Discover Your Ideal ERP Solution
Acumatica vs. Dynamics GP: A Comprehensive Comparison
Choosing the right ERP solution is a critical decision that can impact the future success of your business. Whether you’re currently using Microsoft Dynamics GP and exploring your next steps, or evaluating cloud-based ERP options for the first time, you’ve come to the right place.
This clear, side-by-side comparison of Acumatica vs Dynamics GP will to help you determine the best fit based on your business’s needs, scalability goals, and long-term vision.
Acumatica vs Dynamics GP at a Glance
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Acumatica |
Dynamics GP |
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Cloud and on premise deployment options |
Acumatica |
Dynamics GP |
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Open API for simple integration |
Acumatica |
Dynamics GP |
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Charges per user license fees |
Acumatica |
Dynamics GP |
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Offers different versions of the software tailored to industry needs |
Acumatica |
Dynamics GP |
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Automatic software updates available |
Acumatica |
Dynamics GP |
Deployment Models: Cloud vs. On-Premises
Acumatica
Acumatica is a true cloud-based ERP, designed with flexibility in mind. It offers public, private, and hybrid cloud options, allowing businesses to choose the deployment model that best suits their needs. With built-in scalability, remote access, and automated updates, Acumatica simplifies system maintenance, ensuring companies meet their operational goals without the burden of maintaining physical infrastructure.
Dynamics GP
Dynamics GP is primarily an on-premises solution. While some resellers, including Intelligent Technologies, offer hosting services to relieve businesses from managing their own servers, it’s not truly a cloud-based ERP. These hosted options do free users from hardware maintenance, but updates, backups, andsecurity still need attention.
Customization and Integration
Acumatica
Acumatica’s modern, open architecture makes it highly customizable. Built on industry-standard tools like .NET and C, it allows businesses to tailor the system to their unique needs without being locked into proprietary technology. Acumatica also offers extensive integration options, thanks to its robust APIs and partnerships with a wide range of third-party applications. For industries with specialized needs, Acumatica delivers industry-specific editions like construction, distribution, and manufacturing, further simplifying customization efforts.
Dynamics GP
Dynamics GP, built on older architecture, relies on Dexterity—a proprietary language—for customizations. While Dexterity is powerful, it makes custom development more complex and costly, particularly when integrating it with modern cloud-based solutions. Businesses often need additional middleware or third-party tools to achieve the level of integration they need. Customizations for on-premises GP environments are common but require the skill of a specialized developer. Thus, their cost customizations is often higher than if the system were written in a more widely known programming language.
User Access and Licensing
Acumatica
Acumatica’s pricing is based on consumption, meaning you only pay for the computing resources you use, not the number of users on the system. This allows your business to scale effortlessly without worrying about additional user licenses, making it ideal for growing teams or businesses with fluctuating staff sizes. Whether you need to accommodate a surge in users during peak seasons or improve collaboration across departments, Acumatica’s unlimited user policy keeps budgeting simple. You can seamlessly add new users, promote team collaboration, and respond to seasonal shifts without worrying about unexpected costs.
Dynamics GP
Dynamics GP follows a traditional licensing model that charges per user. This structure quickly becomes costly for businesses with growing teams. Microsoft categorizes GP licenses into three types, each with different levels of access and pricing:
Full Users: These users have access to the complete range of features within Dynamics GP, including financials, supply chain, and reporting. Full user licenses are the most expensive but are required for key roles that need to use the entire system.
Limited Users: Limited users can perform fewer tasks than full users, typically restricted to view-only access or specific areas like time entry or expense management
Self-Service Users: These are typically for employees who only need minimal interaction with the system, such as submitting time cards or expense reports. While these licenses are more affordable, they offer very restricted access, limiting overall system interaction.
The per-user, per-seat licensing model makes Dynamics GP less scalable for growing businesses. The cost per user increases as more employees require access, making budgeting more complex. Especially for businesses that experience frequent staffing changes or seasonal shifts in demand, managing these license types can become an ongoing challenge, adding administrative overhead and unpredictable costs.
It is also worth noting that businesses considering hosted versions of Dynamics GP must factor in not only the cost of these licenses but also the additional fees for hosting and infrastructure.
Functionality and Core Features
Acumatica
Acumatica offers a comprehensive suite of cloud-based ERP capabilities, designed to meet the needs of diverse industries. Its flexible, modular system includes robust financial management, CRM, and advanced modules for manufacturing, distribution, and eCommerce. Acumatica also provides industry-specific solutions tailored to construction, manufacturing, distribution, retail, and service industries, allowing businesses to choose the functionality they need.
The platform excels in workflow automation and real-time data visibility. This enables businesses to streamline their operations, from automated billing to supply chain management, while having access to up-to-the-minute insights that drive decision-making. Acumatica’s cloud-native structure empowers users to collaborate from anywhere, making it particularly valuable for organizations with remote teams or multi-site operations.
Dynamics GP
Dynamics GP has a firm foundation in core financial management, supply chain, and human resources. It particularly stands out for its robust financial features, including support for multi-company and multi-currency. However, to meet the needs of organizations with more specialized use cases around manufacturing, project management, or advanced distribution, GP often needs the help of third-party integrations or ISVs (Independent Software Vendors).
For those businesses looking to expand beyond basic financials, or industry-standard features, the reliance on additional tools can complicate implementation and increase costs. Plus, the system’s older architecture means users often face limitations in automation and real-time data access, as well as integrating it with other more modern tools.
Financial Management Tools
Acumatica
Acumatica delivers advanced financial management capabilities designed to support businesses in real-time. Its multi-dimensional analysis allows for in-depth financial reporting across various entities, departments, and locations, providing instant insights. The platform also excels in cash management, with tools for managing cash flow, budgeting, and forecasting.
Acumatica’s built-in tax automation helps businesses remain compliant with minimal manual intervention. Its advanced fixed asset management tools streamline depreciation and asset tracking, improving overall financial accuracy. These tools make Acumatica a great fit for businesses looking for a modern, integrated approach to managing complex financials.
Dynamics GP
Dynamics GP has a stellar reputation for its strong financial management capabilities, particularly for small to mid-sized businesses. It includes core modules for general ledger, accounts payable, accounts receivable, multi-company, and multi-currency transactions. GP also offers payroll and fixed asset management, but these often require additional configuration to meet advanced needs.
GP relies on Excel-based budgeting, which provides a familiar interface for many users but may fall short for more complex forecasting and planning. While GP’s financial tools are robust, they often require manual effort and may not offer the real-time insights that cloud-based systems like Acumatica provide. As businesses grow, these limitations can become a bottleneck.
Reporting and Analytics
Acumatica
Acumatica provides robust reporting and analytics capabilities, designed to give businesses real-time insights into their operations. One of its standout features is the role-based dashboards, which are fully customizable. These dashboards allow users to display key data relevant to their role, such as financial performance, sales figures, or inventory levels. This means decision-makers across the organization can access and act on the most relevant data without wading through unnecessary information.
A core feature of Acumatica’s analytics toolkit is the Generic Inquiry (GI) tool. GI allows users to create custom reports and data queries with no need for advanced technical knowledge. With just a few clicks, users can pull data from various modules (e.g., financials, CRM, inventory) and create on-the-fly inquiries that suit their specific needs. This self-service reporting tool enables users to access data across the system and apply filters, groupings, and even export results to Excel or other formats, making it a highly versatile solution for data exploration.
Acumatica also includes built-in business intelligence (BI) tools that integrate directly into the ERP. These tools support advanced analytics, such as trend analysis and KPI tracking, without requiring third-party add-ons. Combined with real-time data visibility, Acumatica’s reporting capabilities ensure that businesses have up-to-the-minute insights to support fast and accurate decision-making. Users can monitor performance metrics in real time, allowing them to react swiftly to changes and make data-driven decisions that improve business outcomes.
Dynamics GP
Dynamics GP offers standard reporting tools that serve basic financial and operational reporting needs. One of the primary tools used by GP users is SmartLists. SmartLists allow users to create simple queries to pull data from the system and display it in a list format. Users can then filter, sort and export these lists to Excel for further analysis. While SmartLists are a great tool for pulling data quickly, more advanced, modern ERP systems like Acumatica offer more robust capabilities.
Specifically, they are more static and less flexible in terms of customization. Users can apply filters and adjust the output within predefined limits, but creating entirely new data queries or reports often requires additional technical expertise or third-party tools. For businesses with more complex reporting needs, SmartLists may fall short, as they don’t allow for in-depth data manipulation or creating dynamic, real-time reports without significant customization.
The reliance on Report Writer or Management Reporter for more advanced reporting also means users often need to switch between different tools depending on the type of report they want to generate, which can slow down reporting workflows.
And for those who prefer to connect Dynamics GP to a more modern reporting tool, like Power BI for more in-depth analysis, integration is an option, but it requires additional setup, licensing, and expertise, making it less accessible for non-technical users.
Dynamics GP’s SmartLists vs. Acumatica’s Generic Inquiry
Customization and Flexibility: Acumatica’s Generic Inquiry tool is much more flexible than SmartLists. With GI, users can create entirely custom reports and queries that pull data from multiple modules, with no advanced technical skills. SmartLists are more rigid and limited in terms of data sources and customization options.
Real-Time Data Access: Both tools allow access to live data, but Acumatica’s GI integrates seamlessly into the ERP’s broader data ecosystem, providing real-time insights and supporting more advanced queries. SmartLists are useful for quick, basic queries but often need additional manual work for more sophisticated reports.
Ease of Use: GP users love SmartLists for their ease of use, particularly for pulling simple lists of data quickly. However, Acumatica’s GI offers a similar ease of use while providing significantly more functionality and flexibility, making it a better tool for users who need more than basic reporting.
Security and Compliance
Acumatica
Built with a cloud-first architecture, Acumatica comes with advanced data encryption methods, including encryption at rest and in transit, to protect sensitive information. Multi-factor authentication (MFA) is standard, adding an extra layer of protection for users accessing the system.
Role-based access control (RBAC) is another key feature of Acumatica’s security model. This allows businesses to manage who gets access to different areas of the system, so employees can only view or edit information relevant to their role. Combined with detailed audit logs, this provides a robust security framework that minimizes the risk of unauthorized access or data breaches.
Acumatica also meets several compliance standards, such as GDPR and HIPAA, which are critical for industries like healthcare and global operations. Regular, automatic security patches and real-time backups keep businesses up to date with the latest, most secure version of the software, backed by robust disaster recovery options.
The platform excels in workflow automation and real-time data visibility. This enables businesses to streamline their operations, from automated billing to supply chain management, while having access to up-to-the-minute insights that drive decision-making. Acumatica’s cloud-native structure empowers users to collaborate from anywhere, making it particularly valuable for organizations with remote teams or multi-site operations.
Dynamics GP
Security in Dynamics GP relies heavily on its SQL-based infrastructure, which provides a solid foundation for ensuring database integrity. However, compared to Acumatica, GP lacks some of the more modern security features that are critical for today’s businesses. For example, while GP supports role-based access and audit trails, it does not natively offer the same level of encryption or multi-factor authentication as Acumatica. Businesses using GP often need to rely on third-party security tools to add features like data encryption or enhanced authentication methods.
GP’s older architecture means it does not natively incorporate modern cloud security protocols. When you choose a hosted deployment of Dynamics GP, your hosting provider usually dictates the security measures, meaning you must vet their hosting partner’s security protocols carefully.
GP can meet certain compliance standards, such as SOX (Sarbanes-Oxley) for financial reporting, but organizations often need to use additional tools or modules to comply with stricter regulations like GDPR or HIPAA. This can add complexity and costs for businesses that must adhere to these standards.
Managing security patches and updates is often a manual process for on-premises deployments of GP, increasing the risk of falling behind on essential security updates.
Software Updates
Acumatica
With Acumatica, businesses always have access to the latest features and enhancements without the typical hassles of software maintenance. Through the Always Current Program, Acumatica delivers automated updates and upgrades for all SaaS customers. This program provides several key benefits:
Access to the Latest Features and Fixes: Customers receive monthly updates and semi-annual upgrades, bringing the most current software enhancements and bug fixes to them automatically.
Predictable Maintenance Times: Scheduled updates occur at predictable intervals, minimizing disruptions and helping businesses plan maintenance around their needs.
Streamlined Support: With the Always Current Program, support is more efficient because of the uniformity of software versions across the user base, making it easier for Acumatica and its partners to provide effective help.
Lower Upgrade Costs: The subscription includes regular updates and upgrades, which reduces the need for costly, large-scale upgrade projects.
Before receiving the automated upgrade, customers work with their Acumatica Partner to secure a free sandbox environment for testing and training. This ensures that the new version is compatible with their current setup and allows for a smooth transition.
For customers needing more flexibility with upgrade timing, Acumatica Flex is available for purchase. This option provides additional control over the timing of upgrades to better align with specific business requirements.
Dynamics GP
Microsoft releases GP updates twice yearly, but these focus on security fixes and compliance updates, rather than new features. Microsoft announced the end of new sales for GP licenses in 2025, with support ending in 2029.
All this boils down to one truth: GP customers will receive fewer innovations from here on out.
When there are updates for Dynamics GP, users must manually install them, which results in downtime, especially in on-premises environments.
Pricing and Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)
Acumatica
Acumatica uses a consumption-based pricing model, meaning businesses pay based on the computing resources they use, rather than the number of users accessing the system. This provides significant advantages for companies looking to scale while maintaining control over their costs.
No User Limits: Unlike traditional ERP systems that charge per user, Acumatica allows for unlimited users. This is beneficial for businesses with large teams, multiple departments, or seasonal workforce fluctuations. It promotes collaboration without the concern of escalating licensing fees as your business grows.
Consumption-Based Model: Acumatica’s pricing is based on the computing power your business requires. This includes factors like transaction volume, data storage, and other usage metrics. This consumption-based model ensures that businesses only pay for the resources they need, which can lead to significant cost savings over time, especially for companies with fluctuating demands.
Lower Infrastructure Costs: As a true cloud-based ERP system, Acumatica reduces the need for on-premises hardware, IT staff, and maintenance. By hosting the platform on a cloud infrastructure (Amazon Web Services), businesses avoid the capital expenditures associated with maintaining physical servers.
Transparent and Predictable Fees: Acumatica offers transparent pricing with predictable annual fees. The subscription cost includes hosting, updates, security, and regular upgrades through the Always Current Program, making budgeting easier.
Lower Total Cost of Ownership (TCO): Over time, the lack of user limits, reduced infrastructure needs, and the pay-for-what-you-use pricing model can make Acumatica more cost-effective for growing businesses. Acumatica’s flexibility to scale ensures that companies can grow without facing significant increases in costs.
Dynamics GP
Dynamics GP follows a more traditional licensing model, with upfront costs and ongoing maintenance fees, which can lead to a higher total cost of ownership (TCO) as your business grows or requires additional users.
Upfront Licensing Fees: Dynamics GP requires an upfront investment in licensing costs, which can be expensive depending on the number of users and modules purchased. This per-user, per-seat licensing model can quickly add up, particularly for companies that expect to grow or need to add additional users.
Ongoing Maintenance Costs: GP users must pay annual maintenance fees for their Enhancement Plans (EP) or Advantage Plans to continue receiving updates and support. As of October 2024, these fees will increase, with EP rates rising from 18% to 19% of the Protected List Price (PLP) and Advantage Plans increasing from 20% to 21%. These costs can compound quickly, especially as businesses require ongoing customizations, updates, and third-party tools to maintain their systems.
Infrastructure and IT Overhead: Dynamics GP is primarily an on-premises solution, which means businesses must manage their own servers or pay for third-party hosting. The costs of maintaining the required IT infrastructure, including hardware, IT staff, security updates, and disaster recovery, can be substantial.
Customization and Integration Costs: As businesses grow, GP often requires costly customizations and integrations to meet their needs. Customizations may involve third-party developers or resellers and come with additional expenses, adding to the TCO.
Higher Long-Term Costs: While Dynamics GP may seem more affordable upfront because of its familiar licensing model, the combination of ongoing maintenance fees, user licensing costs, and infrastructure overhead can lead to a significantly higher TCO. The lack of built-in scalability also means that growing businesses may face unexpected costs as they try to adapt GP to new demands.