Microsoft Dynamics AX, discontinued vs. SAP Business One

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Microsoft Dynamics AX, discontinued
Score 8.0 out of 10
N/A
Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations (or Dynamics AX) was an ERP product in the Dynamics family. It has been split into separate Dynamics 365 products to provide more flexibility to customers, allowing users to pay only for the functionality they need. Microsoft Dynamics AX will reach end of support in 2021, and end of extended support in 2023. Financial tracking and budgeting features are now found in the newly launchedN/A
SAP Business One
Score 7.7 out of 10
N/A
SAP Business One is an integrated enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution for small and medium-sized businesses, The product encompasses functionality around sales, customer relationships, inventory, operations, financials and human resources.
$99
per month
Pricing
Microsoft Dynamics AX, discontinuedSAP Business One
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Limited
$99.00
per month
Starter
$110.00
per month
Pro
$132.00
per month
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Microsoft Dynamics AX, discontinuedSAP Business One
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details——
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Microsoft Dynamics AX, discontinuedSAP Business One
Considered Both Products
Microsoft Dynamics AX, discontinued
Chose Microsoft Dynamics AX, discontinued
I found a smaller cost in AX and higher flexibility in process definition and in features customization
SAP Business One
Chose SAP Business One
Trust in size of SAP and the partner network they've built. It was ultimately Vision33 that made the difference for us. We also liked the feature fit to our manufacturing needs.
Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
Microsoft Dynamics AX, discontinuedSAP Business One
Payroll Management
Comparison of Payroll Management features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft Dynamics AX, discontinued
8.8
8 Ratings
20% above category average
SAP Business One
10.0
9 Ratings
32% above category average
Pay calculation9.07 Ratings10.08 Ratings
Benefit plan administration9.05 Ratings10.07 Ratings
Direct deposit files8.05 Ratings10.08 Ratings
Customization
Comparison of Customization features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft Dynamics AX, discontinued
7.0
13 Ratings
4% below category average
SAP Business One
5.3
35 Ratings
31% below category average
API for custom integration5.013 Ratings4.233 Ratings
Plug-ins8.912 Ratings6.433 Ratings
Security
Comparison of Security features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft Dynamics AX, discontinued
6.0
14 Ratings
30% below category average
SAP Business One
7.1
39 Ratings
13% below category average
Single sign-on capability5.013 Ratings7.032 Ratings
Role-based user permissions7.014 Ratings7.239 Ratings
Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft Dynamics AX, discontinued
8.3
14 Ratings
17% above category average
SAP Business One
6.4
40 Ratings
9% below category average
Dashboards9.012 Ratings4.736 Ratings
Standard reports7.014 Ratings6.540 Ratings
Custom reports9.014 Ratings8.036 Ratings
General Ledger and Configurable Accounting
Comparison of General Ledger and Configurable Accounting features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft Dynamics AX, discontinued
8.2
15 Ratings
7% above category average
SAP Business One
5.1
41 Ratings
40% below category average
Accounts payable7.015 Ratings7.841 Ratings
Accounts receivable7.014 Ratings7.840 Ratings
Global Financial Support8.06 Ratings7.026 Ratings
Primary and Secondary Ledgers9.07 Ratings7.026 Ratings
Journals and Reconciliations7.010 Ratings6.633 Ratings
Configurable Accounting9.08 Ratings6.231 Ratings
Standardized Processes8.99 Ratings7.036 Ratings
Inventory Management
Comparison of Inventory Management features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft Dynamics AX, discontinued
8.7
13 Ratings
10% above category average
SAP Business One
7.4
40 Ratings
6% below category average
Inventory tracking8.013 Ratings6.440 Ratings
Automatic reordering9.011 Ratings8.028 Ratings
Location management9.011 Ratings7.237 Ratings
Order Management
Comparison of Order Management features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft Dynamics AX, discontinued
7.6
13 Ratings
2% below category average
SAP Business One
6.4
38 Ratings
19% below category average
Pricing8.012 Ratings7.237 Ratings
Order entry9.011 Ratings7.238 Ratings
Credit card processing3.09 Ratings8.522 Ratings
Cost of goods sold8.010 Ratings7.238 Ratings
Order Orchestration9.05 Ratings7.030 Ratings
Subledger and Financial Process
Comparison of Subledger and Financial Process features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft Dynamics AX, discontinued
8.7
10 Ratings
16% above category average
SAP Business One
5.9
34 Ratings
23% below category average
Billing Management8.99 Ratings6.129 Ratings
Cash and Asset Management8.010 Ratings3.226 Ratings
Travel & Expense Management8.97 Ratings8.821 Ratings
Budgetary Control & Encumbrance Accounting8.97 Ratings2.225 Ratings
Period Close8.07 Ratings8.031 Ratings
Project Financial Management
Comparison of Project Financial Management features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft Dynamics AX, discontinued
8.9
7 Ratings
16% above category average
SAP Business One
7.0
19 Ratings
8% below category average
Budgeting and Forecasting9.06 Ratings7.017 Ratings
Project Costing8.06 Ratings7.016 Ratings
Cost Capture8.05 Ratings7.016 Ratings
Capital Project Management9.05 Ratings7.011 Ratings
Customer Contract Compliance9.03 Ratings7.014 Ratings
Project Revenue Recognition8.95 Ratings6.116 Ratings
Project Execution Management
Comparison of Project Execution Management features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft Dynamics AX, discontinued
8.8
5 Ratings
25% above category average
SAP Business One
8.9
15 Ratings
26% above category average
Project Planning and Scheduling8.95 Ratings7.014 Ratings
Task Insight for Project Managers9.04 Ratings10.011 Ratings
Project Mobile Functionality6.04 Ratings10.010 Ratings
Definable Resource Pools9.04 Ratings10.08 Ratings
Grants Management
Comparison of Grants Management features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft Dynamics AX, discontinued
8.7
4 Ratings
14% above category average
SAP Business One
7.7
15 Ratings
2% above category average
Award Lifecycle Management9.04 Ratings7.09 Ratings
Procurement
Comparison of Procurement features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft Dynamics AX, discontinued
8.7
7 Ratings
22% above category average
SAP Business One
8.1
16 Ratings
15% above category average
Bids Analyzed and Compared9.05 Ratings9.310 Ratings
Contract Authoring9.03 Ratings7.511 Ratings
Contract Repository9.04 Ratings8.69 Ratings
Requisitions-to-Purchase Orders Integrated8.05 Ratings8.213 Ratings
Supplier Management8.06 Ratings7.012 Ratings
Risk Management
Comparison of Risk Management features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft Dynamics AX, discontinued
8.8
2 Ratings
30% above category average
SAP Business One
8.0
8 Ratings
21% above category average
Risk Repository9.02 Ratings8.36 Ratings
Control Management9.02 Ratings8.97 Ratings
Control Efficiency Assessments9.02 Ratings7.76 Ratings
Issue Detection9.02 Ratings8.37 Ratings
Remediation and Certification9.02 Ratings7.76 Ratings
Logistics
Comparison of Logistics features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft Dynamics AX, discontinued
8.5
6 Ratings
21% above category average
SAP Business One
6.9
20 Ratings
1% above category average
Transportation Planning and Optimization8.06 Ratings6.213 Ratings
Transportation Execution Management8.05 Ratings6.211 Ratings
Trade and Customs Management8.95 Ratings7.011 Ratings
Fulfillment Management8.04 Ratings6.816 Ratings
Warehouse Workforce Management10.05 Ratings6.213 Ratings
Manufacturing
Comparison of Manufacturing features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft Dynamics AX, discontinued
7.7
6 Ratings
2% above category average
SAP Business One
8.3
19 Ratings
10% above category average
Production Process Design9.05 Ratings8.217 Ratings
Production Management8.05 Ratings8.218 Ratings
Configuration Management7.04 Ratings7.613 Ratings
Work Execution8.05 Ratings8.215 Ratings
Manufacturing Costs9.05 Ratings8.215 Ratings
Supply Chain
Comparison of Supply Chain features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft Dynamics AX, discontinued
9.2
6 Ratings
24% above category average
SAP Business One
6.4
23 Ratings
12% below category average
Forecasting9.95 Ratings6.222 Ratings
Inventory Planning9.05 Ratings6.223 Ratings
Performance Monitoring9.04 Ratings6.017 Ratings
Product Lifecycle Management
Comparison of Product Lifecycle Management features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft Dynamics AX, discontinued
9.0
3 Ratings
21% above category average
SAP Business One
9.0
15 Ratings
21% above category average
Proposal Management9.02 Ratings6.012 Ratings
Product Master Data Management9.03 Ratings7.013 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Microsoft Dynamics AX, discontinuedSAP Business One
Small Businesses
Acumatica
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Score 8.7 out of 10
Acumatica
Acumatica
Score 8.7 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Infor VISUAL
Infor VISUAL
Score 7.2 out of 10
Infor VISUAL
Infor VISUAL
Score 7.2 out of 10
Enterprises
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SAP Business ByDesign
Score 7.4 out of 10
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Score 7.4 out of 10
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User Ratings
Microsoft Dynamics AX, discontinuedSAP Business One
Likelihood to Recommend
8.0
(19 ratings)
7.6
(46 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
8.0
(4 ratings)
4.6
(9 ratings)
Usability
8.0
(3 ratings)
7.1
(11 ratings)
Availability
7.0
(1 ratings)
9.0
(3 ratings)
Performance
7.0
(1 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
8.0
(3 ratings)
9.0
(11 ratings)
In-Person Training
9.0
(1 ratings)
7.7
(2 ratings)
Online Training
8.0
(1 ratings)
4.5
(2 ratings)
Implementation Rating
7.3
(2 ratings)
2.9
(24 ratings)
Ease of integration
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Product Scalability
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(2 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
-
(0 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
-
(0 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
Microsoft Dynamics AX, discontinuedSAP Business One
Likelihood to Recommend
Microsoft
It integrates fully with the other Microsoft software we use daily, and this coordination speeds up our work and gives us the agility to run easily. For example, in a purchase inquiry, the customer, after submitting a request, identifies the teams that should work on the project, and if they need further review by other people, they are added to the process, and everything is managed seamlessly rather than the sales process. Get the result as fast as possible.
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SAP
SAP Business One would be more useful if it contained tools to acommodate the growing need of online sales. A more complete shipping module which handles tracking numbers with the common couriers would be great. A built in warehouse management system would be great designed to be used with barcode scanners
Read full review
Pros
Microsoft
  • Microsoft Dynamics AX's scalability to meet our regional office needs provide flexibility to the team's requirements.
  • Combined with Citrix Xenapp, the application offers seamless access for users on high latency unreliable network connection to the application.
  • Application maintenance and updates are easy which makes it possible for us to manage remotely considering the servers are located in a remote Asia site.
Read full review
SAP
  • SAP Business One is more suitable for small and medium scale enterprises
  • SAP Business One is : analytics, mobile technologies, cloud technologies
  • SAP Business One has exceptional performance in handling business functions such as purchasing and operations and customer relationship management
  • An important key features of SAP Business One is Reporting and Analytics.
Read full review
Cons
Microsoft
  • MRP can be slow to adapt to changes in actual production or supply chain transactions.
  • Setting up number sequences seems a trivial matter, but these numbers ID transactions once they are in the ledger and are key--easy to miss this point in the implementation process.
  • Bank rec being easily automated and able to quickly plug into a bank back end to get data is not the best.
  • Payment processing can be 'clunky' based on checks, ACH, Wires...as some of these items are not triggered out of the box in AX, bur are easily added --talking ACH and Wires specifically.
Read full review
SAP
  • Following a bench mark process - this seems contradicting to flexibility however we have wished we could follow more of an industry benchmark. Our challenge as a small company has been knowing how to properly use the system. We have discovered that we have set up the system wrong based and are using it improperly which has cause a lot work to correct.
  • Better live reporting options - current we are on prem SQL. Yes SAP is moving to HANA however smaller companies like ourselves are not ready for that. We need to be able to maintain our existing SQL DB. We also have a demand for live BI Reporting. It has been difficult to do this with our current set up.
  • Error handling - have found it very difficult to troubleshoot. Errors are not always clear and answers are hard to find.
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Likelihood to Renew
Microsoft
Microsoft Dynamics continues to evolve by bringing more functionality to the customer. Also there are several independent software providers that offer a wide range of solutions for vertical markets.
Read full review
SAP
As I said before, it is a first level tool, well developed, and with very strong development support, although the learning curve, its implementation, the cost-benefit ratio, the price and the user experience is not the most suitable for small and medium-sized companies. It is a company with extensive experience, market positioning, technical support and expanded use
Read full review
Usability
Microsoft
Overall the product does what we need it to do in order for us to function as a company. While there are some concerns over ongoing costs, the belief is, once we have it fully acclimated to our business the cost should settle into alignment with our original expectations. The new features that are consistently being added do add value to the product as they are usually customer request directed.
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SAP
I would like to give 8 out of 10 rating for SAP Business One because SAP Business One is a good choice for the mostly used business management solutions for the small and medium-sized companies. SAP Business One can help in optimizing the existing business process and enables streamline business processes for the daily activities for all users across the entire organization. The importance realization of SAP Business One implementation is based on the selection of the good reputation partner and its approach for the entire implementation. SAP Business One is a user-friendly and easy to use Enterprise system that the organization can benefit its features and functionalities by utilizing it.
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Reliability and Availability
Microsoft
Some integration and high volume ramping challenges, particularly with BizTalk and SQL Server, but getting sorted out. Outages over time appeared to be more dependent on integration complexity than AX MES.
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SAP
The SAP Business One software is up and running every time
you need it as it was planned. In more than 6 years that we have been
using the product, it has never been unavailable and if it ever was, it was because of a planned maintenance window scheduled in the company.
Read full review
Performance
Microsoft
Some integration and high volume ramping challenges, particularly with BizTalk and SQL Server, but getting sorted out. Outages over time appeared to be more dependent on integration complexity than AX MES.
Read full review
SAP
SAP Business One performance depends mostly on the speed of your internal servers, should you have the solution on premise as we do. Sometimes the system tends to be a little slower for some users when others are executing really big reports of performing some batch loads, but generally, the performance is acceptable to all the users.
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Support Rating
Microsoft
We use a 3rd-party Microsoft Partner for the system. They are responsive and very knowledgeable. While costs have been mentioned several times in this review they are very aware of costs and have developers who are more economical they use to help offset the level of work required to meet our changes and fix our issues.
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SAP
I rate my experience with SAP Business One's support team as excellent (10). They are easy to contact and effortless to work with on any issue or concern. I like the support SAP provides for any of their products. SAP has a great backing and I would recommend them to any of my colleagues.
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In-Person Training
Microsoft
It took a lot of work, but Microsoft ultimately did a good job with in-person training, including being onsite in multiple global locations for extended periods.
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SAP
The training I get was a consultant level training, so it's basically a 6 weeks training covering every aspect and every module of the system. It covered most common use cases and exercise training so you can get along with the software, as well as examples so there culd be a better understanding.
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Online Training
Microsoft
Our solution deviated from a number of key out-of-the-box standards that were included in Online training. We just used that for introduction to the general functionality.
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SAP
Over the past two years SAP has added a great deal of new SAP Business One on-line training for version 9.0 and 9.1. Most of the training is very strong, but some is difficult to understand and follow. Additionally, SAP still has a few holes in their on-line training around Production, Bill-of-Materials, MRP and Service.
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Implementation Rating
Microsoft
Some rough spots, but ultimately worked out. The contract didn't appear to be structured to support the level of overlapping facility deployments required to meet timeline commitments. Merging cultures on the program was also challenging. Overall, not an easy implementation by any stretch. Everyone did the best they could.
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SAP
These implementations are not easy. Even a standard implementation can be difficult. With a never-been-done-before implementation, the implementation team and the user team need to be thorough with planning, make a decision on key points, and stick to them before any design happens. Our biggest challenge was not from StellarOne, rather it was from the mid-implementation decisions from our internal team. StellarOne did a great job warning us, implementing our decision, and then helping us adjust our SAP to handle the new direction we took.
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Alternatives Considered
Microsoft
I was not part of the decision making process to select Microsoft Dynamics AX, however, I do know that an exhaustive search was done and many options were considered alongside Microsoft Dynamics AX and I feel that the right decision was made in choosing this solution.
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SAP
SAP provides the most robust solution, with modules available for all department managers and even options for customization according to the company's special needs. We especially used the Crystal reports options to provide reports for each module. Overall, even if it's not the least expensive option, it has the best value for money.
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Scalability
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
SAP
For most small businesses, the only way you outgrow SAP Business One is if the nature of your business changes radically. Going from 1 to 50 users is quite easy with SAP B1. Going beyond 50 may require moving to the Hana SAP B1 platform to maintain or improve performance, but the path is there.
Add-ons to SAP B1 can also be added as specific needs are encountered that are not closely met by the standard product. These may be required early in the product life because of the nature of your business, or as you expand the use of SAP B1.
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Return on Investment
Microsoft
  • With the robust built-in reporting we were able to drop an external reporting platform that costed about $40,000.
  • API integrations have saved manual entry and reduced having to hire 2-3 people to manage data.
  • Several administrators and developers are required for this which costs about 200-300 thousand in employee costs.
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SAP
  • Employee efficiency has definitely increased with SAP Business One. This is attributed in a lot of ways to information visibility. Our employees are able to gather the data they need, quickly, and effectively.
  • Identifying inconsistencies in pricing has also been accomplished through use of reporting off individual tables. Previously, we weren't able to access our data in such a way as to enable us to write custom reports in-house.
  • We have also benefited greatly from having a single source of all business information. We utilize SAP Business One exclusively in-house. All documentation is attached to specific orders and Business Partners, as well as serialized equipment that has been sold.
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