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360books vs Xero, Sage & QuickBooks — for South Africa
Xero, Sage and QuickBooks are excellent, mature accounting tools. But most were built for other countries and bolt South Africa on afterwards. Here's a straight comparison for an SA business.
| Feature | 360books | Xero | Sage | QuickBooks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Built for South Africa (SARS-native) | ✓ | ~ | ✓ | ~ |
| VAT201 return prepared for you | ✓ | ~ | ~ | ~ |
| Payroll: PAYE, UIF & SDL | ✓ | ~ | ✓ | ~ |
| IRP5 & EMP501 | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Employment Tax Incentive (ETI) | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Employee leave & expense-claims portal | ✓ | ~ | ~ | ~ |
| Automatic monthly pay run + bank EFT file | ✓ | ~ | ~ | ~ |
| Online quote acceptance (customer clicks Accept, deal auto-wins) | ✓ | ~ | ✗ | ~ |
| Drip email sequences for leads | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Public meeting-booking page (bookings become leads) | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Hourly wages & 1.5× overtime payroll | ✓ | ~ | ✓ | ~ |
| HR built in — employee files, warning register, contract generator | ✓ | ✗ | ~ | ✗ |
| Employee timesheets on the portal feeding payslips | ✓ | ✗ | ~ | ✗ |
| BCEA leave expiry & termination payout automation | ✓ | ✗ | ~ | ✗ |
| Provisional & company tax estimates | ✓ | ✗ | ~ | ✗ |
| AI CFO — ask your numbers anything | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| AI bank categorisation | ✓ | ~ | ~ | ~ |
| Bank reconciliation | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Invoicing, quotes & customers | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Online invoice payments ("Pay now" link) | ✓ | ~ | ~ | ~ |
| Stock control with automatic cost of sales | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ~ |
| Purchase orders → goods received → bill | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ~ |
| Sales orders, delivery notes & back-orders | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ~ |
| Customer price lists & credit limits | ✓ | ~ | ✓ | ~ |
| AI matches supplier-invoice lines to your stock items | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| CRM & sales pipeline (built in) | ✓ | ~ | ~ | ~ |
| Time tracking & billing (built in) | ✓ | ~ | ~ | ~ |
| Annual financial statements pack | ✓ | ~ | ~ | ~ |
| Priced in Rands (from R199/mo) | ✓ | ~ | ✓ | ~ |
| Free accountant seat | ✓ | ✓ | ~ | ~ |
| Import from Xero / Sage | ✓ | ~ | ~ | ~ |
| One company, several trading names (t/a on invoices) | ✓ | ~ | ~ | ✗ |
| Job costing — progress claims, retention, WIP | ✓ | ~ | ~ | ~ |
| Contractors, PSPs & fixed-term staff (3616 / 3619) | ✓ | ✗ | ~ | ✗ |
| EMP501 reconciliation against the ledger | ✓ | ✗ | ~ | ✗ |
| Cash-flow what-if scenarios | ✓ | ~ | ✗ | ~ |
| Purchase approval limits | ✓ | ~ | ~ | ~ |
✓ = built in · ~ = partial or via a separate product/add-on · ✗ = not available. Comparison reflects our understanding of typical SA offerings and may change — check each provider's current features.
Where 360books is different
1. It's SARS-native, not localised
VAT201, EMP201, IRP5, EMP501, ETI, provisional tax and the SARS compliance calendar are built in — not add-ons or a separate payroll product. You prepare your SARS submissions from the same place you keep your books.
2. There's an AI CFO
Ask "how did we do last month?" or "can I afford to hire?" and get a plain-English answer grounded in your actual numbers. AI also categorises your bank transactions and reviews your books for issues.
3. It handles how South African businesses are actually shaped
One registered company trading under two or three names is normal here — and splitting it into separate books is how you end up with half a VAT201. 360books keeps it as one taxpayer, tags each brand, and heads invoices "Your Company (Pty) Ltd t/a the brand" so the tax invoice stays valid under s20(4). You get a profit & loss and a budget per brand while VAT201, EMP501 and your financials stay whole.
The same goes for who you pay: a full-time "contractor", a fixed-term employee, a personal service provider and a labour broker are taxed four different ways, and getting it wrong bills the employer. 360books applies the right PAYE, UIF and IRP5 source code per type, and records the independent-contractor test with your reasons and the date.
4. It's priced in Rands
Plans start at R199/month, with a free accountant seat — no currency conversion, no surprises.
When one of the others might suit you better
To be fair: Xero and QuickBooks have huge global app ecosystems and integrations; Sage has deep enterprise and industry-specific products in South Africa. If you need a specific third-party integration or you're a large, complex operation, they're worth a look.
But if you're a South African small business that wants invoicing, banking, SARS and payroll in one place — with an AI CFO and local pricing — that's exactly what 360books is for. And if you're already on Xero or Sage, you can bring your history across in minutes.
Switch to books built for South Africa
Try 360books free — invoicing, banking, VAT, payroll, HR, CRM, stock and an AI CFO, from R199/month.
Get started — or try the live demo first, no signup needed