SAP S/4HANA Cloud vs. Microsoft SQL Server

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
SAP S/4HANA Cloud
Score 8.5 out of 10
N/A
SAP S/4HANA Cloud is a modular cloud ERP software designed for every business need – powered by AI and analytics. SAP S/4HANA Cloud enables users to run mission-critical operations in real time from anywhere, introduce new business models in an industry, and expand globally. It can be deployed either on premise, in the cloud, or in a hybrid combination for quicker time-to-value.
$0
per month FUE users*
Microsoft SQL Server
Score 8.7 out of 10
N/A
Microsoft SQL Server is a relational database.
$1,418
Per License
Pricing
SAP S/4HANA CloudMicrosoft SQL Server
Editions & Modules
SAP S/4HANA Cloud
Custom Pricing
per month FUE users*
Subscription
$1,418.00
Per License
Enterprise
$13,748.00
Per License
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
SAP S/4HANA CloudMicrosoft SQL Server
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesNo
Entry-level Setup FeeRequiredNo setup fee
Additional Details* FUE = Full user equivalent, which allows flexible customer choice among: 1 Advanced user, 3 Core-users, or 30 self-service users per FUE. Minimum purchase is 35 FUEs.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
SAP S/4HANA CloudMicrosoft SQL Server
Considered Both Products
SAP S/4HANA Cloud
Chose SAP S/4HANA Cloud
Oracle is complicated and difficult and complex to maintain where as SAP S/4HANA Cloud is easy to maintain and user friendly interns of administration.
Chose SAP S/4HANA Cloud
The SAP S/4HANA Cloud in-memory feature makes SAP S/4HANA Cloud much faster than previous storage based databases. Also, with storage based databases there is frequently a need to expand drives or add SAN drives which leads to extra expense. We selected SAP S/4HANA Cloud …
Microsoft SQL Server

No answer on this topic

Top Pros

No answers on this topic

Top Cons

No answers on this topic

Features
SAP S/4HANA CloudMicrosoft SQL Server
Payroll Management
Comparison of Payroll Management features of Product A and Product B
SAP S/4HANA Cloud
7.7
250 Ratings
7% above category average
Microsoft SQL Server
-
Ratings
Pay calculation7.4210 Ratings00 Ratings
Benefit plan administration7.3213 Ratings00 Ratings
Direct deposit files7.4211 Ratings00 Ratings
Customization
Comparison of Customization features of Product A and Product B
SAP S/4HANA Cloud
7.2
365 Ratings
1% below category average
Microsoft SQL Server
-
Ratings
API for custom integration7.3350 Ratings00 Ratings
Plug-ins7.2321 Ratings00 Ratings
Security
Comparison of Security features of Product A and Product B
SAP S/4HANA Cloud
8.3
420 Ratings
2% above category average
Microsoft SQL Server
-
Ratings
Single sign-on capability8.5393 Ratings00 Ratings
Role-based user permissions8.0413 Ratings00 Ratings
Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
SAP S/4HANA Cloud
7.4
424 Ratings
6% above category average
Microsoft SQL Server
-
Ratings
Dashboards7.2394 Ratings00 Ratings
Standard reports7.6418 Ratings00 Ratings
Custom reports7.3391 Ratings00 Ratings
General Ledger and Configurable Accounting
Comparison of General Ledger and Configurable Accounting features of Product A and Product B
SAP S/4HANA Cloud
8.3
418 Ratings
8% above category average
Microsoft SQL Server
-
Ratings
Accounts payable8.1416 Ratings00 Ratings
Accounts receivable8.0398 Ratings00 Ratings
Inventory Management
Comparison of Inventory Management features of Product A and Product B
SAP S/4HANA Cloud
7.9
364 Ratings
1% above category average
Microsoft SQL Server
-
Ratings
Inventory tracking8.2355 Ratings00 Ratings
Automatic reordering7.8310 Ratings00 Ratings
Location management7.0299 Ratings00 Ratings
Order Management
Comparison of Order Management features of Product A and Product B
SAP S/4HANA Cloud
8.0
380 Ratings
3% above category average
Microsoft SQL Server
-
Ratings
Pricing7.9360 Ratings00 Ratings
Order entry8.5369 Ratings00 Ratings
Credit card processing7.423 Ratings00 Ratings
Cost of goods sold8.1349 Ratings00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
SAP S/4HANA CloudMicrosoft SQL Server
Small Businesses
Acumatica
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Score 8.8 out of 10
SingleStore
SingleStore
Score 9.8 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Infor VISUAL
Infor VISUAL
Score 7.1 out of 10
SingleStore
SingleStore
Score 9.8 out of 10
Enterprises
SAP Business ByDesign
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Score 7.4 out of 10
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Score 9.8 out of 10
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User Ratings
SAP S/4HANA CloudMicrosoft SQL Server
Likelihood to Recommend
8.5
(481 ratings)
9.6
(96 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
8.9
(9 ratings)
9.0
(6 ratings)
Usability
8.1
(374 ratings)
9.9
(10 ratings)
Availability
10.0
(2 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Performance
8.0
(1 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
8.4
(75 ratings)
7.9
(25 ratings)
In-Person Training
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Online Training
9.0
(1 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Implementation Rating
7.3
(4 ratings)
9.0
(5 ratings)
Configurability
8.0
(1 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Ease of integration
6.0
(1 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Product Scalability
10.0
(1 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
7.0
(1 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
6.0
(1 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
SAP S/4HANA CloudMicrosoft SQL Server
Likelihood to Recommend
SAP
SAP S/4HANA Cloud leverages an in-memory database, allowing for real-time data processing and analytics. This enables organizations to make informed decisions based on up-to-the-minute information S/4HANA Cloud integrates various business modules, including finance, procurement, sales, manufacturing, and supply chain. This integration facilitates seamless data flow across different functional areas
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Microsoft
Microsoft SQL Server is a great RDBMS and meets all of our requirements. If you need a stable DB platform to support your line of a business application you'll be well served. Licensing costs are far cheaper, more portable and a lot more user friendly than Oracle. Product support and security patches from Microsoft are strong.
Read full review
Pros
SAP
  • Complete production cycle, right from planning to final product manufacturing.
  • Keeping all documents in one place, with ability to upload important stuff against the particular entries.
  • Maintain trail of any changes made to data, validations at the right places and methodological working of each process
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Microsoft
  • Easy to configure and use with Visual Studio and Dot Net
  • Easy integration with MSBI to perform data analysis
  • Data Security
  • Easy to understand and use
  • Very easy to export database and tables in the form of SQL query or a script
Read full review
Cons
SAP
  • The complex integration we have with ERPs make it difficult to move or upgrade to SAP S4 HANA. Reimplementing all integrations and not impact business is a challenge
  • Requires a lot of tedious testing so that no role or function is impacted
  • Very time consuming to implement or upgrade. For large corporations it would take years to slowly migrate to S4HANA
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Microsoft
  • The import/export process can be tricky to follow with lots of steps and could be better for importing flat files
  • Obtaining help from Microsoft is cumbersome and often other internet sources are better and quicker
  • The documentation is not great and again it's generally better to obtain help elsewhere if needed
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Likelihood to Renew
SAP
The cost of SAP as an ERP is quite high and the switching costs associated with ERP systems are even higher. That being said moving from one ERP to another only happens once in a great while for large organizations. Those switching costs include retraining, IT hardware requirements, outside consultants and more
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Microsoft
We understand that the Microsoft SQL Server will continue to advance, offering the same robust and reliable platform while adding new features that enable us, as a software center, to create a superior product. That provides excellent performance while reducing the hardware requirements and the total cost of ownership of our solution.
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Usability
SAP
Modern User Interface:
The system features a contemporary and visually appealing interface, promoting a more engaging user experience.
Role-Based Access:
Users access role-specific dashboards and functionalities, ensuring a personalized experience tailored to their responsibilities.
Intuitive Navigation:
Streamlined menus and navigation paths contribute to an intuitive user experience, reducing the learning curve for new users.
Responsive Design:
The platform is designed to be responsive across various devices, allowing users to access information and perform tasks on desktops, tablets, or mobile devices
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Microsoft
SQL Server mostly 'just works' or generates error messages to help you sort out the trouble. You can usually count on the product to get the job done and keep an eye on your potential mistakes. Interaction with other Microsoft products makes operating as a Windows user pretty straight forward. Digging through the multitude of dialogs and wizards can be a pain, but the answer is usually there somewhere.
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Reliability and Availability
SAP
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
Its does not have outages.
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Performance
SAP
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
SSAS data cubes may some time slow down your Excel reports.
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Support Rating
SAP
The technical support received by the ITT design teams and OS implementation team has been very useful in ensuring that the SAP ERP is well-tailored to our company's specific needs and operations. This coupled with the training materials, business process maps, and concept demos (sand-box demos) makes adoption easy on end-users.
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Microsoft
We managed to handle most of our problems by looking into Microsoft's official documentation that has everything explained and almost every function has an example that illustrates in detail how a particular functionality works. Just like PowerShell has the ability to show you an example of how some cmdlet works, that is the case also here, and in my opinion, it is a very good practice and I like it.
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In-Person Training
SAP
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
It was good
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Online Training
SAP
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
very hands on and detailed training
Read full review
Implementation Rating
SAP
Implementation was as expected. We had minor issues with our Z* transactions, but nothing special. Some tables were extended and needed regeneration. Overall satisfactions is good.
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Microsoft
Other than SQL taking quite a bit of time to actually install there are no problems with installation. Even on hardware that has good performance SQL can still take close to an hour to install a typical server with management and reporting services.
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Alternatives Considered
SAP
In our quest for an ERP solution, we evaluated alternatives such as Oracle ERP Cloud and Microsoft Dynamics 365. However, SAP S/4HANA Cloud's reputation for advanced analytics, scalability, and seamless integration with other SAP solutions made it the natural choice for our organization's digital journey.
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Microsoft
[Microsoft] SQL Server has a much better community and professional support and is overall just a more reliable system with Microsoft behind it. I've used MySQL in the past and SQL Server has just become more comfortable for me and is my go to RDBMS.
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Scalability
SAP
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
SQL server does handle growing demands of a mid sized company.
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Return on Investment
SAP
  • Cost Savings and Lower Total Cost of Ownership (TCO):
  • While the initial implementation costs might be significant, the centralized data management and automation features can lead to cost savings over time. This might be achieved through reduced manual labor, better inventory control, optimized procurement processes, and streamlined operations, resulting in a lower TCO.
  • Better Visibility and Compliance:
  • The system's ability to offer comprehensive data visibility can enhance compliance efforts, mitigating risks and ensuring adherence to regulatory requirements. This can lead to reduced fines or penalties related to non-compliance issues.
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Microsoft
  • Increased accuracy - We went from multiple users having different versions of an Excel spreadsheet to a single source of truth for our reporting.
  • Increased Efficiency - We can now generate reports at any time from a single source rather than multiple users spending their time collating data and generating reports.
  • Improved Security - Enterprise level security on a dedicated server rather than financial files on multiple laptop hard drives.
Read full review
ScreenShots

SAP S/4HANA Cloud Screenshots

Screenshot of the Order to Cash Dashboard - For the management of the order-to-cash process more efficiently across revenue streams and business models - including sales of physical and digital goods, services, subscriptions, projects, and bundles.Screenshot of Sales Management Overview - Helps ensure sales reps meet their goals with an overview of orders and key sales performance metrics, with status tracking for each order in real time for the early detection of potential issues.Screenshot of Purchasing Spend Dashboard - For weighing various aspects of purchasing spend through quick access to clear, complete, and real-time data, with less risk, and without opening different reports and transactions.Screenshot of Operational Supplier Evaluation - Provides a transparent overview of suppliers. Users can approve the most reliable vendors and get the right mix to serve business needs while reducing risk.Screenshot of Inventory Management - Provides visibility to manage supply chains, to mitigate risk, avoid unnecessary costs, maximize efficiency, and fulfill customer orders on time.Screenshot of Inventory Processing - Enables real-time supply chain visibility and provides meaningful metrics, with customizable dashboards and reports that display real-time inventory that track the status of inbound and outbound deliveries.