Comparison

FreeAgent vs Xero

A data-driven, side-by-side comparison for UK businesses. Provider data is verified by our research team and every review is moderated before publishing.

Updated 5 July 2026

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FreeAgent logo
FreeAgent
4.3(78 reviews)

Starting price

£19/mo

Xero logo
Xero
4.2(44 reviews)

Starting price

US$20/mo

At a glance

Who wins, category by category

Category-by-category winners based on verified user ratings, each scored out of 5.

FreeAgent logo
vs
Xero logo
4.3
Overall RatingFreeAgent
4.2
4.5
Ease of UseFreeAgent
4.4
4.4
Value for MoneyFreeAgent
4.0
4.1
Customer ServiceFreeAgent
3.9
4.1
FunctionalityXero
4.2

Analytics

Ratings, visualised

The four dimensions every reviewer rates, shown two ways — bars for side-by-side magnitude, gauges for the head-to-head on each.

Rating by category

Head to head by category

FreeAgentXero
Ease of Use4.5/4.4
Value for Money4.4/4.0
Customer Service4.1/3.9
Functionality4.1/4.2
012345

Sentiment

How reviewers feel

Positive (4 to 5 stars), neutral (3 stars) and negative (1 to 2 stars) sentiment across all verified reviews.

FreeAgent logoFreeAgent
78 reviews
82%

Positive sentiment

  • Positive82%
  • Neutral13%
  • Negative5%
80%

Positive sentiment

  • Positive80%
  • Neutral4%
  • Negative16%

Pricing

Pricing compared

Entry price, free plans and trials at a glance. A lower starting price is not everything, but it is where most UK businesses begin.

FreeAgent

£19/month

Xero

US$20/month

Prices are shown in each vendor's billing currency and aren't directly comparable — check the live exchange rate before deciding.

FreeAgent

Free trial

UK-built cloud accounting with Making Tax Digital for VAT and Income Tax, Self Assessment filing and HMRC-recognised submissions.

£19/ month
  • Making Tax Digital for VAT
  • Self Assessment filing
  • Free with NatWest/RBS

Xero

Free trial

Global cloud accounting platform with strong bank feeds, app marketplace and unlimited users on every plan.

US$20/ month
  • Unlimited users
  • Bank reconciliation
  • App marketplace

Features

Full feature comparison

Every data point we track for FreeAgent and Xero, side by side.

FreeAgent logoFreeAgent
4.3/5
78 reviews
Xero logoXero
4.2/5
44 reviews
User ratings
Overall rating
4.3
4.2
Ease of Use
4.5
4.4
Value for Money
4.4
4.0
Customer Service
4.1
3.9
Functionality
4.1
4.2
Pricing & plans
Starting price
£19/mo
US$20/mo
Free trial
Free version
Pricing plans
2
2
Top features
Standout capabilities
  • Making Tax Digital for VAT
  • Self Assessment filing
  • Free with NatWest/RBS
  • Unlimited users
  • Bank reconciliation
  • App marketplace
Best for
Ideal customer
UK-built cloud accounting with Making Tax Digital for VAT and Income Tax, Self Assessment filing and HMRC-recognised submissions.
Global cloud accounting platform with strong bank feeds, app marketplace and unlimited users on every plan.

Voices

What real users say

The strongest praise and the most common complaint, pulled from verified reviews of each product.

FreeAgent logoFreeAgent
M

Megan Vaughan

Company Director, 201-500 employees

The tax timeline shows exactly what is due and when, so nothing sneaks up on me.

M

Megan J.

Bookkeeper, 501-1000 employees

No stock control.

Xero logoXero
D

Debbie M.

Owner, 1-10 employees

The dashboard is easy to use, the reporting functions work well, and I’m not aware of any bugs or issues. Recording transactions is straightforward, and keeping bank activity up to date is simple.

D

Daryl E.

Consultant, 11-50 employees

The downhill trajectory of the UI and UX. Every change to the UI brings a couple of good things, and a bag of dicks. Changes used to be for the benefit of the user (you know, the one who is actually paying for the product). Now its for the benefit of the shareholders, and most times makes the UX much worse. Advertising plastered on the UI making the book keeper's job harder than it could be. Features that just don't work when they used to work fine (auto assigning the next ID on an imported invoice is a classic example of something that used to work and now doesn't, and has been promised to be fixed but here we are, 6 years later, and it still hasn't been given any developer time and probably wont.)

Our verdict

FreeAgent leads 4/5

Which should you choose?

On the data we track, FreeAgent leads in 4 of 5 categories. Weigh that against your budget and the features that matter most to your team.