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Which is the best online accounting software for tradies in Australia?

By Andrew McVinish ■ 29/10/2024

Picture of xero logo, quickbooks logo, myob logo, reckon logo, saasu logo

Is it Xero, Quickbooks, MYOB, Reckon or SAASU?

Deciding on which online accounting software to use is a big decision. Unless you love tinkering with accounting software in your spare time, you don’t want to invest time in learning a package only to have change a few months or years later. That is why getting it right is so important.

Often your accountant or bookkeeper will recommend an online accounting software package to use. However, it is your business and ultimately your decision as to which one to choose.

First the good news. All five accounting software packages reviewed here perform the following core functions of accounting software.

Core functions of accounting software

Record transactions The day-to-day transactions recorded include your sales invoices, supplier invoices, and a bank feed. A bank feed updates your accounting software for all the bank and credit card transactions saving you time on entering this data.

Payroll There is a lot of admin when you have employees. You need to calculate and record gross wages, income tax withholding, superannuation, allowances, and deductions. The five online accounting software packages reviewed here are Single Touch Payroll (STP) compliant. With STP, you report your employees’ payroll information such as salaries and wages, PAYG withholding and superannuation liability to the Australian Government every time you pay your employees their pay.

Reporting Running accounting reports helps make sense of all the financial information. A profit and loss report will summarise your income and expenses for a given period. A cash flow report shows the cash incoming and outgoing for a set period. A balance sheet shows assets which are items you own and liabilities which are amounts owed to others. Payroll and GST reports will assist you complete your business activity statements.

If Xero, Quickbooks, MYOB, Reckon and SAASU all perform well at the 3 core functions of accounting software, how do you choose the best online accounting software for you & your business?

The following four factors will help you decide:

  • User experience
  • App ecosystem
  • Future updates and improvements
  • Pricing

Let’s review Xero, Quickbooks, MYOB, Reckon and SAASU using these four factors:

Xero

Xero is the market leader in the Australian online accounting software market with over 1.77 million subscribers. Xero launched the online accounting revolution back in 2006.

User Experience In my opinion, Xero has the best user experience of the 5 accounting software packages reviewed. Xero is the easiest software for non-accountants to learn and use. You can access it on any device with internet connectivity. Its mobile app is easy to use. It has tools that assist with the reconciliation process. It has a search function to assist with finding transactions. The Xero dashboard allows you to highlight the information you want to see.

Xero offers web-based support. They do not have a phone number to call for support or a live chat feature.

Is Xero perfect? No, they do occasionally make mistakes. The Xero platform has had a few outages during 2024. Outages are when the software is down, and you cannot use it. The new invoicing feature in Xero removed some of the functions of the previous version of invoicing, which in hindsight was a mistake.

App Ecosystem There are over 1,000 apps on the Xero App Marketplace. Apps help extend the core accounting functions to help you run a better business. My favourite tradie job management apps such as Fergus, Servicem8, Tradify and Nextminute all connect to Xero.

Future Updates & Improvements As Xero is the market leader, they invest in improving their software. Xero is launching JAX (Just ask Xero) in the near feature. This AI enabled feature is designed to assist with automating accounting tasks and delivering personalised insights in a conversational manner.

Pricing The Xero pricing structure is simple to understand. It is based on how many employees you have. The lowest plan is $35 per month for no payroll to $115 per month for 10 employees. The lowest plan has some restrictions on the number of invoices and bills you can enter. Xero payroll can handle upto 200 employees. For example, the price for upto 50 employees is $200 per month. You can have unlimited users in Xero.

Quickbooks Online

Quickbooks started as desktop-based accounting software. It launched its cloud- based accounting software, Quickbooks Online in Australia in 2013. Quickbooks is very popular in North America, but less popular in Australia.

User Experience In my opinion, Quickbooks Online is not as user friendly as Xero and is more difficult for non-accountants to learn and use. The Quickbooks payroll system is rather clunky. You can customise the dashboard. It has a search function to help find transactions. It has a mobile app for you to use on the go. It has a phone number to call for support that is available business hours, Monday to Friday. Quickbooks also offers live chat for support queries. They also offer a free onboarding session for new users.

App Ecosystem There are over 500 apps that connect to Quickbooks Online. Apps help extend the core accounting functions to help you run a better business. My favourite tradie job management apps such as Fergus, Servicem8, Tradify and Nextminute all connect to Quickbooks.

Future Updates & Improvements Due to Quickbooks popularity in North America, the software is always being updated and improved on. There is increased automation and conversational AI being built into Quickbooks. I am unsure when you will see this feature in Quickbooks Online.

Pricing Pricing is split into two parts. You first need to choose your accounting option. The lowest option is $45 per month for 3 users, the middle option is $60 per month for 5 users and the highest option is $110 per month for upto 25 users. The second part is for the payroll function. You need to pay an additional amount of $6 per employee per month on all plans for Quickbooks payroll.

MYOB

MYOB or (mind you own business) started out as desktop accounting software in 1991. They were the dominate accounting software in Australia until about 2012 when cloud-based accounting software such as Xero really took off.

User Experience In my opinion, MYOB is not as user friendly as Xero and is more difficult for non-accountants to learn and use. It has a mobile app for you to use on the go. There is no phone support or live chat. There is online help for any accounting queries.

App Ecosystem There are over 350 apps that connect to MYOB. Apps help extend the core accounting functions to help you run a better business. My favourite tradie job management apps such as Fergus, Servicem8, Tradify and Nextminute all connect to MYOB.

Future Updates & Improvements MYOB is available in Australia and New Zealand and does not have the same number of users globally as Xero or Quickbooks. This means it is likely that there will be fewer software enhancements than Xero and Quickbooks as it is harder to justify the investment when you have fewer users.

Pricing MYOB offers 4 different options. The first option is $31 per month for up to 2 employees, the second option is $58 per month for unlimited employees, the third option is $141 per month and the fourth option is $177 per month. Payroll in the first and second option requires an additional payment of $1.50 per employee per month. There is no additional charge for payroll in third and fourth option.

Reckon One

Reckon launched its cloud-based accounting software named Reckon One in 2014. Prior to 2012, it was the Australian distributor of the Quickbooks desktop accounting software.

User Experience In my opinion, Reckon One is not as user friendly as Xero and is more difficult for non-accountants to learn and use. It has a mobile app for you to use on the go. There is phone and email support. There is also a free on-boarding session with Reckon. There is not a large partner network of bookkeepers and accountants who use Reckon One. It could be difficult to find an advisor who knows how to use Reckon One.

App Ecosystem There are only 35 apps that connect to Reckon One. Of the apps, there are only 2 apps for tradies. This is Aroflo and Tradezquote. With the limited number of apps, I would suggest choosing another accounting software package.

Pricing Pricing is split into two parts. You first need to select your accounting package. There are 3 options being $12, $20 & $35 all per month. Unless you are just starting out in business, you will need to select the middle ($20 per month) option. The highest option ($35 per month) has employee timesheets, project management and advanced reporting.

You will then need to add the payroll function if you have employees. Again, there are 3 options being $12 per month for 4 employees. The middle option is $25 per month for up to 10 employees. The third option is $50 per month for unlimited employees.

SAASU

SAASU is cloud-based accounting software that is Australian developed and owned. It has been available since at least 2014.

User Experience In my opinion, SAASU is not visually appealing and not very user friendly for non-accountants. The software works and works well, it is just not pretty. SAASU does have a mobile app, however it is limited to creating quotes, invoices, orders and some contact management.
There are very few bookkeeping & accounting partners who are SAASU Advisors. This means it could be difficult to find an advisor who knows how to use SAASU. Support is provided by a ticket system.

App Ecosystem There are very few apps that connect with SAASU. There are no tradie job management apps such as Fergus, NextMinute, Tradify, and Servicem8. Tradies would be better off selecting another online accounting software provider.

Future Updates & Improvements SAASU does update and improve their software on a regular basis. With a limited number of users globally, the improvements are likely to be smaller tweaks and not transformational. SAASU don’t appear to communicate their plans to improve and enhance their software.

Pricing

  • Pricing is based on number of factors including:
  • number of bank feeds
  • number of transactions per year
  • number of employees
  • size of attachments.

Pricing ranges from $20, $35, $50, $90 & $250 all per month. For example, the $20 per month package is for 1 employee and the $250 per month package is for 80 employees.

So which online accounting software do I recommend?

The answer is Xero for the following reasons:

  • It is most user-friendly and easiest for non-accountants to use.
  • There is a significant number of online blogs & videos on how to use Xero.
  • Most bookkeepers and accountants in Australia know how to use it.
  • Xero is continually investing and improving their software.
  • All the major tradie job management apps connect to Xero.
  • Xero may be more expensive than other online accounting software providers but it is well worth the cost.