Xero vs Bench

Two accounting tools side by side. Prices are the starting plan a small business would pick, in USD.

Compare	XeroXero Ltd	BenchEmployer.com
In one line	Cloud accounting with unlimited users on every plan	A bookkeeping team that does your books each month
Starting price	From $27/mo	From $199/mo
Six-person team	$27/mo	$199/mo
Plans	Early $27/mo (20 invoices); Growing $59/mo; Established $97/mo; unlimited users, no per-user fees; intro offers often cut the first 3 months	Bookkeeping Light $199/mo (up to $250K revenue/yr); Bookkeeping $399/mo; Bookkeeping + Tax $649/mo; 20% off yearly; catch-up free on yearly plans
Pricing model	Free trial	Paid
Free trial	30 days	—
Users	Unlimited	n/a (service)
Both connect to	Square POS, Gusto, Shopify, Stripe Invoicing, Shoeboxed
Also connects to	Shopify POS, Rippling, Deel, Mercury, Relay, Bluevine, Square Invoices, BILL +27 more1,000+ listed by the vendor	BigCommerce
Team size	Just me · 2–10 people · 11–50 people · 51–200 people	Just me · 2–10 people · 11–50 people
Available in	US · UK · CA · AU	US
Phone support	None listed	Every plan
Live chat	None listed	Every plan
Support hours	Web form: 24/7	Phone: weekdays 7am to 5pm PST
Incidents posted	26 incidents posted on Xero Ltd's status page, which covers all Xero Ltd products and regions, in the 90 days to Oct 27, 2026; 10 marked major or critical by Xero Ltd. Status page	We found no public status page for Employer.com.
Capterra score	4.4 / 5 from 3,332 reviews	Not listed
Trustpilot score	4.1 / 5 from 11,478 reviews	4.1 / 5 from 1,355 reviews
Fit: Retail shop	84	65
Fit: Restaurant or café	80	60
Fit: Service business	88	80
Fit: Agency or studio	90	80
Fit: Trades or contractor	84	70
Fit: Online store	85	75
Why people pick it	Unlimited users Clean interface Good for multi-currency	A bookkeeper you can message any time Free catch-up on yearly plans
Where it falls short	Early plan limits are tight Fewer US accountants use it	Costs far more than software Service paused in late 2024 before the sale
	Visit Xero ↗	Visit Bench ↗

Six-person prices are what a team of six would pay on the published plans; "Not listed" means those plans don't cover six. How we calculate prices