Invoicing, Xero and Stripe: what Base automates versus what it just connects to

Founders ask whether Base replaces their accounting stack. It does not, and it is worth being precise about where the line sits.

What Base does for you

Creates invoices. "Invoice the client we signed last week for the first month" produces the invoice in your connected accounting tool with the right amount, pulled from the contract, addressed to the right entity. You review it, then it goes.

Chases the ones that have not been paid. Base knows which invoices are outstanding and how long they have been sitting, and it drafts the follow-up.

Answers questions from real numbers. What did we bill in June, how much landed, what is outstanding, how does this month compare. The answer comes from your actual data across Stripe and your ledger, not an estimate.

Notices things. An invoice that is three weeks late next to a customer whose renewal is due gets flagged, because Base can see both.

What Base does not do

Bookkeeping. Reconciliation. VAT returns. Filing your accounts. Payroll. Anything your accountant would recognise as accounting.

It is not an accounting platform and building one would make it worse at the thing it is good at.

The honest architecture

Stripe takes the money. Xero or QuickBooks holds the truth. Base is how you use both without opening either, and how the financial picture connects to your deals, contracts and customers.

Keep your finance stack. Your accountant will thank you.

The full comparison is in best invoicing and finance tools for startups.