About Canstar's Most Satisfied Customers Accounting Software Award
Canstar's Most Satisfied Customers Accounting Software Award reveals the software that delivers the best consumer satisfaction to its business customers.
We ask Kiwi business owners to rate their satisfaction with their choice of accounting software brand by Overall Satisfaction, as well as important criteria such as Customer Service, Ease of Use, Functionality, Reporting and Value for Money.
Numbers crunched by Canstar's researchers:
- 267 Customers Surveyed
- 7 Brands Assessed
- 2 Brands Shortlisted
- 1 Award Winner
The best accounting software in NZ
The brands rated are listed below in order of best overall satisfaction.
1. Xero
Congratulations to Xero, the winner of Canstar's Most Satisfied Customers Accounting Software Award for the seventh 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: perfect 5-Star ratings across all our award categories.
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, and 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:
Ignite: $35/m
- Capture bills and receipts with Hubdoc
- Enter five bills
- GST returns
- Reconcile bank transactions
- Send quotes and 20 invoices
- Short-term cash flow and business snapshot
Optional add-ons:
- Additional payroll $4 per person
Grow: $83/m
- Capture bills and receipts with Hubdoc
- Enter bills
- Expenses for one person
- GST returns
- Payroll for one person
- Reconcile bank transactions
- Send quotes and invoices
- Short-term cash flow and business snapshot
Optional add-ons:
- Additional payroll $4 per person
- Additional expenses $5 per person
Comprehensive: $110/m
- Advanced cash flow tools
- Capture bills and receipts with Hubdoc
- Enter bills
- Expenses for five people
- GST returns
- Multiple currencies
- Payroll for five people
- Reconcile bank transactions
- Send quotes and invoices
Optional add-ons:
- Additional payroll $4 per person
- Additional expenses $5 per person
Ultimate: $125/m
- Advanced cash flow tools
- Capture bills and receipts with Hubdoc
- Enter bills
- Expenses for 10 people
- GST returns
- Multiple currencies
- Payroll for 10 people
- Reconcile bank transactions
- Send quotes and invoices
- Track 10 users' projects
Optional add-ons:
- Additional payroll $1 per person
- Additional expenses $5 per person
- Additional track projects $7 per person
MYOB
MYOB is an Australian multinational company that provides tax and accounting software to small and medium businesses.
It offers 14-day free trials on each of its plans. NB: all pricings ex GST.
All plans offer the same standard features:
Standard features
- Generate and export business reports
- Create and send unlimited invoices and quotes
- Scan and store receipts
- Track GST
- Track income and expenses
Optional Payroll available on AccountRight Plus & AccountRight Premier plans: $2 a month for each employee.
Lite plan: $35/m
- Connect up to two bank accounts
Pro plan: $56/m
- Connect unlimited bank accounts
- Location inventory
- Timesheets
AccountRight Plus: $94/m
- Advanced reporting and analytics
- Advanced inventory reporting, unlimited items/1 location
- Bill by time
- Connect unlimited bank accounts
- Timesheets
AccountRight Premier: $110/m
- Add two businesses
- Advanced reporting and analytics
- Advanced inventory reporting, unlimited items/locations
- Bill by time
- Connect unlimited bank accounts
- Timesheets
Choosing the right accounting software for your business
Across all of Canstar's awards, our research always highlights Value for Money as a main driver of consumer satisfaction.
And, our latest research data reveals that value has never been more important for accounting software users. In our 2021 research, it was cited as the top concern by 18% of respondents, this increased to 21% then 25% over the next two years.
However, this year, close to a third (32%) of small business owners in our survey cite Value for Money as the most important factor when rating their Accounting Software satisfaction, far greater than the 23% of respondents who cited Functionality.
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:
- Value for Money: 32%
- Functionality: 23%
- Ease of Integration: 15%
- Ease of Use: 15%
- Customer Service: 8%
- Reporting: 7%
