If you want software that does what Xero does for a sole trader, including lodging the BAS, the like-for-like alternatives are MYOB Business Lite at $35 a month and QuickBooks Online from $33 a month. Xero's cheapest plan, Ignite, is $37 a month and caps you at 20 invoices. If you are happy to lodge the BAS yourself, Zoho Books costs $198 a year and is free while your revenue is under $50,000. If you would rather someone lodged it for you, Hnry charges 1 per cent of your income plus GST, capped at $1,500 plus GST a year.
Every price below was read from the company's own website on 2 October 2026. They are standard rates without introductory offers, shown as each company shows them. Xero, QuickBooks and Zoho say theirs include GST, MYOB's own offer figures show its prices do too, Hnry quotes its fee plus GST, and the others do not say. Balaana is not launched yet, so it is described at the end rather than ranked in the table.
Why do sole traders look for an alternative to Xero?
Three things in Xero's pricing push a one-person business to look around.
- The invoice cap. Ignite allows 20 invoices a month. The next plan, Grow, removes the cap but costs $78 a month, $936 a year, with nothing in between.
- Payroll you may not use. Every Xero plan includes payroll for at least one person, so a sole trader with no staff pays for it anyway.
- Price rises reach existing customers. Xero's Australian prices went up in 2026, and Xero's subscriptions renew monthly at the current price. What each Xero plan costs has the detail.
What does each alternative cost against Xero?
The cheapest plan from each that can handle a GST-registered sole trader's BAS, priced for a year at standard rates, cheapest first, then the two services that lodge it for you. Xero Ignite is $444 a year.
| Alternative | A year | Against Xero Ignite |
|---|---|---|
| Zoho Books Standard | $198 billed yearly, free under $50,000 revenue | $246 less; you lodge the BAS |
| Reckon One Accounting Plus | $264.96 billed yearly | $179.04 less; lodging not stated |
| MYOB Business Lite | $315 billed yearly | $129 less; lodges it, payroll extra |
| Rounded Pro | $329.95 billed yearly | $114.05 less; you lodge it, no payroll |
| QuickBooks Online Simple Start | $396 at the monthly price | $48 less; lodges it, payroll extra |
| Hnry | 1% of income plus GST, at most $1,650 | Less below about $40,000 of income; lodges it for you |
| Tyro Accounting, Done-for-you | $1,428 | $984 more; lodges it and your tax return |
The differences in the last column are worked out by us, from the yearly prices. Hnry's fee grows with your income, so it costs less than Ignite only while you earn under about $40,000 a year, and it buys a tax agent who lodges your BAS and your tax return.
Which alternatives lodge the BAS the way Xero does?
Xero lodges your BAS from the software once you have checked it. Not every alternative does, and the difference decides how much work stays with you.
- Lodges from the software: MYOB Business Lite and above, and QuickBooks Online on every plan. MYOB Solo, at $99 a year, tracks GST but cannot lodge a BAS.
- Prepares it, you lodge: Zoho Books and Rounded Pro work out the figures, and you lodge them with the ATO yourself or through your tax agent.
- Lodged for you: Hnry and Tyro Accounting's Done-for-you plan, at $119 a month, lodge the BAS on your behalf, along with your tax return.
- Not stated: Reckon One reports the GST for your BAS, but its pricing page does not say whether it lodges the statement.
If you have never lodged one, what a BAS is and what goes on it explains the form.
Is there a free alternative to Xero?
Yes, with limits, and each draws its line somewhere different.
- Zoho Books is free while your revenue is under $50,000 a year, for up to 1,000 invoices a year and one user plus your accountant. It generates a BAS, which you lodge.
- Tyro Accounting, formerly Thriday, has a free plan with unlimited invoices and quotes and GST tracking. Help with the BAS starts on its paid plans.
- Sole advertises a free plan with limits that apply after 30 days, and it does not list the limits.
Wave, which many older lists still call the best free option, no longer serves Australia. What happened to Wave explains, and what free means in accounting software shows how each free plan pays for itself.
What do you give up by leaving Xero?
- Payroll in the base price. QuickBooks charges $6 per employee a month and MYOB Business charges per employee too, while Zoho Books, Rounded and Hnry list no payroll at all. If you pay staff, price the payroll before you compare.
- Room to grow. Xero charges no per-user licence fee, and its larger plans add forecasting, payroll for more people and multiple currencies. Of the alternatives, QuickBooks offers multiple currencies from Essentials, Zoho Books from Professional and MYOB from AccountRight Premier.
- Lodging from the software, if you move to a product that only prepares the BAS. That is a few minutes in the ATO's online services each quarter, but it is your job.
How do you switch without losing your records?
- Switch at the start of a BAS period, so one quarter's figures are not split across two programs.
- Export from Xero before you cancel: your contacts, invoices, bills and the reports for every year you have kept there.
- Keep the records for five years. The ATO expects it whichever software you use, so store the exports somewhere you control.
- Tell your accountant or BAS agent before you move, so they can work with the new program or take the figures from it.
Where does Balaana fit?
Balaana is not launched yet, which is why it is not in the table. Its free plan has unlimited invoices and quotes, unlimited clients, expense and receipt capture, GST tracked on every transaction, a BAS summary each quarter and a profit and loss statement, for one user. The Plus plan is $7 a month and adds payment collection, a bank feed and up to three users. Balaana prepares the BAS figures and you lodge them, and it does not run payroll, inventory or multiple currencies, so it replaces Xero only for a sole trader who needs none of those.
For every option, not only the alternatives to Xero, accounting software for sole traders compares nine products, and our pricing page has Balaana's full plan split.
Related reading
- What each Xero plan costs
- Xero vs MYOB, plan by plan
- What each QuickBooks plan costs
- Accounting software for sole traders, compared
Frequently asked questions
It depends on who you want to lodge the BAS. If you want the software to lodge it, as Xero does, MYOB Business Lite at $35 a month and QuickBooks Online from $33 a month are the like-for-like choices, and neither caps your invoices. If you are happy to lodge it yourself, Zoho Books Standard costs $198 a year billed yearly, and Rounded Pro $29.95 a month. If you want someone to lodge it for you, Hnry charges 1 per cent of your income plus GST, capped at $1,500 plus GST a year.
Yes, with limits. Zoho Books is free while your revenue is under $50,000 a year, for up to 1,000 invoices, and it generates a BAS you lodge yourself. Tyro Accounting, formerly Thriday, has a free plan with unlimited invoices and GST tracking. Sole advertises a free plan with limits after 30 days. Wave no longer serves Australia. Balaana, which is not launched yet, also has a free plan.
At the entry level, yes. MYOB Business Lite costs $35 a month or $315 billed yearly, against $37 a month for Xero Ignite, and it does not cap your invoices where Ignite stops at 20 a month. Both lodge the BAS. MYOB Solo is cheaper still at $99 a year but cannot lodge a BAS, so it suits a sole trader who is not registered for GST.
A little, at the entry level. QuickBooks Online Simple Start costs $33 a month against $37 for Xero Ignite, both including GST, and it does not cap your invoices where Ignite stops at 20 a month. Both lodge the BAS. Payroll is the difference: Ignite includes payroll for one person, while QuickBooks charges $6 per employee a month on any plan.
For small businesses, MYOB and QuickBooks Online, which both lodge the BAS from the software, followed by Reckon One and Zoho Books. For sole traders there are also services that do the BAS for you, such as Hnry and Tyro Accounting, and simpler apps such as Rounded and Sole that prepare the figures for you to lodge.
Sources
- Xero, Pricing Plans and its Ignite plan page: plan prices including GST, and the Ignite invoice limit.
- MYOB, MYOB pricing and its AI BAS page: plan prices, BAS capability, and totals stated including GST.
- Intuit, QuickBooks Online pricing: plan prices including GST, BAS lodgement, and the payroll price on its payroll page.
- Zoho, Zoho Books pricing: plan prices including GST, the free plan's limits and multiple currencies.
- Reckon, Reckon One: plan prices and GST reporting.
- Rounded, pricing: plan prices, and how the BAS is prepared.
- Hnry, pricing: the 1 per cent fee, its cap, and what Hnry lodges.
- Tyro, Tyro Accounting: plans and prices.
- Sole, Sole for small business: free plan terms.
Every figure was read from the company's own site on 2 October 2026, not from a third party. Yearly totals are the price billed yearly where the company prints one, and otherwise the monthly price times twelve, worked out by us. Intuit offers yearly billing at a discount it does not print, so QuickBooks may cost a little less than shown. FreshBooks prices in Australian dollars but advertises no GST or BAS reporting, and Sage sells no accounting product for sole traders in Australia, so neither is listed. Prices move, so check the live page before you decide, and treat anything here older than a quarter as out of date.