Hi Matthew, having now moved to Xero do I sense an element of mischief in feeling the need to post your comment on a thread that's been dead for 2 years?
I've been using Xero for several of my clients for 4 years and was one of the people screaming at them for ages to get their VAT functionality in order (and not only on this particular issue).
No two businesses or accounting systems are the same and there will be some features that are vital to you (such a Stripe integration) that are of no use to maybe 9,000 other users, and so, whilst nice to have and I'm sure Stripe integration will come, CB are using their time to improve the elements that the majority of their users do need. I would also make the point that when you pay your money to Xero probably 75% of it will go into sales & marketing and so don't expect great things on development.
Xero is a good system but it too has its short comings and a practice I spoke with this morning, which has all its clients on Xero has decided it's inadequate and far too expensive and I know they will do better with CB.