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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Gusto

    Score8.9 out of 10
    N/AGusto offers payroll, benefits and compliance capabilities. Gusto is scaled for small to mid-sized businesses, and emphasizes an easy to use interface.

    $49

    per month

    Sage Intacct

    Score8.6 out of 10
    N/ASage Intacct is a cloud ERP system targeted at high-growth small and medium-sized businesses. Intacct includes applications for core financials and accounting, purchasing, order management, and financial reporting and business intelligence. It also integrates with 3rd party software like Salesforce.N/A

    Xero

    Score8.4 out of 10
    N/AXero is an online accounting software product for small businesses and personal finance. Its features beyond general ledger and double-bookkeeping include quotable invoicing, bank reconciliation, purchase order and expense management, and tax management. Third party apps can extend its features further.

    $13

    per month

    Pricing
    GustoSage IntacctXero
    Editions & Modules
    Simple: A streamlined set of automatic payroll features and benefits integrations
    $49/month + $6/mo per person
    per month
    Plus: Comprehensive payroll, benefits, and HR tools for employers building a great place to work
    $80/month + $12/mo per person
    per month
    Premium: Scalable payroll and benefits, expert HR, and dedicated support for the complex needs of growing teams
    $180/month + $22/mo per person
    per month
    No answers on this topic
    Early
    $13
    per month
    Growing
    $37
    per month
    Established
    $70
    per month
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    GustoSage IntacctXero
    Free Trial
    YesNoYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    YesYesNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional DetailsGusto offers three pricing plans for payroll, benefits, and HR.Must contact sales team for pricing.Prices in table are in USD and just apply to the US - other markets & prices are listed below: Canada - Starter $18 CAD/month, Standard $45 CAD/month, Premium 5 $58 CAD/month UK - Starter £14/month, Standard £28/month, Premium £36/month AU - Starter $29 AUD/month, Standard $59 AUD/month, Premium 5 $76 AUD/month NZ - Starter $31 NZD/month, Standard $66 NZD/month, Premium $84 NZD/month
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    GustoSage IntacctXero
    Considered Multiple Products
    Gusto
    Chose Gusto
    I didn't select Gusto as such. When Xero ended its payroll service, it encouraged its users to switch to Gusto and Xero supported the transition process. Thus, we ended up with Gusto and I am so glad we did!
    Incentivized
    Chose Gusto
    I love Xero, but the payroll product offered a couple of years ago was woefully inadequate. Xero has made great strides in improving their payroll product but I still prefer Gusto for small business payroll processing.

    The other payroll products I have worked with, like ADP and …
    Incentivized
    Chose Gusto
    QBO was awful. It never quite worked correctly and was not intuitive at all. Plus, it was expensive! And when we had a problem getting something to work right, it took three days for their customer support team to respond. And they're answer was basically, "Sorry. We can't fix …
    Incentivized
    Chose Gusto
    Having two different products to use left a lot of room for error and took way too much time. Employees needed to count out their hours themselves and email the hours from Excel over to the boss. Then the Boss had to send the hours over to our book keeper which used quick …
    Incentivized
    Chose Gusto
    Personally, I believe that Gusto is the superior product, especially if used by a smaller firm. It has all of the same capabilities as QBO, but has a much simpler design that makes it more user friendly. As I've stated early, the technical support for Gusto is certainly more …
    Incentivized
    Chose Gusto
    Gusto generally wins on price compared to its competitors. Some organizations nickel-and-dime on billing with headcount, states filed, etc. while Gusto's bills are very easy to calculate and understand. Competitors generally will handle state registrations that Gusto won't do, …
    Incentivized
    Chose Gusto
    Gusto is much more intuitive and easier to use, especially for those who may not have a lot of experience running payroll. Customer service at Gusto is superior to ADP - much more responsive. Reports in Gusto are much easier to find and print when needed. Finally, Gusto is far …
    Incentivized
    Chose Gusto
    Gusto provides many of the same functions as Paychex, but is less money per month and more user-friendly.
    Incentivized
    Chose Gusto
    Gusto is very affordable and offers a solid foundation for payroll and HR. They have also recently released a new tier which offers a few additional bells and whistles for those companies looking for higher-touch service or additional features. It is great to have this …
    Incentivized
    Chose Gusto
    Gusto is better than all of its competitors - hands down. The closest competitor is sure payroll, and they are lightyears behind what gusto does. For small business and for the price there is no comparison. Gusto is the best. They fixed what ADP/Paychex were lacking, which is …
    Incentivized
    Sage
    Chose Sage Intacct
    We replaced Xero with Sage Intacct. Xero is a more basic system. However, it is more intuitive, has better dashboards, and is easier for the more basic user. Xero lacks robustness in Procure-to-Pay and project management, requiring a second system for the latter. These were the …
    Incentivized
    Chose Sage Intacct
    Xero has limited functions and hard to use
    Incentivized
    Chose Sage Intacct
    One of the multi-entity solution's most significant weaknesses is its inability to handle revaluations of foreign currency accounts. It needs to be manually worked out and posted, which is standard functionality in entry-level systems like Xero/Quickbooks. It has added more …
    Incentivized
    Chose Sage Intacct
    Sage Intacct is better than Xero, Quickbooks, and SAP. While Netsuite has more customization options it is harder to learn quickly. For large teams Sage Intacct is the way to go. NetSuite is great but without a coach to walk the team through where to go and how to setup it can …
    Incentivized
    Chose Sage Intacct
    Sage Intacct has most of the best features but doesn't have things integrated that I don't need/use. It's very module based so you can add/remove modules as you need to. It's very scalable as well so as I add entities, there's not an incremental software cost like there would …
    Incentivized
    Chose Sage Intacct
    Much larger, modular, more user controls and granularity
    Incentivized
    Chose Sage Intacct
    The big advantage of Sage Intacct is that it maintains the "usability" of QuickBooks Online, but the multi-entity functionality of Sage is incredible. It does everything that we used to like about Quickbooks, but the additional features and capabilities better serve our needs …
    Incentivized
    Chose Sage Intacct
    I think Sage's comparison with the listing system software has a better, friendlier interface that improves the user experience. The support videos are also a plus, as they are not offered by all other software, which makes it easy to train new hires of the company. This saves …
    Incentivized
    Chose Sage Intacct
    More scalable, robust, and meets the advanced needs of our growing company.
    Incentivized
    Chose Sage Intacct
    We did not select Sage Intacct, but went with QuickBooks Online. A much better program- easier to set up, easier to facilitate, and better support.
    Incentivized
    Chose Sage Intacct
    Selecting Sage Intacct was not a choice that I was part of as it pre-dates my time at the company.
    Incentivized
    Chose Sage Intacct
    We still use BILL and Expensify to sync into Sage Intacct. The other accounting systems were not as strong on the multi-entity consolidation setup so Sage Intacct had made it easier for us overall, in terms of processes, closing schedule, and management.
    Incentivized
    Chose Sage Intacct
    I have used all these software. as discussed earlier Sage Intacct helps us in Inventory management. which is not good in our previous accounting software so we moved to Sage Intacct from that one. Some of the above mentioned software is not good for large scale businesses. I …
    Incentivized
    Chose Sage Intacct
    Sage Intacct was selected for its advanced financial management capabilities, scalability for growth, user-friendly interface, and real-time reporting. Unlike competitors like QuickBooks and FreshBooks, it effectively handles multi-entity consolidations and also integrates well …
    Incentivized
    Chose Sage Intacct
    I don't have experience with other products yet.
    Incentivized
    Chose Sage Intacct
    Sage Intacct takes care of end to end requirement of a business. I personally find it very user friendly & the interface is very smooth. Everything is very systematically designed.
    Incentivized
    Chose Sage Intacct
    Much easier to understand with more traditional accounting concepts with much more flexibility and ease of use .
    Incentivized
    Chose Sage Intacct
    Sage Intacct offers several automation benefits that can help streamline financial processes and improve efficiency. It's features and interface makes is better than similar other applications. Integration with different portals is easier in Intacct as compared to others. It …
    Incentivized
    Chose Sage Intacct
    Sage intacct is a much more robost system than Sage 50 cloud accounting. Sage Intacct also offers the benefit of having a web based system over a desktop application like sage 50.
    Incentivized
    Chose Sage Intacct
    less time data entry, filing system, ability for more reporting, cleaner reporting, easy interface, roles/user set up has more options
    Incentivized
    Chose Sage Intacct
    Sage Intacct act as a ERP where we can manage all the things like accounting to vendor management easily here in Sage Intacct there are lot of Module where as per the organization need we need to install an implement in organization level.
    Incentivized
    Chose Sage Intacct
    It is better.
    Incentivized
    Chose Sage Intacct
    Much more professional and dynamic for our needs. Other systems not nearly as powerful and empowering to the end user.
    Incentivized
    Xero
    Chose Xero
    Xero is more suitable for small and medium enterprises. Intacct is more suited for large scale operations. Reporting is more fluid and more customizable in Intacct than Xero. Both the applications fare well in case of the third party integrations.Consolidation and entity …
    Incentivized
    Chose Xero
    • Xero is easier for new businesses that need cloud-based accounting software.
    • Xero has functional integration with other applications that our clients need.
    • Gusto is a great payroll application that is now used by all our clients with their Xero software.
    Incentivized
    Chose Xero
    Gusto is payroll oriented but there are similarities in the software being user-friendly.
    Incentivized
    Chose Xero
    My accountant prefers Xero to QB
    Incentivized
    Chose Xero
    Xero doesn't have quite as in depth stuff, but the interface is way easier and simpler to use
    Incentivized
    Chose Xero
    We selected Xero specifically for accessibility.
    Incentivized
    Chose Xero
    They used to be better but recently have gone downhill.
    Incentivized
    Chose Xero
    Xero is 100% better than Quickbooks. Xero was recommended to me by our CRM software and in doing my research, I was highly impressed with the ease of use and the great reviews it received. The customer support from day one of setting this up through my questions over time, …
    Incentivized
    Chose Xero
    I've used a lot of different accounting systems. Many of them so big and powerful, but a hassle to get set up. Xero is light, inexpensive, and easy to use. When I originally selected them they seemed like they were developing new features at a quick rate as well. I was invited …
    Incentivized
    Chose Xero
    For one QB, customer service is terrible! The software is clunky and not as user-friendly as Xero. We have chosen Xero for many reasons: Custom Reports, Cost, support, and perks of being a partner.
    Incentivized
    Chose Xero
    Seamless integration with all accounts, much more user-friendly, I chose Xero because of these 2 factors.
    Incentivized
    Chose Xero
    Xero is easier to train but does not have all the plug-ins.
    Incentivized
    Chose Xero
    Xero was the first cloud-based accounting software, so we've always stuck with them. Quickbooks seems to be the only real competitor at least for eCommerce-based companies. The other options - Freshbooks, Wave, Zoho - seem to only be good for very, very basic service-based …
    Incentivized
    Chose Xero
    Xero and Quickbooks are very similar in that neither are perfect for law firm accounting. Both are extremely accurate and user-friendly, but lack the IOLTA account function.
    Incentivized
    Chose Xero
    Xero is far ahead of QuickBooks Online because it was built 100% on the cloud from the beginning. QuickBooks tried to replicate its desktop product on the cloud and has created a non user-friendly environment. Compared with QuickBooks Online, Xero can save most clients 50% of …
    Incentivized
    Chose Xero
    I have used other accounting programs. There are very large programs that may be better suited for corporations with large inventory requirements but for the small business owner, Xero is #1. QuickBooks is clunky and nowhere near as user-friendly or tech-savvy as Xero. Xero has …
    Incentivized
    Chose Xero
    Xero is the superior product to Quickbooks, Quicken, and FreshBooks. Hands down.
    Incentivized
    Chose Xero
    I did a side by side with Quickbooks online and I find Xero is just much easier to jump in, get things done, and get out. They are very deliberate in the same way Apple is making sure that any feature added works extremely well and adds to the user experience. Very well thought …
    Incentivized
    Chose Xero
    QBO - UI/UX and integrations are far superior. The only area where QBO is currently ahead is job costing

    Freshbooks - we recommend for some pre-revenue and solopreneur clients only. Xero provides a full-featured solution
    Chose Xero
    Where to start, Xero is a significantly better designed product over the QBO or QBD as it was built as a cloud product from the core. Xero took the time to look at accounting and technology from a new perspective and has built a clean product that is easy to use, easy to learn, …
    Incentivized
    Chose Xero
    Xero is the best. Xero thinks about the accountants and supports that role very well. Xero "makes sense" to average business owners and also is very powerful tool for the accountants. They have built the product right and keep improving it with every release they do. We picked …
    Incentivized
    Chose Xero
    Previously exclusively a desktop QuickBooks "shop". Hate the version control issues and need to collect and transfer data files to get source documents. Auto bank downloads clunky and not as intuitive as Xero bank recon features. Few clients use FreshBooks - nice customer …
    Incentivized
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    92%
    Would buy again
    563 Answers
    93%
    Would buy again
    1038 Answers
    93%
    Would buy again
    160 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    93%
    Delivers good value for the price
    464 Answers
    94%
    Delivers good value for the price
    848 Answers
    94%
    Delivers good value for the price
    153 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    95%
    Happy with the feature set
    576 Answers
    94%
    Happy with the feature set
    1057 Answers
    93%
    Happy with the feature set
    160 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    91%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    316 Answers
    89%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    524 Answers
    94%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    131 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    94%
    Implementation went as expected
    376 Answers
    81%
    Implementation went as expected
    595 Answers
    99%
    Implementation went as expected
    149 Answers
    Features
    GustoSage IntacctXero
    Payroll Management
    Comparison of Payroll Management features of Gusto and Sage Intacct and Xero
    Feature
    Gusto
    9.1
    611 Ratings
    9% above category average
    Sage Intacct
    7.0
    358 Ratings
    8% below category average
    Xero
    7.5
    73 Ratings
    1% below category average
    Pay calculation9.5587 Ratings7.05 Ratings8.065 Ratings
    Support for external payroll vendors8.58 Ratings00 Ratings00 Ratings
    Benefit plan administration8.7417 Ratings6.45 Ratings8.023 Ratings
    Direct deposit files9.7592 Ratings7.14 Ratings7.249 Ratings
    Salary revision and increment management9.0462 Ratings6.94 Ratings7.141 Ratings
    Reimbursement management9.0196 Ratings7.5358 Ratings7.054 Ratings
    Customization
    Comparison of Customization features of Gusto and Sage Intacct and Xero
    Feature
    Gusto
    -
    Ratings
    Sage Intacct
    7.6
    867 Ratings
    0% above category average
    Xero
    8.0
    169 Ratings
    6% above category average
    API for custom integration00 Ratings7.9815 Ratings7.979 Ratings
    Plug-ins00 Ratings7.4656 Ratings8.1156 Ratings
    Security
    Comparison of Security features of Gusto and Sage Intacct and Xero
    Feature
    Gusto
    -
    Ratings
    Sage Intacct
    8.7
    1313 Ratings
    6% above category average
    Xero
    7.1
    213 Ratings
    14% below category average
    Single sign-on capability00 Ratings8.81072 Ratings5.572 Ratings
    Role-based user permissions00 Ratings8.61278 Ratings8.7211 Ratings
    Reporting & Analytics
    Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of Gusto and Sage Intacct and Xero
    Feature
    Gusto
    -
    Ratings
    Sage Intacct
    7.8
    1406 Ratings
    0% below category average
    Xero
    8.3
    241 Ratings
    6% above category average
    Dashboards00 Ratings7.81266 Ratings8.3237 Ratings
    Standard reports00 Ratings8.01367 Ratings8.9239 Ratings
    Custom reports00 Ratings7.61353 Ratings7.9212 Ratings
    General Ledger and Configurable Accounting
    Comparison of General Ledger and Configurable Accounting features of Gusto and Sage Intacct and Xero
    Feature
    Gusto
    -
    Ratings
    Sage Intacct
    8.0
    1544 Ratings
    5% above category average
    Xero
    8.3
    251 Ratings
    8% above category average
    Accounts payable00 Ratings8.31434 Ratings8.0229 Ratings
    Accounts receivable00 Ratings8.11259 Ratings8.1234 Ratings
    Cash management00 Ratings8.01337 Ratings7.7217 Ratings
    Bank reconciliation00 Ratings8.11326 Ratings8.6244 Ratings
    Expense management00 Ratings7.9936 Ratings7.8224 Ratings
    Time tracking00 Ratings6.9503 Ratings6.387 Ratings
    Fixed asset management00 Ratings7.4685 Ratings7.7152 Ratings
    Multi-currency support00 Ratings7.8515 Ratings7.9149 Ratings
    Multi-division support00 Ratings8.5843 Ratings7.5129 Ratings
    Regulations compliance00 Ratings7.6513 Ratings8.3131 Ratings
    Electronic tax filing00 Ratings7.7381 Ratings8.6134 Ratings
    Self-service portal00 Ratings7.4644 Ratings7.7153 Ratings
    Global Financial Support00 Ratings8.0376 Ratings7.884 Ratings
    Intercompany Accounting00 Ratings8.4887 Ratings10.040 Ratings
    Journals and Reconciliations00 Ratings8.71241 Ratings10.090 Ratings
    Enterprise Accounting00 Ratings8.1534 Ratings10.033 Ratings
    Configurable Accounting00 Ratings8.2729 Ratings10.059 Ratings
    Centralized Rules Framework00 Ratings7.9526 Ratings6.033 Ratings
    Standardized Processes00 Ratings8.3854 Ratings8.059 Ratings
    Primary and Secondary Ledgers00 Ratings00 Ratings7.881 Ratings
    Localizations00 Ratings00 Ratings10.039 Ratings
    Inventory Management
    Comparison of Inventory Management features of Gusto and Sage Intacct and Xero
    Feature
    Gusto
    -
    Ratings
    Sage Intacct
    6.7
    498 Ratings
    8% below category average
    Xero
    6.3
    119 Ratings
    14% below category average
    Inventory tracking00 Ratings7.8364 Ratings7.2115 Ratings
    Automatic reordering00 Ratings5.58 Ratings6.224 Ratings
    Location management00 Ratings8.5463 Ratings6.229 Ratings
    Manufacturing module00 Ratings5.25 Ratings6.016 Ratings
    Order Management
    Comparison of Order Management features of Gusto and Sage Intacct and Xero
    Feature
    Gusto
    -
    Ratings
    Sage Intacct
    7.5
    736 Ratings
    2% above category average
    Xero
    7.3
    89 Ratings
    1% below category average
    Pricing00 Ratings7.7461 Ratings10.062 Ratings
    Order entry00 Ratings8.0654 Ratings10.056 Ratings
    Credit card processing00 Ratings7.4464 Ratings6.358 Ratings
    Cost of goods sold00 Ratings6.314 Ratings6.366 Ratings
    End-to-end order visibility00 Ratings8.2379 Ratings6.124 Ratings
    Order Orchestration00 Ratings00 Ratings6.121 Ratings
    Order exception Resolution00 Ratings00 Ratings6.117 Ratings
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    GustoSage IntacctXero
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    Score4.3 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    APS
    Score5.7 out of 10
    MYOB
    Score8.3 out of 10
    MYOB
    Score8.3 out of 10
    Enterprises
    ADP Streamline Payroll
    Score6.1 out of 10
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    User Ratings
    GustoSage IntacctXero
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.1
    (633 ratings)
    8.3
    (1593 ratings)
    8.3
    (266 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    10.0
    (14 ratings)
    5.3
    (85 ratings)
    4.7
    (38 ratings)
    Usability
    9.4
    (457 ratings)
    4.7
    (140 ratings)
    8.3
    (192 ratings)
    Availability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (14 ratings)
    3.1
    (12 ratings)
    Performance
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (15 ratings)
    8.0
    (10 ratings)
    Support Rating
    4.2
    (27 ratings)
    2.4
    (129 ratings)
    5.6
    (40 ratings)
    In-Person Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.2
    (6 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    Online Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    1.0
    (14 ratings)
    10.0
    (6 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    9.1
    (3 ratings)
    1.0
    (22 ratings)
    7.6
    (13 ratings)
    Configurability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    3.0
    (13 ratings)
    8.1
    (3 ratings)
    CPA Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.8
    (26 ratings)
    9.1
    (10 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    -
    (0 ratings)
    6.3
    (311 ratings)
    7.4
    (150 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    2.0
    (12 ratings)
    7.0
    (8 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    1.0
    (11 ratings)
    6.5
    (4 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    1.0
    (11 ratings)
    6.5
    (4 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    GustoSage IntacctXero
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Gusto
    I think Gusto is well-suited for any business, big or small, to use for accounting purposes. It makes it easy to keep track of many things, such as pay stubs, benefits, paid time off, and much more. Where I could see it being less useful is maybe for enterprise businesses with way more employees.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Sage
    It depends on the scale and nature of the organisation, but for a business like ours, i.e. a medium sized business with several entities operating in more than one location with different currencies, I think it is a very good fit. It is relatively easy to get to grips with and provides a good level of functionality.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Xero
    The only time I wouldn't be suggesting it is to consultants or solopreneurs. I think it's too overwhelming unless you are experienced or have a background related to finance. So it's not that the product isn't powerful, it's that it can be too powerful. For all other size businesses it really is what you need to use to make life simple to track everything in your business. It definitely saves me time by having it all in one place and not multiple spreadsheets etc
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Gusto
    • New employee/contractor onboarding - all the documents are stored and easily accessible (the same goes for off-boarding).
    • A one-click option for syncing hours worked with payroll.
    • The option to run payroll on auto-pilot.
    • Ensuring I'm tax compliant with the states we have employees in.
    • Always having digital records of payroll runs.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Sage
    • Excellent roll-up reporting of various categories of expenses across multiple depts. Data is not siloed when we want to find all revenue sources across business entities, for example, or even down to details such as what is spent on "discretionary" expense elements.
    • Coding nomenclature is flexible and makes sense across business areas. Again, this allows for both more effective capture of data and with reporting slices and iterations.
    • Sage Intacct's open architecture (availability of APIs and already existing hooks) has made integration with other system tool-sets easier than we would ever have thought.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Xero
    • The bank feed integration makes reconciling transactions easy
    • Once you load a template for your invoices, every client gets a professional looking invoice
    • Bill paying and tracking of payments is also easy; you load your bill into Xero, pay it through the bank, and when the transaction is completed it comes through on bank feeds. If you need to query when a bill was paid, it is all there in Xero
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Gusto
    • Digital compliance tools for remote teams
    • Gusto upsold us labor law posters, but I later found them available for free online. Since we’re a fully remote team, I had to manually download and distribute them digitally. It would be much more efficient if Gusto offered free, auto-distributed digital posters tailored to remote compliance.
    • Benefits setup is unintuitive for startups
    • While our rep was helpful, navigating the benefits system felt complex and not tailored to early-stage companies. More guided flows or simplified options for small, remote startups would be a big help.
    • Limited dashboard customization for remote workflows
    • As a fully online company, we’d benefit from dashboard options that highlight relevant tools for remote operations—like compliance tracking, digital communications, or onboarding checklists.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Sage
    • The budgeting module is archaic. It needs to have more application features, including tracking changes made throughout the year.
    • The creation of reports is complicated and lacks sufficient filtering options during the process.
    • The Purchasing module should be more flexible, allowing users to add change orders to an existing PO rather than creating a new one.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Xero
    • Having different email addresses for different parts of a customer's business (eg invoices and statements to different places)
    • Easily seeing the text of emails that have been sent through Xero
    • More easily archiving old pay items. Our HR software updates rates when awards are updated which means a lot of old pay rates are in the system and they have multiple clicks to archive each one. Clicking the ones to archive in bulk and then just click archive for all would be much more efficient.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Gusto
    Unless they break it, I'm never leaving. It's just too easy. Gusto is also really affordable, and for what I pay, it's worth having the historical record within the system. I like that I can go back and pull up W2's for year's past. This sort of easy access reporting, has been helpful especially when getting reports for PPP loans.
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    Sage
    Sage Intacct is continuously evolving and increasing it's functionalities. I am excited to attend conferences to learn what is in the roadmap for future releases. Additionally, using Sage Intacct allows me grow as a professional, I am really enjoy the knowledge that I have within the product to be able to share my experiences.
    Incentivized
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    Xero
    In addition to the matters covered in this review, my reason for renewing this product is that Xero's functionality and the constant updates that the company provides, makes the software even more business friendly. The software therefore builds a brand loyalty among customers.
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    Usability
    Gusto
    Gusto is pretty user-friendly, and the website is easy to navigate overall. They also offer good, responsive customer support and have helpful articles available when needed. So far, I have not had any major issues with the platform and am overall very happy with it.
    Incentivized
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    Sage
    The ease of use as a seasoned user is wonderful; however, new users struggle to adapt to the program efficiently. Better training videos--all in one location--would be beneficial. The use of a "sandbox" environment is a great tool for new employees or for the fiscal department to test certain journal entries or other transactions to verify accuracy of data.
    Incentivized
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    Xero
    As a standalone software, it allows users to fulfill most of the basic functions (e.g. transaction input and report generation) simply and conveniently. It also allows for multiple APIs to help augment various tasks that accounting-adjacent (e.g. claims processing). The cloud based model and portability to mobile devices allows tasks to be carried out in a more convenient way.
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    Reliability and Availability
    Gusto
    No answers on this topic
    Sage
    There has only been one occurrence where Sage Intacct was not available to me, however I had already been working a number of hours trying to get a project completed. It honestly allowed me to step back and take a much needed break.
    Incentivized
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    Xero
    We have been actively using and 100% Xero based for our ecommerce accounting practice for over 4 years. There has on been one real outage for more than 5 minutes. Xero was open and transparent about the outage, what they were doing to resolve the issue, and provided 15 minute updates. Showing how they care about their customers and partners. Plus, showing that their customers care too, were understanding, and went surfing or in our case took a nap. Couldn't run our business without Xero as a partner.
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    Performance
    Gusto
    No answers on this topic
    Sage
    As fas as integration is concerned I don't feel this slows Sage Intacct down at all. However, sometimes I do feel it takes some larger reports more time to load due to all the detail. As well as, I "move very fast" in my motions so sometimes I double click on fuctions too quickly and the system seems to think that I have a duplicate request.
    Incentivized
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    Xero
    On a good day, things worked but after upgrades, things began to slow and or not work at all at times. I coined the moving circle while I waited as the "Xero Wheel of Death". Sometimes it never stopped and force quitting was necessary.
    Incentivized
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    Support Rating
    Gusto
    Gusto's customer service has really deteriorated lately and they seem to have really changed their focus. It used to be when you called you were routed to an individual who knew about payroll, benefits, reporting, etc. but now you get someone who seems to have not received the correct training. My last call about a dismissal payroll took me over an hour of my time and the person still could not help me and finally transferred me to someone else.
    Incentivized
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    Sage
    Only a few times have we had to reach out to support, and every time we did, we received a relatively quick response and a solution was found fairly quickly. Only once was there an issue that took longer than a week to resolve, but it still did eventually get solved.
    Incentivized
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    Xero
    Always respond and keep issues open until you are satisfied with the result. Generally good responses, in the past, I had some support responses that were really basic and really annoying. They type where "have your tried restarting your computer" style of answers. Well, of course, I went through all the basics before contacting them. Duh, but I suppose not everyone does. Otherwise, it would be a 10. The last year has shown a marked improvement in the support responses however.
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    In-Person Training
    Gusto
    No answers on this topic
    Sage
    I have taken in person training classes at several of the annual Sage Intacct user conferences. It is very interactive and the trainers are very easy to follow and understand. They are great at getting everyone in the class involved. They also make sure everyone has learned to task before moving to a new one.
    Incentivized
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    Xero
    The format was great; someone was there to ask questions or help if you were stuck.
    Incentivized
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    Online Training
    Gusto
    No answers on this topic
    Sage
    The free training is very minimal. For what we pay for the service, I would like more training. We end up training new users in-house because the provided free training is not nearly comprehensive enough. That being said, the training provided, for the material covered, was adequate and relevant for the given topics.
    Incentivized
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    Xero
    All of Xero's training is online and available for anyone (business owner or accountants) to learn and become experts in their system. There is a range of content from product training to real world webinars from their partners. Xero is beautiful accounting software and their training is the same.
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    Implementation Rating
    Gusto
    Reach out to support immediately if you are having trouble setting up Gusto. Rather than being confused and trying to figure it out yourself, it's much better to talk to someone who knows what they are doing. Save yourself time and frustration and reach out to support
    Incentivized
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    Sage
    I would not use a thrid party administrator to implement your system, especially if you are going to be modifying the system at all. Use Intacct implementors as they will be able to better support you on any issues that come up after you go live.
    Incentivized
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    Xero
    If it can be done, time the implementation near a new fiscal year so you can start clean. Otherwise, you have to go back and do historical data from the beginning of the fiscal year, which can be brain draining.
    Incentivized
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    Alternatives Considered
    Gusto
    While I never actually got to the point of trying out ADP, I had several conversations with an ADP representative, and it seemed that they would be able to provide the same (if not less) level of service for a significantly higher price
    Incentivized
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    Sage
    We evaluated Sage Intacct alongside many other options, but Blackbaud and NetSuite were the frontrunners. They all were cloud-based and capable systems, but for our team, Sage Intacct was the clearer choice for a few reasons.
    First, usability. Our team has varying levels of accounting experience, and Sage felt more intuitive across those different levels. The others could be powerful, but it also felt like it required more technical depth to navigate day-to-day, which was a concern for a small team. Second, functionality out of the box. Sage Intacct had more of what we needed built in without requiring a significant number of add-ons, which kept the solution simpler and the pricing more predictable.
    Third, nonprofit fit. Sage Intacct is purpose-built for organizations like ours, and that showed in the functionality available and the system's overall design. And finally, our implementation partner, RSM, was well-versed in Sage Intacct and gave us confidence that we would have the right support behind us. That partnership was part of the overall value of choosing Sage.
    Incentivized
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    Xero
    Each of the products I listed had their own list of drawbacks, but the one thing they all had in common, which was right on top of that list of drawbacks, was ease of use. I struggled to get myself accustomed to each system and struggled, but when it came to getting a client to even try and use it was when the true struggle started. Just found it easier to make use of Xero from the very beginning.
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    Scalability
    Gusto
    No answers on this topic
    Sage
    You can do a lot with this system and integrate it with a lot of your additional systems you use daily.
    Incentivized
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    Xero
    I have yet to fully stress test the product given the size of the company where I am using it. I am sure as we scale to more customers, more vendors and more reporting requirements, I will have a better understanding of what it is capable of in terms of bandwidth and processing
    Incentivized
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    Return on Investment
    Gusto
    • Time tracking + payroll calculations me 30-60 minutes every time I run payroll.
    • Integrated workers' comp, so I didn't have to find an outside carrier and get quotes—it's all taken care of in the same platform.
    • Improved employee experience with onboarding.
    Incentivized
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    Sage
    • Positive - It runs better than our old software when we all work together, rather than having to sign off on each other and deal with syncing issues.
    • Negative - It's not as easy to go back to fix an amount, a date, etc. Sometimes, a very small mistake needs to be corrected by voiding and redoing the entire transaction.
    • We can successfully sync other software we use with Intacct! It reduces workload when things are automated.
    Incentivized
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    Xero
    • Xero is a basic accounting system that performs basic accounting tasks easily and accurately. For that, it provides a positive impact on our day to day accounting operations.
    • Because of Xero's basic structure, I feel it lacks some of the sophistication that some users want and need. The ability to create unique custom reports would enhance the impact Xero would have on meeting business objectives by providing current and useful accounting information.
    • In my opinion, Xero's lack of focus on their customers - their users - is a real issue with me. In my opinion, those of us that are in the trenches that work with the system on a daily basis have to deal with the shortcomings of the system with the knowledge that Xero support refuses to address the operational issues that make their user's lives difficult. I feel if Xero would focus on truly making their software better from a users point of view, it has the potential to be a great system.
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    ScreenShots

    Gusto Screenshots

    Screenshot of Gusto's automated payrollScreenshot of the time-off tracking interfaceScreenshot of the source of truth for HR data

    Sage Intacct Screenshots

    Screenshot of Accounts Receivable: Automate accounts receivable processes.Screenshot of Revenue Recognition: Automated and compliant revenue recognition with complete support for ASC 606 and IFRS 15.Screenshot of Real-Time Reporting: Real-time reporting with up-to-minute financials across multiple business dimensions. Show only the metrics that matter based on the user viewing the dashboard.Screenshot of the times and expense management dashboard, which is customized to reflect the user's role, displaying relevant information that aligns with their position, thereby presenting each individual with the data most pertinent to their responsibilities.Screenshot of the detailed company metrics used to forecast business growth.Screenshot of the order management workflows, which are automated to accelerate quote-to-cash sales

    Xero Screenshots

    Product screenshotProduct screenshotProduct screenshotProduct screenshotProduct screenshotProduct screenshot