is your top priority, you’re better off bypassing FreshBooks and Sage completely. FreshBooks completely lacks budget and forecasting tools, and Sage only offers cashflow projection options on its pricier, Standard tier. professional virtual bookkeepers Moreover, unlike Xero and FreshBooks, Sage completely lacks project accounting tools like time tracking, project cost calculations, and labor cost calculations, making it the least versatile solution out of the three. In fact, FreshBooks will be a better choice for retail and hospitality businesses due to its top-tier stock management toolkit and ecommerce add-ons.