Joist vs Sage Accounting

Although Joist and Sage Accounting serve a comparable clientele of independent contractors and small to medium-sized enterprises, their features, adaptability and worldwide use are very different.

While Joist and Sage Accounting share many essential features such as estimations, recurring billing, cost tracking and tax management, they diverge in important ways. While Sage has no support for project billing and no automated payment reminders, Joist offers more robust project-based billing. Sage is superior to Joist in terms of file uploads and user role management. Additionally, Sage limits customers to nine templates which limits branding options whereas Joist provides more invoice and estimate designs.

Joist offers three different plans: the $8/month Basics plan, the $15/month Pro plan and the $32/month Elite plan. Sage Accounting offers two monthly plans: $10 for the Start Plan, $25 for the Standard Plan and region-specific Plus pricing. Sage has a 30-day free trial which gives it a tiny advantage over Joist’s 14-day free trial. Furthermore, unlike Joist, Sage’s Standard and Plus plans allow for an infinite number of users. While Sage uses Stripe with standard rates and offers fewer alternatives, Joist integrates with many platforms, such as PayPal and Stripe for payment processing.

While Sage’s interface is rather complicated, Joist’s is straightforward. Both offer mobile apps for iOS and Android but Sage’s app has extra capabilities that improve its mobile usefulness like the ability to create invoices, track cash flow and manage expenses.

With bank connections, Zapier connectivity, API access and compatibility with QuickBooks and the Sage ecosystem, Sage Accounting shines in integrations and versatility. It offers localization and different currencies both of which are essential for global businesses. Joist only offers QuickBooks connection for Pro and Elite plans. It is only available in English and does not accept several currencies.

Both solutions provide knowledge base resources, automatic backups and data encryption. However, Sage Accounting is a superior choice for companies who require phone support and GDPR compliance.

Joist‘s user-friendly UI and payment reminders make it ideal for American contractors and freelancers who value affordability and simplicity. Sage Accounting provides support for numerous currencies and localization for expanding operations outside of the US, catering to small-to-medium firms that require multi-user access and international capabilities.