Elastic vs Xero: Revenue, Profit and Business Model
Elastic had $1.7B of annual revenue in FY2026 and $367.8M of net income. Xero had ~$1.6B of annual revenue in FY2026 and ~$97.1M of net income.
Latest financial snapshot
Financial summary
Elastic
Elastic's revenue grew from $862 million in fiscal 2022 to $1.739 billion in fiscal 2026. FY2026 subscription revenue was $1.634 billion (+18%), and sales-led subscription revenue, which excludes monthly self-serve cloud, was $1.438 billion (+20%). Non-GAAP operating income reached $285 million (16.4% margin) and adjusted free cash flow $346 million (20% margin), though GAAP operating loss was $33 million. GAAP net income of $367.8 million was lifted by a fourth-quarter income tax benefit, since the company's operations were not profitable on a GAAP basis. In Q1 FY2027 (ended July 31, 2026) revenue rose 15% to $478 million, cRPO grew 21% to $1.153 billion, and Elastic raised FY2027 revenue guidance to $1.998-$2.010 billion. Elastic N.V. is a major search and observability enterprise software company, sustaining a market valuation typically over $7 billion.
Xero
For the year ended 31 March 2026 Xero reported operating revenue of ~$1.59 billion (NZ$2.75 billion), up 31%, net profit of ~$96.9 million (NZ$167 million), down 27% because of Melio acquisition costs, and free cash flow of ~$321 million (NZ$554 million). Subscribers rose 11% to 4.92 million and average revenue per customer rose 23% to NZ$55.44.
Revenue and profit by year
Elastic
| Year | Revenue | Net income | Margin | Growth | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2026 | $1.7B | $367.8M | 21.1% | +17.3% | Source |
| FY2025 | $1.5B | -$108.1M | -7.3% | +17.0% | Source |
| FY2024 | $1.3B | $61.7M | 4.9% | +18.6% | Source |
| FY2023 | $1.1B | -$236.2M | -22.1% | +24.0% | Source |
| FY2022 | $862.4M | -$203.8M | -23.6% | +41.7% | Source |
| FY2021 | $608.5M | -$129.4M | -21.3% | +42.3% | Source |
| FY2020 | $427.6M | -$167.2M | -39.1% | +57.4% | Source |
| FY2019 | $271.7M | -$102.3M | -37.7% | +69.9% | Source |
| FY2018 | $159.9M | -$52.7M | -33.0% | +81.4% | Source |
| FY2017 | $88.2M | -$52M | -58.9% | — | Source |
Xero
| Year | Revenue | Net income | Margin | Growth | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2026 | ~$1.6B | ~$97.1M | 6.1% | +30.9% | Source |
| FY2025 | ~$1.2B | ~$132.1M | 10.8% | +22.7% | Source |
| FY2024 | ~$994M | ~$101.3M | 10.2% | +22.4% | Source |
| FY2023 | ~$811.9M | ~-$65.8M | -8.1% | +27.6% | Source |
| FY2022 | ~$636.2M | ~-$5.3M | -0.8% | — | Source |
Where the revenue comes from
Elastic
- Subscriptions (Elastic Cloud and self-managed)~94%
FY2026 subscription revenue of $1.634 billion from managed Elastic Cloud on AWS, Azure and Google Cloud and from self-managed licenses with support.
- Professional services~6%
Consulting, implementation and training, about $105 million in FY2026.
Xero
- Subscriptions and platform88
Recurring subscription revenue from accounting plans, add-ons and other platform services.
- Melio payments12
Transaction revenue from Melio's US bill pay and receivables platform, which contributed ~$193 million (NZ$332 million) in FY26.
Business model and strategy
Elastic
How it makes money
Elastic is a B2B software company with an open-core model. Its core Elasticsearch and Kibana code is free to download, and the company makes money by selling paid subscriptions that add advanced features (machine learning, security analytics, AI assistants, enterprise support) and by running the software for customers as Elastic Cloud on AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud.
Growth strategy
Elastic's strategy is to make Elasticsearch the retrieval layer for enterprise AI while consolidating observability and security tools onto the same platform. Recent moves include buying Jina AI (embeddings and rerankers) and Keep (AIOps alert management) in 2025, launching Elastic Workflows and Agent Builder for agentic automation, and releasing a serverless vector database in September 2026.
Competitive advantage
Elastic's main edge is that one data store handles text search, vector search, analytics, logs and security events. Elasticsearch is built on Apache Lucene's inverted index, which makes full-text search across very large unstructured datasets fast, and the company has added dense vector search, hybrid ranking (BM25 plus vectors with reciprocal rank fusion), the ES|QL query language and Jina AI embedding and reranker…
Xero
How it makes money
Xero sells monthly software subscriptions to small businesses, sole traders, and accounting and bookkeeping firms. The core product covers bank reconciliation, invoicing, bills, payroll in several markets and financial reporting, and plans are priced in tiers by market. Most customers reach Xero through accountants and bookkeepers, who adopt it for their practice and move clients onto it.
Growth strategy
Xero's strategy centres on three jobs for small businesses (accounting, payments and payroll) in three main markets (Australia and New Zealand, the UK and the US). In the US it is combining Xero and Melio under one leadership team, adding online bill payments inside Xero and embedded payroll. It is also building AI features, including its JAX assistant, into the core product.
Competitive advantage
Xero's main advantage is its accountant and bookkeeper channel in Australia, New Zealand and the UK, which brings small business clients onto the platform. Melio adds a US payments product that it owns.
Questions about Elastic vs Xero
Which company has higher revenue — Elastic or Xero?
Elastic had $1.7B (FY2026), while Xero had ~$1.6B (FY2026). By latest annual revenue, Elastic is the larger business, with Xero showing a smaller revenue base.
What is the market cap of Elastic vs Xero?
Elastic's market capitalisation stands at $9.3B, while Xero's is $6.5B. Elastic carries the higher market valuation, reflecting investors' expectations of its future earnings power relative to Xero.
How does revenue per employee compare for Elastic and Xero?
Elastic has $433k / employee in revenue per employee, while Xero has $363k / employee. Headcounts may use different dates, so the ratio alone does not establish which business operates more efficiently.
How do Elastic and Xero make money?
Elastic and Xero generate revenue in fundamentally different ways. Elastic: Elastic is a B2B software company with an open-core model. Xero: Xero sells monthly software subscriptions to small businesses, sole traders, and accounting and bookkeeping firms.
Which company is valued higher relative to revenue — Elastic or Xero?
On a price-to-sales (P/S) basis, Elastic trades at 5.3x P/S and Xero at 4.1x P/S. Elastic commands a higher revenue multiple, typically indicating that investors expect faster growth or higher future margins compared to Xero. A higher multiple is not inherently better — it may also signal that the stock is priced for perfection.
Is Elastic bigger than Xero?
By last reported revenue, Elastic ($1.7B (FY2026)) is the larger company compared to Xero (~$1.6B (FY2026)). Revenue scale is one dimension of size — market capitalisation, employee count, and geographic reach are also relevant depending on the context.
Figures come from each company's filings and the sources linked beside them. Amounts reported in another currency are shown in US dollars at an approximate rate and marked with ~. Back to the Elastic vs Xero overview