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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Sage Accounting

    Score7.5 out of 10
    N/ASage Accounting is online accounting software made to simplify life for small business owners, entrepreneurs, and freelancers by providing the functions needed to take care of daily business to-dos. Users can create and send professional quotes and invoices, track income and expenses and know where the business' financials stand. Every Sage Business Cloud Accounting subscription includes unlimited access to support as well as automatic backups and product updates.

    $19

    per month

    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 AccountingTableau Desktop
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    Tableau Creator License
    $115
    per month (billed annually) per user
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Sage AccountingTableau Desktop
    Free Trial
    YesNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoYes
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoYes
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional DetailsVersions and pricing listed are for CA products. Versions available and pricing may vary by country. * 2 months free to start, or free for 1 month to try, then $19/$43/$62 +tax/mo (tier depending). Offer valid for new customers only on monthly subscriptions of Sage Business Cloud Accounting. After the promotional period, the monthly subscription rate will renew at the then current rate. May not be combined with any other offers or discounts. To ensure continuous service the subscription plan is an automatically renewing plan. Subsequent months will automatically be billed to the same credit card each month on the anniversary date of purchase. Plans can be terminated at any time prior to the renewal data and not charged for renewal.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 AccountingTableau Desktop
    Considered Both Products
    Sage
    No answer on this topic
    Tableau
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    85%
    Would buy again
    163 Answers
    93%
    Would buy again
    52 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    85%
    Delivers good value for the price
    145 Answers
    91%
    Delivers good value for the price
    50 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    85%
    Happy with the feature set
    162 Answers
    98%
    Happy with the feature set
    55 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    83%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    119 Answers
    93%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    38 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    82%
    Implementation went as expected
    130 Answers
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    44 Answers
    Features
    Sage AccountingTableau Desktop
    Payroll Management
    Comparison of Payroll Management features of Sage Accounting and Tableau Desktop
    Feature
    Sage Accounting
    9.3
    19 Ratings
    21% above category average
    Tableau Desktop
    -
    Ratings
    Pay calculation10.015 Ratings00 Ratings
    Benefit plan administration9.312 Ratings00 Ratings
    Direct deposit files8.812 Ratings00 Ratings
    Salary revision and increment management9.410 Ratings00 Ratings
    Reimbursement management9.112 Ratings00 Ratings
    Customization
    Comparison of Customization features of Sage Accounting and Tableau Desktop
    Feature
    Sage Accounting
    8.6
    23 Ratings
    13% above category average
    Tableau Desktop
    -
    Ratings
    API for custom integration9.120 Ratings00 Ratings
    Plug-ins8.017 Ratings00 Ratings
    Security
    Comparison of Security features of Sage Accounting and Tableau Desktop
    Feature
    Sage Accounting
    9.7
    42 Ratings
    17% above category average
    Tableau Desktop
    -
    Ratings
    Single sign-on capability9.931 Ratings00 Ratings
    Role-based user permissions9.539 Ratings00 Ratings
    Reporting & Analytics
    Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of Sage Accounting and Tableau Desktop
    Feature
    Sage Accounting
    9.3
    44 Ratings
    17% above category average
    Tableau Desktop
    -
    Ratings
    Dashboards8.340 Ratings00 Ratings
    Standard reports9.844 Ratings00 Ratings
    Custom reports9.735 Ratings00 Ratings
    General Ledger and Configurable Accounting
    Comparison of General Ledger and Configurable Accounting features of Sage Accounting and Tableau Desktop
    Feature
    Sage Accounting
    8.8
    200 Ratings
    14% above category average
    Tableau Desktop
    -
    Ratings
    Accounts payable8.1187 Ratings00 Ratings
    Accounts receivable9.945 Ratings00 Ratings
    Cash management8.3159 Ratings00 Ratings
    Bank reconciliation7.9190 Ratings00 Ratings
    Expense management9.934 Ratings00 Ratings
    Time tracking6.611 Ratings00 Ratings
    Fixed asset management8.428 Ratings00 Ratings
    Multi-currency support10.018 Ratings00 Ratings
    Multi-division support9.918 Ratings00 Ratings
    Regulations compliance9.529 Ratings00 Ratings
    Electronic tax filing7.3102 Ratings00 Ratings
    Self-service portal10.025 Ratings00 Ratings
    Global Financial Support9.38 Ratings00 Ratings
    Primary and Secondary Ledgers9.515 Ratings00 Ratings
    Intercompany Accounting8.111 Ratings00 Ratings
    Localizations8.49 Ratings00 Ratings
    Journals and Reconciliations9.033 Ratings00 Ratings
    Enterprise Accounting6.910 Ratings00 Ratings
    Configurable Accounting9.318 Ratings00 Ratings
    Centralized Rules Framework8.98 Ratings00 Ratings
    Standardized Processes9.520 Ratings00 Ratings
    Inventory Management
    Comparison of Inventory Management features of Sage Accounting and Tableau Desktop
    Feature
    Sage Accounting
    6.9
    17 Ratings
    5% below category average
    Tableau Desktop
    -
    Ratings
    Inventory tracking6.717 Ratings00 Ratings
    Automatic reordering8.26 Ratings00 Ratings
    Location management5.77 Ratings00 Ratings
    Manufacturing module7.05 Ratings00 Ratings
    Order Management
    Comparison of Order Management features of Sage Accounting and Tableau Desktop
    Feature
    Sage Accounting
    8.2
    28 Ratings
    10% above category average
    Tableau Desktop
    -
    Ratings
    Pricing9.917 Ratings00 Ratings
    Order entry7.615 Ratings00 Ratings
    Credit card processing8.118 Ratings00 Ratings
    Cost of goods sold7.620 Ratings00 Ratings
    Order Orchestration7.66 Ratings00 Ratings
    End-to-end order visibility7.57 Ratings00 Ratings
    Order exception Resolution8.95 Ratings00 Ratings
    BI Standard Reporting
    Comparison of BI Standard Reporting features of Sage Accounting and Tableau Desktop
    Feature
    Sage Accounting
    -
    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 Accounting and Tableau Desktop
    Feature
    Sage Accounting
    -
    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 Accounting and Tableau Desktop
    Feature
    Sage Accounting
    -
    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 Accounting and Tableau Desktop
    Feature
    Sage Accounting
    -
    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 Accounting and Tableau Desktop
    Feature
    Sage Accounting
    -
    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 Accounting and Tableau Desktop
    Feature
    Sage Accounting
    -
    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 Accounting and Tableau Desktop
    Feature
    Sage Accounting
    -
    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 AccountingTableau Desktop
    Small Businesses
    QuickBooks Self-Employed (discontinued)
    Score4.2 out of 10
    Cyfe
    Score4 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    MYOB
    Score8.3 out of 10
    Qlik Cloud Analytics (Qlik Sense)
    Score8.1 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Microsoft Dynamics GP
    Score5.4 out of 10
    Jaspersoft Community Edition
    Score7 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Sage AccountingTableau Desktop
    Likelihood to Recommend
    7.4
    (218 ratings)
    9.1
    (204 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    9.0
    (27 ratings)
    7.5
    (41 ratings)
    Usability
    7.9
    (185 ratings)
    8.4
    (73 ratings)
    Availability
    8.5
    (12 ratings)
    10.0
    (11 ratings)
    Performance
    7.7
    (12 ratings)
    8.0
    (10 ratings)
    Support Rating
    7.6
    (30 ratings)
    1.0
    (57 ratings)
    In-Person Training
    9.1
    (3 ratings)
    9.4
    (4 ratings)
    Online Training
    9.8
    (5 ratings)
    8.0
    (5 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    7.7
    (10 ratings)
    8.0
    (34 ratings)
    Configurability
    8.0
    (10 ratings)
    7.0
    (3 ratings)
    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    7.5
    (6 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Data Sharing and Collaboration
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.4
    (115 ratings)
    Data Sources
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.9
    (115 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    5.0
    (4 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    6.9
    (11 ratings)
    9.0
    (4 ratings)
    Professional Services
    8.2
    (3 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    7.5
    (9 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    7.7
    (9 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Sage AccountingTableau Desktop
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Sage
    Sage Accounting seems appropriate for a small business that has basic accounting needs and is just starting from the beginning to set up its accounting software. It is less appropriate for businesses that have been using Sage 50, as Sage Accounting Standard does not successfully transfer important data from Sage 50.
    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
    • Cloud Based - I work from different offices so I can access anywhere.
    • Whether paying a bill or receiving a payment it's done similarly. The consistency makes it easy to get in workflow.
    • I appreciate the setup of the statements - easy to read.
    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
    • Sorting reports - I want to sort my projects by what has and has not been paid, and this is unavailable.
    • Print preview.
    • FONT SIZE: This should be an option directly available to increase screen font sizes. Also, report font adjustments are incredibly difficult.
    • Understanding all options and the performance the program can do, I would much prefer an in-person session or scheduled webinar because it is far too overwhelming to search forums/help centers. Just a useless vortex to get sucked into.
    • Updates are easier than they used to be, but there’s still a big communication barrier. E.g., I install updates and restart programs, and then the next day or two it tells me to restart again because there have been updates. I know, I installed them already! It’s frustrating.
    • Removing inactive vendors or clients - why is this so difficult? Can I not just delete and move to the next one? Every time I try it, it just defaults back to the top of the report… It’s fine for the first couple of letters in the alphabet, but that’s about all. Multi-select would be nice!
    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
    Because we don't have time to migrate to a new system. So, we are kind of stuck with this system until our company grows or we are in a better financial position to afford the larger expense of moving to a new platform and doing what it should be doing in the first place.
    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 find Sage's usability very intuitive. Everything from data entry to high level reporting it easy to navigate. Some of the other accounting software programs I have used have not had adequate forms or menus to help navigate the program. Sage does a good job of balancing providing the proper forms without being overly difficult to understand or use
    Incentivized
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    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
    Sage has been always available when I want it. If there is any maintenance work to be done by the Sage team, you are told well in advance. Maintenance is generally carried out late at night or before the day begins for most of us. It continues to be the most reliable software I use.
    Read full review
    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
    The day-to-day performance is very good. Items such as transactions or reports load and process quickly. You never feel like you're waiting in Sage. I have never seen Sage Accounting affect the speed or performance of any integrated system. However, I do think when you are bringing very old files up to date the updates are slow but that'll be a rare occurrence and not reflective of the day-to-day usage.
    Incentivized
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    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
    Sage Accounting are easy to contact and have knowledgeable and helpful staff. Whenever I've encountered a problem I've always been able to get assistance and guidance and it feels like the person at the end of the phone/screen knows the product well.
    Read full review
    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
    Staff are always friendly, and patient, always work at a speed that suits you. You are never rushed, and In only a short time they seem to be able to help you make great strides. It has been a pleasure not a chore, learning how SAGE Accounting works and benefits me and the company.
    Read full review
    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
    I find the online training was very informative and they answered all my questions. I am also certified in Sage One and provided online training in the program which I have set up several people on and they love how it keeps them organized.
    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
    This was generally a very straightforward process. I have previously implemented other software which required considerable external support. I implemented Sage Accounting with only a minimal amount of reference to the Sage support desk. I was extremely pleased with the implementation process.
    Incentivized
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    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
    I also like Quickbooks Desktop, however, they are forcing customers to switch to Quickbooks Online. I will be moving forward with SAGE in this case, unless there is a valid reason the client would like to use QBO instead. I have not used the version of SAGE where the client doesn't need to purchase the full version, themselves, in order to access their file so this is something that I may consider looking into, in the near future, for this reason.
    Incentivized
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    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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    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    Sage
    The pricing structure is fair and offers good value for money. The billing is done through their online system and you can access your bills at any time. Most contacts only require 30 days' notice, so no need to feel tied in, although I can't imagine why you would want to leave Sage.
    Read full review
    Tableau
    No answers on this topic
    Scalability
    Sage
    You can use Sage in your company for various aspects/positions such as bookkeepers, invoicing clerks, accountant, purchasing etc. Everyone can have their own user login and permissions can be set that specific people can do specific jobs without being able to access other peoples progress or accounts of the company.
    Incentivized
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    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
    Professional Services
    Sage
    Do not use
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Tableau
    No answers on this topic
    Return on Investment
    Sage
    • Sage has allowed us to be self-supporting and to perform full-cycle accounting up to the point of handing off to the accountant at year-end.
    • We are self-sustaining and do not need outside accounting assistance, such as an independent bookkeeper.
    • Sage has allowed us to save money at year's end, as we can do all the prep internally up until the handoff to the accountant, minimizing the hours he has to spend on our file.
    Incentivized
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    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

    Sage Accounting Screenshots

    Screenshot of the All-in-One DashboardScreenshot of the Accounting DashboardScreenshot of an Invoicing Quote EstimateScreenshot of the Purchases TrackerScreenshot of Stock InventoryScreenshot of a VAT Returns List