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QuickBooks and Xero

The same fields for both, from each vendor's own pages and the SEC, read on the dates shown. This table does not say which to choose: that depends on your requirements, and the guide's checklist is how to test them.

Published 29 October 2026; vendor pages read 29 October 2026.

FieldQuickBooksXero
Described as (our words)Intuit's accounting product for small businesses, sold in tiers by number of users. The site groups accounting with payments, payroll, expenses and bill pay.Cloud accounting for small businesses, sold in three published monthly plans. Payroll in the US is offered as an add-on run with Gusto, according to the pricing page.
In its own wordsEverything business, all on one platform (quickbooks.intuit.com, read 29 October 2026)Xero online accounting software for your business connects you to your bank, accountant, bookkeeper, and other business apps. (xero.com, read 29 October 2026)
Lists on its siteAccounting; Sales & Get Paid; Expenses & Pay Bills; Payroll; Project management; Inventory; Sales Tax (quickbooks.intuit.com)Accounting software (xero.com)
PricingThe pricing page states Simple Start See profit & loss in real time $38 (quickbooks.intuit.com pricing, read 29 October 2026)The pricing page states Then $27 per month (xero.com pricing, read 29 October 2026)
Integrations it namesAmazon Business Purchases; PayPal Connector by QuickBooks; Square Connector by QuickBooks; Shopify Connector by QuickBooks; Gusto; BigTime; SOS Inventory (quickbooks.intuit.com integrations)Xero Payroll, powered by Gusto; Inventory Plus (xero.com pricing)
Public companySEC registrant: INTUIT INC., ticker INTU (EDGAR filings, CIK 896878). The vendor's site carries the name © 2026 Intuit Inc..No company named “Xero” in the SEC's list of companies with tickers, read 29 October 2026. A listing elsewhere, or a parent company, is not checked here.
Guides it appears inSmall business accountingSmall business accounting

Ask both of them

From the Small business accounting guide. Put the same questions to each vendor and compare the answers against your checklist.

  • Show me a bank feed for my bank, and what happens when a transaction is duplicated.
  • How does my accountant get access, and what can they change without my approval?
  • Show me the audit trail for one edited invoice.
  • What is in the export when I cancel, and does it include attachments?
  • What does my plan cost after the introductory period, and what is the price if I add two users?
  • Which payroll and payments providers connect, and who supports the connection when it breaks?

Sources

  1. QuickBooks. quickbooks.intuit.com/, read 29 October 2026.
  2. QuickBooks. quickbooks.intuit.com/pricing/, read 29 October 2026.
  3. QuickBooks. quickbooks.intuit.com/online/integrations/, read 29 October 2026.
  4. SEC EDGAR. sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0000896878&type=10-K, read 29 October 2026.
  5. Xero. xero.com/us/, read 29 October 2026.
  6. Xero. xero.com/us/pricing-plans/, read 29 October 2026.
  7. SEC EDGAR. sec.gov/files/company_tickers.json, read 29 October 2026.