Switching from Xero: export your books during the notice month

Leaving Xero is mostly about timing. A paid plan needs one month's notice, and you are billed for that month. Everyone keeps access while it runs, and Xero itself says to export your data then. After it, the books are archived. Everything here comes from the companies' own pages, read Sep 25 to Oct 1, 2026.

What Xero's terms say

• Notice: "When a paid subscription is canceled, there's a one-month notice period during which you're still billed," says Xero's cancellation article. Only the subscriber can cancel, and that might be your accountant.
• Refunds: the terms of use say "no refund is due to you if you terminate your subscription." No early termination fee is mentioned; plans are monthly.
• After the notice month: Xero archives the organization. You can read it again only by reactivating, which means paying again, within a retention period its US pages don't put a number on. "We don't have a read-only plan."
• Price: since October 1, 2026, Early is $27 a month, Growing $59 and Established $97 on Xero's pricing page, read Oct 1, 2026. Its price update page, read Sep 30, 2026, says the new prices apply to existing subscribers too and show on invoices from that date, so the notice month is billed at them.

What to export

There is no single export file. Xero's export guide says "you need to export data from individual areas of Xero and reports from our reports screen." Before you cancel, it recommends exporting the chart of accounts, contacts, invoices, bills and fixed asset list, plus reports from its reports screen. Its list includes:

• Receivable and Payable Invoice Detail
• Sales tax reports for each filed return period
• Fixed Asset Reconciliation
• Inventory Item List
• Bank Reconciliation

An administrator can export the general ledger to import it into other accounting products; accounts need codes for it to import elsewhere. Xero's help describes downloading attachments one file at a time, so save the files you need by hand. Projects, payroll and expense data need a paid subscription with that feature to read after you cancel.

Where to move

These three companies from our accounting software ranking publish a way in. Each is listed in rank order.

ZipBooks imports CSV files for transactions, invoices, contacts and the chart of accounts. Its help says to export transactions from your former accounting program and import them with its templates. "Importing using the CSV templates is a feature of paid plans only." Smarter, its cheapest paid plan, is $15 a month on its pricing page, read Sep 27, 2026. ZipBooks names no Xero importer and gives no time for the move.

Zoho Books says on its Xero page: "Want to migrate from Xero? Our migration support has you covered." The migration page offers a free consultation. Its migration guide imports CSV, TSV and XLS files and sets the migration date to the date of a Trial Balance from your old system. Standard is $20 a month on its pricing page, read Sep 25, 2026. No duration is stated.

QuickBooks Online converts Xero files through Dataswitcher. The move is "typically completed in 72 hours or less" and free for up to two years of data, though the cost FAQ names only Sage 50, so confirm the price before you start. Extra years cost more. It won't convert attachments, budgets, templates, payroll records or estimates. The page conflicts on the plan you need. The body asks for "a QuickBooks Online Advanced account," which is $340 a month on the pricing page, read Sep 25, 2026. The FAQ says Simple Start works too. We go by the Advanced reading. Its spreadsheet import takes files of under 1,000 rows.

Who should switch

Switching suits a business that can plan its exports into one month, with a Trial Balance run on the start date. If you need to read old Xero records often, keep your exports safe: reading the archive later means paying again. See how we score accounting software.