Xero vs KeyPay — Australia 2026
Xero Payroll vs KeyPay for Australian businesses. Compare Modern Award interpretation, STP Phase 2, Payday Super readiness & per-employee pricing.
Quick Verdict
KeyPay Plus for awards; Xero for accounting-bundled payroll
Xero AU plans include payroll with people-paid caps (Ignite 1, Grow 2, Comprehensive 5, Ultimate 10) at Ignite $37 / Grow $78 / Comprehensive $107 / Ultimate 10 $143 incl. GST from 1 July 2026. Xero's payroll FAQ does not claim auto award interpretation. KeyPay Plus is the vendor award-interpretation SKU; Standard is STP/super without it. KeyPay's pricing page is quote-only (old $4/$6 not listed). Choose Xero if payroll is a few salaried people inside accounting. Choose KeyPay Plus when penalty rates matter and you have a current quote.
Feature Comparison
| Feature | Xero | KeyPay |
|---|---|---|
| Headquarters | Wellington, NZ (AU operations in Melbourne) | Sydney, NSW |
| Entry Price | $37/mo inc GST | Quote |
| 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. | Payroll-only. BAS stays in the connected accounting product. |
| 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. | Award interpretation is Plus-only on keypay.com.au/pricing and /feature/automation-for-awards. Vendor copy: pre-built modern awards kept up to date with Fair Work. Not a Fair Work certification. Standard does not include it. |
| Bank Feeds | Big 4 + 50+ banks | N/A |
| Data Hosting | unclear | AU |
| AU Support Hours | 24/7 online support | Mon-Fri 9am-5pm AEST |
| Phone Support | No | No |
| Integrations | 1000+ apps | 30+ 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
KeyPay Plans
Standard
Quote
per employee
- ✓Employees: unlimited
- ✓Clients: unlimited
Most Popular
Plus
Quote
per employee
- ✓Employees: unlimited
- ✓Clients: unlimited
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
KeyPay
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
KeyPay
Pros
- Plus plan lists pre-built Modern Award interpretation and a pay conditions engine
- STP reporting and automated super payments listed on Standard and Plus
- Unlimited employees and clients on the published feature matrix
- AWS Sydney hosting on the trust page, with ISO 27001 and PCI copy
- Native accounting journals to Xero, MYOB and QuickBooks on the integrations page
- Built for accountants running many client payrolls
Cons
- AU pricing page is quote-only — previously stored $4/$6 per employee cannot be re-confirmed
- Payroll-only: no BAS, GST, invoicing or bank feeds
- Award interpretation is Plus, not Standard
- No phone support on the pages opened this check
- KeyPay is now Employment Hero — standalone KeyPay buyers are pushed to EH sales
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 KeyPay
KeyPay is best suited for businesses that need accountant bookkeeper, multi client payroll, complex modern awards.
Choose KeyPay if you are:
- Accountant Bookkeeper
- Multi Client Payroll
- Complex Modern Awards
- Hospitality Payroll