Acumatica vs. Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Acumatica
Score 8.8 out of 10
N/A
Acumatica delivers a set of cloud-based business software applications with dashboards, reporting tools, integrated document management, centralized security, and customization tools.
$1,000
per year
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central
Score 8.0 out of 10
N/A
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central (formerly Dynamics NAV) is one of the ERP products in the Dynamics family. The technology is based on the Navision product acquired by Microsoft in 2002. This product is the best-selling Microsoft ERP platform, and is often used by companies in the manufacturing and distribution verticals.
$8
per month per user
Pricing
AcumaticaMicrosoft Dynamics 365 Business Central
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Dynamics 365 Business Central Team Members
$8
per month (billed annually) per user
Dynamics 365 Business Central Essentials
$70
per month (billed annually) per user
Dynamics 365 Business Central Premium
$100
per month (billed annually) per user
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
AcumaticaMicrosoft Dynamics 365 Business Central
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsPricing is always consumption-based with no five-year lock-ins or termination penalties. The Acumatica ERP pricing structure allows adding casual users, suppliers, and customers without paying for additional licenses. The cost is based on the features and resources utilized, not on the number of users who access the system. An Acumatica partner works with users to understand specific requirements, determine the proper resources and modules for the company, and presents a price for the license.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
AcumaticaMicrosoft Dynamics 365 Business Central
Considered Both Products
Acumatica
Chose Acumatica
I have preferred the flexibility within Acumatica quite a bit more but I do prefer the others data analysis better
Chose Acumatica
Better for the small/medium business customer
Chose Acumatica
We used Business Central for 8 years and after 8 months of implementing Acumatica our processes are more efficient and our reporting is miles ahead of where we were with Business Central, and at a fraction of the cost. Acumatica's cloud first approach and customizability puts …
Chose Acumatica
I’m really happy we went with Acumatica over Microsoft. To me, they are more innovative and pushing out changes all the time which is important to me. There are some serious settings that need to change that I wish it would adopt from Microsoft like the user security which is …
Chose Acumatica
The ease of customization and the network of integrate-able ISV’s really stood out to us over the competitive products.
Chose Acumatica
Dynamics SL is our current platform that we are migrating away from due to the lack of new features and future support. We attempted to launch with Dynamics 365 but found many screens and work flows do not work as intended. We left those project deployments and went with …
Chose Acumatica
Transaction based pricing is better suited for us, the ability to not have to rely on so many customisations or addons
Chose Acumatica
Acumatica's cloud base is a key to success. Exports to Excel make getting information easy to access.
Chose Acumatica
We also evaluated Sage Intacct. We chose Acumatica for ease of use and our VAR highly recommended it
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central

No answer on this topic

Features
AcumaticaMicrosoft Dynamics 365 Business Central
Payroll Management
Comparison of Payroll Management features of Product A and Product B
Acumatica
8.4
169 Ratings
13% above category average
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central
6.9
10 Ratings
6% below category average
Pay calculation7.5150 Ratings7.210 Ratings
Benefit plan administration7.3118 Ratings6.28 Ratings
Direct deposit files7.5145 Ratings7.29 Ratings
Customization
Comparison of Customization features of Product A and Product B
Acumatica
8.3
498 Ratings
11% above category average
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central
7.7
23 Ratings
4% above category average
API for custom integration8.3469 Ratings7.622 Ratings
Plug-ins8.4422 Ratings7.820 Ratings
Security
Comparison of Security features of Product A and Product B
Acumatica
8.2
611 Ratings
2% below category average
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central
8.8
27 Ratings
5% above category average
Single sign-on capability8.5505 Ratings8.823 Ratings
Role-based user permissions7.9601 Ratings8.926 Ratings
Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
Acumatica
7.7
630 Ratings
5% above category average
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central
7.7
28 Ratings
5% above category average
Dashboards7.9598 Ratings7.524 Ratings
Standard reports7.4618 Ratings7.828 Ratings
Custom reports7.8606 Ratings7.927 Ratings
General Ledger and Configurable Accounting
Comparison of General Ledger and Configurable Accounting features of Product A and Product B
Acumatica
8.7
910 Ratings
13% above category average
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central
8.4
28 Ratings
9% above category average
Accounts payable8.5877 Ratings8.827 Ratings
Accounts receivable8.4764 Ratings8.626 Ratings
Global Financial Support7.8349 Ratings7.715 Ratings
Primary and Secondary Ledgers8.2498 Ratings8.314 Ratings
Journals and Reconciliations8.3722 Ratings8.417 Ratings
Configurable Accounting8.2571 Ratings7.817 Ratings
Standardized Processes8.3620 Ratings8.718 Ratings
Inventory Management
Comparison of Inventory Management features of Product A and Product B
Acumatica
8.2
607 Ratings
3% above category average
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central
8.7
24 Ratings
9% above category average
Inventory tracking8.1593 Ratings8.424 Ratings
Automatic reordering7.4309 Ratings8.016 Ratings
Location management7.9423 Ratings8.320 Ratings
Order Management
Comparison of Order Management features of Product A and Product B
Acumatica
8.5
617 Ratings
8% above category average
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central
8.0
26 Ratings
2% above category average
Pricing7.9524 Ratings8.423 Ratings
Order entry8.3555 Ratings8.723 Ratings
Credit card processing7.8375 Ratings6.815 Ratings
Cost of goods sold8.0515 Ratings9.021 Ratings
Order Orchestration7.7307 Ratings8.512 Ratings
Subledger and Financial Process
Comparison of Subledger and Financial Process features of Product A and Product B
Acumatica
8.7
721 Ratings
15% above category average
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central
8.2
18 Ratings
9% above category average
Billing Management8.1530 Ratings8.216 Ratings
Cash and Asset Management8.0648 Ratings8.417 Ratings
Travel & Expense Management7.3382 Ratings7.312 Ratings
Budgetary Control & Encumbrance Accounting7.7396 Ratings8.114 Ratings
Period Close8.5573 Ratings8.117 Ratings
Project Financial Management
Comparison of Project Financial Management features of Product A and Product B
Acumatica
9.9
4 Ratings
27% above category average
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central
8.7
8 Ratings
14% above category average
Budgeting and Forecasting9.64 Ratings10.08 Ratings
Project Costing9.93 Ratings10.07 Ratings
Cost Capture9.93 Ratings10.08 Ratings
Capital Project Management10.02 Ratings8.05 Ratings
Customer Contract Compliance10.02 Ratings10.06 Ratings
Project Revenue Recognition9.93 Ratings8.04 Ratings
Project Execution Management
Comparison of Project Execution Management features of Product A and Product B
Acumatica
7.7
275 Ratings
9% above category average
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central
7.5
10 Ratings
6% above category average
Project Planning and Scheduling7.5248 Ratings7.39 Ratings
Task Insight for Project Managers7.5245 Ratings6.99 Ratings
Project Mobile Functionality7.2218 Ratings6.98 Ratings
Definable Resource Pools7.2152 Ratings6.79 Ratings
Grants Management
Comparison of Grants Management features of Product A and Product B
Acumatica
7.9
114 Ratings
7% above category average
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central
8.9
7 Ratings
19% above category average
Award Lifecycle Management7.8114 Ratings6.77 Ratings
Procurement
Comparison of Procurement features of Product A and Product B
Acumatica
7.4
355 Ratings
6% above category average
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central
7.8
14 Ratings
11% above category average
Bids Analyzed and Compared7.5152 Ratings6.98 Ratings
Contract Authoring7.3122 Ratings6.68 Ratings
Requisitions-to-Purchase Orders Integrated7.9290 Ratings8.012 Ratings
Supplier Management7.9231 Ratings7.211 Ratings
Contract Repository00 Ratings7.18 Ratings
Risk Management
Comparison of Risk Management features of Product A and Product B
Acumatica
7.7
176 Ratings
15% above category average
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central
8.2
10 Ratings
21% above category average
Risk Repository7.7130 Ratings6.89 Ratings
Control Management7.7156 Ratings6.99 Ratings
Control Efficiency Assessments7.9138 Ratings6.99 Ratings
Issue Detection7.6142 Ratings7.29 Ratings
Remediation and Certification7.6115 Ratings7.67 Ratings
Logistics
Comparison of Logistics features of Product A and Product B
Acumatica
8.6
217 Ratings
22% above category average
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central
7.5
8 Ratings
9% above category average
Transportation Planning and Optimization7.1158 Ratings6.86 Ratings
Transportation Execution Management7.4149 Ratings6.86 Ratings
Trade and Customs Management7.2123 Ratings7.56 Ratings
Fulfillment Management7.8175 Ratings7.38 Ratings
Warehouse Workforce Management7.3167 Ratings8.76 Ratings
Manufacturing
Comparison of Manufacturing features of Product A and Product B
Acumatica
8.8
237 Ratings
17% above category average
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central
7.9
8 Ratings
6% above category average
Production Process Design7.7196 Ratings8.76 Ratings
Production Management8.0221 Ratings8.47 Ratings
Configuration Management7.8192 Ratings6.86 Ratings
Work Execution7.8186 Ratings8.76 Ratings
Manufacturing Costs8.2208 Ratings8.18 Ratings
Supply Chain
Comparison of Supply Chain features of Product A and Product B
Acumatica
8.2
282 Ratings
13% above category average
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central
7.7
10 Ratings
7% above category average
Forecasting7.5232 Ratings6.810 Ratings
Inventory Planning7.6268 Ratings7.810 Ratings
Performance Monitoring7.5228 Ratings7.110 Ratings
Product Lifecycle Management
Comparison of Product Lifecycle Management features of Product A and Product B
Acumatica
8.3
166 Ratings
14% above category average
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central
8.9
7 Ratings
20% above category average
Proposal Management7.5142 Ratings7.36 Ratings
Product Master Data Management7.5158 Ratings8.16 Ratings
Best Alternatives
AcumaticaMicrosoft Dynamics 365 Business Central
Small Businesses
Zoho One
Zoho One
Score 9.3 out of 10
Zoho One
Zoho One
Score 9.3 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Infor VISUAL
Infor VISUAL
Score 7.4 out of 10
Infor VISUAL
Infor VISUAL
Score 7.4 out of 10
Enterprises
24SevenOffice
24SevenOffice
Score 9.0 out of 10
24SevenOffice
24SevenOffice
Score 9.0 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
AcumaticaMicrosoft Dynamics 365 Business Central
Likelihood to Recommend
8.9
(631 ratings)
8.3
(29 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.2
(65 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Usability
8.2
(37 ratings)
8.5
(9 ratings)
Availability
8.7
(5 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
Performance
8.2
(4 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
7.1
(28 ratings)
10.0
(2 ratings)
In-Person Training
5.0
(5 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Online Training
7.7
(4 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
6.0
(19 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Configurability
6.5
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
6.3
(4 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
5.6
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
7.3
(5 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Professional Services
9.1
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
4.1
(5 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
5.2
(4 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
AcumaticaMicrosoft Dynamics 365 Business Central
Likelihood to Recommend
Acumatica
Coming from Sage, when you have to post financial data, it locks the system. Acumatica, there is no delay, there is no downtime. Dashboards. My CEO recently asked me, "I really want to see what our top customers are and what markets that they're spending the most money in." Acumatica had that widget already prepared for me.
Read full review
Microsoft
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is well suited for inventory management in all aspects. Its accessibility, along with my other apps, when out of the office is unparalleled. I find it easy to work with on a desktop or laptop; however, it could use some work on a mobile device.
Read full review
Pros
Acumatica
  • Real-time access to financials across firm's locations in India for better in-house sales, cost and financial health analysis
  • The tool is great with respect to the creation of dashboards and KPI reporting to get visual picture of profitability and cash flow metrics across projects
Read full review
Microsoft
  • Automate the creation of bills of materials for production. We can now generate a BoM from a sales order.
  • Organization of all data pertaining to thousands of parts, assemblies, and finished goods. Engineering and purchasing have a common portal.
  • We can create sales orders from quotations instead of re-entering them (this did require some bolt-on software). Less redundant work with fewer entry errors.
  • Accounting can provide reports based on specific criteria stored in NAV. We can pull better and more detailed intelligence.
Read full review
Cons
Acumatica
  • Mass updating existing BOMs or Production Order Details. For larger orders, especially if many things need to be changed it can take a painstakingly long time to update each production order one-by-one.
  • The product configurator is too flat, we definitely need nested configurations that can capture variable subassemblies.
  • Accounting has room for improvement, I don't really like the idea of SO Invoices living in a separate spot until they are Released. I have had complaints from our accounting personnel since they have to leave the "Accounting World".
Read full review
Microsoft
  • Some functions could be a bit more user friendly, intuitive.
  • Better migration from previous ERP software (especially other Microsoft products). "Growing pains" associated with change?! Maybe.
  • A few redundancies and procedural missteps on menus and tabs can make the portal a bit crowded.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
Acumatica
We are highly likely to renew because Acumatica has become the foundation of our ERP strategy replacing another ERP system with a more flexible, scalable platform while improving governance, planning, and operational visibility. Ongoing stabilization, roadmap investment in IBP and automation, and strong alignment across Finance and Operations give us long‑term confidence in the platform.
Read full review
Microsoft
We've already decided to continue using this software. It is too expensive for us to upgrade so we made a workaround by using the virtual computer with Windows XP installed on it. We did research replacing this software, but it was a better financial decision to keep what we had instead
Read full review
Usability
Acumatica
The processes are very intuitive and easy to use. Whether you are entering AP bills, timecards for payroll, or AR invoices, the processes are similar and easy to use. The drill-down capability is also a huge plus as you can easily toggle between different modules without having to leave the screen you are in and navigating through a menu to get the information you need. We found that the standard reports out of the box are lacking. Our implementation did not go so well and when we were finally ready to run financial reports, it was both disappointing and frustrating to discover that the P&L was highly summarized and to get a detailed report required having to do a lot of formatting myself. I was able to figure it out on my own, but when our financials were already delayed getting published, I did not really have the time to spend trying to figure out how to build my own P&L.
Read full review
Microsoft
Best in terms of reporting or coming up with a great dashboard. Seamlessly collaborated with teams without depending on particular device as its web version is the buddy for people with work flexibility. Licensing price and integrations can be the areas of improvement and can simplify the interface which will be easy for a new user.
Read full review
Reliability and Availability
Acumatica
It's always available.
Read full review
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Performance
Acumatica
there have been some performance issues
Read full review
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Acumatica
I would rate the overall support for Acumatica an 8 out of 10. The support team is generally responsive, knowledgeable, and helpful when resolving issues or answering questions. Documentation and community resources are also useful. However, response times can occasionally vary depending on the complexity of the issue or support queue, which slightly affects the overall experience.
Read full review
Microsoft
It provides one to efficiently be able to manage bookkeeping and inventory without much challenges. One can easily navigate through workflow processes while managing usages and budgets. Being able to produce reports in Word, Excel or PDF means one is able to have a working document to produce trends and graphs or produce pivot tables.
Read full review
In-Person Training
Acumatica
Very helpful for end users
Read full review
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Online Training
Acumatica
Online training has gone away. Need to bring back the webinars. Live webinars are so benficial to training new employees.
Read full review
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
Acumatica
I'd say the partner selection is critically important. I think the software is very easy to implement. It's very customizable to your business. Finding a partner that will work with you to understand your business and your needs is the critical piece to make sure that the system goes along with it.
Read full review
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
Acumatica
Having used Pastel for a long time in the business, it lacked certain features, or the system was not probably setup for our business needs and requirements at the time. It was also not 100% cloud based and needed to be used through remote desktop which had its limitations. Zero just had 10% of what our business needed.
Read full review
Microsoft
I have personally supported all of the Dynamic family of ERP systems and made the decision to concentrate on NAV as the solution of choice. From a support and development standpoint there are few if any packages that can compare. It is not uncommon for most of the companies that I support to only call me once or twice a month after the first year. This is due to the ease of tracking down problems and errors and the ability for a developer to provide the end-user with routines that automatically correct the most basic kind of error
Read full review
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
Acumatica
No, annual invoices are fine. I do like that unlimited users are included.
Read full review
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Scalability
Acumatica
From my understanding, the P.O. module is not very robust, at least the last time I inquired about it. At the time, it had a one-to-one match, with one invoice for one P.O. and that isn't practical for many businesses. I don't believe it would be an easy system to use for sending out invoices, if we had thousands of retail utility customers. We do a small number of invoices because we sell wholesale power, not retail, so we only Invoice the municipality. Not each utility customer.
Read full review
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Professional Services
Acumatica
They are very responsive and knowledgeable about the product. If the rep doesn't have the ability to solve the issue, they quickly get someone else involved to assist us.
Read full review
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
Acumatica
  • I feel like I am not using it to it's potential and it's frustrating to know that it can do more than I am able to use and more help with that would be great
  • The implementation was a lot of customize building and I felt like some of it could have been built by my partner rather than having them sit and watch me enter a bunch of stuff, especially when a lot of it was over my head in understanding
Read full review
Microsoft
  • Automation processing, including EDI functionality, has increased employee efficiency and prevented the need for adding additional employees.
  • Implementation of the warehouse functionality, including cycle counts, has resulted in better inventory control/less shrinkage.
  • Implementation of e-Ship and e-Receive, has resulted in greater efficiency and order accuracy.
Read full review
ScreenShots

Acumatica Screenshots

Screenshot of Acumatica Cloud ERP - Field Service DashboardScreenshot of Acumatica Cloud ERP - Manufacturing - Production Manager DashboardScreenshot of Acumatica Cloud ERP - Distribution - Warehouse Operations DashboardsScreenshot of Acumatica Cloud ERP - Construction - Job Cost Accounting DashboardScreenshot of Acumatica Cloud ERP - Retail Edition DashboardsScreenshot of Acumatica Cloud ERP - Professional Services - Financial Management Dashboard