How to Cancel Xero

Step-by-step instructions

1. 1

   Sign in as the subscriber and open My Xero

   Only the organization's subscriber can cancel a Xero subscription, and Xero notes that this might be your accountant or bookkeeper. If you're not sure it's you, the accountant step below shows where to check. Use a web browser: Xero says a subscription it bills directly has to be cancelled in the web version of Xero. Sign in, click the organization name, then select My Xero.

2. 2

   Open Subscriptions and choose Cancel subscription

   Click the Subscriptions tab. Each organization you're responsible for has a row showing its billing account, subscriber, country, plan and status. Click the three-dot menu at the end of the row and choose Cancel subscription, the last of six options. Change plan in the same menu keeps the subscription running, so leave it alone. Xero's help gives a second route for paid plans: click the organization name, select Subscription and billing, then click Cancel subscription.

   

3. 3

   Read the end date in Confirm cancellation

   A Confirm cancellation box opens. On a paid plan, Xero's own help screenshot shows it saying the subscription "will end in one month" and "You'll be billed up to" a date a month away: billing and access stop then. If you're still in a free offer period, the box names the day after the free period ends and says the subscription is free until then. Either way it warns that the organization "will no longer be accessible to you or any other users" and to make sure your data has been exported. You keep access until the end date, so you can confirm now and export before then.

   Heads up: On a paid plan, Xero's help screenshot shows a line at the top of this box: "Consider downgrading your subscription to continue using Xero." It's a save prompt. A cheaper plan still bills every month, and Xero says it has no read-only plan, so skip it if you want the charges to stop.

   

4. 4

   Pick a main reason and click Confirm cancellation

   Under "What is the main reason for canceling your subscription?" choose one of ten answers, from "Too expensive" to "Business changes (e.g shut down, sold or left)". Xero's help lists picking a reason as a step before confirming. Two answers, "Doesn't have the features I need" and "Other", say "please specify below". With Other picked and the text box empty, the box turns red with "Required". A short sentence is enough. Then click the red Confirm cancellation button.

   

5. 5

   Check the status says Cancellation due

   You're back on Subscriptions, where the Status column now shows an orange "Cancellation due on" badge with the end date. The capture we have goes straight from the confirm click to this page. That badge is your proof the cancellation went through. To undo it before that date, Xero's help says to click the organization name, select Subscription and billing, then click Stop Cancellation and Yes, stop cancellation.

   

6. 6
   If this applies to you

   Export your books during the notice month

   Every user keeps access to the organization during the one-month notice period, and Xero recommends exporting your data then. Once it ends, Xero archives the organization and nobody can open it, and there's no read-only plan to fall back on. There's also no single export: Xero says to export data from each area of Xero and run reports from the reports screen, and your user role decides what you can export (payroll reports need the approve payroll permission). As one r/xero member put it: "As far as I can tell, there's no bulk data export from Xero". If you need the books later, you have to reactivate and pay again, and payroll, projects or expenses data needs a plan that includes that feature.

7. 7
   If this applies to you

   If your accountant or bookkeeper is the subscriber

   Xero says only the subscriber can cancel, change the plan or transfer the subscription. To see who that is, check the Subscriber column in My Xero, or click the organization name, select Settings, and under General click Subscription and billing, which shows the subscriber's name and email. If it isn't you, ask that person to cancel. An accounting practice that pays for your subscription on its own billing account cancels it from My Xero, Subscriptions, Cancel subscription; Xero's partner help says the one-month notice applies there too and the practice is charged until it ends. The subscriber can also transfer the subscription to you, and if they've left your company, Xero has a separate help page for taking it over.

8. 8
   If this applies to you

   If you pay through Apple or Google

   If you bought Xero in the Xero Accounting app and Apple or Google bills you, Xero says to cancel using the iOS or Android version of that app, not the website. Xero's US terms say that if you subscribe through an app store, you follow that platform's termination policies instead. On an iPhone or iPad the subscription also sits in Settings, your name, Subscriptions, where Apple says to tap the subscription, then Cancel Subscription. On Google Play, open your subscriptions, choose Manage, then Cancel subscription; Google notes that uninstalling the app doesn't cancel. Invoices for these charges are in Apple's purchase history or Google's order history, not in Xero.

9. 9
   If this applies to you

   Cancel connected apps and check add-ons

   Cancelling Xero doesn't cancel the subscriptions of apps connected to it: Xero says each one has to be cancelled on its own to avoid further charges. If you use Xero Payroll, Xero bills its per-user fees for the previous month rather than in advance, so the last of them can turn up after the rest. To keep Xero but drop payroll, remove it from your plan through Change subscription instead of cancelling. Cancelling one organization doesn't touch any other subscription you pay for, and it doesn't delete your Xero login, which you delete separately if you want it gone.

10. 10
    If this applies to you

    If you're still charged after cancelling

    One more invoice after you cancel is normal, and it may land off your usual billing date. Xero's example: if you're normally invoiced on the 21st and cancel on 16 July, your final invoice covers 21 July to 15 August. If other subscriptions share the billing account, the cancelled one's final charges go on their next invoice. Beyond that, check My Xero, Subscriptions for the "Cancellation due on" badge, and for a second organization that's still active. One r/xero member who removed the company instead of cancelling the subscription kept being charged until they found the Subscriptions menu and cancelled there. Xero also says an overdue or suspended subscription has to be paid up before it can be cancelled. For anything else, start a support conversation from "Stuck? Let's get you sorted" at the bottom of Xero's cancel help page.