Switch from Xero to Guliel: what moves today and how

Guliel is accounting and finance-operations software with a double-entry general ledger. Invoicing, expenses, purchasing, stock, payroll, reporting and the ledger run on one engine. There is no Xero importer or connector today; a connector is planned. So switching is a staged move: your customer contacts come across by spreadsheet, your accountant posts opening balances as one journal entry, you issue new documents in Guliel from a start date, and your Xero history stays in Xero or in the exports you keep.

You don't have to cut over on one day. Run Guliel beside Xero first, let automations take over routine steps, and move fully when you're ready.

What moves today

Xero data	Into Guliel today	How
Customer contacts	Yes (live)	Spreadsheet import on Guliel's template: Name, Tax ID, Email, Phone, Address, City. Only Name is required.
Supplier contacts	Not imported	The spreadsheet import adds rows as customers. Add suppliers in Guliel, or invite them by email (live).
Account balances at your start date	Yes, as a journal entry (live)	Your accountant posts one balanced manual journal entry in Guliel's ledger.
Products and services	Not imported	Add them as items in Guliel (live).
Bills	Not imported	New bills are captured in Guliel by scan or from a connected inbox (live).
Chart of accounts, manual journals	Not imported	Guliel's chart of accounts is fixed; custom accounts are planned.
Invoices, credit notes, quotes, payments, payroll history, attachments	Not imported	They stay in Xero and in your exports.
Bank feeds, bank rules, reconciliation	No equivalent yet	Guliel has no bank feeds or bank reconciliation today.
Tracking categories	No equivalent	Expenses carry a category from your own list; the ledger has no tracking dimension.
Fixed assets	No register	Depreciation is booked as a manual journal entry.

The switch, step by step

1. Pick a start date. The first day of a month or quarter, after your accountant has closed the period before it in Xero and filed its VAT or GST return. The first day of your financial year keeps the opening entry to balance-sheet accounts.
2. Export from Xero first. Contacts to CSV, plus the trial balance, balance sheet, general ledger detail, aged receivables and aged payables as at the day before your start date. These files are your record if you later cancel Xero.
3. Start free and set up the organisation. Each Xero organisation becomes its own Guliel organisation under one login.
4. Prepare the contacts file. Xero keeps customers and suppliers in one contact list, so delete supplier-only rows first, or they arrive as customers. Then rename the headers (mapping below).
5. Import customers. A manager opens the Customers page, chooses Import, then Other / spreadsheet template, and uploads. Guliel shows which columns it recognised and which it will ignore, then marks each row new, already imported or invalid, with the reason. Nothing is saved until you commit, and a bad row is skipped on its own. Files are CSV or .xlsx, up to 10 MB or 50,000 rows; re-uploading skips rows already imported.
6. Add suppliers and items. Enter suppliers by hand or invite them by email. A supplier that accepts with its own Guliel organisation is linked to yours and sees the purchase orders you send it.
7. Post opening balances. On the Ledger page, your accountant adds one journal entry dated the day before the start date, carrying Xero's trial balance onto Guliel's accounts (cash and bank, receivables, payables, tax, prepaid expenses, deferred revenue, payroll liabilities, equity, revenue, expense). Debits must equal credits or it won't save.
8. Lock the period. A manager sets the books lock date to the day before the start date, the same idea as a Xero lock date. Nothing dated on or before it can be posted or deleted.
9. Run new work in Guliel. Issue invoices, record full or partial payments, raise purchase orders and capture bills. Captured expenses wait for a person's approval before they reach the ledger.

Three things to know about the opening entry:

• Guliel has one cash-and-bank account, so several Xero bank accounts become one balance.
• A journal entry carries no customer or supplier, so opening receivables and payables are one figure each, not a list per contact.
• Xero accounts with no counterpart, such as fixed assets, loans or stock on hand, have no account of their own until custom accounts arrive (planned). Your accountant decides how to carry them; the Xero trial balance stays the detailed record.

Open Xero invoices and bills stay in Xero. When one is paid, your accountant records it in Guliel with a journal entry (debit cash and bank, credit receivables; or the reverse against payables for a bill). Guliel's receivables and payables reports list only documents in Guliel. Keep Xero, or at least its exports, for as long as you need the history; Xero's terms decide how long a cancelled organisation stays readable.

Xero contact columns to Guliel headers

Xero's contacts export usually names its columns as below; check your own file before renaming.

Xero column	Guliel header
ContactName	Name
TaxNumber	Tax ID
EmailAddress	Email
PhoneNumber	Phone
POAddressLine1	Address
POCity	City

Other columns can stay; the column check lists the ones Guliel will ignore.

What you get after the move

• A ledger that fills itself. Issued invoices, approved expenses, recorded payments and approved payslips post to a double-entry general ledger; manual journal entries cover opening balances, accruals and depreciation. Reports include a trial balance, balance sheet, general ledger, income statement and cash flow, and the ledger exports as CSV. See accounting in Guliel.
• One engine instead of an app stack. Xero extends through its app marketplace and connectors. In Guliel, invoices, receipts, expenses, purchase orders and payslips are one document object with a type and a direction, and the ledger is computed from the same lines as receivables and payables, so they agree by construction. Purchasing and stock run on the same records, and automations trigger on invoice, expense, payment, purchase-order and stock events.
• Your accountant in the loop. Invite them with their own role (manager, contributor or viewer). Captured expenses wait for approval and a manager sets the lock date; a sign-off queue for AI work is planned. See Guliel for accountants.
• AI under the same rules. Any MCP client (Claude, ChatGPT, Copilot) connects through OAuth 2.1 and acts within your role and scopes, under the numbering and balancing rules a person works under. See MCP.
• Documents for 39 countries. Invoices, receipts, credit and debit memos as PDF in the formats of 39 countries, including the UK, Australia and New Zealand. See invoicing.

Check these before you switch

• Bank reconciliation. Guliel has no bank feeds or bank reconciliation yet. If you close each month by reconciling bank lines in Xero, plan for that.
• VAT and GST returns. Guliel produces tax reports by period, with adapters for Israel, Singapore and the USA. It does not file returns; GST/VAT return preparation is planned. If Xero prepares or submits your returns today, such as Making Tax Digital VAT returns in the UK, keep that in place.
• Payroll. Guliel calculates statutory payroll for Singapore (CPF, SDL, FWL, self-help group funds). Elsewhere it produces payslips without statutory deductions and files no payroll returns, so outside Singapore keep Xero Payroll or your provider. See payroll.
• E-invoicing. Guliel documents are PDF today. Its own Peppol access point is built, awaiting OpenPeppol certification and not yet connected to the app. If you send Peppol e-invoices from Xero, keep doing that there for now.
• Repeating invoices and quotes. Guliel has no repeating-invoice setting and no quote document. An automation on a monthly schedule can create invoices instead.
• Payments. Guliel records payments against documents; it doesn't process them. PayPal payment links are built and not switched on yet.

Time and cost

The contacts import takes minutes; the opening entry takes as long as your accountant needs to map accounts. There is no migration weekend, because the history doesn't move.

Importing costs nothing on any plan. The Free plan is $0 per organisation, with 200 invoices, 100 expense scans, 10 reports and 5 automations a month. Standard ($20) and Premium ($99) per organisation per month are published prices; paid plans are not on sale yet. Pricing is per organisation, not per seat: see pricing.

Still comparing? The side-by-side is at Guliel vs Xero.

FAQ

Can Guliel import my Xero data directly?

No. There is no Xero importer or connector today; a connector is planned. Customer contacts come across by spreadsheet and opening balances by one journal entry.

Do I still need Xero for my books after switching?

No. Guliel keeps its own double-entry general ledger, with journal entries, a trial balance, a balance sheet and a books lock date, and work done in Guliel posts there. Bank reconciliation is not in Guliel yet. Keep Xero while you collect old invoices or need its history.

Will my Xero invoice numbers carry over?

Xero invoices aren't imported, so nothing is renumbered. They stay in Xero as they are. New documents you issue in Guliel follow Guliel's own numbering for your country.

What happens to my Xero chart of accounts?

It stays in Xero. Guliel's chart of accounts is fixed, so your accountant maps Xero's balances onto it in the opening journal entry. Custom accounts are planned.

Can I run Guliel and Xero side by side?

Yes. There is no exclusivity and no deadline. You can issue documents and capture expenses in Guliel while Xero stays in place, and export Guliel's ledger as CSV for your accountant. You move fully when you're ready.

What about my Xero add-ons?

They stay connected to Xero. Guliel doesn't connect to them. Guliel has a REST API, an MCP server and automations that can call an outbound webhook, if you want to connect your tools to Guliel instead.

Is there a cost to migrate?

No. Importing is free on every plan, including Free.

Start free, import your customers, and post your opening balances when your accountant is ready.