Xero budgeting software and forecasting tool for growing companies
Xero budgeting software turns the actuals already in Xero into a budget you can run the company on. Budgeter.ai connects read-only, drafts next year from 12 to 24 months of your Xero profit and loss, tracks budget vs actual by department after every sync and adds the 12-month cash forecast and scenarios the Xero Budget Manager does not have.
Read-only connections. Encrypted data. Cancel anytime.
Budget, September
$286K
Approved version
Actual, September
$271K
5.2% under budget
Example figures inside the product interface.
What Xero budgeting does and where it stops
The Xero Budget Manager is a sound place to start. This is what it covers, and what a company usually needs once a budget has more than one owner.
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| What you need | Xero Budget Manager | Xero export to a spreadsheet | Budgeter.ai on top of Xero |
|---|---|---|---|
| Annual budget by account and month | Yes, typed in or copied from last year's actuals | Yes, built by hand | Drafted from 12 to 24 months of actuals, then edited |
| Budget vs actual | Budget Variance report | Pasted in after each close | Refreshed after every sync, with a note on each large variance |
| Department budgets | One budget per tracking category option | Manual tabs | Accounts grouped into departments, each with an owner |
| Reforecast during the year | Edit the budget or start another | Copy the file | Draft, approved and reforecast versions side by side |
| Cash flow forecast | Short-term projection of invoices and bills | Separate model | 13-week and 12-month forecast with runway |
| What-if scenarios | No | New tab for each question | Asked in plain English, saved and compared |
| Overspend alerts | No | No | Alerts at 80 and 100 percent of a limit, on Growth and up |
| Extra cost | Included in your Xero plan | Your time | From $74 a month billed yearly |
If one person keeps one budget, the Xero Budget Manager does the job at no extra cost. You set up the year, copy last year's actuals as a starting point, nudge a few lines up or down, and run the Budget Variance report after each close.
It gets harder when the budget has to answer questions. Why is marketing 12 percent over? Can the agency afford two more designers in Q1? What happens to the bank balance if the largest client pays in 60 days instead of 30? A Xero budget stores the numbers you entered. It does not explain a gap, react to a hiring decision or show cash six months out.
Most teams answer those questions in a spreadsheet. The profit and loss gets exported, someone adds forecast columns, and the file is right for about a week. Every close means another export, another paste and another round of fixing broken formulas.
Budgeter keeps Xero as the source of actuals and does the planning beside it. Your bookkeeper keeps working in Xero exactly as before. The budget, the monthly budget vs actual review and the forecast update on their own each time the books sync.
What you get when Xero feeds the budget
All of this runs on the data already in your Xero organization. There is no import template to prepare.
A budget drafted from Xero actuals
Budgeter reads 12 to 24 months of your Xero profit and loss by month and proposes next year by account and department. Seasonal months and recurring costs are already in the draft.
Budget vs actual by department
Group Xero accounts into departments and give each one an owner. Owners see their own lines, how much of the month is used and which accounts moved.
Versions you can compare
The approved budget stays fixed while you reforecast the rest of the year as often as you like. Draft, approved and reforecast sit next to each other.
Cash forecast and runway
Add bank balances and planned payroll, and the budget becomes a 13-week and 12-month cash forecast with the month cash would run out at current burn.
Spend limits with alerts
On Growth and up, set a monthly limit per department or vendor. The owner hears about it at 80 percent and again at 100 percent, while the month is still open.
Questions in plain English
Ask what a 10 percent price increase does to margin, or what two hires in January do to runway. The AI CFO answers from your Xero numbers and shows its assumptions.
How to budget from Xero in four steps
Most companies see a drafted budget the day they connect. No implementation project, no sales call.
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01
Connect your Xero organization
Sign in to Xero from Budgeter and approve read-only access to the chart of accounts and reports. Budgeter never writes to Xero.
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02
Map accounts to budget lines
Budgeter proposes a budget category for each Xero account and lets you group them into departments with an owner. Fix the few that need it.
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03
Approve the drafted budget
Next year is drafted from 12 to 24 months of your Xero profit and loss, by account and month, with seasonality kept. Edit any line and approve the version.
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04
Review every month
After each sync you get budget vs actual, the cash forecast and runway. Reforecast the remaining months while the approved budget stays fixed.
The full list of what Budgeter reads from Xero, and how the cash view is built, is on the Xero cash flow forecast page. If another entity runs on QuickBooks Online, the same account can read it too, as described on the QuickBooks budgeting tool page.
A worked example for a 25 person agency on Xero
Picture a hypothetical creative agency with 25 people and about 3.4 million dollars in yearly revenue. The bookkeeper builds the budget in the Xero Budget Manager each January by copying last year's actuals and adding 8 percent to revenue.
In September the Budget Variance report shows the agency at 271,000 dollars of spend against a budget of 286,000. On that report the month looks fine. What it does not show is that marketing is 12 percent over because a conference sponsorship was paid early, that two client retainers end in November, and that the cash low point will land in February at about 190,000 dollars.
With Budgeter reading the same Xero organization, the September sync surfaces all three. The marketing line carries a note naming the account behind it. The reforecast drops the two retainers from December, and the cash view shows the February low point and 14.5 months of runway at current burn.
The owner then asks whether the agency can still hire the senior designer planned for January. The answer comes back with the fully loaded monthly cost and the new runway, which turns a gut call into a number the partners can agree on. That planning step is covered in more depth on the headcount planning page.
Who adds a budgeting tool to Xero
Xero stays the system of record. These are the teams that usually outgrow the Budget Manager first.
If the company is small and owner-run, the small business budgeting software page covers the simpler setup.
- Owners of agencies, studios and service firms on Xero You want the plan, the actuals and the months of cash left on one screen without waiting for the bookkeeper's monthly pack.
- Bookkeepers who rebuild the forecast in a spreadsheet The export, paste and reconcile routine stops. Actuals arrive with each sync and every reforecast keeps its history.
- Companies with department or location budgets Each department gets an owner who sees only their lines, with spend limits and alerts on Growth and up.
- Fractional CFOs and advisory firms with Xero clients Run several client organizations from one account on Scale, each with its own Xero connection, budget and board pack.
- Founders planning hires against a tight cash position Each planned role shows its loaded cost and what it does to runway before the offer letter goes out.
Which Budgeter plan fits a Xero company
Every plan connects to Xero. Prices are public and you can start today without a demo call.
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| Plan | Monthly | Billed yearly, per month | Fits | Budgeting scope |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Small Business | $149 | $74 | One Xero organization, owner or bookkeeper | Annual budget, budget vs actual, cash forecast, 5 scenarios, 3 users |
| Growth | $599 | $299 | Department budgets and a hiring plan | Adds spend limits, headcount and revenue planning, board pack, 25 scenarios, 10 users |
| Scale | $1,999 | $999 | Up to 5 entities, fractional CFOs | Adds consolidation, department budgets with approvals, unlimited scenarios, audit log |
| Enterprise | $4,999 | $2,499 | Up to 25 entities | Adds SSO, SCIM, custom roles and an uptime SLA |
Every limit for each plan is on the pricing page. If you are weighing a broader set of tools, the budgeting and forecasting software overview shows how the budget, forecast and scenarios fit together.
Questions about budgeting with Xero
Connections are read-only and encrypted. Your Xero books are never changed and your data is never used to train public models.
Does Xero have budgeting?
Yes. Xero has a Budget Manager where you build an overall budget, or budgets by tracking category, by account and month, and a Budget Variance report that compares them with actuals. It is a grid you fill in and a report you run. It does not draft the budget for you, forecast cash for the year or compare scenarios.
Can you create a budget in Xero?
You can. In Xero you open the Budget Manager from the Reports or Accounting menu, choose an overall budget or a tracking category, pick the period and type or copy the monthly amounts per account. Budgeter starts from the same Xero accounts but drafts the amounts from your history, so you edit a plan instead of filling an empty grid.
What is the best budgeting tool for Xero?
For one simple budget kept by one person, the Xero Budget Manager is enough. Companies with 5 to 500 people that want a drafted budget, department owners, a 12-month cash forecast and what-if scenarios add a dedicated planning tool that reads Xero. Budgeter does this from $74 a month billed yearly, with every price public.
Can Xero do budget vs actual?
Xero shows budget vs actual through the Budget Variance report once a budget exists in the Budget Manager. Budgeter adds what that report leaves to you: department owners who see only their lines, a written explanation of each large variance, alerts before month end and a reforecast that rolls the result forward.
Does Budgeter change anything in my Xero organization?
No. The connection uses read-only scopes for settings and reports. Budgeter reads your chart of accounts and monthly profit and loss. It never creates or edits invoices, bills, bank transactions or journals, and your budget lives in Budgeter rather than the Xero Budget Manager.
How much does Xero budgeting software cost?
Budgeter Small Business costs $149 a month, or $74 a month billed yearly, and covers the Xero connection, the annual budget, budget vs actual, the cash forecast and 5 saved scenarios. Growth, at $599 a month or $299 billed yearly, adds spend limits, headcount and revenue planning and the board pack.
Related planning modules
- Xero cash flow forecast What Budgeter reads from Xero and how the cash view is built.
- Budget vs actual Review each month by department with a note on every large variance.
- Cash flow forecasting A 13-week and 12-month view of the bank balance.
- Scenario planning Ask what-if questions and compare the answers side by side.
See how long your cash lasts before you connect Xero
Enter a few numbers to see runway and the month cash runs out, then connect Xero to get a drafted budget and budget vs actual every month.
Forecasts and scenarios are estimates based on your data and assumptions, not financial, investment, tax or accounting advice.