Sage is one of the most used accounting systems in Africa, in editions from Sage 50 and Pastel for small businesses to Evolution, Sage 200 and Sage 300 for larger ones. Many companies start on Sage for the books and later need stock across branches, manufacturing, approvals, HR and payroll in the same place. That is usually when they compare it with ERPNext.
At a glance
- What it covers
- ERPNext: accounting, stock, sales, purchasing, manufacturing, projects, HR, payroll, CRM and support in one system. Sage: strong accounting, with stock and other areas depending on the edition and add-ons.
- Licence
- ERPNext: no licence fee per user. Sage: a licence or subscription by edition, users and companies.
- Where it runs
- ERPNext: in the browser, from anywhere, on Frappe Cloud, our cloud or your own server. Sage: many editions are installed on a computer or office server, with cloud editions for some.
- Branches
- ERPNext: every branch and warehouse works in one live system. Sage: depends on the edition; branches often send data to head office.
- Local taxes
- We set ERPNext up for eTIMS in Kenya, EFRIS in Uganda, EBM in Rwanda, TRA's fiscal receipts in Tanzania and Smart Invoice in Zambia.
When Sage is the better choice
If you are a single office whose need is the books, payroll is handled elsewhere and your accountant works in Sage every day, a well-run Sage setup may be all you need for now.
When ERPNext is the better choice
- Stock, sales and purchasing live in spreadsheets or another system beside Sage.
- Branches send figures to head office instead of working in one system.
- You want approvals, HR, payroll and reports in the same place as the books.
- You want to work from anywhere without remote desktops or a server in the office.
Moving from Sage to ERPNext
- We look at how you use Sage today: companies, branches, the reports you rely on and the work done outside it in spreadsheets.
- We agree a written scope and a go-live date, and set up ERPNext for your processes, your taxes and your documents.
- We move your data from Sage and you check it in a test copy before anything is final: balances, stock and open documents must match to the cent.
- Your team is trained on its own data, and we run a short parallel period where your closing figures are compared side by side.
- You go live on ERPNext. Sage stays available read-only for as long as you need it for history and audits.
What moves across
- Chart of accounts and opening balances, with prior years kept in Sage
- Customers, suppliers and their open invoices
- Items, stores and stock balances
- Bank accounts and unreconciled items
- Fixed assets with their book values
- Employees and their pay details, if payroll moves too
Full transaction history can be moved too, but most businesses choose opening balances and open documents, with Sage kept for the years before. It is faster, cheaper and avoids carrying old mistakes into the new system. Read what to clean before you migrate.
How long it takes and what it costs
A single company with simple stock usually moves in a few weeks; groups with branches, manufacturing or integrations take longer. The cost depends on your users, locations and modules, not on the system you leave. Get a price estimate in two minutes, or book a demo to see your own processes in ERPNext.