Xero’s headline position is that plans have “No per-user license fees”.[1] The Xero add-on usage model is what remains of a per-user model: four features that are counted by person or by payment. Payroll is counted by people paid, Expenses and Projects by active users, and online bill payments by payments made. Each plan includes a number of each and charges for units above it, so an organisation that invites many users into Expenses or Projects, or runs payroll for more people than the plan includes, can see the subscription bill rise without changing plan.[1]
Editions
The table summarises included quantities and overage charges at the retrieval date. Entries marked “n/s” are not stated on the page text.
| Feature | United Kingdom (GBP, excl. VAT) | Australia (AUD, incl. GST) | New Zealand (NZD, excl. GST) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Payroll | Ignite optional £1.50 per person; Grow 1, Comprehensive 5, Ultimate 10 people; £1.50 per additional person, £1 above 10 on Ultimate | Grow 2, Comprehensive 5, Ultimate 10 to 100 people; $2 per person after 100 on Ultimate 100, maximum 200 people | Ignite optional $4 per person; Grow 1, Comprehensive 5, Ultimate 10 people; $4 per additional person, $2 above 10 on Ultimate |
| Expenses and mileage | Excluded on Ignite; Grow 1, Comprehensive 5, Ultimate 10 users; £2.50 per additional user | Grow 1, Comprehensive 5, Ultimate 10 users; $5 per additional user | Excluded on Ignite; Grow 1, Comprehensive 5, Ultimate 10 users; $5 per additional user |
| Projects | Ultimate for 10 users; £5 per additional user | Ultimate for 10 users; $7 per additional user | Ultimate for 10 users; $7 per additional user |
| Online bill and payroll payments | Grow up to 5, Comprehensive 10, Ultimate 15; £0.20 per additional payment | Grow up to 5, Comprehensive 10, Ultimate 15; $0.35 per additional bill payment | n/s |
Sources: UK, Australian and New Zealand pricing pages.[1][2][3] The UK page states that “a limited number of GBP bill and payroll payments are included” on Grow, Comprehensive and Ultimate, with an additional £0.20 per payment by bank transfer, and that international payments and payments by card are priced separately.[1]
In the United States, payroll is a separate add-on, “Xero Payroll, powered by Gusto”, priced at “$36 per month, plus $6 per employee or contractor”, with two months free to try; contractors can be paid and 1099 forms filed through it.[5][6] Xero Expenses is “included on the Established plan”, and customers on Early or Growing upgrade to Established to get the full expenses feature set.[9] Projects is included on Established as well.[5]
In Canada, employee expense and mileage claims are optional on every plan “From $5 per month” and tracking time and costs for projects is optional “From $10 per month”.[4]
Hubdoc, the document capture service, is included in the Canadian Starter, Standard and Premium plans and in UK plans “as long as it’s connected to your Xero subscription”, and is governed by the Hubdoc Terms of Use separately from the Xero Terms of use.[1][4] Inventory Plus appears as an optional add-on on the United States Growing and Established plans; the page does not state a price.[5]
Metrics
Payroll person. The count is of people paid. In the UK a plan includes a stated number and each additional person costs £1.50 (or £1 above 10 on Ultimate).[1] Xero’s UK payroll page describes the Ignite payroll option as “Payroll for £1.50 per person” and says one login covers payroll and accounting, with each pay run syncing to the ledger.[7] In the United States the base fee applies once and the per-person fee applies to employees and contractors alike.[6]
Expenses user and Projects user. The pages state that “Limits for Xero Projects and Xero Expenses are per active user, per month.”[1] The Australian projects page says project tracking is included in Ultimate “for up to 10 people” and that more people can be added “for an additional charge per user”.[8] Xero does not define “active user” on the pricing pages, so the exact trigger (for example a login or use of the feature) is not stated there and would have to be confirmed in the product or on Xero Central.
Online bill payment. Counted per payment per month against the included number. Payment fees for online bill and payroll payments are “in addition to your Xero monthly base subscription amount, are not eligible for subscription discounts and offers, and are subject to change”.[1]
Invited user. Invited users are not charged a licence fee, but “your invited users who have access to those features may trigger additional charges on your subscription if the included usage/number of users/people/bills paid are exceeded”.[1] For asset management this means that user role assignments, not only the plan, decide cost exposure. See Invited users can trigger usage charges.
Counting / floors
Rules recorded in the catalog:
- Plan add-on usage above included limits is charged: additional charges may apply above the included number of users, people paid or bills paid.[1]
- Expenses and Projects limits are per active user per month.
- Usage charges are invoiced for the previous month: the subscription invoice goes out at the end of the month, while payroll, projects and expenses usage charges and chargeable direct bank feeds are “invoiced for the previous month”.[1]
- Xero Payroll in the United States is a base fee plus a per-person fee.
- Projects is included for 10 users on Ultimate and Xero Expenses is included on the United States Established plan.
Introductory discounts do not reduce these charges: the United States page says the discount “does not apply to any additional charges for add-ons, usage and payment fees”.[5] The UK page uses the same wording for payment fees and usage.[1]
Virtualization & partitioning
Not applicable. The features are hosted functions of the Xero service and have no installation or hardware rules.
Cloud / BYOL
Not applicable. Payments are processed by third parties. If an organisation connects Stripe, Crezco, Airwallex, Melio or New Zealand’s pay by bank, the payments terms apply, and the customer’s agreement is directly with the payments partner: “Xero is not a party to those agreements”.[10] Fees for payments with each partner “are set out on our website” and exclude taxes as stated there.[10] The invoice payment footnote on the United States page says “Payment fees apply to the use of online invoice payments”, and online bill payments in USD by standard ACH are included in Early, Growing and Established with fees for other payment methods.[5] See Online invoice payments carry payment fees and Xero payments services.
Programs
The payments service terms are the only program-like construct in this area. They name the partner by country: Stripe for accepting online payments in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States; Crezco for UK payments; Airwallex for Australian payments; Melio for United States payments; and Akahu for New Zealand pay by bank, in which Xero passes invoice details to the open banking provider.[10] The payments terms also say a customer “must not use payments with Stripe to run, pay or receive a payment from a business listed as a restricted business” for its location.[10]
Out of scope
This article does not give the prices of base plans, which are in Xero pricing plans by country, nor tax obligations such as VAT returns, Making Tax Digital, BAS or CIS filings, nor payroll tax compliance. It does not cover bank feed charges, which the Terms of use say may be passed on, third-party apps in the Xero App Store, or Xero Central articles that explain how an active user is determined.