Xero costs between $37 and $143 a month in Australia, across four plans: Ignite at $37, Grow at $78, Comprehensive at $107 and Ultimate from $143. All prices are in Australian dollars and include GST, and every plan renews monthly until you cancel. The cheapest plan caps you at 20 invoices a month, which is the single detail most sole traders miss before they subscribe.
The Grow, Comprehensive and Ultimate figures here were read directly from Xero's Australian pricing page on 20 September 2026. Xero states on that page that prices include GST and that it can change them at any time, so treat any figure older than a quarter as out of date, including this one.
What does Xero cost in Australia?
Four plans, each billed monthly. The invoice limit applies only to Ignite, and the payroll number is how many people you can pay before you need the next plan up.
| Plan | Per month | Invoices | Payroll for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ignite | $37 | 20 a month | 1 person |
| Grow | $78 | Unlimited | 2 people |
| Comprehensive | $107 | Unlimited | 5 people |
| Ultimate 10 | $143 | Unlimited | 10 people |
Ultimate comes in four sizes, 10, 20, 50 and 100, named for the payroll headcount they cover. Ultimate 10 is the entry point at $143, and the larger tiers cost more.
One thing worth knowing before you compare: Ignite no longer appears in Xero's own plan comparison table. It has its own page and is referenced in a footnote on the pricing page, but the three plans shown side by side start at Grow. Its price is not printed on that page either, so the $37 above comes from third-party pricing trackers rather than from Xero directly. Confirm it on Xero's Ignite page before you decide. Ignite is also the plan formerly called Starter, which is why older guides and Xero's own page metadata still use that name.
What is included in each Xero plan?
Every plan, Ignite included, covers the accounting basics: sending invoices and quotes, accepting online invoice payments, tracking bills, reconciling bank transactions, tracking GST and lodging BAS, real-time reports and automated superannuation. The plans differ on volume and on the analysis layered over the top.
Ignite: $37 a month
Xero describes this as accounting basics for the self-employed. You get 20 invoices a month, and the limit counts both approving and sending, so an invoice you approve and then send uses the allowance once each way in some workflows. Payroll covers one person paid calendar-monthly. Transactions created by connected apps can eat into the invoice limit without you doing anything.
Grow: $78 a month
Unlimited invoices, payroll for two people, a 60-day cash flow forecast, performance graphs and dashboards, and expense and mileage claims for one user. This is the plan Xero pushes first, and it is more than double the price of Ignite.
Comprehensive: $107 a month
Adds payroll for five, a 90-day forecast, expenses and mileage for five users, multiple currencies, financial health scorecards and three budgets.
Ultimate: from $143 a month
Adds payroll for ten, a 180-day forecast, expenses for ten users, KPI and ratio analysis, project tracking for ten users and industry benchmarking.
What did the 2026 Xero price increase change?
Every Australian plan went up in 2026. Ignite moved from $35 to $37, Grow from $75 to $78, Comprehensive from $100 to $107, and Ultimate from $130 to $143. The Ultimate tier took the largest rise at $13 a month, or $156 a year.
Xero reserves the right to change pricing at any time and subscriptions auto-renew monthly, so an increase applies to your existing subscription rather than only to new customers. It is worth diarising a check each year.
What costs extra on top of the Xero subscription?
The monthly plan price is not the whole bill. These are charged separately:
- Online invoice payment fees: taking a card or other online payment on an invoice carries a fee. Xero states these are additional to the base subscription and are not eligible for subscription discounts or promotional offers.
- Extra expense and mileage users: $5 per additional user a month.
- Extra project users: $7 per additional user a month, on Ultimate.
- Extra bill payments: $0.35 per bill payment beyond the plan's allowance, which is 5 on Grow, 10 on Comprehensive and 15 on Ultimate 10.
- Larger payroll: more people than your plan covers means moving up a plan, not paying a per-head fee.
Xero Tax is a separate product for accounting and bookkeeping practices, not something a sole trader buys, so it is not priced in the plans above.
Introductory offers run often. At the time of writing Xero was offering 90% off for three months, and separately a first month free. Both discount the subscription only, not the payment fees, and the full price applies once the promotional period ends.
Which Xero plan does a sole trader need?
If you have no employees and send fewer than 20 invoices a month, Ignite at $37 is the only plan that makes sense, and you are still paying for payroll and forecasting you do not use. The moment you pass 20 invoices, the next step is Grow at $78, which is $936 a year for a one-person business.
That jump is the real decision point. There is no middle plan between a capped $37 and an uncapped $78, so a sole trader who sends 25 invoices in a busy month pays the same as a business running payroll for two.
Xero earns its price when you have employees to pay, hold inventory, invoice in several currencies or need job costing. If none of those apply, most of what you are buying sits unused.
How does Balaana compare on price?
Balaana's free plan has no invoice cap and no client cap. 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 are all on it, for one user, at no cost. The paid plan is $7 a month and adds payment collection, bank feeds, automatic reminders, custom branding and up to three users. Payments carry the payment provider's transaction fee, passed through at cost.
Where Xero is the better choice: Balaana does not do payroll, and Xero does it on every plan. Balaana also has no inventory, no multi-currency invoicing and no job costing, and none of those are planned. If you employ anyone, Xero's price is buying you something real and this comparison is not close.
If you are a sole trader with no employees, the comparison is $37 a month against nothing, for the same core job. See the Balaana pricing page for the full plan split, or why the free plan is free, which is the question that should follow.
Balaana is pre-launch, so this is a comparison of what each product charges and covers, not a claim that it is a mature replacement for a platform Xero has spent two decades building.
Related reading
- What "free" actually means in Australian accounting software
- Balaana's free invoicing
- GST tracking and BAS reporting
- What is a BAS?
Frequently asked questions
Xero has four Australian plans: Ignite at $37 a month, Grow at $78, Comprehensive at $107 and Ultimate from $143. Prices are in Australian dollars and include GST, and subscriptions renew monthly until cancelled. Online invoice payment fees and extra users are charged on top of those figures.
Ignite, at $37 a month, formerly called Starter. It caps you at 20 invoices a month and payroll for one person. Xero no longer shows it in the plan comparison table on its pricing page, so you have to visit the Ignite plan page to find it.
Yes. Ignite moved from $35 to $37 a month, Grow from $75 to $78, Comprehensive from $100 to $107, and Ultimate from $130 to $143. Xero states it can change pricing at any time, and because subscriptions auto-renew monthly, an increase reaches existing customers rather than only new ones.
It depends entirely on whether you pay anyone. Every Xero plan includes payroll, so if you have employees the subscription is buying something you need. If you are a one-person business with no employees, no inventory and no multi-currency invoicing, most of the plan sits unused and a free product covers the same core job.
Balaana has a free plan with unlimited invoices, unlimited clients, expense capture, GST tracking, a quarterly BAS summary and a profit and loss statement, for one user. It does not do payroll, inventory, multi-currency or job costing, so it replaces Xero only for sole traders and very small teams that need none of those.
Sources
- Xero, "Pricing Plans, Xero AU", read 20 September 2026: plan prices, inclusions, per-user and per-bill-payment charges, and the GST and auto-renewal terms.
- Xero, "Ignite Pricing Plan Details", read 20 September 2026: the 20 invoice limit, single-person payroll and the self-employed positioning.
- Third-party pricing trackers for the Ignite figure and the 2026 increase, because Xero does not print Ignite's price on its plan comparison.