For users of Sage 50 you will inevitably reach a point where using the system becomes a challenge. You might get used to things not working well, inefficient manual processes and having to rely on spreadsheets, but you should be looking for a new accountancy solution.
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central represents a strong alternative to Sage 50. Dynamics 365 Business Central is an all-in-one business solution that provides small and midsized businesses (SMBs) with the capability to efficiently and effectively manage finance, operations, sales and customer service.
We have created the below table to allow you to easily compare Sage 50 and Dynamics 365 Business Central. When looking at Sage 50 we have used the professional option.
Dynamics 365 Business Central |
Sage 50 – Professional |
|
Overview |
||
| Price/licence (per month) | Essential £53 Premium £78 Team member £6 |
First user £125
20 users £140 (total)
|
| 10 full users’ price | £530 pm | £140 pm |
| Users | No limit | Up to 20 users |
| Transactions | No limit | Up to 1.5 million per annum |
Functionality |
||
| Finance |
Yes |
Yes |
| Supply chain | Yes |
Limited |
| Sales CRM | Yes |
No |
| Warehouse management | Yes |
Limited |
|
Service management |
Yes |
No |
| Manufacturing | Yes |
Yes via Sage 50 manufacturing separate module |
Additional information |
||
| Configuration |
Very configurable |
Minimal configuration |
| Cloud or on premise |
Both |
Hosted locally but access via cloud is available |
| Devices |
Any device |
Any device |
| Data analysis |
Yes, Embedded with Power BI |
No |
| AI | Yes |
No |
| Connectivity |
Yes Fully connective via CDM, 200+ connections available |
No |
| Office 365 integration (Outlook, OneDrive and Excel etc) |
Extremely strong two-way integration |
Available from £10 per month |
| Automation and custom applications |
Yes via Power Platform |
No |
| Making Tax Digital compliance |
Yes |
Yes Free for latest subscription, additional cost for previous versions and perpetual licence |
As you can see from the above table, Sage 50 is a cheaper finance package for small businesses. For growing businesses, Sage 50 represents a challenge as at some point in the near future you are going to outgrow it.
Dynamics 365 Business Central is a great alternative that is designed to support growth. Unlike Sage 50 you do not need to host it, and so you do not need a server. All you need to get started is a licence. You can start with 1 user, and when you are ready you can easily add more users and start to use the other features such as connecting your operations, sales and more.
Dynamics 365 Business Central offers unrivalled visualisation and artificial intelligence (AI) out of the box. AI can help you manage stocks, cashflows and payments and with Power BI reports you have a wide range of real time reports at your fingertips. Combining this with the ability to dramatically boost productivity through Office 365 integration and the automation of processes and manual tasks, results in a compelling opportunity for SMBs to drive return on investment and transform their business.
Discover more in our guide Have you outgrown Sage? Discover Dynamics 365 Business Central.