Xero Practice Manager vs Karbon vs FYI: which suits a small practice?

On This Page

1. XPM vs Karbon vs FYI, side by side
2. Which one fits your practice?
3. Xero Practice Manager
4. Karbon
5. FYI
6. What each would cost your practice
7. Other options
8. Your practice software and your website
9. Questions I get asked

If you run a small Australian accounting or bookkeeping practice, three practice software names you'll keep coming across are Xero Practice Manager, Karbon and FYI. They don't do quite the same job, they're priced in completely different ways, and two of them come with conditions that rule them out for some firms before price even matters. This guide sets out what each costs in Australian dollars, what each actually does, and which one fits a practice like yours, with a calculator and a four-question picker.

I build websites for accounting and bookkeeping practices and have no commercial relationship with Xero, Karbon, FYI or anyone else named here. I haven't run a practice on any of them. What I've done is read their Australian pricing pages, help centres and security pages, and set out what they say. Everything was checked on 11 October 2026.

XPM vs Karbon vs FYI, side by side

Scroll the table sideways to see every column.

The most important thing that table shows: these aren't three versions of the same product. FYI is built to sit alongside a practice manager such as XPM, syncing clients, jobs and time with it, so XPM handles jobs and billing and FYI handles documents and email. Karbon is the one trying to do most of it in one tool.

Which one fits your practice?

Xero Practice Manager

Xero's page puts it simply: "It's included free for practices at Silver, Gold or Platinum level." New and Bronze partners get 14 days free, then pay $163.90 a month including GST for up to 10 users. That's a flat fee for the practice, not per user, and works out to $149 before GST. Xero doesn't publish the price above 10 users at Bronze.

Getting to Silver

Partner status comes from points, mostly from the Xero subscriptions of the clients you look after. Silver is 75 to 299 points, and you need at least one staff member with an active Xero certification. Xero's partner program explainer gives the points per client: a Grow subscription earns 4.5 points if the client is billed directly, or 3 if you're billed. So, as a rough example, around 17 directly billed Grow clients or 25 partner-billed ones gets you to Silver, before any points for using Xero's other products. Joining the partner program itself is free.

One thing to check with Xero: its pages disagree on whether Xero Tax is free from Bronze or from Silver. They all agree that practice management is free from Silver.

What it does, and what it doesn't

Xero's page lists jobs ("Assign jobs to your staff and monitor progress"), time entry, billing with fixed prices or rates and markups, reports, a sync with the Xero ledger, and a link to tax returns through Xero Tax. Xero Tax lodges BAS and returns with the ATO. What the page doesn't describe is email filing, document management or a client portal. Xero points practices to its App Store for those, which is where FYI, SuiteFiles and others come in.

XPM is becoming Xero Partner Hub

If you're searching for Xero Practice Manager, you'll start seeing a new name. Xero is moving practice management, Xero Tax and Xero HQ into one platform called Xero Partner Hub. Xero's Australian page says practices are being moved across automatically and that "There are no associated changes to pricing, or the partner program." Apps built on XPM keep working, according to Xero's developer blog.

Karbon

Karbon's pricing page, set to Australian dollars, says "All prices exclude GST" and charges per user:

Scroll the table sideways to see every column.

The catch for a small practice: "Monthly subscription only available for teams of 4+." So a practice of one to three people pays a year up front. Every team member is a paid user. Both plans include the client portal, which Karbon says you can "include it on your website for easy access", document management and billing and payments.

Card payments through Karbon cost 1.95% + 30c for Australian Visa and Mastercard, 2.5% + 30c for Amex, and direct debit 1% + 30c capped at $4, plus 0.2% on payments over $2,000. E-signature credits start at A$150 for 100, though engagement letters sent through Karbon don't use them. Karbon connects to Xero, XPM, QuickBooks Online Accountant and Ignition; MYOB isn't on its integrations page.

On security, Karbon says its web application is SOC 2 Type 2 certified and that it "has not yet been independently certified as ISO 27001 compliant". Its security page doesn't name a country for data hosting.

FYI

FYI (you'll still see it called FYI Docs) is an Adelaide company whose own description is "a cloud document management and automation engine for accountants in practice." Its prices are in Australian dollars, per user per month, before GST:

Scroll the table sideways to see every column.

Two conditions decide whether FYI is even an option:

• It's Microsoft 365 only. Asked whether it works with Google Drive and Gmail, FYI's help centre says: "No, FYI is only available for practices using Microsoft 365." Its Outlook and Office add-ins want the latest desktop versions. Your Microsoft 365 licences aren't in FYI's price.
• Five users minimum. "A minimum of 5 users is required." A two-person practice still pays for five: A$150 a month on Intermediate, A$350 on Elite, before GST.

Elite can replace XPM for time and billing, but FYI says that to fully use those features you need to connect a Xero ledger. FYI syncs with XPM, MYOB AE, APS, CCH and others when it isn't the practice manager itself. Its security page says it's certified for ISO 27001 and that Australian and New Zealand data is stored in AWS data centres in Sydney. Migration and onboarding are quoted separately.

What each would cost your practice

For three people at Bronze: XPM is $149 a month, Karbon Team $177 or Business $267 (annual billing only at that size), FYI Pro $250 because of the five-user minimum, and XPM plus FYI Pro together $399, all before GST. At Silver, XPM drops to nothing and the stack to $250. At eight people, Karbon Team is $472 paid annually and FYI Pro $400.

Other options

• TaxDome sells in Australia at AU$1,500 a seat a year on a one-year plan, AU$1,300 on three years, billed upfront, and says GST doesn't apply for Australian customers. It has a client portal, e-signatures and billing. Capterra Australia rates it 4.7 from 3,626 reviews. It doesn't claim ATO lodgment.
• MYOB's practice range includes Practice Compliance, which MYOB says lets you "Send for e-sign, then lodge straight to the ATO". It doesn't publish prices. It suits practices with MYOB-ledger clients.
• CCH iFirm from Wolters Kluwer covers practice management, tax, documents and a client portal, with files stored in Australia on Microsoft Azure, by its own account. Prices aren't published.

Your practice software and your website

This is the part I deal with. None of these will win you a new client by itself, but some connect better to your website than others.

• Karbon's client portal works through a secure link, and Karbon suggests putting it on your website so clients can find it. Web forms from Cognito Forms or Typeform can feed new clients in through Zapier.
• FYI's forms can be shared as a secure link, and FYI says you can "Embed form links on your external website so that data flows seamlessly into FYI." The custom form builder is listed on Elite.
• Xero partner status includes a listing in Xero's advisor directory, which is another way clients find you. XPM itself doesn't provide forms for your website.

Whatever you use, I'd put a "Client login" link in the top corner of your site and a short "Become a client" page that explains how onboarding works. If you send proposals through Ignition, my Ignition review covers how its forms connect too.

Questions I get asked

How much does Xero Practice Manager cost?

It's free for practices at Silver partner status and above. New and Bronze partners pay $163.90 a month including GST for up to 10 users, after a 14-day free trial.

Is FYI Docs the same as FYI?

Yes. The product now trades as FYI, at fyi.app. It's document management and email filing for accounting practices on Microsoft 365.

Does FYI work with Google Workspace?

No. FYI's help centre says it's only available for practices using Microsoft 365.

Karbon vs FYI: which is better?

They do different jobs. Karbon combines email, workflow, a client portal, billing and payments. FYI is document management and email filing for Microsoft 365, and syncs with XPM. Karbon works with Google Workspace; FYI doesn't.

Can a small practice pay Karbon monthly?

Only with four or more users. Smaller teams pay annually: A$59 a user a month on Team or A$89 on Business, before GST.

What is Xero Partner Hub?

Xero's new platform bringing practice management, Xero Tax and Xero HQ together. Xero says practices are being moved across automatically, with no change to pricing or the partner program.