Best Accounting Software for Contractors: Xero vs MYOB for Builders

There is no single winner between Xero and MYOB for a builder, and any article that names one has usually compared brands instead of plan tiers. The decision turns on four things you can check yourself: which tier carries job costing, how many people you pay, what each connects to, and where each stops. Both are general ledgers that construction work stresses, and neither holds a progress claim or a retention. Every price below was read from the vendor's own Australian page in October 2026 and carries that date, because both moved pricing this year. This is the purchase decision; construction accounting software covers how a builder's ledger works.

Key Takeaways

• MYOB puts job tracking lower in its range, on Business Lite and Pro. Xero puts project time and cost tracking at the top, from Ultimate 10.
• Headcount is the real price lever. MYOB charges per employee paid; Xero bundles a headcount into the tier.
• MYOB ended offline mode for the AccountRight PC edition on 17 June 2026. The most-repeated reason to choose MYOB for a site with no coverage no longer holds.
• Both produce a TPAR natively. The claim that Xero does not is out of date.
• Neither handles progress claims or retention. Past that point the answer is a construction layer, not a different ledger.

What Each Plan Actually Costs, and What Each Tier Includes

Read the tier, not the brand. Both vendors put construction-useful features behind a paywall, and at different heights.

Xero, AUD including GST, checked October 2026:

Source: Xero AU pricing plans, which states prices are in AUD and include GST. The 80% first-three-months offer shown beside each plan (Comprehensive at $21.40, Ultimate 10 at $28.60) is promotional and reverts to the standard rate, which is the figure to budget on.

MYOB, checked October 2026:

Sources: MYOB AU pricing and the AccountRight Premier page. MYOB's published figures also include GST. The discounted first-term rates on the same page ($12/year, $94.50/year, $21/month, $66/month, $84/month) revert after the offer period, and quoting them as the price is the most common error in Australian comparison articles.

Where Job Costing Lives, and Which Tier You Have to Buy

The choice is between job costing inside the ledger and a job layer that syncs into it.

MYOB runs jobs inside AccountRight: a header-and-detail job hierarchy, budgets set per job by account, a percent-complete field that drives an adjusted budget, and a Jobs Budget Analysis report that compares actuals against it while the job is still running (MYOB jobs documentation). Basic per-job profit and loss sits lower, on Business Lite and Pro. Header jobs cannot carry transactions.

Xero tags rather than budgets. Tracking categories are capped at two active per organisation and no plan raises the limit, and Xero Projects is the time-and-cost layer from Ultimate 10. A builder who needs project and cost code at once is at that ceiling, which is where the wider ledger-and-app stack in our guide to job costing and cost control starts to make sense.

Retention and Progress Claims: Where Both Stop

The honest finding is that the two products are alike here. Neither holds a progress claim against a contract total. Neither treats retention as an asset with a release date. MYOB's jobs module supports milestone billing and per-job budgets, which gets closer, but retention is still manual on both. Xero's own community position has been a negative line item coded to a retentions account plus one draft retention invoice per project dated to the contract release date.

The test question is the same for either: can it list every retention held, by subcontract, with its release date attached? If the answer needs a spreadsheet, the ledger is not holding retention. The mechanics of claim and retention accounting, and the GST attribution rules behind them, are worked through in our guide to accounting software for builders, and the claim document itself is covered in progress claims software.

Payroll: The Crossover, Computed

MYOB charges per employee paid per month; Xero bundles a headcount into the tier price. That difference, not the feature list, decides the bill.

MYOB's per-employee Payroll premium fee rises to $5 from 1 November 2026 (MYOB price update). Two crossovers follow, and the second one moves on that date.

Flat fee versus per-employee. AccountRight Plus at $165 includes unlimited payroll. Against MYOB Business Pro at $70 plus $3 per employee, the flat plan overtakes at 32 employees. At the announced $5 rate, that crossover arrives at 20 employees.

Flat fee versus Xero's tier ladder. Xero's Ultimate 20 tier covers 11 to 20 people at $180, while AccountRight Plus covers unlimited payroll at $165. So from 11 employees, the flat MYOB plan is cheaper than the Xero tier that would cover the same headcount. This is arithmetic on two published price lists, not a recommendation: the $20 gap at 11 staff is small, and it buys different software.

One mechanic matters before you model it: MYOB Business Lite caps at 2 employees, and exceeding a limit forces a plan upgrade, so a builder taking on a third employee moves to Pro or AccountRight (MYOB payroll limits and fees).

App Ecosystem, TPAR, Offline Behaviour and Accountant Familiarity

What Each Connects To

Both connect to the construction apps a builder would run. The difference is depth and breadth. Xero's Australian app store listed 798 apps as at 9 September 2026 (Xero App Store Report 2026, an independent census, not a Xero figure), against "350+ apps" promoted by MYOB on its AccountRight Plus page. ServiceM8, Tradify, simPRO, AroFlo and Buildxact appear on both, and Xero's integrations with the first four are consistently described as the deeper two-way sync.

TPAR

Both produce a Taxable payments annual report natively. MYOB marks reportability per supplier and per transaction and generates a lodgement file (MYOB); Xero sets up to 12 inclusion rules and can lodge directly to the ATO (Xero Central). The widely repeated claim that Xero has no native TPAR is out of date.

Offline and Desktop Behaviour

This was MYOB's strongest construction argument, and it was retired in 2026. From 17 June 2026 the AccountRight desktop app (PC edition) only works with company files stored online; from version 2026.5 you can no longer open, edit or save files held locally (MYOB announcement). The desktop interface survives; the offline company file does not. Server Edition retains offline access as a stated short-term measure and receives only bug fixes after that date.

For a builder, the "works on a site with no coverage" line still carried by comparison pages is no longer true of either product. What replaces it is a mobile app plus a construction app that queues work offline, which is a stack decision rather than a ledger decision.

Accountant Familiarity

Xero is the more common default among Australian bookkeepers in the sources reviewed, and several advisers say so plainly, including The Builders Accountant. Treat it as a stated preference rather than a measurement: no source publishes a market-share percentage for either platform in Australian construction, so this page does not carry one.

Migration Cost If You Switch

The cost is in the design decisions, not the file transfer. MYOB uses a numbered chart of accounts with headers and linked accounts, which Xero does not, so the accounts list has to be designed rather than copied. Xero tracking categories do not map one-to-one onto MYOB jobs. Payroll carries year-to-date figures, leave balances and STP reporting categories. Every connected app has to be switched over on the cutover date, or sales post twice or not at all.

MYOB will migrate the current and previous financial year of transactions at no cost through its partner, quoted at ten business days, but migrated payroll arrives as general journals so the BAS link will not pick up payroll history (MYOB migration service). Migration providers put a typical Australian move at two to six weeks end to end; that is provider-published and indicative rather than measured. The sources agree that for an established builder with years of job history, migration cost often exceeds the benefit of changing ledgers.

For the disambiguation that trips people up: "MYOB desktop" describes the installed interface, not a file that works without internet.

If You Are X, Pick Y

Neither Is a Construction System

Both are general ledgers that construction work stresses, and the ceiling is the same on each. When the gap is estimating, procurement and site execution rather than bookkeeping, no plan tier in this comparison closes it.

If you need progress claims and retention as first-class objects, you need a construction layer or an ERP; construction ERP software covers the threshold where that becomes the cheaper answer. If the field workflow is the real problem, start with job management software for builders and our construction management software category guide.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Xero or MYOB Better for a Builder in Australia?

Neither wins in aggregate. MYOB puts per-job profit and loss lower in its range, on Business Lite and Pro, and its AccountRight tier carries per-job budgets. Xero puts project time and cost tracking at the top, from Ultimate 10, and has the deeper integration with Australian construction apps. Decide on your plan tier and your headcount, not the brand.

Does Xero or MYOB Do Job Costing for Construction?

Both do, differently. MYOB AccountRight runs jobs inside the ledger, with per-job budgets and a Jobs Budget Analysis report. Xero uses tracking categories, capped at two active per organisation, plus Xero Projects from Ultimate 10. Neither holds a claim against a contract total or tracks retention with a release date.

Which Is Cheaper for a Builder with Employees, Xero or MYOB?

It depends on headcount, and you can compute it from the two published price lists. AccountRight Plus at $165 with unlimited payroll becomes cheaper than MYOB Business Pro's per-employee line at 32 employees, or 20 employees once the announced $5 per-employee rate applies from 1 November 2026. It becomes cheaper than Xero's covering tier from 11 employees.

Does MYOB AccountRight Still Work Offline?

No. From 17 June 2026 the AccountRight desktop app for PC only works with company files stored online, and from version 2026.5 locally stored files can no longer be opened, edited or saved. MYOB AccountRight Server Edition retains offline access as a stated short-term measure and will receive bug fixes only, not new features.

Can Xero or MYOB Handle Progress Claims and Retention?

Not natively. Neither holds a progress claim against a contract total, and neither treats retention as an asset with a release date and a release trigger. MYOB's jobs module gets closer through milestone billing, but retention remains manual on both. The test is whether the system can list every retention held, by subcontract, with its release date.

Name the Gap Before You Name the Product

Fix your cost code structure first, because it decides whether any ledger will work. Then name the gap you are closing: job costing depth, payroll and compliance load, or claims and retention. Only the first two are a ledger decision.

DDDI Group works with builders on the estimating, quoting and delivery systems around the books. Start with builder enablement to see how we structure that work.