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Xero Projects brings time and expense tracking into a project workflow connected to quoting, invoicing, and financial review. You can record work with a timer or manually, then use chargeable time and expenses to prepare customer invoices. Whether it fits depends on your billing model, team’s time-entry needs, and the Projects plan availability in your country.
What Xero Projects does for time tracking and billing
Xero describes Projects as a way to track time and expenses against work, connect that activity to quotes and invoices, and monitor project profitability. It is more than a stopwatch: project setup, task rates, expense capture, billing, and review all affect whether recorded hours become useful, accurate invoices. See Xero Central’s overview of Xero Projects.
The general workflow is to create a project for a customer, assign staff, break the work into tasks, set estimates and charge rates, and estimate expenses. You can then quote, record time, enter actual expenses, invoice chargeable work, and compare project activity with the budget. Configure task rates and chargeability to match your actual billing policy, and review invoice details before sending them.
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Xero’s US time-tracking page describes two ways to log work: start and stop a timer, or enter time manually. The Xero US time-tracking page explains those methods.
#1 Best Overall
- Timer: Start tracking while doing the task and stop when finished. This suits work that can be recorded as it happens.
- Manual entry: Enter time after the work is done. This can suit staff who keep their hours elsewhere during the day, but depends on timely, accurate entry.
- Copy an entry on mobile: Xero’s UK mobile instructions describe copying an existing time entry. This can help when similar work recurs, but confirm the current app behavior and availability for your region. See Xero’s UK mobile time-tracking instructions.
Before moving your team’s timesheets into Projects, check that your local plan includes it and that the available desktop and mobile entry methods suit how staff work.
How tracked time becomes an invoice
Billing depends on how the project is priced. Xero describes setting task charge rates and creating invoices from chargeable time and expenses. Its Canada project page also describes fixed-price and time-and-materials invoicing. These options are not interchangeable: an hourly task rate is useful for time-and-materials work, while a fixed-price project should be invoiced according to its agreed price rather than treating every tracked hour as an additional customer charge. See Xero’s Canada Projects page.
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- Set up the project and tasks: Link the project to the customer, assign staff, and define the work in tasks.
- Set estimates and rates: Add time estimates and task charge rates where relevant. Decide which work and expenses are chargeable under your agreement.
- Record actuals: Log time against the appropriate task and enter project expenses.
- Prepare the invoice: Use the project’s chargeable time and expenses for billing, or follow the agreed fixed-price arrangement.
- Review before sending: Check task descriptions, quantities, rates, expenses, and chargeability against your contract and billing policy.
Review project costs and profitability
Projects can help compare task and expense activity with a project budget and review profitability. That view is only as useful as the estimates, rates, time entries, and expenses recorded against the work. Use it to spot differences between budgeted and actual activity; do not assume that tracked time alone is the same as profit or a final accounting result.
Check plan availability and local pricing
Projects availability and subscription details vary by country and can change. Xero’s UK mobile instructions name plans that include Projects in the UK, but that is not evidence of availability or plan names elsewhere. Xero’s US pricing page says US subscription prices increase from October 1, 2026; check the current local details rather than applying a US price or plan to another country. Consult Xero’s US pricing page, and check the relevant country’s Projects page for its current eligibility and terms.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.When to consider a Xero-connected time-tracking app
If Projects does not fit your team’s timesheet process or job workflow, compare external options against the gap you need to solve. Xero’s job and project management app collection includes apps for workflows such as timesheets and invoicing. Marketplace inclusion does not establish that a particular app syncs the fields your business needs.
- Confirm which project and time-entry features are available with your Xero plan and in your country.
- Compare desktop and mobile entry methods, including how staff record recurring work.
- Check support for hourly, fixed-price, or time-and-materials billing.
- Find out what task, time, and expense detail appears on invoices.
- Check whether the app provides the budget and profitability visibility you need.
- Read the specific app listing to see which data moves to and from Xero, and how synchronization works.
Choose based on the end-to-end workflow, not just the ability to run a timer. Accurate billing also depends on the detail that reaches the invoice and the checks your team makes before sending it.
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