Australia’s SMEs live in Xero. In 2025, the practical question isn’t “should we automate approvals?”, it’s which approval layer fits how Aussie finance teams actually work: purchase orders that kick off early, bills flowing from email or Dext, batch payments and remittances, granular audit trails for auditors, and collaboration that increasingly happens in Slack and Microsoft Teams.

This side-by-side takes a pragmatic, Australia-first lens. Both Approveit and ApprovalMax integrate directly with Xero and keep finance in control. The real differences show up in where your team lives day-to-day (chat vs. app), the depth of AP/AR controls you need (matching, budgets, journals), how many Xero organisations you run, and the security/compliance posture your auditors expect.

What this guide covers

You’ll get a clear comparison of features, Australian pricing and billing notes, security/compliance posture, implementation considerations, and “fit by scenario” guidance. The tone is neutral; the goal is to help you decide quickly, with confidence, who should pick what, and why.

TL;DR (Skimmable Summary)

If you’re a hands-on AU finance team with strict AP guardrails, ApprovalMax delivers deep Xero-native controls like bill-to-PO matching, budget checks, manual journal approval, audit reports, and a mature mobile app. If your operations and finance collaborate in chat and you want a flexible, end-to-end workflow layer that meets people where they already work, Approveit excels with Slack/Teams-first approvals and guided Xero workflows for bills, POs, and sales invoices, plus company-wide governance in higher tiers.

ApprovalMax strengths: deep AP/AR controls that auditors love

ApprovalMax’s appeal for AU SMEs is the depth of its accounts payable and receivable workflow coverage tied tightly to Xero. Finance can collect, route, and approve Bills, Purchase Orders, Sales Invoices, Credit Notes, and even Batch Payments, with journal approvals when you need change control over GL moves. The product’s design reflects the day-to-day of Australian finance teams: eliminate email ping-pong, apply consistent approval matrices, and generate evidence as you go (not in a scramble at year-end). 

A pivotal differentiator is matching. ApprovalMax supports Bill-to-PO matching with visibility and audit events around the matching lifecycle, so reviewers see what’s been matched, un-matched, or auto-unmatched, and which POs are marked as billed. That level of traceability helps during accruals and goods-received-not-invoiced checks.

Budget control is another highlight. With budget checking, approvers can see variances before approving and apply policy-based thresholds to minimise spend leakage. Because budgets sync from Xero, the check runs in context, right where decisions happen. When combined with duplication checks (available as product how-tos), finance reduces rework and audit exceptions.

On the audit side, ApprovalMax automatically creates audit reports at final approval and can push those back into Xero. There’s also workflow version history, crucial when auditors ask who changed a matrix and when, and a broader “audit and fraud control” feature set spanning automated trails, shareable reports, and read-only access for external auditors. 

Security aligns with Australian expectations. 2FA enforcement is available and, importantly, mandatory for Xero-connected organisations to meet Xero’s own requirements; admins can choose soft or hard enforcement. That’s an easy win with auditors in AU. 

For approvals on the go, ApprovalMax offers native iOS and Android apps, supporting quick approve/decline and common actions, including raising POs, handy for field managers and executives. 

Finally, Australian payables teams increasingly want to close the loop from approval to payment without sharing bank access. ApprovalMax’s Airwallex integration enables batch payments directly from the app for businesses in Australia, New Zealand, and the UK, with audit trails flowing back to Xero, ideal for AP teams consolidating payment runs while preserving controls.

Approveit strengths: Slack/Teams-first approvals and an end-to-end workflow layer

Where ApprovalMax is a finance approval powerhouse, Approveit is a workflow platform that brings approvals to where your people actually work, Slack and Microsoft Teams, and then posts cleanly into Xero. That means requesters create and approvers decide inside chat, with structured forms, conditional logic, and audit trails governed by the workflow. For organisations that already live in Slack/Teams, adoption is natural and decision cycles shorten. 

Approveit publishes guided, step-by-step Xero workflows for Purchase Orders, Bills, and Sales Invoices. These guides show how data originates from Xero, how conditional approvers are added at thresholds, and what happens in Xero after Approveit approval (e.g., Bills move from “Awaiting approval” to “Awaiting payment”, POs flip to “Approved”, or rejections are removed). If you need to work across multiple Xero organisations, Approveit supports connecting multiple Xero orgs and explicitly choosing the org per request at submission time, a real time-saver for multi-entity AU groups and advisors.

Beyond chat UX, Approveit’s value shows up in company-wide governance. In its higher tier, Approveit includes budget approvals, procurement, contract sign-offs, and financial control/security features alongside SSO and compliance options, positioning it as a cross-department workflow layer with finance-grade guardrails. For finance leaders trying to unify ad-hoc processes across HR, IT, Ops, and Procurement without coding, that blend is compelling. 

It’s also integration-friendly. Approveit exposes APIs and webhooks to push or pull data, and it documents Zapier outbound automation for post-approval actions, handy when you want approved requests to open tickets, create folders, or notify vendors automatically.

How we compared (Methodology)

We evaluated both tools against criteria AU SMEs typically weigh: depth of AP workflows, collaboration experience and UI, budget and spend control mechanisms, purchase-to-pay capabilities, multi-organisation handling, security/compliance features, implementation speed and integrations, and AU-specific pricing/billing signals. Sources include official product pages, Xero App Store listings, and first-party product docs and guides. Where possible, we prioritised Australian applicability (e.g., 2FA enforcement for Xero, Airwallex availability in AU, and localised how-tos).

Feature-by-Feature Comparison

1) Core AP & AR Workflows

ApprovalMax covers the full Xero approvals spectrum: Bills, Purchase Orders, Sales Invoices, Credit Notes, Batch Payments, and Manual Journals. It’s strong when you need discrete workflows per document type, audit reports per request, and nuanced roles (requesters, reviewers, approvers, watchers). That breadth is particularly useful for AU SMEs with complex approval matrices and accruals discipline.

Approveit, by contrast, brings guided Xero workflows into a unified, no-code layer. Finance can standardise requests and get clean postings to Xero without forcing requesters into an accounting UI. The approach works well when you want to push approvals upstream (e.g., PO first) and let people submit in chat or web, with the system syncing to Xero when decisions are made.

2) Collaboration & User Experience
If your team lives in Slack or Microsoft Teams, Approveit’s native chat-first experience is a major advantage: people create, review, and approve inside the tools they already use all day, with forms and conditional logic to capture structured data without leaving the thread. Finance sees the outcomes land in Xero with an audit trail. Meanwhile, mobile is covered by the Teams/Slack apps and Approveit web.

ApprovalMax centres on its web and mobile apps. The iOS/Android apps are polished for on-the-go approvals and raising POs, which matters for managers travelling across AU or on site. If your approvers prefer a focused finance app (versus chat), this fits well.

3) Budget Controls & Spend Guardrails
ApprovalMax’s budget checking brings visibility to over-budget requests before they’re approved, leveraging budgets synced from Xero. Combined with duplication checks, it reduces erroneous postings and creates cleaner month-ends.

Approveit’s Pro tier emphasises budget approvals and finance governance, using company-wide workflows to encode policy, thresholds, and conditional approvers. It’s well suited if you want the same governance model to apply across departments (Procurement, IT, HR) while still posting accurately to Xero. 

4) Purchase Orders & Matching
ApprovalMax shines in PO approval and Bill-to-PO matching, including audit events when matchings are added or removed, and status changes when POs are billed. For Australian teams handling inventory or services with clear ordering discipline, those controls build confidence and speed audits.

Approveit’s end-to-end PO workflow keeps creation and approval in one place and syncs to Xero after approval. Requesters see accounting data sourced from Xero (suppliers, accounts, tax rates) and approvers apply conditional thresholds. For operations-heavy SMEs, it’s an intuitive way to enforce “PO-first” without pushing users into Xero’s UI.

5) Multi-Organisation (Multi-Entity) Use

If you manage multiple Xero tenants, Approveit supports connecting multiple Xero organisations and choosing the org per request at submission time. That keeps a single approval matrix while routing each request to the right tenant, useful for AU multi-brand groups or advisors.

ApprovalMax’s plans are tied to your accounting system (pick the Xero plan) and are built to scale across organisations. Its user model and provisioning are designed for multi-entity scenarios often found in AU hospitality, construction, and NFP groups, with separate org-level controls and reporting.

6) Security & Compliance
ApprovalMax offers 2FA enforcement and enforces it for Xero-connected organisations, aligning with Xero’s standards; admins can set soft or hard enforcement. Workflow version history and comprehensive audit reports strengthen your audit posture.

Approveit’s Pro tier includes SSO and advanced compliance options, alongside financial control and governance features that standardise how approvals are made across the business. For AU SMEs facing more frequent audits or working with enterprise clients, that’s a practical path to tighten controls without adding headcount.

7) Integrations & Payments
Both connect directly to Xero. ApprovalMax adds Airwallex payments so AU/NZ/UK businesses can execute batch payments after approval without leaving the app, a boon for AP runs and segregation of duties. It also supports Dext capture/ingestion and has extensive how-tos across its knowledge base and video library. Approveit leans into Slack/Teams, plus APIs, webhooks, and Zapier for outbound automation across your stack. 

Implementation: time-to-value in an Australian context

For AU finance teams with immediate AP pain (duplicate bills, missing POs, accrual crunches), ApprovalMax is fast to pilot: connect to Xero, import roles, configure approval matrices, and start with Bills and POs before turning on budget checks and matching. Mobile apps help drive adoption among managers who travel or work onsite. Approveit’s rollout centres on form and workflow design plus chat adoption: define the request forms your business needs (POs, Bills, CapEx/OpEx), set conditional approvers, and enable the Slack/Teams bot so people submit and approve where they already collaborate. If your business has many teams outside finance, Approveit’s no-code builder helps standardise more than just finance.

At-a-Glance Comparison Matrix

Below is a fast, side-by-side matrix you can scan to understand where each product focuses and what matters for Australian Xero users in 2025.

Pricing & Licensing (Australia)

Approveit currently offers a Free tier and a Pro tier with custom pricing starting at $850/month listed on its pricing page. Pro highlights include company-wide automation, SSO, end-to-end financial workflows, and integrations including Xero. The Free plan is positioned for testing and light usage, with one workflow and limited monthly requests, handy for piloting Slack/Teams-first approvals before scaling. As always, confirm particulars (limits, inclusions, overages) at the time you buy because platform plans evolve.

ApprovalMax prices per Xero organisation with unlimited users, unlimited requests and approvals, which makes costs predictable for multi-entity scenarios. The pricing page allows a currency selector including AUD, and the Xero-specific pricing view clarifies plan tiers and which features (e.g., matching, budgets, GRN, batch payments) land where. For Australian buyers, this “per org” model is straightforward when each entity has its own subscription. 

If you prefer to consolidate billing through the Xero ecosystem, ApprovalMax supports purchasing via the Xero App Store for eligible Australian customers (referral flow and criteria apply). That path can simplify vendor management and align app charges with your Xero subscription billing. List prices do change, verify current figures and plan details on vendor pages and the Xero App Store before purchasing.

Australia-Specific Considerations

In Australia, many SMEs discover and buy finance apps directly in the Xero App Store, and ApprovalMax regularly appears in Top Apps roundups targeting AU customers. For 2024, Xero’s own “Most popular apps – AU” collection includes ApprovalMax, and the Top apps of 2024 (AU) page highlights the curated lists that advisors and businesses check first. That visibility matters: it signals strong local adoption, a healthy review base, and a partner that keeps pace with Xero platform updates.

On the payments side, Airwallex batch payments coverage includes Australia, letting AU businesses move from approval to payment without exposing bank credentials. ApprovalMax’s implementation wraps approvals, authorisation and status updates with auditability back to Xero, which plays well with local audit readiness.

Implementation & Time-to-Value

Approveit emphasises out-of-the-box Xero workflows with detailed, step-by-step guides for Bills, Purchase Orders, and Invoices. The rollout playbook is simple: connect Xero, pick the relevant templates, define conditional approvers by threshold, and light up Slack or Microsoft Teams so requesters and approvers never leave chat. For AU teams that already collaborate in Teams/Slack, this yields quick adoption and clear audit trails that post neatly to Xero. 

ApprovalMax ships pre-built Xero workflows with budget checks, bill-to-PO matching, GRN, journal approvals, and mobile apps for field managers. It also integrates with Dext for ingestion and supports Airwallex for batch payments, giving AU finance teams an end-to-end AP motion with strong controls. Implementation usually starts with Bills and POs, then expands to budgets, matching, and payments as policy matures. 

Who Should Choose What?

If your organisation’s day-to-day collaboration lives in chat, choose Approveit. You’ll design chat-first approvals that feel native to Slack/Teams, standardise cross-department request intake on a single no-code layer, and keep Xero as the system of record with clean, approved postings. This is especially compelling for AU groups where non-finance requesters (ops, marketing, field) need to participate without learning an accounting UI. 

If you need deep AP/AR controls in a Xero-first stack, budget checking, bill-to-PO matching with GRN, journal approvals, mobile apps, and 2FA enforcement, choose ApprovalMax. You’ll get mature evidence for auditors, tighter spend guardrails, and optional Airwallex payments to close the loop in Australia. 

How to Decide

Start with Xero scope. If you require Bills, POs and AR approvals with matching and journal workflows, ApprovalMax’s Xero feature set is built for that depth. If your priority is simple, guided approvals that live where teams collaborate and then sync to Xero, Approveit’s templates hit fast value.

Next, weigh the collaboration model. Chat-centric companies benefit from Approveit’s Slack/Teams experience; managers approve in the same threads where decisions start. If your stakeholders prefer a dedicated approvals app and mobile workflows, the ApprovalMax mobile UX fits neatly into a finance-led rhythm. 

Consider multi-org setup and cost per org. Approveit lets requesters select the target Xero organisation per request, keeping one approval matrix across entities. ApprovalMax prices per organisation with unlimited users, simplifying forecasting when you operate multiple AU entities.

Check your budget control requirements. If you need real-time budget variance checks inside approvals plus duplication controls and robust reports, ApprovalMax is the stronger AP control plane. If your governance is broader, budget approvals across departments and non-finance processes, Approveit’s Pro tier provides company-wide guardrails and SSO. 

Finally, align with AU purchasing/billing preferences. If you want Xero-native billing and provisioning, ApprovalMax supports Xero App Store billing for eligible Australian customers, which some finance teams prefer for vendor consolidation and regional compliance.