QuickBooks vs Sage

QuickBooks and Sage One are two popular business management services. Both offer slightly different services. QuickBooks focuses more on bookkeeping and accounting services while Sage One is a feature-rich project management service. The two services overlap in some categories, but ultimately, both services help your business grow in different ways.

How They Help Your Business QuickBooks Online vs Sage One

QuickBooks offers powerful accounting and bookkeeping tools while Sage helps keep employees on-task when working on collaborative projects. Here are a few of the ways in which both QuickBooks and Sage can help your business:

Benefits of QuickBooks

QuickBooks has been a popular small business accounting software since the 1990s and brings decades of experience to the table. Today, QuickBooks Online harnesses new technologies like cloud computing in order to simplify business management. Quickbooks also has a 30 day free trial.

QuickBooks Online helps business managers avoid relying wholly on an accountant. Here are a few of the benefits QuickBooks brings to the table:

Income and expense tracking: Easily monitor how much money your business is bringing in and how much it’s spending over certain periods of time.

Sync with bank accounts: QuickBooks synchronizes directly with bank accounts and credit card accounts, which means all transactions made in your accounts will automatically appear in QuickBooks.

Bookkeeping tools: This is where QuickBooks really differentiates itself from Sage – QuickBooks offers a full suite of bookkeeping tools to help manage your business, including income and expense tracking, payroll management (on higher level accounts), and financial management tools.

Scalable plans: If you already use bookkeeping software or payroll software, then it may seem like there’s no point behind QuickBooks. However, plans scale according to your needs, and you don’t need to pay for all of the QuickBooks bookkeeping tools on the basic plan. Plans scale to meet the needs of your business and the lowest level plan starts at $12.95 per month with minimal bookkeeping features.

Benefits of Sage One

Sage is primarily a project management tool that offers a few basic bookkeeping features – including expense tracking and invoice reporting. It’s still an excellent option for today’s businesses, but it won’t be able to handle all of the bookkeeping services your business requires.

With that being said, Sage helps businesses in a number of ways, including:

Project management on the cloud: Businesses are more productive on the cloud. Cloud-based project management is one of the primary benefits of Sage One. Multiple employees can simultaneously work on a single project and collaborate together in the cloud.

Invoices and quotes: Every Sage One account comes with unlimited invoices and quotes. You can send an unlimited number of invoices and quotes to your customers. These invoices have your business’s logo pinned at the top and provide a professional face for your business.

Add unlimited collaborators: Sage offers two plans. On the higher level plan, Sage One Accounting Standard, there’s no limit to how many collaborators you can have working on a single project. That’s an excellent benefit for larger businesses.

Scalable plans: The lowest Sage One plan, Sage One Invoicing, is mostly used for tracking income and expenses and sending invoices to businesses. The higher plan, Sage One Accounting Standard, is a feature-rich project management service that also includes everything from the Invoicing plan.

QuickBooks Online vs Sage One Supported Services

Mobile apps: QuickBooks and Sage both offer a suite of mobile apps for the iPhone and iPad as well as Android devices. With both services, you can perform virtually all core functions over the apps – including project collaboration and expense tracking.

Online access: You can access QuickBooks and Sage One from any internet-connected device and all data will sync across devices online. Even if your device isn’t supported by mobile apps, you’ll be able to login and view account data from your mobile browser.

Cloud support: Sage and QuickBooks both use cloud servers to sync information across all devices. Sage specializes in offering cloud-based project management services to its clients.

Compatibility: Sage and QuickBooks can be used alongside one another but they’re not directly compatible with one another.

Bank accounts: Users can add bank accounts and credit card accounts to QuickBooks and account information will automatically sync across the software. Sage One also lets you add bank accounts to the platform, although transaction information won’t automatically sync.

Online payments: Sage lets users accept payments from clients via PayPal. Users can also choose to use the built-in online payment processing system, Sage Payment Solutions, which accepts credit card payments in exchange for transaction fees. QuickBooks does not offer payment processing of any sort.

Other Points of Comparison On QuickBooks Online vs Sage One

Free trial: Sage One offers an excellent free trial. Users can test the software for free without submitting credit card data. Users have access to the full suite of Sage One services during that trial. QuickBooks also offers a free trial, although you need to enter credit card data and cancel your account before that 30 day period is over. If you don’t cancel your account in time, then your account will begin to be charged as a normal subscription.

Unlimited use: Sage One lets users add unlimited numbers of collaborators to a single project. Users on all plans can also send unlimited invoices. QuickBooks also lets users create unlimited invoices and estimates.

Extra fees: Sage One charges extra for adding administrators to your account. By default, all plans have a single administrator and adding more admins costs $10 per month. Otherwise, the price you sign up for is the price you’ll likely see on your monthly bill. QuickBooks bases its pricing on features, and the more you’re willing to pay, the more features you receive. The highest level plans sync your account with Intuit Online Payroll, where you’ll need to pay $2 per employee per month to file payroll taxes.

Our Verdict On QuickBooks Online vs Sage One

Sage One and QuickBooks provide two different types of services. QuickBooks specializes in bookkeeping services while Sage One specializes in client invoicing and project management.

However, the two services do overlap in some categories. Both services let users track income and expenses over defined periods of time. In that category, the two services are virtually equal, although QuickBooks has a slight edge due to its ability to automatically sync transaction information across bank accounts.

When comparing QuickBooks vs. Sage, you should also take into account the additional services offered by the two platforms. If your business frequently requires employees to collaborate on projects, then a project management service like Sage One is an excellent way to save time. If, on the other hand, you don’t have a good bookkeeping service, then QuickBooks can help.

Of course, there’s nothing stopping you from using both Sage One and QuickBooks. Some businesses use Sage One purely as an invoicing and project management tool, while QuickBooks handles all other bookkeeping functionality. That’s okay too.

Essentially, QuickBooks is a feature-rich bookkeeping program that lets you automatically sync business information across bank accounts, while Sage One is a cloud-based project management service with extensive invoicing features. Both services offer considerable value to your business without breaking the bank.