Technically, Xero's customer base has grown more rapidly than Intuit's. Xero ended its year on March 31 with 475,000 subscribers, up 67 percent over a year earlier. Intuit ended its third quarter on April 30 with 965,000 QuickBooks Online subscribers, 54.6 percent higher than on the same date in 2014. Intuit is a far larger company than Xero and you would expect it not to grow nearly as fast. In the meantime, during this year's webcast of earnings, Intuit CEO Brad Smith was asked for a figure I have not heard before—QBO retention.