much cheaper versions of sage for bookkeepping

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when i first started, sage costs us something like £90 for the software, and it would last 3 years or so before we'd need to upgrade to the latest version.

now it's costing us £36 per month, for no extra features, and in fact, missing mobile app which i'd expect in 2023, so we can do some accounts on the go.

i'm looking to swap. my accountant deals with either xero of quickbooks, however they are almost identical with pricing now, around the £30-£36 per month pricing.

what i'm looking for is something that is possible to be accessed through a browser (though doesn't have to be limited to this way), has a mobile app, works for a flat rate vat registered company, can import data from an excel file.

we don't use the software for invoicing, staff pay, quotes, so these features are not required for us.

the trouble we have is that moving to a new program costs a lot, and takes a lot of time, so it needs to be right. it could be a very costly mistake if we swap to a new provider and find out in 6 months that it's no good.

anything anyone can recommend?
 
They are all similarly priced these days.

Xero would be my recommendation. Can you get away with a cheaper tier? Coming from Quickbooks, the ease of use is night and day.

All of the platforms have import/export functionality for all records, customers, suppliers etc etc. Migration probably isn’t as costly as you’d think.
 
the trouble we have is that moving to a new program costs a lot, and takes a lot of time, so it needs to be right. it could be a very costly mistake if we swap to a new provider and find out in 6 months that it's no good.

is it worth the hassle to save circa £30 a month?
 
Xero all day long. We use most of the packages extensively and Xero, for me, is head and shoulders above the others for ease of use and reporting etc and will do everything you mentioned abvove.

You can use Movemybooks to transfer your data from Sage to Xero as well. 2 years worth of data is free https://movemybooks.co.uk/
It works very well and will bring in all your suppliers, customers, banks etc.
 
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There's probably open source of book keeping available somewhere. It's a matter of doing research.

We use Xero for our book keeping but we support companies with Sage.

Depends what extra features is required though I guess.
 
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I know you say you don't use a lot of the features these packages offer, I would still avoid QuickBooks as it struggles with keeping track of quantities and values relating to stock. We've been waiting 4 months for a fix and instead we've had to start tracking stock using Excel and weekly generated sales reports because the data QB presents is not accurate when calculating stock on purchase order and back order. The mobile app is rubbish too.
 
Sage isn't bad software at all. Xero is good, but if you want it to start integrating with different sites (Shopify etc.) it can start to get expensive.

Quickbooks is a nightmare. I'm aware of something called Freeagent which some people use as well, though haven't used it myself.
 
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