Xero vs Employment Hero — Australia 2026
Xero Payroll vs Employment Hero compared for AU businesses. STP Phase 2, Modern Awards, Payday Super readiness, HR features & pricing.
Quick Verdict
Employment Hero for awards and HR; Xero for accounting-bundled payroll
Both vendor-claim STP and a Payday Super path (Xero Auto Super; Employment Hero HeroClear). Employment Hero Payroll Premium ($10/employee, min $100 on the classic list) is the published awards SKU; Xero does not claim auto awards. Xero wins if you want BAS + payroll in one ledger with included people-paid caps. Employment Hero wins if you need HR plus award payroll and will pay the 10-user-style floor. GST is not stated on EH cards.
Feature Comparison
| Feature | Xero | Employment Hero |
|---|---|---|
| Headquarters | Wellington, NZ (AU operations in Melbourne) | Sydney, NSW |
| Entry Price | $37/mo inc GST | $10/mo ex GST |
| BAS Lodgement | AU plan pages list Track GST and lodge BAS, and the Ignite page says lodge BAS securely to the ATO from Xero. That is in-product lodgement, not a separate ATO-portal-only export. SBR is the usual channel; this check used the public plan pages, not an ATO software-product register extract. | HR/payroll platform. BAS stays in Xero/MYOB/QuickBooks. |
| STP Phase 2 | compliant | compliant |
| Payday Super | ready | ready |
| Modern Awards | Xero AU payroll FAQ: it calculates pay and tax and is STP-compliant; for specific award obligations it tells readers to check a payroll specialist or the Fair Work Ombudsman. That is not auto award interpretation. Employment Hero or KeyPay remain the add-on path for penalty-rate automation. | Pre-built Modern Awards listed on Payroll Premium (classic) and on OS plans that include payroll. Not on Payroll Standard. Vendor copy, not Fair Work certification. |
| Bank Feeds | Big 4 + 50+ banks | N/A |
| Data Hosting | unclear | AU |
| AU Support Hours | 24/7 online support | Mon-Fri 8am-6pm AEST |
| Phone Support | No | Yes |
| Integrations | 1000+ apps | 50+ apps |
Pricing Comparison (AUD, Mar 2026)
Xero Plans
Ignite
$37/mo
AUD inc GST
- ✓Invoices: 20
- ✓Bills: 5
- ✓Bank Reconciliation: Yes
Most Popular
Grow
$78/mo
AUD inc GST
- ✓Invoices: unlimited
- ✓Bills: unlimited
- ✓Bank Reconciliation: Yes
Comprehensive
$107/mo
AUD inc GST
- ✓Invoices: unlimited
- ✓Bills: unlimited
- ✓Bank Reconciliation: Yes
- ✓Multi Currency: Yes
Ultimate 10
$143/mo
AUD inc GST
- ✓Invoices: unlimited
- ✓Bills: unlimited
- ✓Bank Reconciliation: Yes
- ✓Multi Currency: Yes
- ✓Projects: Yes
- ✓Analytics Plus: Yes
Employment Hero Plans
HR Essentials
$10/mo
per employee
- ✓Employees: unlimited
- ✓Minimum Users: 10
HR Engage
$14/mo
per employee
- ✓Employees: unlimited
- ✓Minimum Users: 10
Payroll Standard
$8/mo
per employee
- ✓Employees: unlimited
- ✓Minimum Monthly: 80
Most Popular
Payroll Premium
$10/mo
per employee
- ✓Employees: unlimited
- ✓Minimum Monthly: 100
Lite
$20/mo
per employee
- ✓Employees: unlimited
- ✓Minimum Monthly: 200
- ✓Minimum Users: 10
Plus
$40/mo
per employee
- ✓Employees: unlimited
- ✓Minimum Monthly: 400
- ✓Minimum Users: 10
Unlimited
$60/mo
per employee
- ✓Employees: unlimited
- ✓Minimum Monthly: 600
- ✓Minimum Users: 10
AU Compliance Scores
How we scoreScores are out of 5 and reflect depth of compliance support, ease of setup, and ongoing reliability for Australian businesses. Assessed March 2026.
Xero
BAS Lodgement5/5
STP Phase 25/5
Payday Super5/5
Modern Awards3/5
GST Handling5/5
Bank Feeds5/5
Employment Hero
BAS Lodgement0/5
STP Phase 25/5
Payday Super5/5
Modern Awards5/5
GST Handling0/5
Bank Feeds0/5
Pros & Cons
Xero
Pros
- Australia's most widely-used accounting platform — your accountant almost certainly knows it
- Bank reconciliation and bank connections on every AU plan checked
- In-product BAS lodgement to the ATO listed on Ignite through Ultimate 10
- Largest app marketplace with 1,000+ integrations (Deputy, ServiceM8, Employment Hero, Shopify, etc.)
- ISO/IEC 27001:2022 and SOC 2 Type II on Xero's security pages
- Auto Super listed as included in AU plans for Payday Super workflows
- Payroll included in listed AU plans, with people-paid caps by tier
- 24/7 online support with callback service
Cons
- Most expensive of the major accounting platforms — Grow is $78/mo standard from 1 July 2026
- Ignite limited to 20 invoices per month, pushing most invoicing businesses to Grow
- No inbound phone support — callback service only
- Public docs do not confirm Australian data residency for AU organisations
- Repeated price rises; Ignite/Grow/Comprehensive/Ultimate 10 all increased again on 1 July 2026
- No annual billing discount on the pages opened — subscriptions auto-renew monthly
- Public AU pages advertised both 90% off first 3 months and a one-month-free CTA; checkout was not started so the applied offer is unresolved
Employment Hero
Pros
- Published HR SKUs: Essentials $10 and Engage $14 per employee/month (min 10 users)
- Published payroll SKUs: Standard $8 and Premium $10 per employee/month on the classic price list
- Digital onboarding on Essentials+ (help centre, 30 Aug 2026)
- Pre-built Modern Awards on Payroll Premium (vendor copy)
- HeroClear documented for Payday Super inside payroll
- Trust Centre: SOC 2 and ISO 27001:2022 / 27017 / 27018
Cons
- Three overlapping price lists — easy to compare the wrong SKU
- HR Essentials $10 does not include payroll or in-plan rostering (rostering is $4 extra, min $40)
- Minimums ($80–$600 / 10 users) punish teams under ~10 people
- GST not stated on the dollar cards
- No BAS/GST/invoicing — needs Xero or MYOB
- Super batch fees ($0.20 ex GST HeroClear or $0.30 on the classic page) sit on top of seat price
Who Should Choose Xero
Xero is best suited for businesses that need small business, sole trader, accountant managed.
Choose Xero if you are:
- Small Business
- Sole Trader
- Accountant Managed
- Growing Business
Who Should Choose Employment Hero
Employment Hero is best suited for businesses that need growing business 10 plus, hospitality, retail.
Choose Employment Hero if you are:
- Growing Business 10 Plus
- Hospitality
- Retail
- Healthcare
- Hr And Payroll Combined
- Modern Award Compliance