Sage 50 Editions Explained: Features, Pricing and Comparisons

Sage 50 is an Accounting software that is used by businesses around the world to handle their accounts and finances. There are 3 versions of Sage 50: Pro Edition, Premium, and Quantum Edition. In This article, we will discuss the features and pricing of Sage 50 Editions: Pro, Premium, and Quantum.

Features and Pricing of Sage 50 Editions

Pro Accounting

Sage 50 Pro Accounting with Payroll is an excellent bundle for small enterprises that require business management resolutions and in-house payroll. 12 months of payroll is readily available within Sage 50, so you can smoothly pay 10 employees at any time with the most up-to-date payroll tax tallies. You can rest assured that your accounting and payroll resolution complies with government and accounting rules and regulations. You will also ever be ready for government payroll forms and despatch. With Sage 50 Pro Accounting with Payroll, you also get a software upgrade to keep your software up-to-date.

Features

• Cloud-connected desktop software
• Invoice and bill tracking
• Purchase order and approval
•  Expense management
• Automated bank reconciliation
• Reporting
• Inventory management and Job management
• Payroll subscription
• Cyber and Fraud protection
• Support plan

Pricing

Sage 50 Pro edition does not support a multi-user platform and it should be installed on a single-user platform.

Sage 50 Premium Accounting

Sage 50 Premium Accounting is the most recommended  Accounting solution for your small and medium business. This latest release has some exceptional features such as advanced budgeting and multi-company consolidations. Along with it, you can enjoy the benefits of serialized inventory, and access to more than 140 modified financial reports and statements. You get to work with many powerful tools that will give a boost to your business. There is a Sage Business Care Plan with all of Sage 50 software from which you can choose whether you want to RENT your software (subscribe) or OWN it (Perpetual License).

Features

• Accounting Tools: The Sage 50 Premium Accounting is user-friendly and comes with module-level security and automated accounting checks. It is installed in your system, so you can control it locally.
• You can send Invoices to your customers through email.
• Track your Cash Flow to meet present and forthcoming payments.
• Manage inventory through numerous methods.
• Control job cost and revenue at phase and expense code levels.
• Module-level security and other available options for you.
• Inventory Management: You can now easily close a deal according to your comfort and save money.
• You can easily track your inventory based on user-defined attributes.
• Set product costs accordingly as well as offer quality discounts.
• Automatic restoration of inventory at many levels.
• Use of serialized inventory to track warranty claims.
• Business Intelligence: It provides various vital information and generates reports with the help of many integrated applications like Microsoft Excel.
• Create templates for sales, purchasing, inventory, and financial reports.
• Combine all information from different files and other databases.
• Up-to-date reports.
• Simplified Installation: With the Sage 50 Premium Accounting version, compatibility issue is an ancient problem. The software is Outlook 2016 compatible. Adding to it, the screens that you get while installing the software are simplified enough so that users can easily go for it.
• Modern User Interface: One of the most attractive features of the version of the software is the modern look of the main Sage 50 window. The monochrome color scheme with enough white space provides a magnificent appearance to the user interface.
• Retrieval via Last Activity Date: When you have a large volume of data in your system, it is difficult to retrieve them when needed urgently. With Sage 50 Premium Accounting, you can easily retrieve your inventory items and select them by the last activity date.
• Check Register Column: To find out whether a particular check issued has been cleared or is yet to be cleared, you can have a separate column showing the Cleared Date on the Check Register as well as Cash disbursement journal reports.
• Better Click to Pay Option: In Sage 50 Premium Accounting, you get an improved version of the Click to Pay option. In the earlier versions, users had a chance to include payment links in emailed invoices with the help of which they had an option to pay online.

Pricing

Sage 50 Quantum Edition

Sage has recently released its latest Sage 50 Quantum. It is an industry-specific solution that assists in construction, distribution, manufacturing, and non-profit. It is highly recommended accounting software for small and medium businesses.

Features

• Financial Management: You can provide accuracy and security to your business. Sage 50 Quantum can easily be synchronized with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles  (GAAP).
• Customer Management: Your database is now organized and synchronized with customer-related business processes. It will also help you in handling marketing prices as well as provide special customer service.
• Inventory Management: It will keep track of all your orders and maintain its regularity.
• Vendor Management: With this exceptional feature you can easily take a glance at all the supplier information which contains purchase orders and payments by just clicking a button.
• Payroll Management: Managing Payroll was never so simple but Sage 50 Quantum made it so smooth and transparent. It provides a number of services like print-n-tax forms, e-filing, direct deposit, and complete outsourced payroll services.
• Business Intelligence Reporting: You can attain and keep up your financial services with Cash Flow Manager and Collection Manager. You can now create customized reports as it is integrated with Microsoft Office.
• Specific features for your industry (Manufacturing, Distribution, Construction, and Non-Profit): Sage 50 Quantum is constructed in such a way that it helps you in specialized industries to manage their operations in a better way. It provides exclusive functionality and reporting needs without excluding the effectiveness and compliance of robust accounting software.
• Multi-User Management Security: You can now add up to 40 users (maximum). Now you can easily manage the admin center and these permissions automatically apply to the cloud also. You can also grant access which is based on what screens are to be used.

Pricing

Sage 50 Comparisons Pro vs Premium vs Quantum

Features	Pro Edition	Premium Edition	Quantum Edition
Integration & Support	✅	✅	✅
Create customer records	✅	✅	✅
Prepare sales invoices	✅	✅	✅
Track payments and create receipts	✅	✅	✅
Choose a price list	3 Lists	100 Lists	1000 Lists
Create sales quotes and orders	✅	✅	✅
Charge for services using employee Time Slips	NO	Use the First-in First out (FIFO) inventory costing method	✅
Create vendor records	✅	✅	✅
Print cheques	✅	✅	✅
Create purchase quotes and orders	✅	✅	✅
Record and track purchase invoices	✅	✅	✅
Record and track purchase invoices	NO	✅	✅
Prepare payroll cheques with automatic tax calculations	✅	✅	✅
Process cheques as a batch	✅	✅	✅
Prepare ROE slips for print or online filing	✅	✅	✅
Prepare T4/RL-1 slips for print or online filing	✅	✅	✅
Track GST/HST and PST/QST	✅	✅	✅
File GST/HST Online	✅	✅	✅
Keep accurate records with the full-time audit trail	Up to 7	Up to 100	Up to 100
Store multiple years of financial history	✅	✅	✅
Process payroll remittances	✅	✅	✅
Reconcile bank statements to accounting data	NO	✅	✅
Use departmental accounting	NO	✅	✅
Use First-in First out (FIFO) inventory costing method	NO	✅	✅
Expand the range and length of account numbers	NO	✅	✅
Create payroll expense groups	NO	✅	✅
Users at a time	✅	✅	✅
View summary of common tasks with the Daily Business Manager	✅	✅	✅
Switch between English and French	✅	✅	✅
Integrate with Microsoft® Word and Excel	✅	✅	✅
Converting data	✅	✅	✅
Work with multiple currencies	Two	Unlimited	Unlimited
Synchronize with Microsoft Outlook	NO	✅	✅
Create and assign role-based security settings	NO	NO	✅
Assign user access to financial reports	NO	NO	✅
Access and customize built-in reports	111	156	167
Use pre-defined industry-specific reports	NO	✅	✅
Review BOMs, assemblies, and adjustments	NO	NO	✅
Open reports in Excel® for formatting and calculations	✅	✅	✅
Budget company revenues and expense	✅	✅	✅
View the Performance dashboard for real-time information	✅	✅	✅
Consolidate financials for multiple companies	NO	✅	✅
Manage inventory	Basic	Advanced	Advanced Plus
Create finished goods from Bill of Materials	NO	✅	✅
Generate packing slips	NO	✅	✅
Manage inventory in multiple locations	NO	✅	✅
Track items by serial number	NO	NO	✅
Track and report on projects	✅	✅	✅
Budget projects by fiscal year	1 year	1 year	Up to 5 year
Create detailed project budget	By period	By account, by period	By account, by period
Assign projects to orders and invoices	NO	NO	✅
Track salaried employee and contractor hours	NO	NO	✅

Sage 50 System Requirements for Successfully Installations

Here is a list of system requirements. These are the recommended requirements of your system, then only you can install Sage 50 in your system and enjoy its benefits. When you think of downloading Sage 50 U.S., you must make sure you possess some minimum system requirements:

For both single and multiple users, your system should have:

• 2GB RAM
• 0 GHz processor. 1 GHz will do while upgrading to Sage 50 Pro and Premium versions
• Windows 7, Windows 8, or Windows 8 supports the software. The latest updates from Microsoft should be installed
• Microsoft® .NET Framework 4.5.2 with an additional requirement of 280MB to 850MB. If you get the .NET 4.6 version installed in your system, you get Sage Payments and Solutions Integration
• 1GB disk space for installation
• All online features with internet access
• Internet Explorer 9.0, 10.0, and 11.0. The latest version starting from 11.0 will help you have Sage Payroll Solutions, Paya (Sage Payment Solutions), and other Connected Services Integration. Hence, this version is considered mandatory for an advanced-functioning.

Pixels & Resolutions:

• 16-bit high-color SVGA video
• Minimum resolution – 1280×800
• Recommended resolution – 1440×900 and higher
• Small fonts/DPI settings

Compatibility Requirements

• Microsoft Excel, Outlook, and Word 2007, 2010, 2013, and 2016 (32-bit) in case you desire to go for respective integration
• Adobe Reader 11.0
• Windows 7, Windows 8, or Windows 10-supported printers
• Office 365 Business Premium for Office 365 integration
• Adobe® Flash® Player 11 or greater for in-product demos. Version 18 is highly recommended, though.

Multiple User Requirements

• Only applicable for users of Sage 50 Premium Accounting and higher
• Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012, or Windows Server 2016 client-server networks while Windows 7, Windows 8, or Windows 10 to facilitate peer-to-peer networks
• Disk space of 2GB is required for the installation of components on the server
• For Premium Accounting, a maximum of 5 licensed users is allowed while Sage 50 Quantum Accounting allows 40 licensed users. A user is licensed when selected in the user maintenance screen
• If you are upgrading your Sage 50 to Pro or Premium Edition then, a 1.0 GHz or higher processor is required. (2.0 GHz is highly recommended).
• If you are upgrading your Quantum or Accountant Edition then it is recommended that you have a 2.0GHz processor.
• It is recommended for Multi-core processors that they have 2.33 GHz.
• Your system should have 4 GB RAM but 6 GB will help your software to run smoothly.
• You need 2 GB of hard disk space with an additional 1 GB for the installation of Sage 50 software in your system.
• Internet Explorer 11 is mandatory.
• It supports Microsoft Operating System (Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, and Windows 10 but with the latest updates from Microsoft).
• Your system should be set at 256-color or higher SVGA monitor requirements.
• The minimum resolution of your monitor should be 1024 X 768.
• You should have a CD-ROM drive.
• High-speed internet is required.