BlackLine vs. Sage 50cloud Accounting

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
BlackLine
Score 8.4 out of 10
N/A
BlackLine automates the the processes required to finalize periodic closing of the books. Beyond close/reconciliation management the product includes capabilities to enhance the management and control of financial processes throughout the accounting cycle. In October 2020, BlackLine acquired Rimilia, an AR automation solution. Rimilia's capabilities are now part of the BlackLine platform.N/A
Sage 50cloud Accounting
Score 7.7 out of 10
Small Businesses (1-50 employees)
Sage 50cloud Accounting (formerly Sage 50 Accounting) is accounting software designed for small businesses. Sage 50cloud Accounting (formerly Sage 50, and formerly Peachtree) lets businesses invoice customers, pay bills, manage inventory, control costs, and pay employees. The solution includes high-level dashboards and in-depth reports.
$299
per year
Pricing
BlackLineSage 50cloud Accounting
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Sage 50 Pro Accounting
$299
per year
Sage 50 Premium Accounting
$449
per year
Sage 50 Quantum Accounting 3 User
Starting at $1,499
per year
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
BlackLineSage 50cloud Accounting
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoYes
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsAnnual traditional plan with license, monthly, and annual subscription plans available.
More Pricing Information
Features
BlackLineSage 50cloud Accounting
Consolidation and Close
Comparison of Consolidation and Close features of Product A and Product B
BlackLine
8.1
56 Ratings
2% below category average
Sage 50cloud Accounting
-
Ratings
Financial data consolidation7.624 Ratings00 Ratings
Journal entries and reports8.439 Ratings00 Ratings
Multi-currency management7.626 Ratings00 Ratings
Detailed Audit Trails8.750 Ratings00 Ratings
Customizable Workflows8.033 Ratings00 Ratings
Payroll Management
Comparison of Payroll Management features of Product A and Product B
BlackLine
-
Ratings
Sage 50cloud Accounting
9.0
14 Ratings
18% above category average
Pay calculation00 Ratings9.014 Ratings
Benefit plan administration00 Ratings9.011 Ratings
Direct deposit files00 Ratings9.011 Ratings
Salary revision and increment management00 Ratings9.013 Ratings
Reimbursement management00 Ratings9.013 Ratings
Customization
Comparison of Customization features of Product A and Product B
BlackLine
-
Ratings
Sage 50cloud Accounting
9.0
10 Ratings
24% above category average
API for custom integration00 Ratings9.08 Ratings
Plug-ins00 Ratings9.09 Ratings
Security
Comparison of Security features of Product A and Product B
BlackLine
-
Ratings
Sage 50cloud Accounting
9.0
19 Ratings
14% above category average
Single sign-on capability00 Ratings9.017 Ratings
Role-based user permissions00 Ratings9.017 Ratings
Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
BlackLine
-
Ratings
Sage 50cloud Accounting
9.0
21 Ratings
17% above category average
Dashboards00 Ratings9.020 Ratings
Standard reports00 Ratings9.021 Ratings
Custom reports00 Ratings9.020 Ratings
General Ledger and Configurable Accounting
Comparison of General Ledger and Configurable Accounting features of Product A and Product B
BlackLine
-
Ratings
Sage 50cloud Accounting
8.7
24 Ratings
16% above category average
Accounts payable00 Ratings9.023 Ratings
Accounts receivable00 Ratings9.022 Ratings
Cash management00 Ratings9.022 Ratings
Bank reconciliation00 Ratings9.022 Ratings
Expense management00 Ratings9.022 Ratings
Time tracking00 Ratings9.012 Ratings
Fixed asset management00 Ratings9.013 Ratings
Multi-currency support00 Ratings8.910 Ratings
Multi-division support00 Ratings9.010 Ratings
Regulations compliance00 Ratings9.09 Ratings
Electronic tax filing00 Ratings9.08 Ratings
Self-service portal00 Ratings9.07 Ratings
Global Financial Support00 Ratings9.04 Ratings
Primary and Secondary Ledgers00 Ratings7.05 Ratings
Intercompany Accounting00 Ratings9.06 Ratings
Localizations00 Ratings7.05 Ratings
Journals and Reconciliations00 Ratings9.011 Ratings
Enterprise Accounting00 Ratings9.06 Ratings
Configurable Accounting00 Ratings9.06 Ratings
Centralized Rules Framework00 Ratings7.44 Ratings
Standardized Processes00 Ratings9.09 Ratings
Inventory Management
Comparison of Inventory Management features of Product A and Product B
BlackLine
-
Ratings
Sage 50cloud Accounting
9.0
16 Ratings
25% above category average
Inventory tracking00 Ratings9.016 Ratings
Automatic reordering00 Ratings9.010 Ratings
Location management00 Ratings9.07 Ratings
Manufacturing module00 Ratings9.08 Ratings
Order Management
Comparison of Order Management features of Product A and Product B
BlackLine
-
Ratings
Sage 50cloud Accounting
8.4
17 Ratings
12% above category average
Pricing00 Ratings9.014 Ratings
Order entry00 Ratings9.016 Ratings
Credit card processing00 Ratings9.011 Ratings
Cost of goods sold00 Ratings9.015 Ratings
Order Orchestration00 Ratings7.85 Ratings
End-to-end order visibility00 Ratings7.45 Ratings
Order exception Resolution00 Ratings7.85 Ratings
Best Alternatives
BlackLineSage 50cloud Accounting
Small Businesses
Tipalti
Tipalti
Score 8.0 out of 10
Dext Prepare (with Receipt Bank)
Dext Prepare (with Receipt Bank)
Score 9.1 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
FloQast
FloQast
Score 9.3 out of 10
Accounting Seed
Accounting Seed
Score 8.3 out of 10
Enterprises
FloQast
FloQast
Score 9.3 out of 10
Oracle Fusion Cloud ERP
Oracle Fusion Cloud ERP
Score 8.2 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
BlackLineSage 50cloud Accounting
Likelihood to Recommend
8.9
(241 ratings)
9.0
(34 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.1
(21 ratings)
9.6
(12 ratings)
Usability
8.1
(51 ratings)
10.0
(8 ratings)
Availability
9.1
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
9.1
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
8.7
(134 ratings)
10.0
(7 ratings)
Online Training
8.2
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
8.9
(7 ratings)
9.0
(4 ratings)
Product Scalability
9.1
(1 ratings)
9.1
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
BlackLineSage 50cloud Accounting
Likelihood to Recommend
BlackLine
BlackLine has worked well for our companies, as we have a very old ERP system that is limited to what can be done within the system. Everything was done manually through Excel and binders to keep everything together, and each location had their own way of closing, so there was no consistency. It took longer to complete our close, and it created opportunities for a lack of separation of duties within the process. BlackLine has everything in one place, easy viewing of past months, strict separation of duties implemented (based on your specifications,) easy viewing for an auditor to get everything they need without a lot of hands on from the team, and works the same across all of our global locations, but in their local language and currency. BlackLine may not be a huge assist to those that have ERP systems that can handle doing the Recs, the JE's, the approvals, etc., all within its own system, as long as every location is on the same system. If they are all on different accounting systems, BlackLine can assist in providing consistency across all accounting locations, so processes can be the same no matter where they are located.
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Sage
Sage is great for portability and exchange with external accountants as it is widely used and people will be able to read your data in. It's a very good and complete solution for a little business where one person can handle all of the accounting. I doubt that it scales well to large companies with several in-house accountants working at the same time.
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Pros
BlackLine
  • Saving time! Our manual process became automated the minute we "turned on" Blackline!
  • Focus! By saving time using Blackline, our employees are able to focus on other job responsibilities and profit-generation
  • Support! Blackline's support throughout our implementation and post-implementation has been exceptional. We always receive timely responses and get answers fast, when needed
  • User Friendly! Their system is very easy to navigate. Even individuals in our organization that don't like or embrace change said the transition to Blackline was smooth and painless
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Sage
  • It has the capability of "Single Click" processes that allows you to turn Quotes into orders, instant invoicing and track A/R in the Order Screen
  • I can email Sales Orders directly to my Customer and also remind them of past due from a single screen. I can track Project, Closeouts, Over Seas order by setting up Jobs and clicking the job name in Order Entry.
  • You can use recurring entries and copy and paste on the P&L, using masking for department reporting and budgeting
  • You can use the BI feature and export into Excel in Pivot format and utilize Timeline and Slicer to see the company overall performance by months, day or years
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Cons
BlackLine
  • Early functionality for Oracle users - a lot of the new products are only for use by SAP users.
  • Access to API data to improve the reporting of data out of BlackLine.
  • Ability to create reports in BlackLine across data sources.
  • Ability to email reports out of BlackLine (either ad-hoc or scheduled reports) as opposed to the current process of having the user access BlackLine to retrieve the report.
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Sage
  • Sage 50 could use some improvement in the Invoicing Module to allow for more flexibility in the design of the Invoice fields. The report customization tools could use some upgrading for easier use.
  • Fixed assets management module needs to be included with unlimited number of fixed assets.
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Likelihood to Renew
BlackLine
Because this is a great tool with many possibilities and cool perks. Plus, as an admin - because I am both user and admin - I can say that this is easy to handle, you don't even have to be able to write a single piece of code to do so
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Sage
I use this rating simply because I have a thriving Sage 50 consulting practice and will continue to keep my expertise in the product. I have consulted on both Sage 50 and QuickBooks for over 25 years so I have to maintain expertise in the solution as well as accounting and verticals.
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Usability
BlackLine
BlackLine could use a little work in getting around the system. The interface is not without its issues including lots of scrolling up and down and a lack of using the entire screen. Importing of the initial setup data could be better defined and reimporting data to add additional fields could pose an issue of overwriting data in a negative way.
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Sage
Sage delivers what it promises. The whole accounting package is user friendly and can be easily picked up by a novice. The support is second to none. They always keep us abreast of new technologies and/or changes to accounting that would impact us. The range of reports fits both small and large companies.,
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Reliability and Availability
BlackLine
We never experienced an outage with BlackLine. The only time the system was unavailable was during planned outages for updates and upgrades usually Friday evening after 6pm pst until Saturday morning at 6am pst.
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Sage
No answers on this topic
Performance
BlackLine
BlackLine performs rather quickly considering the amount of data we were pushing in and out of it.
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Sage
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
BlackLine
In my experience, the support team is beyond exceptional. They are incredibly knowledgeable and dedicated to the customer. You can expect prompt, professional and succinct responses. I have been working with the support team for BlackLine for more than ten years where I have been a customer four times. If anyone does Support right, it is definitely BlackLine. Not only can you trust your financials, but you can trust the team to support you through all your objectives!
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Sage
Although I have only needed to call tech support on three occasions through out the entire time of usage, each time my problem was quickly resolved by people who were obviously well trained and easy to understand. Sage 50 Premium Accounting is a reliable and "bug-free" product that is regularly improved upon.
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Online Training
BlackLine
Trainings are available for all topics on the BlackLine U portal. These were incredibly helpful when first starting with BlackLine to get the hang of it. Trainings are useful for any module. I have personally used this to teach myself how to use the tasks and variance modules, which are now fully utilized by my organization. The support team is also very helpful in training our team on anything additional we have needed.
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Sage
No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
BlackLine
You will have to meet up with your final users, approver, internal auditor and accounting policy holder. Everyone has to agree. When you have a well written process, workflow, policy, approval requirement, and control, your implementation process will be much easier
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Sage
Sage 50 is a strong accounting software package. It will work efficiently if it is installed correctly. If one puts garbage in, one will get garbage out. Also it is important to train the staff to use Sage 50 properly. It is also important to set up security for each user.
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Alternatives Considered
BlackLine
I have not used any products similar to Blackline. However, Excel does offer many similar functionalities to Blackline in terms of reconciling accounts. Blackline offers many benefits over simply using Excel. The reconciliations are organized and easy to find, and they roll over each month on their own. They include the ability to auto-certify if they meet the criteria that your team selects. They also include an audit trail of documentation and approval for each step.
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Sage
As we did the conversion almost 10 years ago it is hard to answer this question. At the time it was the ease of being able to produce both cash and accrual financial statements and reporting that led us to pick Sage
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Scalability
BlackLine
After implementing BlackLine our company acquired another large company with multiple operations. We were able to use the COVID shutdown to bring them on board with BlackLine with little effort in the setup and training of the users.
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Sage
I define scalable from two perspectives; 1) the scalability to handle more bookkeepers/accountants using the product, and 2) the scalability to handle increasing customer/vendor/employee and transactional data. Sage 50 does a good job on both fronts. From the single users operating a micro-business accounting for customer invoices and bill payments only, to the multi-staff, multi-location, multi-departmental complex transactional operation. Although Sage 50 is quite expensive for that smallest user, it is quite inexpensive for the larger business entity. So, for the new enterprise expecting rapid growth, Sage 50 is the application of choice.
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Return on Investment
BlackLine
  • More insight into balance sheet account balances. Our team is more timely with getting errors fixed and monitoring important accounts.
  • The task management tool helps us ensure that we are completing all accruals and reviews each month. This has led to fewer errors and missing accruals.
  • Our use of BlackLine has greatly increased our efficiency by reducing manual work.
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Sage
  • Sage definitely needs to do a better job with customer service. I have had to use them only a handful of times and it was not a great experience but not the worse I've seen. They didn't make us a priority and I felt that they didn't have a sense of urgency. They did address my lack of satisfaction and I can see that they are at least aware of the issues and they are trying to correct them.
  • Sage is exactly what we need in my current organization and I wouldn't change it for another system. I have used quite a few in my lifetime and I would say that it fits our needs.
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