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Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central vs SAP S/4HANA comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 3, 2024

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

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Busi...
Ranking in ERP
3rd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
64
Ranking in other categories
Activity Based Costing Software (2nd)
SAP S/4HANA
Ranking in ERP
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
119
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2025, in the ERP category, the mindshare of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is 6.3%, down from 6.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP S/4HANA is 14.4%, down from 15.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
ERP
 

Featured Reviews

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.
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

"The most valuable features of Business Central for me are its seamless integration with Power BI and the ability to create customized reports."
"The most valuable feature of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is cloud accessibility."
"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 integration with Microsoft's AI capabilities."
"The tool covers most of the business requirements that most companies have, especially financial institutions."
"NAV covers everything from purchasing and selling items to invoicing. Everything is within NAV, so it's all very neat."
"The most important feature of Microsoft Dynamics NAV is that it lets us centralize all our information so that we don't need to rely on any other software outside of Microsoft."
"It is a stable solution."
"All of the features are valuable, depending on where you implement them. I've done implementations in 60 countries, across 86 different companies and groups, and each company has a different reason for why they want to use it. Every single feature that I've implemented has been successful, and for some companies, where they didn't use the functionality, they have moved to external products or they've integrated into other applications."
"From a technology standpoint, the theory and analytics are fascinating."
"The ability to optimize performance by allowing both data transactions and analytics on a single platform is particularly valuable."
"SAP S4HANA is a stable solution."
"A user-friendly UI with good documentation."
"SAP S/4HANA is an integrated application, which is its greatest strength."
"The scalability is excellent, especially on cloud deployment models."
"In terms of its most valuable feature, I would say the finance module."
"The way SAP has helped our customers is by establishing a discipline where industry-specific operations and SAP's standard processes work hand in hand."
 

Cons

"Some of the control aspects such as auditing can definitely be improved. For example, auditing is not very easy, and the user permissions are complicated."
"The solution must provide more AI features."
"I work in Pakistan, and many people want desktop solutions. They don't want to work on the cloud. They want a strictly on-premises solution."
"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."
"The price of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central could be reduced."
"It could be more stable."
"Since it's complex for a layperson user to understand the solution, it would be better if the solution provided some training resources."
"Microsoft Dynamics NAV will be replaced with Office 365 in the future."
"In future releases, I would like to see more availability zones and VPCs so customers have more freedom to choose"
"The disadvantages of this product include the lack of integration with platforms like LinkedIn."
"The analytics part of SAP S/4HANA needs to be improved"
"The solution could have a better user experience. However, they are working a lot on the user experience and they have come up with various applications, such as mobile applications. This was lacking over the last two years."
"The solution could improve by making customization easier. The on-premise version is a lot more flexible."
"The platform could improve by simplifying the analytics processes, which currently require significant preparatory work outside the platform."
"It should have more support. Documentation and support for mobile apps can be improved."
"There should be an easier way to migrate customers from all versions to SAP S/4HANA."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I have some subscription-based customer and a few customers who have perpetual licenses that hosted the application on the cloud."
"$80-$100 per license, per month."
"The price of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central could improve. It is costly. We are paying for the solution on a monthly basis."
"Its licensing is yearly. In addition to the licensing cost, there is the cost of hosting on Azure."
"I give the solution a seven out of ten for pricing."
"The per user price of $100 a month is better than competitors."
"The price of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is reasonable."
"The price of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is reasonable. We pay monthly for the use of the solution."
"The price of this product is an issue for some customers."
"The licensing format is complicated for SAP S/4HANA"
"Licensing costs are not transparent"
"I rate the pricing a ten on a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap and ten is too expensive. It is an expensive tool."
"The price could be lower."
"Available at a high price"
"We pay for an annual license."
"Licensing works on a subscription model for the cloud version and it's a one-time fee for the on-premises version."
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Answers from the Community

AM
May 2, 2023
May 2, 2023
Hello Amit, I am posting this answer on behalf of Gene Hammons, a Director at a small tech services company. He says: "Hey Amit - I believe there are huge price differentials between SAP S/4 HANA and MS D365 Business Central (the new web version of the old Navision code base). In most of our clients evaluating SAP we're comparing that to the D365 Finance & Operations (the new web version ...
2 out of 3 answers
MM
May 2, 2023
Hello Amit,I believe I can safely recommend SAP S/4HANA as a better ERP solution for your organization. Being directly involved in multiple SAP implementation projects, I have seen organizations transform and grow with S/4HANA. The only concern is the cost as I see it because SAP S/4HANA is costly as compared with other products. Another thing that you need to consider is the change in management in your organization. SAP encourages organizations to adopt best practices and in doing so, users are not always facilitated. So how flexible your organization is when it comes to adapting the change is a million-dollar question. Let me know if you need further details and we can specifically discuss accordingly.Regards,Muhammad Tuaha MustafeezSAP Solution Architect & Project Manager
Avigayil Henderson - PeerSpot reviewer
May 2, 2023
Hello Amit, I am posting this answer on behalf of Gene Hammons, a Director at a small tech services company. He says: "Hey Amit - I believe there are huge price differentials between SAP S/4 HANA and MS D365 Business Central (the new web version of the old Navision code base). In most of our clients evaluating SAP we're comparing that to the D365 Finance & Operations (the new web version of the old Axapta code base). Pricing-wise, we'd see $3m for SAP, $1.5m for D365 F&O, and $400k for D365 BC. There is Business One from SAP that would fit in the middle of those Dynamics price points - and it's all relative, a smaller company would cost less, a larger company more - but you see where the competition would play. We do get a lot of calls from companies who have licensed D365 Business Central as part of their Microsoft IT stack and try to implement it themselves. After a couple of years, they start calling around and find out you need a real consulting team to get anywhere - and that's not free. Anyway - the key is who you partner with, make sure they have plenty of experience in your size company, in your industry - and let your business requirements drive the evaluation. The pros and cons of each system are only relevant depending on the requirements of your particular business model - any of these have the ability to be a total nightmare or productivity dream depending on where you try and fit them."
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
15%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Government
6%
Financial Services Firm
6%
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 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 is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Dynamics NAV?
The pricing for Dynamics 365 Business Central is reasonable. The value for money is very high.
What needs improvement with Microsoft Dynamics NAV?
There is a need for improvement in consolidation and multi-country master data management.
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...
 

Also Known As

Dynamics NAV, MS Dynamics NAV
SAP S4HANA
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Harris Farm Markets, Mister Spex GmbH, Bounce Foods, Eurofin Services SA, Medica Medizintechnik, Associated Gaskets, Onduline, Sitka Surfboard Corporation, World Animal Protection
Nestle, O.C. Tanner, Sabre, New York Life Insurance Co., MEMEBOX, Siemens AG.
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central vs. SAP S/4HANA and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.
837,501 professionals have used our research since 2012.