The Xero terms of use are, in Xero’s words, “our contract with you”, and they include its commitment as a service provider and the customer’s obligations.[1] They are the only agreement a business needs to accept to use Xero’s core accounting service. Other documents sit alongside them: the payments terms for connected payment services, the Partner Terms for accountants and the Developer Platform terms for app builders. The Terms of use were last updated on 3 August 2026, and that update added a section on connected platforms.[1]
Editions
The terms use edition to mean the regional version of the service. Section 1 defines “Xero” as the entity the customer contracts with and pays “based on the edition of the Xero product you’re using”, and section 77 lists the entities with registration details, governing law and venue.[1] The same text is published at region-specific addresses on xero.com for Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Ireland, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, South Africa, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States.
| Edition | Xero entity | Governing law and venue |
|---|---|---|
| Australia | Xero Australia Pty Limited | Victoria, Australia |
| Canada | Xero Software (Canada) Ltd. | Ontario, Canada |
| Singapore | Xero (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. | Singapore |
| South Africa | Xero South Africa Proprietary Limited | South Africa; venue North Gauteng, Pretoria |
| United Kingdom | Xero (UK) Limited | England |
| United States | Xero, Inc. | California |
| New Zealand and the rest of the world | Xero (NZ) Limited | New Zealand |
Source for the table: section 77.[1] The parent, Xero Limited, is a New Zealand company; the contracting entities are “companies controlled by or under common control with” it.[1]
Metrics
The Terms of use define two roles rather than a unit of measure.
Subscriber. “When you create a subscription to use our services and accept these terms, you become a subscriber.” The subscriber is responsible for paying.[1] See Subscription.
Invited user. “An invited user is a person other than the subscriber who has been invited to use our services through a subscription.” An invited user must also accept the terms.[1] See Invited user.
The right to use is granted to both roles “based on your subscription type, your user role and the level of access you’ve been granted” for as long as the subscriber continues to pay, until the subscription is terminated or, for an invited user, until access is revoked.[1] The rule is recorded as Right to use depends on the subscriber paying. The terms point to Xero Central for the permissions each user role carries, so the exact access matrix is not in the contract itself.
The subscriber controls who is invited and what each invited person can do, can transfer the subscription, and “is responsible for all your invited users’ activity”.[1] See Subscriber controls and answers for access, Subscriber is responsible for invited users’ activity and Subscriptions can be transferred by the subscriber. Where an accounting practice in the Partner Program acts as the subscriber for a client, Xero “may reasonably direct” it to give the client read-only access to the subscription in accordance with the additional partner terms.[1]
Counting / floors
Fees. Use “generally requires you to pay a monthly subscription fee based on your subscription type”. The pricing plan, which varies by region and may be updated, “form[s] part of these terms”, and changes do not apply retrospectively. Depending on region, fees may be inclusive or exclusive of transactional taxes such as VAT and GST.[1] The customer also pays other taxes associated with use, including withholding tax unless Xero already processes it, and Xero may collect location information to determine tax location.[1] See Monthly fee is set by the pricing plan and varies by region.
Free periods. A new customer can opt for a free period. A customer who selects a plan for the free period and gives billing details is billed automatically afterwards, and has “access to all available features of that plan but features in the trial edition are limited”.[1] See Free period gives plan features but a limited trial edition.
Fair use. Section 52 states that “responsible use means not using our services in a way we see as excessive or unreasonable” and calls this the fair use principle. Some services “may be subject to limits such as a cap on the number of monthly transactions”. Xero will say when the principle is violated and ask the customer to stop within 14 days, and may then terminate or suspend under section 58.[1] See Fair use principle can cap monthly transactions.
Payment timing. If fees are not paid within 7 days of the due date Xero may suspend the subscription, and within 14 days it may terminate; the customer can reactivate by paying outstanding fees in full.[1] See Non-payment allows suspension after 7 days and termination after 14.
Renewal. At the end of each billing period the terms “automatically continue for a further period of the same duration as the previous one”, with recurring charges until cancellation.[1] The pricing pages repeat that subscriptions auto-renew monthly, and that a customer can move to a less expensive plan one month after upgrading.[3] See Subscriptions renew automatically each billing period.
Termination. The subscriber can terminate on one month’s notice and still pays fees to the termination day. Xero may also terminate on one month’s written notice, or suspend or terminate immediately for a breach not remedied within 14 days, an unremediable breach or insolvency.[1] No refund is due on termination “subject to section 68”, the clause on non-excludable consumer guarantees.[1] After termination the subscription is archived and data is no longer available to the customer, though Xero retains it “for a period of time consistent with our data retention policy” so that a subscriber can reactivate by paying.[1] See Termination needs one month’s notice from either side, No refund on termination and Data is archived after termination and can be reactivated.
Virtualization & partitioning
Not applicable. The terms cover a hosted service and contain no installation, virtualisation or device rules. The “Do’s and don’ts” section instead prohibits modifying, copying, decompiling or reverse engineering the services, and reselling, leasing or providing them “in any way not expressly permitted through our services”.[1] See Reselling or leasing the services is prohibited and Reverse engineering and copying are prohibited.
Cloud / BYOL
Not applicable in the usual sense. Two cloud-related constructs are relevant.
Third-party products. Providers of apps and data connections are “independent of us” and may charge fees in addition to the Xero subscription. Where a customer buys an app through the Xero App Store the customer authorises Xero to process the payment, and the fees are shown before purchase.[1] Bank feeds are “generally offered for free but may have associated charges that we will pass on to you”, and automated feeds through Yodlee carry separate Yodlee terms.[1] See Third-party apps are paid separately and Bank feed charges may be passed on.
Payments services. If an organisation connects a payments service listed in the payments terms, those terms apply to the organisation and its invited users. Stripe applies in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States; Crezco (United Kingdom), Airwallex (Australia) and Melio (United States) apply to single countries; and “Pay by bank” in New Zealand uses Akahu. The customer’s agreement is a direct one with the payments partner, and Xero “is not a party to those agreements” and does not assume responsibility for processing payments.[2] Fees are set on Xero’s website and are separate from the subscription, and if a subscription is transferred the Stripe account needs to be transferred directly with Stripe.[2] See Stripe, Crezco, Airwallex and Melio terms are direct agreements and Payments services apply only in listed regions.
Programs
Connected platforms. A connected platform is a third-party service, such as a bank, through which a customer subscribes to and accesses Xero directly. The price “is set by the connected platform and may be different to our pricing plans”, the connected platform may set up, administer and terminate the organisation, and if the customer cancels with the connected platform Xero archives the organisation and keeps data for a period during which a direct subscription restores access.[1] The section does not apply to someone who buys through an app store but logs in directly to Xero.[1] See Connected platform sets the price and Connected platform subscription.
Partner Program. The Terms of use tell customers who take part in the partner program to read the additional partner terms.[1] See Xero Partner Program and Partner Edition plans.
Additional services. Services such as Syft “might incur an additional fee” and may have separate terms such as the Syft Terms of Use; where there are no separate terms the Terms of use apply.[1] See Additional services may carry their own fees and terms.
Changes, liability and disputes
Xero will “reasonably endeavour” to give 60 days’ notice of material changes to the terms, except where circumstances are outside its control, and may not notify non-material changes; a customer who finds a change unacceptable can terminate on the standard notice.[1] See Material term changes get 60 days’ notice.
Xero’s total aggregate liability is limited to the amount the customer paid in the 12 months before the claim, with exclusions for loss of revenue, profit and goodwill and for indirect loss, and, for data loss, a limit to “taking reasonable steps to try and recover that data from our available backups”.[1] The customer indemnifies Xero against third-party claims arising from the customer’s use of the services or third-party products.[1] Disputes go to binding arbitration or small claims court, and class proceedings are excluded where the law of the customer’s country allows.[1] See Liability is capped at 12 months of fees and Contracting Xero entity depends on the edition.
Out of scope
This article does not cover regional prices (Xero pricing plans by country), usage charges for payroll, projects or expenses, partner terms, developer terms, or the data processing terms and privacy notice that Xero publishes separately. It also does not describe Xero Central, where the terms say user role permissions, partner points and cancellation steps are explained.[1] Billing mechanics such as invoicing at the end of the monthly period and usage charges invoiced for the previous month are described on the pricing pages.[4]