How to switch from QuickBooks Online to Xero

A plain-English plan for moving your books from QuickBooks Online to Xero. Everything below comes from Xero's and Intuit's own help and migration pages, checked October 21, 2026. Steps we added ourselves are labeled as our suggestions.

The short version

• Pick a conversion date. This is the day you start recording transactions in Xero. In Xero it is always the first day of a month.
• Clean up QuickBooks first. Reconcile your bank and card accounts, review what customers owe you and what you owe suppliers, and check your inventory and sales tax balances.
• Choose one of Xero's three routes: an automated conversion by Jet Convert, Xero's conversion partner (free for your current and prior fiscal year), a "fresh start" with opening balances only, or the Conversion Toolbox (CSV imports, meant for accountants and bookkeepers).
• Payroll does not move. Xero says you set up payroll and enter employee details in Xero yourself.
• Export from QuickBooks before you cancel. Intuit gives paid subscribers read-only access for one year after canceling. Some things, like attachments and estimates, have to be exported separately.

The three ways to move your books to Xero

Xero's US conversion page lists three options. Xero says there is no single best method. The right one depends on how clean your QuickBooks file is and how much history you need.

What moves and what doesn't

Usually comes across (depending on the route)

• Chart of accounts, plus your customer and supplier contacts. Xero says all three routes transfer these lists. Jet Convert does it automatically. With the other two routes you import them yourself.
• Invoices and bills. Jet Convert covers the current and prior fiscal year. On the manual route you use Xero's import templates, which also cover fixed assets.
• Opening balances, which Xero calls conversion balances. These are the balance of every account on the day before your conversion date.
• Inventory items, which you can import with the Conversion Toolbox after you save your conversion balances.

Doesn't come across, or needs its own plan

• Payroll. Xero says payroll information does not migrate in any of the three conversions. Set up payroll and enter employee details in Xero directly.
• Bank feeds. Before you convert, Xero asks you to add your bank and credit card accounts in Xero. Your QuickBooks bank connections don't carry over.
• Older history. Jet Convert's free conversion covers two fiscal years. Anything older may cost extra, or it stays in your QuickBooks exports.
• Attachments, estimates, purchase orders, customer statements and recurring templates. Intuit's help says these are exported separately from the main "Export data" file. Xero's conversion page doesn't list them among what moves, so export and keep them yourself. Then confirm with whichever route you choose.
• Multiple sales tax accounts. Xero uses only one sales tax account, so you combine the balances of any you have.
• Connected apps. Anything plugged into QuickBooks needs to be reconnected to Xero or replaced. Check the Xero App Store for your tools before you commit.

Cutover-date checklist

Steps 1–8 come from Xero's and Intuit's help docs (listed under Sources). Steps marked our suggestion are common-sense checks we added.

Before the conversion date: in QuickBooks Online

1. Choose your conversion date. It has to be the first of a month. Our suggestion: the start of your fiscal year keeps a whole year in one system. At least pick the day after a month you have fully closed.
2. Reconcile every bank and credit card account so the balances match your statements.
3. Review accounts receivable and payable and apply any open credit notes.
4. Check inventory and sales tax balances, and make sure your sales tax returns are filed.
5. Check that your plan has a Trial Balance report. Intuit lists Trial Balance for Simple Start, Essentials, Plus and Advanced. QuickBooks Online Free and Lite include only the Profit and Loss, Balance Sheet and Account List reports.
6. Run a trial balance for the day before your conversion date and save it. Xero says to use it to review and enter your conversion balances. Our suggestion: save the Balance Sheet, Profit and Loss and General Ledger for the same date too.
7. Export your data. In QuickBooks Online go to Settings ⚙ → Export data, pick a reason and a date range, choose your reports and lists, then select Export to Excel. You get one .zip file.
8. Export the things that aren't in that file: attachments (Settings ⚙ → Attachments → Batch actions → Export), estimates, purchase orders, customer statements, recurring templates, your chart of accounts (the Account List report) and your products and services list. Intuit's export article gives the steps for each.

On and after the conversion date: in Xero

9. Set up your Xero organization and add your bank and credit card accounts.
10. Enter conversion balances from the trial balance. Enter every number as a positive amount in the Debit or Credit column. If total debits and credits don't match, Xero posts the difference to a historical adjustment account. Fix it there, and check with your accountant.
11. Use bank statement balances for bank and card accounts as at the conversion date. Enter uncleared items, like uncashed checks, as a separate balance.
12. Enter or import your unpaid invoices and bills. Xero won't save receivable and payable balances until they match the unpaid invoices and bills behind them. If you aren't ready, leave those balances at 0.00 and add them later.
13. Import invoices and bills before you add contacts (manual route). Xero creates the contacts automatically, which avoids duplicates.
14. Don't reconcile bank accounts in Xero yet. Wait until all unpaid invoices and bills are in, or you can end up with duplicate transactions.
15. Set up payroll separately, because it doesn't migrate.
16. Our suggestion: compare Xero's trial balance at the conversion date with the one you saved from QuickBooks, line by line, before you rely on Xero's reports.

Before you cancel QuickBooks Online

• Intuit says paid subscribers get read-only access for one year after canceling. During that year you can still export to Excel or to a desktop version of QuickBooks.
• On a free trial, your data is available for only 90 days after you cancel or the trial expires.
• Don't let your card lapse instead of canceling. Intuit says a declined card gives you 14 days to update billing. After that your account is suspended, and you have to re-subscribe to see your data.
• Intuit recommends exporting or printing your data before you cancel.

When to use a conversion service (or an accountant)

• You want your recent transaction history and don't want to build CSV files. Xero's partner Jet Convert is free for the current and prior fiscal year.
• You need more than two years of history, or have more than 6,000 items. Expect an extra fee from Jet Convert, or contact Xero about the Conversion Toolbox.
• Your QuickBooks file is messy. Xero suggests a fresh start, so you don't carry bad data into the new system. A bookkeeper can confirm your opening balances.
• You have foreign currency, tracked inventory, or a lot of open invoices and bills. These are the areas where Xero's conversion-balance tips get detailed: exchange rates, inventory accounts, and receivable and payable balances that must match. A professional is worth it here.
• Your books are simple, with few transactions and no open invoices or bills to carry. A fresh start you do yourself is usually enough.

Xero points to two places for help: the Xero Advisor Directory for Xero-certified accountants and bookkeepers, and conversion partners in the Xero App Store. We haven't reviewed any conversion service and don't recommend a particular one. Before you pay, ask any provider for its list of what won't convert.

Is Xero the right place to land?

Check this before you move anything. On Xero's pricing page, the Early plan is capped at 20 invoices and 5 bills, and multiple currencies and project tracking are listed on Established only. Our QuickBooks alternatives by business type comparison puts Xero's dated prices next to Zoho Books, FreshBooks, Wave and Aplos. If you aren't sure Xero is the one, start there.

Sources

We used only official vendor documentation. Menus and policies change, so confirm anything important on the vendor's page.

• Xero (US): Move from QuickBooks to Xero (checked October 21, 2026)
• Xero Central: Convert to Xero from another accounting system (checked October 21, 2026)
• Xero Central: Tips for entering conversion balances (checked October 21, 2026)
• Intuit QuickBooks Help: Export your QuickBooks Online data (checked October 21, 2026)
• Intuit QuickBooks Help: What happens to my QuickBooks Online data after I cancel? (checked October 21, 2026)
• Intuit QuickBooks Help: Reports included in your QuickBooks Online subscription (checked October 21, 2026)

Last checked: October 21, 2026. Not tax, legal or accounting advice.

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