What is Sage Accounting?
Sage Accounting is cloud-based accounting software developed by the Sage Group company in 1981 to help small to mid-sized businesses and freelancers manage their finances from any online device without the complexity of traditional accounting systems.
With Sage Accounting, you can automate daily tasks like invoicing, expense tracking, bank reconciliation, and real-time reporting, giving you insight into your business’s financial health and cash flow.
It allows you to manage taxes and forecast future financial scenarios, helping you make informed decisions based on up-to-date data.
You can also collaborate with accountants or team members, ensuring everyone stays on the same page financially.
Quick Overview of Sage Accounting
Overview | Sage Accounting |
---|---|
Starting price | £18/mo |
Free Trial | 3 months free trial |
Key Features | – Invoicing & Payments – Reporting – Budgeting – Project tracking |
Best for | Freelancers, startups, and SMBs. |
Customer support | – Email – Live chat – Phone – Knowledge base |
Automation | Payment automation Data entry |
Integration | 50+ integrations, including – Stripe – AutoEntry – Veri Clock – Biz Ops – Ship Sync |
Scalability | Sage Accounting offers flexible plans and integrations to accommodate your business as it scales. |
Customization | Customizable invoices and reports |
Pros and Cons of Sage Accounting
Pros
- Intuitive and easy to use: The Sage Accounting platform is intuitive and easy to set up and use, even for users without bookkeeping or accounting knowledge.
- Scalability and integration: Sage Accounting offers flexible plans and extensive integration with your existing software to accommodate your business as it grows.
- Easily accessible: Unlike other software that requires paying for multiple licences, Sage allows team members to log in and access financial reports, account data, and other essential information from different locations, making collaboration a lot better and decision-making effective.
- Excellent reporting: It provides insights into your business’s financial health with advanced reporting features. You can monitor cash flow, forecast future financial scenarios, and make informed decisions based on up-to-date data.
Cons
- Paid advanced features: Sage Accounting includes key tools like inventory tracking and multi-currency support only in its higher-tier plans. Businesses that manage stock or operate internationally will need to upgrade to access these advanced features, which are designed for more complex accounting needs.
Sage Accounting Pricing
Sage Accounting offers three-tier pricing plans including the Accounting Start, Accounting Standard, and Accounting Plus plan.
Each plan comes with a 3-month free trial that allows you to save 25 percent of the total payment.
The Start plan is ideal for sole traders and micro businesses with minimal accounting needs.
Standard and plus plans are suitable for small businesses working with suppliers and managing large inventory.
It includes more features, such as the ability to snap and upload photos of receipts, invoices, and supplier statements for faster data entry.
Pricing Plan | Annual | Monthly | User Limit |
---|---|---|---|
Accounting Start | £216 | £18 | |
Accounting Standard | £468 | £39 | |
Accounting Plus | £708 | £59 |
Sage Accounting Key Features
Invoicing & Payments
With Sage Accounting, you can connect with payment solutions to create and send invoices to clients for faster payments. The platform allows you to fully customise your invoices with pre-made templates.
You can add your logo, adjust the colors and fonts, and edit the wording to match your brand identity.
You can track the status of your invoices to see what’s been paid, what’s overdue, and what’s still outstanding.
You also get features that allow you to set due dates, credit limits, and terms, so you stay in control of payments from the start. If you want to take upfront payments, you can use pro-forma invoices without affecting your account.
Sage even handles VAT automatically, supports multi-currency invoicing with accurate exchange rates, and lets you offer discounts by item.
You can print delivery notes, send quotes or estimates, and invoice clients from your tablet or phone, whether you’re in the office or on the go.
Real-time Reporting
Its excellent reporting feature provides insights into your business’s financial health, allowing you to make informed financial decisions.
You can easily track your profit and loss, balance sheet, and other important financials anytime, anywhere. Whether you’re making strategic decisions or responding to a quick request from your bank, you’ll have the data you need.
Sage also gives you a full list of reports, including customer, supplier, item, account, bank, credit card, and tax reports that you can view, print, share, or email to your team.
And if you want more control, Sage Intelligence lets you customise reports without needing an accounting degree. Customise the format you want, choose what data to include, and create reports for you and your team.
VAT Compliance
Sage Accounting helps you to stay on top of tax obligations seamlessly. The platform ensures compliance with HMRC regulations through accurate VAT calculations and easy submission processes. This minimizes the stress and risk associated with tax periods.
Budgeting
Sage Accounting makes it easy to plan for financial goals. You can create yearly budgets from scratch or use past data to guide your projections.
Once your targets are set, you can use the Budget Report to view your plan and compare it against actual performance using the Profit and Loss Report.
It doesn’t matter if you’re just starting out or growing a business, Sage’s budgeting tools give you the right tools to budget your finances, track progress, identify trends, and adjust before a financial crisis arises.
Automated Data Capture
If you’re tired of entering receipts manually, Sage Accounting offers automated data capture tools to speed things up.
The system uses AI to scan receipts and input data directly into your records. This reduces the chance of errors and saves time on admin tasks.
Whether you’re logging expenses from multiple locations or handling high volumes of transactions, the automation keeps your records clean and accurate.
Project Tracking
If you manage your business projects across multiple locations or teams, you can monitor how different areas of your business are performing using analysis codes.
The analysis codes let you tag transactions and track costs, revenue, or performance by department, client, or project.
If you want to compare performance across branches, you can just apply the relevant codes and generate reports to keep you in control of the financial position of each project, allowing you to monitor profitability.
Sage Accounting Support Quality
Sage Accounting provides community support, live chat, a knowledge base, and email and phone support that is only available for standard plan users.
Response times are generally fast across all paid plans, with higher-tier users receiving priority assistance.
While the platform does not provide a direct email address and phone number, users can always submit a case through email to get in touch with the support team.
Sage Accounting Alternatives
Sage Accounting | Zoho books | Quickbooks Online | Xero | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Starting Price | £18/month | $20/month | $35/month | $20/month |
Free Plan | No | Yes | No | No |
Ease of Use | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
Audit | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
Free bank feeds | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
Customisable reports | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
Unlimited users | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
Best For | Solo traders, freelancers, and SMBs | Small- to large-scale businesses | Enterprises | Freelancers |
Summary
Overall, Sage Accounting is a smart, reliable solution for small businesses that need advanced tools to facilitate payments and manage their overall finances.
It provides a great and intuitive platform that makes financial management effective, along with excellent reporting tools that support business growth.
While it may not offer a free plan and adding extra users can increase its cost, its extensive integrations and VAT compliance make it a smart choice for startups and growing businesses.

Try Sage Accounting Now
Manage your finances and your cash flow with Sage Accounting. Start your 3 month free trial today.
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