r/xero

I'm about to close the xero account for my business that has ceased trading.

As far as I can tell, there's no bulk data export from Xero. I've asked Claude and searched the web, but the only advice I can find is either to write a script to pull all the data through the API myself, or keep the subscription open for seven years.

I can vibe code a script if I have to, but I'm struggling to believe that this is really the situation. Is there really no way to download your transaction logs with all the receipts, bills and invoices? Do people just unsubscribe and then pray that HMRC don't have any questions?

What am I missing?

10 years ago, if you were starting a small business or startup, QuickBooks felt like the obvious/default choice.

Recntly though, I’ve been seeing more and more people recommending Xero instead (especially here on Reddit), and from people who have used both. A lot of the complaints about QuickBooks seem to be around pricing, the UI getting more complicated, support and features being pushed into higher priced plans.

I'm currently looking at which accounting software makes the most sense for a relatively new company, and Xero keeps coming up as the main alternative.

For people here who have actually used both:

Is Xero genuinely better than QuickBooks in 2026, or is that mostly just frustration with QuickBooks?

and what specifically does Xero do better?

I'm especially interested in the perspective of people who switched from QB to Xero and whether you'd make the same decision again

I have not been able to log in to Xero for the past 4 days. I tried everything, including clearing the cache. Are you guys experiencing the same issues?

We are looking for help to be able to multi-select transactions in the reconciliation module. This would be mostly for a Paypal account tied into Xero via feed. Our website is migrating to a new platform and all sales will be coming in via Paypal. Paypal is also used for other types of transactions. Since the payee will be different for each sale we can't set up any type of memorized automation, so we'd like to be able to multi-select sales transactions and batch apply them to the correct account. Anyone know if this is possible? We are currently using the "growing" plan, but we'd be open to switching plans depending upon the cost.

A client underpaid an invoice. It’s probably going to require taking the client to court for the rest of it, so I’m not expecting to fully reconcile the payment in Xero.

Can anyone tell me how I can register this payment against the invoice without amending the invoice or writing off the remainder as a loss?

Is there also a way to archive the invoice to stop it from showing up in overdue payments?

Hi everyone , I need some help with reconciling a transaction in Xero 🥺

I made a £8 bank transfer to Robert for a sales commission payment and reconciled it against Robert’s sales commission bill.

However, the next day, the £8 was returned to my bank account because Robert’s bank account was closed. I still plan to transfer the money back to Robert once I receive his new bank detail.

How should I reconcile the £8 received back into my bank account?

Should I unreconciled the first original transaction so the bill is available again to reconcile once I made the second payment?

I have a bookkeeping firm that currently runs exclusively on QuickBooks Online. Although most of my clients are happy with the services and the app itself, it has become increasingly unaffordable. For a subset of my clients, I would like to move them to Xero but can only find documents and articles on "migrating" Of course learning the Xero ecosystem is priority #1, however I would be interested in companies that have done this at length (moving firms and their clients to Xero).

I would think this would be a value-add service if not doing the move themselves, at least offer training guides ($).

I know I'm not the only one looking for help in this area and know it would be a wise investment, because many of my colleagues with firms are asking the same thing. Some ask me because of my background with systems and supporting QBO for years, but I have since left those techy days behind.

Hi

I've been using Xero for 3 years now and also use an accountant

My question is. Do I really need an external accountant as wel. Can Xero sort out all my overhead, expenses etc

It just seems I'm paying twice for the same thing.

Basically setting up Xero for a friends business:

They have multiple accounts receivable and accounts payable to private individuals from years before conversion date. 2026 is the where I'm starting in the software.

Example: John put 50k into the business 5 years ago, I need to pay john back.

I set up a special account code for private loans, but if i owe money to john, david and joe, do I enter them as bills?

We have been a user of Xero after migrating from a previous solution in January. I am absolutely dumbfounded at the limitations of this platform. The limitations on lines that can integrate through their API, Their limitations on invoice layouts, and more show that this is a solution for small time mom and pop shops that have simple operations. Very disappointed. We are likely going to have to migrate to another platform within a year of implemenatation. Do not recommend!

I realise that Xero has increased subscription prices recently and those were passed on to me, so I was now paying $16.50/month + GST AUD via my accountant.

However just this last week they've gone and doubled the cost to $33/month + GST.

Has anyone else experienced a huge markup like this? It's kind of baffling given that the accountant provides zero value add, seems like they're trying to get rid of me and/or assume I'll pay the lazy tax.

Definitely going to go find a different partner and transfer my subscription across.

Hello, I work for my brother who owns a Sausage Manufacturer and Fast Food, wholesaler. Of course with every wholesaler etc, competitive pricing is crucial for business it’s dog eat dog with pricing..

We have customers who order for example a 2.5kg tin of beans.. they price at 3.99 individually some customers pay that price, some are quoted and charged at 2.49 and others 2.79. Obviously in terms of invoicing it’s hard to remember what each customer pays, and what they’re specially buying as that is just 1 item, and we have over 100 items.

Does anyone know an easy work around to custom pricing to specific customers? I know Xero don’t support the feature, but is there an app on the App Store that i could use? We don’t mind paying but not 100s of pounds..

I’ve tried inFlow and gojee and both are not useful unless I’m using their service very wrong.

Thank you for your time!

Jordan.

I need to bitch about Xero. ANOTHER price rise?! Piss off. I'm so annoyed.

The base plans were okay, I suppose, at their current price. However additional staff on payroll ($4pp) ramps the cost right up. I'm paying ~$123/month currently on the grow plan, so it's going to be over $1500 per year after the price rise, PLUS accountant costs to do EOY books (typically ~$3k).

I don't need or use most of the fancy functions, but I can't go on the lowest plan (a very reasonable $35/mo, though it would actually be $75/mo for me because of the payroll aspect, which is still fine) because I have >20 invoices and >5 bills.

The problem is it is good at what it does (but it does so much more than I need) and it would be a pain to shift. I have thought about doing payroll through another software but the cost would be similar (roughly $40/mo, give and take).

Any solutions? What does everyone else do, just suck it up?

I work with small businesses on their Xero setup and I keep noticing the same thing — a lot of time gets spent on tasks that could be automated but aren't: chasing reconciliation, reviewing uncategorized transactions, checking overdue invoices manually every morning.

Curious what the community's experience is. What are the repetitive Xero tasks that eat up the most time in your week? And have you tried automating any of them — what worked, what didn't?

Not trying to sell anything, genuinely trying to understand where the real friction is for most practices.

I'm trying to do a MTD submission. This is some of the most mystifying software I've ever used. It is not intuitive at all.

I've to income streams to report on. A personal income and a Property one.

I've sync'd bank accounts, I've reconcliled everything and I thought I had worked through everything needed. Then I've gone to submit a Q1 update and the two income and expenses reports for the personal and property income parts are completely empty.

I'm fairly certain it's related to the tracking category it has forced me to set up. I have one category with two options A/ My personal and B/ Property. Using those options produces blank reports.

The only way I can get any information to appear in one report is by changing the tracking to unassigned. This just throws all the data into the Property report.

I cannot see how I link bank accounts to those tracking options.

Following all of the tutorials and online guides has got me nowhere on this. I've been going around in circles for an hour.

What am I doing wrong please?

Hi everyone,

I’m currently interviewing with Xero for a Software Engineer role, and my next round is the Values Assessment interview.

For anyone who has recently gone through the Xero interview process, what should I expect in this round? Is it mostly behavioral/situational questions, or do they also discuss technical experience?

Also, what kind of questions were you asked, and how did you prepare for Xero’s values and culture?

Any recent experiences or tips would be really helpful. Thanks!

HI, I have just signed an apprentice to a gto that also happens to be a builder I do work for

When I send them my invoices for works completed, instead of having me pay for the apprentice's wages as a separate bill they will send me the invoice and then take payment from my invoice before paying, so if I bill them 10,000$ and my apprentice charges are 500$ they will only send me 9500$ showing the negative 500 on the payment receipt

I'm just looking for the easiest way to reconcile that inside xero, hope that makes sense, thanks