Vrakas Blum
Trying to decide between Sage 50 and Sage 100? At first glance, they appear very similar. They're both Sage accounting solutions that deliver strong reporting, costing, and inventory management capabilities. Both can also support essential business functions, such as payroll and HR.
They seem like two birds of a feather... but you know that only one of them is right for your company.
This breakdown of the difference between Sage 50 and Sage 100 can help you make an informed choice.
What Is Sage 50?
Sage 50 is accounting software designed for small businesses with in-house bookkeepers. If you have accounting knowledge, you'll find it very user-friendly and flexible. It streamlines invoicing and cash management and stands head and shoulders above QuickBooks due to its robust job costing capabilities, enhanced reporting, and inventory management features.
You can run Sage 50 on your office servers or in the cloud.
What Is Sage 100?
Sage 100 is a complete Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution designed for small to mid-sized businesses. Its capabilities are organized into modules that help you manage your receivables, purchasing, sales, customers, supplies, and inventory, and it offers some of the most flexible discrete manufacturing capabilities in the entire Sage ecosystem.
Because it handles greater complexity than Sage 50, it also has a steeper learning curve and is less user-friendly. However, once you know how to use it, you can do almost anything with it.
Sage 100 is not a cloud-based ERP, but with hosting, you can still enjoy the convenience of the cloud. You can also run Sage 100 on your own office servers.
5 Key Differences Between Sage 50 and Sage 100
We're sure you already suspected that Sage 100 would be costlier to implement and maintain than Sage 50 — and you're right. But if any of the following 5 differences significantly impact your business, Sage 100 may deliver a much better ROI.
1. Integration
Sage 50 integrates with a range of apps, including payroll, HR, and AP automation solutions, as well as Microsoft 365 for a productivity boost. The Sage Marketplace also offers additional useful integrations. For a lot of your work, though, you may have to rely on spreadsheet data entry.
Sage 100 includes extensive functionality and offers extensive integration options, including CRM, eCommerce, EDI, barcoding, and manufacturing tools. Some of these integrations are so fully integrated into Sage 100 that you'll think they're built-in. Want something custom? All you need to do is work with an experienced Sage partner, and they'll make it happen.
2. Costing methods
Depending on what version of Sage 50 you're running, you can gain access to up to 3 costing methods:
- Average Cost - Divides the total cost of goods for sale by the total units for sale.
- First-In, First-Out (FIFO) - Sells the oldest goods in your inventory first, so your cost is based on the oldest price.
- Specific Cost - Uses a serial number to track the exact cost of each specific good (similar to the Serial method available in Sage 100).
Sage 100 provides all these methods, plus three more:
- Standard Cost - You manually assign the standard cost for an item.
- Last-In, First-Out (LIFO) - Sells the newest goods in your inventory first, so your cost is based on the most recent price.
- Lot Number - Typically used for food, drug, and chemical manufacturing and distribution, goods are classified into lots so each lot can be tracked for costing (and compliance).
3. User counts
Sage 50 states it supports up to 40 simultaneous users in its Quantum edition, but it's actually closer to 25. After that, users may experience system lags. However, with 25 or fewer concurrent users, you can expect smooth performance.
Sage 100 supports hundreds of simultaneous users with the same high performance.
4. Reporting flexibility
Sage 50 offers great reports compared to QuickBooks and other early-stage business accounting systems, and Sage Intelligence Reporting gives you an easy way to create templated Excel reports using your Sage data. Some businesses encounter data processing limitations as they grow, which can slow down reporting or trigger error messages. This is why Sage 50 is usually recommended only for smaller datasets.
The difference between Sage 50 and Sage 100 is that Sage 100 is built to handle business complexity — the kind of complexity that makes Excel sheets get ugly. For reporting, many Sage 100 users prefer Crystal Reports, which comes with your Sage 100 implementation and allows you to build your own customized reports from Sage. It also has over 200 pre-defined reports you can tap into if you aren’t ready to build your own. Crystal Reports has a learning curve, and building reports can be labor-intensive initially, but many other integrated reporting solutions are also available for Sage 100.
5. Manufacturing capabilities
We saved the biggest one for last. If you're a small to mid-sized discrete manufacturer, skip Sage 50. Just choose Sage 100.
Sage 50 can handle very light assembly if necessary, but if your manufacturing or distribution operations are even mildly involved (or very complex with multiple sites), Sage 100 is the clear winner. Nothing else comes close.
And if you're a manufacturer, you've come to the right place. The VBCC team has been recognized as the Sage manufacturing experts for decades, and our industry-renowned, proven implementation process consistently delivers results.
Summing Up the Difference Between Sage 50 and Sage 100
Both Sage 50 and Sage 100 are respected accounting solutions that help businesses grow by staying organized, tracking inventory, and accessing valuable insights.
- Sage 50 is best suited for smaller, non-manufacturing businesses with fewer than 25 users.
- Sage 100 is the right choice if you have more than 25 users, engage in discrete manufacturing or complex distribution, or prefer operational or financial tools to integrate with your financial solution.
As a comprehensive ERP, Sage 100 is also an excellent choice for industries with complex inventory needs, including retail.