Acctivate Inventory Management Review: Pros, Cons, Pricing
We like Acctivate because of its effective inventory management, order processing, and manufacturing capabilities. The system syncs directly with QuickBooks, allowing for efficient data migration. Acctivate acts as a light ERP system with a more affordable cost and can be deployed on-premise or cloud-based.
On the other hand, Acctivate won’t be a good fit for service-based companies or businesses that don’t use QuickBooks. The high number of customizations can also present a steep learning curve for new users.
- Provides batch tools through the order manager to track process workflows
- Integrates directly with QuickBooks for easy data migration
- Can handle millions of SKUs for scalability
- Does not support RFID scanning
- One user must manually sync data for QuickBooks Desktop
- Steep learning curve due to high customization amount
- Developer Alterity, Inc
- Client OS Windows
- Deployment Cloud or On-Premises
What Is Acctivate Inventory Management?
Acctivate is an inventory management software that connects directly with QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Desktop. It functions as a light ERP, with features such as inventory management, omnichannel sales, manufacturing, lot/serial control, and order processing. After demoing Acctivate, we found it a good in-between for small to midsize businesses who outgrow manual spreadsheets but don’t require a full ERP system.
Our Ratings
| Usability - 7 | UI design is modern and similar to QuickBooks for familiarity; tabbed interface makes moving between screens efficient; strong global search function with several filters; can be a high learning curve due to many customizations; UI can become cluttered with many functions on one screen. |
| Support - 10 | Offers phone and email ticket support; knowledge base documentation and training webinars provided; in-house virtual onboarding that can be completed in 60-90 days. |
| Scalability - 9 | Supports a large amount of data for growing companies; several integration options like Shipstation and Hubspot; companies can quickly outgrow the system and will require an ERP with more advanced features. |
| Security - 10 | Includes user permissions and admin control of data; activity is tracked to create an audit trail; can be installed on-premise to keep data out of the cloud. |
| Value - 9 | Plans start at $5,000-$10,000/year with one-time initial licensing fees of $6,000-$10,000; competitive pricing compared to alternatives like Fishbowl Inventory; features not available in starter plan can be purchased a la carte, so businesses can add features without fully upgrading; fees are added on top of existing QuickBooks monthly subscription which has been steadily increasing. |
| Performance - 10 | Clicking into modules and inputting data is fast and responsive; no noticeable lag switching between tasks and modules. |
| Key Features - 9 | Streamlined inventory tracking and omnichannel order processing; provides traceability for food and beverage manufacturers; companies can cost by lot number for specific costing; lacks RFID scanning, and hardware is limited to Android scanners. |
Who Uses Acctivate Inventory Management?
Acctivate is used by small to midsize businesses with $5-$200M in annual revenue. Its main industries are product-based distributors, manufacturers, and online retailers that require streamlined inventory management. It is the next step for businesses that want to stay on QuickBooks for accounting and need better inventory tracking but don’t require a full ERP. Acctivate also supports food and beverage manufacturers with full traceability and lot/batch tracking.
What Features Are Missing?
- RFID Scanning: Acctivate does not support RFID Scanning. Businesses that use this type of scanning will have to switch to another scanning form, such as linear barcodes.
- Automatic Sync With QuickBooks Desktop: If businesses are using QuickBooks Desktop, one user will have to manually sync data between Acctivate and Desktop. This is not true for QuickBooks Online, as it can automatically sync two-way.
Acctivate Pricing
All features in the professional and enterprise plans are available a la carte for businesses in the starter plan. Additional users can be purchased at $600/user.
| Plan | Pricing | Features |
| Starter | $5,000/year subscription $5,995 one-time initial license fee | Starter Plan Features include:
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| Professional | $8,000/year subscription $9,995 one-time initial license fee | Includes all Starter Plan features, plus:
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| Enterprise | $14,000/year subscription $13,995 one-time initial license fee | Includes all Professional Plan features, plus:
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Is Acctivate an ERP?
No, Acctivate is not an ERP, though it does have similar features. The main difference is ERPs have built-in accounting, whereas Acctivate integrates directly with QuickBooks. However, its features do overlap with full ERPs, like inventory and warehouse management, manufacturing, and order processing.
Alternatives
Summary
Acctivate Inventory Management is an effective solution for product-based distributors, manufacturers, and online retailers. It streamlines omnichannel inventory tracking, manufacturing, warehouse management, and sales order processing. These features work together with QuickBooks’ accounting capabilities to create a light ERP at a competitive price. It serves as a good middle ground between manual spreadsheets and a complete ERP.
However, we wouldn’t recommend Acctivate for startups with less than $5M in annual revenue, as the system may be overkill for their needs. Also, businesses must use QuickBooks with this system, so companies utilizing other accounting software will need to look elsewhere.
User Reviews of Acctivate Inventory Management
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Great program for QuickBooks Online users
This system had some great functionalities for inventory and order management. If you are on QuickBooks Online you can see a tremendous improvement from the base Quick Books system. Their system is intutive and easy to use so we were impressed with the demo.
However, we are already on QuickBooks Enterprise and their inventory capabilities are very similar to what Acctivate had to offer. So we ended up just sticking with our current systems for now.
Pros
Great program for QuickBooks Online users
Cons
Not the best fit for QB Enterprise users
- 11-50 employees
- Annual revenue $1M-$10M
Integration with Quickbooks Desktop
We are still in the implementation phase, just having launched the software, and as expected are having to work through some issues. However the support team at Acctivate has been very responsive in helping us through the learnign curve. We also found their ability to work with Quickbooks Enterprise, Desktop version, a primary selling point. All the other systems we spoke wth pushed us to the Online version which we were not willing to compromise on.
Pros
Integration with Quickbooks Desktp
Provides me visibility into the business through QuickBooks integration
The greatest way Acctivate provides me visibility into the business is through its integration with QuickBooks because I use QuickBooks for financial reporting. Knowing that I have an inventory software package that’s accurate and gives me the information I need in QuickBooks is very assuring.
Acctivate Inventory Management Review
I think that QuickBooks and Acctivate work very well together. For what we do, we could not have just one, we had to have both.
Our efficiency, process, transparency, and communication improved dramatically
Our efficiency, process, transparency, and communication with our warehouse improved dramatically. Now, I can literally see what my warehouse is doing based on the workflow status. I can observe the process of the pick and respond to customers in a timely fashion with needed packaging information. I go into my reports, I pull my invoices for the day, I can see what was shipped, when it was shipped, it seamlessly puts it in tracking and the tracking syncs to our web store. That process has been awesome.
The biggest thing in Acctivate is the immediacy
The biggest thing in Acctivate is the immediacy – the ability on the phone to tell people whether it’s in stock or not, what the price is, what the price breaks are, and to take the order interactively with the person on the phone.
By the time they hang up the phone, we’ve already emailed them a confirmation of their order. That process with our old system would be at least a day.
Almost one day's worth of labor saved
If we had to manually type everything, it’d take an additional couple of minutes for each order. You’re talking 400 minutes, which is an extra 6.6 hours. That’s almost one day’s worth of labor saved with Acctivate’s shipping workstation integration per week.
ACCTivate! is realtime so we always know what is where
ACCTivate! is easy to use and has lots of features in addition to inventory management. The CRM tools are great and the reporting is very flexible. I like the dashboards too.
Pros
ACCTivate! is realtime so we always know what is where. Our sales team used to sell things that were out of stock and now they know when they are placing the order if it is available. It also tells us when we need to reorder & we can do it very easily & quickly. I used to have to rekey our eCommerce orders and now they just come in and we process them from the main system. It's much quicker and when a customer calls we can see the history and help them easier. We really like ACCTivate! and have found them very helpful whenever we needed anything.
