Compare Accounting Software in New Zealand at Canstar Blue. Xero and MYOB were compared on Overall Satisfaction, Customer Service, Ease of Integration, Ease of Use, Functionality, Reporting and Value for Money.
See our Ratings Methodology.
For the sixth year in a row, Xero has been rated No.1 for customer satisfaction by its legions of very satisfied small business customers.
Our review compares accounting software on customer satisfaction, so you can discover what other Kiwis think about our compared accounting software brands before you go ahead and decide to use one to help manage your business accounts. Think of it like asking hundreds of your friends and colleagues which accounting software they think is best!
Canstar Blue surveyed 267 Kiwis who had paid for an accounting software licence used for business purposes in the past 12 months and asked for their feedback on their provider.
Respondents rate their satisfaction with their small business accounting software providers from zero to ten, where zero is extremely dissatisfied and ten is extremely satisfied. Brand satisfaction was rated by respondents on the following criteria:
The winning brand is the one that receives the highest Overall Satisfaction rating once all the scores from the Overall Satisfaction criteria are combined and averaged.
Brands must have received at least 30 responses to be included, so not all brands available in the market have been compared in this survey. The brands rated in this survey are listed below in order of best overall satisfaction.
Find more information on our Most Satisfied Customer methodology.
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For sole traders and small business with up to 2 employees
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from $30/m + GST | Go to site |
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For growing businesses with multiple employees wanting more advanced reporting
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from $50/m + GST | Go to site |
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For larger businesses that want a powerful desktop and web app
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from $80/m + GST | Go to site |
Offer: Buy 1 month get 6 months free base subscription for MYOB Business Lite, Pro, AccountRight Plus or Premier. Offer ends 30 June 2025 unless varied by MYOB. Premium Features excluded, inc. premium inventory, payroll and online invoice payments. Other exclusions and full T&Cs apply.
Congratulations to Xero, the winner of Canstar Blue’s award for Most Satisfied Customers | Accounting Software for the sixth consecutive year.
It’s a great achievement for the home-grown tech company, which, yet again, earns a great set of ratings across all measures of customer satisfaction: 5 Stars in all categories, except for Functionality and Value for Money, for which it earns 4-Star ratings.
Xero has taken home Canstar Blue’s Business Accounting Software Award every year since its inception, in 2019, which is a true measure of the levels of satisfaction and value it delivers to its many thousands of small business customers.
Xero is a home-grown success story. It was founded in 2006, in Wellington, by Rod Drury and Hamish Edwards and was floated on the NZX a year later.
Xero allows small business owners to:
Store all documents online in one place documents for quick access: Capture bills and receipts via email, or scan files from your mobile.
Automate their administration: Connect Xero to a bank for automatic bank feeds. Easily sync bank and financial information and work smarter with intuitive invoicing software. Automatically prepare GST returns, and securely file online to Inland Revenue.
Customise Xero to meet their needs: Choose from over 1000 apps in the Xero App Store to streamline tasks. Build on a Xero plan with flexible features.
Xero offers four plans that provide support for businesses of all sizes. It also offers a 30-day free trial:
Price: $33 per month
Price: $71 per month
Price: $94 per month
Price: $105 per month
A constant runner-up to Xero in our accounting software awards, MYOB always achieves a great set of performance ratings from its customers.
In our award’s five-year history, MYOB has never scored lower than an excellent 4-Star rating in any category. And this year is no different, as MYOB earns a great mix of 4- and 5-Star ratings, including top scores for Value for Money and Functionality.
MYOB is an Australian multinational company that provides tax and accounting software to small and medium businesses.
It offers 30-day free trials on each of its plans. NB: all pricings ex GST.
All plans offer the same standard features:
Cost: $1.50 a month for each employee
For sole traders and small business with up to 2 employees. Price: $32 per month
For growing businesses with multiple employees. Price: $52 per month
For larger businesses. Price: $85 per month
For more complex businesses that need multi-currency support. Price: $150 per month
Given NZ’s recent gloomy economic climate, it’s interesting to note the changes in our accounting software users’ feedback over the past couple of years.
Back in mid-2022, users cited Ease of Integration (29%) and Ease of Use (27%) as the two top factors driving their satisfaction with their software providers. Value for Money was only the top concern for 21% of respondents.
Then in our research for last year’s award, Value for Money came out as the top concern. A quarter (24%) of respondents cited Value for Money as their chief concern, which is a reflection of the headwinds many small business owners have faced over the past 24 months.
However, in this year’s award survey, Ease of Use and Ease of Integration return as the top two drivers of customer satisfaction. Each is cited by 19% of survey respondents, just ahead of Value for Money, which this year has slipped back to below its 2022 mark of 18%. Hopefully this is another indication of the country’s improving economy and businesses’ renewed optimism.
Here’s the full rundown of what the consumers in our survey say are the main things they consider when rating their choice of accounting software providers:
About the author of this pageThis report was written by Canstar’s Editor, Bruce Pitchers. Bruce has three decades’ experience as a journalist and has worked for major media companies in the UK and Australasia, including ACP, Bauer Media Group, Fairfax, Pacific Magazines, News Corp and TVNZ. Prior to Canstar, he worked as a freelancer, including for The Australian Financial Review, the NZ Financial Markets Authority, and for real estate companies on both sides of the Tasman.
Canstar Blue surveyed 719 New Zealand consumers across a range of categories to measure and track customer satisfaction, via ISO 26362 accredited research panels managed by Qualtrics. The outcomes reported are the results from respondents who had used business accounting software in the past year. In this case, 256 New Zealanders. Brands must have received at least 30 responses to be included. Results are comparative and it should be noted that brands receiving three stars have still achieved a satisfaction measure of at least six out of 10. Not all brands available in the market have been compared in this survey. The ratings table is first sorted by star ratings and then by mean overall satisfaction. A rated brand may receive a ‘N/A’ (Not Applicable) rating if it does not receive the minimum number of responses for that criterion.
The past winners from Canstar Blue’s Accounting Software ratings:
