Dynamics 365 Business Central vs Sage Intacct

Dynamics 365 Business Central and Sage Intacct are two leading mid-market business solutions with overlapping features and functions. While these solutions share some capabilities, several vital differences may make one a better fit for your business than the other.

Accounting vs ERP Software

If you have many accounting needs, Sage Intacct is worth considering. Sage Intacct is a best-in-class solution that specializes in accounting and offers extensive financial management capabilities. It’s GAAP-compliant, and it’s also the only financial management software endorsed by the AICPA. Sage Intacct does provide some operational functionality, but those capabilities are simple. 

Business Central is a comprehensive ERP solution, offering manufacturing capabilities and management of financials, projects, warehouses, supply chains, customer relationships, and services. While it doesn’t provide the same level of depth as Sage Intacct, its broad capabilities can handle countless tasks and operations for your company.  

With this functionality in mind, Sage Intacct is particularly well-suited for professional services organizations with unique accounting needs, while Business Central is an operations-focused solution with handy features for specialized industries like manufacturing. 

Features

Pricing

Business Central is undoubtedly less expensive than Sage Intacct, but the value of the software isn’t tied to the sticker price—it’s dependent on the features and benefits that each product offers.

Business Central works well on its own, but it performs best when integrated with other Microsoft products. For instance, Business Central users can create and send invoices and purchase orders directly from Outlook without clicking back to Business Central. Business Central also works with other apps in the Dynamics 365 portfolio (such as Sales and Customer Service), as well as Power BI for analytics and Power Apps for custom applications.

On the other hand, Sage Intacct is a more expensive solution with a narrow, deep focus. The drill-down capabilities of Sage Intacct help businesses better understand their core financials, while its open API enables integration with various software solutions. Investing in a similar solution may be your best bet if you already use other best-in-class software.

Deployment Options

Sage Intacct is solely a cloud-based solution. Sage Intacct cannot be deployed on-premise or hosted in a cloud environment managed by another organization. There are no hardware requirements to implement or use Sage Intacct, and your provider handles all upgrades.

Business Central is a cloud-first solution, and Microsoft encourages customers to take advantage of Business Central Cloud’s benefits. Microsoft also recognizes that some organizations prefer or require other deployment options. Business Central On-Premise can be deployed on servers at your office or hosted on cloud servers managed by a third-party provider.

Upgrades

Both Microsoft and Sage offer rapid upgrade cycles, regularly introducing new features and capabilities alongside bug fixes and service packs. If you prefer to explore new features, Sage Intacct pulls slightly ahead of Microsoft, offering four upgrades per year compared to Microsoft’s two.

For Sage Intacct and Business Central Cloud, upgrades are deployed automatically at no additional cost to you, with no downloads or installations required. For Business Central On-Premise (whether deployed at your location or hosted in the cloud), you’ll need to schedule upgrades with Microsoft or your Microsoft partner, and you may incur fees for the service work associated with the upgrade.

Sum It Up

Sage Intacct is a proven accounting powerhouse that helps finance teams modernize, automate, and become self-sufficient. It is a best-in-class product, so features outside its accounting stack (like inventory) are pretty basic, and you might need to integrate it with third-party solutions to cover your needs in other areas. While the sticker price is high, the cost covers the software’s open API and robust reporting, dashboarding, and analytic capabilities. Sage Intacct is committed to the cloud and produces valuable upgrades every quarter.

Dynamics 365 Business Central is a total cloud-based ERP solution, offering complete ERP functionality at a reasonable price point. The software works seamlessly with Microsoft’s other products and is updated twice annually. Microsoft offers flexible deployment options, including on-premise, cloud-hosted, and fully managed cloud deployments.

At Cargas, our expert consulting team specializes in Sage Intacct and Dynamics 365 Business Central. We’ve been designated a Sage Intacct Premier Partner and were one of the first Microsoft partners to begin implementing Business Central. If you’re struggling to determine which of these solutions is the best fit for your business, we’d love to help. Let’s connect to talk about your needs and what you’re looking for in a software solution.