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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
7.4
Number of Reviews
35
Ranking in other categories
Activity Based Costing Software (6th), Billing Software (1st)
SAP Business ByDesign
Ranking in Cloud ERP
5th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Cloud ERP category, the mindshare of NetSuite ERP is 20.8%, down from 34.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP Business ByDesign is 10.9%, up from 10.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Cloud ERP
 

Featured Reviews

Venkat Sudni - PeerSpot reviewer
It's a user-friendly cloud-based solution that startups and small businesses can afford
Setting up NetSuite ERP is pretty straightforward. It's a plug-and-play solution that comes with the default bundle. We uploaded our GLs and charter accounts and added our company code to the architecture. It can be up and running in under a month. It takes at least five people to deploy NetSuite.
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

"I like the ease of setup and customization of forms."
"The initial setup is easy."
"The project management aspect and the timesheets are valuable, especially for ensuring that our milestone billings are automated properly. From a manufacturing perspective, it is more to do with the entire management of the inventory, the overall finance, consolidation of books of accounts, and managing the profit and loss in a more effective manner."
"I recommend this product to professional services companies and those with complex international financial requirements. NetSuite ERP has strong capabilities in the finance domain that other ERPs may lack."
"As NetSuite ERP is a cloud product, a valuable feature I found in it is the very friendly user interface. You can set up shortcuts within the applications for frequently used reports or navigation. You can also customize dashboards in NetSuite ERP. Another feature I found valuable in the solution is good reporting. It has many industry-standard reports focused on finance and inventory. I also like the seamless switching between production and test environments and that you can customize the environments within NetSuite ERP. For example, you can put banners on your test and production environments to differentiate or segregate the logins to prevent mistakes. The solution is pretty easy to use and navigate, and it's more of a lightweight software. I like that it's a cloud product, so work is done on the front end rather than the back end. There's also a community for NetSuite ERP where you can raise your queries and issues. You'll find other people sharing experiences about common issues so you can get quick fixes from the community."
"It is a very solid product for finance and procure-to-pay processes."
"We use it for the projects we do in the telecom industry."
"Every year, they release a new version."
"I like the tool’s customization."
"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."
"The standard system is stable."
"I like its modern approach. It is very modern and new technology."
"The most valuable feature of SAP Business ByDesign is it has a streamlined design."
"ByDesign's best features are its speed, real-time data, and reporting."
"I have found the consolidation of the business and group reports very useful. There is plenty of features and the manufacturing and finance aspect of the solution are strong."
"The most valuable features of Business ByDesign are the integration of its modules, analytics, and dashboards."
 

Cons

"As with any system offering large volumes of data, there are limitations on processing large volumes of data in custom ways."
"What needs to be improved is the development in the other areas and other businesses that can use NetSuite."
"The areas that this product needs to improve on is the implementation and inventory processes."
"In NetSuite ERP, they should focus on offering better customization options."
"The custom reports could be improved."
"The solution could be more stable."
"Improvement-wise, it should be more customizable. Currently, you can't enhance the product yourself in terms of development for any applications unless you've got a very strong and big development team. Those are the skills that are in very short supply."
"The manufacturing and planning side could be improved. That part isn't up to date. NetSuite could be easier to integrate in general."
"I would say budget controlling needs improvement. I mention this because it does not have all the functionalities that we need in terms of managing the budget."
"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."
"Scalability is difficult."
"The database needs to be more customizable."
"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."
"ByDesign could be improved by making screen modifications easier."
"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."
"The solution does not support customization for forms and reports. It's not flexible in case you need some enhancements in business processes."
 

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."
"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."
"There is an annual license required to use this solution."
"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."
"The price of the solution is quite high."
"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."
"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."
"I rate the price of SAP Business ByDesign a seven out of ten."
"We have to pay yearly."
"The cost starts anywhere between fifty thousand dollars and up depending on the number of licenses."
"The pricing depends on company size. It's cheaper for small companies and more expensive for large ones."
"The tool’s pricing is expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
46%
Computer Software Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
4%
Computer Software Company
24%
Real Estate/Law Firm
9%
Healthcare Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
7%
 

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 pricing depends on company size. It's cheaper for small companies and more expensive for large ones.
What needs improvement with SAP Business ByDesign?
There might be some hurdles when integrating with SAP ECC, but integration with SAP S/4HANA Cloud is smooth.
 

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: March 2025.
845,040 professionals have used our research since 2012.