Looking for the perfect Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution? Explore the differences between Microsoft Dynamics 365, QuickBooks Enterprise, and Oracle NetSuite and see which product best fits your business goals.
To remain competitive, today’s businesses need to run more efficiently and have greater visibility into all their processes. To get the power and agility to do so, most employ an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software application. An ERP provides a comprehensive set of features to run financials plus other areas, such as manufacturing. Your ERP will touch nearly every facet of your business and will be with you for many years, so you should be prepared to invest time into the selection process.
Start-ups, small companies
Small to midsize to large
Small to midsize to large
Midsize to enterprise
1-40
1-many (no theoretical limit)
1-many (no theoretical limit)
20+
Manufacturing, Wholesale, Construction and contractors, Professional services, Accountancy
Advertising and media, Financial services, Hospitality, Professional services, Wholesale, Discrete manufacturing, Nonprofit, Healthcare, Retail, and eCommerce
Discrete manufacturing, job shop, process, and mixed-mode manufacturing, Supply chain, Professional services, Retail and eCommerce, Hospitality, Pharmaceutical and health care, Financial services, Non-profit, Government services
Discrete manufacturing, job shop, process, and mixed-mode manufacturing, Supply chain, Professional services, Retail and eCommerce, Hospitality, Pharmaceutical and health care, Financial services, Non-profit, Government services
QuickBooks is recognized as a user-friendly accounting solution suitable for startups and small businesses. Its simplicity and ease of use make it appealing for those with basic accounting needs. QuickBooks Enterprise, positioned as the premium edition of QuickBooks, will be considered in this comparison.
Although QuickBooks Enterprise comes with many robust financial features:
• Payroll and payroll tax filing
• Payment acceptance
• Inventory tracking
• Customizable reporting
• Dashboard views of the business
• Product versions for industries specifications
Intuit acknowledges that QuickBooks is NOT an ERP.
Oracle NetSuite can handle accounting functions, including multi-entity, international, supply chain, discrete manufacturing, and other scenarios. It is customizable and integrates with other business applications.
Other Oracle NetSuite products include CRM, HCM, professional Services, and Analytics and Reporting, eCommerce.
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is the current incarnation of Microsoft Dynamics NAV (formerly Navision).
Business Central is a comprehensive ERP with support for international, multi-entity, inventory, supply chain, manufacturing, retail, and other scenarios. It is highly flexible and customizable.
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Supply Chain Management (SCM) is the current incarnation of Dynamics AX (formerly Axapta).
It is a flexible, customizable, feature-rich ERP capable of handling complex global enterprises and sophisticated accounting functionality.
Main drawback: Cannot produce a verifiable audit trail. Companies seeking to go public or soliciting funds from investors will have to replace QuickBooks with an ERP application like Oracle NetSuite or Microsoft Dynamics 365.
Requires multiple subscriptions to support multiple companies under the same account.
Development uses SuiteScript, a variation of JavaScript. Although flexible, it is difficult to test.
Lacks native integration to popular productivity suites such as Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365).
Smaller catalog of third-party apps when compared to Microsoft AppSource.
Known to substantially increase license costs after the introductory contract, making it harder to predict cost of ownership.
The user’s database cannot be exported in a relational format, making migration to a new ERP challenging.
Does not have native AI capabilities.
Microsoft is pushing all Business Central, NAV, GP, and SL customers to be cloud-compliant on Business Central, causing some frustration among long-time Microsoft users.
The rich feature sets for Finance and Supply Chain Management require a longer implementation time, and licenses are more expensive compared to Business Central.
Can run standalone on a desktop or accessed online.
A true-cloud, multi-tenant ERP. Single tenancy is available for an additional fee.
Runs on the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.
A true-cloud, multi- or single-tenant ERP and can also operate on-premises.
Runs on Microsoft Azure, with a 99.9% financially based SLA uptime guarantee, or on-premises.
A true-cloud, multi- or single-tenant ERP and can also operate on-premises.
Runs on Microsoft Azure, with a 99.9% financially based SLA uptime guarantee, or on-premises.
Easy to install, easy to use.
Ubiquitous; popular among VC and PE firms.
Core features and functionality (e.g., HR, email marketing (Bronto), project management).
Broad vertical support and functionality (e.g., Professional Services, Hospitality, Non-Profit, Media/Publishing).
Flexible integrations with most third-party applications.
Supported by a large developer community and Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) that provide third-party add-on solutions.
Offers SuiteApp marketplace for add-on functionality.
Natively integrated with Microsoft 365, Microsoft’s Productivity Suite (Word, Excel, Outlook, Teams, etc.)
Offers deep native AI capabilities (Microsoft Copilot) for optimizing business processes and gaining greater insights.
Natively integrated with Microsoft’s Power Platform (Power BI, Power Automate, etc.) for low-code/no-code application development and more.
Flexible integration with most third-party applications.
Offers Microsoft’s AppSource for additional product add-ons.
Supported by a large developer community and Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) that provide third-party add-on solutions.
Supported by a large developer community and Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) that provide third-party add-on solutions.
Native integrations to Microsoft’s Productivity Suite (Word, Excel, Outlook, Teams, etc.) and Microsoft’s Power Platform (Power BI, Power Automate, etc.)
Flexible integration to most third-party applications.
Offers Microsoft’s AppSource for additional product add-ons.
Offers native AI capabilities for optimizing business processes and gaining greater insights.
Comes with standard reporting and dashboards for financials and other business KPIs.
Customizability is limited.
Comes with standard reporting plus an analytics and reporting module included in the subscription.
Users can create custom reports and dashboards.
Comes with standard reporting.
Users can create custom reports and dashboards.
Comes with native integration with Power BI, part of Microsoft’s Power Platform.
Comes with standard reporting.
Users can create custom reports and dashboards.
Comes with native integration with Power BI, part of Microsoft’s Power Platform.
Evaluate key areas like financial audits and customer satisfaction for an accurate assessment. Our tool guides you through the ERP buying process, ensuring you're well-prepared. Trust Western Computer's Microsoft Dynamics expertise and dedicated support for seamless ERP implementation and ongoing success. Visit our website for testimonials and take the quiz to enhance your business efficiency.
Many businesses are content with QuickBooks until they either outgrow its capabilities or are looking for investors and need an ERP solution. Although Oracle NetSuite is a capable ERP, here are the reasons many choose Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central or Finance and Supply Chain Management:
It’s no surprise that businesses choose Dynamics 365 over Oracle NetSuite and other ERP solutions—and industry analysts and experts agree:
IDC named Dynamics 365 Business Central in the 2024 MarketScape Report for SaaS and cloud-enabled small business ERP applications. As discussed in the blog article, Dynamics 365 Business Central is one of the top solutions in the Leaders category:
Forbes magazine selected Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central as the best overall cloud ERP solution for 2024.
Gartner, Magic Quadrant for ERP pictured on the left, considers Microsoft as a “Visionary” with Microsoft Dynamics 365, citing a “broad core financial management solution for midmarket and large organizations that is well-integrated with Microsoft Dynamics 365 customer engagement applications, Microsoft 365 and the Power Platform” as well as Azure platform capabilities like “out-the-box integrations with a rich set of enterprise-class platform services, such as Microsoft Power BI, Power Apps and Dataverse.”
Finding the right ERP can be confusing. At Western Computer, we will help you through the selection and buying process. We specialize in Microsoft Dynamics 365 products, and we will make sure you get the solution that is right for your company.
Contact us today to see a demonstration of what Microsoft Dynamics 365 can do to help your company grow, run your business more efficiently, and deliver greater value to your customers.
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