Sage Earth alternative: prices and features side by side

Sage Earth is included at no extra cost for Sage Accounting customers and estimates your carbon footprint from your accounting transactions. Carbon Recycling costs £59 or £149 a month, or £399 for groups, and builds a PPN 006 Carbon Reduction Plan and an SECR report from your fuel, energy and travel figures, with the government factor shown on every line.

Updated 3 October 2026 by the Carbon Recycling team. Prices are as each company published them on that date; tell us if one has changed and we will correct it.

Sage Earth Carbon Accounting is Sage's carbon tool for UK small businesses. If you already run your books on Sage Accounting, it costs nothing extra and turns your transactions into a first estimate of your footprint with very little effort. That is a real advantage. Here is where the two tools differ, so you can decide whether you need more.

Side by side

	Sage Earth	Carbon Recycling
Price	Included for Sage Accounting customers at no extra cost	£59 or £149 a month, £399 for groups, 14-day free trial
How emissions are calculated	Spend-based from your accounting data, with activity questions such as commuting	Activity-based: litres, kilowatt hours, miles and tonnes, with DESNZ factors
Accounting integrations	Sage lists Sage Accounting, Sage 50, Xero and QuickBooks	Not yet; manual entry and CSV upload
Emission factors	UK data sources and UK industry averages	The UK government's DESNZ factors, 2019 to 2026, matched to each reporting year
Factor shown on every figure	Not listed	Factor ID, year and value on every line
PPN 006 Carbon Reduction Plan	Not listed	Built in, in the government template, held as a draft until board sign-off is recorded
SECR report	Not listed	Built in, with intensity ratio and methodology statement
Supplier data requests	Not listed	Yes, on Growth and Enterprise, by secure link
Several companies in one account	Not listed	Yes, on Enterprise, with a combined group view and export

Sage Earth details are as shown on Sage's UK Sage Earth page on 3 October 2026. "Not listed" means we didn't find the feature on that page; check with Sage if it matters to you.

Choose Sage Earth if

you already use Sage Accounting and want a footprint estimate at no extra cost;
you want your footprint built automatically from your books, with little data entry;
you need a general picture of your emissions rather than a formal plan or report.

Choose Carbon Recycling if

you need a PPN 006 Carbon Reduction Plan for a public sector or NHS bid, in the government template;
you are a large UK company or LLP that must report under SECR;
you want figures calculated from what you actually used, with the government factor behind each one;
you want to collect figures from your suppliers, or report across several companies.

Frequently asked questions

How much does Sage Earth cost?

When we checked on 3 October 2026, Sage's UK page said carbon accounting is included for all Sage Accounting customers at no extra cost. You pay for Sage Accounting itself. We didn't find a separate published price for using Sage Earth without it.

How does Sage Earth calculate emissions?

Sage says it builds an initial footprint from your accounting transactions using a spend-based method, then asks for operational information such as employee commuting for greater accuracy. It lists Sage Accounting, Sage 50, Xero and QuickBooks as integrations, and can also be used with spend entered by hand.

Is a spend-based footprint good enough for PPN 006?

PPN 006 asks for Scope 1 and 2 and five Scope 3 categories, calculated in line with the government's technical standard. Spend-based figures are a reasonable start, but fuel and electricity are usually more accurate from litres and kilowatt hours, which is how Carbon Recycling calculates them.

Can I use both?

Yes. Some businesses use Sage Earth for a quick picture from their books, then use Carbon Recycling to produce the Carbon Reduction Plan and SECR report from activity data.

Get your figures and reports done in an afternoon

Add a year of bills and Carbon Recycling produces your footprint, PPN 006 Carbon Reduction Plan and SECR report, with every figure traced to its government factor. Prices are on the pricing page, from £59 a month.

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