Saasu, MYOB Essentials or Xero? Which One is Right for You?

Saasu, Xero and MYOB Essentials are currently all very popular online accounting programs. If you’re having trouble deciding which program to choose, use the comparison chart below to help you make up your mind and don’t forget to leave your comments too – we’d love to hear your thoughts!

FEATURE	SAASU	MYOB Essentials	XERO	COMMENTS
DASHBOARD
Shows summary of current financial position				Quickly see bank balances, unpaid sales & bills. Saasu also provides a balance sheet & P&L snapshot.
Customisable				In MYOB Essentials, the only part that can be customised is the sales target amount.
DATA IMPORT &/OR EXPORT
Import/export contacts, chart of accounts, items, invoices, bills, bank statements & manual journals				MYOB Essentials only allows for import of bank statements, contacts & items & export of business transactions.
MULTI-USER CAPABILITY
Allows for more than one user to operate the software at a time.				All packages allow for unlimited users.
BANK FEEDS
Your bank data fed directly into the package OR ability to manually import bank statements into the package				Love bank feeds! Best thing since dishwashers were invented!
Easy reconciliation and fast cash-coding				Reconciliation is made so easy and fast by intuitive matching of your data to the incoming bank feed data.
Connect directly from within the package				Xero offers 2 types of bank feed set up: Partner and Yodlee; Partner type requires paper applications and Yodlee type means you can connect from within the interface. MYOB Essentials operates in a similar way.
CUSTOMERS
Create and send invoices to customers straight from the package
Create estimates and orders				Xero & MYOB do not currently offer the ability to create sales orders but both offer the ability to raise quotes/estimates.
Customisable invoices, adjustment notes & statements
SUPPLIERS
Create payables invoices from within the package
Purchase orders				MYOB Essentials does not currently offer purchase orders.
Handles expense claims				I think Xero does a better job of handling expense claims than Saasu.
GST & BAS
Ability to raise BAS reports to use in processing activity statements
GST Audit Reporting & GST Calculation Worksheet				Saasu provides a tax detail report but would be improved if a GST tax exceptions reporting feature were available 🙂
MULTI-CURRENCY
Offers multicurrency functioning				Multicurrency is not offered in every plan - see pricing links for more information.
REPORTS
Offers full suite of reports
Supports creation of the Taxable Payments Annual Report				Only for businesses in the building and construction industry.
Allows for uploading & attaching of files to reports & other transactions
Offers global search function				Saasu offers a search function known as Jump Xero offers search functionality within each accounting area.
BUDGETS
Offers budgeting functionality
Cash flow forecasting				Saasu has an integrated tool called Forecaster
INVENTORY
Offers fully integrated inventory				Xero has basic inventory functionality but suggest that you use one of their Add-ons for more robust inventory.
PAYROLL
Offers fully integrated payroll
Tax Tables updated automatically				Fantastic - no need to purchase tax tables or software upgrades on top of purchase of a product.
POINT OF SALE
Offers POS functioning				Both packages use POS software connected via API - see their Add-ons links below.
CONTACTS
Ability to upload customer and supplier contact information to the package
TIME TRACKING
Employee timesheets and time-tracking
JOB TRACKING
Ability to track jobs and categories				Saasu uses tagging for this feature, while Xero has Tracking.
MOBILE APP
iOS and Android				Saasu does not offer an Android app.
ADD-ONS
Ability to connect to various online software via API	Saasu Add-ons		Xero Add-ons	Saasu & Xero offer seamless connection to many other software.
SUPPORT
Offers free support				All packages come complete with detailed online help centres. MYOB Essentials also offers a live chat service.
PRICING
	Saasu Pricing	$29 per month including payroll for 1 employee OR $40 per month including payroll for unlimited employees.	Xero Pricing	Pricing of Xero & Saasu is varied. Details of what each plan offers can differ between each package..