Sage 1000 and Sage Line 500 end of life: your options

Sage stopped developing Sage 1000 and Sage Line 500 in December 2022, and Sage’s own support ended on 31 December 2024. Customers were issued licences that let them keep using the software until 2029, and some partners still offer support on a best-endeavours basis.

A quick note on names: Sage Line 500 is the UK product. It isn’t the same as the US product called Sage 500 ERP (formerly MAS 500), so be careful when reading advice online, as much of what comes up for “Sage 500” is about the US system.

So if you’re still running either system, it still works, you can still get some help, and you have a few years. But the clock is running, and every year makes the eventual move harder.

What retirement means in practice

No more fixes or updates. That includes legislative changes. When HMRC or reporting requirements change, the software won’t.

Security risk grows. Unsupported software doesn’t receive security patches, and an ERP system holds exactly the data you least want exposed.

The skills pool shrinks. Every year there are fewer consultants and developers who know these systems well.

Integrations get harder. Connecting an old ERP to modern CRM, e-commerce or reporting tools gets more awkward as those tools move on.

Your options

Stay for now, but protect yourself

If a migration isn’t feasible yet, make sure you have partner support in place, reliable backups, documentation of your customisations and integrations, and a plan for the 2029 licence cut-off.

Rescue and archive your data

Whatever you do next, you’ll need access to your history for reporting, audit and the six years of financial records HMRC expects. Extracting it into a clean, accessible archive means you’re not tied to the old system just to look up an old invoice. Our guide to getting your data out of Sage 1000 and Sage Line 500 covers how.

Move to another Sage product

Sage 200, Sage X3 and Sage Intacct are the routes Sage and its partners typically recommend. For many businesses that’s the right answer, particularly if you want to stay in the Sage world.

Move to a different platform

A non-Sage platform such as Odoo may suit businesses that want accounts, stock, manufacturing, sales and CRM in one browser-based system. It’s worth at least comparing, because a Sage partner will naturally recommend Sage.

Integrate while you transition

Many businesses move in stages: new modules first, finance last. That means the old and new systems need to talk to each other for a while, which is where integration work comes in.

Independent help

We’ve worked on integrations across the Sage range, from Sage Line 50 and Sage 200 up to Sage Line 500 and Sage 1000. We don’t resell Sage or anything else, so we can help you get your data out, keep things connected during the move, and give you a straight comparison of the options. Start with a Health Check or read about our Sage integration work.