Services
Monthly bookkeeping run entirely in Xero — closed, reviewed and proven every period by the team that does the work.
Bookkeeping packages
Cancel first
What You No Longer Need
Four categories where a subscription that made sense in 2024 may be redundant now.
- Document capture. Hubdoc is included on every Xero plan. Suppliers email invoices to a dedicated address, documents arrive extracted and attached. A separate capture tool earns its cost only at volumes or workflows Hubdoc does not reach.
- Payroll. Xero Payroll, powered by Gusto, launched in August 2026 and runs inside Xero: unlimited runs, federal, state and local tax calculations and filings, direct deposit, contractor payments, benefits and employee self-service. A separate payroll subscription is now a choice rather than a requirement.
- Bill payment. Xero Bill Payments pays bills from within the ledger, so the payment and the bill it settles are recorded together. Middleware that existed to move payment files between systems has less to do.
- Expense management. Melio Expense Management categorises card spending in real time without switching cards.
Before evaluating any add-on, check whether the job moved inside the platform during the last year. Several did.
The filter
The Test
Four questions. An app that fails any of them is costing more than its subscription.
- Does it remove work, or move it? An app that requires someone to review every record it creates has relocated the task rather than removed it.
- Does what it writes into Xero reconcile? The test is whether its clearing or control account clears. An integration that posts summaries nobody can trace back is a reconciliation problem with a monthly fee.
- Would you notice if it stopped? Silent failure is the characteristic risk. If a sync stopping would go unnoticed for weeks, the app needs a monitoring answer before it needs a budget line.
- Is it the system of record for something, or a copy? One system should own each kind of data. Two systems maintaining the same quantities is a reconciliation you will lose.
The shortlist
What Earns Its Place
E-commerce settlement, if you sell on marketplaces
A2X summarises payouts from Shopify, Amazon, eBay, Etsy, Walmart and PayPal into journals that reconcile, splitting gross sales, refunds, fees and tax rather than netting them into one line. It won Xero’s Practice App of the Year. For any seller with real volume this is the clearest case in the whole app store, because the alternative is coding payouts to revenue and losing both the top line and the cost.
The reasoning behind why that matters is in Xero for e-commerce.
Inventory, once you outgrow one location
Cin7 Core, formerly DEAR Inventory, and Unleashed are the most widely used. Katana suits production-focused manufacturers. Each becomes necessary at the same point: multiple warehouses, kits or bundles, purchase order receipting, or manufacturing. The inventory platform owns quantities and costing; Xero owns the ledger and receives the financial result.
Approval workflow, once more than one person can commit money
ApprovalMax builds approval chains across payables and receivables with thresholds and audit trails. The trigger is not size, it is the day a second person can commit money without independent review.
Reporting and consolidation, for multiple entities
Fathom produces KPI dashboards, variance analysis, forecasting and multi-entity consolidation. Spotlight Reporting covers consolidated multi-entity reporting and three-way forecasting across profit and loss, balance sheet and cash flow. Syft Analytics adds dashboards and benchmarking. The case for any of them is consolidation or a reporting pack going to people outside the business. Below that, Xero’s own reports do the job.
Payments on invoices
Stripe for card payments on invoices, Square where you also take payments in person, GoCardless for recurring bank debits on B2B terms. These cost a processing fee rather than a subscription and shorten the gap between invoice and cash more reliably than any reminder.
Industry systems, where the operational system is the business
ServiceM8 and Tradify for trades and field service. Clio for law firms. In these, the operational system is where the work is scheduled, priced and recorded, and the accounting follows from it. The integration is the job, not an accessory to it.
Document capture, above Hubdoc’s reach
Dext handles higher volumes, mileage, and more complex supplier rules than the included tool. A real case at volume, and an unnecessary one below it.
The other list
What Rarely Earns Its Place
- A second reporting tool for a single entity. Xero’s reports, budget manager and cash flow view cover a single-entity business. The case for a reporting subscription starts at consolidation.
- Generic CRM syncs that copy contacts both ways. Two systems maintaining the same contact list produces duplicates and a reconciliation nobody owns.
- Spreadsheet connectors bought to fix a report that does not exist yet. Build the report first; you may not need the connector.
- Anything bought to solve a bookkeeping problem. A forecasting tool on an unreconciled file produces a more confident version of the wrong number, which is worse than no forecast because people act on it.
- Apps installed for a trial and never removed. Every connection retains access to your ledger whether or not anyone uses it.
The number
The Stack Cost
Each app is a small monthly figure. The stack is not, and it is rarely totalled.
A product business might run card processing, a recurring debit provider, a receipt tool, an e-commerce connector, an inventory platform and a CRM alongside the accounting subscription. Six vendors, six logins, six contracts renewing on six different dates, and six independent ways for a sync to fail.
- Add up every subscription touching the ledger, including the ones charged to a card nobody reviews.
- Count the per-user and per-transaction charges, which scale with the business while the headline price does not.
- Note each renewal date. Annual contracts renew silently.
- Compare the total against what the work would cost done differently. On some stacks the subscriptions exceed the bookkeeping fee.
Every connected app also holds access to your accounting data. The subscription is the visible cost; the access is the one to review when someone leaves or a trial ends.
Once a year
Auditing What You Have
Four steps, an hour, once a year.
- List every connected app in Xero, not every app you remember connecting.
- For each, name what it is the system of record for. An app that is the record for nothing is a copy, and copies drift.
- Check the account it writes to clears. A clearing account carrying a balance month after month is the app telling you something.
- Disconnect what nobody uses. Cancelling the subscription does not revoke the access; the connection has to be removed in Xero.
The fuller version of this, including what breaks reconciliation and how AI connections fit, is in Integrations & Optimization.
Questions
Commonly Asked
Which Xero add-ons are actually worth paying for?
A2X for marketplace sellers, because payouts have to be split rather than netted. An inventory platform such as Cin7 Core, Unleashed or Katana once you have multiple locations, kits or manufacturing. ApprovalMax once more than one person can commit money. Fathom, Spotlight Reporting or Syft for multi-entity consolidation and external reporting packs. A payment service such as Stripe, Square or GoCardless on invoices. And your industry's operational system, such as ServiceM8 or Clio, where the work is scheduled and priced there.
Do I still need a separate document capture app?
Hubdoc is included on every Xero plan and covers most small businesses: suppliers email invoices to a dedicated address and documents arrive extracted and attached. Dext earns its cost at higher volumes, with mileage tracking, or where supplier rules are more complex than the included tool handles.
Do I still need Gusto as a separate subscription?
Xero Payroll, powered by Gusto, launched in August 2026 and runs inside Xero, covering unlimited payroll runs, automated federal, state and local tax calculations and filings, direct deposit, contractor payments, benefits and employee self-service. A separate payroll subscription is now a choice. Moving payroll mid-year carries year-to-date complexity, so a quarter or year boundary is the tidier moment.
How do I know if an integration is working properly?
Check whether the account it writes to clears. An integration posting into a clearing or control account that carries a balance month after month is failing quietly. Also ask whether you would notice if it stopped, because silent failure is the characteristic risk: a sync that breaks produces no error, just a slowly diverging set of numbers.
How many apps should I connect to Xero?
As few as do real work. Each connection is a subscription, a login, a renewal date, an independent failure point and standing access to your accounting data. A product business can easily reach six vendors alongside the accounting subscription without anyone totalling the cost. Add up the stack annually and disconnect what nobody uses.
Will an app fix my reporting problem?
Only if the underlying ledger is accurate. A forecasting or dashboard tool reading an unreconciled file produces a more confident version of the wrong number, and people act on it. Reconcile first, then decide whether Xero's own reports cover the requirement. The case for a reporting subscription usually starts at multi-entity consolidation or a pack going to a lender or board.