At a glance
Vendor descriptions below reflect publicly available positioning as of the date on this page and may change. Confirm current features, editions and pricing with the vendor before deciding.
| Deltek ComputerEase | Forge ERP | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Construction accounting and management for small to mid-size contractors | ERP for project-based businesses, construction first |
| Typical buyer | Residential, commercial and specialty trade contractors that outgrew generic accounting | Contractors roughly $10M–$150M with a finance team |
| Architecture | Cloud-hosted | Cloud, multi-tenant, browser-based |
| Payroll | Native construction payroll: union, certified payroll, prevailing wage, fringe credits | Through your payroll provider; job-costed labor with burden lands in Forge |
| Job cost and billing | Real-time job cost, committed cost, AIA and unit billing, retainage, WIP reporting | Job cost with committed cost, AIA-style billing, retainage, subcontract pay applications, WIP schedule with the adjusting entry prepared |
| Operations | Project management, service dispatch, equipment and inventory, CRM, field apps | Purchasing, subcontracts, work orders, inventory, time; no CRM or dispatch board |
| Controls | User permissions; approval depth varies by module | Prepare/approve/post separation on every posting, governed ledger, audit history |
| Multi-entity | Confirm with the vendor | Multi-entity by design |
| Pricing | Monthly licensing; Deltek states no lump sums or separate consulting fees | Tiered plans, 14-day free trial |
| Maturity | Established, now part of Deltek | Beta; no published customer results yet |
Where ComputerEase is stronger
- Native construction payroll with union, certified and prevailing-wage handling
- Service dispatch, equipment and inventory, and CRM for specialty contractors that run service work
- Field apps for daily logs, photos and receipts tied to the job
- A long installed base and a parent company with other project-based ERPs
Where Forge is different
- Built as a governed accounting system first: every posting goes through prepare, approve and post with an audit trail
- Multi-entity in one system rather than one company per database
- WIP as a close step: the schedule is computed from posted cost and approved forecasts, and the over/under billing entry is prepared for review
- Subcontract pay applications with retainage tracked on each application
- A reversible QuickBooks import at setup, run by your own team
- An AI assistant that prepares drafts inside your permissions
Who should choose which
Choose ComputerEase if in-house construction payroll is the reason you are leaving QuickBooks, or if you run a service business with dispatch and equipment to track. Choose Forge if you run payroll in a provider and the reason you are moving is controls, WIP, retainage and multi-entity. If both are on the shortlist, run the same month-end through each: a WIP schedule, a subcontract pay application with retainage, and an approval chain on a vendor bill.
Forge ERP covers projects, purchasing, accounts payable, billing and receivables, job cost and WIP, reporting and close. Payroll runs in your payroll provider and lands in Forge as job-costed labor with burden. Forge is in beta with a 14-day free trial.
Frequently asked
- Does Forge have certified payroll reports?
- No. Certified payroll comes from your payroll provider. Forge imports the job-costed labor so job cost and WIP are complete.
- Can Forge import from ComputerEase?
- Setup imports customers, vendors and employees from CSV exports with duplicate matching and a full revert, and loads opening balances by job and cost code. There is no direct ComputerEase connector; export from ComputerEase to CSV first.