QuickBooks Online vs. Xero for BC small businesses

What both do well

For most BC small businesses, either platform covers the essentials. Both connect to Canadian banks and credit cards for daily transaction feeds, send invoices and track what's owed, manage supplier bills, and produce the balance sheet and income statement your accountant needs. Both have mobile apps for snapping receipts, and both connect to the tools small businesses run on, from Shopify and Square to receipt and expense apps.

Both also let you invite your bookkeeper and accountant directly into the file, so nobody is emailing spreadsheets back and forth.

GST and PST

BC businesses need GST and PST set up as separate taxes, because they're reported to different governments on different returns, and because PST doesn't apply to everything GST does. Both platforms support this with tax codes you assign to each sale and purchase, and both produce reports you file from.

The setup matters more than the software. Items and accounts need the right default tax codes, PST self-assessed on untaxed purchases has to be recorded, and from October 1, 2026, many businesses that sell professional services will start charging PST for the first time. QuickBooks Online's Canadian sales tax tools are generally considered the more developed of the two, but a well-configured Xero file handles BC's two taxes without trouble. PST itself is filed through eTaxBC either way.

Payroll

This is the clearest difference. QuickBooks Online Payroll is an add-on inside QuickBooks: pay runs, source deductions, and T4 slips are handled in the same system as your books, and payroll entries post to the ledger automatically.

Xero doesn't offer its own Canadian payroll. Canadian Xero users connect a separate payroll provider, such as Wagepoint, which launched a deeper Xero integration with single sign-on in July 2026. Payroll data then flows into Xero automatically, but it's still two subscriptions and two places to look.

If you run payroll for more than a few people and want everything in one place, that points toward QuickBooks Online. If you already use a payroll provider you like, it matters much less.

Users and access

Xero includes unlimited users on every plan, so a business partner, an office manager, and a project lead can all have their own logins at no extra cost. QuickBooks Online plans cap the number of users, with higher tiers allowing more. Accountant access is handled separately on both, so your bookkeeper and CPA don't use up a seat.

Pricing

Both sell monthly subscriptions in tiers, and both change their plans and run introductory discounts often enough that any price we printed here would soon be out of date. The pattern that holds: entry-level plans limit features, such as the number of users, bills, or invoices, or leave out things like multi-currency, projects, and inventory. Compare the current Canadian plans side by side for the features you'll actually use, and include payroll in the total.

Switching between them

Moving from one to the other is routine, but timing makes it cleaner. A switch at the start of a fiscal year, or at least at the start of a GST and PST reporting period, keeps each return inside a single system. Historical detail can be converted with migration tools, or you can bring over opening balances and keep the old file read-only for reference.

How to choose

The honest answer for most small businesses is that the platform matters less than how consistently the books are kept in it. Tallyforth works in both QuickBooks Online and Xero, with no migration fee to either, and our monthly bookkeeping keeps whichever you choose reconciled every month.

Common questions