AlternativesUpdated

Best Xero Alternatives in 2026

Xero Early is $27 a month after its introductory discount, with 20 invoices and 5 bills, and Growing is $59. If you want a free plan, invoicing first, or only invoices and what clients owe without the bookkeeping, here are five alternatives and what each one does.

By the Fabricate teamWe make Fabricate5 min readPrices checked
Build this app freePublish on Pro
Invoice tracker
An invoice tracker made with Fabricate: paid, pending and overdue totals above a list of client invoices
An invoicing app made with Fabricate, shown with sample data.

Key takeaways

  • Xero Early is $27 a month with 20 invoices and 5 bills; Growing is $59 and Established $97.
  • QuickBooks Online is $38 a month for 1 user at the regular price; FreshBooks starts at $23 a month.
  • Wave's Starter plan is free, and Zoho Books is free while revenue stays under $50,000 a year.
  • Fabricate builds an invoice app around how you bill, with card payments into your own Stripe; it is not accounting software. Building and previewing are free; publishing is on Pro and Max.

Why Are People Looking for Xero Alternatives?

  • 20 Invoices on Early

    Early is $27 a month and sends 20 invoices; Growing, with no cap listed, is $59.

  • A Free Plan

    Wave's Starter plan is free, with 2.9% plus $0.60 on each card payment.

    Fits: Wave

  • The Software Accountants Know

    QuickBooks Online is $38 a month for 1 user at the regular price.

    Fits: QuickBooks Online

  • Only Invoices and What Is Owed

    Many small businesses need clients, invoices and a pay button, not full bookkeeping.

    Fits: Fabricate

Compare at a glance

Fabricate beside Xero, feature by feature.

  • Builds From a Description
    Fabricate
    Yes
    Xero
    No, ready-made software
  • Bookkeeping and Bank Feeds
    Fabricate
    Not built in
    Xero
    Yes
  • Invoices
    Fabricate
    As many as you make
    Xero
    20 on Early; no cap listed from Growing
  • Card Payments
    Fabricate
    Stripe Checkout into your own account, on Pro and Max
    Xero
    Yes
  • Multiple Currencies
    Fabricate
    Invoices in the currency you set
    Xero
    On Established
  • Paid Plans From
    Fabricate
    $25 a month
    Xero
    $27 a month
Number 1

Fabricate

We make this

Best for: Invoices and what clients owe, without bookkeeping

Builds an invoice app from your description: clients, numbered invoices with line items and tax, paid, pending and overdue totals, and a page for each invoice laid out for printing or saving as a PDF. On Pro and Max, the app can take card payments through Stripe Checkout, paid into your own Stripe account, which you connect under More > Payments. It is not accounting software: bookkeeping, bank connections, payroll, tax filing and emailing invoices are not built in. Building and previewing are free; publishing is on Pro and Max.

Checks before you publish

Fabricate's security check on an app: one problem to fix and two quality warnings, each with a Fix in chat button
Each finding comes with a Fix in chat button. A real Fabricate screen, shown with sample data.

What it does well

  • Invoices in your own layout
  • What each client owes, at a glance
  • No share of what you are paid
Paid plans from
$25 a month
350 credits a month on Pro
Free plan
60 credits
A month, to build and preview
A live app
Pro and Max
Publishing is on paid plans

See the plans

How to Move Your Invoicing from Xero to Fabricate

  1. 1

    Export your clients

    Save your customer list from Xero as a CSV file, and your open invoices if you want them in the app.

  2. 2

    Describe how you bill

    Your clients, what goes on an invoice, how you number them, your tax rate and how clients pay.

  3. 3

    Ask for an import page

    Ask for a page, behind your own sign-in, that adds the rows of your CSV file to the app's own database.

  4. 4

    Send yourself a test invoice

    Make an invoice in the preview, print it to PDF and check the totals.

  5. 5

    Put it online

    On Pro, one press of Publish gives it its own address to share, after the same browser check.

Chat

Fabricate's chat on a phone: the owner asks for opening hours and a note about cardamom buns, and Fabricate says what it changed and that it used 5 credits

Your app

The same bakery app in Fabricate's Your app view on a phone, now showing Open today 7am - 3pm above its menu
Asking for a change in chat, then trying the app. Real Fabricate screens on a phone, shown with sample data.

The other Xero alternatives

What each one does well, and the kind of project it suits best.

  1. Number 2

    QuickBooks Online

    Best for: Bookkeeping your accountant already uses

    Intuit's accounting software. Simple Start is $38 a month for 1 user, Essentials $85 for 3, Plus $140 for 5 and Advanced $340 for 25, at the regular price; the page also showed 50% off for the first 3 months.

    • Full bookkeeping
    • The software many accountants know
    • Plans up to 25 users

    Where QuickBooks Online beats Fabricate

    If your accountant works in QuickBooks and you want full bookkeeping, with bank feeds and reports in the software they know, QuickBooks Online is the safe pick.

    From $38 a monthQuickBooks alternatives

    Source: quickbooks.intuit.com/pricing (opens in a new tab), checked

  2. Number 3

    FreshBooks

    Best for: Freelancers and service businesses that invoice

    Invoicing and accounting for service businesses, priced by billable clients: Lite is $23 a month for 5 clients, Plus $43 for 50 and Premium $70 for unlimited, with $11 a month for each extra team member.

    • Invoicing first
    • Time tracking
    • Priced by billable clients

    Where FreshBooks beats Fabricate

    If you bill clients for your time and want invoicing with the bookkeeping behind it, FreshBooks is built around that.

    From $23 a monthFreshBooks alternatives

    Source: freshbooks.com/pricing (opens in a new tab), checked

  3. Number 4

    Wave

    Best for: A free start on bookkeeping

    Accounting and invoicing with a free Starter plan; card payments cost 2.9% plus $0.60 each. Pro is $19 a month, or $190 a year, and charges no fixed fee on the first ten card payments each month.

    • A free plan
    • Invoicing and bookkeeping
    • Card payments built in

    Where Wave beats Fabricate

    If you want invoicing and bookkeeping for nothing a month, and pay only when clients pay by card, Wave's free plan covers that.

    From $19 a month

    Source: waveapps.com/pricing (opens in a new tab), checked

  4. Number 5

    Zoho Books

    Best for: Free bookkeeping for a small business

    Zoho's accounting software, free for 1 user and an accountant while your revenue stays under $50,000 a year. Its paid plans add users and features.

    • Free under $50K revenue a year
    • From the company behind Zoho's other apps

    Where Zoho Books beats Fabricate

    If your business makes under $50,000 a year and you want accounting software for nothing, Zoho Books is free at that size.

    Zoho Books alternatives

    Source: Zoho Books pricing (opens in a new tab), checked

Xero and its alternatives: plans by size, or just invoices

Xero is full accounting software sold by the size of your business. Early is $27 a month and sends 20 invoices and enters 5 bills; Growing, at $59, lists no cap on invoices; Established, at $97, adds multiple currencies and project tracking.

QuickBooks Online covers the same ground from $38 a month for 1 user. FreshBooks puts invoicing first and prices by billable clients, from $23 a month. Wave and Zoho Books both have free plans.

A business that sends more than 20 invoices a month moves past Early quickly. A freelancer or small service business that mostly sends invoices and checks who has paid often uses only a small part of accounting software.

An invoice app built with Fabricate is your own web app: clients, numbered invoices with line items and tax, and paid, pending and overdue totals, with no cap on invoices. On Pro and Max, the app can take card payments through Stripe Checkout, paid into your own Stripe account, which you connect under More > Payments. Bookkeeping, bank connections, payroll, tax filing and emailing invoices are not built in.

Frequently asked questions

How much does Xero cost?
Early is $27 a month, with 20 invoices and 5 bills, Growing $59 and Established $97. When we read the page, new US customers got 90% off for the first 6 months.
What is the best Xero alternative for a small business?
For the software many accountants know, QuickBooks Online. For invoicing a service business, FreshBooks. For a free plan, Wave, or Zoho Books while revenue stays under $50,000 a year. For invoices and what clients owe without bookkeeping, Fabricate, which we make. Building and previewing are free; publishing is on Pro and Max.
Can I build my own invoice app?
Yes. Describe your clients, what goes on an invoice and how you number them, and Fabricate builds the invoice app and shows it working in a preview. To change something, you ask in the chat. There is no code to write or read.
Can an app built with Fabricate replace my accounting software?
Not for bookkeeping. It keeps your clients, invoices and what each one owes, but it does not connect to a bank, keep the books, run payroll or file tax. Ask for a download of your invoices as a CSV file for your accountant.
Can clients pay an invoice online?
On Pro and Max, the app can take card payments through Stripe Checkout, paid into your own Stripe account, which you connect under More > Payments. Ask for a pay button on each invoice; once Stripe confirms the payment, the invoice is marked paid. Fabricate takes no share of what you are paid; Stripe charges its own card fees.
When is Xero the better choice?
When you need full bookkeeping: bank feeds, bills, cash flow forecasts and reports, or invoices in several currencies on Established. An invoice app built with Fabricate is smaller: clients, invoices and what is owed, in the layout you describe.

Sources

The pages this guide quotes, each with the day it was read.

  1. xero.com/us/pricing-plans (opens in a new tab), checked
  2. quickbooks.intuit.com/pricing (opens in a new tab), checked
  3. freshbooks.com/pricing (opens in a new tab), checked
  4. waveapps.com/pricing (opens in a new tab), checked
  5. Zoho Books pricing (opens in a new tab), checked
  6. fabricate.build/pricing, from our live plans

About this guide

Written by the Fabricate team. Fabricate is our product, so it is first on this page and marked "We make this". Where a reason to switch fits another tool better, the reason says which.

Each tool's card lists the pages we read about it and the day we read them. We compared the tools from their own pricing pages and documentation, not by signing up for them. Spotted something out of date? Write to info@fabricate.build.

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