Best Subscription Billing Software for Xero Users
Most billing software comparisons ignore the accounting angle. If you're on Xero, that's the thing that matters most. Here's an honest look at the options.
If you search for subscription billing software, you'll find plenty of comparisons. Most of them evaluate the same things: feature lists, payment gateway support, dunning workflows, pricing tiers. What they rarely talk about is what happens to your accounting.
For companies using Xero, that omission matters a lot. The way most billing platforms work, they take over your invoicing and send data back to Xero. What comes back is usually a summarised sync, not the full transaction detail. Your accountant works in Xero and suddenly the numbers in there don't tell the whole story. Reconciliation gets harder. Reporting gets less reliable. You've solved one problem and created another.
This comparison is written specifically for SaaS companies on Xero.
What to look for if you're on Xero
Before getting into the tools, it's worth being clear about what actually matters for a Xero user evaluating billing software.
Where do invoices live? Some billing platforms create invoices in their own system and sync summary data to Xero. Others create invoices directly inside Xero. The difference affects your accounting fidelity and how much your accountant can trust what they see in Xero.
What data comes back to Xero? Even when a tool integrates with Xero, the quality of the integration varies. Itemised invoices are more useful than journal entries. Line-item level detail is more useful than monthly revenue totals.
What does it cost? Several billing platforms charge a percentage of revenue processed through them. At low billing volumes that fee is small; at $30K/month it becomes something worth paying attention to.
How complex is setup? If you're a small team, a tool that requires a developer and a two-week onboarding isn't a practical option.
The options
Saasybill
Best for: SaaS companies with 20 to 300 customers on Xero
Saasybill is built specifically for SaaS companies using Xero. Instead of running invoicing through its own system, it sits alongside Xero and handles the subscription logic that Xero doesn't do natively. You define pricing plans, attach subscriptions to customers, and Saasybill creates invoices directly inside Xero at each renewal. Proration, mid-cycle upgrades, and credit notes all land in Xero as proper invoices, exactly as they would if you'd created them manually.
The accounting setup doesn't change. Xero stays the source of truth. There's no sync to manage, no summarised journal entries, and no revenue data living in a third-party system. Your accountant can keep working in Xero exactly as they always have.
There are no transaction fees. Flat monthly subscription, nothing else.
The trade-off is scope: Saasybill handles subscription billing well but it's not a full billing platform. It doesn't do global tax compliance, multi-entity support, or complex contract terms. If your billing is straightforward and your accounting system is Xero, that trade-off is easy to accept.
Chargebee
Best for: Companies with complex billing requirements or global operations
Chargebee is one of the more established names in subscription billing. It handles subscription management, invoicing, revenue recognition, dunning, multi-currency, and tax compliance across multiple jurisdictions. For companies with genuinely complex billing needs and a team to manage the implementation, it's a capable product.
The Xero integration works in one direction: Chargebee runs your invoicing and pushes data back to Xero. Your invoices live in Chargebee. What arrives in Xero is usually summarised, not itemised, which means your Xero reporting is working from incomplete data. For companies that have effectively outgrown Xero as an accounting system anyway, this is less of a problem. For companies still relying on Xero for day-to-day accounting and reporting, it creates friction.
Pricing is layered. The Starter plan is free up to $250K USD of cumulative billing, then 0.75% on everything above that. At $30K/month in billing, that's roughly $225/month in fees. The Growth plan removes the percentage but adds a flat annual fee.
Chargebee makes sense if you're operating across multiple countries, have complex tax requirements, or are at a scale where the Xero integration limitations are a reasonable trade-off for the features you need.
Recurly
Best for: Mid-market SaaS companies with high transaction volumes
Recurly sits in similar territory to Chargebee: a full billing platform aimed at mid-market and enterprise companies. It handles subscription management, invoicing, and dunning well, and has a long track record with companies at significant billing volumes.
Like Chargebee, Recurly runs invoicing through its own system. The Xero integration syncs data back, but you're working with the same trade-off: invoicing lives in Recurly, Xero receives a sync. The data fidelity question applies here as well.
Recurly's pricing starts at around $249/month for the base plan, with additional costs depending on billing volume and features. It's not aimed at small teams.
If you're at the scale where Recurly makes sense, you've likely also grown past the point where Xero is the primary tool your finance team relies on. For earlier-stage companies on Xero, the price point and complexity don't fit the problem.
Stripe Billing
Best for: Companies already deep in the Stripe ecosystem
Stripe Billing is the default choice for many SaaS companies because they're already using Stripe for payments and adding billing feels like a natural extension. It handles recurring subscriptions, invoicing, proration, and dunning reasonably well, and setup is relatively straightforward if you're technically inclined.
The Xero integration is the limiting factor. Stripe sends transaction data to Xero, but the level of detail depends on the integration method. Using the native Xero-Stripe connection, you get bank feed data rather than proper invoices in Xero. More detailed integrations require third-party tools or custom work. Either way, you're not getting invoices created directly in Xero the way an accountant would expect.
Stripe also charges transaction fees on payments processed through its platform, on top of standard card processing fees. If you're using bank transfer as your primary payment method, those fees can add up.
Stripe Billing is a reasonable option if you want a single vendor for payments and billing and your accounting setup is flexible. If Xero is central to how your business tracks revenue, the integration gap is worth taking seriously.
How they compare
| Saasybill | Chargebee | Recurly | Stripe Billing | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Invoices created in Xero | Yes | No | No | No |
| Xero data quality | Full, itemised | Summarised sync | Summarised sync | Bank feed / limited |
| Transaction fees | None | 0.75% on Starter | Volume-based | Yes |
| Starting price | Low flat fee | Free tier then % | ~$249/month | % of revenue |
| Setup complexity | Low | Medium to high | Medium to high | Low to medium |
| Best for | 20-300 customers on Xero | Complex/global billing | High volume, mid-market | Stripe-first companies |
Which one to choose
The right answer depends on where you are and where you're heading.
If you're a SaaS company with a growing customer base on Xero and your billing is recurring subscriptions on a small number of plans, Saasybill is likely the most practical option. You don't pay a percentage of revenue, your Xero data stays accurate, and your accountant doesn't have to change anything.
If you're operating globally, dealing with complex tax requirements across multiple jurisdictions, or you've effectively moved your financial operations off Xero, Chargebee or Recurly are worth evaluating properly.
If you're already deep in the Stripe ecosystem and the accounting integration limitations are acceptable, Stripe Billing is the path of least resistance.
The question that cuts through the noise: do you need your invoices to live in Xero, or are you comfortable with them living somewhere else and syncing across? For most small-to-mid SaaS companies on Xero, that question mostly answers itself.
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