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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Sage 500

    Score6.2 out of 10
    N/ASage 500 ERP includes accounting and finance, distribution and supply chain, and manufacturing operations support modules. The latest Sage 500 release includes accounts payable enhancements, credit card processing, and general updates, as well as updates to the solution's modules.N/A

    Tableau Desktop

    Score8.6 out of 10
    N/ATableau Desktop is a data visualization product from Tableau. It connects to a variety of data sources for combining disparate data sources without coding. It provides tools for discovering patterns and insights, data calculations, forecasts, and statistical summaries and visual storytelling.

    $1,380

    per year (purchased via a Creator license)

    Pricing
    Sage 500Tableau Desktop
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    Tableau Creator License
    $115
    per month (billed annually) per user
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Sage 500Tableau Desktop
    Free Trial
    NoNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoYes
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoYes
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details—All pricing plans are billed annually. A Creator license includes Tableau Desktop, Tableau Prep Builder, and Tableau Pulse. Discounts sometimes available for volume.
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Sage 500Tableau Desktop
    Considered Both Products
    Sage
    No answer on this topic
    Tableau
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    No answers on this topic
    93%
    Would buy again
    52 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    No answers on this topic
    91%
    Delivers good value for the price
    50 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    No answers on this topic
    98%
    Happy with the feature set
    55 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    No answers on this topic
    93%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    38 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    44 Answers
    Features
    Sage 500Tableau Desktop
    Payroll Management
    Comparison of Payroll Management features of Sage 500 ERP and Tableau Desktop
    Feature
    Sage 500 ERP
    7.0
    2 Ratings
    7% below category average
    Tableau Desktop
    -
    Ratings
    Pay calculation9.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Benefit plan administration6.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Direct deposit files7.02 Ratings00 Ratings
    Customization
    Comparison of Customization features of Sage 500 ERP and Tableau Desktop
    Feature
    Sage 500 ERP
    8.5
    3 Ratings
    12% above category average
    Tableau Desktop
    -
    Ratings
    API for custom integration9.03 Ratings00 Ratings
    Plug-ins8.03 Ratings00 Ratings
    Security
    Comparison of Security features of Sage 500 ERP and Tableau Desktop
    Feature
    Sage 500 ERP
    8.5
    3 Ratings
    1% above category average
    Tableau Desktop
    -
    Ratings
    Single sign-on capability7.03 Ratings00 Ratings
    Role-based user permissions10.03 Ratings00 Ratings
    Reporting & Analytics
    Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of Sage 500 ERP and Tableau Desktop
    Feature
    Sage 500 ERP
    8.0
    3 Ratings
    6% above category average
    Tableau Desktop
    -
    Ratings
    Dashboards6.03 Ratings00 Ratings
    Standard reports8.03 Ratings00 Ratings
    Custom reports10.03 Ratings00 Ratings
    General Ledger and Configurable Accounting
    Comparison of General Ledger and Configurable Accounting features of Sage 500 ERP and Tableau Desktop
    Feature
    Sage 500 ERP
    8.0
    3 Ratings
    4% above category average
    Tableau Desktop
    -
    Ratings
    Accounts payable10.03 Ratings00 Ratings
    Accounts receivable10.03 Ratings00 Ratings
    Global Financial Support10.02 Ratings00 Ratings
    Primary and Secondary Ledgers8.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Journals and Reconciliations10.02 Ratings00 Ratings
    Configurable Accounting10.02 Ratings00 Ratings
    Standardized Processes10.02 Ratings00 Ratings
    Inventory Management
    Comparison of Inventory Management features of Sage 500 ERP and Tableau Desktop
    Feature
    Sage 500 ERP
    8.0
    3 Ratings
    0% above category average
    Tableau Desktop
    -
    Ratings
    Inventory tracking6.03 Ratings00 Ratings
    Automatic reordering10.03 Ratings00 Ratings
    Location management10.03 Ratings00 Ratings
    Order Management
    Comparison of Order Management features of Sage 500 ERP and Tableau Desktop
    Feature
    Sage 500 ERP
    8.8
    2 Ratings
    11% above category average
    Tableau Desktop
    -
    Ratings
    Pricing8.02 Ratings00 Ratings
    Order entry9.02 Ratings00 Ratings
    Credit card processing9.02 Ratings00 Ratings
    Cost of goods sold10.02 Ratings00 Ratings
    Order Orchestration8.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Subledger and Financial Process
    Comparison of Subledger and Financial Process features of Sage 500 ERP and Tableau Desktop
    Feature
    Sage 500 ERP
    5.9
    2 Ratings
    25% below category average
    Tableau Desktop
    -
    Ratings
    Billing Management10.02 Ratings00 Ratings
    Cash and Asset Management8.02 Ratings00 Ratings
    Travel & Expense Management8.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Budgetary Control & Encumbrance Accounting2.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Period Close8.02 Ratings00 Ratings
    Project Financial Management
    Comparison of Project Financial Management features of Sage 500 ERP and Tableau Desktop
    Feature
    Sage 500 ERP
    6.9
    1 Ratings
    9% below category average
    Tableau Desktop
    -
    Ratings
    Budgeting and Forecasting1.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Project Costing3.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Cost Capture8.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Capital Project Management9.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Customer Contract Compliance9.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Project Revenue Recognition9.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Project Execution Management
    Comparison of Project Execution Management features of Sage 500 ERP and Tableau Desktop
    Feature
    Sage 500 ERP
    4.5
    1 Ratings
    44% below category average
    Tableau Desktop
    -
    Ratings
    Task Insight for Project Managers7.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Project Mobile Functionality5.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Grants Management
    Comparison of Grants Management features of Sage 500 ERP and Tableau Desktop
    Feature
    Sage 500 ERP
    7.5
    1 Ratings
    0% below category average
    Tableau Desktop
    -
    Ratings
    Award Lifecycle Management6.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Procurement
    Comparison of Procurement features of Sage 500 ERP and Tableau Desktop
    Feature
    Sage 500 ERP
    6.0
    1 Ratings
    17% below category average
    Tableau Desktop
    -
    Ratings
    Contract Authoring8.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Contract Repository10.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Requisitions-to-Purchase Orders Integrated8.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Supplier Management4.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Risk Management
    Comparison of Risk Management features of Sage 500 ERP and Tableau Desktop
    Feature
    Sage 500 ERP
    4.3
    1 Ratings
    44% below category average
    Tableau Desktop
    -
    Ratings
    Risk Repository3.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Control Management7.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Control Efficiency Assessments4.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Remediation and Certification3.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Supply Chain
    Comparison of Supply Chain features of Sage 500 ERP and Tableau Desktop
    Feature
    Sage 500 ERP
    1.3
    1 Ratings
    140% below category average
    Tableau Desktop
    -
    Ratings
    Forecasting1.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Inventory Planning2.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Performance Monitoring1.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Product Lifecycle Management
    Comparison of Product Lifecycle Management features of Sage 500 ERP and Tableau Desktop
    Feature
    Sage 500 ERP
    5.3
    1 Ratings
    33% below category average
    Tableau Desktop
    -
    Ratings
    Proposal Management7.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Product Master Data Management4.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    BI Standard Reporting
    Comparison of BI Standard Reporting features of Sage 500 ERP and Tableau Desktop
    Feature
    Sage 500 ERP
    -
    Ratings
    Tableau Desktop
    8.5
    175 Ratings
    4% above category average
    Pixel Perfect reports00 Ratings8.0145 Ratings
    Customizable dashboards00 Ratings9.2174 Ratings
    Report Formatting Templates00 Ratings8.1151 Ratings
    Ad-hoc Reporting
    Comparison of Ad-hoc Reporting features of Sage 500 ERP and Tableau Desktop
    Feature
    Sage 500 ERP
    -
    Ratings
    Tableau Desktop
    8.5
    172 Ratings
    6% above category average
    Drill-down analysis00 Ratings8.6167 Ratings
    Formatting capabilities00 Ratings8.6170 Ratings
    Integration with R or other statistical packages00 Ratings8.1126 Ratings
    Report sharing and collaboration00 Ratings8.6165 Ratings
    Report Output and Scheduling
    Comparison of Report Output and Scheduling features of Sage 500 ERP and Tableau Desktop
    Feature
    Sage 500 ERP
    -
    Ratings
    Tableau Desktop
    8.5
    166 Ratings
    3% above category average
    Publish to Web00 Ratings8.1155 Ratings
    Publish to PDF00 Ratings8.2154 Ratings
    Report Versioning00 Ratings8.6120 Ratings
    Report Delivery Scheduling00 Ratings8.6128 Ratings
    Delivery to Remote Servers00 Ratings9.078 Ratings
    Data Discovery and Visualization
    Comparison of Data Discovery and Visualization features of Sage 500 ERP and Tableau Desktop
    Feature
    Sage 500 ERP
    -
    Ratings
    Tableau Desktop
    8.4
    164 Ratings
    5% above category average
    Pre-built visualization formats (heatmaps, scatter plots etc.)00 Ratings8.7162 Ratings
    Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization00 Ratings8.6156 Ratings
    Predictive Analytics00 Ratings8.7131 Ratings
    Pattern Recognition and Data Mining00 Ratings7.87 Ratings
    Access Control and Security
    Comparison of Access Control and Security features of Sage 500 ERP and Tableau Desktop
    Feature
    Sage 500 ERP
    -
    Ratings
    Tableau Desktop
    9.1
    149 Ratings
    7% above category average
    Multi-User Support (named login)00 Ratings9.1145 Ratings
    Role-Based Security Model00 Ratings9.1125 Ratings
    Multiple Access Permission Levels (Create, Read, Delete)00 Ratings8.9136 Ratings
    Report-Level Access Control00 Ratings9.210 Ratings
    Single Sign-On (SSO)00 Ratings9.383 Ratings
    Mobile Capabilities
    Comparison of Mobile Capabilities features of Sage 500 ERP and Tableau Desktop
    Feature
    Sage 500 ERP
    -
    Ratings
    Tableau Desktop
    7.9
    141 Ratings
    2% above category average
    Responsive Design for Web Access00 Ratings8.6130 Ratings
    Mobile Application00 Ratings7.5101 Ratings
    Dashboard / Report / Visualization Interactivity on Mobile00 Ratings7.5122 Ratings
    Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding
    Comparison of Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding features of Sage 500 ERP and Tableau Desktop
    Feature
    Sage 500 ERP
    -
    Ratings
    Tableau Desktop
    7.7
    67 Ratings
    1% below category average
    REST API00 Ratings8.459 Ratings
    Javascript API00 Ratings7.653 Ratings
    iFrames00 Ratings6.751 Ratings
    Java API00 Ratings8.048 Ratings
    Themeable User Interface (UI)00 Ratings7.154 Ratings
    Customizable Platform (Open Source)00 Ratings8.448 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Sage 500Tableau Desktop
    Small Businesses
    Zoho One
    Score9.2 out of 10
    Cyfe
    Score4 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Zoho One
    Score9.2 out of 10
    Qlik Cloud Analytics (Qlik Sense)
    Score8.1 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Microsoft Dynamics AX (discontinued)
    Score4.8 out of 10
    Jaspersoft Community Edition
    Score7 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Sage 500Tableau Desktop
    Likelihood to Recommend
    10.0
    (5 ratings)
    9.1
    (204 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    6.3
    (2 ratings)
    7.5
    (41 ratings)
    Usability
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    8.4
    (73 ratings)
    Availability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (11 ratings)
    Performance
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.0
    (10 ratings)
    Support Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    1.0
    (57 ratings)
    In-Person Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.4
    (4 ratings)
    Online Training
    6.0
    (1 ratings)
    8.0
    (5 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    8.0
    (34 ratings)
    Configurability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.0
    (3 ratings)
    Data Sharing and Collaboration
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.4
    (115 ratings)
    Data Sources
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.9
    (115 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (4 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Sage 500Tableau Desktop
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Sage
    Sage 500 ERP is great for companies with core accounting needs, distributors, and discrete manufacturers. Some areas, such as process manufacturing, would require a companion product from an ISV for the software to be truly functional. Some areas, such as construction or retail apparel, may simply not be well-served.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Tableau
    The best scenario is definitely to collect data from several sources and create dedicated dashboards for specific recipients. However, I miss the possibility of explaining these reports in more detail. Sometimes, we order a report, and after half a year, we don't remember the meaning of some data (I know it's our fault as an organization, but the tool could force better practices).
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Sage
    • Sage is the one-stop-shop for all of our needs. We're able to control contracts, subcontracts, and field reports from the program.
    • Another strength is the ability to database all the information and export it to excel. This makes data-based investigations a breeze.
    • The ability for Timberscan to be imported to Sage is a huge help with invoice management. Prior to this it all had to be done manually and slowed the process to an essential halt as there are thousands of invoices per month.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Tableau
    • An excellent tool for data visualization, it presents information in an appealing visual format—an exceptional platform for storing and analyzing data in any size organization.
    • Through interactive parameters, it enables real-time interaction with the user and is easy to learn and get support from the community.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Sage
    • The biggest concern/complaint of Sage 500 users is speed. Some of the screen take a while to load.
    • The user interface needs some refreshing. Screens need to be updated to take advantage of shortcuts and to be more intuitive.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Tableau
    • Pricing should be more user-friendly and usage-driven
    • Making edits to the production reports is fairly tough and has a vast scope of additional capabilities
    • Tableau Desktop should be able to differentiate itself from the Tableau server else there is no major meaning of two different products being offered
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Sage
    It's too pricey for our size of company.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Tableau
    Our use of Tableau Desktop is still fairly low, and will continue over time. The only real concern is around cost of the licenses, and I have mentioned this to Tableau and fully expect the development of more sensible models for our industry. This will remove any impediment to expansion of our use.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    Sage
    I have been using Intacct for almost 10 years in 2 different companies and I just simply love it. I tried SAP (GUI) and Netsuite and they dont come close to what Ive seen.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Tableau
    Tableau Desktop has proven to be a lifesaver in many situations. Once we've completed the initial setup, it's simple to use. It has all of the features we need to quickly and efficiently synthesize our data. Tableau Desktop has advanced capabilities to improve our company's data structure and enable self-service for our employees.
    Read full review
    Reliability and Availability
    Sage
    No answers on this topic
    Tableau
    When used as a stand-alone tool, Tableau Desktop has unlimited uptime, which is always nice. When used in conjunction with Tableau Server, this tool has as much uptime as your server admins are willing to give it. All in all, I've never had an issue with Tableau's availability.
    Read full review
    Performance
    Sage
    No answers on this topic
    Tableau
    Tableau Desktop's performance is solid. You can really dig into a large dataset in the form of a spreadsheet, and it exhibits similarly good performance when accessing a moderately sized Oracle database. I noticed that with Tableau Desktop 9.3, the performance using a spreadsheet started to slow around 75K rows by about 60 columns. This was easily remedied by creating an extract and pushing it to Tableau Server, where performance went to lightning fast
    Incentivized
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    Support Rating
    Sage
    No answers on this topic
    Tableau
    Tableau support has been extremely responsive and willing to help with all of our requests. They have assisted with creating advanced analysis and many different types of custom icons, data formatting, formulas, and actions embedded into graphs. Tableau offers a weekly presentation of features and assists with internal company projects.
    Incentivized
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    In-Person Training
    Sage
    No answers on this topic
    Tableau
    It is admittedly hard to train a group of people with disparate levels of ability coming in, but the software is so easy to use that this is not a huge problem; anyone who can follow simple instructions can catch up pretty quickly.
    Read full review
    Online Training
    Sage
    The online training courses are not up to date. We experienced technical issues with two of the classes.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Tableau
    I think the training was good overall, but it was maybe stating the obvious things that a tech savvy young engineer would be able to pick up themselves too. However, the example work books were good and Tableau web community has helped me with many problems
    Incentivized
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    Implementation Rating
    Sage
    Keep your database and application in different servers.
    Install Microsoft Office on your application server so you can use some of the data analysis tools in Sage.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Tableau
    Again, training is the key and the company provides a lot of example videos that will help users discover use cases that will greatly assist their creation of original visualizations. As with any new software tool, productivity will decline for a period. In the case of Tableau, the decline period is short and the later gains are well worth it.
    Incentivized
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    Alternatives Considered
    Sage
    500 seems much smoother at handling some of the basic accounting tasks, for example both issuing and later reconciling checks in Dynamics AX seems a little tedious.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Tableau
    I have used Power BI as well, the pricing is better, and also training costs or certifications are not that high. Since there is python integration in Power BI where I can use data cleaning and visualizing libraries and also some machine learning models. I can import my python scripts and create a visualization on processed data.
    Incentivized
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    Scalability
    Sage
    No answers on this topic
    Tableau
    Tableau Desktop's scaleability is really limited to the scale of your back-end data systems. If you want to pull down an extract and work quickly in-memory, in my application it scaled to a few tens of millions of rows using the in-memory engine. But it's really only limited by your back-end data store if you have or are willing to invest in an optimized SQL store or purpose-built query engine like Veritca or Netezza or something similar.
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Sage
    • Positive: The program allows for a lot of data entry and splitting of information. It has the capability of replacing multiple programs and therefore saving cost.
    • Negative: The modules are cumbersome and not user friendly at all. As a result not many user are comfortable using it. This means that the program is not being used to its capacity.
    • Negative: Although the program has the capacity to be great, the user interface destroys that potential. Sage needs to seriously work on their program to simplify it. It's as if it still uses Command-line entries from 1995. Needs to be updated ASAP.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Tableau
    • Tableau was acquired years ago, and has provided good value with the content created.
    • Ongoing maintenance costs for the platform, both to maintain desktop and server licensing has made the continuing value questionable when compared to other offerings in the marketplace.
    • Users have largely been satisfied with the content, but not with the overall performance. This is due to a combination of factors including the performance of the Tableau engines as well as development deficiencies.
    Incentivized
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    ScreenShots