Power BI does not have a Xero connector. Every guide that says "just connect Xero" is describing a third-party product. A small NZ firm has three real routes: a connector from the Xero App Store's Power BI collection (fastest, a subscription, Xero's numbers only), a Power Automate flow that lands Xero invoices and payments in a Dataverse table Power BI reads (a build, but the only route that joins Xero to your jobs), or exporting Xero reports by hand (free, monthly, nobody enjoys it). Which one depends on whether the report needs anything Xero does not know.
Why the obvious route does not exist
Open Power BI Desktop, Get Data, search Xero: nothing. Xero used to publish a Power BI content pack; it is gone, and Xero's App Store now lists a collection of independent connectors instead. That is not a gap in Power BI so much as a decision by Xero to leave the connector market to partners, and it means the first question is which route, before how.
The three routes
| Route | What it gives you | Cost | Right when |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. App Store connector (Connectorly, CData, Redware, Vidi, FreshBI and others) | Xero's tables in Power BI on a refresh schedule, often hourly; some ship report templates; some consolidate several Xero organisations | A subscription per organisation, priced on each vendor's page; plus Power BI Pro at NZ$22.60 per user per month for whoever opens the report | You want Xero's own numbers (P and L, balance sheet, aged debtors, cash) in Power BI this week, with no build |
| 2. Power Automate flow into Dataverse or a SharePoint list | Invoices, payments and contacts landing in your own table on a timer, next to your jobs, quotes and timesheets; Power BI joins them on invoice number | One Power Automate Premium licence for the flow's owner (NZ$24.30 a month; the third-party Xero connector is premium and its vendor charges its own licence on top), the build at $4,000 to $8,000, Power BI Pro for the readers | The report needs Xero joined to something Xero does not know: margin per job, quoted versus invoiced, hours against value |
| 3. Export by hand | A CSV from Xero's reports, dropped in SharePoint, read by Power BI | $0 beyond Power BI Pro; twenty minutes a month of someone's time and a report that is always a month old | A monthly board pack and nothing else |
Licence prices from Microsoft's NZ list, September 2026. I do not sell or resell any of the connectors in route 1; check their pages for the current price and whether they handle NZ GST reporting the way your accountant wants.
The question that picks the route
Does the report need anything Xero does not know? Xero knows invoices, bills, payments, contacts and the ledger. It does not know which job an hour was worked on, what was quoted before it was invoiced, or what the purchase order committed before the bill arrived. If every number on the report is a Xero number, route 1. If the report is the one Xero and your job system each show half of, route 2, because the join has to happen in a table you own. Most "we need Power BI on Xero" requests from firms under 20 staff are secretly route 2 requests; they want margin per job, and margin lives in two systems.
Route 2, in enough detail to price it
- A Dataverse table (or SharePoint list) for Xero invoices, one for payments, one for contacts, keyed on Xero's IDs and the invoice number.
- A scheduled Power Automate flow, owned by the office manager on Power Automate Premium, that pulls changes from Xero nightly and upserts them. Xero's API rate limits are generous at this size; a firm with a few hundred invoices a month never notices them.
- The job system's own tables (jobs, quotes, timesheets, purchase orders) already in Dataverse or SharePoint, or migrated there first.
- A Power BI model that joins on invoice number and job number, with three pages: jobs and margin, cash and debtors, the owner's Friday page.
- Two Power BI Pro licences, for the person who maintains it and the person who reads it. Everyone else gets a number in the app or a Teams post.
That build is the same shape as the reporting half of Power BI on Dataverse for a 10-person firm, and it is why the answer to "can Xero do job costing" in Xero job costing for trades is "not alone". If the job system is Tradify, its native Xero sync already moves the invoices and payments, and what it does not move is exactly the list route 2 fills.
What data integration approaches should you avoid?
- Buy a connector subscription and then build the flow as well. Pick one; the flow route already brings Xero's tables across.
- Give every staff member Power BI Pro. Two licences cover a 10-person firm; the rest see numbers inside the app.
- Rebuild Xero's own reports in Power BI. Aged debtors and the P and L already exist in Xero and are better there. Build the reports Xero cannot make.
Common questions
Does Power BI have a Xero connector?
No. Power BI Desktop's Get Data list has no Xero entry, and the old Xero content pack is gone. Xero data reaches Power BI three ways: a third-party connector listed in the Xero App Store's Power BI collection (Connectorly, CData, Redware, Vidi and others), a Power Automate flow that uses a third-party Xero connector to land invoices and payments in a Dataverse table or SharePoint list that Power BI reads, or a manual export from Xero's reports.
What does it cost to connect Xero to Power BI?
Power BI Pro is NZ$22.60 per user per month on Microsoft's NZ list for each person who builds or opens the report. The third-party connectors are subscriptions priced on their own pages, usually per organisation per month. The flow route costs one Power Automate Premium licence for the flow's owner (NZ$24.30 a month, because a third-party Xero connector is premium) and a build of $4,000 to $8,000 that also gives you the job-costing join no connector does on its own.
Which route should a 10-person firm choose?
If you only want Xero's own numbers in Power BI (debtors, P and L, cash), a third-party connector is the fastest and needs no build. If you want Xero joined to something Xero does not know about (jobs, quotes, timesheets from your app or job software), the flow-into-Dataverse route is the one that produces margin per job, because the join happens in your own table. Manual export suits a monthly board pack and nothing more.
Can Power Automate read Xero?
Yes, through a third-party Xero connector, which is premium. A scheduled flow pulls invoices, payments and contacts on a timer and writes them to Dataverse or a SharePoint list; Power BI reads that table. The flow's owner holds Power Automate Premium; nobody else needs a licence for the sync. Microsoft does not publish its own Xero connector; the one listed is third party (Magnetism, in preview) and carries its own licence, so check the vendor's price before you budget.
Where to start
Tell me the one report you wish you had. If every number on it is a Xero number, I will point you at a connector and you will not need me. If it needs your jobs too, one free 30-minute call and you have the route-2 build priced.