If you employ anyone, or expect to, Xero is the pick: payroll, Single Touch Payroll and superannuation are included in every plan, with each plan covering a set number of people that rises as you move up the ladder, so the compliance work that falls due every pay cycle sits inside the same subscription as your books. Zoho Books has no payroll, and Zoho Payroll is not sold in Australia, so a business with staff runs pay through a separate product. Pick Zoho Books if your business has no staff, sits under the revenue threshold for its free plan, or already runs on the Zoho suite and wants its books beside its CRM and inventory. Both track GST and prepare your BAS, so the choice turns on payroll, scale and what you already use.
Plans and pricing checked September 2026, and every figure below is read live from our pricing database, the same data as the table and calculator above.
Xero vs Zoho Books pricing: monthly billing against annual billing
Xero's entry plan is $37/mo (Ignite), a plan part way up its ladder is $107/mo (Comprehensive) and its Ultimate plans start at $143/mo (Ultimate 10), with larger sizes above, all billed monthly with no contract. The entry plan caps the invoices you can send and the bills you can enter, so a business with a steady flow of paperwork moves up a rung sooner than the headline suggests; the plans above it remove that cap, and the top of the ladder comes in headcount sizes.
Zoho Books' entry plan is $16.50/mo (Standard, annual), a plan one rung up is $33/mo (Professional, annual) and its top plan $319/mo (Ultimate, annual). Read those with the billing basis in mind: the figures in our table are the annual-billed rate per month, labelled annual, and Zoho also bills month to month at a higher monthly price with no contract. Zoho's Australian prices include GST. Below the paid ladder sits a free plan for businesses under a revenue threshold, which Xero does not offer.
The two ladders do not line up rung for rung: Xero's price carries payroll for a set number of people, while Zoho's rungs raise caps on users and invoices and add features as you climb. The comparison table on this page shows the current prices, and the calculator above folds your invoices, users and employees into one estimated monthly figure for each.
- Free plan: Xero No, Zoho Books Yes (under $50K revenue)
- Users included: Xero Unlimited, Zoho Books 3 (Standard)
- Invoicing: Xero 20/mo (Ignite), Zoho Books Yes (annual caps)
Xero includes unlimited users on every plan with no per-user fee; Zoho Books caps users per plan, with more on higher plans, and charges for each user beyond the cap, so count your logins before you compare headline prices. Invoices are capped per year on every Zoho Books plan, rising with the plan, where Xero caps them only on its entry plan.
Xero vs Zoho Books payroll: included against not sold here
This is the deciding gap in Australia. Xero includes payroll in every plan: the entry plan covers the smallest headcount, each plan up the ladder covers more, and the largest sizes at the top are built for bigger teams. Single Touch Payroll Phase 2 reporting and automated superannuation are part of it, so a pay run, its STP report and the super that goes with it all happen inside Xero. The calculator above picks the Xero plan that covers your headcount, so a growing team sees the step up before it happens.
Zoho Books has no payroll. Zoho Payroll is not sold in Australia, so there is no add-on to switch on: a business with staff on Zoho Books runs its pay through a separate payroll product and connects it to the books, and STP reporting and super payments go through that integration rather than through Zoho Books itself.
- Payroll: Xero Yes, Zoho Books No
- Payroll cost: Xero Included, Zoho Books N/A
A business with no employees loses nothing here, and that is the honest shape of this comparison: Zoho Books is a complete ledger for a sole operator and an incomplete one for an employer.
GST, BAS and the ATO
Both track GST and prepare your BAS, so the quarterly compliance work is covered either way. The difference, again, is what happens each pay cycle.
- BAS and GST: Xero Yes, Zoho Books Yes
- STP Phase 2: Xero Yes, Zoho Books Yes (via integration)
- Superannuation: Xero Yes, Zoho Books Via integration
On Zoho Books, STP and super belong to the payroll product you connect, so check that product's handling, not Zoho's.
Bank feeds, receipts and the daily bookkeeping
Xero connects to your bank on every plan, captures documents on every plan, and its AI, JAX, categorises and matches bank transactions as they arrive. Zoho Books connects live bank feeds from its first paid plan, which also adds voice and chat support, progress invoicing and retention payments; its free plan imports bank statements you upload and is supported by email only.
- Bank feeds: Xero Yes, Zoho Books Yes
- Receipt capture: Xero Yes (Hubdoc), Zoho Books Yes
- Accountant access: Xero Yes (free), Zoho Books Yes
- Support: Xero 24/7 online, Zoho Books Business hours AU
Room to grow: multi-currency, projects and stock
Both sell these further up their ladders, and the rungs differ. Xero puts multi-currency part way up its ladder and project tracking on its Ultimate plans. Zoho Books adds projects, timesheets, bills and purchase orders, multi-currency and stock tracking together from its second paid plan.
- Multi-currency: Xero Yes (Comprehensive), Zoho Books Yes (Professional)
- Project tracking: Xero Yes (Ultimate 10+), Zoho Books Yes (Professional)
- Inventory: Xero Yes, Zoho Books Yes (Professional)
Zoho's wider pull is the suite: a business already on Zoho gets its books in the same place as the rest of the range. Xero's answer is its app marketplace, which connects it to other vendors' tools rather than to a family of its own.
Which one connects to AI assistants
Both have a native assistant inside the product, Xero's JAX and Zoho's Zia, and both publish an official Model Context Protocol server, so an assistant that speaks MCP can be pointed at either set of books directly. On today's data the two are level here.
- In-product AI: Xero Native (JAX), Zoho Books Native (Zia)
- Agent route: Xero Native MCP (official), Zoho Books Native MCP (Zoho, official)
Pros and cons for this matchup
Xero wins on payroll, STP Phase 2 and superannuation included in every plan, unlimited users with no per-user fee, bank feeds and document capture on every plan, and online support at any hour. Its costs are no free plan, a capped entry plan, and a climb up its ladder before multi-currency and project tracking switch on.
Zoho Books wins on a free plan for businesses under its revenue threshold, GST and BAS handled, projects, multi-currency and stock from one rung up its ladder, and a seat inside the wider Zoho suite. Its limits are no payroll in Australia, users and invoices capped on every plan with extra users charged for, statement uploads rather than live feeds on the free plan, and table prices that assume you pay for a year up front. Native AI and an official MCP server are a draw: both have them.
The verdict
For an Australian business that pays staff, or will within the year, Xero is the pick: payroll, STP Phase 2 and super are inside every plan, and the calculator on this page already picks the size that covers your team. Zoho Books cannot answer that in Australia, because it has no payroll and Zoho Payroll is not sold here, so an employer on Zoho Books is running two products from day one. Zoho Books is the better fit for a business with no staff, for one under the revenue threshold of its free plan that is happy to upload bank statements, and for one already living in the Zoho suite. Run your invoices, users and headcount through the calculator above, read Zoho's figures on the annual-billing basis they are quoted on, then ask the one question that decides it: will this business have a payroll to run?