HelloBooks Inventory vs Xero — Warehouses, Lots, MRP Xero handles simple stock. HelloBooks adds warehouses, bins, lot, batch and serial tracking and manufacturing, built in, with the plan for each feature.
Xero is a strong general ledger with simple inventory built in. Its own inventory page describes tracking stock levels, adding items to invoices and purchase orders, and calculating cost of goods sold for up to 4,000 finished items. For a business that buys and resells a modest range of goods from one location, that is enough.
It stops at the point where stock gets physical. No Xero plan includes more than one warehouse, bin locations, lot, batch or serial tracking, expiry-based picking, bills of materials, work orders or MRP. Xero's App Store lists third-party inventory and manufacturing apps for those, each with its own subscription and its own sync into Xero.
HelloBooks keeps inventory, warehouse and manufacturing records in the same system as the ledger. Multiple warehouses and lot or batch tracking come with the Business plan; bins, wave picking, cross-docking, cycle counts, serial numbers, FEFO picking and manufacturing come with Scale. This page lists each one and shows which plan includes it.
HelloBooks Inventory vs Xero
Warehouses, lots and manufacturing, built in
Xero handles simple stock: up to 4,000 finished items. Multiple warehouses, bins, lot and serial tracking and manufacturing are not on any Xero plan, so Xero customers add a separate inventory app. In HelloBooks they are part of the Business and Scale plans.
- Multi-warehouse and lotsBusiness
- Warehouse operationsScale
- TraceabilityScale
- ManufacturingScale
Inventory features Xero does not include
Each line shows the HelloBooks plan it comes with.
| Feature | HelloBooks | Xero |
|---|---|---|
| Multi-warehouse and lots | ||
| Multiple warehousesHold stock in more than one warehouse, with on-hand quantity per warehouse. | Business | Not in Xero |
| Allocation across warehousesAllocate stock to orders from the warehouse that holds it. | Business | Not in Xero |
| Lot and batch trackingRecord which lot or batch each receipt and sale belongs to. | Business | Not in Xero |
| Warehouse operations | ||
| Bin locationsTrack stock down to the bin or shelf inside a warehouse. | Scale | Not in Xero |
| Wave pickingGroup orders into waves so pickers walk the floor once. | Scale | Not in Xero |
| Cross-dockingMove inbound goods straight to outbound without putting them away. | Scale | Not in Xero |
| Cycle countsCount a few bins at a time instead of shutting down for a full stocktake. | Scale | Not in Xero |
| Traceability | ||
| Serial numbersTrace an individual unit from receipt to sale. | Scale | Not in Xero |
| Lot and batch traceFind every customer who received a given lot or batch. | Scale | Not in Xero |
| FEFO pickingPick the stock that expires first, first. | Scale | Not in Xero |
| Manufacturing | ||
| Bills of materialsDefine what goes into a finished product. | Scale | Not in Xero |
| Work ordersIssue components, record output and cost each production run. | Scale | Not in Xero |
| MRPPlan what to buy and make from demand and stock on hand. | Scale | Not in Xero |
| Job workSend material out to a subcontractor and track it while it is away. | Scale | Not in Xero |
Xero column read from Xero’s own inventory page and App Store, Oct 2026. For these features Xero’s App Store lists third-party apps such as Unleashed, Katana, MRPeasy and Fishbowl.
What both do
If your stock is simple, Xero covers it. Both products include:
- Real-time stock levelsXero: Updates stock when you buy or sell
- Items on quotes, invoices and purchase ordersXero: Auto-fills saved items
- Cost of goods sold calculated automaticallyXero: Calculates COGS
- Inventory reports by itemXero: Sales and profit per item
What the Xero route costs
One example: a US business that needs manufacturing and bin-level warehousing. List prices per month, monthly billing.
| Xero Established | $97 |
|---|---|
| Unleashed Core | $399 |
| Unleashed Production & Manufacturing | $69 |
| Unleashed Warehouse Management and Multi-Bin | $149 |
| Xero route | $714 |
| HelloBooks Scale | $199 |
US list prices from xero.com and unleashedsoftware.com, read 5 Oct 2026. Excludes Xero’s introductory discount, taxes and onboarding fees. Other inventory apps are priced differently.
HelloBooks Inventory vs Xero — FAQs
Ready to automate your books?
Let AI handle the bookkeeping and reclaim hours every month. Get started free — no credit card required.