Best MYOB Alternatives in 2026: 13 Accounting Tools for Australian and NZ Businesses

Xero is the first stop for most Australian and New Zealand businesses leaving MYOB, with QuickBooks Online, Saasu and Reckon close behind depending on budget and how much payroll depth you need. This article is built for an Australian or New Zealand reader specifically: every price is in AUD, and the compliance sections cover GST, BAS, Single Touch Payroll (STP) Phase 2 and superannuation, not US sales tax or 1099s. If you're a US or UK reader, this is the wrong list for you.

MYOB is not a bad product. It's deeply embedded in the ANZ accounting and bookkeeping profession, STP Phase 2 and BAS lodgement are built into the core rather than bolted on, and AccountRight's desktop-cloud hybrid still matters to businesses that want offline access. Most switches happen for specific reasons: the jump from Business Lite to Pro to AccountRight Plus is confusing once payroll enters the picture, the desktop-hybrid workflow feels dated next to browser-first competitors, and businesses expanding into services, multi-entity structures or heavier automation often find MYOB's ecosystem thinner than Xero's. None of that makes MYOB wrong for every business. It makes it worth comparing against what else is actually available in this market. Every price below was checked against the vendor's own pricing page in August 2026, and every price cell states its currency and billing unit so you're never comparing a monthly figure to an annual one by accident.

Key Facts

• Single Touch Payroll Phase 2 is now the permanent, fully enforced reporting standard for every Australian employer, with no further transition relief (Australian Taxation Office).
• The Superannuation Guarantee rate reached its legislated final step of 12% on 1 July 2025 and holds at 12% through 2026-27 (Australian Taxation Office).
• From 1 July 2026, Payday Super requires employers to get super into an employee's fund within 7 business days of each payday, with the Superannuation Guarantee Charge applying to late payments (Australian Taxation Office, Fair Work Ombudsman).
• 3.4 million businesses were registered for GST in Australia at 30 June 2024 (Australian Taxation Office, GST Administration Annual Performance Report).
• Australian small businesses waited an average of 22.9 days to be paid and were paid 6.0 days late on average in the June quarter of 2026 (Xero Small Business Insights, vendor-reported).
• In New Zealand, employers must file payday information with Inland Revenue within 2 working days of each payday, and the default KiwiSaver contribution rate rises from 3% to 3.5% from 1 April 2026 (Inland Revenue NZ).

Updated August 2026.

Quick Comparison Table

MYOB's Own Pricing at a Glance (Normalised to Annual AUD)

MYOB mixes annual and monthly billing on the same pricing page, which makes its plans genuinely hard to compare at a glance. Here's every price with its actual unit, plus a normalised annual figure so you can see what a year on each plan really costs.

Heavy first-term promotional pricing runs on most of these plans at various points in the year. The figures above are MYOB's regular, non-promotional prices, which is what you'll actually pay from month or year two onward.

Stage Fit Matrix

Sizing and Persona Table

1. Xero: The default ANZ switch from MYOB

Xero is the obvious first comparison for anyone leaving MYOB in Australia or New Zealand, and for most businesses it's also the right answer. The structural advantage over MYOB and QuickBooks alike is that Xero charges no per-user licence fee on any plan: add your bookkeeper, your accountant and your entire ops team without a per-seat bill. For teams evaluating Xero against QuickBooks specifically, QuickBooks vs Xero breaks down the two head to head.

Xero's product philosophy is bank-feed-first: reconciliation is genuinely clean, the third-party app ecosystem (Stripe, Shopify, HubSpot, hundreds more) is the widest of any tool on this list, and GST tracking with direct BAS lodgement is native rather than an add-on. Payroll and cashflow forecasting scale with the plan: Ignite includes payroll for 1 person, Grow for 2, and Ultimate 10 for 10, with higher Ultimate tiers stepping up from there. If your shortlist is narrowing to Xero specifically, the full Xero alternatives roundup is worth reading before you commit either way.

Where it costs more than MYOB Business Lite at the entry tier, and where bill entry, project tracking and multi-currency are gated behind higher plans (Comprehensive and up), is where switchers sometimes get caught out mid-migration.

Pricing (AUD): Ignite $37/month, Grow $78/month, Comprehensive $107/month, Ultimate 10 $143/month (payroll for 10), Ultimate 100 $300/month, Ultra $500/month. All regular prices, verified at xero.com/au/pricing-plans in August 2026. A promotional discount runs on new signups; the figures above are the regular ongoing price.

ANZ compliance: STP Phase 2 and GST/BAS lodgement are both native.

Best for: ANZ businesses of almost any size that want unlimited users and don't need MYOB's desktop-hybrid option.

2. QuickBooks Online (AU): Deep GST reporting from a globally recognised platform

QuickBooks Online is Intuit's global product localised for Australia, and it's a legitimate MYOB alternative rather than a US import with an AUD price slapped on. GST tracking and e-lodge BAS are built into every tier, and the reporting engine (class tracking, project profitability, budgets vs actuals) is strong for the price once you're past Simple Start. For a side-by-side against its most obvious rival, the QuickBooks alternatives roundup covers where it wins and loses beyond MYOB specifically.

The product philosophy is breadth over specialisation: Plus adds inventory tracking, budgeting and up to 40 classes and locations, while Advanced (25 users) adds workflow automation and custom reporting fields. Where QuickBooks differs sharply from MYOB and Xero is payroll: it isn't bundled into any plan. QuickBooks Payroll, powered by Employment Hero, is added separately during signup with its own additional fees, so budget for that as a second line item rather than assuming it's baked into the headline price.

Pricing (AUD): Simple Start $33/month (1 user), Essentials $60/month (3 users), Plus $84/month (5 users), Advanced $125/month (25 users). All regular prices, verified at quickbooks.intuit.com/au/pricing in August 2026. Intuit runs a 70%-off introductory promo; treat the regular price as the real cost going forward.

ANZ compliance: GST tracking and e-lodge BAS are native. STP Phase 2 payroll is available via the Employment Hero-powered add-on, not bundled.

Best for: AU businesses that want a globally standard platform with strong reporting and are comfortable pricing payroll separately.

3. Reckon: The budget-conscious, Australian-owned alternative

Reckon is the option most switchers overlook, and it shouldn't be. It's an ASX-listed, Australian-built company, its Reckon One product includes unlimited users on every plan, and its regular pricing undercuts both Xero and QuickBooks Online by a meaningful margin.

Reckon One's philosophy is stripped-down value: Accounting Plus covers invoicing, expense entry, bank feeds, GST tracking for BAS, budgets and 30-plus reports, all with no per-seat charge. Accounting Premium adds inventory management for up to 10 active items, along with timesheets and project management. The trade-off is ecosystem depth: Reckon's third-party app marketplace is a fraction of Xero's size, and its brand recognition among newer bookkeepers has faded as Xero and MYOB dominated the last decade of ANZ accounting education.

Pricing (AUD): Accounting Plus $24/month, Accounting Premium $46/month. Both unlimited users. Payroll is a separate module priced per active employee; check Reckon's current rate at signup rather than assuming a flat fee. Verified at reckon.com/au/accounting-software in August 2026. A steep first-6-month promo is running; the figures above are the regular ongoing price.

ANZ compliance: STP-compliant payroll and native GST/BAS reporting.

Best for: Price-sensitive AU small businesses that want unlimited users without Xero or QuickBooks pricing.

4. Zoho Books: Deepest automation if you're already in the Zoho stack

Zoho Books is the accounting layer of the Zoho suite, and its value multiplies fast if you already run Zoho CRM, Zoho Projects or Zoho Desk. Contacts, deals and invoices sync automatically, and the workflow engine (auto payment reminders, recurring invoices, approval chains) is genuinely stronger than tools twice its price. If you're evaluating the broader Zoho stack rather than just accounting, the Zoho Books alternatives guide covers the wider comparison.

The honest limitation for an Australian MYOB leaver with staff: Zoho Books has no native STP payroll. You'll need a marketplace integration like Payroll Hub for Zoho (built on Employment Hero) or a third-party service like CloudPayroll to stay STP-compliant, which adds a second subscription and a second vendor relationship to manage.

Pricing (AUD): Free (1 user + accountant, under A$50K revenue), Standard A$16.50/month billed annually (A$19.80/month billed monthly), Professional A$33/month, Premium A$44/month, Elite A$181.50/month, Ultimate A$319/month, all billed annually. Verified at zoho.com/au/books/pricing in August 2026.

ANZ compliance: GST tracking is native. STP Phase 2 payroll requires a third-party integration such as Payroll Hub for Zoho or CloudPayroll.

Best for: Growing AU/NZ SMBs already using Zoho CRM or other Zoho apps, with payroll handled through an integration.

5. Sage Intacct: Where AccountRight Premier-sized businesses graduate to

Sage Intacct isn't a like-for-like MYOB replacement, and it shouldn't be evaluated as one. It's what a business reaches for once MYOB AccountRight Premier's multi-currency and multi-business features stop being enough, typically when finance needs multi-entity consolidation, intercompany eliminations and audit-grade controls that spreadsheets can't hold together anymore.

Sage Intacct is sold in Australia through certified partners (FUJIFILM MicroChannel is one of several), not as a self-serve signup. Payroll and STP aren't built into the core ledger either; they're handled through a certified ANZ payroll partner such as Employment Hero, configured during implementation. That implementation is the real cost story: this is a multi-week partner-led project, not a same-day signup.

Pricing (AUD): Custom, quote only, sold through certified AU partners. No list price is published; treat any third-party dollar figure you see elsewhere as unconfirmed. Contact sage.com/en-us/products/sage-intacct or an AU partner for a quote.

ANZ compliance: GST/BAS reporting is configurable during implementation. STP Phase 2 payroll runs through a certified ANZ payroll partner, not natively.

Best for: Mid-market and enterprise ANZ finance teams that have genuinely outgrown MYOB AccountRight Premier.

6. Odoo: Full ERP depth for the price of one accounting seat

Odoo's pitch is unusual on this list: One App Free gives you Odoo Accounting alone, with unlimited users, at zero cost. That's a genuinely honest hook, not a bait-and-switch trial. If you later want inventory, manufacturing, CRM or HR in the same system, Standard and Custom unlock the full app suite. For teams weighing Odoo against other ERP-adjacent options, the Odoo alternatives roundup is a useful next read.

The compliance story has genuinely improved. Odoo 19 (Enterprise edition) added native STP Phase 2 and SuperStream processing, covering all ten STP Phase 2 income stream types, without needing a separate clearing house or third-party payroll product. That's a real differentiator versus Sage Intacct, NetSuite and Dynamics 365 Business Central, all of which lean on ANZ partner add-ons for payroll. The catch: BAS reporting and payroll compliance both require the Enterprise tier, not the Community edition, and Odoo doesn't publish AUD pricing, everything is billed in USD.

Pricing (USD, not localised to AUD): One App Free $0. Standard $8.95/user/month billed monthly, or $7.25/user/month billed yearly. Custom $13.60/user/month billed monthly, or $10.90/user/month billed yearly. Verified at odoo.com/pricing in August 2026.

ANZ compliance: STP Phase 2 and SuperStream are native in Odoo 19 Enterprise. BAS reporting also requires the Enterprise tier.

Best for: AU/NZ businesses that want accounting bundled with inventory or manufacturing without buying a separate ERP.

7. NetSuite: Multi-entity ANZ or global consolidation

NetSuite isn't an accounting tool, it's an ERP with accounting inside it, and it's worth naming plainly: if you're comparing NetSuite to MYOB, your business has either genuinely outgrown accounting software or someone is scoping the wrong tool. For businesses evaluating it against other ERP-tier options, the NetSuite alternatives roundup covers the field in more depth.

Where NetSuite earns its place on an ANZ list is multi-subsidiary consolidation: companies running entities across Australia, New Zealand and other markets, with intercompany transactions in multiple currencies, find that MYOB, Xero and QuickBooks all create manual reconciliation work that NetSuite's SuiteAnalytics and multi-book accounting eliminate. Payroll is the notable gap for ANZ buyers specifically: SuitePeople Payroll is a full-service product in the US, but there is no equivalent native payroll for Australia or New Zealand. STP compliance runs through certified ANZ ISV partners (BM Online, AVT and Annexa all sell NetSuite Australian Payroll add-ons) rather than out of the box from Oracle.

Pricing (AUD): Custom, quote only. No list price is published on netsuite.com. Base licence costs and per-user fees are negotiated with Oracle or a NetSuite ANZ partner. Same rule applies as Sage Intacct: treat any third-party dollar figure as unverified.

ANZ compliance: GST reporting is native. STP Phase 2 payroll requires a certified ANZ payroll ISV partner, not Oracle's own SuitePeople Payroll.

Best for: High-growth ANZ businesses or subsidiaries of global groups needing multi-entity ERP consolidation.

8. FreshBooks: AU service businesses that bill by time or project

FreshBooks is invoice software that grew a double-entry accounting engine, and it still thinks like invoice software first. For AU consultants, agencies, contractors and lawyers who bill by time or deliverable, that's a genuine strength: built-in time tracking, one-click estimate-to-invoice conversion, and a client portal that lets customers pay and view history without emailing your office. For a broader view of how it stacks up outside the MYOB-specific angle, the FreshBooks alternatives roundup is worth a look.

What FreshBooks explicitly doesn't do is payroll, and it has no direct BAS e-lodgement path either, its AU compliance stops at generating tax-time reports for your accountant. If you carry inventory, manage staff, or need multi-entity reporting, you'll hit walls quickly. The per-client pricing model (Lite caps at 5 billable clients) also means costs climb with your book of business in a way that can surprise a growing agency.

Pricing (AUD): Lite $29.00/month (5 clients), Plus $43.00/month (50 clients), Premium $60.00/month (unlimited clients), Select custom pricing. Team member add-on $16/month per user. Advanced Payments add-on $28/month. Verified at freshbooks.com/en-au/pricing in August 2026. A 50%-off 3-month promo is running; figures above are the regular price.

ANZ compliance: GST is tracked for tax-time reporting. No direct BAS lodgement, no payroll, no STP.

Best for: AU freelancers, agencies and service firms that need clean client billing more than full ledger depth.

9. Wave: Free AUD invoicing, but not built for AU payroll

Wave's core pitch, free accounting and invoicing forever, is real and worth understanding correctly before you rule it in or out. Bank reconciliation, unlimited invoicing and basic bookkeeping are genuinely free on the Starter plan, and you can set your account currency to AUD. Wave makes its money on payment processing fees and its Pro-tier add-ons, not on the core ledger. For the fuller picture beyond ANZ specifically, the Wave alternatives roundup is a useful companion read.

Here's the part that matters most for this list: Wave has no Australian bank feed integration, no BAS support, and no STP payroll capability at all, not limited, absent. Its payroll product only operates in the US and Canada. If your business has even one AU employee, Wave cannot get you compliant, full stop. It's genuinely useful only for a pre-employee AU sole trader who wants free invoicing in AUD and is prepared to hand a CSV export to their accountant at tax time.

Pricing: Starter (accounting and invoicing) free. Pro USD $19/month or USD $190/year, adds automatic bank import and multi-user access, but still without AU bank feeds. Payroll is US/Canada only and not usable for AU compliance. Verified at waveapps.com/pricing in August 2026.

ANZ compliance: None. No BAS, no STP, no SuperStream, no AU bank feeds.

Best for: Pre-employee AU sole traders who want free AUD invoicing and nothing more.

10. Thriday: AU banking and bookkeeping bundled into one account

Thriday takes a different shape entirely: it's an Australian business banking account with automated bookkeeping and tax lodgement built around it, rather than accounting software with a bank feed bolted on. Every plan, including Free, comes with up to 10 business bank accounts, a Visa debit card, and BPAY payments alongside unlimited invoicing.

The paid tiers are where the accounting depth shows up: Time-Saver adds automated reconciliation, receipt scanning and financial reporting, with direct BAS lodgement available as an add-on service. The Done-for-You tiers go further, bundling actual accountant support for tax and BAS lodgement into the monthly fee rather than leaving you to self-lodge. That makes Thriday closer to an outsourced bookkeeping relationship with software attached than a pure SaaS tool, which is exactly the appeal for a sole trader who wants banking and compliance handled together.

Pricing (AUD): Free $0 (banking, invoicing, GST tracking). Time-Saver $29.95/month or $299/year (adds automated bookkeeping, BAS lodgement as a paid add-on at $57). Done-for-You Tax $88/month on an annual commitment, or $880/year. Done-for-You BAS + Tax $119/month on an annual commitment, or $1,190/year. Verified at thriday.com.au/pricing in August 2026.

ANZ compliance: GST tracking is native from the Free tier. Direct or assisted BAS lodgement is available on paid tiers.

Best for: AU sole traders and micro businesses that want banking and bookkeeping handled in one place.

11. Rounded: Purpose-built for AU sole traders and freelancers

Rounded doesn't try to be a general ledger for a growing team, and it's honest about that. It's built specifically for the AU sole trader tax cycle: real-time tax estimates as you invoice, superannuation contribution tracking for the self-employed, and pre-filled Business Activity Statements on the Pro plan.

The product philosophy is narrow by design: quotes, invoices, time tracking, expense capture and tax-ready reports, with multi-currency invoicing included even on the Starter plan. Pro adds Open Banking-based bank feed integration, AI expense categorisation, and automatic GST tracking and calculation feeding directly into pre-filled BAS. What Rounded doesn't attempt is payroll or multi-user team accounting: this is a solo-operator tool through and through, and trying to stretch it past that use case is where it breaks down.

Pricing (AUD): Starter $23.95/month or $264.95/year. Pro $29.95/month or $329.95/year (adds bank feeds, AI categorisation, pre-filled BAS, super tracking). Verified at rounded.com.au/pricing in August 2026.

ANZ compliance: GST tracking and pre-filled BAS are native on Pro. Superannuation contribution tracking is for the self-employed operator only, not SuperStream for staff, since Rounded has no payroll.

Best for: AU freelancers, contractors and sole traders who want their tax obligations calculated as they invoice.

12. Saasu: The AU-built veteran with STP on every plan

Saasu is one of the longest-running Australian-built cloud accounting platforms, and it makes a case few competitors on this list can: every single plan, including the entry-level Small tier, includes Single Touch Payroll and Superstream at no extra cost. There's no payroll add-on to price separately and no tier where compliance is gated behind a higher plan.

Pricing is per accounting file, meaning per legal entity, which is a meaningfully different model from per-user pricing. A business running several related entities can predict costs more easily than with a tool that charges per seat. Plans scale by bank feed count, annual transaction volume and employee headcount rather than by feature gating: Small covers 1 employee and 1,000 transactions a year, while X-Large stretches to 80 employees and 100,000 transactions.

Pricing (AUD, GST-inclusive): Small $20/month (1 employee, 1,000 transactions/year), Growing $35/month (10 employees), Medium $50/month (20 employees), Large $90/month (40 employees), X-Large $250/month (80 employees). Verified at saasu.com/pricing in August 2026.

ANZ compliance: STP and Superstream are native on every plan, from the entry tier up.

Best for: AU businesses that want STP-compliant payroll bundled into every plan with no separate add-on to manage.

13. Dynamics 365 Business Central: Microsoft-grade ERP for businesses ready to scale past accounting software

Business Central is Microsoft's mid-market ERP, and it's the natural landing spot for a business that has outgrown MYOB AccountRight Premier and is already living inside Microsoft 365, Teams and the Power Platform. Finance, sales, inventory, project management and light manufacturing all sit inside one licensed platform, with Copilot-assisted features included in both paid tiers. For teams comparing it against other mid-market ERP options, the Dynamics 365 alternatives roundup covers the field.

The AU/NZ compliance story mirrors NetSuite's: Microsoft doesn't ship native STP Phase 2 payroll inside Business Central. You add a certified AppSource ISV partner (KeyPay/Employment Hero-based add-ons are the common choice) to handle AU payroll and STP reporting. GST reporting itself is covered through the AU localisation pack. Pricing is per user, paid yearly, and quoted excluding GST on Microsoft's own site, with GST added at checkout.

Pricing (AUD, excludes GST, paid yearly): Essentials AU$119.70/user/month. Premium AU$164.60/user/month. Team Members (limited, read-mostly access) AU$12.00/user/month. Verified at microsoft.com/en-au/dynamics-365/products/business-central/pricing in August 2026.

ANZ compliance: GST reporting is covered by Microsoft's AU localisation. STP Phase 2 payroll requires a certified AppSource ISV partner, not native.

Best for: AU/NZ businesses on Microsoft 365 that need full ERP capability, not just accounting.

Staying Compliant When You Switch: STP, BAS, Super and NZ Payday Filing

Whatever you pick, the switch itself isn't just a data migration, it's a compliance handoff. Three things matter most in Australia: Single Touch Payroll Phase 2, GST and BAS lodgement, and superannuation, all three of which are now permanent, fully enforced obligations with no transition relief left to lean on.

STP Phase 2 requires every pay event to disaggregate gross income into specific income types and components (ordinary earnings, overtime, leave, allowances, and more) and report it to the ATO in real time. It's been the mandatory standard since 1 January 2022, and by 2026 there's no grace period left for a new platform to grow into. Superannuation adds a second layer of urgency this year specifically: the Superannuation Guarantee rate is fixed at its final legislated 12%, but from 1 July 2026, Payday Super changes the timing rules entirely. Employers must get super into an employee's fund within 7 business days of each payday, not quarterly as before, and the Superannuation Guarantee Charge applies the moment that window is missed. If you're mid-migration when Payday Super lands, whichever platform you land on needs its payroll and super timing configured correctly from day one, not fixed retroactively.

New Zealand readers should treat this as a parallel checklist, not an afterthought. Inland Revenue's payday filing requires employment information for every pay event to be filed within 2 working days, PAYE and KiwiSaver deductions calculated correctly on each cycle. The default minimum KiwiSaver contribution rate for both employee and employer rises from 3% to 3.5% from 1 April 2026, extending to eligible 16 and 17-year-olds for the first time. Before you finalise a platform, confirm its NZ payroll localisation (native or partner-based) covers payday filing timing, not just PAYE calculation, since the filing deadline is the part that actually triggers IRD penalties.

How to Choose: Decision Framework

Migration Effort Comparison

What to Do Next

Don't switch on assumptions. Shortlist two tools from the decision framework above, ideally one that matches your budget (Reckon, Saasu or MYOB Business Pro) and one that matches your growth ceiling (Xero or QuickBooks Online), then run both free trials in parallel using a real month of your actual transactions, including at least one payroll run if you have staff. The tool that gets your BAS and STP reporting right on the first try, not the one with the nicer dashboard, is the one worth switching to.

If Xero and QuickBooks Online are already your final two, QuickBooks vs Xero walks through the decision in more depth than a roundup table can. And if MYOB isn't your specific starting point, just the general question of what to run in 2026, the best accounting software of 2026 covers the full category beyond this MYOB-specific angle. Whatever you choose, confirm STP Phase 2, GST/BAS and (if you're in NZ) payday filing are configured and tested before your first live pay run on the new platform, not after.