Sage Business Cloud Accounting vs QuickBooks Online 2023

Sage Business Cloud Accounting and QuickBooks Online offer cloud-based accounting software solutions to businesses. Both have invoicing, expense tracking, banking, and reporting features. The main difference is that Sage Business Cloud Accounting isn’t as comprehensive as QuickBooks Online, especially in inventory accounting and time tracking. However, Sage Business Cloud Accounting’s most popular plan is $25 per month while QuickBooks Online’s is $85 monthly.

Sage Business Cloud vs QuickBooks at a Glance

Our Overall Rubric Score	3.6 out of 5	4.4 out of 5
Best For	Freelancers or small businesses with simple or minimal bookkeeping needs, excluding inventory and time tracking	Most small businesses looking for well-rounded accounting software with bookkeeping assistance
Monthly Pricing	$10 for one user to $25 per month for unlimited users	$30 for one user to $200 per month for 25 users
Clients Included	Unlimited	Unlimited
Accessibility	Cloud	Cloud
Send Invoices & Track Collections	✓	✓
Connect Bank & Credit Card Accounts	✓	✓
Track Sales Tax Collections & Payments	✓	✓
File Sales Tax Returns	✕	✓
Manage Unpaid Bills	✓	✓
Track Inventory	Very limited	✓
Calculate Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) Automatically	✕	✓
Mobile App	iOS and Android	iOS and Android
Assign Time & Costs to Projects	✕	✓
Track 1099 Payments	✕	✓
Print 1099s	✕	✓
Track Activity by Class & Location	✕	✓
Track Hours Billed to Customers	✕	✓
Assisted Bookkeeping	✕	✓
Payroll	Third-party integration with Gusto	$45/month plus $4/employee
	Visit Sage Business Cloud	Visit QuickBooks Online

When To Use

Fit Small Business Case Study

To help us understand the capabilities of Sage Business Cloud Accounting and QuickBooks Online fully, we compared the two accounting software programs using our internally developed case study. We devised 12 key areas that should be present in small business accounting software. If you’d like to read our in-depth analysis for each software, you can check out our Sage Business Cloud Accounting review and QuickBooks Online review

In our case study, we found out that Sage Business Cloud Accounting is below or on par with QuickBooks Online in all key areas. Even though Sage doesn’t outperform QuickBooks Online in any key area, we still recognize Sage Business Cloud’s usability and applicability in small business accounting due to its very low price. However, QuickBooks Online is a go-to choice and a safe pick for small business owners who aren’t well-versed in accounting software products and can afford the price.

Sage Business Cloud Accounting vs QuickBooks Online: Pricing

Sage Business Cloud Accounting is a clear winner here because its highest plan is only $25 per month for unlimited users while the price equivalent in QuickBooks Online is the most basic plan for one user. However, QuickBooks Online is well worth the extra money if you need a feature not available in Sage or you want assistance through QuickBooks’ huge network of ProAdvisors.

Sage Business Cloud Accounting vs QuickBooks Online: Features

While Sage Business Cloud Accounting gives QuickBooks Online a run for its money when it comes to features like bank reconciliation and invoice customization, there are still a few areas where the software could improve. Small businesses that require time tracking, inventory accounting, project management, and integrated payroll won’t find these features with Sage Business Cloud Accounting. So, our overall winner for features is QuickBooks Online.

Both platforms follow a long series of setup steps that take a long time. However, while time-consuming, setting them up isn’t hard. The major difference is that you can’t import beginning balances and the chart of accounts on Sage Business Cloud Accounting.

If you’re transferring from an accounting program to Sage, you’ll have to manually input specific accounts not present in the default list generated upon setup. In QuickBooks, you can import the chart of accounts but not beginning balances. You’ll have to create a journal entry first to enter beginning balances in the ledger.

Banking & Cash Management

Creating bank feeds in Sage Business Cloud and QuickBooks Online is easy (including importing bank transactions). Moreover, both of these products allow the reconciliation of bank accounts even if you don’t connect your bank or credit card to the software. In terms of ease of use during bank reconciliation, QuickBooks Online offers a more intuitive and easy-to-understand interface than Sage Business Cloud Accounting. However, the process of reconciling is the same for both software products:

We scored Sage Business Cloud lower in banking due to its inability to combine multiple checks into a single deposit. This feature is important because it makes it easy to trace deposits from the general ledger to the bank statement when reconciling. QuickBooks Online does have this feature, awarding it a perfect score.

QuickBooks Online Bank Reconciliation Interface

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Sage Business Cloud Bank Reconciliation Interface

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We prefer QuickBooks Online if you need to process a lot of bank transactions in the books. QuickBooks Online is more comfortable to use for voluminous transactions while Sage Business Cloud Accounting is flexible enough to handle lesser bank transactions.

Invoicing

Sage Business Cloud excels in invoice customization, allowing users to select an invoice template, theme color, modify the font style, set invoice line items, and add two logos if desired—one business logo and one accreditation logo. You can create new customers from within the invoice creation screen, record credit memos, and view customer invoices without generating a report. However, you can’t track unbilled expenses by client and add them to invoices automatically—you’ll need to track them manually instead.

We selected QuickBooks Online as our overall best invoicing software, which is due to its invoice customization options and ability to calculate a customer’s sales tax rate automatically based on the customer’s address. QuickBooks Online allows you to choose from different invoice templates, add your logo, change colors, and include personalized messages. You can also set up recurring invoices and print or email them to your customers.

Accounts Payable

Sage Business Cloud’s accounts payable (A/P) module is organized and easy to use, with the ability to view unpaid vendor bills in the A/P module. However, it doesn’t allow you to record expense payments without creating a bill first. Other than that, the software has many useful features such as the ability to immediately create new vendors from within the New Vendor Bill screen.

QuickBooks Online earned a nearly perfect score, which is mainly due to the fact that there are many ways to manage unpaid bills and expenses. You can view a list of your unpaid bills to track them effectively, and add a new vendor, record an expense without paying, and attach and send a copy of the receipt easily. You can also create recurring transactions, record partial payments of an invoice, and print checks instead of writing them manually.

Inventory Management

While Sage Business Cloud has some inventory features, it lacks the features that are important especially if you have a merchandising business. Even though you can create and add inventory items in invoices, the program doesn’t calculate and record COGS automatically after creating an invoice for the sale of inventory. It does however calculate the average cost per unit for your inventory, but it doesn’t use that information to make the necessary entry when the inventory is sold.

Inventory accounting is available for QuickBooks Online Plus and Advanced users. It allows you to track stock items and quantities, update inventory quantities automatically, organize items by their taxable and non-taxable status, create purchase orders and send them to vendors, and set up alerts to see when it’s best to replenish your stock. However, QuickBooks Online doesn’t handle inventory assembly.

Project Accounting

Sage Business Cloud lets you create quotes and estimates easily, and you can assign costs and inventory to projects when creating bills and invoices. One limitation of Sage Business Cloud is that you can’t assign estimates to projects, which means that you’re not able to compare budget-to-actual results. This metric is crucial for project-based businesses to evaluate performance, so if that is a desired feature then we recommend checking out Zoho Books.

Overall, QuickBooks Online has strong project accounting features, with the ability to create projects and assign wages, income, and expenses to a project. You can also create project estimates and include inventories, sales taxes, and labor in those estimates. Its score took a hit in this category because it can’t set up cost estimates for projects and compare them to actual costs, which is an important feature for contractors.

Sage Business Cloud Accounting vs QuickBooks Online: Ease of Use

Sage Business Cloud Accounting is easy to use even for non-accountants. However, we see some process flow flaws that might affect productivity in encoding transactions. For example, users cannot record expense payments unless they create a bill first. We find this counterproductive and inefficient. Moreover, Sage Business Cloud doesn’t record the cost of goods sold after every sales invoice. Though you can still record COGS manually, that’s very inefficient given that Sage has all the information necessary to make the calculation for you.

QuickBooks Online offers a slightly more complicated interface design than Sage Business Cloud but we think that this is only minimal. While it may be overwhelming at first use, things get easier faster than expected if you continually use QuickBooks Online. In terms of process flow, we don’t see any major process flaws that significantly impact the bookkeeping process.

Sage Business Cloud Accounting vs QuickBooks Online: Integrations

Perhaps one of the largest benefits to using Sage Business Cloud Accounting is the access to other Sage applications as well as access to the robust Sage Marketplace, which includes more than 100 apps in a variety of categories designed to increase the functionality of your core application. Here are a few available integrations for Sage Business Cloud Accounting:

• Customer management: SalesSeek and HarmonyPSA
• Time tracking: BigTime Time and Billing
• Manage expenses: Itemize, Expensify, ExpensePoint, and ExpenseIn
• Payment management: Entryless and Stripe

QuickBooks Online has more than 750 apps available, which includes both native and third-party integrations. Whether it’s point-of-sale, ecommerce, or inventory management, you can sync other business apps with QuickBooks. Here are a few available integrations for QuickBooks Online:

• Customer management: HubSpot, Insightly CRM, Aero Workflow, and Capsule CRM
• Time tracking: QuickBooks Time (in-app), Time Tracker by eBillity, and Hour Timesheet
• Manage expenses: Expensify, Transaction Pro, Verify, and Dext Prepare
• Process payroll: QuickBooks Payroll (in-app) and RUN powered by ADP, Gusto
• Payment management: QuickBooks Payments (in-app), Freedom Merchants, Melio, Veem, and Chaser

Sage Business Cloud Accounting vs QuickBooks Online: Mobile App

Both Sage Business Cloud Accounting and QuickBooks Online’s mobile apps deliver the same features and perform as intended. Though their apps aren’t as good as Zoho Books, our leading mobile accounting app, they can still work for very basic tasks, especially if you need to immediately upload receipts and receive payments through your smartphone.

Sage Business Cloud Accounting vs QuickBooks Online: Assisted Bookkeeping

Sage Business Cloud Accounting doesn’t have its own online bookkeeping service that supports the software like QuickBooks does. You might be able to find a local bookkeeper to assist you, but it won’t be as easy as with QuickBooks Online.

It’s important to search for a bookkeeper who has experience with Sage products to ensure that they’re a good fit for your business. You may also be able to find someone to work with virtually. In either case, it’s recommended that you verify their experience with Sage Business Cloud Accounting versus Sage 50 because the programs are significantly different.

Meanwhile, QuickBooks Live allows small business owners to outsource their bookkeeping tasks, which can include categorizing transactions, reconciling bank accounts, reviewing your financials, and closing your books. When you sign up, you’ll be matched with your own dedicated bookkeeper who is backed by a support team.

You’ll be able to schedule live video chats, wherein you can go over financial reports, troubleshoot issues, and request guidance on how to perform certain tasks. You can also review your bookkeeper’s progress in real-time. Prices range from $200 to $600 per month, depending on your company’s volume of expenses. It’s also easy to find an independent QuickBooks ProAdvisor to help you with QuickBooks Online.

Sage Business Cloud Accounting vs QuickBooks Online: Customer Support

Sage Business Cloud Accounting doesn’t offer phone or email support, so you can only contact them through a live chat person or a chatbot. The company’s website also hosts a knowledge base, a blog, how-to videos, and training courses through Sage University.

QuickBooks offers a variety of customer support options depending on your level of urgency. It has in-software help via live AI chat, a help center, videos, a resource center, and a blog. Although you can’t call them directly, you can make a request from within QuickBooks for them to call you back. Email support is the only feature unavailable.

Sage Business Cloud vs QuickBooks Online: User Reviews

Both Sage Business Cloud and QuickBooks Online scored high with users. Sage Business Cloud users appreciate that it’s easy to use and streamlines common bookkeeping tasks like invoicing and paying bills. Reviewers also praised its strong banking and cash management features. The software’s biggest drawback is its lack of built-in payroll.

Sage Business Cloud earned the following average scores on popular review sites:

• Software Advice: 4.11 out of 5 based on about 250 reviews
• G2: 4.2 out of 5 based on around 55 reviews
• Technology Evaluation: 4.1 out of 5 based on about 180 reviews

Meanwhile, QuickBooks Online users appreciate that the platform makes invoice management seamless with an easy-to-navigate user interface and analytics dashboard. Reviewers also praised the ability to customize reports and integrate with multiple software. The solution’s biggest drawback is the inability to contact customer support directly by phone, and some users experienced issues with integrating payments from Square.

QuickBooks Online has the following average scores on popular review sites:

• G2: 4 out of 5 based on about 2,970 reviews
• Software Advice: 4.33 out of 5 based on around 5,820 reviews
• TrustRadius: 7.9 out of 10 based on about 1,465 reviews

How We Evaluated Accounting Software

We evaluated the small business accounting software based on ease of use, pricing, and how well it performed against the ideal features we’re seeking, including project accounting, inventory management, and mobile accounting. Our evaluation was based on a rubric scoring methodology in six categories, each with a designated appropriate percentage.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

How much does Sage Business Cloud charge?

Sage Business Cloud has two subscription plans—Accounting Start for $10 per month for one user and Accounting for $25 per month for unlimited users. Both offer basic features like A/R and A/P and bank connections.

Does QuickBooks Live offer assisted bookkeeping?

Yes, you can sign up for QuickBooks Live, which will perform basic bookkeeping tasks like categorizing transitions, reconciling bank accounts, closing your books, and reviewing your financials on an as-needed basis via phone or one-way video chat. Prices range from $200 to $600 per month, depending on the amount of your company’s expenses.

Does Sage Business Cloud have a mobile app?

Yes, Sage Business Cloud offers a free mobile app for both iOS and Android users. You can use it to create invoices, receive payments, and capture receipts. However, there are some limitations like the inability to view reports and categorize expenses from bank feeds.

Bottom Line

While both Sage Business Cloud Accounting and QuickBooks Online are solid options, if your business involves significant levels of inventory or time tracking and can afford it, we strongly recommend choosing QuickBooks Online over Sage Business Cloud Accounting. However, Sage Business Cloud Accounting is good for simple bookkeeping.