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Anaplan vs Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Anaplan
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
27
Ranking in other categories
Business Performance Management (1st), Production Planning (5th), Predictive Analytics (4th)
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Busi...
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
64
Ranking in other categories
ERP (3rd), Activity Based Costing Software (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

Anaplan and Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. Anaplan is designed for Business Performance Management and holds a mindshare of 13.3%, down 16.1% compared to last year.
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, on the other hand, focuses on ERP, holds 6.3% mindshare, down 6.9% since last year.
Business Performance Management
ERP
 

Featured Reviews

Antonio Flor - PeerSpot reviewer
Real-time data integration enhances operational efficiency and flexibility
As a client developer and solutions architect, I use Anaplan for building modules and deploying logic end-to-end. I work closely with the business in an agile manner to ensure the model aligns with business needs Anaplan offers flexibility in building different options within the platform. The…
StefaanVandesompele - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides end-to-end accounting and finance module at reasonable pricing
365 Business Central integrates with Office 365 to streamline the invoice approval process. This allows businesses to manage and approve invoices efficiently within a unified system. Our organization plans to transition to the Dynamics 365 environment, where various functions will be centralized. We will consolidate everything into one system instead of maintaining multiple databases for each country with local data. Dynamics 365 is fully integrated, which should address many of our challenges when we migrate to this new environment. We look forward to seeing how it performs in practice. The project is progressing well overall, though integrating it with other tools and ensuring Dynamics 365 operates smoothly can be challenging. Dynamics 365 is user-friendly and effective. However, a deeper understanding of its technical capabilities and architecture might be necessary to optimize its use fully. The software landscape is evolving, and achieving the best reporting and functionality with just a click can be complex. A clear vision of what you want to achieve with Dynamics 365 is essential. Proper preparation and configuration are crucial to achieving the desired outcomes. This principle applies not only to Dynamics 365 but to all software packages. Understanding the system's flexibility and adaptability based on your specific business needs is key to its successful implementation. Overall, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"Anaplan's most valuable features are that it's a no-coding platform, everything can be scaled to your other functions, and it's easy to learn and use (especially because Anaplan provides excellent interactive training)."
"It's real-time connected planning, so the calculations are pretty much seamless as far as your model is connected."
"The solution works very well for budgeting."
"The most valuable feature of Anaplan is machine learning. The solution is constantly evolving from feedback. Additionally, there is a wide range of training material online."
"Anaplan integrates well into my clients' core systems. The ability to aggregate the forms within the dashboarding is also useful. Only one of my clients has implemented workflow. Their usage has been very light. Dashboarding capability is probably the biggest one. My clients like having the ability to aggregate, slice and dice, and dynamically adjust things in the dashboards."
"It's highly flexible. If you've got a complex environment with complex calculations, you can build that out. So that's a really good positive."
"Anaplan offers flexibility in building different options within the platform."
"Where we're seeing the opportunity in the market is at the Fortune 100 companies that have far more complex modeling type scenarios where you need to be able to have a lot of people collaborating together, and you need a lot of information all at everyone's fingertips. This is where you see the big advantage of a solution like Anaplan."
"I am impressed with the tool's user authentication, compatibility , and policies."
"The initial setup is pretty straightforward."
"Our data is much more manageable than before."
"Has good integration with Power BI."
"The solution makes everything organized for my organization or enterprise. It makes workflows more than clear."
"We are getting more features after switching to Microsoft 365."
"Its most valuable feature is the user interface."
"One developer is enough to maintain the solution. Microsoft 365 is changing technology. The product is a user-friendly ERP solution."
 

Cons

"When there is a lot of data, it sometimes takes long to load."
"The dashboard could be better. Because within a dashboard or report, you have to do a lot of scrolling. You need to scroll down because the table doesn't fit in a single view. That's why even the users aren't happy with that kind of user experience. They need to scroll to see all the data, and it could be better if it fits in just one page. That way, you can see everything. In the next release, I want automation that's connected to Anaplan. For example, to load master data from SAP to Anaplan. I don't know if this already exists, but a log where you can see the progress and see if there's an error will also help. It would be better to give you the error message, for example, if there is an error within the automated process importing to Anaplan."
"The cloud engine slows down when working with a large dataset. It still lacks a powerful engine."
"There are workspace issues, like the limitation on model sizes."
"The price of the solution can improve."
"Anaplan could be improved with a stronger consolidation module."
"One area of improvement is conditional formatting. It's not very practical, and you need to specify additional formatting."
"The tool needs to work on its integration with MS Excel and MS Word. The tool does not allow data analysis in spreadsheets which is possible on other platforms. I want the solution to be more collaborative to facilitate decision-making in organizations."
"Customization and costs could be improved."
"I would like a more modular and user-friendly interface."
"The solution is not best suited for larger-scale businesses."
"There is some network issue."
"It would be nice if the integration process was easier."
"If Microsoft made some of the security setups a little easier to work with, that would be a significant improvement. The warehouse management features could also use some work. We had to buy third-party software to make NAV's warehouse management and security more usable and functional."
"I think Microsoft should improve on the process of how the user decides on a business workflow. For example, there may be some kind of drag-and-drop interface that lets us decide for ourselves how to develop the business workflows that fit our purpose."
"There are some aspects of the solution that is complex."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The entry-level is anywhere from about $30,000 to $50,000 a year, however, it does go up significantly after that depending on the complexity and how much space you're using."
"This is a yearly subscription. So a customer initially buys a workspace and specifies how much GB they want. The minimum starts at around 30 GB. You can buy multiple workspaces."
"The tool’s pricing is reasonable and competitive with other solutions."
"This is an expensive product and if the price were reduced then it would attract more customers."
"A value-for-money product and a very reasonable price compared to competitors like SAP or IBM."
"The price of the solution is expensive."
"We are currently using a free workspace license for 90 days. We are satisfied with the price of the solution. There are additional costs if you want more storage, the default limit is 250 GB."
"The cost of Anaplan is a challenge for clients, especially if they don't have an ongoing long-term use case for it. It's a $50,000 licensing fee just to get started. Clients need a strong business case to switch from Excel to Anaplan. But if clients have used something similar in the past, such as Hyperion or other solutions, that's not a factor because they know what to expect."
"I think the pricing is the best; it's cost effective for sure."
"The price of the solution could be reduced to improve their offering."
"The solution's cost is reasonable."
"The solution is on the cloud and they provide 50 gigabytes of free space on their Microsoft Drive. The reason for this is that Microsoft is requiring you to upgrade all of your systems to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central in order to effectively use the cloud. This means that if you are currently using a different version of Microsoft for a specific purpose that does not require this solution, it can be frustrating to have to spend money to upgrade to this solution just for the purpose of syncing with the cloud. Additionally, even if you do purchase Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, there can still be issues with syncing between the on-premise and cloud clients. This can be especially frustrating as the cloud storage is not free and can be difficult to access even after purchasing."
"There are two types of licenses. One is the essential license in which everything is covered, and the next is the premium. If your company is a manufacturing or service management company, then you can go for the premium license because those two modules are the premium ones. You can manage your manufacturing activities and your service activities."
"The on-premises model of Dynamics NAV is very expensive, hence our plan to migrate to Dynamics 365 Business Central, which appears to fit our needs better in terms of pricing. Compared to competitors, the cloud version of Dynamics is in the middle; not too high and not too low."
"The price of the solution is reasonable."
"The tool’s licensing is yearly. The solution is cheaper compared to other ERP products from Oracle or SAP."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
31%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Computer Software Company
15%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What are your main use cases for Anaplan?
Anaplan is an industry-leading cloud-based corporate performance management (CPM) platform that combines business planning and analytics in a single solution. It is designed to assist organizations...
Is Board better than Anaplan as a Business Intelligence (BI) solution?
We've had several FP&A departments include Anaplan in their analytics discussions, and while BI information IS generated, the focus is generally on compiling input from various sources and simu...
Is Anaplan better than SAP ERP?
There are different aspects of both Anaplan and SAP ERP that I like and dislike. Anaplan improves forecast accuracy and drives up the quality of analytics. Rather than spending all of their time co...
What do you like most about Microsoft Dynamics NAV?
The platform offers a robust and comprehensive cycle for supply chain and inventory management, with features like minimum and maximum settings, dynamic monitoring of inventory levels, and integrat...
What needs improvement with Microsoft Dynamics NAV?
Implementing localizations when we use the system for multiple countries can be quite complex. There isn't a single solution available for all countries, and managing these localizations can be cha...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Dynamics NAV, MS Dynamics NAV
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

HP, ForeScout, DocuSign, EAT, Pandora, Aviva, Intel Security, Zalora
Harris Farm Markets, Mister Spex GmbH, Bounce Foods, Eurofin Services SA, Medica Medizintechnik, Associated Gaskets, Onduline, Sitka Surfboard Corporation, World Animal Protection
Find out what your peers are saying about Anaplan, Oracle, IBM and others in Business Performance Management. Updated: February 2025.
832,138 professionals have used our research since 2012.