Exact Online vs. Microsoft 365

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Exact Online
Score 7.6 out of 10
N/A
Exact Online is a configurable, cloud-based multi-purpose Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Suite from global company Exact Software, headquartered in the Netherlands.
$158
per month
Microsoft 365
Score 8.6 out of 10
N/A
Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365) is a Microsoft Cloud subscription service that includes Microsoft Office products (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Publisher, and Access). The software can be installed across multiple devices and ensures that users always have the most up-to-date version of the included Office applications.
$5
Per User Per Month
Pricing
Exact OnlineMicrosoft 365
Editions & Modules
Exact for Time & Billing
$158
per month
Exact for Wholesale Distribution
237-554
per month
Exact for Project Management
316-369
per month
Exact for Manufacturing
422-739
per month
Business Basic
$5.00
Per User Per Month
Individual
$5.84
*Per Month
Business - Apps
$8.25
Per User Per Month
Enterprise - F3
$10.00
Per User Per Month
Business Standard
$12.50
Per User Per Month
Business Premium
$20.00
Per User Per Month
Enterprise - E3
$32.00
Per User Per Month
Enterprise - E5
$57.00
Per User Per Month
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Exact OnlineMicrosoft 365
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details*When billed annually.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Exact OnlineMicrosoft 365
Features
Exact OnlineMicrosoft 365
Customization
Comparison of Customization features of Product A and Product B
Exact Online
7.5
1 Ratings
1% above category average
Microsoft 365
-
Ratings
API for custom integration8.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Plug-ins7.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Security
Comparison of Security features of Product A and Product B
Exact Online
8.0
1 Ratings
4% below category average
Microsoft 365
-
Ratings
Single sign-on capability8.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Role-based user permissions8.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
Exact Online
4.7
1 Ratings
44% below category average
Microsoft 365
-
Ratings
Dashboards4.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Standard reports6.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Custom reports4.01 Ratings00 Ratings
General Ledger and Configurable Accounting
Comparison of General Ledger and Configurable Accounting features of Product A and Product B
Exact Online
6.9
1 Ratings
10% below category average
Microsoft 365
-
Ratings
Accounts payable7.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Accounts receivable7.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Global Financial Support5.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Primary and Secondary Ledgers5.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Journals and Reconciliations6.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Configurable Accounting7.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Standardized Processes8.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Inventory Management
Comparison of Inventory Management features of Product A and Product B
Exact Online
7.0
1 Ratings
12% below category average
Microsoft 365
-
Ratings
Inventory tracking7.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Order Management
Comparison of Order Management features of Product A and Product B
Exact Online
6.7
1 Ratings
15% below category average
Microsoft 365
-
Ratings
Pricing7.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Order entry7.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Cost of goods sold6.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Subledger and Financial Process
Comparison of Subledger and Financial Process features of Product A and Product B
Exact Online
6.7
1 Ratings
11% below category average
Microsoft 365
-
Ratings
Billing Management7.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Cash and Asset Management7.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Period Close7.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Project Financial Management
Comparison of Project Financial Management features of Product A and Product B
Exact Online
6.7
1 Ratings
12% below category average
Microsoft 365
-
Ratings
Budgeting and Forecasting8.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Project Costing8.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Cost Capture7.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Capital Project Management7.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Customer Contract Compliance6.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Project Revenue Recognition7.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Exact OnlineMicrosoft 365
Small Businesses
Zoho One
Zoho One
Score 9.5 out of 10
Google Workspace
Google Workspace
Score 9.1 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Infor VISUAL
Infor VISUAL
Score 7.4 out of 10
Google Workspace
Google Workspace
Score 9.1 out of 10
Enterprises
24SevenOffice
24SevenOffice
Score 9.0 out of 10
Microsoft 365 Business Premium
Microsoft 365 Business Premium
Score 8.9 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Exact OnlineMicrosoft 365
Likelihood to Recommend
4.0
(1 ratings)
8.0
(242 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
-
(0 ratings)
9.5
(6 ratings)
Usability
-
(0 ratings)
7.7
(13 ratings)
Support Rating
-
(0 ratings)
8.9
(54 ratings)
Implementation Rating
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(2 ratings)
User Testimonials
Exact OnlineMicrosoft 365
Likelihood to Recommend
Exact Software
If you are a big company and have an active accountant then this system can be for you, it has many options but you need dedication. But the price starts from €39 and then you are not there...Most of the time you need other options to make it complete. Like ERP functions + €199~ want to book hours? +€129. And this is all per month... It goes up so fast that it's not interesting for small companies. When there are better options on the market that are even free...
Read full review
Microsoft
Microsoft 365 would be well suited for medium to large enterprises. This is where there are several hundreds or thousands of people. Since most everyone has used one of the applications the learning curve would be reduced. Another reason would be the ability to implement security measures to prevent access to sensitive data. This could justify the cost of an Enterprise license.
Read full review
Pros
Exact Software
  • Complete pack with many options, use it as CRM, ERP or simply for your bookings.
  • Many connections with external programs, webshops, etc.
  • Automatic backups.
Read full review
Microsoft
  • Chat with teams and the integrations with the other apps, and many more smaller ones, like to-dos, news, and the recent Outlook integration.
  • Easy embedding on SharePoint to broadcast all the content created in the different tools.
  • The office package is still robust with the good things from the past and new additions.
Read full review
Cons
Exact Software
  • Support... It's bad, and when you want to stop or step back it's near impossible.
  • Price, they tend to increase it without warning, and with all the extras it goes up fast.
  • If you wanna spend all your time in accounting buy Exact... It can be complex and many handlings needs to be done.
Read full review
Microsoft
  • Forms lack comprehensive features and parameters for detailed questioning for example cannot be directly linked with Power BI
  • Outlook email filters are not handy to use and require more detailing in terms of location past emails
  • Teams requires substantially large amounts of system resources which could be finetuned
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
Exact Software
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
So far the Microsoft 365 platform provides features and tools that can cater to 100% of present organizations needs considering both technical and business necessities, however most features are not been effectively utilised at present. The current featureset is able to cover for most of the future needs of the business and technical functions.
Read full review
Usability
Exact Software
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
Microsoft 365 is the gold standard for performing project tasks in a professional environment, enabling the quick transfer and exchange of files and ideas for team members who work locally and remotely. Its suite of tools is familiar and has evolved to being cloud based, allowing for files to be updated in real time from near and far.
Read full review
Reliability and Availability
Exact Software
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
To-date Microsoft 365 platform has offered an amazing uptime and availability percentage per year compared to all other products which provide the stability and overall business resilience of their ecosystem which is a great relief for information technology service entitites which heavy rely on Microsoft offerings as a whole to redeliver their own custom products
Read full review
Performance
Exact Software
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
The Microsoft 365 tools expects and demands a substantial amount of system resources to operate at optimal level and even more when integrated with other applications which is a downside, however given that external supporting tech factors such as fibre/broadband speed bandwidth, high speed RAM and ample storage resources are allocated the tools work error free providing robust communication
Read full review
Support Rating
Exact Software
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
Over the past 8 years of using Microsoft 365, I have noticed that they change vendors often. This always leads to a poor experience in the beginning, then levels out after some time for the company to get things worked out. As a customer, it is really frustrating because I don't have time when something isn't working to have them "look into my issue" and get back with me. They have even closed a ticket I specifically told them to keep open. Your applications are only as good as the support.
Read full review
In-Person Training
Exact Software
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
The resellers involved with selling Microsoft products are reluctant to provide in person specialist trainings to consumers due to the fact of costs of economies of scale and is not provided free of charge most of the time. In Person trainings needs to be agreed to at the initiation of projects and implementations for better ROI.
Read full review
Online Training
Exact Software
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
The standard training offered with 3rd part resellers are fairly standard and covers the basic workability however the trainings needs to be specifically customised according to unique requirements of the organizations. for example an MSP would need to master specific communications verticals within Microsoft 365 whereas and online store using Microsoft 365 would needs to master a different set of tools within the suite to get the best ROI post implementation.
Read full review
Implementation Rating
Exact Software
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
The Microsoft support partners are more than capable of handling implementations and dealing with unprecedented errors during the implementations. Not part of the implementation though the setup was done with minimum misconfigurations which is evident with present live setup which works fine without any bugs and gaps at present context.
Read full review
Alternatives Considered
Exact Software
I would not select Exact Online, but I can direct you to better options. Due to the high price, getting behind the competition and support I would suggest options like Zoho Books for you bookings, or CyberStockroom as ERP. And here in the Netherlands e-boekhouden.nl is a real nice, cheap, and fast working booking platform for the smaller companies.
Read full review
Microsoft
Typically I prefer working with companies with Microsoft 365 as their main tool because they're usually a fast growing company with a global presence. I like using it for work because it's easy to collaborate, share, review, comment, reply in any of the tools. The mobile app for Outlook and Teams are lifesavers when we're constantly traveling and you can join meetings on the mobile Teams to never miss a beat.
Read full review
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
Exact Software
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
Microsoft pricing is not very expensive and yet not very cheap as well, and it hovers in between the baseline. The charges are mostly based on the tier level partners who charge based on their individual reputation in the market. Power negotiation will lead to cost effective and attractive pricing
Read full review
Scalability
Exact Software
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
Multiple tools within the same platform have been deployed successfully within different functional technical and non technical teams such as Devops, SOC, NOC, Shared services, Managed services, Global Information technology, Cloud operations, Finance, Administration, human resources and all these teams collaborate while maintaining central uniformity in terms of global standards who are dispersed in different geographical locations with ease
Read full review
Professional Services
Exact Software
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
Have not directly obtained professional services from Microsoft but rather obtained specialized services such as implementations and configurations, setting up and integration support with Microsoft authorized suppliers, 3rd parties, and resellers, which has been a pleasant experience. Again the level of delivery quality on professional services is based on the level of hands on exposure of the 3rd party
Read full review
Return on Investment
Exact Software
  • Negative: High costs and implement time turned 1 client in to the negative, and after 2 years of use wants to stop.
  • Positive: Once an ERP connection is running you can automate a lot in the process.
Read full review
Microsoft
  • We have a lot of nonprofit users, so they have a good ROI.
  • I like the constant updates without having to purchase the software repeatedly.
  • I used to purchase each Office (insert year here) often, so the software was up to date and had the newest options and connectors. I think my return on investment would have been much better if Microsoft had updated those versions to keep them current; after all, we did pay for them.
  • Microsoft 365's offering a monthly fee or a discount for a year helps, and you can look at it as a free backup if you have everything set to back up to One Drive. (Cloud-based document filing you can access anywhere ( with an internet connection)—you Can't beat that!)
Read full review
ScreenShots