We trial the software solo bookkeepers and small firms rely on — by running identical sample books through each one. No employer to please, no vendor relationships to protect, and every verdict earned on the same data.
162
Transactions per trial
5
Planted traps
32
Checklist points
$0
From vendors, ever
— The Trap Report —
Five errors planted in every test ledger · what each tool caught, from our published trials
| QuickBooks | Xero | FreshBooks | |
|---|---|---|---|
| i. The duplicate charge | missed | missed | caught ✓ |
| ii. The mid-month refund | suggested wrong | missed | no netting |
| iii. The unguessable vendor | mangled the clue | left honest ✓ | flagged it ✓ |
| iv. The foreign-currency charge | fee snagged | booked cleanly ✓ | booked cleanly ✓ |
| v. The two-week feed gap | signaled, vaguely | invisible | no check |
Fig. 1. From our published trials — the test dataset is public; run the books yourself.
Head-to-head
We ran an identical quarter of deliberately messy books through QuickBooks Online and Xero — same imports, same planted errors, same checklist. Here is what each caught, what each missed, and which one a solo practice should build on.
Final score — 32-point checklist
Xero
25
QuickBooks
21
Last verified Aug 10, 2026
Pricing desk
Eight of twelve landlord apps have a free tier. Only three offer a trial with no card. Here is what is paying for the rest.
Last verified Sep 24, 2026
Original research
Two tools held our card and warned us a week out. Three took no card and told us nothing. Guess which pair let us keep our books.
Last verified Sep 17, 2026