How to move your customers, vendors and products out of QuickBooks Online

How to export your customer, vendor and product lists from QuickBooks Online, and the import rules in Xero, Zoho Books, FreshBooks and Wave: required columns, file limits and duplicate handling. Everything below comes from each vendor's own help articles, checked . Steps we added ourselves are labeled as our suggestions.

Independent and unaffiliated. BookSwitcher has no relationship with Intuit or any conversion service. None of the links on this page are affiliate links. See our disclosure.

The short version

People who've tried it say the data move, not the subscription, is what keeps them on QuickBooks. In one thread on X a user said his dad's shop stays on QuickBooks because there's no easy way to move its customers into anything else, and another replied that this "migration wall" is why shops stay on QuickBooks forever. This page covers the list part of that move.

Step 1: export the three lists from QuickBooks Online

Intuit's help articles describe these routes:

  1. All at once: go to Settings ⚙, then Export data (in the Tools column), pick a reason, and on the Lists tab turn on the lists you want. Select Export to Excel. You get one .zip file of Excel files.
  2. Customers and vendors with the columns you choose: go to Reports, then Standard reports, and open Customer Contact List or Vendor Contact List. Use Customize, then Rows and Columns, then Change columns to add fields like email, phone and billing address. Then export to Excel.
  3. Products and services: go to Sales & Get Paid, then Products & services. Select More, then Run reports, then Export/Print and Export to Excel.

Our suggestion: the report route is better for importing, because you can pick and order the columns. Intuit's own guide for moving lists to QuickBooks Desktop has you delete the first 4 rows of the exported customer and vendor files (the report header) before importing. You'll need to do the same for any tool that expects column names in row 1. Doing your exports anyway? Our QuickBooks Online export guide covers everything else to save before you cancel.

Import rules compared

List imports in each tool, from each vendor's help articles (checked November 2, 2026)
XeroZoho BooksFreshBooksWave
CustomersCSV template. Only the contact name is required. Split files over 1,000 contacts.CSV, TSV or XLS, up to 25 MB. Display name is required, plus tax fields if sales tax is on.CSV under 2 MB. First and last name, or company name, required.CSV, or the Wave Connect add-on for Google Sheets. Needs a company name, first name or last name.
VendorsSame contacts import (customers and suppliers are both contacts).Same import as customers, from Purchases, then Vendors.CSV under 2 MB, max 500 rows. Vendors and bills are only on Premium and Select plans (or specific users).No vendor import is listed. Wave Connect uploads customers, products, invoices, bank transactions and journal entries.
Products / itemsHas its own items import with a separate template. Check Xero Central for the current columns.CSV, TSV or XLS, up to 1 MB. Can skip or overwrite matches by item name, item ID or SKU.CSV under 2 MB. Name, Description and Rate columns required. Names must be unique.Wave Connect (Google Sheets) only. Otherwise add products one by one.
DuplicatesImported contacts can't be deleted, only archived. Xero suggests testing in its demo company first.Choose to skip duplicates, overwrite them, or (customers only) add them as new.Duplicate clients are imported anyway. Vendor names must be unique.A customer CSV upload can't be undone. You get a preview first.

Importing into Xero

  1. In Xero, go to Contacts, then All contacts. Open the menu at the top right, select Import, then Download template.
  2. Copy your QuickBooks customer and vendor columns into the template. Only the primary contact's name is required. Email addresses must be valid, and you need admin permission to import bank account details.
  3. Split the file if you have more than 1,000 contacts.
  4. Upload it. When asked what empty fields should do to existing contacts, choose to have them ignored, review the summary, and complete the import.

Xero's conversion article suggests a different order if you're also bringing over open invoices and bills: import invoices and bills before contacts, because the customers and suppliers on them become contacts automatically. Then update those contacts in bulk. Full details are in our QuickBooks Online to Xero guide.

Importing into Zoho Books

Zoho has a QuickBooks Online migration article that maps QuickBooks reports to Zoho modules. The Customer Contact List and Vendor Contact List map to customers and vendors, and the Product/Service List maps to items.

  1. Go to Sales, then Customers (or Purchases, then Vendors). Click the More icon and choose Import Customers or Import Vendors.
  2. Download the sample file. Zoho's migration article lists the display name, and the tax name, tax authority and tax percentage if you've turned on sales tax, as mandatory.
  3. Choose how to handle duplicates, map your columns on the Map Fields step, preview, and import.
  4. For products, go to Items, click More, then Import Items. Keep the file under 1 MB. If you track inventory, Zoho says to use the closing stock from QuickBooks' Inventory Valuation Detail report as each item's opening stock.

More steps (chart of accounts, opening balances, open invoices) are in our QuickBooks Online to Zoho Books guide.

Importing into FreshBooks

  1. Clients: go to Clients, then More Actions, then Import Clients. Row 1 must have First Name and Last Name, or Company Name. Email, phone and address columns are optional. Match the fields, then import.
  2. Vendors: go to Expenses, then Vendors, then More Actions and Import Vendors. Same name rules, plus optional account number, email, phone and address. Up to 500 rows, and vendor names must be unique.
  3. Items: go to Items and Services, then Import Items. Columns Name, Description and Rate are required.

Two FreshBooks catches: files must be under 2 MB, and if you import more clients than your plan allows, FreshBooks asks you to upgrade. Vendors and bills are only on the Premium and Select plans (or for specific users). FreshBooks' import help page also mentions paid data transfer services. See our QuickBooks Online to FreshBooks guide.

Importing into Wave

  1. Customers by CSV: download Wave's sample CSV and copy your columns into it. Each row needs at least a company name, first name or last name. Then go to Sales & Payments, then Customers, then Import or Export. Upload, check the preview, then select Yes, proceed with import.
  2. Customers and products by Google Sheets: Wave Connect, Wave's official Google Sheets add-on, can upload customers, products, invoices, bank transactions and bulk journal entries. It checks your data before uploading.
  3. Vendors: Wave's help articles don't list a vendor import, so plan to add vendors by hand.

Wave says a CSV customer upload can't be undone, and afterwards you can only edit customers one at a time. Saved customer card details don't move, either. More in our QuickBooks Online to Wave guide.

Clean the files before you import

Checklist

  1. Export the Customer Contact List, Vendor Contact List and Product/Service List from QuickBooks Online.
  2. Delete the header rows and duplicates, then save each file as CSV.
  3. Download the new tool's sample file and copy your columns into it.
  4. Import a small test batch, check it, then import the rest.
  5. Bring over open invoices, bills and opening balances using the new tool's conversion steps (see the switching guide for your tool).
  6. Spot-check a few customers and vendors against QuickBooks before you cancel.

Still choosing a tool? Start with QuickBooks alternatives by business type.

Sources

We used only official vendor documentation. Menus and policies change, so confirm anything important on the vendor's page.

Last checked: . Not tax, legal or accounting advice.

QuickBooks is a registered trademark of Intuit Inc. Xero, Zoho Books, FreshBooks, Wave and Aplos are trademarks of their respective owners. BookSwitcher is an independent site and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Intuit or any vendor listed.