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NetSuite ERP vs SAP Business ByDesign comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 10, 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

NetSuite ERP
Ranking in Cloud ERP
2nd
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
35
Ranking in other categories
Activity Based Costing Software (6th), Billing Software (3rd)
SAP Business ByDesign
Ranking in Cloud ERP
5th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
16
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Cloud ERP category, the mindshare of NetSuite ERP is 17.9%, down from 34.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP Business ByDesign is 8.3%, down from 9.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Cloud ERP
 

Featured Reviews

Haggit Russo - PeerSpot reviewer
Effective financial management with real-time analytics and a straightforward setup
Reports are good but not perfect. The custom reports could be improved. The initial setup process for reports can be a bit complicated and may require more user-friendly options. My previous company faced difficulty with reporting when it was too complicated to find proper reports. Overall, improving the reporting feature would be beneficial.
Majid-Mustafa - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides custom versions of reports personalized for users
For AI initiatives, you need to purchase a separate AI license to integrate with SAP Business ByDesign. I'd recommend SAP Business ByDesign for large companies that want to check data graphically, especially for monthly income, expenses, and taxes in the millions or trillions. Overall, for large-scale companies, I'd rate it ten 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

"The most valuable aspect of NetSuite ERP is the multi-subsidiary portion, it is the strongest across all the other ERPs. If you want to do consolidations, it works a lot better than other tools."
"We use it for the projects we do in the telecom industry."
"The features that have been most effective in improving the financial management perspective include the budgeting, revenue recognition, and accounting perspectives."
"The most valuable feature in NetSuite ERP is the user interface."
"NetSuite is a better value than some competing solutions. The fee structure is simpler, and other ERP solutions don't offer as many options for configuration."
"It is a very solid product for finance and procure-to-pay processes."
"The most valuable feature is that it works according to how the Internet works."
"I like the ease of setup and customization of forms."
"The standard system is stable."
"I like the tool’s customization."
"I like its modern approach. It is very modern and new technology."
"ByDesign's best features are its speed, real-time data, and reporting."
"When comparing SAP Business ByDesign to much larger ERP solutions, such as SAP ECC 6.0 or SAP S/4HANA, SAP Business ByDesign is more user-friendly and easier to implement."
"The most helpful feature is the integrations. Integrating the tool with SAP S/4HANA Cloud is easy, facilitating implementation and deployment. The runtime analysis checks for real-time analytics to see if the software works properly. This is a powerful feature."
"When we were using it, we did see an immediate benefit, especially in the inventory on consignment issue. We were a biotech pre-revenue company and most of our manufacturing was outsourced. So being able to track inventory within the system without creating a financial impact was very key for us."
"I find the tool’s every feature valuable."
 

Cons

"In terms of the main improvement to NetSuite is the talent itself. It's grown so fast and there are about 25,000 companies running on it, and it's a relatively newer system compared to other competitors. It's growing so fast that the talent base in the partner organization (there's about 200 of them), is pretty thin."
"It would be great if they offered localization for Central America."
"If you do go through an implementor, you need to be careful that they are actual implementors and not just resellers."
"Some of the features around the payroll and payroll taxes and management of that are lacking. We had to outsource some of that because we found that the functionality isn't there."
"Additionally, adding advanced modules such as AI components or customer service modules could help the system become more scalable."
"What needs to be improved is the development in the other areas and other businesses that can use NetSuite."
"The product should improve its warehouse management solution."
"The solution is not user-friendly and it is complex to use."
"The database needs to be more customizable."
"ByDesign could be improved by making screen modifications easier."
"The payroll module of the solution could improve."
"I would like the tool’s interface to be better. Currently, we use a client application to access the product. I want that to be replaced with a web version. I would like to improve the tool’s internet availability. I also want the product’s setup to be easier."
"There is room for improvement in the reporting capability. To use it properly, you need intensive IT support. You cannot write your own reports."
"SAP Business ByDesign is a very vast product, but it has to be a bit more centralized. All the models need to be more centralized for a better experience."
"The Purchase to Pay process could benefit from further sophistication and additional functionality. It would be helpful for the user community to receive clearer information about the future roadmap of the business. Unfortunately, there were some confusing articles in the German press towards the end of last year about the future of SAP Business ByDesign. Therefore, more clarity is needed in the support function to address this."
"With SAP S/4HANA, you can design your release strategy and modify it to include as many people as possible, which is missing in SAP Business ByDesign."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It's very competitively priced due to it being a subscription model. So, clients are quite happy with the pricing. I would rate it an eight out of ten in terms of pricing."
"The price of the solution is quite high."
"It is completely on a subscription basis. We pay yearly and, and you do not have to do anything on a monthly basis. Prices depend on the organization's scale and all those things, but they are doing a good job with the pricing."
"Regarding costs, it's not just about licensing. Customization recurring costs can become expensive over five to eight years, especially with new releases. However, NetSuite ERP integrates well with third-party applications, so it can still be used for finance while another ERP is used for localized production."
"NetSuite ERP has a cost per module you want to use, and then you have the license per user."
"It is expensive."
"The price is less than the cost of daily hours."
"When people buy ERP, it's a competitive situation and the pricing is paramount."
"Everything is included in the licensing cost of the solution. However, they use a per-user model for additional charges."
"The price of the solution could be better. They have to come up with a new strategy."
"The cost starts anywhere between fifty thousand dollars and up depending on the number of licenses."
"The price of SAP Business ByDesign is less expensive than SAP S/4HANA. However, the price is on par with other similar competitors, such as Microsoft."
"The pricing depends on company size. It's cheaper for small companies and more expensive for large ones."
"The tool’s subscription is yearly. There is no flat pricing involved and everything has a range. Pricing depends on the functionality that you would use. You need to also pay for the additional hosting and maintenance costs."
"We have to pay yearly."
"I rate the price of SAP Business ByDesign a seven out of ten."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
14%
Educational Organization
11%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Computer Software Company
24%
Real Estate/Law Firm
8%
Healthcare Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about NetSuite ERP?
The inventory feature in NetSuite ERP is very valuable to me because it provides clear estimates about the depreciation of details and includes useful mobile modules.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for NetSuite ERP?
If you buy it through Europe or North America, it is quite expensive. However, if you can buy it from developing markets according to NetSuite, you can get significant discounts, up to 70%.
What needs improvement with NetSuite ERP?
Reports are good but not perfect. The custom reports could be improved. The initial setup process for reports can be a bit complicated and may require more user-friendly options. My previous compan...
What do you like most about SAP Business ByDesign?
The most valuable features of SAP Business ByDesign are customer invoicing and cost and revenue, from which I get the data for my project reports.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SAP Business ByDesign?
The price is high, as every year SAP increases the price by 3.5%.
What needs improvement with SAP Business ByDesign?
We received a few complaints about the slowness in SAP Business ByDesign last year, so I think SAP can focus on improving performance, particularly when it becomes slow during data saving and handl...
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

2Pure, Accuvant, Actian, Adtegrity, Advantage Sign Supply, All-Safe Pool Safety Products, Alton Lane, AMC Liquidators
Standard Bank of South Africa, AOK Bundesverband, PT XL Axiata Tbk, Tvoy Dom, Schaidt Innovations GmbH & Co. KG, DeLaval International AB, EMC Corporation, Lenovo, Castle Importing Inc., Unilever, Rifle Paper Co., RAK Ceramics, Rough Country, B&G Manufacturing, Life is good Inc., Joy Global Inc., City of Cape Town
Find out what your peers are saying about NetSuite ERP vs. SAP Business ByDesign and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
861,524 professionals have used our research since 2012.