MYOB vs Xero for sole traders: the 10-minute answer

MYOB's cheapest plan is capped on bank accounts. Xero's cheapest plan is capped on invoices. For a sole trader that one difference decides most of the MYOB vs Xero question, and the rest is whether you are registered for GST yet. From what each company publishes today, you are choosing between $11 a month on your phone, $35 a month in a browser, or $37 a month that becomes $78 the month you send your twenty-first invoice.

What does each one cost a sole trader?

Between $11 and $78 a month, and the number you actually pay depends on how many invoices you send.

Solo by MYOB is $11 a month or $99 a year, and MYOB is currently charging $12 for the whole first year. MYOB Business Lite is $35 a month or $315 a year. Xero Ignite is $37 a month and Xero Grow is $78, and Xero is offering 90% off for the first 3 months to new customers who sign up before 30 September 2026. Take the introductory price if it is offered, but decide on the full price, because that is what you will be paying for years after the discount runs out.

One detail a bookkeeper will notice. Xero's pricing page says in writing that its prices "include GST". MYOB's pricing page does not say either way, so ask before you compare the two numbers. Xero's prices also went up again on 1 July 2026. One Victorian owner wrote on ProductReview in August: "its a great platform but its getting too expensive...only a few years ago was $50/month, now over $75."

How many invoices before Xero moves you up a plan?

Twenty a month. Xero's own page for the Ignite plan says "For more than 20 invoices, see the Grow plan", the plan's feature list says "Enter 5 bills", and Grow is $78.

The footnote is the part most sole traders find out the hard way. Xero's terms say the limit "applies to both approving and sending invoices" and that "Transactions initiated by app partners may automatically contribute to your invoice limit." So if Square, a booking app or a job app pushes each payment into Xero as an invoice, every one of those counts toward your 20. A tradie who invoices after every job, or a physio who bills every appointment, is through the cap by the second week of the month. At that point the real Xero price for a working sole trader is $78, and Xero's own self-employed page now leads with Grow rather than Ignite.

MYOB Business Lite has no invoice cap at all. Its cap is two connected bank accounts, which for most sole traders is one business account and one card, and that is the whole business. If you run more accounts than that, Pro is $70 a month. So the two cheap plans trade limits: Xero limits how much you invoice, MYOB limits how many accounts feed in. For a sole trader who sends a lot of invoices from one bank account, MYOB Lite at $35 is the cheaper plan by a long way, and it stays that way at 30 invoices a month or 300.

Is Solo by MYOB enough?

Yes, if you are not registered for GST, you invoice from your phone, and nobody else needs to be in your books.

Solo is MYOB's app for sole traders, and MYOB says it is "100% app based on your phone", with no browser version. For $11 a month you get unlimited quotes and invoices, receipt capture, up to two connected bank accounts, a free Solo Money account with Tap to Pay, and GST tracking. On MYOB's own comparison table the GST row for Solo reads "Track GST only", while Lite, Pro and AccountRight all read "Track GST and lodge BAS". So Solo works out what you owe but the BAS itself gets lodged somewhere else. There is no payroll, one login, and your accountant can be invited to the file through MYOB Business but, in MYOB's words, will not be able to "export data (we're working on this feature, and it will be coming soon)."

Owners on the Australian App Store rate it 4.3 out of 5, and the complaints are the ones you would expect from a phone-only product. One wrote in February that for "2 months, I've tried to connect my bank account, but it still can't find it, making this subscription absolutely useless." Another that "you cannot choose 'Files' to upload a PDF receipt; you can only take photos." If your receipts arrive as PDFs and your bank is not on MYOB's list, you will feel both. Solo is the right answer for a side business or a first year, and the wrong answer the day you register for GST or your accountant asks for the file.

Do you need BAS lodgement yet?

Only once you register for GST, which is compulsory when your turnover reaches $75,000 a year.

Below that line you can run a sole trader business without a BAS at all, and GST tracking is enough. Once you go over it, or expect to in your first year, you have 21 days to register, and from then on the software has to lodge a BAS every quarter, which Solo does not do and the other three do. That fact alone tells most sole traders which plan they need, before any feature list. Under $75,000 and invoicing from your ute or your kitchen, Solo. Registered for GST and sending more than 20 invoices a month, MYOB Lite. Registered, under 20 invoices, and your accountant already lives in Xero, Ignite.

Can anything read your books from outside?

Xero and MYOB Business, yes. Solo, no.

Both Xero and MYOB Business let a system you own read your books through a connection you authorise in your own login and can switch off any time, and that is the link we use. MYOB's developer documentation covers AccountRight, Essentials and MYOB Business and does not mention Solo, and accountants cannot even export from a Solo file yet, so nothing outside the app can read it. The daily business report we build reads your invoices, what is overdue and what landed in the bank overnight, and puts it on one page before you start the day. On Xero or MYOB Lite it can do that. On Solo it cannot see in.

Whether we can read your books also decides whether we can chase your invoices for you. Xero's built-in reminders stop after five emails and go to every contact on the file, which we went through in the piece on why your Xero reminders are on and you are still chasing money. MYOB's reminders have their own limits. Either way, an overdue account that survives the automatic emails needs a person, or a system that writes like one, and that is what we build on top of whichever you choose. The real numbers on late invoices in Australia show why it is worth having.

Where to start

Count last month's invoices, check whether you are registered for GST, and ask your accountant which one they would rather log into. If you are under the GST threshold and happy on your phone, Solo at $11 is hard to argue with. If you are registered and busy, MYOB Lite at $35 gives you unlimited invoices and BAS lodgement for less than half of what Xero charges once you pass 20 invoices. If you are registered, invoice less than 20 times a month and your accountant is a Xero practice, Ignite at $37 is fine, and be ready for $78 when the business grows.

Then put your money to work. We build on top of either one: every overdue invoice chased in your own words and approved by you before it sends, quotes followed up, enquiries answered while you are on the tools, and the daily business report above reading your books each morning. Your accounting stays exactly where it is, read through a link you control. You can see the whole thing running on our demonstration website for a bookkeeping practice, built on the Sunshine Coast.

Our prices are flat and published: the Engine is $3,500 one-off and element packs are $950, yours outright. Or start smaller: answer a few short questions and the 60 minute consult is $295, credited toward a build.