Head to head
Sage 200 Evolution vs Odoo
Both products assessed against the same checklist, with ratings drawn from 515 verified reviews.
Sage 200 Evolution
ERP Software
4.0
284 verified reviews
Custom pricing
quoted on request
- Rating gap
- 0.2
- Reviews behind this
- 515
- Priced on scope
- Quoted
- Features they share
- 1
Side by side
How they compare
Ratings computed from published reviews, and the specifications that change what a product costs to run. The washed column is the higher rated of the two.
| Compared on | Sage Group plc | Higher rated overall |
|---|---|---|
| What reviewers say | ||
| Overall rating | 4.0 | 4.2, higher |
| Ease of use | 3.6 | 3.8, higher |
| Value for money | 3.9 | 4.1, higher |
| Customer service | 3.8 | 4.0, higher |
| Functionality | 4.0 | 4.1, higher |
| Verified reviews | 284 | 231 |
| What it costs | ||
| Starting price | Custom pricingquoted on request | R380per month, from |
| VAT basis | Excl VAT | Excl VAT |
| Free trial | No | Yes |
| Free plan | No | Yes |
| Published plans | 1 | 3 |
| Vendor and support | ||
| Vendor | Sage Group plc | Odoo SA |
| Founded | 2002 | 2005 |
| Support channels | Partner network, Telephone, Email, On site training | Partner network, Email, Community forum, Documentation, Odoo support |
| Integrations listed | 7 | 9 |
| Local bank feeds | 5 | 1 |
The local yardstick
South African compliance
Amber marks a gap rather than a feature. This is usually where the decision is actually made.
Sage 200 Evolution
- VAT201 at 15%
- IT14SD supporting schedules
- Zero rated and exempt supply handling
- Annual statutory update releases
- On premises deployment keeps data in South Africa
Odoo
- VAT201 through a South African localisation module
- Chart of accounts templates for South Africa
- No native South African payroll, journal posting from SimplePay or PaySpace
- Self hosting allows full South African data residency
What they cost
Pricing, compared properly
Check the VAT basis on each. Vendors are not consistent, and the difference is 15%.
Sage 200 Evolution
Listed excluding VAT
- Quoted
Quoted
Licensed per module and per user through a Sage partner. Implementation usually exceeds the first year licence cost, so budget the total rather than the licence.
Odoo
Listed excluding VAT
- Free
Community
Unlimited users
- R380/mo
StandardPopular
Per user
- R580/mo
Custom
Per user
The Standard and Custom plans are priced per user per month with all applications included. The community edition is free to licence, and you carry hosting, maintenance and support yourself.
Capability
The full feature matrix
Every feature either product offers, and whether the other one has it.
| Compared on | Sage Group plc | Higher rated overall |
|---|---|---|
| 26 features across both products | ||
| Accounting and financials | Not included | Included |
| Bill of materials and manufacturing | Included | Not included |
| Branch accounting | Included | Not included |
| Business intelligence | Included | Not included |
| Debtors and creditors management | Included | Not included |
| Ecommerce and point of sale | Not included | Included |
| Field service | Not included | Included |
| Fixed assets | Included | Not included |
| Full general ledger and financials | Included | Not included |
| Job costing | Included | Not included |
| Landed cost tracking | Included | Not included |
| Manufacturing with work orders and routings | Not included | Included |
| Multi company | Not included | Included |
| Multi company and consolidation | Included | Not included |
| Multi warehouse inventory | Included | Included |
| Open source codebase | Not included | Included |
| Point of sale | Included | Not included |
| Procurement and purchase requisitions | Included | Not included |
| Project management and timesheets | Not included | Included |
| Purchasing and procurement | Not included | Included |
| Quality control and maintenance | Not included | Included |
| REST and XML-RPC APIs | Not included | Included |
| Sales and CRM | Not included | Included |
| Serial and lot tracking | Included | Not included |
| Studio low code customisation | Not included | Included |
| VAT201 and SARS reporting | Included | Not included |
Our verdict
Which one you should buy
We name a winner. Listing differences and leaving the decision to the reader is not a verdict.
This comparison is about where you want the cost to sit. Evolution puts it in licence and partner fees, and gives you vendor maintained local compliance and a partner in every industrial centre. Odoo puts it in expertise, and gives you a much lower licence cost with more responsibility on you.
Evolution is the safer choice for a business that wants to buy a system and get on with trading. Local statutory reporting is maintained by Sage, the partner base is the largest in the country, and you are not dependent on one relationship.
Odoo is the better choice for a business with technical capacity, particularly manufacturers, because the manufacturing depth is genuinely strong for the price and the module coverage is broader. The risks are real: version upgrades are projects, heavy customisation can freeze you on an old version, and South African VAT201 comes from a partner maintained localisation rather than from the vendor.
If you do not have someone in the business who will own the system, buy Evolution.
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