Licensing

Cancelling Xero: the one-month notice, who can cancel, plan changes and what happens to your data

16 October 202612 min read

Xero's terms describe a monthly subscription fee, so there is usually no annual renewal date to diarise. That does not mean you can stop paying the day you decide to leave. Under Xero's terms you can terminate at any time, but on one month's notice, and you are billed for that month whether or not you use Xero. Xero's own cancellation article adds the detail that catches small businesses out: only the subscriber can cancel, and the subscriber might be your accountant or bookkeeper.

This guide covers how the subscription runs, the notice period, who can cancel and how, what happens to connected apps, downgrading as an alternative, how price and term changes reach you, and what happens to your data when you leave. It is based on Xero's UK terms of use (last updated 3 August 2026), under which UK customers contract with Xero (UK) Limited, and on Xero Central help articles as they stood in October 2026. The terms say the pricing plan you were offered, including its invoicing, payment, auto-renewal and cancellation terms, forms part of them, so check the plan details you saw when you subscribed. If you use Xero through a bank or other connected platform rather than directly, that platform's terms also apply.

How a Xero subscription runs

Monthly fee: section 15 says using Xero generally requires a monthly subscription fee based on your subscription type.
Automatic renewal: section 55 says the subscription continues for the period covered by the fee paid or payable, and section 56 says that at the end of each billing period the terms automatically continue for a further period of the same duration, charged on a recurring basis until you cancel.
Free periods: section 14 says that if you choose a plan during a free period and give your billing details, you are billed automatically when the free period ends. Xero's cancellation article says a trial subscription can be cancelled immediately; the one-month notice applies to paid subscriptions.
No refunds: section 59 says no refund is due if you or Xero terminate in line with the terms, subject to section 68, which preserves rights the law does not allow Xero to exclude. The introduction to the termination section adds that you will only pay for services that have been provided to you.

One month's notice, counted from the day you cancel

Section 57 says you may terminate your subscription at any time by giving Xero one month's notice in advance, and that you still pay all relevant subscription fees up to and including the day of termination. Xero's cancellation article puts it the same way: when a paid subscription is cancelled there is a one-month notice period during which you are still billed, even if you do not use Xero, and you can still access your organisation during that time.

The month is not tied to your billing date. Xero's own example: if your subscription invoice arrives on the 21st of each month and you cancel on 16 July, your final invoice covers 21 July to 15 August. The notice runs forward from the day the subscriber cancels, so each day of delay after you decide to leave moves the last billed day back by a day. That differs from contracts where the notice period counts back from a renewal date; see how SaaS notice periods work for that pattern, and rolling software contracts for how a rolling term like Xero's fits in.

Only the subscriber can cancel, and it might be your accountant

Xero's cancellation article says only the subscriber can cancel a Xero subscription, and that this might be your accountant or bookkeeper. Its article on the subscriber explains that every organisation has one: the person who created the organisation, or who had the subscriber role transferred to them. Only the subscriber can update the billing contact details, change the subscription payment details, change the pricing plan, transfer the subscription to someone else, or cancel it. Section 9 of the terms puts the responsibility the same way: the subscriber controls how the subscription is managed and who can access it.

That matters when the subscriber is not someone you employ. If your accountant set Xero up for you, they hold the cancel button, and a change of accountant is the moment to agree who the subscriber will be. If the subscriber has left or cannot be reached, Xero's article on that situation says the subscription has to be transferred to someone else in the company through Xero support, and that for security reasons the process includes contacting the subscriber at their email address: Xero says it cannot bypass the subscriber and must tell them about any transfer request. That takes time, so sort it out well before the month you want to cancel.

How to cancel a Xero subscription

For a subscription billed through Xero, the cancellation article says you need to use the web version of Xero, and gives these steps:

Click the organisation name, then select Subscription and billing.
Click Cancel subscription.
View the final date you will be billed for the subscription, and select your reason for cancelling.
Click Confirm cancellation.

Note the final billing date that screen shows, because it is where your notice ends. The same article says a subscription billed through the Apple App Store or Google Play has to be cancelled through the iOS or Android version of the Xero Accounting app, which redirects you to the store. If there is an outstanding amount or the subscription is suspended, the overdue amount has to be paid before the subscriber can cancel. A cancellation applies to one subscription only, so a business with several organisations cancels each one separately. And if your Xero organisation is enrolled with a connected platform, section 57 says you follow that platform's termination policies instead.

The article also says the subscriber can stop the cancellation at any time during the notice period, from the same Subscription and billing page. Whichever route you use, keep a record of the date you cancelled and the final billing date. If you ever need to send Xero a formal notice under the terms, section 67 says notices to Xero must go to legalnotices@xero.com. See how to serve a notice of non-renewal for keeping proof of when notice was given.

Cancelling Xero does not cancel your connected apps

Xero's cancellation article is explicit that cancelling a subscription does not cancel connected app subscriptions, and that each must be cancelled individually to avoid further charges. Section 32 of the terms adds that third-party products come with their own terms, covering things like pricing and refund policies. If you connect other apps to Xero, list them before you cancel, check each one's notice terms, and cancel them in an order that does not leave you paying for an app connected to an organisation you can no longer open.

Downgrading instead of leaving

If the problem is cost rather than Xero itself, the cancellation article suggests downgrading to a lower-priced plan if you need ongoing access, and both it and the pricing plan article say there is no read-only plan. The pricing plan article sets out how a change works:

Only the subscriber can change the plan, using the web version of Xero: click the organisation name, select Subscription and billing, then click Change plan.
You can upgrade at any time, but you can only downgrade once you have been on your current plan for 30 days.
A downgrade limits your access to features immediately. Moving to a plan that excludes a feature such as projects or expenses removes it straight away, and the article warns that this might mean losing certain features and historical data specific to that feature.
If you pay in advance, you can downgrade now or wait until the end of your billing period. Downgrade now and you get no credit for the rest of the period; your next invoice shows the new plan's price.
If you are invoiced at the end of your monthly billing period, the charges are split by the number of days the organisation spent on each plan.
Changing plan does not affect any promo codes or discounts on your subscription.

So if you pay in advance, waiting until the end of the billing period avoids paying for features you have already lost, unless you need the change at once. Either way, check first that nothing you rely on lives in a feature the lower plan drops.

Price rises and changes to the terms

Section 15 says the pricing plan may be updated or amended from time to time, that changes will not apply retrospectively, and that if you are a subscriber Xero will make every effort to let you know, pointing to section 74 for how and when. Section 74 says Xero will reasonably endeavour to give 60 days' notice of material changes before they take effect, unless there are circumstances outside its control, by email or by a visible notice in the service. It also says that if Xero decides, in its reasonable discretion, that a change is not material, it may not notify you.

If you find a changed term unacceptable, section 74 lets you terminate by giving the standard advance notice, which is the same one month. Read together, a full 60 days' notice of a material change leaves time to be gone before it applies, as long as the subscriber cancels within the first month of it. Section 67 says Xero sends its notices to the email address provided through your subscription, so make sure that inbox is one somebody reads, and treat a price or terms email from Xero as a decision with a date on it.

Leaving: your data is archived, not handed back

Section 60 says that once a subscription is terminated, by you or by Xero, it is archived and the data you submitted or created is no longer available to you. Xero keeps it for a period consistent with its data retention policy, during which the subscriber can reactivate the subscription and get access again by paying the subscription fees. The same section says you can ask Xero to remove your data completely.

The cancellation article fills in the practical side. All users keep access to the organisation during the one-month notice period, and Xero recommends exporting your data during that time. After the notice period, Xero archives the organisation's data to comply with record-keeping requirements. The retention period varies by region, and if the subscription is still cancelled when it ends, the data is permanently deleted and you would need to add a new organisation to use Xero again.

Getting back in costs money. For temporary access, the article says to reactivate the subscription and then cancel it straight away, with the one-month notice applying again, and to see data from features such as projects, payroll or expenses you need a subscription that includes that feature. Xero's reactivation article adds that a promo code applied to your first subscription will not apply when you reactivate. Export everything you, and your accountant, will need before the notice month runs out.

Keep Xero's notices and invoices reaching the right person

Section 11 makes keeping your information up to date, including a current email address, your responsibility. Payment details matter as much. Section 58 says that if subscription fees go unpaid, Xero will take reasonable steps to tell you, may suspend the subscription if you have not paid within 7 days of the due date, and may terminate it if you have not paid within 14 days. A card that leaves with a departing subscriber, or billing emails going to an inbox nobody reads, can put the subscription at risk without anyone noticing. When someone leaves, check who the subscriber is, whose card pays and where the billing emails go, and add those checks to your offboarding checklist.

A routine for Xero

For each Xero organisation, write down the plan, the monthly cost, the billing date shown in Subscription and billing, who the subscriber is, whose card pays, and which connected apps are billed alongside it.
If the subscriber is your accountant or bookkeeper, agree who will act if you want to change plan or leave, and revisit it whenever you change accountant.
If you plan to move off Xero, pick the day you want to stop paying, and have the subscriber cancel one month before it.
During the notice month, export the data you need to keep, and cancel or move each connected app under its own terms.
Treat an email from Xero about a price or terms change as a deadline: decide within the first month of its notice whether to stay, downgrade or leave.

Each vendor in this series handles notice its own way. Xero's month runs forward from the day you cancel, while Zoom's 30 days count back from the renewal date and a direct Google Workspace subscription has no contractual notice period at all. Read the guide for each tool you run rather than applying one rule of thumb to all of them.

Tracking Xero in StackTrackr

Record each Xero organisation's subscription as its own tool, and each connected app as a separate tool with its own cost and renewal date. Enter the monthly cost with a monthly billing cycle, tick Auto-renews, and set the renewal date to your next billing date from Subscription and billing. Make the tool's owner the person in your business who decides whether you stay on Xero, even if the subscriber is your accountant, so the reminders reach someone who can act on them.

Leave the notice period blank. StackTrackr works out a cancellation deadline by counting the notice period back from the renewal date, but Xero's month runs forward from the day you cancel, so there is no cancel-by date to calculate, and entering 30 days on a monthly tool would only produce a deadline that has nearly always passed already. The extra month is a cost of leaving rather than a date you can miss. Once the subscriber has cancelled, set the renewal date to the final billing date and switch auto-renew off, so the reminders count down to the day Xero ends.

If Xero gives notice of a price change, schedule the price change with the date it takes effect so your forecasts include it. Keep the cancellation confirmation, the final invoice and anything else you need to prove what was agreed in the tool's document vault. Have a look at what it tracks, or start a free trial and add your Xero subscription first.