Xero is a great entry level accounting solution for freelancers and very small organisations but for larger or growing organisations you will quickly reach the limits of its capability. It is a solution that has been designed to connect with a range of different third-party applications and provide a broad but not shallow service offering.
When thinking about an alternative solution, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central represents a strong alternative to Xero. Dynamics 365 Business Central is an all-in-one business solution that provides small and midsized businesses (SMBs) with the capability to efficiently and effectively manage finance, operations, sales and customer service.
We have created the below table to allow you to easily compare Xero and Dynamics 365 Business Central. When looking at Xero we have not included any extensions.
Business Central |
Xero |
|
Overview |
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| Price/licence (per month) | Essential – £53 Premium – £78 Team Member – £6 Premium licence is everything in Essential and Service Management and Manufacturing. |
Starter – £10 Standard – £24 Premium – £30 Different packages including tiered level of capability. Team members are free. |
| 10 full users’ price | £530 pm | £300 pm |
| Users | No limit | No limit |
| Transactions | No limit | 4000 pm |
Functionality |
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| Finance | Yes | Yes – multiple currencies only available in premium |
| Operations, inventory and warehouse management | Yes | Basic inventory management capability |
| Sales CRM | Yes | Generate sales quotes, store and track contacts |
| Projects | Yes | Yes |
| Supply chain management | Yes | No |
| Service management | Yes | No |
| Manufacturing | Yes | No |
Additional information |
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| Configuration | Configure views/dashboards, processes and fields are all completely configurable | Yes |
| Cloud or on-premise | Both | Cloud |
| Devices | Any device | Any device |
| Data Analysis | Embedded with Power BI, quick reports, personalised dashboards | Financial reporting and an editable dashboard available |
| AI | Yes | No |
| Connectivity | Fully connective via CDM, 200+ connections available | Good connectivity with 500+ business applications. Limited API transactions per month allowed |
| Office 365 integration (Outlook, OneDrive and Excel etc) | Strong two-way integration | Limited |
| Automation and custom applications | Yes, via Power Platform | No |
As you can see from the table Dynamics 365 Business Central offers organisations a much better range of functionality than Xero. Dynamics 365 Business Central also offers organisations confidence that it can grow as your organisation does. The way Dynamics 365 Business Central presents information and access to insights combined with the strong Office 365 integration provides your organisation with a compelling set of benefits that will drive a strong return on your investment.