QuickBooks vs Xero

Accounting software is a lot like intergalactic hitchhiking—both require a good guide, a bit of luck and an uncanny ability to stay solvent. QuickBooks and Xero, for example, are two software titans hurtling through the cosmos of small business finance, both promising to make tax season less soul-crushing. They exist in the cloud, they let you send invoices and track expenses with an almost cheerful enthusiasm and they both integrate with an alarming number of third-party apps, which can do anything from forecasting profits to reminding you that you've spent far too much on coffee again. Most importantly, they allow multiple people to poke around in your financial innards, provided they have the right permissions, which makes them ideal for businesses where people need to keep an eye on each other’s enthusiastic but often misguided attempts at bookkeeping.

QuickBooks, much like a well-worn space freighter, has been around since 1983, when Intuit first realized that humans needed help balancing their ledgers without resorting to abacuses or mild existential despair. It operates both in the cloud and as a sturdy desktop version, making it perfect for people who don’t fully trust the internet but still want to reconcile their bank accounts. It thrives in North America, where tax laws are as unpredictable as a Vogon poetry recital and it offers a robust payroll system that ensures employees continue receiving their wages instead of, say, a heartfelt apology and a pat on the back. Businesses with inventory—especially those that like to keep track of it instead of letting it mysteriously vanish into a parallel dimension—find QuickBooks particularly useful.

Xero, on the other hand, hails from New Zealand, a place known for hobbits, breathtaking landscapes and now, accounting software. It emerged in 2006 as a purely cloud-based entity, eschewing desktop versions with the confidence of a species that has evolved beyond paper receipts. While QuickBooks charges you for adding extra users like some kind of interstellar toll collector, Xero generously allows unlimited users, making it a favorite for teams who love collaboration and mild anarchy. It dominates in Australia, New Zealand and the UK, where its compliance features are particularly well-suited to the local bureaucratic quirks. Freelancers and service-based businesses adore it, mostly because it doesn’t demand they learn more about accounting than they absolutely have to, which leaves them more time to ponder the meaning of life, the universe and everything—preferably over a well-budgeted cup of coffee.

See also: Top 10 Online Accounting software