Correction: Xero does not include practice management software in its subscription numbers.
What a big year for cloud. Accounting software vendors jostling for new customers have pushed up the number of businesses on cloud accounting software in several countries. The global stepchange to cloud is picking up speed.
Intuit was the first to crack the 1 million subscriber mark earlier this year, with Xero hot on its tail at 600,000.
Sage has started to pick up momentum with Sage One in the UK and South Africa, and has launched in Australia, Brazil and Malaysia. Sage’s latest results (out on 2 December) show that it has accelerated to pull neck and neck with Xero in the UK and claims to be growing faster.
The Australian market remains the most contested on the planet. Xero is a good way above MYOB at 260,000 to 150,000, and QuickBooks Online passed 33,000 several weeks ago. (Reckon and Saasu didn’t release customer numbers, while Sage doesn’t break out country numbers.)
I’ve included the number of businesses by country for reference. Unfortunately you can’t add up all the vendors’ figures to work out the percentage penetration as some vendors have listed multiple cloud programs used by one business or by non-trading entities. See the comments below the graph to see what is included in each figure.
The rate of growth is the most important aspect for determining the performance of each vendor. I’ll track this every six months to compare.
Also worth noting: MYOB is the only one of the vendors below pursuing the Australian and New Zealand markets only. It’s included here for Australian readers by way of comparison.
Number of Cloud Accounting Subscribers by Vendor
| # SMBs | QBO | Xero | Sage | MYOB | |
| US | 21M | 852K | 47K | – | – |
| Canada | 2M | 63K | – | – | |
| UK | 5M | 40K | 102K | 100K | – |
| Brazil | 10M | 32K | – | – | – |
| Australia | 2M | 33K | 262K | – | 150K |
| New Zealand | 460K | – | 163K | – | |
| India | 20M | 8K | – | – | – |
| France | 4M | New | – | – | – |
| Rest of World | 91M | 22K | 19K | 73K | – |
| Global | ~155M | 1,159K | 593K | 173K | 150K |
| Data released | 30/09/2015 | 02/12/2015 | 27/8/2015 | ||
| Source | Intuit | Intuit | ASX | Sage | MYOB |
What’s included?
Each vendor puts its best foot forward when it comes to subscriber numbers. These are not just subscriptions to client accounting programs.
Intuit: QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Online Self-Employed, QuickBooks Online Accountant (light practice management).
Xero: All Xero editions (Starter to Premium 100), Xero CashBook, Xero Ledgers.
Sage: Sage One, Sage One Payroll.
MYOB: MYOB AccountRight Live (Standard and Premier), MYOB Essentials Accounting, Accounting with Payroll and Cashbook. (It will include BankLink Online from its release in Q2 2016.)
Image credit: WhatisMyCar