Evenbead

Compare · checked October 12, 2026

Evenbead and Xero, for books your AI agents touch

Xero is a mature platform with its own AI on every plan. Evenbead is built for your own AI agents to do the work, only within dollar limits you set, on books you can take out or run in your office. On price the two are close: Xero Growing is $59 a month, Evenbead Business $49. Here is what each does today, with sources.

Evenbead is pre-launch. Prices are proposed and nothing is for sale. Each Evenbead row says whether it is Built, a Pilot (built, not yet on live money or real company files) or Coming.

Side by side

What you get, row by row

Xero facts come from Xero's own pages unless the source says otherwise; numbers are as of October 12, 2026.

WhatXeroEvenbead
Monthly price (US list)Early $27, Growing $59, Established $97; up from $25, $55 and $90 on October 1, 20261,2Solo $19, Business $49, Advanced $99 (proposed; nothing is for sale yet) Plan term
People who can sign inNo per-user license fees1Unlimited people on every plan; agents are not seats Plan term
Built-in AIJAX on every plan at no extra charge3Categorization suggestions from your rules, vendor history and bank categories, each with its reason; a person or a rule posts. AI auto-post is coming, and only once it measures 99% precision Built
Your own agent writing to the booksOpen-source MCP server you host, which reads and writes7; hosted Claude connector is read-only8; XeroForce agent builder in early access4Hosted MCP server and REST API: every action in the app is an API operation, nearly all also MCP tools, over the same rules as people; connect with OAuth or a scoped key Built
Limits on what an agent may postAudit trail of automated actions; "you decide what runs on its own"4. We found no published per-entry cap, dry run or proposal queue for outside agentsPer-agent posting threshold in cents, dry run on every governed write, five proposal triggers, never approving your own proposal Built
API accessCharged by developer tier (connections and data egress) since March 2, 2026; the Journals API needs the top tier; API data may not train AI models6No charge for API access; plan rate limits (60, 300 or 1,200 requests a minute) Built
Proof of what agents didAudit trail of automated actions4Hash-chained audit log with the model and run of every agent write; a monthly agent audit report with the chain head, verifiable offline from an export Built
Where the books liveXero's cloud. We found no self-hosted or desktop editionOur hosting or yours: a self-host package (Docker) on your own machine; full export as JSONL, Parquet and a SQL dump Pilot
Bank feedsMature, direct and through partnersThrough Plaid; running on Plaid's sandbox until production keys are approved Pilot
Customer paymentsThrough Stripe or GoCardlessThrough your own Stripe account; runs in Stripe test mode until our company entity is formed Pilot
PayrollXero Payroll powered by Gusto, $36 a month plus $6 per person9Planned; not built Coming
Bigger businessesXero Ultra (Australia, A$500 a month): multi-entity reporting through Syft, priority support, data restore5One company per file; multi-entity is not built Coming

Fair fight

Which one to buy

Buy Xero if

  • you need payroll, live bank feeds or customer payments working today
  • you want a large app marketplace and advisor network
  • your team already lives in Xero and agents are a nice-to-have
  • you need multi-entity reporting (Xero Ultra, in Australia)

Buy Evenbead if

  • your own agents (Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini or in-house) should post, inside per-agent limits a person sets
  • you want every agent write dry-runnable, proposals for a person above the line, and a monthly report you can prove
  • the books should be able to live on your own machine
  • you can pilot pre-launch software with us first

FAQ

Questions people ask about Xero and AI agents

How much does Xero cost in the US in 2026?

As of October 12, 2026, Xero's US list prices are Early $27 a month, Growing $59 and Established $97, after a price change on October 1, 2026 (from $25, $55 and $90). The Early plan is capped at 20 invoices and 5 bills a month. Xero charges no per-user license fees.1,2

Is Xero's AI assistant JAX included on every plan?

Yes. Xero says JAX (Just Ask Xero) is available to all subscribers at no additional charge, as checked on October 12, 2026. JAX is Xero's own AI working inside Xero; connecting your own agent is a separate path, through Xero's MCP server or API.3

Does Xero have an MCP server for AI agents?

Yes, two. Xero publishes an open-source MCP server (MIT license) that you host yourself and that can read and write, including invoices, payments, bank transactions and manual journals. Xero also offers a hosted connector for Claude, launched in April 2026, which is read-only.7,8

Does Xero charge for API access?

Xero charges for API access by tier, not per call. Since March 2, 2026, developer tiers are priced by connections and data egress, from a free Starter tier to A$1,445 a month for Advanced; the Journals API needs the Advanced tier, and data from the API may not be used to train AI or machine-learning models. Evenbead doesn't charge for API access: each plan has a request rate limit instead.6

What is Xero Ultra?

Xero Ultra is a plan for medium-sized businesses, launched in Australia on July 7, 2026 at A$500 a month including GST. It adds multi-entity consolidated reporting through Syft, priority support and a service that restores specific data errors. It is a mid-market plan, not an agent plan: JAX is on every Xero plan.5

How do I limit what an AI agent can post in my accounting software?

On Evenbead, each agent has its own key with scopes and a posting threshold in cents. An agent's entry at or under its threshold posts; above it, or on an equity account, in a soft-locked period, with confidence below 0.7, or for a new customer or vendor, it becomes a proposal a person approves, and no agent can approve its own. Any governed write can be dry-run first. As of October 12, 2026 we found no other accounting product that publishes per-entry caps, dry runs or proposal queues for outside agents; Zoho Books' official MCP server requires admin approval and keeps audit trails, and Xero records automated actions for review.11,10,4

Can I self-host Xero or keep my books on my own computer?

No: Xero runs in Xero's cloud, and as of October 12, 2026 we found no self-hosted or desktop edition. Evenbead offers a self-host package (Docker) in pilot, and every plan can export the whole books at any time as JSONL, Parquet and a restorable SQL dump with the audit chain.

Can I prove which AI model made which entry?

On Evenbead, yes: agent writes must name their model (they are refused without it) and may name their run, and both are recorded in a hash-chained audit log. A monthly agent audit report lists each agent's entries, proposals, decisions, models and runs, with the chain's head hash for the month, which anyone can check offline against an export.11

Is Evenbead available today?

Not yet. As of October 12, 2026, Evenbead is pre-launch: prices are proposed and nothing is for sale. The ledger, the API and MCP server and the agent controls are built; bank feeds run on Plaid's sandbox, customer payments run in Stripe test mode, migrations from QuickBooks have been tested on synthetic files only, self-hosting is a pilot, and payroll is planned.

Does Evenbead have payroll like Xero?

No. Payroll is planned for Evenbead and is not built. Xero Payroll, powered by Gusto, became generally available on August 12, 2026 at $36 a month plus $6 per person. If you need payroll on day one, Xero has it today.9

Join the waitlist How AI agents are limited All features by plan

Sources and notes

  1. Xero US pricing plans: Early $27, Growing $59, Established $97 a month; Early capped at 20 invoices and 5 bills a month; no per-user license fees (checked 2026-10-12): www.xero.com/us/pricing-plans/.
  2. US price change effective October 1, 2026 (from $25, $55 and $90); reported by Insightful Accountant. Xero's own US notice was not found (checked 2026-10-12): blog.insightfulaccountant.com/xero-announces-u.s.-subscription-price-changes.
  3. JAX (Just Ask Xero) is available to all subscribers at no additional charge (checked 2026-10-12): www.xero.com/us/ai-in-accounting/jax/.
  4. Xero's AI governance: automated actions have an audit trail and "you decide what runs on its own"; XeroForce, a custom agent builder, in early access with general availability "later this year" (checked 2026-10-12): www.xero.com/us/ai-in-accounting/.
  5. Xero Ultra launched in Australia on July 7, 2026 at A$500 a month (including GST) for medium-sized businesses: multi-entity consolidated reporting through Syft, priority support and a data-restore service (release dated 2026-07-07, checked 2026-10-12): www.xero.com/us/media-releases/xero-targets-medium-businesses-with-ultra/.
  6. Xero developer pricing: paid tiers since March 2, 2026 by connections and data egress (Starter free, Core A$35, Plus A$245, Advanced A$1,445 a month); the Journals API needs the Advanced tier; API data may not be used to train AI or machine-learning models (checked 2026-10-12): developer.xero.com/pricing.
  7. Xero's open-source MCP server (MIT license), self-hosted, reads and writes (invoices, contacts, payments, bank transactions, manual journals and more) (checked 2026-10-12): github.com/XeroAPI/xero-mcp-server.
  8. Xero's hosted connector for Claude (April 2026) is read-only (checked 2026-10-12): claude.com/marketplace/connectors/xero.
  9. Xero Payroll powered by Gusto, generally available August 12, 2026, $36 a month plus $6 per person (checked 2026-10-12): www.xero.com/us/media-releases/xero-introduces-payroll-powered-by-gusto/.
  10. Zoho Books' official MCP server writes (invoices, expenses, bank reconciliation), requires admin approval before users act, lets admins choose the tools, and keeps audit trails (blog post 2026-04-30, checked 2026-10-12): www.zoho.com/mcp/.
  11. Evenbead's API and MCP documentation: scopes, idempotency keys, dry runs, posting thresholds, the five proposal triggers, the audit chain (2026-10-12): docs.evenbead.com/quickstart.html.

Xero is a trademark of Xero Limited; Evenbead is not affiliated. QuickBooks® is a registered trademark of Intuit Inc.; Evenbead is not affiliated. Product names are used only to identify the products compared. Something out of date? Write to hello@evenbead.com and we'll correct it.