ERP · head to head
Sage X3 vs Unanet
Sage X3
ERP
Mid-market ERP sold and implemented almost entirely through Sage partners
- From
- $1500/month
- Rated
- -
Unanet
ERP
Project ERP and CRM built for government contractors and architecture and engineering firms
- From
- On request
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Each has a real cost: Sage X3 sage sells X3 through partners rather than direct, so implementation quality varies more than the software does, and a weak partner produces a failed project on a product that works fine elsewhere.; Unanet no pricing is published for any Unanet product; every line is quoted per user per month with separate implementation fees, so a small contractor cannot budget the first year without a full sales cycle.
- They diverge on capability: Sage X3 covers Multi-company and multi-legislation finance, Unanet covers DCAA-oriented timekeeping.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Sage X3 and Unanet actually diverge.
Identical on both: free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated), category (ERP).
What each one covers
Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.
Only in Sage X3
- Multi-company and multi-legislation finance
- Manufacturing
- Inventory and warehouse
- Purchasing
- Sales and pricing
- Quality control
- Development framework
Only in Unanet
- DCAA-oriented timekeeping
- Indirect rate management
- Contract type support
- Resource planning
- Unanet CRM
- Compliant invoicing
- Unanet ERP AE
- Reporting and dashboards
Both cover
- Project accounting
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Sage X3
- A group with subsidiaries in several countries consolidating from separate accounting systems into one ledgernot Unanet
- A food or chemical manufacturer needing lot traceability and formulation alongside standard financialsnot Unanet
- A distributor with multiple warehouses and complex customer specific pricing that spreadsheets no longer containnot Unanet
- A business that has outgrown a small business accounting package but cannot justify a tier one ERP programmenot Unanet
Unanet
- A federal contractor moving from QuickBooks and spreadsheets because it has won its first cost-reimbursable contract and needs an accounting system that survives a DCAA adequacy reviewnot Sage X3
- A services firm that must calculate and true up provisional indirect rates each year and cannot do it credibly in Excel any longernot Sage X3
- An architecture and engineering practice tracking utilisation and project profitability across dozens of concurrent jobsnot Sage X3
- A government contractor consolidating a separate CRM, timekeeping tool and accounting package into one system so pipeline and backlog reconcilenot Sage X3
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Sage X3
- Sage sells X3 through partners rather than direct, so implementation quality varies more than the software does, and a weak partner produces a failed project on a product that works fine elsewhere.
- Payroll is not part of X3 in most markets and is bought as a separate product or a third party service, so an organisation assuming a complete back office in one licence finds an extra vendor, an extra integration and an extra bill.
- The product uses its own development language and toolset rather than a mainstream stack, so the pool of people who can maintain a customised installation is small, expensive and largely employed by partners.
- Heavy customisation is possible and consequently common, and customised installations are harder to upgrade, which surfaces years later as a business running an old version because taking the current one means retesting and reworking every modification.
- The North American partner ecosystem and third party add-on market are thinner than for the products X3 competes with, so niche requirements are more often met by custom development than by buying something already built.
Unanet
- No pricing is published for any Unanet product; every line is quoted per user per month with separate implementation fees, so a small contractor cannot budget the first year without a full sales cycle.
- Implementation is a project rather than a signup, involving chart of accounts design, indirect pool structure and data migration, and third parties report implementation fees reaching five figures for mid-sized deployments, an amount easily missed when comparing per-user rates.
- The interface is dated compared with modern SaaS finance products, which raises training time for staff who only touch it to enter a timesheet and increases the support burden on the finance team.
- ERP and CRM are separate products with separate contracts, so a firm that wants pipeline, backlog and actuals in one place pays twice and still deals with an integration boundary between them.
- Its value is concentrated in United States federal and state contracting compliance, so a firm that does no public-sector work is paying for indirect rate machinery and DCAA audit behaviour it will never use, and a non-US firm gets almost nothing from the product’s main differentiator.
Pricing, plan by plan
Sage X3
$1500/month- Standard$1500/month
- Core ERP functionality
- Financial management
- Inventory management
- Enterprise$3000/month
- Multi-company support
- Advanced manufacturing
- Business intelligence
Unanet
On request- Unanet ERP GovCon$undefined/year
- Project accounting with indirect rate pools
- DCAA-oriented daily timekeeping and audit trail
- Cost-plus, T&M and fixed price contract billing
- Unanet ERP AE$undefined/year
- Project accounting configured for architecture and engineering firms
- Resource planning and utilisation reporting
- Priced per user per month, quoted
- Unanet CRM$undefined/year
- Pursuit and opportunity tracking
- Proposal content library and reuse
- Sold separately from ERP; quoted
Which should you pick?
Choose Sage X3 if
- You need multi-company and multi-legislation finance.
- You work on Cloud, Windows, Web.
- You also want manufacturing.
Choose Unanet if
- You need dcaa-oriented timekeeping.
- You work on Web, Cloud, iOS, Android.
- You also want indirect rate management.
Questions people ask
- Is Sage X3 or Unanet better?
- Neither clearly leads. Sage X3 starts at $1500/month and Unanet at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Sage X3 or Unanet?
- Sage X3 starts at $1500/month and Unanet at On request.
- Does Sage X3 or Unanet run on more platforms?
- Sage X3 runs on Cloud, Windows, Web. Unanet runs on Web, Cloud, iOS, Android.
- What is Sage X3 best used for?
- Sage X3 is most often used for a group with subsidiaries in several countries consolidating from separate accounting systems into one ledger, a food or chemical manufacturer needing lot traceability and formulation alongside standard financials, a distributor with multiple warehouses and complex customer specific pricing that spreadsheets no longer contain, a business that has outgrown a small business accounting package but cannot justify a tier one erp programme. Of those, a group with subsidiaries in several countries consolidating from separate accounting systems into one ledger and a food or chemical manufacturer needing lot traceability and formulation alongside standard financials are not what Unanet is typically brought in for.
- What can Sage X3 do that Unanet cannot?
- Sage X3 covers Multi-company and multi-legislation finance, Manufacturing, Inventory and warehouse, Purchasing. Unanet covers DCAA-oriented timekeeping, Indirect rate management, Contract type support, Resource planning. Both handle Project accounting.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
Sage X3: Is Sage X3 a cloud product?
It is offered as a hosted subscription, commonly on AWS, but it is not a multi-tenant SaaS product in the way Plex or NetSuite are. You still have your own instance and you still own the upgrade decision, which is both more control and more work.
Unanet: What does Unanet cost?
Nothing is published. Pricing is per user per month and quoted, with implementation fees charged separately on top of the subscription.
Sage X3: How do I choose a partner?
Ask for two references at your revenue, in your industry, on the version you are buying, and speak to them without the partner present. Ask who specifically will be on your project, how long they have worked on X3, and what happens if they leave mid engagement.
Unanet: Does Unanet make you DCAA compliant?
No software does. Unanet provides the timekeeping controls, audit trail and indirect rate accounting that an adequacy review looks for; the policies and their enforcement are still yours.
Sage X3: Does the licence cost tell me what the project costs?
No. For mid-market ERP the services bill commonly matches or exceeds the first year of software, and the subscription clock usually starts before go live, so the first year of licence buys considerably less usable time than it appears to.
Unanet: Is Unanet CRM included with the ERP?
No. Unanet CRM, built on the acquired Cosential platform, is a separate product with its own contract.
Sage X3: Who should not buy X3?
A single entity operating in one country, because the multi-company and multi-legislation depth is the main reason to pay for this rather than something simpler, and a business paying for it without using it has overbought.
Unanet: How does it compare with Deltek?
Unanet typically targets smaller contractors than Deltek Costpoint and is quicker to implement, but has less depth for very large multi-segment organisations.
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