No, Power BI can't connect to Xero by itself. Xero isn't in Power BI's list of built-in data sources, and the Xero app Microsoft once offered inside Power BI was deprecated in 2019 and has since gone. To get Xero figures into Power BI you need something in between: a connector service, a data pipeline, or a small database that your reports read from. Before you pick one, check whether you need Power BI at all. If you only want reports from the accounts, Xero's own reports or a reporting app built for Xero are usually simpler and cheaper. Power BI earns its place when you want the accounts side by side with job, stock, CRM or timesheet figures.
What happened to the Xero connector
For a while Microsoft offered a ready-made Xero "content pack" in the Power BI service: you signed in to Xero and got a starter dashboard. As of 28 May 2019 it was deprecated, and Microsoft retired content packs altogether later that year. A replacement template app appeared for a time, but Power BI community threads report that it is no longer available, and Microsoft's documentation page for it has been removed. Xero is also absent from Microsoft's current list of Power Query connectors (checked October 2026).
When a forum post says "just use the Xero connector", it usually means one of the third-party products in Xero's App Store collection Integrate Xero with Power BI, each with its own subscription.
Why you want Power BI in the first place
Be honest about the goal, because it decides the option. If the question is "what's our profit by month, and who owes us money?", the answer is already in Xero, and Power BI adds licences and upkeep for little gain.
The usual real reason is different. The accounts are in Xero, jobs in a job system, stock in an inventory app, pipeline in a CRM, hours in a timesheet system and budgets in a spreadsheet. Every month someone exports from each one and rebuilds the management report in Excel. People quote different figures for the same thing. That is the problem our page on systems that give different numbers describes. Power BI looks like the answer because it can put everything on one page. But a dashboard only shows the numbers; it doesn't make them agree. The work is in connecting and matching the data underneath.
Your options, simplest first
1. Xero's own reports and exports
Start here, even if you end up somewhere else. Xero's reports can be customised, grouped, filtered by tracking category and compared across periods, and every report exports to Excel. You can even build a Power BI report on an exported spreadsheet and refresh it by hand.
- Good for: a monthly management pack from the accounts alone, one or two Xero organisations, a finance person who's comfortable in Excel.
- Trade-offs: someone runs the exports each time, and it can't see anything outside Xero.
2. A reporting app built for Xero
Xero's App Store has reporting and dashboard apps that connect to your organisation and produce management reports, budgets, cash flow views and multi-entity consolidations without you building anything.
- Good for: owners and finance managers who want better financial reporting fast, especially across several Xero organisations.
- Trade-offs: mostly limited to what's in Xero. If your key question needs job, stock or CRM data, it may not get you there. It's a monthly subscription, and the app company deals with Xero's API charges.
3. A Power BI connector service
These services sign in to Xero for you, copy the data on a schedule, and give Power BI something it can read, often with starter report templates. Some are listed in the Xero App Store collection above.
- Good for: a business that already uses Power BI and has someone who can model the data and build reports.
- Trade-offs: check how often the data refreshes and which Xero records are included; some connectors don't carry full journal detail. You pay for the connector and for Power BI licences for everyone who views the reports, and someone still has to own the reports.
4. A small data store that brings in your other systems too
This is the option that matches the real reason most businesses want Power BI. Data from Xero and your other systems is copied on a schedule into one small database, matched up, and checked against the accounts. Power BI (or Excel, or another reporting tool) then reads from that one place.
- Good for: combining the accounts with jobs, stock, CRM or timesheets; several entities that need adding together; history the source systems don't keep; reports that everyone trusts because they match the accounts.
- Trade-offs: it's a project, not a subscription you switch on. Someone has to build it, document it and look after it when a system changes. Done badly, it becomes another thing only one person understands.
Our one-dashboard page shows what this looks like.
The trade-offs nobody mentions up front
Refresh limits
Microsoft says semantic models on shared capacity (the standard Power BI Pro setup) are limited to eight scheduled refreshes a day; Premium, Premium Per User and Fabric capacity allow up to 48 (Microsoft Learn: data refresh in Power BI). Your connector or pipeline also has its own refresh schedule. If the connector updates overnight, the dashboard is a day behind no matter how often Power BI refreshes. For management reporting that's usually fine; just say so up front.
Xero's API pricing and the Journals API
Every option except the first reads data out of Xero through its API, and Xero changed its developer pricing in March 2026. Two things matter for reporting:
- Data limits. The free Starter plan allows up to 5 connected organisations and 1,000 calls per organisation per day. The paid plans have monthly allowances for data pulled out of Xero, with a charge per GB above them (Xero Developer pricing). A tool that re-reads years of transactions every night uses far more than one that only fetches what changed.
- Journals. Xero's Journals endpoint gives the complete set of journal entries, including the ones Xero creates automatically from invoices, bills and payments. It reconciles cleanly to the general ledger, but Xero lists it only on the Advanced plan and above, with a security assessment and use-case approval. Without it, a tool has to rebuild the ledger from invoices, bills, payments and manual journals.
We've covered the plans, who pays and what to check in Xero's 2026 API pricing and your integrations. For a reporting project, ask any connector vendor or developer which plan their app is on and whether it uses the Journals endpoint.
Who maintains it
Every option past the first has moving parts: a connection that must stay authorised, a schedule, a data model. Decide who checks it monthly, who fixes it when a connection drops or a new tracking category appears, and where it's documented. Unmaintained dashboards go quietly wrong.
How to choose: a quick checklist
Answer these before you buy anything:
- Which three or four reports do you actually need, and who reads them?
- Where does each number come from: Xero only, or Xero plus another system?
- How many Xero organisations need reporting together?
- How current does it need to be: monthly, weekly or daily?
- Who will build and maintain it, in-house or outside?
- Do you already pay for Power BI? If not, viewer licences are part of the cost.
If every number is in Xero, choose option 1 or 2. If you already have Power BI skills in-house and the numbers are mostly in Xero, choose option 3. If the reports you care about need data from several systems to agree, choose option 4, and sort out the definitions first. "Revenue" has to mean the same thing in the job system and in Xero before any dashboard can show one figure. Our Xero and MYOB guide covers the integration side, and our post on multi-entity finance dashboards covers reporting across several organisations.
When it's worth getting help
You probably don't need help if a reporting app covers your reports, or you have a capable Power BI person and the data is mostly in Xero. It's worth talking to someone when:
- the reports need Xero joined with job, stock, CRM or timesheet data, and the systems don't agree today
- you already have a Power BI report that doesn't match the accounts, or the person who built it has left
- you're consolidating several Xero organisations with intercompany transactions
- a connector you rely on has stopped refreshing or changed its pricing since Xero's 2026 changes
Our Power BI for Xero and MYOB service covers connecting the data, modelling it so it matches the accounts, and handing it over documented. If the reporting problem is really a symptom of how work flows between your systems, the Process & Systems Audit maps your processes and systems for a fixed $5,000 and tells you what to fix first.
Frequently asked questions
Can I connect Power BI to Xero directly?
Not with a built-in connector. Xero isn't one of Power BI's standard data sources, and the old Xero content pack was deprecated in 2019. You need a connector service, a data pipeline, or a database in between. You can also export Xero reports to Excel and build Power BI on the spreadsheet, refreshing by hand.
Is there a free Power BI connector for Xero?
Not from Microsoft or Xero; the third-party connectors are paid. A developer can build a direct connection, and a single-organisation integration may sit on Xero's free Starter plan, but the build and upkeep still cost money.
How often will my Power BI report refresh from Xero?
It depends on two schedules: how often the connector or pipeline copies data from Xero, and how often Power BI refreshes its model. On a standard Power BI Pro setup Microsoft allows up to eight scheduled refreshes a day. The report is only as current as the slower of the two.
Should I use Power BI or a Xero reporting app?
If all the figures you need are in Xero, a reporting app is usually quicker and cheaper. Power BI makes sense when you need to combine Xero with other systems, or build reports a reporting app can't produce.
Talk it through
Tell us which reports you need and where the numbers live, and we'll say honestly whether a reporting app will do or Power BI is worth it. Book a free initial chat.