The Xero app marketplace has over one thousand integrations. Most businesses need fewer than ten. The challenge isn’t finding apps — it’s knowing which ones genuinely add value and which ones just add complexity.
For expense management, Dext (formerly Receipt Bank) remains the gold standard for capturing and categorising receipts automatically, with near-perfect accuracy and a clean Xero sync. For payments, GoCardless integrates directly with Xero invoices to enable automatic direct debit collection — transforming debtor days for businesses with recurring revenue. For cashflow forecasting, Fluidly and Float both integrate with Xero to build rolling forecasts from your actual data, without the need to build and maintain a spreadsheet model.
For payroll, Xero’s native payroll works well for straightforward businesses, while Gusto and Moorepay offer more sophisticated options for larger or more complex teams. For reporting, Fathom takes your Xero data and produces beautiful, narrative-led management reports that are genuinely useful for board packs and investor updates. The right stack depends on your business — but the principle is the same: automate the routine, so your time goes on the decisions only you can make
