Side by side, on the published facts
Everything in Syft's column comes from Syft's own pages, help centre, blog or Xero App Store listing, checked 26 October 2026. Where Syft does not publish something we mark it "not published", which is not the same as saying the product cannot do it.
| Capability |  Syft Analytics |  dataSights |
|---|---|---|
| A database you own | Not published Not published | Yes Dedicated Azure SQL, hosted in our Microsoft account or yours. Every connector lands in it as tables you query directly from Excel, Power BI, Claude or any SQL tool, and it stays yours if you leave. |
| Management reports and board packs | Yes Templates, or reports you build yourself | Yes Customisable management reports and board packs |
| Custom report development | On a higher plan Build and Layouts, one Build on the Standard plan See note 1 | Yes Unlimited, built over your own SQL database in Excel, Power BI or AI See note 2 |
| Board pack export to PowerPoint | Not published Not published See note 3 | Yes PowerPoint and PDF See note 4 |
| Consolidation across entities | Yes Included See note 5 | Yes Multiple Xeros, any chart of accounts |
| Advanced consolidation | On a higher plan Advanced plan, US$95 per month | Yes Included |
| Multi-currency | On a higher plan Plus plan and above, US$47 per month | Yes Included |
| Intercompany eliminations | Yes Included | Yes From account codes you nominate |
| Excel | Yes Export, plus Spreadsheet Link | Yes One-click refresh, and post back from a sheet |
| Power BI | Not published Not published | Yes Import or DirectQuery against your database |
| Writes data back to the ledger | Yes To Xero or QuickBooks Online See note 6 | Yes To Xero See note 7 |
| Posts to many Xero organisations at once | Not published Not published See note 8 | Yes One action, from Excel or an AI assistant |
| Non-Xero data sources | Yes 17 third-party systems See note 9 | Yes 160+ connectors See note 10 |
| Connect your own AI assistant | Not published Not published See note 11 | Yes Claude, ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot via MCP: query, post to Xero, and set up consolidation mappings, eliminations and custom report templates from chat, no extra cost. |
| AI inside the product | Yes Syft Assist AI for insights, summaries and questions on any report, to varying degrees on Standard, Plus and Advanced See note 12 | None that sees your data, by design. Your own AI drafts board pack commentary and more via MCP. |
| Entry price | From US$23 per month See note 13 | From A$80 per month See note 13 |
| Try dataSights | 14-day free trial, no card required |
Notes and sources
- Syft publishes two custom report tools: Build, for custom columns, data types and equations, and Layouts, for custom row structures. Its knowledge centre states that one Build report is available on the Standard plan, that the Plus and Advanced plans can create unlimited Builds, and that Ledgers and cell equations are on the Advanced plan. Layouts are available on Standard, Plus and Advanced. Help centre articles last updated 2 September 2026.
- Every dataSights customer gets a dedicated Azure SQL database, so custom reports are built over that database in Excel, Power BI, any other tool that speaks SQL, or an AI assistant, with no per-report or per-seat limit and nothing held back for a higher tier. The data is what is priced: account transactions, payroll and fixed assets are additional to the base Xero Consolidation price, and non-Xero connectors are priced per source system.
- Syft's reporting page answers its own download question as PDF, Excel, Google Sheets or Microsoft Word, or a link to a live online report. PowerPoint does not appear in that list. That is not the same as saying Syft cannot produce one.
- dataSights board packs export to PowerPoint and PDF. Management reports separately export to Excel or PDF.
- Syft states that consolidations and multi-entity groups are free of charge with no limit on how many entities you can group. The same pricing page also asks you to make contact above 10 entities.
- Syft posts journals, invoices, credit notes, bills, cash received and cash spend back to Xero or QuickBooks Online from inside Syft, and flags the entry in Xero as coming from Syft Analytics.
- From Excel, dataSights posts eleven record types: manual journals, invoices and bills, credit notes, purchase orders, bank transactions, bank transfers, payments, accounts, contacts, items and tracking categories. Through an AI assistant it posts invoices and bills, manual journals, credit notes, bank transactions, bank transfers, purchase orders, contacts, accounts and tracking categories, in draft or posted mode, and attaches documents to records already in Xero.
- Syft publishes a related mechanism without describing it as a single multi-organisation action. Its financial close documentation states that reallocation rules are created at the consolidation level and that journals post directly into the underlying entities' books, not as a consolidation-only adjustment.
- Counted from Syft's own integrations page: 20 tiles, of which 17 are third-party systems and three are Syft's own features. Categories are accounting, ERP, e-commerce, payments, automation, spreadsheets and payroll.
- 160+ connectors are available. Some, including additional data connectors, account transactions, payroll and fixed assets, are priced as add-ons rather than included in the base subscription.
- Syft's site footer lists an API, but on 26 October 2026 the page it links to returned page not found, and its help centre and blog document no API. It publishes no connection for an external AI assistant.
- Syft's knowledge centre describes Syft Assist AI, opened from an AI button on any report or visualisation. It generates insights, report summaries, email summaries and ways to improve the figures, and answers questions about the report. It states that the feature is available to varying degrees within the Standard, Plus and Advanced plans. Syft's blog and updates log also describe AI commentary in reports and Live View, AI insights on dashboard cards, AI predictions in Cash Manager, AI-suggested intercompany eliminations, and Syft Send, which sends AI-generated summaries and alerts by email or chat app. Syft knowledge centre, blog and updates log, checked 26 October 2026.
- Syft's pricing page quotes its plans in US dollars, British pounds, Australian dollars or South African rand, and bills in the currency you choose when signing up. In US dollars it gives Standard at US$23 per month, and in Australian dollars Standard at A$35, Plus at A$69 and Advanced at A$139 per month, without saying whether GST is included. Its reporting page advertises "Report from $19pm", without naming a currency. The dataSights entry price covers one or two Xero entities.
Software changes often, so check both providers' current pages before deciding. dataSights publishes this page and makes one of the two products compared.
Where dataSights goes further
Six differences that show up in a real month-end, each one checked against what Syft publishes.
Consolidation is not a plan you upgrade to
Syft puts multi-currency on its Plus plan and advanced consolidations on Advanced. With dataSights, consolidation, multi-currency and AI Connect are in the product from the entry price. Account transactions, payroll, fixed assets and extra connectors are priced separately.
Post to every Xero in one action
Both products write back. Syft posts journals, invoices, credit notes, bills, cash received and cash spend to Xero or QuickBooks Online from inside Syft. From an Excel sheet, dataSights posts eleven record types across multiple Xero organisations in one upload, from manual journals and invoices through to purchase orders, bank transfers and tracking categories. Through an AI assistant it posts invoices and bills, manual journals, credit notes, bank transactions, bank transfers, purchase orders, contacts, accounts and tracking categories, in draft or posted mode, and attaches documents to records already in Xero. This also works across multiple organisations in a single call.
The database is yours, not just the reports
Syft publishes no equivalent, as at October 2026. Every dataSights customer gets a dedicated Azure SQL database, hosted by us or running in your own Microsoft account, so your analysts, your BI tools and your own scripts query it directly.
Power BI against real tables
Syft publishes Excel, Google Sheets and Spreadsheet Link, but publishes no Power BI connection. Because the dataSights database is yours, Power BI connects by Import for the consolidated views, or DirectQuery for account transactions where that data point is enabled, with eliminations and FX already applied. No Power Query chain in the middle.
160+ connectors against 17 systems
Syft's integrations page lists 17 third-party systems, weighted to ledgers, e-commerce and payments. dataSights runs 160+ connectors into one managed warehouse. Board packs usually stall on the systems that are not the ledger: payroll, inventory, CRM. Some dataSights connectors are priced as add-ons.
Ask in the AI you already use
Syft has AI inside its own product: executive summaries, graph insights and anomaly detection. dataSights exposes the consolidated layer to Claude, ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot through AI Connect, its MCP connector, included at no extra cost, so a controller asks the question in the assistant they already have open and gets a group-level answer with eliminations and FX applied.
Who each one is typically used by
Syft Analytics
Stated focus on accountants, bookkeepers, businesses, non-profits, franchises, universities, financial institutions and e-commerce, with a solution page published for each. Plans start free and scale by feature.
Typically used by a practice or a business that wants dashboards and reporting across several accounting platforms, without a data project attached to it.
dataSights
Built for multi-entity finance teams running on Xero, and for the BI and report developers who serve them. Used by 300+ businesses.
Typically used by a group whose reporting problem starts before the report: pulling Xero and non-Xero systems together, posting corrections back across every entity, and handing analysts a database they can query directly.
How this page was compiled
Published by dataSights. We make one of the two products compared and this page is written to show where dataSights fits, so read it alongside Syft's own material rather than instead of it. We have not scored either product or declared a winner, and every statement about Syft comes from material Syft publishes itself, not from third-party review sites or our own testing of their product.
Sources, all checked 26 October 2026: Syft's plans and pricing page, its integrations page, its reporting page, its help centre and blog, and its Xero App Store listing. Where Syft's own pages contradict each other, such as entity limits, both statements appear in the notes. Where Syft does not publish something we mark it "not published" and say so, because that is not the same as the product being unable to do it.
If something here is out of date or wrong, tell us and we will correct it. These comparisons are reviewed on a regular cycle and the date is stamped above.
Frequently asked questions
Syft is a reporting layer on top of your ledgers. dataSights is a reporting layer plus the data platform underneath it: every customer gets a dedicated Azure SQL database holding consolidated data, which Power BI, Excel, your own analysts and AI assistants can query directly, down to account transactions where that data point is enabled. Through AI Connect, our MCP, your own AI can query, post to Xero, and set up consolidation mappings, eliminations and custom report templates from chat, no extra cost. Syft publishes no equivalent customer-owned database or Power BI connection, as at October 2026.
Yes, both do. Syft posts journals, invoices, credit notes, bills, cash received and cash spend to Xero or QuickBooks Online from inside Syft, and flags the entry in Xero as coming from Syft Analytics. dataSights posts eleven record types from an Excel sheet, from manual journals and invoices through to purchase orders, bank transfers and tracking categories. Through an AI assistant it posts invoices and bills, manual journals, credit notes, bank transactions, bank transfers, purchase orders, contacts, accounts and tracking categories, in draft or posted mode, and attaches documents to records already in Xero. Both dataSights routes reach multiple Xero organisations in a single action.
Syft's integrations page lists 20 tiles, of which 17 are third-party systems across accounting, ERP, e-commerce, payments, automation, spreadsheets and payroll. dataSights runs 160+ connectors into one managed data warehouse, with some priced as add-ons. If your reporting only draws on accounting ledgers the difference may not matter; if it draws on payroll, inventory or CRM, it will.
Yes, and both handle intercompany eliminations, so eliminations are not a point of difference. Syft states that consolidations and multi-entity groups are free with no limit on entities, while the same pricing page asks you to make contact above 10 entities and puts advanced consolidations on its Advanced plan and multi-currency on Plus. dataSights consolidates across multiple Xero organisations including organisations on different charts of accounts, with consolidation and multi-currency included from the entry price.
dataSights lands transformed tables in a dedicated Azure SQL database you own, so Power BI connects by Import for consolidated views, or DirectQuery against account transactions where that data point is enabled. Syft publishes Excel and Google Sheets integrations and a Spreadsheet Link, but does not publish a Power BI connection or a customer-accessible database as at October 2026.
Syft publishes a free Basic plan and paid plans from US$23 per month, with multi-currency on Plus at US$47 and advanced consolidations on Advanced at US$95. dataSights starts at A$80 per month covering one or two Xero entities, with consolidation, multi-currency and AI Connect included, and account transactions, payroll, fixed assets and extra connectors priced as add-ons. Syft also quotes its plans in Australian dollars, from A$35 per month for Standard. Both change, so check each provider's own pricing page.
No. Connecting your own AI means no additional AI subprocessor handles your data.
