How Sage compares to Xero, Unleashed and Prospect CRM

The first thing to note when comparing Sage to Xero, Unleashed and Prospect CRM is that they operate in different ways.

• Sage is an ‘all-in-one’ solution. You’re investing in a single system that aims to cover several aspects of your business: accounting, inventory and more. The aim is that you’ll use this solution first and foremost, with very few other applications.
• Xero and Unleashed are ‘best-of-breed’ solutions. Xero’s features, for example, aim to help you achieve one thing: better accounting. You then integrate it with more best-of-breed apps for the other tasks you need.

Xero isn’t intended to handle complex inventory management on its own. It doesn’t support functionality such as multiple warehouses, pricing strategies or bills of materials. Instead, you can integrate it with a solution that matches your needs. Combine Xero with Unleashed, and you get a feature-complete solution that can handle any inventory complexity — and as we’ll see below, comes with more inventory features than Sage.

Is managing multiple apps harder than a single solution?

At first, choosing several apps instead of a single system may seem counter-intuitive. Will integrating, maintaining and learning multiple solutions prove more of a hassle than buying Sage outright?

Best-of-breed software is built to work as part of an ecosystem. Syncing up solutions is usually straightforward, and many apps will guide you through setting up integrations as part of the onboarding process.

Because of this, best-of-breed implementations are often less disruptive than installing an all-in-one.

Best-of-breed software usually comes with ‘managed’ integrations to other apps. The apps themselves are responsible for maintaining these connections, so you won’t have to handle anything inhouse.

The only added complexity is contacting the right support team if you need any help.

You will have to learn more than one system. But again, this won’t necessarily be any harder than learning an all-in-one.

All-in-one systems tend to be complicated because they have to cater to so many bases. With a best-of-breed approach, you can choose simpler systems when you don’t need added functionality.

We’re Unleashed, so naturally we’re going to support best of breed. But in truth, there are much more important things to base your decision on than hesitance over combining apps — such as features, price and flexibility.

If you’re still concerned about a best-of-breed approach, though, it’s worth doing some more research:

• Read case studies from businesses who have used both. Start with Seven Bro7hers’ story
• Trial each option. Unleashed’s free 14-day trial includes all our integrations — so you can put them to the test
• Take a look at a few independent resources for unbiased advice

If you choose Xero, Unleashed and Prospect CRM, you won’t need any of Xero’s inventory management features. So here, we can compare Sage’s inventory functionality directly with Unleashed’s.

Sage offers several products, each with a different suite of features. Here’s how Sage 50 Standard, Sage 50 Professional, Sage 200cloud and Sage 200cloud Professional stack up against Unleashed’s Medium plan.

One significant benefit of Xero and Unleashed is their managed integrations with leading eCommerce and POS channels. These eliminate the task of manually entering details — instead, every new order syncs straight into your inventory system, ready to be fulfilled. Then, Unleashed sends the relevant information on to Xero.

You can connect Unleashed with Shopify, Vend, Magento, Amazon and more. These are managed integrations, meaning they come as standard: there are no extra costs, and no need to work with third parties.

Sage doesn’t have managed integrations with any external eCommerce channels. It is possible to connect it up with Shopify, Vend and more, but these connections are made and maintained by third parties — who will charge a fee.

Comparing Sage with any other solution on cost is complicated, chiefly because it doesn’t have fixed prices.

At the time of writing, the listed base price for 50cloud Professional is $206 per month. Prices for 200cloud Standard start at $383 per month, with no cost listed for Professional.* These costs are variable, however, and probably won’t match what you end up paying each month. Sage will tend to build a specific package — with a specific price — for every new customer.

Choosing a package requires evaluating your requirements today and in the future. Any product business will probably need to raise sales and purchase orders at a minimum, for example. As you grow, you’ll soon see the benefit in multiple warehouses, landed cost tracking and stock alerts too.

Xero costs $21 per month for a growing plan or $39 for established. Unleashed costs from $319 per month for a Medium plan or $599 for Large. That means you can get a comprehensive solution with complete features and more flexibility for less than $350 per month.* Both subscriptions come with all of Unleashed’s core functionality. Visit our pricing page.

Upgrades

Sage, Xero, Prospect CRM and Unleashed all regularly update their software. Unleashed, for example, releases updates and enhancements weekly. Sage gets a new version on a yearly cycle.

If you sign up for one of the Sage plans listed above, you’ll get unlimited access to updates and improvements. If you have a perpetual licence, though, you’ll have to pay again to use the latest version — currently v27.

All Xero, Prospect CRM and Unleashed users get access to standard releases for free. Plus, there’s never any need to install anything to update the software.

Onboarding

Inventory management software requires careful implementation — so most providers will provide an assisted onboarding service to help you get started. If you aren’t using expert help, then these services are indispensable, but the cost of onboarding is something any business should take into account when considering a new system.

Sage doesn’t publish any indication of how much implementation might cost. But cloud experts predict roughly $8000 to get 200cloud Standard up and running. Add inventory functionality into the mix, and that might go up to $16,000 – $20,000. Unleashed’s onboarding service costs $789. You’re allocated a dedicated Unleashed consultant to guide you through setup and help you get going.

You can choose from over 800 integrations on Xero’s App Marketplace. Sage, meanwhile, lists 18 for 50cloud and 15 for 200cloud. The desktop versions of Sage don’t have an API so comes with very few integrations.

That isn’t necessarily an issue — it reflects the company’s all-in-one philosophy. The software comes with in-built functionality for core tasks such as CRM, HR and inventory management, instead of integrating with external apps for them. So their API approach is less open than that of Xero, Prospect CRM and Unleashed.

It does, however, result in two significant downsides:

1. You may end up paying for features you don’t use
2. Your systems won’t be as customisable

Upgrading to 200 Professional to access the manufacturing module, for example, might mean paying for a package that includes features you’ll never use.

If you do want a CRM that integrates with your other tools, you’ll have to choose Sage’s offering, which might not match your business’s specific requirements. With Xero and Unleashed, you can choose one that does. For example, Prospect CRM is specifically designed for Wholesalers, Distributors and Manufacturers who sell products from stock B2B, and integrates to both Xero and Unleashed.

It isn’t just lack of choice over essential business tools, either. There are hundreds of add-ons on Xero’s Marketplace that bring new functionality or remove manual tasks. These enable you to create a system that is personalised to your business goals. With an all-in-one, that opportunity disappears.

Access

You’ll need to install a launcher on any device that you’re planning on using to access Sage. So while it hosts your data in the cloud, you won’t be able to access it from any computer. That makes it much harder to run your business from outside the office or enable staff to work from home.

Xero, Unleashed, Prospect CRM and other best-of-breed applications are 100% cloud-based. All you’ll need is to access them is an internet connection, a browser and your login details.

Giving access to accountants is also more difficult with Sage, usually requiring a manual transfer via USB, Dropbox or Sage Drive. This creates a separate set of data, which can cause headaches for your accountant. With Unleashed, your accountant can get free access to your live data (with your approval). Xero and Prospect CRM also make sharing access straightforward.

Assessing the usability of a solution is always difficult, as different users have different tastes and are used to things being laid out or set up in a certain way. But here are how a few Unleashed customers compare the ease of use between Unleashed and Sage:

Sage, Xero, Prospect CRM and Unleashed all offer free trials: 30 days for Sage and Xero, 21 days for Prospect CRM (where you can integrate to Unleashed within the trial to see your own data), and 14 days for Unleashed. To see which solution will work best for your business, it’s a good idea to sign up and get as many people using the software as possible.

As well as trialling each solution, you can set up a discovery call with a consultant at each provider. They’ll be able to guide you through which features you need and point you in the direction of another option if it suits your requirements better.

Watch this webinar to learn how Manufacturers, Wholesalers & Distributors can achieve growth by moving from “locked-in” on-premise systems to “best-of-breed” cloud apps like Xero, Unleashed & Prospect CRM.

Start your Unleashed trial here — you’ll get 14 days to test out our software (including the integration with Xero), with no credit card needed. Sign up now