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Oracle Database Appliance vs SAP BW4HANA comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 18, 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

Oracle Database Appliance
Ranking in Data Warehouse
6th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
44
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
SAP BW4HANA
Ranking in Data Warehouse
9th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
42
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2025, in the Data Warehouse category, the mindshare of Oracle Database Appliance is 5.5%, down from 6.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP BW4HANA is 4.4%, down from 4.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Data Warehouse
 

Featured Reviews

Charu Mazumdar - PeerSpot reviewer
Simplifies database management tasks and provides high availability and disaster recovery
Oracle Database Appliance has simplified our database management tasks. Our clients are using the solution for high availability and disaster recovery. Our overall experience with the solution was good, especially the DR. Oracle Database Appliance's integrated storage solutions have enhanced our data management. Oracle Database Appliance's integration with other solutions was straightforward. We faced compatibility issues while moving from another device to this one, and the integration was not seamless. I would recommend the solution to other users. Overall, I rate the solution an 8 out of 10.
Csaba Grünblatt - PeerSpot reviewer
Performs all necessary data warehouse tasks and offers additional functionalities
SAP BW4HANA improved data reporting processes significantly. Performance on HANA database is good. Well-built data models ensure consistent and fast reporting. Reusable models enhance efficiency, even for SaaS services. In-memory computing, especially since HANA, has greatly improved performance in data analysis tasks. It eliminates the need for complex optimizations like creating indexes or aggregates. Queries that once took minutes now run in seconds, enabling real-time reporting, especially for SAP ECC on HANA. SAP BW4HANA's integration capabilities are streamlined with a simplified architecture and more virtual layers. You can directly load data into optimized layers, reducing the need for extra storage. The introduction of Open ODS Views allows for additional logic and master data inclusion, making integration faster and simpler. The learning curve for SAP BW4HANA is much faster now compared to ten years ago, thanks to abundant free resources like documentation, videos, blogs, and learning journeys provided by SAP. It is simpler to learn with these resources available compared to the past when you had to attend courses and rely on books. I would recommend SAP BW4HANA to users looking to implement it, especially if they want to keep their systems on-premise and already have SAP systems. Those with BW on HANA have two choices: BW4HANA or DataSphere, depending on their cloud strategy. If they are advanced in their cloud strategy and want to migrate off-premise, DataSphere is a good choice. However, for a robust solution on-premise or in a private cloud, BW4HANA is an excellent option. Overall, I would rate BW4HANA as a nine out of ten. It performs all necessary data warehouse tasks and offers additional functionalities. We use it traditionally, with complex transformations and models but with less emphasis on real-time processing and third-party sources.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Easy management (it saves a lot of installation and patching time)."
"Oracle has good technical support."
"Oracle Database Appliance provides high stability."
"The product is good value for money. It is a secure solution."
"I give it a nine out of 10 because it gives the customer easy access to a complete database solution within 30 minutes."
"We primarily use it for OLTP, which has improved our costs."
"Oracle Database Appliances are specifically designed for Oracle databases. They have built-in utilities and tools that simplify management, making them the best option for Oracle database management systems."
"The performance of the system is the solution's most valuable aspect. In combination with the database, it gives perfect results. It's a better system than using other kinds of integrated systems. In general, the ODA control is much simpler to use and offers up the best performance."
"Out of the box, this solution has a lot of standard features."
"Its direct approach is the most valuable. You get more real time and capabilities than BW."
"It's quite scalable."
"SAP BW4HANA aids in managing data from ER to front-end analysis, contributes to ROI, and fosters business growth understanding. I like that the solution breaks down components to a very granular level, allowing for customization and implementation based on specific requirements. The solution is stable. The solution is scalable."
"It is a stable solution...The initial setup was easy."
"Technology-wise, it is a very robust tool."
"From an ERP point of view and a functionality point of view, it works very well. The benefits are in that of financial costing and material management."
"It can calculate data in detail. Before we could not calculate financial documents and accountant documents in detail, we could not do it at a document level but now we can. This is the most important feature. It also has predictive analysis memory."
 

Cons

"Oracle's product support is an area of concern where improvements are required."
"Oracle Database Appliance could improve by having better integration."
"I would rate the scalability a seven out of ten. It has some problems. Databases are huge. This leads to needing more and more RAM and capacity resources, making it hard to scale. Because of this, we use Exadata. That's definitely a point for improvement."
"You can only scale storage, not developer nodes."
"The tool's setup can be easier."
"We would like the ability to add more storage without having to upgrade to Oracle Exadata."
"Even though the solution can handle a lot of data, it's just too expensive currently."
"Virtualization needs improvement. It's not easy to back up the virtual machines in the Oracle VM architecture. I would also like to see native support for Veeam Backup Software."
"In the next release, I would like to see their BI component introduced with a mobile version, as it is not currently present."
"The dashboard should be simplified and made easier for exploration and decision making."
"Pricing would be a good improvement. A lot of customers think that it's very expensive and especially support is very expensive."
"The tool is not cloud-compatible."
"If I want to have good reporting, then I have to buy a separate license."
"There's the complexity in migration from BW to BW/4HANA, especially with data migration."
"Challenges arise with real-time client requirements when clients are accustomed to Microsoft Excel's extensive features for data analysis. They expect similar flexibility and customization in the solution, particularly regarding headers displaying keys and descriptions or just keys. Achieving this level of customization can be challenging, and it's an area that may need improvement."
"Not a ten because it's expensive and its ecosystem is not very open."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive, I rate the solution's pricing seven and a half or eight out of ten."
"Oracle’s pricing is ridiculously high."
"The product is costly."
"Compared to Oracle Exadata, Oracle Database Appliance is affordable."
"I don’t know ODA and alternative system prices. But Oracle the database license is quite expensive and a lot of my customers plan to migrate to open source databases like PostgreSQL."
"I would rate the pricing a four on a scale of one (high price) to ten (low cost)."
"The solution's pricing is very high."
"The price should be lower."
"For some, the rates offered by SAP can be costly while for others it may seem cheap. The price ultimately depends on how you have negotiated your contract with SAP."
"The product is free if we have the ECC license."
"It's a little expensive compared to Microsoft Azure."
"This is an expensive solution and there are costs in addition to the standard licensing fees."
"The tool is affordable."
"The SAP HANA application still hasn't been leveraged to the fullest extent, but it's a five-year enterprise license."
"The solution is expensive."
"In general, it's quite expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
29%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
8%
Manufacturing Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
Retailer
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Oracle Database Appliance?
Oracle Database Appliance provides high stability.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Oracle Database Appliance?
While I'm somewhat familiar with standard licensing, pricing isn't really my area of expertise. However, Oracle is on the higher end of the pricing spectrum, along with SAP.
What needs improvement with Oracle Database Appliance?
There is room for improvement in better integration with third-party tools, such as Power BI or Redshift. When dealing with federated data sources, this integration can be a challenge.
What do you like most about SAP BW4HANA?
One significant advantage of SAP BW/4HANA is the direct integration with the SAP HANA database, providing seamless access to real-time analytics. Additionally, it enables real-time data integrati...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SAP BW4HANA?
We have a broad licensing arrangement, which is expensive but worth it for sizeable businesses.
What needs improvement with SAP BW4HANA?
The interface could be more user-friendly, as we often need to do low-level coding to get things done.
 

Also Known As

X5-2
SAP BW/4HANA
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

LifeLock, Incarlopsa, Al Yusur Industrial Contracting
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Find out what your peers are saying about Oracle Database Appliance vs. SAP BW4HANA and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
842,296 professionals have used our research since 2012.