The Xero Developer Platform is the set of APIs, tools and terms through which third-party software connects to Xero organisations. Xero introduced a new commercial model for it. App plans and pricing took effect on 2 March 2026, and updated developer terms apply to new developers from 4 December 2025 and to existing developers from 2 March 2026. Xero says it is “retiring our current revenue share model (comprising Xero App Store Subscriptions and Commercial Billing) and introducing five plans: Starter, Core, Plus, Advanced, Enterprise”, based on “connections and data egress volume via the Xero APIs”.[1] For software asset management, the platform matters in two directions. An organisation that builds its own integration with its Xero data may itself become an App Partner. An organisation that uses third-party apps connected to Xero may have its connections counted against an app’s plan.
Editions
The pricing page lists five plans. The fee is “a flat monthly fee based on plan” which “includes a set allotment of data consumption via the Xero APIs”, and “additional data consumption is available at additional cost”.[1]
| Plan | Connections (maximum) | Monthly fee (AUD, tax exclusive) | Egress included (GB) | Overage per GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | 5 | No charge | n/a | n/a |
| Core | 50 | $35 | 10 | $2.40 |
| Plus | 1,000 | $245 | 50 | $2.40 |
| Advanced | 10,000 | $1,445 | 250 | $2.40 |
| Enterprise | No limit | Price on application | Volume on application | Price on application |
Ingress, meaning sending data into Xero, is unlimited on all plans.[1] The organisation endpoint is excluded from the egress allotment.[1]
Benefits and prerequisites differ by plan. App Certification is a listed prerequisite for three of the five plans and an initial and annual Security Assessment for two. A payment method is “Not Applicable” for Starter and “Required” for the other four. Listing on the Xero App Store is not available on Starter or Core, optional on Plus and Advanced, and required on Enterprise.[1] Standard rate limits are 1,000 calls per day per organisation on Starter and 5,000 on the others, and support moves from “General support” to “Priority support” on the two highest plans.[1] The Journals endpoint, the Xero Practice Manager API and bulk connections are premium features that need a security assessment and use case approval and are listed as not included on the first three plans.[1] See Journals, XPM API and bulk connections are premium features.
Rapid Sync, which lifts the standard API limits for the first 30 minutes of a new organisation connection, is available to certified apps on all connections.[1]
Metrics
Connection. Under the Commercial Terms a Connection is a user who “has connected their Xero account to Your Integration” and “has continued to stay Connected for the current Billing Period”. The App Partner “is responsible for removing Connections”, including those of users that have cancelled or are no longer customers; “until removal, that Connection will continue to count towards the determination of the Platform Fee”.[2] Connections are measured and priced at the app level, and “apps cannot share connection counts or API volume used, even if they are from the same developer”.[1] See Connections and API volume are measured per app and App Partner must remove ended connections.
API egress gigabyte. Egress is “the process of extracting or downloading accounting and financial data from a connected Xero organisation to your external app or system”. It is measured per month using UTC, resets on the first of the calendar month and is visible on the usage tab of the developer dashboard; “Connection counts and API metering will be available in the developer dashboard for all apps beginning 4 December, 2025”.[1]
API call. The limits are per tenant (organisation, account or practice): 5 concurrent calls, 60 calls per minute, and 1,000 calls per day for Starter or 5,000 for higher tiers. An app is also limited to 10,000 calls per minute across all tenants. Exceeding a limit produces an HTTP 429 response. The limits are per tenant: two connected organisations each have 5,000 calls a day on Core and above.[4] See API rate limits per tenant and per app.
Counting / floors
Starter and uncertified apps. New apps default to the Starter tier with 5 connections; Core allows up to 50. “To be listed on the App Store, you will need to be in the Plus tier or above.” Each organisation or practice may connect “a maximum of five uncertified apps”, with no limit on certified apps.[4] See Uncertified apps are limited to five per organisation.
Plan assignment. The Commercial Terms say the Tier “is typically determined by the number of Connections that Your Integration has with our Platform and any use of premium features”. Xero may monitor consumption against Tier limits and invoice “retrospective overages for any consumption in excess of your Tier for each calendar month”.[2]
Billing. After the end of each calendar month Xero calculates the Platform Fee and invoices it; payment is due “within 30 days of the date you receive it” via the payment method in the developer portal. The fee excludes GST, VAT and sales tax.[2] The pricing page says payment is by registered credit card on the first of the following month, that the card is required on moving from Starter to Core, and that failed payments show on the billing page.[1] See Platform Fee is invoiced monthly in arrears.
Usage beyond limits. Using the platform beyond applicable limits requires “Xero’s explicit consent”, which Xero may grant or deny and may condition on additional terms or charges.[3] The developer terms also prohibit attempts “to exceed or bypass the usage limits” and creating or encouraging “multiple versions of your app when they all do the same or similar thing”.[3] See Exceeding usage limits needs Xero’s consent and Creating duplicate apps and bypassing limits is prohibited.
System guidance. Xero says it is “designed for volumes of up to 5,000 Sales invoices … and 5,000 Purchases bills” per month, up to 5,000 bank transactions per month, a recommended maximum of 4,000 tracked inventory items per organisation, contact lists no larger than 10,000 and up to 500 fixed assets, and notes that performance may degrade above those levels.[4] The Early plan limit of 20 approved receivable and 5 approved payable invoices per month also applies to API use: the limit is by invoice date and an excess returns an HTTP 400 error.[4]
Virtualization & partitioning
Not applicable. The developer platform is a hosted API. Xero does, however, define what an app may not do with automation: the developer terms prohibit “any automated tools, such as bots or browser extensions” that circumvent security controls or simulate user actions without authorisation, and prohibit downloading or scraping Xero websites “including with bots or browser automation”.[3]
Cloud / BYOL
Not applicable. Two cloud-related terms matter for data use. API Data may not be passed to another third party without user consent, and “API Data cannot be used to train, fine tune, adapt, or enhance any AI Models”.[3] Xero says it uses “automated monitoring and other measures” and “may conduct audits to verify compliance”, and that it may suspend or terminate access on a suspected breach.[3] See API data must not train AI models.
Programs
Certification. To offer an integration to users, the App Partner and app “will need to be certified” by Xero, covering connection, branding and naming, scopes and use cases, error handling, data integrity and security, account and payment mapping and tax rates, with annual recertification.[2] See Xero app certification.
Xero App Store. The appendix applies only if the App Partner lists the app. The App Partner manages the listing, shows prices in local currency, implements ‘Sign up with Xero’, and is “solely responsible for determining the price payable by each User”. Xero may suspend or limit a listing that is not in good standing or has “excessive disputes” about user payments.[2] See Xero App Store listing and App Store listing prices are set by the App Partner.
Migration. “No new apps will be added to Xero App Store Subscriptions (XASS) or Commercial Billing (CB) models beginning 4 December, 2025.” Apps created between 4 December 2025 and 2 March 2026 that want to publish on the Xero App Store begin on an interim billing solution, existing apps migrate from 2 March 2026 with 30 days’ prior notice and apps created on or after 2 March 2026 move directly to the new model.[1] See Plans migrate from revenue share on 2 March 2026.
Term, change and law. Either party can cancel the Commercial Terms on 30 days’ notice, or immediately on the other’s insolvency; Xero may suspend an integration if certification lapses, material responsibilities are not met or an undisputed invoice is unpaid. Disputes go to binding arbitration, and the governing law and exclusive venue are Victoria (Australia), England, California or New Zealand depending on the App Partner’s principal place of business.[2] The Platform Terms separately allow termination on 30 days’ notice, or immediately for breach not remedied in 14 days, an unremediable breach, suspected breach under investigation, harm or risk, or legal requirement; a security issue affecting an app must be reported to Xero within 24 hours of discovery.[3]
Out of scope
This article does not cover Xero’s data processing terms, Responsible Data Use Commitments, the minimum security requirements document, the Dev Council terms or the financial services appendix, nor the technical API documentation beyond its limits. Fees for apps sold on the App Store are set by each App Partner and fall under the app’s own terms, not Xero’s.[2]