Best Accounting Software for Sole Trader Tradies in Australia (2026)

Here's the thing about Xero Starter: yes, it's $29/mo and you could get by on something cheaper. But Xero is the platform that plays nicely with everything else in a tradie's stack. ServiceM8 connects to it. Tradify connects to it. Dext connects to it. Your bookkeeper almost certainly uses it. Your accountant definitely knows it.

For a sole trader, the Starter plan gives you 20 invoices/month, 5 bills, automatic bank feeds, GST tracking, BAS reporting, and a genuinely clean bank reconciliation workflow. The 20-invoice limit only matters if you're invoicing more than 20 clients per month — most sole traders aren't. If you are, the Standard plan at $60/mo removes the cap.

The other reason Xero is the smart long-term choice: when you hire your first apprentice or take on your first employee, the payroll module is already there. You don't need to migrate your accounts to a different platform when your business grows.

Rounded is an Australian accounting platform built specifically for sole traders and freelancers — and it shows. The interface is genuinely simple. You don't need to understand double-entry bookkeeping. You log your income, log your expenses, categorise them, and Rounded handles the GST. BAS time is a single screen rather than a nightmare.

It handles invoicing (unlimited), expense tracking, income tax estimates, bank reconciliation, and BAS reports. It does not do payroll — if you have any employees at all, even a part-timer, you'll need a separate payroll tool or a move to Xero. It also has minimal integrations with job management apps, which is a real limitation if you're on ServiceM8 or Tradify.

The verdict: Rounded is excellent for tradies who operate entirely alone, invoice directly, don't use a job management app, and want the simplest possible solution at the lowest price. The moment you add staff or want your job app and accounting to talk to each other, Xero is worth the extra $14/month.

MYOB Lite handles invoicing, BAS, bank feeds, and basic expense tracking at $27/month. It's a perfectly functional platform. The reason it lands third is straightforward: it costs nearly the same as Xero Starter, does less in terms of integrations, and has a clunkier interface. Unless your accountant specifically uses MYOB and prefers it, there's no compelling reason to choose it over Xero for a sole trader.

Where MYOB earns genuine credit is payroll complexity. If you have award-covered workers with complex pay rates, MYOB AccountRight handles it better than Xero. But at the sole trader level, that's not relevant.

QuickBooks has a sole trader plan at $15/month that covers GST, BAS, invoicing, and basic reporting. It's cheap, and the product is capable. The problem for Australian tradies is that it's an American product — some of the terminology doesn't match Australian tax concepts, the Australian GST handling requires configuration, and AU accountant adoption is significantly lower than Xero. If your bookkeeper doesn't know it, you'll spend money on accountant time retraining them.