Sage Alternative

[Cameron]

We ran an old version of Sage for 8 years and then decided to upgrade to Sage 50 Accounts which came with 45 days of support from Sage. We paid £640 plus vat for Sage 50.

On day 53 the programme crashed a few times and now will only let us issue invoices BUT no statements and other reports.

We asked Sage for help and they want £440 to correct the progamme and a monthly fee of £35 for ongoing support.

We only use Sage for invoicing and credit control BUT the plan was to do all our accountancy on Sage 50.

We issue only about 40 invoices a month and would like to switch from Sage to another package such as Kashflow - Quick Books - VT etc ....

Can someone remommend an alternative.

 

[TimCaprica]

We used to work fairly equally with Xero, FreeAgent and KashFlow. Everyone one of those is miles better than Sage.

Now we're about 95% Xero, which has been driven by nothing more than client satisfaction with Xero over the others. So I'd heartily recommend it.

Try not to be put off by the relatively higher cost, if it saves you a few hours per week (which I think it would compared to KashFlow) an extra £15 per month should be well worth it.

 

[Newchodge]

I would argue that the product you purchased was not fit for purpose and demand a refund! never have liked Sage.

 

[@aiteoconsulting]

I would recommend Xero or QuickBooks Online. For a monthly subscription, they don't crash and with backups in the cloud. Personally I found it difficult to get away with Kashflow so I don't offer it through my practice, though others seems to like it. Jonathan.

 

[johndon68]

On day 53 the programme crashed a few times and now will only let us issue invoices BUT no statements and other reports.

Probably doesn't matter much if you are moving away from Sage but that would suggest an issue with the data rather than the program itself - I assume you run Check Data on a regular basis?

John

 

[Energise Accounting]

I use a mixture of xero and accounts portal dependent on the client both I can say are very good.

 

[john1989]

I'll just throw in another; Clearbooks.

The best thing you can do is have a look at the features of different software providers and see what matches your needs. Narrow it down to three, based on your budget, the features etc and trial the three.

See which one you find is best for your business.

 

[kevin.doran]

Now then, where's that piece of string....

Clear Books it is for me, so long as your needs are fairly basic they'll all do the same job so it's down to little more than personal preference really.

 

[UK Contractor Accountant]

If you were only using it for invoicing and credit control I would have used one of the free online book-keeping packages rather than Sage.

Have a look at Capium and QuickFile.

 

[john1989]

I believe Capium has free payroll software too.

 

[Cameron]

Thanks for all the replys.
Sage have taken a simple view on this, we have to pay the £440 to get the "bugs" out of the software and then the monthly support fees.
We found it strange how it started to crash on day 53 after our free support just finished.
NEVER AGAIN. For a micro busiess like this has been an expensive lesson.
I will look at some of the one's recommended
Thanks again to everyone.

 

[UK Contractor Accountant]

I believe Capium has free payroll software too.

Free payroll up to 3 employees.

 

[MyAccountantOnline]

I personally use and generally recommend Accounts Portal - its a great package, very reliable, does the job well, is great for invoicing and is very competitively priced.

What specific requirements do you have Cameron?

 

[justintime]

Would heartily recommend VT+. Easy to use, once you've got used to it, and it comes with a 60 day trial. Definitely worth giving it a go.

A very happy user with no connection to VT.

 

[MyAccountantOnline]

Would heartily recommend VT+. Easy to use, once you've got used to it, and it comes with a 60 day trial. Definitely worth giving it a go.

A very happy user with no connection to VT.

Justintime can I ask out of genuine interest what features you use in VT+ which make it worthwhile paying for compared to the free version VT cashbook?

I have a lot of clients who use VT cashbook but none who use the paid version.

 

[Adam Shilton]

Xero and Quickbooks online have my backing, but there is a limit to how much these can do given that they are cheap solutions.

If the requirement goes above these 2 platforms and you'll need some guidance with the way your nominals are setup and configured, we can offer both Starter and Finance packages on our RapidNAV platform.

If you want a brief chat about the best solution (even if it's not with ourselves) then do give me a shout on 0345 467 9950

 

[Chris Ashdown]

As a small company we have run all versions of Sage for 14 years and never had a problem or need to contact sage

Can you not either install a recent backup or reinstall sage and then use a old backup, presuming you do make regular backups

In most towns there are sage sellers who will probably help you for far less than sage give them a call and see what can be done , but all will probably require a backup of recient data and then upload the missing data

 

[The Byre]

If you are not needing payroll, Simplybooks is recommended by many.

 

[justintime]

Justintime can I ask out of genuine interest what features you use in VT+ which make it worthwhile paying for compared to the free version VT cashbook?

I have a lot of clients who use VT cashbook but none who use the paid version.

Off the top of my head,being able to enter sales/purchase invoices and journals. That said, I am a bookkeeper and if these are not required then the cashbook should be fine. For the OP, if they were using Sage 50, as opposed to Instant Accounts, then I would guess cashbook may not be sufficient. However it would definitely worth them trying cashbook as well to see if it does.

 

[MyAccountantOnline]

Off the top of my head,being able to enter sales/purchase invoices and journals. That said, I am a bookkeeper and if these are not required then the cashbook should be fine. For the OP, if they were using Sage 50, as opposed to Instant Accounts, then I would guess cashbook may not be sufficient. However it would definitely worth them trying cashbook as well to see if it does.

Thanks for the response.

I actually really like VT cashbook and for my own use VT Transaction + but for clients once they need invoicing etc I think there are many much better options with many more features at similar prices.

 

[justintime]

I've just had a look at Accounts Portal you recommended and that does indeed offer better features than VT+. I have to admit I don't like the invoice creation tool on VT, and for my own books I use Sliq Invoicing, then import the data. It's great for keying in data though, and I doubt I would ever use anything else.

 

[GLAbusiness]

For me the various features of the different software packages are almost irrelevant. All the software I looked at would meet my needs, so I guess any of the well known packages frequently recommended on here will meet OP's needs. For me the key thing was finding the package that suited the way I work, and ease of use with minimal accounting jargon were high on my list of requirements. My advice to OP is to try a few of the free trials that are available. You won't need to do very much with the trial package to decide if it suits you. I can recommend my favourite, as can many others on this board, but there is no substitute for a test drive

 

[MyAccountantOnline]

I've just had a look at Accounts Portal you recommended and that does indeed offer better features than VT+. I have to admit I don't like the invoice creation tool on VT, and for my own books I use Sliq Invoicing, then import the data. It's great for keying in data though, and I doubt I would ever use anything else.

I think it's fair to say that accounting packages have come on a long way since VT Transaction and features such as invoicing and bank import facilities are so much quicker and easier in many packages including Accounts Portal. I really would take a look at the invoicing features in Accounts Portal it seems such a duplication of work to be using a separate package for invoicing.

 

[Cameron]

All we want to do us:

1. Raise invoices ( about 40 a month )
2. Post monthy statements
3. Email monthly statements
4. We have about 150 product lines.

No Vat reconciliation, no banking, nothing else.

 

[GLAbusiness]

So, you are looking for a stand alone invoicing system, not an accounting package. Is that right? I understood from the OP that you wanted to get all your invoicing and accounting in one package

 

[MyAccountantOnline]

All we want to do us:

1. Raise invoices ( about 40 a month )
2. Post monthy statements
3. Email monthly statements
4. We have about 150 product lines.

No Vat reconciliation, no banking, nothing else.

Can I ask why you only want a system to deal with invoicing?

Are you using something else for your accounting records?

 

[Chris Ashdown]

Why throw away a expensive set of softwear when you can get it going again, you can always use a fresh start and this time make full backups automatically every day or week, throwing the money away and starting afresh seems illogical as Mr Spock would say

Are you using it stand alone or Cloud if cloud try running it stand alone

 

[johndon68]

Why throw away a expensive set of softwear when you can get it going again, you can always use a fresh start and this time make full backups automatically every day or week, throwing the money away and starting afresh seems illogical as Mr Spock would say

As I posted earlier, I suspect that the problem lies with the data rather than the program but the OP never answered my question as to whether Check Data has been run or not...

John

 

[GLAbusiness]

Why throw away a expensive set of softwear when you can get it going again, you can always use a fresh start and this time make full backups automatically every day or week, throwing the money away and starting afresh seems illogical as Mr Spock would say

It is surely about future cost/benefits rather than sunk costs. If OP can move forward with the same or less ongoing cost then it would be right to change

 

[johndon68]

It is surely about future cost/benefits rather than sunk costs. If OP can move forward with the same or less ongoing cost then it would be right to change

As he has purchased the software outright, he could, if he chose, move on with it without an ongoing cost, it is only because Sage are trying to move everyone to a monthly payment that they have quite the price they have.

If, as I suspect, the original problem is a data one then it could be repaired with a one off cost and no further costs ahead until such time as the OP chose to upgrade.

Given that the OP has been using Sage for over 8 years, I assume that it does what they want so, subject to the issue they have at the moment, no real need to move to another piece of software.

John

 

[Pish_Pash]

Any accounts software that is monthly subscription is spawn of satan, buy yourself a desktop version of Quickbooks (only a hundred sovs) & then enjoy telling all & sundry recommending a monthly sub to "go away quickly".

 

[scstock]

16 years a QuickBooks user here...does pretty much everything I need including Multi-Currency support ( I have Premier Desktop version). If you use Payroll you will have to keep upgrading to the latest version.

My only regret is the 3 wasted years doing things on spreadsheets and paper!

 

[MyAccountantOnline]

Any accounts software that is monthly subscription is spawn of satan, .......

Why?

 

[justintime]

All we want to do us:

1. Raise invoices ( about 40 a month )
2. Post monthy statements
3. Email monthly statements
4. We have about 150 product lines.

No Vat reconciliation, no banking, nothing else.

Sounds like you don't need accounting software then. Sliq invoicing, which I mentioned earlier, will do all the above for a one off cost of less than £50, and you can output reports to pdf and excel, as well as email invoices and statements direct to your customer.

 

[Pish_Pash]

Why?

Cost of desktop version (you don't need to upgrade your version every year...I'm on 2014 version & won't be changing any time soon)), vs. annual cloud subscription. cloud versions are quite often lower featured (vs. the desktop counterpart), therefore

cloud = higher cost, less features

Cloud based offering is to make the supplier more profit, not offer the customer better product ....I therefore conclude that cloud based offerings are indeed spawn of satan

(oh, then there's the data security issue), but hey...this cloud vs. desktop argument will run & run, it was just an opinion (which is what forums are all about)

 

[MyAccountantOnline]

Cost of desktop version (you don't need to upgrade your version every year...I'm on 2014 version & won't be changing any time soon)), vs. annual cloud subscription. cloud versions are quite often lower featured (vs. the desktop counterpart), therefore

cloud = higher cost, less features

Cloud based offering is to make the supplier more profit, not offer the customer better product ....I therefore conclude that cloud based offerings are indeed spawn of satan

(oh, then there's the data security issue), but hey...this cloud vs. desktop argument will run & run, it was just an opinion (which is what forums are all about)

Thanks Pish Pash.

I've tried and tested quite a few systems and personally never found Cloud accounting software offers any less features than desktop software, in fact I'd say the opposite.

Using old desktop software is OK until you have a support problem or something like a VAT rate change.

The biggest advantages I see to cloud based accounting software and I say that as a user and an accountant acting for many small and new businesses are, in no particular order -

• The ability to share data quickly and easily with an accountant - I use Accounts Portal and have a dedicated portal from which I can access all clients data it means I can assist with queries very quickly and access all data I need with minimal disruption to my clients
• More than one person can access the data
• You can access the data from anywhere with internet access
• Great customer support
• Data is secure and backed up - it's very rare in my experience that clients religiously make secure back-ups of accounts data