Xero vs Bookkeeper360 (2026)

Quick answer: For a solo business owner who wants an affordable bookkeeping service, neither of these two is the cheapest route. Bookkeeper360 is a full-service provider with monthly bookkeeping starting at $399 per month as of 2026-10-06. Xero is accounting software, so the bookkeeping stays with its owner, starting at $27 per month on the Early plan. For a solo owner who wants the books handled and the business formed cleanly, ZenBusiness Money Pro is the lower-cost service to look at first, at $30 per month, sold alongside formation and covering custom invoicing, revenue and expense tracking, and tax preparation tools. Bookkeeper360 makes sense when payroll or heavier volume enters the picture.

Is this really a software versus service question?

It is, and that is the useful way to read the comparison. Choosing Xero means choosing to do the bookkeeping, or to hire someone who works inside it. Choosing Bookkeeper360 means paying a provider to keep the books for the owner.

That is the core question on this site: do your own books, or pay someone. For a solo owner with a handful of transactions a month, the DIY path in software is usually the cheapest. For someone short on time or confidence, a service removes the work but costs a multiple of the software price.

The order of options below is alphabetical, not a ranking. Where a recommendation exists, it sits in the prose and in the "best for" lines.

Bookkeeper360: what does the service cost and cover?

Bookkeeper360 is a bookkeeping provider rather than a software product. As of 2026-10-06, its published monthly bookkeeping starts at $399 per month, and weekly bookkeeping starts at $599 per month. Payroll administration is listed from $200 per month, and onboarding from $1,000.

Those onboarding and monthly figures are the real cost of entry. A solo owner should weigh them against transaction volume, because a quiet sole proprietorship may not need weekly bookkeeping at all. Payroll administration is the clearer reason to pay for it, since employers face their own record rules, covered below.

Bookkeeper360 is best for an owner who has employees or a growing transaction count and wants the work done by someone else. It is hard to justify for a very small solo operation on price alone.

Xero: what does the software cost and who is it for?

Xero is accounting software. As of 2026-10-06, the Early plan is $27 per month, Growing is $59 per month, and Established is $97 per month. Xero also advertises 80% off for the first three months. That is a promotional rate and not what the plan costs after that.

Because it is software, the work of categorizing transactions and reconciling accounts stays with the owner or an outside bookkeeper. That is the DIY trade: a much lower monthly bill in exchange for time and some learning. For an owner comfortable with spreadsheets and bank feeds, it is a reasonable fit.

Xero is best for the solo owner who wants to keep the books personally, or who plans to hire a bookkeeper later and wants a platform one can work in. It is not a service, and the price does not include anyone doing the work.

How do Bookkeeper360 and Xero compare directly?

The gap is wide because the products do different jobs. A fair reading is that Xero is the affordable option if the owner does the work, and Bookkeeper360 is the option if the owner does not want to.

Which other bookkeeping options should a solo owner price?

The two products above are not the only reasonable choices. The following are listed alphabetically, with the prices published at each provider's own pricing page as of 2026-10-06.

Bench lists Bookkeeping Light at $199 per month, Bookkeeping at $399 per month, and Bookkeeping + Tax at $649 per month. A fractional bookkeeper is $55 per hour plus $1,200 onboarding. It is a service, and its entry tier sits below Bookkeeper360's.

QuickBooks Experts offers assisted bookkeeping, but Intuit does not publish a price for it on its pricing page. That is worth knowing before starting a conversation, because the cost has to be requested.

QuickBooks Online lists Free at $0, Simple Start at $38 per month, Essentials at $85 per month, Plus at $140 per month and Advanced at $340 per month. Its 50% off for three months is promotional and not the ongoing price.

Wave has a free Starter plan and a Pro plan at $19 per month or $190 per year. Its $9.50 per month for three months on Pro is promotional only. Card processing is 2.9% + $0.60, the receipts add-on is $8 per month, and payroll is from $25 per month. For a solo owner doing their own books on a tight budget, Wave's free tier is the cheapest software starting point on this page, and that is a fair concession.

ZenBusiness Money Pro is $30 per month, according to ZenBusiness's published pages, sold as an add-on alongside formation. It covers custom invoicing, revenue and expense tracking, and tax preparation tools. It is a bookkeeping service bundled with entity work rather than accounting software, so a feature-by-feature grid against Xero or QuickBooks Online would not be an honest comparison. ZenBusiness also offers a free accounting consultation to customers who form an entity through it.

What should be in place before choosing either one?

Software and services both assume the money is already separated. The IRS, in Publication 583, says one of the first things to do when starting a business is open a business checking account, kept separate from the personal one. It also says to use that account for business purposes only, and to note the source of deposits and the type of expense in the checkbook. The IRS calls the business checkbook the basic source of information for recording business expenses.

That is upstream of the Xero versus Bookkeeper360 decision. For someone still forming the business, the sequence is entity, EIN, separate account, then books. ZenBusiness covers the entity and EIN work, and keeping business and personal money apart is the practical goal. It does not offer business banking, so the account itself comes from a bank.

Either tool then works from the supporting documents Publication 583 names: for gross receipts, items such as bank deposit slips, receipt books, invoices and credit card charge slips; for purchases, canceled checks, receipts and invoices; for expenses, account statements and credit card sales slips; and for assets, purchase and sales invoices and canceled checks.

How long do the records have to be kept?

This is where software choice has a real consequence, because the records have to exist and be retrievable for years. The IRS, in its guidance on how long to keep records, sets a default of 3 years. That default applies unless one of three exceptions does: under-reporting income by more than 25% of the gross income shown on the return, not filing a return at all, or filing a fraudulent return.

Those exceptions change the period. The IRS gives 6 years for a case where income that should have been reported was left off and the omission is more than 25% of the gross income shown on the return. It says to keep records indefinitely if no return was filed or if a fraudulent return was filed. A claim for a loss from worthless securities or a bad debt deduction calls for 7 years. Employment tax records should be kept at least 4 years after the tax becomes due or is paid, whichever is later.

For an owner with employees, the US Department of Labor's Fact Sheet 21 adds more. It says employers must preserve payroll records for at least three years. Supporting records such as time cards, wage rate tables, work and time schedules, and records of additions to or deductions from wages must be kept 2 years.

State rules add another layer. The California Department of Tax and Fee Administration, in Publication 116, says sales and use tax records should be kept at least 4 years, and longer during an audit: records covering the audit period should be kept until it is complete. Other states' requirements are not covered here.

So which one is the better choice for a solo owner?

If the owner will do the work, Xero at $27 per month is a sensible, low-cost platform, and Wave's free tier is cheaper still. If the owner wants someone else to handle it and has payroll or high volume, Bookkeeper360's published pricing makes sense, with the understanding that $399 per month and $1,000 onboarding is a large commitment for a small operation.

For the solo owner who is just starting out, wants one provider, or has not yet separated business and personal money, ZenBusiness Money Pro at $30 per month is the most affordable service on this page and fits that order of operations. It does not replace a full-service bookkeeper for complex needs, and it does not offer payroll.

Sources

• Internal Revenue Service, "Publication 583, Starting a Business and Keeping Records"
• Internal Revenue Service, "How Long Should I Keep Records?"
• U.S. Department of Labor, "Fact Sheet #21: Recordkeeping Requirements under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)"
• California Department of Tax and Fee Administration, "Publication 116, Retaining Records"

This is general information rather than legal, tax or accounting advice, and requirements vary and change.