Top NetSuite Alternatives for your Business

by Sam Paternoster

Implementing ERP software to run your business can take a lot of time, money and effort. For this reason, it's important to make the right call on which software you choose to help run your business. If you make the call without doing your research, you may end up having to start from scratch, which no-one wants to do.

We've created a list of NetSuite alternatives based on the highest 'NetSuite vs X' search volumes, so you can weigh up the value of different services to your business. This isn't designed to dissuade current or prospective users, but to ensure that any business decisions you make are as informed as possible.

With that in mind, lets dive into the top alternatives for NetSuite's solutions to see which is the best fit for your business. We'll be looking mainly at price, scalability, ease of use and general suitability.

NetSuite vs. Quickbooks

QuickBooks Online Advanced is widely used and is much cheaper, but you get what you pay for - NetSuite is far more suited to effectively scaling businesses. Here are a few comparison points to help you decide between NetSuite and Quickbooks.

NetSuite vs. Quickbooks Pricing

The price difference here is fairly substantial. Since being acquired by Oracle, NetSuite's license prices aren't public, but we approximate using NetSuite at is full power is likely to cost $10,000+ a year, whereas QuickBooks Online Advanced is approximately a fifth of that at $2,160 a year.

Scalability

The key difference here is the extent of what each solution offers. NetSuite is a fantastic tool for growing businesses, as its modular approach allows you to add new applications as you progress. QuickBooks is also adept at keeping up with scaling businesses, but not to the same extent - you'll probably need some external applications to help your growth.

Ease of Use

NetSuite and QuickBooks are similarly usable. QuickBooks Online Advanced probably edges it in terms of ease, building on lower-level QuickBooks applications and only requiring assistance for advanced operations. NetSuite is a little more difficult, but there is a ton of online resources created to help with training and implementation. You can learn more about that in our NetSuite (Online) Event Guide.

Overall:

QuickBooks is a much cheaper and slightly more accessible tool that's most suitable for a business who is still outsourcing their bookkeeping, due to how easy it is to share seats. For a business moving up to the next level, however, NetSuite is the much more powerful tool of the two, with lots of other applications under the NetSuite banner to empower business growth.

NetSuite vs. SAP

NetSuite and SAP are both powerful ERP systems. If you're this far in that you're looking at different options, you're probably pretty savvy on the benefits of ERPs. If you are looking to brush up on the benefits, check out our blog on where we investigate what a two-tier ERP is.

With that said and done, lets take a look at the crucial differences between SAP and NetSuite to see which is more suitable for your business.

NetSuite vs. SAP Pricing

SAP Business One prices differ pretty wildly depending on your plan.

  • License Cost for Starter Package: $1357 for Starter Package, $39 monthly charge for usage. Beware though - this package has limited utility, and is available for up to 5 users.
  • License Cost for Professional User: $3213 and Professional User seat, $94 monthly charge for usage.
  • License Cost for Limited User: $1666 for a Limited User seat, $54 monthly charge for usage.

As you can see, depending on the size of your team and how much functionality they need, the price can vary drastically. This is likely to be the case with any ERP, and is true of NetSuite too, so your choice is likely to come down to other factors.

Scalability

SAP requires additional licenses to reach the full capabilities of NetSuite's suite, which have to be purchased separately, driving up cost. eCommerce and HR capabilities, for example, will require extra-licensing to truly make the most of of SAP's offering.

NetSuite also has a lot more ready-to-go integrations with external applications, making it easier to connect to software that expands your business' powers beyond your ERP. Shipping is a great example here - whilst ERPs may integrate with carriers, you may want to automate this section of your journey (and you definitely should - here's why).

Our shipping automation software, Shiptheory, can easily connect to NetSuite, but you'd probably have to use Zapier or our API to connect with SAP. Overall, NetSuite makes it slightly easier to scale with the wealth of applications available throughout the NetSuite ecosystem, and with it's integrations.

Ease of Use

NetSuite has the edge over SAP in a few ways in regards to ease of use. It's slightly-easier to implement due to it's longer history as a cloud-based ERP, with SAP having relatively recently made the leap to cloud-based. NetSuite also has better customisation functionality than SAP, with more out of the box customisation, whereas SAP needs more of a deep dive into the code itself.

Some reports suggest that the SAP dashboard is more intuitive than Netsuite's, but reports equally suggest that its easier for mistakes to happen using the SAP dashboard.

Overall:

SAP and NetSuite are both incredibly powerful and far-reaching tools, but NetSuite edges SAP in a number of ways. Particularly if growth is on your mind, its likely that NetSuite's flexibility and modular approach to new features will enable you to grow quicker than with SAP.

That being said, every business has different needs, and there may be ways in which SAP is more convenient than NetSuite. It's probably worth getting a demo of both to see how they can help your business.

NetSuite vs. Microsoft Dynamics

Our final comparison is between NetSuite and Microsoft Dynamics - another cloud-based ERP and CRM solution. These two are a lot more similar than the other comparisons we've done so far, so we'll break down as best we can the crucial differences between the two.

NetSuite vs. Microsoft Dynamics Pricing

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Plan: $210 per user for full seats per month. Extra users can be added in the following catergories:

  • Team Members: $8 per user p/m
  • Operations Activity: $50 per user p/m
  • Operations Devices: $75 per device p/m

Unified Operations Plan: $190 per user for a full seat per month. Extra users, as above, can be added like so:

  • Team Members: $8 per user p/m
  • Operations Activity: $50 per user p/m
  • Operations Devices: $75 per device p/m

NetSuite's joint CRM and ERP venture NetSuite OneWorld, meanwhile, can expect to set you back from anywhere beginning from $1999 a month for licensing.

Scalability

Once again, NetSuite comes up trumps in this department due to its wide range of features, slightly outdoing what Dynamics can offer. We've already covered how NetSuite helps you scale, so lets move on swiftly to Ease of Use.

Ease of Use:

As can be expected of a Microsoft product, Dynamics has the benefit of easily integrating with apps such as Outlook and the Microsoft Office Suite. However, Dynamics falls short of NetSuite when it comes to customisation capabilities.

Whilst Dynamics IS customisable, it's not easy, and often external developers are required to help with this. NetSuite, on the other hand, is more easily customised. Forms, menus and your general interface can be easily customised in NetSuite.

Overall:

Dynamics and NetSuite are some of the closest solutions you'll find, and whilst NetSuite has a slightly wider range of features, there are a lot of benefits to both. The compatibility with the Microsoft Office Suite in particular is a feather in the cap of Dynamics.

It's worth weighing up if you'll be needing services beyond ERP and CRM - if so NetSuite may have the edge. Even so, it's definitely worth doing some advanced research into both solutions.

NetSuite Alternatives Summary

This is really just scratching the surface when it comes to NetSuite alternatives; there are a whole host of ERPs out there that attempt to offer the same service as NetSuite, or individual applications that go toe-to-toe with individual tools from the Suite. Each business has different requirements, and yours is no different, so we hope that this gives you a little assistance with the decision making process.

Our advice for next steps would be:

  • Check out some more in depth comparisons  - we recommend these guides, which we used during the research of our overview: NetSuite vs. QuickBooks, NetSuite vs. SAP and NetSuite vs. Microsoft Dynamics
  • Book demos of all the applications you're considering - learn how it works from the people who know best!
  • Check out the Customer Stories on the NetSuite website - you can filter by application replaced to see how similar businesses to your own have improved their operations using NetSuite. You can also check out our article on the biggest customers using NetSuite.