Xero vs FreshBooks

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

Compare	XeroXero Ltd	FreshBooksFreshBooks
In one line	Cloud accounting with unlimited users on every plan	Invoicing and time tracking for service businesses
Starting price	From $27/mo	From $23/mo + $11/extra person
Six-person team	$27/mo	$23/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	Lite $23/mo (5 clients); Plus $43/mo (50 clients); Premium $70/mo (unlimited clients); the same billed yearly; first-year discounts common (Lite was $1/mo for the first year when checked); team members $11/mo each
Pricing model	Free trial	Free trial
Free trial	30 days	30 days
Users	Unlimited	1 included
Both connect to	Gusto, Stripe Invoicing, Novo, Payoneer Workforce Management
Also connects to	Square POS, Shopify POS, Rippling, Deel, Shopify, Mercury, Relay, Bluevine +28 more1,000+ listed by the vendor	Squarespace Commerce, Ecwid100+ listed by the vendor
Team size	Just me · 2–10 people · 11–50 people · 51–200 people	Just me · 2–10 people
Available in	US · UK · CA · AU	US · UK · CA · AU
Phone support	None listed	Plans not stated; Select only
Live chat	None listed	Every plan
Support hours	Web form: 24/7	Phone: office hours · Live chat: 24/7
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	4 incidents posted on FreshBooks's status page, which covers all FreshBooks products and regions, in the 90 days to Oct 27, 2026; 0 marked major or critical by FreshBooks. Status page
Capterra score	4.4 / 5 from 3,332 reviews	4.5 / 5 from 4,529 reviews
Trustpilot score	4.1 / 5 from 11,478 reviews	3.8 / 5 from 1,051 reviews
Fit: Retail shop	84	58
Fit: Restaurant or café	80	40
Fit: Service business	88	90
Fit: Agency or studio	90	88
Fit: Trades or contractor	84	80
Fit: Online store	85	45
Why people pick it	Unlimited users Clean interface Good for multi-currency	Best-looking invoices Time tracking built in
Where it falls short	Early plan limits are tight Fewer US accountants use it	Per-user fees Client caps on lower plans
	Visit Xero ↗	Visit FreshBooks ↗

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

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