ERP Features & Use Cases
Discover what is NetSuite, its pricing, cloud features, ERP capabilities, and whether it fits your small business. Learn about Oracle NetSuite ERP, software, reviews, trial, and more.
At its core, NetSuite is a cloud-based Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) platform built by Oracle. It combines financials, CRM, eCommerce, inventory, and more into a unified system, enabling businesses to manage their operations in real time.
Since its inception, NetSuite has evolved into a comprehensive business management suite. Today, NetSuite ERP, Oracle NetSuite ERP, and NetSuite software power companies globally—small and large—with scalable tools for growth.
On this page, we'll explore NetSuite pricing, cloud features, ERP functionality, use cases, and how NetSuite compares with tools like QuickBooks. By the end, you’ll clearly understand what NetSuite is used for and whether it fits your business.
This brain is what businesses run on for all facets of their organization, including operations, customer management, sales, marketing, e-commerce, data management, human resources, accounting, project management, website management, supply chain management, and other functions. NetSuite can be customized internally to align with a specific business, and it can also connect to external software through API's and Integrations. What this provides a company is the ability to have vital information at their fingertips to run their business.
One of the first questions about NetSuite is: How much does it cost?
NetSuite pricing is modular and subscription-based, not a fixed off-the-shelf price. Your cost depends on:
Because of this flexibility, many businesses engage with a partner to estimate their NetSuite cost based on needs. There is no “one price fits all” plan.
NetSuite’s cloud architecture enables a host of built-in features that differentiate it from traditional on-premise software. NetSuite cloud features include:
These features allow organizations to scale without needing substantial IT infrastructure.
Anchor Group Podcast: Episode 1
NetSuite is the #1 Cloud-based ERP system, but what is an ERP system, you ask? ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) is a term that refers to a system aiming to integrate all of a company's data. Such data can range from project management, HR, and Marketing to accounting, financial, and inventory management.
In this debut episode of the Anchor Group Podcast, Caleb and Michael break down the fundamentals of ERP systems, focusing on how NetSuite can transform business operations. Whether you're new to ERP or looking to optimize your current system, this episode is packed with practical insights to help you stay ahead in today’s fast-paced world.
Is NetSuite a Good ERP System?
The focus of an ERP is well-defined business rules and the integration of a vast amount of data. However, each company has particularities regarding business rules and the type of data that interests it. Therefore, a good ERP is highly configurable and has well-defined rules for good business management practices, which leads us to NetSuite.
Because it’s all part of one system, users get seamless transaction flows and a unified data model—reducing silos and improving decision-making.
The History of Oracle NetSuite
When people refer to NetSuite Oracle, they often mean that NetSuite is now part of the Oracle ecosystem. NetSuite was founded in 1998 and was one of the first vendors to develop web-based business applications. Oracle acquired NetSuite in 2016, integrating ERP, database, and cloud technologies.
NetSuite has since scaled to become the #1 cloud-based enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution, supported by an ecosystem of partners, users, and third-party solution providers who extend, customize, and integrate NetSuite solutions. Oracle NetSuite ERP combines Oracle’s infrastructure robustness with NetSuite’s modular business suite, providing enterprise-grade performance, security, and global scalability.
That's where Anchor Group Comes in.
NetSuite is often called NetSuite software or NetSuite ERP system. These terms highlight that NetSuite is a complete software product that runs your ERP, CRM, commerce, and more, all in one cloud-based platform. The “system” aspect emphasizes its interconnected modules and core data consistency.
About NetSuite for Small Business
Many small or medium-sized businesses ask, “Is NetSuite for small businesses?” Yes—while initially geared toward mid-market and rapidly growing firms, NetSuite now offers tiered entry paths that also cater to smaller operations.
NetSuite small business deployments typically start with essential modules like financials and order management and scale up as the company grows into CRM, eCommerce, or multi-entity support.
If you search for NetSuite reviews, you’ll find users praising its unified platform, flexibility, and scalability—though some mention implementation complexity.
NetSuite also offers a NetSuite trial or demonstration environment for prospective users to test functionality before committing. This is a great way to explore its ERP, CRM, and cloud capabilities firsthand.
NetSuite QuickBooks?
Many companies compare NetSuite ERP software with general accounting tools like NetSuite QuickBooks (i.e. “NetSuite vs QuickBooks”). QuickBooks is primarily accounting software, while NetSuite is a complete ERP: accounting + sales + inventory + automation. Businesses often outgrow QuickBooks and migrate to NetSuite for greater scalability and automation.
Yes—is NetSuite an ERP? Absolutely. NetSuite is a complete cloud ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) solution. As a NetSuite cloud ERP, it provides all core business functionalities—financials, inventory, operations, analytics, and more—over the web, without the need for on-prem infrastructure.
So, what is NetSuite used for in practice? Some use cases include:
Because it’s modular and configurable, businesses across industries—manufacturing, retail, services, nonprofits—use NetSuite to streamline operations and scale with confidence.
NetSuite enables companies to manage the entire business through a single platform. This means that all company data can be stored in one place, within NetSuite, creating a single source of truth for data that matches company-wide.
Learn MoreNetSuite's unified architecture offers a familiar user interface across all modules, reducing training time and enhancing work efficiency. It also allows users to complete multistep processes from a single application without re-entering or exporting data.
Learn MoreMany "cloud" ERP systems are hosted or hybrid clouds—essentially suitable for on-premises software accessed over the Internet. NetSuite, on the other hand, was born and built for the Cloud.
Learn MoreWith the help of NetSuite's built-in reporting tools, users can create reports on anything they want to measure or understand. NetSuite also enables companies to create custom role-based dashboards that quickly provide employees, managers, and executives with the information they need to make informed business decisions.
Learn MoreThrough its modular structure, NetSuite can meet the needs of businesses across a wide range of industries. Combined with additional agility achievable through customizations, NetSuite can meet the needs of a mid-sized local business and scale alongside the company as it grows into a multinational brand.
Learn MoreNetSuite is a business management software solution owned by Oracle, and is the #1 cloud-based enterprise resource planning (ERP) software. It has many modules that build out a suite of products covering backend business solutions and ecommerce. It's the most popular choice for the mid-market business!
NetSuite is an ERP, which means it is the software that runs the entire brain of your business, from end-to-end, encompassing the entire business process, from sales order to receiving cash, procurement, paying vendors, warehouses, inventory management, work orders, assemblies, and much more.
NetSuite is used to manage all of a business's needs from accounting, reporting, inventory, invoices, marketing, CRM, ecommerce, order management, and human resources. It is the most popular software for operating a business in the mid-market. Typically, when companies outgrow QuickBooks, they switch to NetSuite.
The NetSuite pricing varies significantly based on a company's needs. For example, a large enterprise operating globally and selling products online will require a broader range of features than a company that operates in the U.S. and has not yet entered the ecommerce scene. To learn more about what purchasing NetSuite might look like for your company based on the features and services you need, contact us.
Your business will likely not need an ERP system like NetSuite until you have outgrown another software, such as QuickBooks, or have disparate systems that are negatively impacting your daily business operations. NetSuite is typically too much for companies making <$5 million in annual revenue. NetSuite becomes a viable option for businesses generating $5-10 million annually. Once a company reaches $10-20 million in annual revenue, investing in NetSuite will become easier; however, companies that wait until then to implement NetSuite miss out on numerous opportunities for earlier automation, sacrificing business growth by delaying their NetSuite implementation.
NetSuite is a true cloud ERP—it’s built to run in the cloud from the ground up, not a retrofitted hosted version of on-prem software. It handles upgrades, maintenance, and infrastructure behind the scenes, allowing users to interact via browser or mobile.
Unlike perpetual licenses, NetSuite’s pricing is subscription-based and modular. You don’t pay upfront for infrastructure or hardware—just for the users, modules, and services you need.
Yes—NetSuite scales for small businesses by allowing them to begin with essential modules and expand over time. This allows growing companies to adopt full ERP earlier without overpaying for unused features.
NetSuite goes beyond basic accounting—providing full ERP, inventory control, multi-entity support, customization, analytics, and automation. QuickBooks is strong for small accounting but lacks enterprise capabilities.
Yes—NetSuite often provides demo environments or guided trials so prospective customers can explore its ERP, CRM, and eCommerce features in action.
Anchor Group is a small NetSuite partner firm based in the United States! Our team of onshore NetSuite consultants and developers can handle a wide range of NetSuite projects, from full implementations to post-go-live support through managed service plans.
We help businesses utilize NetSuite to its fullest potential, solving their resource planning needs. We do so through consulting, solution design, project management, software coding and development, and implementation. Discover more about our team and the services we provide.
Why Choose Anchor Group?
