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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
28
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 15.5% compared to last year.
SAP S/4HANA, on the other hand, focuses on ERP, holds 12.9% mindshare, down 16.1% 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

"Anaplan's in-memory calculation engine is super-fast compared to the old tools we previously used. You enter the data and everything shows up in one go."
"I am impressed with the tool’s real-time calculations and intuitive interface. The tool’s user interface is the best compared to other software that I have worked with. I also find the tool’s management reporting feature valuable."
"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."
"Anaplan's strongest feature is that its GUI is very modern and user-friendly."
"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."
"It's real-time connected planning, so the calculations are pretty much seamless as far as your model is connected."
"Technical support has been good."
"SAP S4HANA has good performance and has allowed us to combine our systems."
"The most valuable feature of SAP S/4HANA is the innovational process. We are able to receive more efficiency or accuracy than previous versions."
"Because I'm a procure-to-pay consultant, I mostly look at that angle, and I have a bit of experience with sales and distribution. I also like the integration between S/4HANA and other ERPs because S/4HANA is a suite. For example, the integration between S/4HANA and EWM Transportation Management, and Ariba."
"The product rating is ten out of ten."
"We're able to get all our processes flowing together. We're able to make all of our business processes talk to each other."
"It is a stable solution. Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."
"I have no issues with the stability of the product, as everything seems to be fine."
"The output that we get, maybe the analytics part, is even faster compared to what we used to see on the ECC system."
 

Cons

"The solution could improve by better dashboards and while entering the form loss and project implementation the ability to use graphical shapes more effectively."
"I would rate scalability between six and seven. Anaplan had issues before, but the new Polaris engine solves them, although its implementation is more challenging compared to the Classic 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."
"Space and integration are a problem."
"One area of improvement is conditional formatting. It's not very practical, and you need to specify additional formatting."
"There are so many business rules to set up in the system that as a business user it's hard to gauge what they're doing and it's possible to get lost."
"Automation needs to be built into this solution."
"The initial setup was difficult, presenting challenges for users."
"In future releases, I would like to see more availability zones and VPCs so customers have more freedom to choose"
"The difficulty level of the initial setup depends on the person's skills. If you know the basic knowledge of the database, then it will be easy, otherwise, it will be very difficult."
"I would like to see the AI included to help from a data standpoint."
"S/4HANA could be improved with better integration. At the moment, a main issue I see is that there's so much growth in the functionality, complementary modules, and cloud solutions which were acquired by SAP and which extend the functionality of the SAP ERP suite. It looks to me that they tend to acquire more and more functionality from acquisitions, but they don't invest enough effort into making them integrated with S/4HANA or ERP. I would say that the functionality is great, but integration is something which still needs more attention. Instead of focusing on acquisitions, they should invest, integrate, and better the existing portfolio of products in SAP. It would help us, as implementors, to have a more complex or compact solution."
"The tool could improve development, particularly during upgrades or conversions from ERP systems to the solution. Adapting the code to the new standards can be challenging, especially when customers try to keep their old ERP developments."
"It should have more support. Documentation and support for mobile apps can be improved."
"Starting out on the solution can be a bit complex and difficult."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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 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."
"The license is a yearly subscription. There are three licensing tiers: the model builder, planner, and the reporting."
"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."
"This is an expensive product and if the price were reduced then it would attract more customers."
"The price of the solution is expensive."
"Anaplan is a bit pricier compared to its competitors - the license costs about $4,000 per user annually."
"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."
"Pricing is one area where S/4HANA has room for improvement. It's too costly for many people. They have come up with"
"People concerned about the costs need to evaluate whether implementing this system is profitable."
"The product is expensive. On a scale of one to ten, one being the lowest price and ten being the highest, I rate the product price as seven or eight."
"As for pricing, it depends on the business size and flow. If it's a medium-sized business, it might seem affordable, but for larger businesses with complex processes, it could be considered expensive."
"It's quite an expensive solution"
"The tool's price can be reasonable for large organizations, but it might not be suitable for small organizations with a small number of users."
"The price of SAP S4HANA is reasonable."
"I would rate the pricing at around six to nine out of ten depending on the edition and deployment type."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
27%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Educational Organization
36%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
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?
There could be a bit more competitiveness in their licensing and pricing.
What is your primary use case for SAP S4HANA?
It is a great product to be implemented for different industries for my customers. Can it be used globally?
 

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: April 2025.
849,190 professionals have used our research since 2012.