Switching from Xero
Your ledger and your timesheets, in one place
Xero is a mature double-entry ledger with no per-user fees. CherryWorks Pro keeps a ledger too, plus timesheets, invoices built from billable hours, contractor payouts and client support cases.
14 days on Professional. You won’t be charged until day 15 · Cancel anytime
Why services firms look beyond Xero
Xero’s books are solid. The gaps show up around the hours a firm sells and the people it pays.
Time tracking is on the top plan
Xero Projects, which tracks time and invoices it, comes with Established, $97 a month at list price.
Early has monthly limits
The Early plan allows 20 invoices and quotes and 5 bills a month. Past that, you move up a plan.
Paying people runs through partners
Payroll is Xero Payroll powered by Gusto, $36 a month plus $6 per employee or contractor at list price. Bill pay runs through Melio.
No place for client support
Xero doesn’t include a help desk, so client requests and the hours spent on them are tracked somewhere else.
Xero and CherryWorks Pro, side by side
Xero’s details are its published list prices and features as of October 2026. Check the vendor’s site for current terms.
| What | CherryWorks Pro | Xero |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | CherryWorks ProPer firm: $39, $89 or $159 a month. Unlimited users on every plan; Starter is limited to 5 clients and 3 projects. | XeroPer plan, no per-user fees: Early $27 (20 invoices and quotes, 5 bills a month), Growing $59 and Established $97 a month |
| Time tracking | CherryWorks ProTimers and weekly timesheets; approvals on Professional and up | XeroThrough Xero Projects, on Established |
| Invoicing from time | CherryWorks ProInvoices built from billable hours, sent from your own Microsoft 365, Google or SMTP mailbox | XeroThrough Xero Projects, on Established |
| Online payments | CherryWorks ProClients pay by card or ACH; payments post to the ledger | XeroStripe and GoCardless |
| Paying contractors | CherryWorks ProEach person’s hours × their cost rate; pay contractors through Stripe Connect or record a payment (Professional and up). W-2 staff stay on your payroll. | XeroGusto payroll add-on ($36 a month plus $6 per person); bill pay through Melio |
| Client support | CherryWorks ProSupport cases and a client Help Center on Professional and up; hours logged on a case can be billed | Xero— |
| General ledger | CherryWorks ProDouble-entry general ledger on every plan; bank feeds on Professional and up; period closes on Business | XeroYes, double-entry; multi-currency on Established |
What Xero does well
- No per-user license fees on any plan
- A mature double-entry ledger with bank feeds
- Multi-currency and Projects on Established
- Payroll for employees and contractors through Gusto
Also in CherryWorks Pro
- Marketing Hub on Business: contacts, companies, campaigns and sequences, beside your clients
- 19 built-in reports, including project profitability, utilization, AR aging and a 1099 export
- Estimates your clients accept online, recurring invoices, dunning and payment plans
- Every hour moves from unbilled to invoiced to pending payout to paid, and team members can see their own
- Expense reports with approval, and bank reconciliation on Professional and up
Sources for Xero, checked October 2026:
Moving from Xero
The import wizard reads the CSV files Xero exports. Nothing is written to your books until you’ve reviewed a dry run.
Export from Xero
Export contacts from Contacts → All contacts → Export, and invoices from Business → Invoices → Export. Use YYYY-MM-DD dates in the files.
Upload and check
Upload up to ten files at once. CherryWorks Pro works out what each file holds from its header row and checks every file for problems before you go further.
Review, then import
Choose what to bring across and the date ranges, review the dry run, then run the import. An admin can roll back a completed import, which removes the records it created.
What comes across from Xero: clients, services, and invoices with their payments. Time entries don’t come across from Xero, so time tracking starts fresh in CherryWorks Pro.
The import wizard is on Professional and Business. The 14-day trial runs on Professional, so you can import your own data and send a real invoice before you’re charged.
Marketing Hub · Business plan
Find the next client in the same system.
Marketing Hub adds contacts, companies, segments, email campaigns, sequences that stop on a reply, and an AI chat for your own website. Prospects stay apart from your clients, so outreach never touches your invoices or reports.
Try it with your Xero data.
Fourteen days on Professional, import wizard included. Bring your history across and see what your team is owed.
14 days on Professional. You won’t be charged until day 15 · Cancel anytime