This page is for US-based small business owners, bookkeepers, and CPAs evaluating Xero or already paying for it and wondering if there's a one-time-purchase alternative built for American tax rules. Bottom line up front: if you run a US business with employees and depreciable assets, FreshLedger Pro is almost certainly the cheaper and more tax-accurate choice. It's $799 once, includes full payroll with Forms 941, 940, W-2 and 1099-NEC, and ships with complete MACRS depreciation per IRS Pub 946. Xero is a polished cloud product with strong bank feeds and mobile access, but it's a subscription, it was built in New Zealand for a global audience, and its US payroll story has been weaker since Gusto integration replaced the native module. If you want to stop renting your accounting software and you don't need real-time multi-user cloud collaboration, keep reading.
FreshLedger Pro is $799 one-time. There is no subscription. The only recurring cost is an optional $99/year payroll tax table update to keep federal and state withholding current. If you don't run payroll, you don't need it. Total five-year cost with payroll updates: $799 + ($99 x 4) = $1,195. Without payroll: $799 flat. Xero's published US pricing runs $15/month (Early, limited to 20 invoices), $42/month (Growing), and $78/month (Established) as of this writing. Five-year math at the Growing tier: $42 x 60 = $2,520. At Established: $4,680. And Xero's US plans do not include payroll. To run payroll through Xero you connect Gusto, which starts at $40/month plus $6/employee. A five-person shop on Xero Growing + Gusto runs roughly $112/month, or $6,720 over five years. The same five-person shop on FreshLedger Pro with payroll updates: $1,195 over five years. That's a $5,500 difference, and you own the software and the data file. Included on the FreshLedger side: general ledger, A/R, A/P, inventory, payroll, MACRS depreciation, financial statements, and a free Accountant Edition for your CPA. Not included: automatic bank feeds and a hosted mobile app.
1. Five-year cost. The math above isn't close. A small business with one or two employees saves $1,500-$5,500 over five years by buying once instead of renting monthly. That delta funds a quarter of payroll for a part-timer, or a real tax-planning engagement with your CPA. 2. US payroll is built in, not bolted on. FreshLedger Pro handles Form 941 quarterly filings, Form 940 FUTA, year-end W-2s with the SSA-formatted electronic file, 1099-NEC for contractors, and the post-2020 W-4 withholding calculation including the multiple-jobs adjustment and dependents credit. Xero in the US routes payroll to Gusto, which is a separate vendor, a separate login, and a separate monthly bill. 3. Real MACRS depreciation. FreshLedger calculates depreciation per IRS Pub 946 with correct conventions: half-year, mid-quarter when the 40% rule triggers, and mid-month for real property. It handles 5-year (vehicles, computers), 7-year (office furniture), 15-year (qualified improvement property), 27.5-year residential rental, and 39-year nonresidential real property. Section 179 elections and bonus depreciation are tracked per asset. Xero records fixed assets but its depreciation engine is built for general international straight-line and diminishing-value methods, not US tax-basis MACRS. 4. Free Accountant Edition. Your CPA installs FreshLedger Pro Accountant Edition at no cost, opens your file directly, makes adjusting journal entries, and sends it back. No "add an advisor seat" upcharge, no read-only export dance at year-end. 5. You own the data file. It lives on your hard drive in a documented format. If you stop paying anyone anything, you still have your books. Cancel a Xero subscription and you keep PDF exports, not a working ledger.
1. Automatic bank feeds. Xero connects directly to most US banks and pulls transactions daily with reconciliation suggestions powered by machine learning. FreshLedger Pro requires you to download a CSV, OFX, QFX, or QBO file from your bank and import it. For a business with hundreds of monthly transactions across multiple accounts, that manual step is real friction, and Xero's feeds are genuinely good. 2. Multi-user, multi-location, real-time. Xero is browser-based. Your bookkeeper in Denver and your operations manager in Phoenix can both be in the file at 2pm on a Tuesday. FreshLedger Pro is a single-user-at-a-time Windows desktop application. If you have a team that needs concurrent access from different locations, Xero's architecture is the right answer and we won't pretend otherwise. 3. Native mobile and ecosystem. Xero has solid iOS and Android apps for invoicing on the go, snapping receipts, and approving bills. It also has a large third-party app marketplace (Stripe, Shopify, A2X, Hubdoc, hundreds more) with mature integrations. FreshLedger Pro has no mobile app and a deliberately small integration surface. If you live in your phone or you depend on a specific Xero connector, that's a real reason to stay.
| Feature | FreshLedger Pro | Xero |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $799 once | $15–$80/mo |
| Payroll | Included | 3rd party (Gusto) |
| Check printing | Included | Manual / limited |
| MACRS depreciation | Included | Not included |
| Fixed asset register | Included | Add-on (US edition) |
| 941 / 940 / W-2 forms | Included | Not included (US) |
| 1099-NEC | Included | Not included |
| Accountant package export | Included | Xero Practice Manager (paid) |
| ACH / direct deposit | Included | 3rd party |
| Recurring transactions | Included | Included |
| Local data / no cloud | Yes | No (cloud only) |
| Mobile app | No | Yes |
Switching from Xero to FreshLedger Pro is not free in time. Real limitations to weigh: It's Windows-only. On a Mac you'll run it in Parallels, VMware Fusion, or UTM. That works but it's an extra step. No native mobile app. You invoice and reconcile at your desk, not on your phone in a customer's parking lot. No automatic bank feeds. You'll download OFX or QFX files from your bank weekly or monthly and import them. Most banks offer this for free; a few make it inconvenient. Single-user at a time. The file is opened by one person. Two-person bookkeeping teams typically work fine by handing off; larger teams will feel constrained. Real double-entry learning curve. If you've only used Xero's simplified invoice-and-reconcile flow, FreshLedger's chart of accounts and journal entries take a week to get comfortable with. Migration takes a weekend: export trial balance and customer/vendor/item lists from Xero, import to FreshLedger, enter opening balances as of a clean cutoff date.
FreshLedger Pro is the right answer for a US-based small business with 1-15 employees, a Windows machine (or willingness to run a VM), an owner or bookkeeper who works primarily from one location, and a real need for accurate US payroll and MACRS depreciation. Think: a general contractor with crew payroll and a depreciating truck fleet. A dental practice with equipment on 5- and 7-year MACRS schedules and biweekly W-2 payroll. A rental property owner depreciating buildings on 27.5-year mid-month convention. A manufacturing shop tracking Section 179 elections on new machinery. A CPA who wants to standardize write-up clients on software they can install free in Accountant Edition. If you've been on Xero for two years, you're paying $50-$80/month, and you've quietly resented that your "accounting software" can't actually file a 941 without a second subscription, you are the buyer.
Stay on Xero if you're a multi-location service business with 5+ concurrent users needing real-time sync, an e-commerce operator deeply integrated with Shopify or Stripe through Xero's marketplace, an international business with operations or customers outside the US that need multi-currency and GST/VAT handling Xero was actually built for, or a mobile-first owner (food truck, field services, traveling consultant) who genuinely runs the business from a phone. In those cases the subscription cost buys real value and switching to a Windows desktop tool would be a downgrade. Be honest with yourself about which one you are.
One-time-purchase accounting software with built-in payroll, full depreciation handling, and a free Accountant Edition for your CPA.
Buy FreshLedger Pro — $799One-time purchase. No subscription. Free Accountant Edition included.