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Anaplan vs SAP S/4HANA 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)
SAP S/4HANA
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
119
Ranking in other categories
ERP (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

Anaplan and SAP S/4HANA 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.
SAP S/4HANA, on the other hand, focuses on ERP, holds 14.4% mindshare, down 15.6% 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…
Deepak Madhavan - PeerSpot reviewer
Implementation simplifies ERP management with comprehensive data integration and visibility
A lot of people would say the pricing. SAP is seen as quite expensive even now. It doesn't work for smaller or medium optimizations. The licensing and pricing could be looked at. In Brownfield migration, the trade-off between greenfield and brownfield means you either keep it clean or match the business requirements. Sometimes, it's not possible to do both. While ValixAPI provides significant support in making those decisions and the SAP consultant is very useful, we are still dependent on past history and how it was originally set up. I wouldn't call that a real disadvantage, yet more accessible consulting would be beneficial. Incorporating all other cloud products, like APO or IPP, into the S/4 house might also help.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"You don't need to have a programming language to use Anaplan."
"Anaplan is a three-dimensional cloud platform that is good for analyzing data, visualization, integration, terrific for visibility."
"Technical support has been good."
"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."
"Anaplan offers flexibility in building different options within the platform."
"The solution scales well."
"Anaplan's strongest feature is that its GUI is very modern and user-friendly."
"SAP S4HANA version 1909 is stable. We have not gone live with 2020 yet."
"The insights given help us make strategic decisions."
"It is easy to integrate the solution with other systems."
"SAP S/4HANA delivers all essential possibilities to customers for various sections. In the current modern age, we use SAP for graphical outputs, reports, and smartphone accessibility. If users want to see financial outputs via diagrams, we use SAP by Design. For specific confirmations via mobile app or web app, we use few other applications. If users want only source forms and not hard copies, we use AR forms."
"It is a scalable solution."
"From a technology standpoint, the theory and analytics are fascinating."
"I find the Production Planning Cockpit (PPC) and Material Requirements Planning (MRP) most valuable modules."
"The ability to optimize performance by allowing both data transactions and analytics on a single platform is particularly valuable."
 

Cons

"The cloud engine slows down when working with a large dataset. It still lacks a powerful engine."
"The visualization tools in the product are limited in comparison to other reporting tools."
"Anaplan should come up with flexible options to connect to a data warehouse rather than an Anaplan hub."
"The negative is that the higher the flexibility, the higher is the complexity. That can act against you as a negative because it does require a model builder or a coder/developer."
"Anaplan could enhance its user interface by including a more user-friendly API."
"When there is a lot of data, it sometimes takes long to load."
"It would be nice if the solution offered better extensions."
"Automation needs to be built into this solution."
"The integration could be made a little simpler in terms of design and implementation."
"SAP support provides resolves all our problems, but the response time is slower than our customers expect. Maybe it's because they have such a large customer base and are always occupied, but that's one area all our customers mention."
"You will not see convenient user experiences with SAP S4HANA's website or application."
"The product's use of resources could be improved, as it is quite intensive at the moment."
"Documentation could be improved."
"A virtual machine could exist to make everything available on a single deployment."
"The initial setup was difficult."
"The product should improve its cost."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price of the solution is expensive."
"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."
"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."
"Anaplan is a bit pricier compared to its competitors - the license costs about $4,000 per user annually."
"The license is a yearly subscription. There are three licensing tiers: the model builder, planner, and the reporting."
"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."
"This is an expensive product and if the price were reduced then it would attract more customers."
"The product is expensive."
"Licensing costs are not transparent"
"Though we are talking about a competitively priced model, the pricing could be more cost-effective."
"We're not sure yet. I think it was six figures a year, over 100,000. It has straight-up licensing fees."
"The solution is expensive."
"The price of the solution is reasonable but some modules can be expensive. When comparing SAP S4HANA to other solutions, such as Oracle, it is not expensive."
"The product is expensive"
"The tool's licensing is very expensive. They've changed their licensing model from the old ERP system to a new model using FUEs, which is somewhat better but still expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
31%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Educational Organization
40%
Computer Software Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
University
4%
 

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...
Are there any advantages of SAP S4 HANA over SAP Business One (SAP B1) apart from the cost?
SaP Business One is a complete solution for business management. The software applications are broad, ranging from accounting to project management and human resources. It is very versatile and com...
What needs improvement with SAP S4HANA?
With the public cloud, now everything is being pushed into BTP. This has created challenges, as it requires us to redo our coding and development. This presents a significant learning curve for our...
What is your primary use case for SAP S4HANA?
We work in a very niche area within the livestock industry. We have a SAP-certified solution for the poultry industry, and as part of our livestock solution, we cover poultry, dairy, and fishery. W...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

No data available
SAP S4HANA
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

HP, ForeScout, DocuSign, EAT, Pandora, Aviva, Intel Security, Zalora
Nestle, O.C. Tanner, Sabre, New York Life Insurance Co., MEMEBOX, Siemens AG.
Find out what your peers are saying about Anaplan, Oracle, IBM and others in Business Performance Management. Updated: February 2025.
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