IS SAGE ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE WORK FOR SMALL BUSINESSES? PRICING, FEATURES

 

IS SAGE ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE WORK FOR SMALL BUSINESSES? PRICING, FEATURES

Our Sage accounting software review will compare the different Sage offerings to help you determine which solution is right for your business.

Overview of Sage Accounting Software

Choosing the right business accounting software is an important decision—one that will affect (and hopefully improve) how you manage your day-to-day bookkeeping, accounting, and other financial processes.

As you search through the different accounting software options on the market, there’s no doubt you’ll come across Sage accounting.

What is Sage in accounting software?

A provider of not only accounting platforms, but other business tools as well, Sage, like QuickBooks, is known for offering a variety of different products—including both Sage Business Cloud Accounting and Sage 50—to accommodate businesses of all shapes and sizes.

With all of the platforms that fall under the suite of Sage accounting software, you may be wondering: How do I know which Sage accounting solution is best for my business?

This Sage accounting software review is here to help. We’ll explore the details of the Sage accounting products, including both features and pricing, so you can compare the different options and determine which might be right for your business.

Types of Sage Accounting Software

Before we dive into the details of the different types of Sage accounting software products, let’s start with the basics.

Like QuickBooks, Sage provides a variety of accounting solutions, each designed to help businesses automate and optimize their financial processes. Also like QuickBooks, Sage offers their accounting software in both desktop and web-based versions.

The web-based Sage accounting software products, now known under the title Sage Business Cloud Accounting, were once called Sage One.

In terms of their desktop offerings, Sage accounting software offers a suite of products called Sage 50cloud, which was previously called Peachtree Accounting Software.

This being said, Sage Business Cloud Accounting (formerly Sage One) and Sage 50cloud (formerly Peachtree Accounting Software) are the two product suites that are most relevant to small business owners. Although Sage accounting provides additional business solutions, these systems are designed to accommodate larger businesses with enterprise-level needs.

Sage Business Cloud Accounting

Within Sage accounting software offerings, the Sage Business Cloud Accounting systems are those that are geared directly toward the needs of small businesses.

Within the Sage Business Cloud Accounting suite, Sage offers two plans: Sage Business Cloud Accounting Start and Sage Business Cloud Accounting.

The Sage Business Cloud Accounting products are web-based, allowing you to access them wherever you have internet. They can also be accessed via tablet or smartphone. The Sage Business Cloud Accounting solutions both include bank-level security, the ability to connect to tools in the Sage App Marketplace, and customer support via phone, chat, and email. You can try either of these Sage plans for free for 30 days, no credit card is required.

Example of the Sage Cloud Business Accounting interface. Image source: Sage YouTube

These are the simplest and most affordable of the Sage accounting software products, making them ideal for smaller businesses that are working with modest budgets and need features to accommodate basic accounting tasks.

Let’s dive into the details of these Sage accounting software solutions.

Sage Business Cloud Accounting Start

According to the Sage website, Sage Business Cloud Accounting Start is entry-level accounting software, making it an ideal solution for sole proprietors and micro-businesses.

This plan will provide you with basic bookkeeping and accounting capabilities, including:

Create sales invoices

Filter invoices

Add logo to your invoices

Create customers and suppliers, add credit limits, bank details, and notes to contacts

Create recurring statements

Attach multiple bank accounts

Connect bank feeds

Utilize bank transfers, cash account, and bank deposits

Reconcile transactions

Print checks

View journals and chart of account

Access basic Sage accounting dashboard

Use mobile Sage accounting app

Export reports, listings, and invoices to PDF or CSV

Generate reports including profit and loss statement, balance sheet, general ledger, cash flow statement, and more.

Sage Business Cloud Accounting

The second Sage Business Cloud plan, Sage Business Cloud Accounting, costs $25 per month and is well-suited for small businesses that need to manage invoicing and cash flow.

On top of the features included in the Accounting Start plan, this Sage plan also includes functionality such as:

Choose cash or accrual-based accounting

Access unlimited user collaboration

Create cash flow forecasts

Create quotes and estimates

Create purchase invoices

Manually modify sales tax rates

Additional customization options for invoices

Create customer statements

Create products and services

Create stock products

Manage stock and inventory

Set up recurring payments

Invoice in foreign currencies

Access detailed dashboard and advanced reports

Sage 50cloud Accounting

The next type of Sage accounting software is Sage 50cloud, formerly known as Peachtree Accounting Software.

Compared to the Sage Business Cloud Accounting products we’ve just discussed, Sage 50cloud is a desktop product—meaning it’s locally hosted on a single computer. That said, Sage 50cloud does include some remote access capabilities.

Sage 50cloud is available in three different versions and is priced on an annual subscription basis. Moreover, for the two higher-level Sage 50cloud plans, you have the ability to add multiple users, but this will incur an additional cost.

Example of the Sage 50cloud interface. Image source: Sage YouTube

Just like QuickBooks Desktop, this Sage accounting desktop product is more powerful (but also more expensive) than its web-based counterpart. Therefore, these Sage accounting software options are best suited for larger businesses that need greater functionality from their accounting platform, as well as those that prefer a local solution.

Let’s explore the specifics.

Sage 50cloud Pro

The first plan in the Sage 50cloud suite is Sage 50cloud Pro. With this product, you’ll have single-user access for one company. Sage 50cloud Pro will include the following capabilities:

• Track income and manage expenses
• Pay bills and invoice customers
• Track and manage inventory
• Automated bank feeds
• Remote access to data for staff and accountants
• Integration option with Microsoft Office 365
• Automatically delivered updates
• Unlimited North America-based phone support
• Online chat with support representatives
• Knowledgebase and Sage City online community

Sage 50cloud Premium

The next step up is Sage 50cloud Premium. With this version of Sage 50cloud, you’ll be able to access more advanced accounting capabilities and add more users.

This Sage accounting software product will allow you to access all of the features of the Pro plan, plus:

• Trace transactions and track down errors with audit trails
• Phase and cost level job costing
• Advanced budgeting tools
• Serialized inventory

Sage 50cloud Quantum

For top-tier access, there’s the Sage 50cloud Quantum plan.

The Quantum plan will be the most costly, yet most advanced version of Sage accounting software.

This product will allow access for up to 40 users and is best-suited as accounting software for medium-sized businesses.

In addition to the features of the previous two Sage 50cloud plans, the Quantum plan will include:

• Ability to manage multiple companies
• Role-based security
• Industry-specific functionality for construction, manufacturing, distribution, and nonprofit
• Stock and reporting capabilities
• Workflow automation
• Personalized dashboards
• Faster processing

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