With that in mind, let's examine some of the top NetSuite alternatives to help you determine which might be the right next step for your business.

Stand-alone solutions

We’ll start with the stand-alones. These accounting tools work well when you're starting out or running a smaller operation with straightforward needs. They handle the basics—invoicing, expense tracking, bank reconciliation—without overwhelming you with features you don't need yet. However, as your business grows and you add more systems for sales, operations, and customer management, you'll find yourself manually moving data between platforms or relying on third-party connectors that can break or fail to sync properly.

1. QuickBooks Online

While designed for smaller businesses, QuickBooks may be considered by companies looking to simplify after experiencing NetSuite's complexity. The platform offers cloud accounting with invoicing, expense tracking, bank sync, and basic inventory management.

QuickBooks provides quick onboarding (typically weeks rather than months) and a user-friendly interface designed for non-accountants. The extensive partner network and widespread familiarity make it easy to find support and training resources.

For companies whose NetSuite implementation revealed they were over-engineered for their actual needs, QuickBooks can provide a simpler path forward with lower costs and faster deployment. The stand-alone solution integrates with numerous third-party integrations to extend functionality.

2. Xero

Xero is a cloud-based accounting system popular with small businesses and accountants. It provides invoicing, bank reconciliation, expense management, and real-time dashboards in a simple web interface. One notable point is that Xero allows unlimited users on all plans without extra fees, which helps collaboration and can provide cost advantages over NetSuite's per-user pricing model.

Xero handles multi-currency transactions and offers integrations with payroll, payment, and point-of-sale applications.

Unlike NetSuite, Xero is not a full ERP system. Reporting capabilities are less comprehensive than NetSuite's, and there are no built-in manufacturing or advanced project management modules. However, it's often chosen by startups and international SMBs that need a solid "single-ledger" system without NetSuite's complexity and cost.

For companies that found NetSuite overwhelming, Xero offers a significant step down in both functionality and complexity. While this simplicity can be appealing, it also means recreating many of the operational gaps that originally drove companies to consider NetSuite.

Limited Platforms

The next grouping of solutions are limited platforms. As businesses expand, they often move to providers that offer multiple integrated business applications—accounting, CRM, inventory, and more—under one roof. While this reduces some integration headaches within that vendor's suite, you're still locked into their specific tools. When you need capabilities they don't offer or want to keep your existing CRM like Salesforce, you're back to managing connectors and dealing with data that doesn't quite match up between systems.

3. Acumatica

Acumatica targets mid-market firms seeking a cloud ERP with automation and customization flexibility. It's built for companies that have outgrown entry-level accounting software but need more adaptability than traditional ERPs provide.

The solution offers comprehensive modules for financials, inventory, project management, and more, with a particular focus in manufacturing and distribution workflows. Acumatica's licensing model charges by resources consumed rather than user count, potentially offering cost advantages for organizations with many occasional users.

Users appreciate Acumatica's flexible dashboards and mobile-friendly interface, along with its ability to adapt workflows to specific business needs. The solution offers a wide variety of third-party integrations and can be deployed in cloud, on-premise, or hybrid configurations.

4. Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance targets upper mid-market companies seeking financial management within the Microsoft ecosystem. The solution provides financial reporting, planning, and compliance capabilities designed for larger midsize businesses.

Dynamics 365 Finance lives within Office 365, Power BI, Teams, and other Microsoft applications, which many finance teams find familiar. The solution includes core financial processes including general ledger, accounts payable/receivable, budgeting, and financial reporting.

For organizations already deep in the Microsoft stack, Dynamics 365 offers natural workflow extensions and data analysis capabilities through Excel and Power BI. The solution provides strong financial controls and audit capabilities required by larger organizations.

5. Sage Intacct

Sage Intacct is a cloud accounting and financial management system designed for mid-sized businesses. The solution handles real-time general ledger, accounts payable/receivable, multi-entity consolidation, and financial reporting.

Intacct's approach differs from NetSuite by focusing exclusively on financial functions rather than attempting to cover the full breadth of ERP operations. This narrower focus allows the platform to concentrate on financial processes and reporting, but means companies need additional systems to match NetSuite's operational scope.

In the mid-market, Intacct positions itself as a finance-first alternative to NetSuite, offering financial automation and multi-subsidiary consolidation without the complexity of implementing a full ERP system. However, this specialization means most organizations must integrate Intacct with separate CRM and operational systems.

When customer data differs between systems, teams must research which version is correct: "'I have a customer here and the same customer over there. Well, I need to send some communication or a billing—and there are two different addresses,'" Balmer adds. "Which one is the right one? So, now they have to go and research that and try to figure that out and harmonize that data."

6. Odoo

Odoo is an open-source ERP/CRM suite that provides a modular platform where businesses can select specific applications—accounting, sales, inventory, e-commerce, and others—to build a unified system. This approach appeals to companies that want high flexibility and control over their technology stack.

Odoo's accounting application covers invoicing, bank feeds, and basic general ledger functionality.

Compared to NetSuite's pre-integrated approach, Odoo requires businesses to essentially build their own ERP by selecting and configuring multiple modules. While this offers more flexibility than NetSuite's fixed structure, it also means more implementation complexity.

Unified Platforms

Our final group of solutions recognizes that accounting data and customer data are really the same data viewed through different lenses. These solutions are built on established business platforms—whether that's Salesforce, Microsoft Power Platform, or SAP's Business Technology Platform—where all applications share the same data model and user interface. This eliminates the need for data to be re-entered or transferred between systems. It's the natural evolution for businesses that want real-time reporting without middleware and the ability to customize workflows with little to no code.

7. Certinia

Certinia (formerly FinancialForce) is a Salesforce-based ERP/PSA suite that unifies CRM, services, and finance on one platform. Customer, project, and financial data all live together, providing real-time financial data and multidimensional reporting directly within Salesforce. Organizations, particularly services firms, often choose Certinia for its project accounting, billing, and risk-management tools that leverage the Salesforce Platform.

Compared to NetSuite, Certinia offers similar functionality but with the advantage of being built on Salesforce. This eliminates the integration challenges that NetSuite users face when also using Salesforce for CRM.

Certinia targets mid-to-large enterprises, particularly professional services firms, that need integrated PSA/ERP capabilities. The platform connects sales opportunities through service delivery to invoicing in one continuous workflow.

8. SAP Business ByDesign

SAP Business ByDesign offers a complete cloud ERP for fast-growing mid-sized businesses and subsidiaries. It covers end-to-end processes including accounting and financials, purchasing, inventory and supply chain, sales and CRM, project management, HR, and more in a unified suite.

Compared to NetSuite, ByDesign offers similar scope but can have faster implementation thanks to preconfigured industry templates. ByDesign is often preferred for mid-sized businesses, particularly those with strong manufacturing or supply chain requirements or those looking for a more streamlined SAP experience.

9. Accounting Seed

Built on the Salesforce Platform, Accounting Seed eliminates the fundamental issue that many NetSuite organizations also using Salesforce face: disconnected data between CRM and financial systems. Instead of requiring integrations, Accounting Seed shares the same database as Salesforce.

This unified approach means your business operates from a single customer record that all departments access—sales, finance, and operations work with identical information rather than maintaining separate, potentially conflicting records that need constant syncing. When your sales team updates a customer's information, that change is immediately available to accounting without any data transfer or synchronization delays.

The business benefits are immediate: automated AR and automated AP processes work with real-time customer data, cash flow visibility updates instantly as sales close, and business decisions can be made on current information rather than waiting for data to sync between systems. When a sale closes in Salesforce, the financial transaction automatically flows into the accounting system without manual intervention or delay.

In addition, having all your data in one place sets businesses up to take advantage of AI because when you don't have to worry about bringing two data sources into one place (like in a data lake)–and then clean it up–you're primed to utilize a technology that is quickly becoming a "must-have."

For businesses already using Salesforce, Accounting Seed leverages the platform's configuration capabilities, allowing process customization without custom code. The solution supports multi-currency, multi-entity operations, and provides sophisticated financial reporting—all while maintaining the familiar Salesforce interface.

After switching, KPS3 saved 60+ hours per week and as Whitefield noted, "We're no longer chasing spreadsheets. We're managing data, making decisions, and moving faster as a team."

The unified platform approach enables AI and analytics across the entire business operation: Fennell of Accounting Seed adds: "When everything's in one place, you are primed to use AI. You're future-proofing yourself to be able to utilize AI."