Last updated: March 27th, 2025
Getting a sole trader business off the ground is a slog. Finding clients. Delivering work. Admin. Tracking payments and expenses. Covering tax obligations. It’s all on you.
The last thing you need is to spend hours each month reconciling your books using MS Excel.
Don’t waste your time and sanity.
Before SaaS exploded in popularity, top-tier accounting software was expensive and cumbersome.
(I bought my first version of MYOB in a cardboard box full of CDs).
Now it’s cheap, flexible and scalable. But which platform to choose?
Here I’ll compare the starter plan from popular provider Xero, with the upstart mobile-first solution for solopreneurs recently launched by MYOB, called Solo.
| Key Takeaways. |
|---|
| Solo by MYOB looks smart and saves on-the-go sole traders time by including the essentials in one mobile app. |
| Xero is built to scale with your business if you’ve got growth ambitions, covering accounting, payroll and multiple integrations. |
| Solo wins for value and accessibility for the solopreneur looking to tame basic invoicing and expense management day-to-day. |
Solo By MYOB vs Xero: My Quick & Dirty Verdict.
MYOB Solo and Xero are not direct competitors.
The former is an easy-to-use, inexpensive accounting app for solopreneurs, while the latter is a sophisticated, expensive toolbox for larger SMBs.
However, I decided to compare them head-to-head because some solopreneurs with ambitious growth plans may find Xero an attractive option.
Its lowest ‘Ignite’ plan includes the fundamentals of invoicing, expenses/bills, bank statement reconciliation, cashflow insights, GST tracking and BAS reporting.
Solo by MYOB also offers all that, in a streamlined mobile app.
But if you need more powerful accounting tools, Xero excels. For instance, you can offer online payments, direct debit, or integrate apps to handle job costing or time tracking.
Important!
Xero is often recommended by bookkeepers and accountants. If they offer to sign up and manage Xero for you, note that they may receive incentives for doing so, and it could make switching advisors in future harder.
Xero offers an online version and an app. It also makes it easy to step up to a higher plan if needed.
But if you expect to stay small, Xero is overshadowed by the value and convenience of Solo by MYOB.
In fact, Xero unfairly limits the solopreneur:
- Xero’s Ignite plan restricts you to 20 invoices/quotes created per month, and 5 bills entered per month.
- Solo offers unlimited invoices, unlimited customers/suppliers added, and unlimited receipts/bills uploaded.
Plus, Solo is much cheaper. Why pay for a product with features you won’t use that costs 200% more when you can manage everything via a mobile app?
Solo frees you to take care of business on the fly. It’s especially suited to self-employed people who work on-site, outdoors, or at events.
Of course, if you’re mostly desk-bound like me, and prefer to do your admin in batches on a desktop, Xero has an edge.
| Solo by MYOB Is Best For: | Xero Is Best For: |
|---|---|
| Sole traders who want to ditch spreadsheets without adding complexity. | Sole traders with more complex business models looking to expand. |
| Instant business admin on-the-move using a well-designed mobile app. | Granular control across a wider range of business processes. |
| Price sensitive solopreneurs with simple needs. | People willing to pay more for more functionality. |
1. Set-Up Speed.
| Solo by MYOB: | 9/10 |
| Xero: | 8/10 |
The sign-up journey was easy for both products.
You’ll need to provide the usual personal contact details and create a secure password for your account.
Prepare to be bombarded with insistent pop-ups when you first start navigating Xero’s online version.
I had to minimise the same one repeatedly as I tried to take it all in on my own terms.
But I did love this: you can toggle on ‘demo’ data to view features with real figures and info included, without having to do data entry yourself.
Important!
You can keep your account secure yet accessible by setting up biometric sign-in (face or fingerprint) in either app.
Solo’s onboarding was faster, but you do need to enter your credit card details. A free 14-day free trial period automatically switches over to a monthly subscription unless you cancel.
Your actual user account and payment details sit on MYOB’s website, created during the set-up steps.
Then you’re asked to download the Solo mobile app (iOS or Android) — scanning a QR code on screen will take you directly to the right app.
You can then log-in using the account details you just created.
Expert Tip.
Solo allows for a single user to have access, whereas every plan from Xero allows for unlimited extra users — noteworthy if you plan to add headcount.
2. Usability And Mobile App.
| Solo by MYOB: | 9/10 |
| Xero: | 8/10 |
For feature-rich software, user-friendliness is one of Xero’s most highly-rated pros.
Compared to the web-based Xero interface, Solo is much simpler (and nicer to look at, frankly). Of course, it has an intentionally streamlined feature-set compared to Xero.
However, the Xero mobile app does match up well against Solo’s user experience.
- Solo does a better job of making useful actions prominent. The home screen’s ‘quick actions’ offer a direct line to capturing an expense, creating an invoice or adding the contact details of a new customer or supplier.
- Xero helpfully puts the number and value of outstanding invoices and bills (including how many are overdue) front and centre — which you can click on to bring up the details and access the relevant invoice or bill to follow up.
Above: Solo’s user interface is minimalist, easy-to-use and clear.
Both mobile apps use your bank transactions to auto-match and categorise payments or expenses, provided you’ve connected your bank account/s.
- You’ll need to set up bank feeds online in Xero before they appear in your app, but can link an unlimited number of accounts.
- Solo allows for two bank feeds, which you can quickly connect from within the app.
In a few cases, Xero’s app requires extra steps and more data entry.
For instance, the receipt capture process in Xero’s app requires that you manually add the details — such as supplier, dates, amount — with the option to attach an image.
Whereas Solo lets you auto-fill details about receipts or bills by snapping or sharing a photo of the document.
Expert Tip.
You can integrate your online Xero account with multiple apps, including ones for expense management that let you snap photos on your phone to record receipts and bills.
Above: Xero’s main interface is also clear and attractive, but the functionality can be clunky.
3. Invoicing And Payments.
| Solo by MYOB: | 7/10 |
| Xero: | 9/10 |
Solo and Xero both make it straightforward to send branded, cleanly designed tax invoices in a timely manner.
That’s critical because it signals you’re a serious business whose payment terms should be respected.
Important!
Because chasing late payments is a total drag (and interrupts cashflow), it’s great to know both Solo and Xero also offer automated payment reminders.
- In Solo, you can opt to turn on payment reminders each time you create an invoice. If you do, a default series of email reminders will be sent (3 days before due, on the due date, and 1 day overdue).
- For Xero, you need to set up payment reminders online first. You can select exactly how many reminders and exactly when they’re sent, as universal settings — but also turn reminders on/off on each individual invoice.
It’s worth noting, you also get more control over what’s included on invoices created in Xero, even within the app. For example you can:
- Select whether the dollar values are tax inclusive or exclusive.
- Define the quantity of each item, including fractional amounts (e.g., 2.5), ideal for charging hourly rates.
Solo, on the other hand, requires that you enter whole numbers for each item on an invoice, and GST (if you collect it) is always inclusive.
Additional functionality in the Xero app that will appeal to B2B, retail and services-based businesses is the ability to generate quotes and purchase orders.
A unique Solo feature that will appeal if you sell direct to individuals — in addition to emailing the invoice via the app, you can quickly ‘share’ a PDF of the invoice in a text or via other apps like Messenger, or WhatsApp.
Here’s the breakdown on payment options you can offer customers within each product:
| Solo | Xero | |
|---|---|---|
| Direct deposit into bank account. | Yes. | Yes. |
| Online payments by card or digital wallet. | No. | Yes, via Stripe and/or PayPal integration. |
| Mobile in-person payments by card or digital wallet. | Yes, by activating ‘Tap to Pay’ within the app (requires application and approval). | Yes, by activating ‘Tap to Pay’, which requires a Stripe account. |
| Direct debit for recurring payments. | No. | Yes, via GoCardless integration. |
Both products enable a ‘Tap to Pay’ feature, but with its emphasis on mobile-first convenience, Solo makes it easy to activate from within the app.
Being able to use your mobile as a payment terminal is a potential game-changer for sole traders who do manual work or physically engage clients in their homes or in public spaces.
Instead of having to buy/hire a separate card reader or EFTPOS machine, you can accept payment by card or digital wallets using your device. Here’s how the fees stack up:
- Solo charges 1.6% + $0.30 per transaction and you can choose whether to pass on the surcharge to customers or not.
- Xero’s fees are 1.7% + $0.25 per transaction.
4. Reporting And Tax Management.
| Solo by MYOB: | 7/10 |
| Xero: | 9/10 |
Xero and Solo by MYOB will both keep you on the right side of the tax man.
You quickly run reports to show how much GST you’ve taken and paid across your business transactions, so you can lodge your BAS.
Or share the reports with your accountant, so they can lodge your BAS.
Basic reporting on cash flow is a breeze in Solo. Xero takes reporting to a higher level.
For example, Xero lets you:
- Customise reports and how the data is presented.
- Add formulas to analyse data and make notes on reports.
What if you’re not registered for GST and you mix business and personal income in one bank account (not best practice, but sometimes easiest) and submit one personal tax return?
That should cut down your time working out your revenue and deductions at the end of the financial year.
5. Value For Money.
| Solo by MYOB: | 9/10 |
| Xero: | 7/10 |
Whether the cost is worthwhile here depends on your non-negotiables.
Solo is inexpensive, but if it lacks features you consider a must, paying more for Xero might make sense.
- Solo by MYOB is just $12 for the first 12 months, then $11 per month.
- Xero’s lowest tier (Ignite) is $35 per month. There’s a deal running in March and April 2025 to save 90% (bringing the cost to $3.50) for three months.
In mid-2024 a change-up of its plan inclusions, along with a price hike, left many users fuming.
For instance, payroll access for one employee was removed from the lowest tier, forcing people to switch to the next plan (Grow), at a hefty $70 per month.
Important!
Solo is steadily being improved with new features, and the MYOB’s team encourages users to contribute suggestions via the app’s built-in community forum.
Solo By MYOB vs Xero: My Conclusion.
In an outright battle between Xero and Solo by MYOB, it’s clear that Xero has more firepower.
But it’s also more expensive, more complicated and isn’t as well-suited to doing business on the go.
If you don’t need the bells and whistles that complex businesses or accounting pros do — don’t pay extra for them, or force yourself to face a steep learning curve.
Jody
