Joiin vs Syft Analytics

Two low-cost tools with different strengths.

By the ConsoHQ editorial team. Updated 4 November 2026.

The short version

• Group with companies on Xero and QuickBooks or Sage: Joiin.
• Xero-only practice wanting nice-looking reports for many single-company clients: Syft.
• Online retailer wanting accounting and Shopify data together: Syft.
• Group needing part-owned subsidiaries and nested structures: Joiin.
• You'd rather your reporting vendor wasn't owned by your ledger vendor: Joiin.

What Xero's ownership of Syft means

Xero announced in September 2024 that it would buy Syft for up to US$70 million and keep it available as a standalone product while bringing its features into Xero over time. For Xero users that's broadly good news: Syft has a stable owner. It also means Syft's roadmap will follow Xero's priorities. If your group or practice uses several ledgers, or you value a neutral reporting vendor, that's worth weighing. Joiin is independent and connects to Xero, QuickBooks, Sage, MYOB and others on equal terms.

Consolidation compared

Syft includes consolidation on all paid plans, with multi-currency from Plus. Joiin's consolidation is its core: account mapping into a group layout, eliminations between specific companies or at group level, ownership percentages for part-owned subsidiaries, nested groups and mixed ledgers. For a simple group of two or three Xero companies in one currency, both will cope. As structures get more complex, Joiin's depth matters more. Test your actual intercompany set-up in both; our eliminations explainer shows what to check.

Reports and analytics

Syft's visuals and dashboards are a genuine strength, and its commerce integrations let online retailers see customer and product performance next to the accounts. Joiin's reporting is broader on the group side: statements for every company and the group, consolidated receivables and payables ageing, budget versus actual and tracking-category reporting across companies, packaged into branded report packs.

Pricing compared

Both start at $23 a month. After that, they diverge. Syft's listed plans are Standard at $23, Plus at $47 and Advanced at $95, and it lists unlimited-entity options too; confirm how entities are counted for your group. Joiin prices purely by the number of companies, from $23 a month for one to $57 for five and $139 for twenty on annual billing, with unlimited users. Joiin's multi-currency and forecasting need Pro.

Users and sharing

Joiin includes unlimited users, which suits groups where subsidiary managers and board members log in themselves. Syft's interactive report links are a convenient way to share with clients. Consider who needs access and how often.

Three real-world scenarios

How to run a fair side-by-side trial

Both tools offer free trials, so the fairest way to decide is to give each the same job. Pick a month you've already closed and reported, so you know what the right answer looks like. Then, in each tool:

• Connect every company in the group, including dormant or newly acquired ones
• Map the accounts and check the group trial balance equals the sum of the company trial balances
• Set up intercompany eliminations and check they net to zero
• Translate any foreign subsidiaries and compare with your existing workings
• Rebuild the board or client pack you sent last month
• Time how long each step takes, and note anything you had to work around
• Invite the person who reads the reports and ask which version they'd rather receive

Do this within the same fortnight so you're comparing like with like. The tool that gets you to the right numbers fastest, with the fewest workarounds, is usually the right answer. Price matters, but an hour saved every month is worth more than a small difference in subscription.

What a year really costs

Subscription price is only part of the cost. Over a year, the bigger numbers are usually setup time and the hours spent each month producing reports. Here's a simple way to compare, using a five-company group as an example.

The practical lesson: choose the tool that removes the most manual work for your situation, then check the price is sensible. Don't choose on price alone and then rebuild half the process in Excel.

Integrations in practice

Syft's integrations lean towards Xero plus commerce: Shopify and Stripe sit alongside QuickBooks Online, Sage and FreeAgent. Joiin's lean towards ledgers: Xero, QuickBooks Online, Sage, MYOB, FreeAgent, Zoho Books, Pennylane, Puzzle and Fortnox, plus Stripe and spreadsheet data. If you're an online retailer who wants product and customer analysis, Syft's commerce links are valuable. If you're a group with companies on different ledgers, Joiin's breadth is.

Structure and ownership

Group structures get complicated faster than people expect. A holding company buys 75% of a business; a property company is jointly owned; a sub-group sits inside the main group. Joiin lets you set an ownership percentage for each entity and build nested groups. For simple wholly owned groups this doesn't matter. For anything with partial ownership, test it carefully in both tools.

Learning curve

Both are quick to start. Syft's interface is very visual and friendly for business owners. Joiin's is organised around companies, groups and report packs, which finance teams pick up quickly. Neither needs formal training for basic use.

Reporting outputs compared

"Check in trial" doesn't mean Syft can't do it, only that we couldn't confirm it from Syft's public plan information. Test the outputs your readers rely on.

Security and access control

Financial data deserves care whichever tool you choose. Joiin says its connections to your ledgers are read-only, and it uses encryption, multi-factor authentication and secure cloud hosting, with user management to control who sees which reports. When you evaluate Syft, ask the same questions: Is access to your ledger read-only? Is multi-factor authentication available and enforceable? Can you restrict a subsidiary manager to their own company's reports? Where is data hosted, and what happens to it if you cancel? If you'll use AI features, ask how your data is processed and whether it's used for model training; Joiin says its AI runs inside its own AWS environment and your data isn't used to train external models.

A mixed-ledger group, worked through

Imagine a UK parent on Xero that buys a US distributor running QuickBooks Online, and later a small Irish company on Sage. The board wants one set of numbers in sterling every month. In Joiin, you connect all three ledgers, map each company's accounts into a group layout, eliminate the intercompany loan from the parent to the US company, and translate the US and Irish figures on the Pro plan. With Syft, check during the trial that each ledger connects and that the consolidation, eliminations and currency treatment come out the way your accountant expects. The tool that handles this cleanly first time is the one to choose.

Our verdict

Syft is great value for Xero-centric reporting. Joiin is great value for consolidation. If your main pain is group month-end, especially across ledgers or with complex ownership, choose Joiin. If it's presenting single-company performance attractively inside the Xero world, choose Syft. Both offer free trials, so rebuild last month's pack in each and decide which you'd rather use.

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Full reviews: Joiin review and Syft review.

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