Quick answer: The best Sage Earth alternatives for growing businesses include Seedling (full-scope, expert-guided carbon management for companies up to around 2,000 employees), Greenly (accessible SME and mid-market carbon tracking with broad framework coverage), SME Climate Hub (a free first-step tool for smaller businesses), NatWest Carbon Planner (operational planning with cost-saving focus), CarbonFootprint.com (a credible self-guided online calculator), and Carbon Trust (high-quality templates and guidance for teams with internal sustainability resource).
At a Glance: Platform Comparison
Sage Earth is a low-cost carbon accounting tool designed primarily for small businesses using Sage accounting software. Originally a Bristol-based start-up called Spherics, it was acquired by Sage in 2022 and has since been bundled into Sage’s accounting plans. Its core strength is accessibility: it connects to your financial data and produces a spend-based carbon footprint with minimal setup.
That accessibility has limits. Sage Earth’s measurement approach is predominantly spend-based, which is a recognised starting point under the GHG Protocol but not the most reliable foundation for meaningful decarbonisation or third-party reporting. Its activity data capability is limited compared to more rigorous platforms. And while it does offer Xero and QuickBooks connections, the integration experience is clearly built with Sage users in mind.
For businesses at the early stages of carbon measurement, that may be enough. For businesses with compliance requirements, client reporting obligations, or a genuine commitment to reducing emissions, it typically is not.
This guide covers seven alternatives, who each one suits, and how they compare to Sage Earth.
The 6 Best Sage Earth Alternatives
1. Seedling: Best for Growing Businesses That Want Expert Guidance Built In
Website: seedling.earth
Best for: Businesses up to ~2,000 employees wanting accurate, expert-guided carbon management
Pricing: Subscription pricing; see seedling.earth/pricing
Seedling is carbon management software built for companies of up to around 2,000 employees that want accurate, full-scope carbon accounting without it becoming a significant internal burden. The platform covers Scopes 1, 2, and 3 in line with the GHG Protocol, and goes well beyond spend-based estimation. Seedling is built around activity data: energy usage, vehicle mileage, employee commuting surveys, supplier data requests, and detailed material inputs. That means your footprint reflects actual emissions, not just spend patterns.
Every Seedling customer works with a dedicated carbon expert who guides them through data collection, builds a quantified decarbonisation plan, and supports SBTi-aligned target-setting. Outputs are expert-reviewed and assured to the GHG Protocol standard, and feed directly into compliance reports for SECR, B Corp, PPN 006, EcoVadis, ISO 14064, and more.
Seedling integrates with Xero, Sage, and QuickBooks, so whatever accounting software you use, your financial data feeds in alongside the activity data that gives the footprint its accuracy. Time-to-output typically takes two to four weeks and requires around one day of your time in total.
What it does well:
- Full-scope GHG Protocol measurement (Scopes 1, 2, and 3) using activity data rather than spend estimates
- Dedicated carbon expert included as standard, not as a paid add-on
- Compliance-ready reports for SECR, PPN 006, B Corp, EcoVadis, ISO 14064, and SBTi
- Built-in employee survey and supplier engagement tools
- Integrates with Xero, Sage, and QuickBooks
Where it differs from Sage Earth:
Seedling is designed for businesses that need carbon data they can rely on for procurement bids, client reporting, and certification. The combination of activity-based methodology, expert assurance, and compliance-ready outputs produces a footprint that reflects actual emissions and reporting that holds up under external scrutiny.
2. Greenly: Best for Mid-Market Carbon Tracking with Broad Framework Coverage
Website: greenly.earth
Best for: SMEs and growing businesses with EU reporting requirements or broad framework needs
Pricing: From approximately £5,000 per year
Greenly is a French carbon accounting platform with a library of more than 300,000 emission factors and integrations with over 100 tools, including Xero and Workiva. It offers a quick online calculator as an entry point to its broader platform, and covers key frameworks including CSRD, SBTi, and CDP. Its supplier engagement feature can send automated data requests to large numbers of suppliers simultaneously, which is useful for businesses with extensive Scope 3 supply chain exposure.
Greenly is accessible and fast to set up, and its framework coverage is broader than Sage Earth’s. The full platform is positioned closer to enterprise pricing than many SME-focused tools, which can make it feel like a significant step up for smaller businesses.
What it does well:
- Extensive emission factors library and broad framework coverage
- Supplier engagement at scale
- CSRD, SBTi, and CDP-aligned reporting
- Strong European market presence
Where it differs from Sage Earth:
Greenly offers more rigorous measurement and broader compliance coverage than Sage Earth, particularly for businesses with EU operations. The full platform pricing is higher than Sage Earth’s entry point, but reflects a significantly more capable product.
3. SME Climate Hub: Best Free First-Step Tool for Smaller Businesses
Website: smeclimatehub.org
Best for: Small businesses taking their first steps into carbon measurement
Pricing: Free
The SME Climate Hub offers a simple free carbon calculator alongside its climate commitment resources. The tool takes a small set of inputs, typically energy use, headcount, and a few activity metrics, and returns an estimated footprint. It is designed to give SMEs a quick starting point and to support public Net Zero commitments rather than produce an audit-ready result.
As a free tool, SME Climate Hub serves a specific purpose well: getting a rough estimate quickly and building internal buy-in. It is not suited to compliance reporting or to organisations that need their footprint to hold up under external scrutiny.
What it does well:
- Free and fast to use
- Good entry point for businesses with no prior carbon data
- Supports public Net Zero commitments
Where it differs from Sage Earth:
SME Climate Hub is even lighter than Sage Earth on methodology and scope coverage. It is best used as a starting point to understand the scale of emissions before moving to a more rigorous platform.
4. NatWest Carbon Planner: Best for Operational Insights and Cost-Saving Focus
Website: natwest.com/business/green-banking/carbon-planner
Best for: UK SMEs that want carbon measurement alongside practical cost and energy savings
Pricing: Free
NatWest’s Carbon Planner is a free digital tool aimed at UK business banking customers, though available to anyone. It guides SMEs through energy, transport, and some operational activities to produce a carbon estimate, then generates an action plan with specific reduction suggestions, including costings and expected savings. The reduction planner is a genuine differentiator: it connects the carbon calculation directly to practical operational changes and their financial implications.
Scope coverage is strongest for energy and transport, and weaker for complex Scope 3 categories. For businesses that need auditable reporting or compliance outputs, the NatWest Carbon Planner is not the right tool. For businesses that primarily want to understand their main sources of emissions and identify cost-saving reductions, it is genuinely useful.
What it does well:
- Free, easy to use, and tailored to UK SMEs
- Reduction action planner with cost and carbon savings estimates
- Practical operational focus
Where it differs from Sage Earth:
The NatWest Carbon Planner is more focused on operational action planning than Sage Earth, and the reduction planner is more developed. It covers fewer Scope 3 categories and does not produce compliance-grade reporting.
5. CarbonFootprint.com (Sustrax): Best for Self-Guided Online Calculation
Website: carbonfootprint.com
Best for: SMEs that want a credible self-guided calculator and are comfortable managing the process themselves
Pricing: Basic use free; consultancy for more complex work
CarbonFootprint.com offers the Sustrax online calculator alongside a consultancy service. The calculator allows you to enter fuel, energy, and travel data and receive a fairly detailed result. Emission factor quality is strong, and the tool is well-established and widely referenced. For more nuanced Scope 3 categories or complex organisations, the platform typically directs users towards paid consultancy.
It is a credible option for businesses that want to do the measurement themselves without a guided software process, and that are comfortable interpreting and acting on the results independently.
What it does well:
- Established, credible emission factors
- Good coverage of energy and travel categories
- Free to use for basic measurement
Where it differs from Sage Earth:
CarbonFootprint.com is not accounting-software-connected. You enter data manually, which requires more effort but also allows more control over what goes in. It does not produce compliance-grade reports natively, and there is no dedicated expert support built into the tool.
6. Carbon Trust: Best for SMEs with Internal Sustainability Resource
Website: carbontrust.com
Best for: Organisations with a sustainability lead or QHSE manager comfortable with technical documentation
Pricing: Many resources free; tailored support at consultancy rates
The Carbon Trust provides guidance, spreadsheet templates, and online tools for emissions measurement. Rather than a single click-and-go platform, their resources form a high-quality technical toolkit for teams that are confident working with detailed documentation. The methodology is robust, and used carefully the templates can support a full-scope inventory aligned with recognised standards.
The trade-off is time and capability. The Carbon Trust’s resources assume you have someone internally who can work through them carefully. For teams without that capacity, the free tools can be difficult to navigate without experienced support.
What it does well:
- Strong technical methodology and credible guidance
- Free templates and resources available
- Full-scope measurement possible if resources are used thoroughly
Where it differs from Sage Earth:
The Carbon Trust is a toolkit rather than a platform. It requires more internal effort than Sage Earth, but produces a more rigorous result when used well. For businesses without a sustainability specialist, it can be harder to navigate without support.
How We Chose These Platforms
Every platform in this list was assessed based on its relevance to small and mid-sized businesses actively evaluating Sage Earth alternatives. We assessed each option against four criteria: the quality and scope of carbon measurement methodology, the level of expert support available, the practicality of onboarding and ongoing use for non-specialist teams, and the transparency of pricing. Enterprise-only platforms aimed primarily at large corporates were excluded, as they fall outside the use case most relevant to businesses looking for a Sage Earth alternative.
FAQs
What is the difference between spend-based and activity-based carbon accounting?
Spend-based methodology estimates emissions by taking what you spent on a category and multiplying it by an industry-average emissions factor. It is fast because it uses financial data you already have. Activity-based methodology uses the actual physical quantities involved: kilowatt hours of electricity, litres of fuel, tonnes of materials, kilometres travelled. The GHG Protocol recognises both approaches, but is explicit that activity-based data produces more accurate results and should be used where available. Spend-based figures can also fail to capture real reductions, because they track expenditure rather than emissions output.
Is Sage Earth suitable for PPN 006 Carbon Reduction Plans?
Sage Earth can produce an emissions footprint that covers the required scopes. However, it does not natively generate a PPN 006-compliant Carbon Reduction Plan in the format required for public sector procurement bids. Businesses that need to submit a Carbon Reduction Plan will typically need to produce that document separately. Seedling produces Carbon Reduction Plans directly from the platform.
Which Sage Earth alternative is best for SECR reporting?
SECR (Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting) applies to UK companies meeting two of three thresholds: turnover of £36m or more, balance sheet of £18m or more, or 250 or more employees. The requirement is to disclose energy use and Scope 1, 2, and grey fleet emissions in the annual Directors’ Report. Seedling generates SECR-compliant reports directly. Most other tools on this list would require additional manual steps to produce a SECR-formatted disclosure.
Which alternative is best for a business that has never measured its carbon footprint before?
For a first estimate, SME Climate Hub or NatWest Carbon Planner give a quick, no-cost starting point. For businesses that need compliance-grade data or are already facing reporting requirements, Seedling is the stronger choice: a dedicated carbon expert guides you through the full process from data collection to final outputs, and the platform is designed to improve accuracy year on year.
Is there an alternative that works well alongside Sage accounting software?
Sage Earth is the most native integration with Sage accounting, pulling data directly. Seedling also integrates with Sage, alongside Xero and QuickBooks, and adds the activity-based data collection, expert support, and compliance reporting that Sage Earth does not provide. For businesses already on Sage who have outgrown Sage Earth’s limitations, Seedling is the natural next step.
About Seedling
Seedling is carbon management software built for businesses that want accurate, expert-guided carbon accounting without the overhead of enterprise software or the cost of a consulting project. The platform covers full Scope 1, 2, and 3 measurement aligned with the GHG Protocol, going well beyond spend-based estimation to use the activity data that makes footprints accurate and reductions visible. Compliance-ready outputs cover SECR, B Corp, PPN 006, EcoVadis, ISO 14064, and SBTi. Every customer works with a dedicated carbon expert who supports measurement, builds a quantified decarbonisation plan, and tracks progress year on year. Time to output is typically two to four weeks. Book a demo at seedling.earth/book-a-demo.
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