Summary: For distributors comparing Sage 50 vs. Sage 100, the key difference is that Sage 50 handles one warehouse with basic inventory control, whereas Sage 100 is an end-to-end distribution ERP built for multiple warehouses. Upgrade when you outgrow a single location or if you handle operations with spreadsheets.
Considering expanding to a second warehouse? You’ve probably noticed that Sage 50 doesn’t handle multi-warehouse setups. This means that as your distribution business grows, you’ll manage significantly more details in Excel.
Or maybe it’s time to celebrate your growth by upgrading to Sage’s full distribution ERP: Sage 100.
Here’s how the two options compare.
Sage 50 vs. Sage 100: The Biggest Difference
- Sage 50 is plug-and-play accounting software for startups and small businesses that includes a few basic distribution capabilities.
- Sage 100 is a full Enterprise Resource Planning system (ERP), which means it handles the end-to-end functions of your distribution business: accounting, purchasing, sales, inventory, and returns.
Inventory Capabilities for Each Sage Solution
As I said, people usually switch because they’ve grown into multiple warehouses. But distributors often want more flexibility and control over inventory, and they’re tired of spending all day in spreadsheets.
Sage 50 brings you basic inventory control for one warehouse, including the ability to:
- View and adjust quantities on hand
- Monitor stock levels
- Track individual items with serial numbers (available in Premium)
- Create automatic reorders
Sage 100 has advanced capabilities to track, manage, replenish, and return inventory across multiple warehouses, including the ability to:
- Do all the things that Sage 50 can do; plus
- Track by lot, serial, or expiration
- Save on purchasing costs by setting vendor pricing rules for POs
- Use EDI (electronic data interchange), so you can sell through Amazon and other large retailers
- Automatically fulfill stock from whatever warehouse has it
- Graph and analyze sales history by warehouse
- Automate return handling and follow-up activities
Sage 50 vs. Sage 100 articles usually focus on a few specific capability gaps, but with add-ons, both tools can offer you shipping, eCommerce, and barcoding.
Important note for distributors comparing the products
Here’s an expert tip: never take a vendor’s word about which industries they serve. Do your research and check prior release notes. That way, you can see the real story.
- Sage 100 says it’s built for distributors, and they mean it. If you scour the release notes for prior versions, you’ll see Sage has added new inventory capabilities in every release, all the way back to 2018 (when I got tired of looking through old records).
- In comparison, Sage 50 hasn’t added a new inventory capability since 2021, when it let users filter records by ship-to addresses.
Inventory Costing in Sage 50 and Sage 100
This one makes it easy to compare Sage 50 vs. Sage 100 because Sage 100 offers 2x more costing methods than Sage 50. As a distribution ERP, Sage 100 also lets you assign a different costing method to each item or value them all with the same method.
Sage 50 offers 3 costing methods:
- Average cost, where the total cost spent on an item is divided by the number of items you have. (You have 10 cupholders. You spent $100 on cupholders. Each cupholder’s average cost is $10.)
- FIFO means “first in, first out.” This values your cost based on the oldest items. (Last month’s cupholders cost $10 each, and this month’s cupholders cost $20 each. The FIFO cost of your cupholders is $10.)
- Specific cost requires Sage 50 Premium but provides the actual cost for each item. (You spent $10 on 1 cupholder, $12 on another, $20 on another (etc.), and the specific cost of your cupholders matches those specific purchase prices.)
Sage 100 offers 6 costing methods:
- Standard cost, which is where you set a standard cost and the system just uses that. (You say cupholders cost $12. Done.)
- LIFO, which means “last in, first out.” This values your cost based on your newest items. (Last month’s cupholders cost $10 each, and this month’s cost $20 each. The LIFO cost of your cupholders is $20.)
- Lot number, which groups costs by batch. (You have 15 cupholders. 2 of them cost $10 each, 6 of them cost $15 each, and the remaining 7 cost $20 each. You can group these into lots for a more detailed view of costs, without having to actually serialize all 15 items individually.)
- Average cost, which I described above
- FIFO, which I described above
- Serial number, which is like the Specific cost I described above
(And yes, I agree: $20 seems like a lot for a cupholder. But there’s no telling on prices these days, right?)
Is It Time to Upgrade to a Full Distribution ERP?
If your company is managing costs, extra warehouses, lots, vendor pricing, and/or returns using spreadsheets, that’s a lot of manual entry. And since manual entry is slow and error-prone, it’ll slow down your operations.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I love spreadsheets as much as the next person (and I hate them as much as the next person too). However, in my opinion, if Excel has to handle most of your business data, your business software isn’t pulling its weight anymore.
With that in mind, the easiest way to tell whether it’s time to upgrade to Sage 100 is to assess how much you use spreadsheets. If they’re constantly open on your computer… it’s time to talk to a Sage 100 expert.
The Sage 100 experts at VBCC are always happy to offer advice and help you sort through your options. Whenever you’re ready to get more information (probably the next time you overwrite a cell in Excel), just reach out. We’ll be here to answer your questions.
