Based on 10 verified reviews published in the last 18 months
TrustRadius Community Insights are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when relevant, HG Insights data.
Overview
Synthesised from 10 reviews | Last Published April 23, 2026
This product assessment is based on a synthesis of 10 recent reviews covering overall satisfaction, areas for improvement, and return on investment for Sage Accounting. Sage Accounting is primarily deployed for accounting and bookkeeping tasks, as indicated by 7 out of 10 reviewers. It also supports payroll processing, according to 3 reviewers. The software is used both internally by businesses and recommended to clients by some accounting firms. Reviewers highlight time savings as a key benefit, with 3 reviewers specifically noting the ease of use and real-time financial updates. Process automation, such as streamlined invoice and quotation management, is also cited as a positive impact by 2 reviewers. However, some users find the user interface difficult to navigate, especially those without accounting expertise, and improvements to bank feed automation are desired. The cost of adding users, due to licenses being sold in packs, is mentioned as a potential drawback by 2 reviewers.
Pros
Provides time savings through ease of use and real-time financial updates (3 of 10 reviews)
Automates processes such as invoice chasing and quotation-to-invoice conversion (2 of 10 reviews)
Suitable for both internal accounting and bookkeeping and for accounting firms recommending to clients
Cons
User interface can be difficult to navigate, especially for users without accounting knowledge (2 of 10 reviews)
Bank feed functionality requires improvements in automation and matching capabilities (2 of 10 reviews)
Cost of adding users can be high due to licenses being sold in packs (2 of 10 reviews)
I would say that my experience with Pastel was bitter/sweet. If I wasn't under so much pressure to perform at the time maybe I could've been good at it eventually. Pastel's team is extremely responsive. Our clients jumped on Pastel immediately when we sent them the tool. No downloads, no installations. Other tools confused our clients with trying to download and install the program. You just jump on Pastel and start clicking - and it starts working. Saves our team probably hundreds of hours of work per month! Pros:I spent weeks looking for the easiest tool that my clients can use to get feedback. Our clients are often in their 50s and 60s, and not super tech savvy. Plus, our clients our business owners, so they have limited time. Ease of use was top priority. After looking at over 10 other options, Pastel was clearly the most simple and easy to use. It is a widespread software in South Africa, it is sold in almost all consumer electronics stores nationwide and it is the most preferred method when it comes to Human Resources, on that front it stands out from most of its competitors. Cons:The features are pretty limited, but this can be a good thing because we don't want our clients to get overwhelmed. I think a couple extra features such as marking tasks "In Progress" as well as allowing our clients to see that edits are "In Progress" would be a huge benefit. Clients get confused on which tasks were done and which are still being worked on, so that leads to a lot of confusion right now.
Pros
Ease of use was top priority. Pastel was clearly the most simple and easy to use.
Pastel is a great tool, it well designed, and has a beautiful minimal UI.
Cons
I hated the user interface! I was freestyling my way through the software, and that wasn't very conducive.
The Pastel package is difficult to use for the users without accounting knowledge.
Likelihood to Recommend
Pastel also helps users to save time when it comes to bank and supplier reconciliations. Capturing into pastel is also easy. The merit of pastel is that it is very efficient and simplifies most of the financial accounting and human resource management tasks. I have discovered that some long batches (more than 2000), if posted during peak hours, tend to fail during posting and resume later, but at this point, doubling, trebling, or even quadrupling transactions.
We use Sage Accounting for the majority of our business accounting needs. Clients ask us for quotes which are so easy to formulate, and once the job has been done to be able to check the quote and convert it into an invoice is so easy. We have products & services set up with both sales and cost analysis entered, making it easy to see the profit on each quote. To be able to access our accounting from the Cloud makes working from different sites a great option, particularly during Covid when most of us were working from home. Even now some of us work remotely, but it doesn't stop us being able to work efficiently.
Pros
Sales Quotes to Invoices
Purchase Credit Notes
Direct import from Bank Accounts
Cons
Reconciling transfers between bank accounts
Editing Sales Invoices after a VAT return has been produced
2 step authentication
Likelihood to Recommend
I have used Sage Accounting for many years and find it really easy to use. Others don't seem to be so user friendly. It is good that if you do make a mistake it is easy to rectify. The only thing I find a nusiance is not being able to edit Sales invoices after a VAT return has been run. Especially when its something like the reference or details I want to edit and not the date or money.
VU
Verified User
Employee in Finance and Accounting (1-10 employees)
We use Sage Accounting for all our financial processing at our organisation. It allows us to create and easily send out sales invoices to customers and record purchase invoices. The bank feed tool allows us to easily reconcile all our transactions. The quick create tool is a really useful feature to quickly create an invoice or set up a supplier. Having the cash flow forecast dashboard on the front page makes it so easy to monitor our cash flow position right when we log on.
Pros
HMRC Making Tax Digital direct calculation and submission
Super easy to set up new customers and new suppliers
Bank feed tool to reconcile transactions
Cons
Creating payment files to submit to the bank
Correcting transactions can be a bit clunky and hard to pin down
No full year end rollover process, have to do it manually
Likelihood to Recommend
Sage Accounting is well suited to a small to medium business that produces a regular number of invoices. As a medium-sized conference centre, Sage Accounting is really well suited to our needs as we need to create and email out invoices to customers on a regular basis. Most invoices include a number of different items that can easily be assigned to different nominal codes and different VAT codes. The functionality can calculate amounts based on price and quantity, and then the invoice can be directly emailed to the customer.
As an EME, Sage ensures that legally I have everything, I am able to use both the Accounting and Payroll solutions know all my SARS requirements are correct and compliant. All our invoicing runs on the 1st and it is so easy to track available cash and profits. Payroll is quick and painless and I am able to submit my UIF direct from the platform. SARS declarations are simplified as all my data is calculated from the Sage platforms. The Dashboard allows me to control the important aspects of my business enabling me to be proactive and address any issues before they can negatively impact my business. It is user friendly and reliable. I would be lost without Sage.
Pros
Profit and Loss reporting
Invoicing, recurring invoicing
Banking
Cons
Covers all my needs so nothing
Likelihood to Recommend
Every part of Sage interacts to give a succinct report of your business health. This is extremely important as an Entrepreneur as I do not have time to worry where and what is happening with my business on the financial side. However when needed the drill down facility is quick and easy. My accountant can work on the platform remotely and the auditors have everything at the click of a button.
