Sage 200 and QuickBooks offer accounting software solutions for smaller businesses with rapid growth potential. QuickBooks is more focused on bookkeeping and accounting services while Sage 200 is a comprehensive, fully-realised Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system. There is some crossover between the two, but their overall purpose is different.
There are various other similar packages on the market, but we are going to focus on Sage 200 and QuickBooks for this comparison.
QuickBooks vs Sage 200 at a Glance
QuickBooks is a solution based around process flow aimed at helping small business owners with very little accounting experience. It does offer more powerful bookkeeping and accounting tools as well, so there is some scope for scalability when using it.
Sage 200 is better suited to those needing advanced bookkeeping and accounts. However, it also includes many other tools for managing the disparate operations of a business from a single, centralised location.
Pros and cons of Quickbooks
QuickBooks is undeniably popular for small businesses managing their own accounts. It is favoured by business owners who don’t want to have to pay an accountant to fully manage their accounts.
The pros of QuickBooks include:
- Excellent reporting capabilities: Monitor your income and expenditure over time, pulling data from different periods and generating reports that help understand business performance.
- A range of bookkeeping tools: The bookkeeping tools of QuickBooks are numerous, including income/expense tracking, financial management tools and payroll management.
- Time-saving: QuickBooks syncs with your bank and credit accounts so that all transactions automatically appear in the system.
- Scalability: QuickBooks can grow with your business as required as it has a variety of tiered subscriptions. Saying that, there will still likely come a time that your business will require more overall functionality than Quickbooks can provide.
Cons of QuickBooks include:
- Technical support is lacking: The support team at QuickBooks is notorious for its limited technical knowledge.
- Only an accounting solution: QuickBooks can be great for small business bookkeeping and accounting, but it doesn’t have features for managing other areas of the business such as inventory, supply chain, warehousing and distribution.
Pros and Cons of Sage 200
Sage 200 is an ERP platform that combines various business operations like project management, accounts, human resources, supply chain, inventory management and more in a single location.
Sage 200 gives you control and visibility of your business as a whole, integrating different operations with one another, all linked to the core financial module to provide superb insights and analytics for decision making, as well as increasing accuracy across the business.
The pros of Sage 200 include:
- Time-saving: Within Sage 200, you can manage your accounts as well as invoicing, inventory, cashflow, taxes and much, much more in one place. This makes it easy to create in-depth reports, gain an overview of your finances, process different payments and get real-time visibility of all business operations.
- Boost productivity: The cloud-based format and integration with multiple productivity and collaboration apps means Sage 200 enables your employees to work together efficiently and effectively.
- Business growth: There is nothing better than a high-quality ERP system for running a business with maximum efficiency. Operations will be streamlined and all decisions will be based on real-time data. The software can also scale up with your business.
- Expert support: The technical support team for Sage 200 is excellent and will help you solve most issues swiftly. The Sage 200 knowledge base online is also exceptional, allowing users to access in depth guides and tutorials on how to use the software.
The cons of Sage 200:
- A sophisticated tool: Being a richer, more complex piece of software than QuickBooks, some of the more advanced functions of Sage 200 may require some user training. It may take a little longer for business owners and employees to fully get to grips with the platform, but the benefits outweigh this. Once Sage 200 users are confident with the software, their productivity will flourish.
- It can take time to reach support: Though the support team is knowledgeable and helpful, it can occasionally take a while to get through to them. This is however a minor negative. Most Sage 200 customers have a Sage 200 partner like Eventura who provide expert support. And with the already mentioned extensive Sage 200 knowledgebase online, it’s extremely easy for users to self-service when they have a question.
Comparing Features of Sage 200 vs QuickBooks
When comparing two different software solutions, it can be helpful to look at them through the lens of some key features that are important to businesses.
Available Products
Sage 200 has two versions. Sage 200 Standard is a completely cloud-based ERP system. It features core financials and commercials which will satisfy many small businesses. The solution is pretty much an out-the-box ERP.
Sage 200 Professional is an on-premise solution that is cloud-connected, although it is becoming increasingly popular to host the software on a cloud-computing platform like Microsoft Azure. Sage 200 Professional has the core functionally of Sage 200, but is highly customisable with an extensive range of Sage and third-party developed modules.
These additional modules provide advanced functionality, often for industry specific needs such as manufacturing, construction, and warehousing and distribution. If you’d like to learn more about these industry specific solution on offer in Sage 200, you can read one or more of our informative articles below;
- Sage 200 Manufacturing Explained
- Why Choose Sage 200 for Construction Companies?
- The Benefits of Sage 200 for Warehousing & Distribution
With QuickBooks, the most popular products for smaller businesses are SimpleStart and QuickBooks Pro. The latter of those two is generally the better product for serious business owners, but it is still restricted purely to bookkeeping and accounting functions.
If your business requires anything beyond financials and bookkeeping, a solution like Sage 200 might be a better choice. Although QuickBooks can be integrated with other softwares that offer added functionality, and ERP like Sage 200 keeps all of these functions in one place.
Mobile Apps
Both Sage 200 and QuickBooks offer access to a suite of mobile apps so that their functions and dashboards can be accessed from any device. Virtually all the core functions can be carried out within the mobile apps, but the capabilities are more diverse in Sage 200 than in QuickBooks.
Online Access
As cloud-based solutions, both Sage 200 and QuickBooks are accessible from anywhere with an internet connection. All data will sync online across any devices that access it. Even if you don’t use the mobile apps, you can log into your account in a browser to access the functions you need.
What types of businesses use QuickBooks?
Best suited for smaller businesses, QuickBooks can help with early growth but you may need to progress onto something else as your business expands. It is used in many industries by many types of business, including:
- Medical services
- Legal services
- Retail
- Accounting
- Sole traders/freelancers
- SMEs
What types of businesses use Sage 200?
If your business has more complex needs such as inventory management, supply chain, warehousing and distribution and project management, Sage 200 is likely a better option than QuickBooks. Although QuickBooks is great piece of accounting software, it’s cant manage your overall operations if you require and of the above.
Industries and business types that benefit from Sage 200 include:
- Construction
- Wholesale distribution
- Manufacturing
- Non-profits
- Mid- to large-sized businesses
Sage 200 vs QuickBooks: which is right for you?
Smaller businesses depend on accounting software to track their financials. With its intuitive features and functionality that covers the more basic needs of a smaller business, QuickBooks is an attractive prospect. But if you are hoping to grow and expand, it is good to look at the bigger picture and start preparing for that illustrious future.
Deciding which product is best for you can be a daunting prospect, so here are some ways you can break the decision down to zero in on which will work for you:
- Make a list of the basic requirements you have from your software.
- Identify the products that will be most beneficial to your business.
- Explore the free trials on offer to get a feel for the options.
- Check out some online training courses to see how easily you can get the hang of what they do.
- Seek advice from an expert; whether it’s your accountant or a specialist consultant, explore the options with an expert to get an idea of the most suitable package. They may also be able to help with software setup and training.
Making the decision about which accounting and/or business management software to use is very important. You need to identify your needs and weigh up the solutions available to figure out which ticks the most boxes. It really doesn’t need to be any more complex than that, besides ensuring that the software you are looking at is known to be good at what it claims to do.
Why choose Eventura to help deliver your Sage 200 project?
With two decades of Sage deployments under our belt, we are experts in delivering robust Sage 200 solutions that are meticulously designed to suit your specific business needs. We take a full 360-degree view of your business, and help you identify all of your requirements.
Our team of expert business analysts, developers, consultants, technicians and support staff will guide you through your Sage 200 project from conception, through to deployment and ongoing support.
If you would like to speak with one of our Sage 200 experts, you can request a free call back here.
