September 22, 2026
MYOB to Xero vs MYOB to QuickBooks Online: six questions that pick the destination before you export a single card or job
The short answer: an MYOB file lands well in either Xero or QuickBooks Online, and the two are close enough on the accounting that the choice is decided by five structural facts about your file: how many people log in, how you use jobs and categories, whether the file is multi-currency, how many items and locations it tracks, and how many people you pay. The sixth question is who does your BAS. This page puts the two destinations side by side on those questions, using the vendors’ own Australian plan pages, and then says what the move looks like once the destination is chosen. No prices are printed; both vendors change them, and both run introductory discounts that expire.
Question one: how many people need a login?
This is the first question because it is the one the plan pages answer most differently. Xero’s Australian pricing page states “No per-user license fees” on every plan; the plan limits are on payroll headcount, expense and project users, and on the Ignite plan a monthly invoice cap, not on logins. QuickBooks Online’s Australian pricing page caps users by plan: Simple Start 1 user, Essentials 3, Plus 5, Advanced 25, each with accountant access on top.
An AccountRight file with eight staff raising invoices and entering bills, common in trades and wholesale, sits on QuickBooks Online Advanced or on any Xero plan. A two-person office fits either. Count the logins first; if the number is above five, the QuickBooks column is Advanced and the comparison changes shape.
Question two: how do you use jobs and categories?
MYOB gives you two dimensions. Jobs attach to individual lines, can be arranged as header and detail jobs with sub-jobs, carry budgets and a percentage complete, and link to a customer for reimbursable expenses; MYOB’s own help page describes all of this. Categories attach to a whole transaction and are used for departments, divisions or locations.
Xero replaces both with tracking categories. Xero’s developer documentation states an organisation can have a maximum of two active tracking categories, and each option attaches per line. Two dimensions is exactly what MYOB gives you, so a file that uses jobs for projects and categories for branches maps cleanly: one tracking category per MYOB dimension. What does not carry is the job hierarchy and the job budgets; Xero’s Projects feature (Ultimate plan, for a stated number of users) handles time and cost per project but is a separate module, not a tracking category.
QuickBooks Online gives you classes, locations and Projects. Classes attach per line, locations per transaction, which is the same shape as MYOB’s jobs and categories, and Projects sit on top for customer work. The limit is on the Plus plan: Intuit’s Australian pricing page allows “Up to 40 classes and locations” on Plus and unlimited on Advanced. A builder with 120 active jobs cannot run them as classes on Plus; they become Projects, or the plan becomes Advanced.
Question three: is the file multi-currency?
Multi-currency is an AccountRight Premier feature, so if you are on Premier and using it, the destination has to carry it. On Xero, “Use multiple currencies” appears on Comprehensive and above; Grow excludes it. On QuickBooks Online, multi-currency appears from Essentials upward; Simple Start excludes it. Either way the foreign-currency history is the part of the conversion that needs the most care, because realised and unrealised gains are recalculated by the destination from the rates you load; the closing balances in each currency are the reconciliation targets.
Question four: how many items, and how many locations?
AccountRight Premier supports multiple inventory locations; Plus tracks one. Neither destination carries locations natively, so a Premier file with three warehouses lands as one stock quantity per item in both Xero and QuickBooks Online, with location recorded as a tracking category or class rather than a quantity. If per-location stock counts are the reason you are on Premier, the honest answer is that both destinations need an inventory app on top, and the decision is really about which app.
Item count matters on the Xero side: Xero Central says the recommended maximum is 4,000 tracked inventory items per organisation and performance issues may occur above that. QuickBooks Online tracks inventory on Plus and Advanced with no published item ceiling on the Australian pricing page, though the 250-account chart of accounts limit on Simple Start through Plus still applies to the accounts, not the items.
Question five: how many people do you pay?
Xero includes payroll in the plan, sized by headcount: Grow for 2 people, Comprehensive for 5, Ultimate for 10, 20, 50 or 100 with a per-person charge above 100 and a stated maximum of 200. QuickBooks Online’s Australian pricing page describes payroll as “QuickBooks Payroll powered by Employment Hero,” an add-on to every plan with additional fees, in Standard or Advanced options. For a 12-person crew, that means Xero Ultimate 20 versus QuickBooks Online plus an add-on priced per employee; both report through Single Touch Payroll. Price the add-on at your headcount before comparing base plans, because payroll can be the largest line.
Payroll history itself does not convert in either direction: year-to-date figures are loaded as opening balances at the cutover, and our note on MYOB cutover timing explains why that makes 1 July the cleanest date. If the cutover has to fall mid-year, see how to carry STP year-to-date amounts into new payroll software without duplicate income statements.
Question six: which system does your accountant already use?
The BAS still has to be lodged, and the person lodging it works faster in the platform they open every day. Ask your accountant or bookkeeper which product their other clients are on and which they would rather review. If the answer is strong, it outweighs a small difference on questions one to five. If the answer is “either,” the five questions decide.
The six questions on one page
| Question | Points to Xero | Points to QuickBooks Online |
|---|---|---|
| Logins | More than five people log in; no per-user fee on any plan. | One to five people; Advanced if more. |
| Jobs and categories | Two dimensions, per line, mapped to two tracking categories. | Classes per line, locations per transaction; Projects for customer work; 40 combined on Plus, unlimited on Advanced. |
| Multi-currency (Premier) | Comprehensive or above. | Essentials or above. |
| Items and locations | Under about 4,000 tracked items; locations via tracking or an app. | Plus or Advanced; locations via class or an app. |
| Payroll headcount | Included, sized by plan: 2 / 5 / 10 / 20 / 50 / 100. | Add-on powered by Employment Hero, priced per employee. |
| Accountant | Whichever they open every day. | Whichever they open every day. |
Plan facts from xero.com/au/pricing-plans, quickbooks.intuit.com/au/pricing, Xero’s developer documentation on tracking categories, Xero Central on tracked inventory, and MYOB’s help page on jobs, all read 22 September 2026. Check the live pages on the day you buy.
What the move looks like once the destination is chosen
The export step depends on which MYOB you have, not on the destination; AccountRight vs MYOB Business exports covers the two paths. From there the work is the same on either side: cards become contacts, the accounts list is mapped with GST codes matched one to one and any custom codes signed off on a sheet, jobs and categories become tracking categories or classes and locations, open invoices and bills are loaded with their applied payments so the aged reports agree, and historical years are loaded outside the standard importers, which are not built for years of applied payments. The reconciliation targets are the trial balance, aged receivables, aged payables and GST summary at the cutover date, printed from MYOB before anything is exported.
Both vendors advertise a free basic migration: QuickBooks Online’s Australian pricing page says a third party performs it on Essentials, Plus and Advanced, and Xero offers a conversion path for MYOB files. Those paths carry lists and a limited history; what doesn’t convert explains what they leave behind. If the history is the point, the MYOB to Xero and MYOB to QuickBooks scope pages describe the full-history version for each destination.
Frequently asked questions
Is Xero or QuickBooks Online better for an MYOB AccountRight Premier file?
It depends on which Premier feature you rely on. Multi-currency is carried by Xero Comprehensive and above and by QuickBooks Online Essentials and above. Multiple inventory locations are carried natively by neither; both need a tracking dimension or an inventory app. More than five logins favours Xero, which has no per-user fee, or QuickBooks Online Advanced.
Where do MYOB jobs and categories go in Xero and QuickBooks Online?
In Xero, into tracking categories: Xero’s developer documentation allows a maximum of two active tracking categories, one per MYOB dimension. In QuickBooks Online, jobs become classes or Projects and categories become locations; Plus allows 40 combined classes and locations and Advanced is unlimited. Job hierarchies and job budgets do not carry to either.
Does MYOB payroll history transfer to Xero or QuickBooks Online?
No. Year-to-date payroll is loaded as opening balances at the cutover in both destinations, and Single Touch Payroll reporting continues from the new system. Xero includes payroll in its plans by headcount; QuickBooks Online adds it as QuickBooks Payroll powered by Employment Hero with additional fees.
Can I keep multiple inventory locations after leaving MYOB Premier?
Not as separate stock quantities in either Xero or QuickBooks Online. Both hold one quantity per item; location can be recorded as a tracking category or class, and per-location counts need an inventory app connected to the destination. Xero Central recommends staying under 4,000 tracked items.
Related service: MYOB → Xero · MYOB → QuickBooks · Conversions in Australia