Xero costs from $37 a month in Australia, across five plans: Ignite at $37, Grow at $78, Comprehensive at $107, Ultimate from $143 to $300 depending on how many people you pay, and Ultra at $500. 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.
Every plan price here was read directly from Xero's Australian pricing page on 2 October 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that page that prices include GST and that it can change them at any time, so treat any figure older than a quarter as out of date, including this one.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?
Five plans, each billed monthly, with Ultimate sold in four sizes. The invoice limit applies only to Ignite, and the payroll number is how many people the price covers.
| 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 20 | $180 | Unlimited | 20 people |
| Ultimate 50 | $250 | Unlimited | 50 people |
| Ultimate 100 | $300 | Unlimited | 100 people |
| Ultra | $500 | Unlimited | 10 people |
Ultimate's four sizes are named for the payroll headcount they cover. Past 100 people, Ultimate 100 charges $2 for each extra person, up to 200. Ultra, the plan Xero shows for mid-sized businesses, covers payroll for 10 people in its price and charges $2 for each extra person.
One thing worth knowing before you compare: Xero's pricing page does not open on Ignite. It opens on the plans it shows for small businesses, Grow, Comprehensive and Ultimate, and Ignite appears, at $37, only when you choose the Self employed tab, beside Grow and Comprehensive. 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 Xero applies the limit to approving invoices as well as sending them. Payroll covers one person paid calendar-monthly. Transactions created by connected apps can eat into the invoice limit without you doing anything. Bills are capped too: Xero's comparison table shows Ignite entering 5 bills, and auto-reconciling bank transactions is an $8 a month option on Ignite where Grow and above include it.
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 a 180-day forecast, expenses for ten users, KPI and ratio analysis, project tracking for ten users and industry benchmarking. The size sets the payroll headcount: Ultimate 10 at $143, Ultimate 20 at $180, Ultimate 50 at $250 and Ultimate 100 at $300.
Ultra: $500 a month
The plan Xero shows for mid-sized businesses. On top of Ultimate it adds consolidation across up to five entities and advanced forecasting and budgeting, both through Syft, priority support, targeted data restore and 20 bill payments. Payroll covers 10 people, then $2 for each extra person.
What did the 2026 Xero price increase change?
Xero's Australian prices 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, which is today's price for Ultimate 10. 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 and Ultra.
- Extra bill payments: $0.35 per bill payment beyond the plan's allowance, which is 5 on Grow, 10 on Comprehensive, 15 on every size of Ultimate and 20 on Ultra. Ignite has no allowance, so each bill payment is $0.35.
- Auto-reconciliation on Ignite: $8 a month, as an option. Grow and above include it.
- Larger payroll: up to 100 people, paying more people than your plan covers means moving up a plan, not paying per head. Past that, Ultimate 100 charges $2 for each person over 100, up to 200, and Ultra charges $2 for each person over 10.
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, 2 October 2026, Xero's pricing page offered new customers 80% off for the first three months, or the first month free instead, with no end date shown, and its Ignite page showed 90%-off prices for the same three months, so check which one applies when you sign up. Either way the discount covers the base subscription only, not add-ons, usage or payment fees, and the full price applies once it 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 collected through Balaana carry a per-payment transaction fee.
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
- Xero vs MYOB, plan by plan
- Xero alternatives, and what each one costs
- 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 five Australian plans: Ignite at $37 a month, Grow at $78, Comprehensive at $107, Ultimate from $143 to $300 depending on how many people you pay, and Ultra at $500. 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's pricing page opens on its plans for small businesses, so to see Ignite there you have to choose the Self employed tab.
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 2 October 2026: every plan price, with Ignite's under the Self employed tab and Ultra's under the Mid-sized business tab, inclusions, per-user and per-bill-payment charges, the current offer, and the GST and auto-renewal terms.
- Xero, "Ignite Pricing Plan Details", read 2 October 2026: the $37 price, the 20 invoice limit, calendar-monthly payroll and the self-employed positioning.
- Third-party pricing trackers for the 2026 increase, because Xero's pages show only today's prices.