Microsoft Dynamics SL vs. Sage 50cloud Accounting

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Microsoft Dynamics SL
Score 7.2 out of 10
N/A
Microsoft Dynamics SL is one of the ERP products in the Dynamics family. This product was acquired from Solomon 2000. The product is typically used by SMBs, particularly in project-based businesses (e.g. construction). It has strong accounting and project management capabilities.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
Microsoft Dynamics SLSage 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
Microsoft Dynamics SLSage 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
Community Pulse
Microsoft Dynamics SLSage 50cloud Accounting
Considered Both Products
Microsoft Dynamics SL
Chose Microsoft Dynamics SL
We started with QuickBooks Enterprise when our company was young. We quickly outgrew this program as it was not able to accommodate the financial reporting we needed to satisfy our investors. QuickBooks was also very limited in managing our revenue as we grew.
We did try Great …
Sage 50cloud Accounting

No answer on this topic

Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
Microsoft Dynamics SLSage 50cloud Accounting
Payroll Management
Comparison of Payroll Management features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft Dynamics SL
8.5
2 Ratings
16% above category average
Sage 50cloud Accounting
9.0
14 Ratings
18% above category average
Pay calculation9.62 Ratings9.014 Ratings
Direct deposit files9.01 Ratings9.011 Ratings
Benefit plan administration00 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
Microsoft Dynamics SL
6.0
6 Ratings
19% below category average
Sage 50cloud Accounting
9.0
10 Ratings
24% above category average
API for custom integration6.06 Ratings9.08 Ratings
Plug-ins6.04 Ratings9.09 Ratings
Security
Comparison of Security features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft Dynamics SL
7.3
9 Ratings
11% below category average
Sage 50cloud Accounting
9.0
19 Ratings
14% above category average
Single sign-on capability7.49 Ratings9.017 Ratings
Role-based user permissions7.38 Ratings9.017 Ratings
Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft Dynamics SL
6.8
9 Ratings
2% below category average
Sage 50cloud Accounting
9.0
21 Ratings
17% above category average
Dashboards7.15 Ratings9.020 Ratings
Standard reports7.19 Ratings9.021 Ratings
Custom reports6.19 Ratings9.020 Ratings
General Ledger and Configurable Accounting
Comparison of General Ledger and Configurable Accounting features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft Dynamics SL
7.4
10 Ratings
3% below category average
Sage 50cloud Accounting
8.7
24 Ratings
16% above category average
Accounts payable7.610 Ratings9.023 Ratings
Accounts receivable6.07 Ratings9.022 Ratings
Global Financial Support6.01 Ratings9.04 Ratings
Primary and Secondary Ledgers6.63 Ratings7.05 Ratings
Journals and Reconciliations7.43 Ratings9.011 Ratings
Configurable Accounting7.02 Ratings9.06 Ratings
Standardized Processes7.32 Ratings9.09 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
Intercompany Accounting00 Ratings9.06 Ratings
Localizations00 Ratings7.05 Ratings
Enterprise Accounting00 Ratings9.06 Ratings
Centralized Rules Framework00 Ratings7.44 Ratings
Inventory Management
Comparison of Inventory Management features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft Dynamics SL
4.3
5 Ratings
58% below category average
Sage 50cloud Accounting
9.0
16 Ratings
25% above category average
Inventory tracking6.05 Ratings9.016 Ratings
Location management1.02 Ratings9.07 Ratings
Automatic reordering00 Ratings9.010 Ratings
Manufacturing module00 Ratings9.08 Ratings
Order Management
Comparison of Order Management features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft Dynamics SL
6.7
3 Ratings
15% below category average
Sage 50cloud Accounting
8.4
17 Ratings
12% above category average
Pricing6.02 Ratings9.014 Ratings
Order entry6.03 Ratings9.016 Ratings
Credit card processing7.02 Ratings9.011 Ratings
Cost of goods sold7.02 Ratings9.015 Ratings
Order Orchestration00 Ratings7.85 Ratings
End-to-end order visibility00 Ratings7.45 Ratings
Order exception Resolution00 Ratings7.85 Ratings
Subledger and Financial Process
Comparison of Subledger and Financial Process features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft Dynamics SL
5.8
3 Ratings
24% below category average
Sage 50cloud Accounting
-
Ratings
Billing Management6.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Cash and Asset Management7.33 Ratings00 Ratings
Travel & Expense Management5.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Budgetary Control & Encumbrance Accounting6.32 Ratings00 Ratings
Period Close7.43 Ratings00 Ratings
Project Financial Management
Comparison of Project Financial Management features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft Dynamics SL
4.7
3 Ratings
47% below category average
Sage 50cloud Accounting
-
Ratings
Budgeting and Forecasting7.33 Ratings00 Ratings
Project Costing6.33 Ratings00 Ratings
Cost Capture2.12 Ratings00 Ratings
Capital Project Management8.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Project Revenue Recognition2.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Grants Management
Comparison of Grants Management features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft Dynamics SL
6.3
1 Ratings
18% below category average
Sage 50cloud Accounting
-
Ratings
Award Lifecycle Management6.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Manufacturing
Comparison of Manufacturing features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft Dynamics SL
6.0
1 Ratings
23% below category average
Sage 50cloud Accounting
-
Ratings
Production Management6.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Supply Chain
Comparison of Supply Chain features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft Dynamics SL
6.0
1 Ratings
19% below category average
Sage 50cloud Accounting
-
Ratings
Inventory Planning6.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Microsoft Dynamics SLSage 50cloud Accounting
Small Businesses
Acumatica
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Score 8.7 out of 10
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Score 9.1 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Infor VISUAL
Infor VISUAL
Score 7.4 out of 10
Accounting Seed
Accounting Seed
Score 8.3 out of 10
Enterprises
SAP Business ByDesign
SAP Business ByDesign
Score 7.5 out of 10
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Oracle Fusion Cloud ERP
Score 8.2 out of 10
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User Ratings
Microsoft Dynamics SLSage 50cloud Accounting
Likelihood to Recommend
6.6
(17 ratings)
9.0
(34 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
5.4
(8 ratings)
9.6
(12 ratings)
Usability
1.8
(6 ratings)
10.0
(8 ratings)
Availability
9.9
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
1.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
9.5
(4 ratings)
10.0
(7 ratings)
Online Training
1.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
9.0
(4 ratings)
9.0
(4 ratings)
Product Scalability
1.4
(2 ratings)
9.1
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
Microsoft Dynamics SLSage 50cloud Accounting
Likelihood to Recommend
Microsoft
For a small to mid-size business, MS Dynamics SL is effective. We are capable of managing our finances with a very low risk of error. We have worked with MS Dynamics for almost 15 years and have more than doubled the size of our business in that time with very few issues from the program. We have exponentially increased our revenue and reporting demands and have found SL to be very dependable and stable. The program does have the occasional glitch and those are sometimes outside of the realm of expertise of our IT department. SL support is excellent, but their timeliness is not as urgent as ours.
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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
Microsoft
  • Provides flexibility for complex project based cost accounting
  • Strong and flexible allocation processer for cost allocations, markups, and pricing
  • A "Flexible Billing" module under the project controller series that allows for multiple billing formats ranging from fixed price schedule of values, T&M or Cost Plus, and scheduled billing.
  • Flexible reporting with options using Crystal Reports, SSRS, a Quick Query tool, and ability to tie into MS Office tools such as MS Access and MS Excel
  • Tight integration with Financials, but also the ability to integrate with modules such as Sales Order, Inventory, and Field Service
  • Customization abilities ranging from a VBA (visual basic for application) foundation to allow customizing existing forms to the ability to use the SDK (Software Development Kit) to build more complex customizations that integrate with Dynamics SL.
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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
Microsoft
  • Reporting in the Project module is lacking functionality. I understand that most companies have specific needs when it comes to tracking project information but the standard reports are not good.
  • I would recommend a product like Management Reporter that is for Projects only. Project Reporter should allow users to pull in all Project related data into reports.
  • Fixing suspended batches. Obviously all of us users have experienced this mess. SL knows what needs to be corrected and there could be some step by step fixes in a separate repair module to do the steps we do in Query Analyzer.
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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
Microsoft
Unfortunately, Dynamics' lack of ability to smoothly integrate with our CRM system is causing us to look at other solutions. The efficiencies that we gain by using Dynamics for our day to day accounting are lost in the constant headaches of getting sales quotes to import properly into the system for invoicing. Another major issue for us has been budgeting and reporting. We currently do all of our budgeting and board reporting in Excel, which is too time consuming and inefficient, especially when a system as robust as Dynamics should easily be able to handle this relatively simple task.
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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
Microsoft
I rate it a 10 because we have removed the fields we don't need so users can really crank the data into the system. The software was designed for the professional services firm in mind but does a tremendous job for construction firms and "blended" companies that are both distribution firms but project centric as well. Perhaps they drop ship inventory to a project where their employees or subs need to work on a project for example.
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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
Microsoft
We have had only one unplanned outage for 2 hours in the last 30 months. We shut down for 30 min to 1 hour once a month, but that is for Microsoft OS updates to the servers. Being a 24/7 world wide operation, the reliability is really important. We do get an 8 hour window on the weekend that we can be down for a short period to install Microsoft Dynamics SL updates, but we do not have many of those. On our last version upgrade, we shut the users out at 9:30 am and were fully operational in less than 6 hours. The upgrade was New SQL server, New SL server and 2 new Citrix servers.
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Sage
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Microsoft
Support is only used when needed, so unfortunately ,they get all the odd issues. It's a difficult business, but Microsoft and our firm do a great job of meeting customer needs. We get routine feedback that our support services are very good.
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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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Implementation Rating
Microsoft
Just to let it take its course. The implementation for me once I became a part of my former organization was pretty seamless. Just get to know the basics and call the support team to ask questions if you need help on an issue, should they arise. They are ready, willing, and able to help!
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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
Microsoft
Of the comparable mid-range ERP systems, Dynamics SL competes at the lower end based on price, but also above the high-end based on flexibility, data, and reporting. Being able to stay with the same core accounting from a $100 million dollar company to a $3 billion dollar company shows the range of capabilities.
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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
Microsoft
Since the backbone of the database is MS SQLServer, the database can be easily scaled.
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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
Microsoft
  • More time is spent on manipulating reports which can and should be automated.
  • Lack of electronic invoicing process and other green technology features creates more cost on printing and storage costs.
  • The lack of a user friendly interface requires more training and a bigger learning curve for staff.
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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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