United Kingdom · Xero alternative
The Xero alternative without per-tier feature gates
HelloBooks Pro is £14.99/month with no invoice caps and multi-currency included — Xero Ignite is £18/month with a 20-invoice cap, and multi-currency is locked behind Comprehensive at £50/month. MTD VAT, all 4 VAT schemes, CIS, AI categorisation all standard.
HelloBooks vs Xero (UK)
| Feature | HelloBooks | Xero |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price (GBP) | Free Plan; Pro £14.99/mo with unlimited everything | Ignite £18/mo; Grow £39/mo; Comprehensive £55/mo; Ultimate £70/mo (ex-VAT, verified 2026-09-09 after the 1 September 2026 increase) |
| Invoice / bill caps on starter tier | Free includes up to 200 transactions per year; Pro removes invoice, bill and transaction caps | Ignite caps at 20 invoices per month — beyond that Xero directs you to the Grow plan |
| HMRC MTD VAT submission | Direct MTD-compliant submission on every plan; digital links preserved end-to-end | MTD-compliant; submission included |
| VAT schemes | Standard, Flat Rate Scheme (FRS), Cash Accounting, Annual Accounting — all included | All UK VAT schemes supported |
| Multi-currency | Live FX rates with gain / loss postings, included on Pro at £14.99/mo | Multi-currency locked to Comprehensive plan (£50/mo) and above |
| Per-user fees | Unlimited users on Pro | No per-user licence fee on the base subscription, but Expenses is limited to 1 user on Grow and 5 on Comprehensive with £2.50/mo per additional active user, and Payroll is £1.50/mo per person (verified 2026-07-22) |
| AI categorisation | Built-in AI agent, 95%+ accuracy, every plan | JAX Smart Document Capture and Auto Bank Reconciliation available now (Jul 2026); bank rules and Hubdoc still available |
| CIS for construction | Verification, monthly CIS300 returns, P&L showing CIS suffered separately | CIS handled, but the workflow assumes you've layered the construction-specific apps from the Xero Marketplace |
| Project tracking | Project tracking on Pro | Xero Projects is a per-user paid bolt-on |
| Data export at cancellation | Free CSV / IIF / QBO export, 90-day read-only window | CSV export available; archived data access limited after cancellation |
UK migration runbook (from Xero)
- 1
Export from Xero
Settings → Advanced → Export Data. Choose the date range and download the export pack: Chart of Accounts, Contacts, Manual Journals, Invoices, Bills, Bank Transactions, Inventory. 10-30 minutes for a typical SMB workspace.
- 2
Import into HelloBooks
Settings → Import → Xero. Upload the export pack. The mapping screen aligns Xero account codes (200, 477, etc.) to the HelloBooks chart before commit. Auto-runs in 5-15 minutes.
- 3
Verify trial balance + VAT
Reports → Trial Balance: confirm totals match Xero closing balances at migration cutoff. VAT → Submission Preview: confirm the next return period boxes match what Xero was showing. Sanity-check FRS percentage if you're on Flat Rate.
- 4
Connect UK bank feeds
Settings → Bank → Add. Sign in via Plaid / Yapily for Barclays, Lloyds, HSBC, NatWest, Santander, Monzo, Starling, Revolut, Tide. 24 months of history pulled and run through AI categorisation against your imported chart.
- 5
Re-link MTD with HMRC
Settings → HMRC → Authorise. Sign in with Government Gateway and grant HelloBooks MTD VAT permission. Next VAT period files direct from HelloBooks.
- 6
Activate multi-currency + projects (Pro)
Settings → Currencies: enable foreign currencies you transact in; live FX rates pull automatically. Settings → Projects: enable project tracking. Both included on Pro at £14.99/mo.
UK Xero switch — frequently asked
Try the Xero alternative — free
Free Plan, no credit card. Pro at £14.99/month with no invoice caps, multi-currency, AI categorisation, MTD VAT, CIS — all included.
Start Free — migrate from Xero