Acumatica vs SAP: Which ERP is better?

Picking an ERP (enterprise resource planning) solution is a big decision for companies. The right choice can massively improve efficiency and your bottom line. But the wrong choice can waste time and money and possibly limit your company’s options.

Acumatica and SAP are two of the most popular ERP solutions on the market today. In this article, we’ll explore how Acumatica and SAP ERP compare by looking at their features, pricing, and other factors that can help you decide if it’s the right choice for your business.

Table of Contents

Understanding SAP

SAP is a software company that develops enterprise resource planning software. SAP is an acronym for Systems, Applications, and Products in Data Processing. The company was founded in 1972 by five former IBM engineers. It has its headquarters in Walldorf, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.

More than 300,000 customers use SAP in 190 countries and territories around the world. It provides business solutions to companies of all sizes, including large multinational corporations, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and public institutions such as local governments, schools, and hospitals.

SAP has 5 ERPs that each fill different niches.

SAP ERP: the original ERP solution that has existed in various forms since 1992.
SAP S/4HANA: similar to SAP ERP but emphasizes real-time data reporting.
SAP S/4HANA Cloud: a cloud-based edition of SAP’s ERP.
SAP Business One: a cloud-based that’s easy to use and targeted at SMEs as a comprehensive solution.
SAP Business ByDesign: a cloud-based software solution for fast-growing businesses.

What are SAP’s features?

As there are so many versions of the software, there is a broad spectrum of features. These are in finance and accounting, enterprise resource planning, customer relationship management, supply chain management, and analytics.

SAP offers a variety of features such as:

Live Data
Business Suite
Cloud Services
Big Data & Analytics
Internet of Things (IoT)
ERP
CRM
SCM
Infrastructure
Product Lifecycle Management (PLM)

More expensive and comprehensive options will include more features than the ones targeted at small businesses.

How much does SAP cost?

SAP ERP, the flagship product, is a pricey option targeted at large corporations. Fortune 500 companies can spend more than $100 million (usually from $50 million to $500 million) on deployment and implementation.

It can take years to fully implement SAP ERP to utilize its capabilities for large corporations fully.

However, the programs geared toward smaller companies have a smaller price tag. SAP Business ByDesign, in particular, is priced according to the services that your business uses.

SAP does offer a price calculator to get an approximation of pricing.

How do I access SAP?

The on-premise options for SAP are only available as desktop apps. But there are mobile app options for cloud solutions.

How is SAP hosted?

SAP offers cloud hosting as well as on-premise hosting options.

Understanding Acumatica

Acumatica ERP is a cloud-based enterprise resource planning system. It is designed to help manage an organization’s business processes, such as accounting, inventory management, manufacturing, customer service, etc.

Founded in 2008, Acumatica was specifically designed for the cloud. The software provides comprehensive data and analytics on every aspect of how your company operates and offers interactive dashboards to help you make the best decisions for success.

Acumatica has been the fastest growing ERP for the past six years and has over 8,000 customers in more than 50 countries.

What types of companies use Acumatica?

Acumatica was specifically designed to be highly flexible and to allow any industry to modify it for their use cases.

However, they have specific solutions geared towards:

Distribution (Acumatica Distribution ERP)
Service industries (Acumatica service management ERP)
Manufacturing (Acumatica Manufacturing ERP)
Retail-commerce (Acumatica retail commerce ERP)
and construction (Acumatica Construction ERP)

Acumatica has a considerable market of third-party apps that allow businesses from any industry to create a solution that works for them.

Most ERPs that allow 3rd party integration have proprietary code, which means that only a limited number of programmers can create add-ons. However, Acumatica uses commonly known code, so it’s easy to find programmers who can create add-ons to fit your specifications.

Because of this flexibility, Acumatica has customers from a wide range of industries, including non-profits, education, travel, and hospitality.

Acumatica Cloud ERP was designed for the needs of SMEs; 78% of businesses that use Acumatica have under 100 employees.

How much does Acumatica cost?

Acumatica doesn’t have a fixed price point. Instead, they structure their pricing as subsciption cost plus storage and resources, in addition to your chosen support package. You can request a quote from their website.

One pricing feature that is helpful for growing businesses is that instead of paying per user (a typical ERP pricing feature), you pay for the amount of resources you consume. So if you’re a fast-growing company, it’s easy to scale, and you won’t end up paying more if you utilize part-time employees.

What are Acumatica’s features?

Acumatica’s features include:

Sales forecasting
Inventory management
Manufacturing management
Financial reporting

However, this is just the tip of the iceberg since there is so much potential for customization.

How do I access Acumatica?

Unlike SAP, Acumatica is exclusively a cloud-based ERP – which means there is no option for a desktop application. Instead, it’s available on browsers, as well as on iOS and Android.

How is Acumatica hosted?

Acumatica offers the option between their own servers and whatever private option you want. However, if you choose a private hosting service, you lose out on their monitoring services and upgrades.

How To Choose Between Acumatica and SAP

Choosing between SAP and Acumatica is more straightforward than choosing between other ERPs since they are aimed at different segments of the market for the most part. While SAP does have options for SMEs, they aren’t the company’s principal focus, and many companies will feel stifled because of the lower potential for customization. However, larger corporations, especially those with the need for real-time data, may find SAP an excellent match for their company.

Acumatica Cloud ERP is a complete ERP solution for all type of business. Acumatica pricing model is flexible. It’s monthly fees fall in the range of $1,400-$2,800.

Get Acumatica consultation services from a certified Acumatica partner!

If you’re looking for Acumatica implementation, Confianz can help! We have a team of experts with years of experience who can help you decide on an ERP. So call us today and get started.

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