Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

SAP Business ByDesign 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

SAP Business ByDesign
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
Cloud ERP (5th)
SAP S/4HANA
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
119
Ranking in other categories
ERP (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Enterprise Resource Planning solutions, they serve different purposes. SAP Business ByDesign is designed for Cloud ERP and holds a mindshare of 11.0%, up 10.1% compared to last year.
SAP S/4HANA, on the other hand, focuses on ERP, holds 13.7% mindshare, down 15.9% since last year.
Cloud ERP
ERP
 

Featured Reviews

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.
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 feature is the feature called Financial Closing Cockpit. This feature allows us to monitor our accounting and processing closely."
"The most valuable features of Business ByDesign are the integration of its modules, analytics, and dashboards."
"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."
"I like its modern approach. It is very modern and new technology."
"I like the tool’s customization."
"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."
"The most valuable feature of SAP Business ByDesign is it has a streamlined design."
"It has a quick implementation and onboarding of users. It is flexible with reports and powerful."
"I have no issues with the stability of the product, as everything seems to be fine."
"It is the most stable solution provided by SAP and can be used on all levels."
"One of the things I like about it is its well-integrated and secure nature."
"The integration is quick to implement and very user-friendly."
"I would rate the solution nine out of ten."
"The solution makes its use and the management of our infrastructure easy."
"In terms of its most valuable feature, I would say the finance module."
"It is a full-fledged, stable solution."
 

Cons

"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."
"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."
"The Arabic localization is neglected. It should have an Arabic interface. It lacks Arabic translation or support from right to left."
"SAP Business ByDesign can improve the flexibility and user-friendliness of the reporting during the implementations. Customizing the reports inside the device requires a lot of knowledge and most of the time a developer level is needed. For example, if you want to have a more specific reporting layout."
"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."
"The solution does not support customization for forms and reports. It's not flexible in case you need some enhancements in business processes."
"The database needs to be more customizable."
"The customer service and support are average. There is room for improvement in response time."
"This solution works with the configuration, if the prerequisites are very clear and can be configured it works perfectly. If you need to simulate something, as a predictive tool this kind of simulation is not very accurate and it has limitations. This is something that could improve."
"The cost is quite expensive, and some people notice this compared to other solutions."
"The cost is quite expensive."
"There is a need to improve the migration process."
"SAP support provides resolves all our problems, but the response time is slower than our customers expect. Maybe it's because they have such a large customer base and are always occupied, but that's one area all our customers mention."
"The procure-to-pay solution in the Contract Management angle could be better. If you look at it on Ariba, the Contract Management Life Cycle for Ariba is more robust. You can create documentation, SLAs, and NDAs. Apart from the procurement aspect of the contract, you have the legal side, but Ariba cannot do that. From what I've seen, the features of the procure-to-pay model in S/4HANA and their Contract Life Cycle Management side primarily focus on the procurement side. I believe it would be good if this solution could handle a part of the legal side. They will incorporate Extended Warehouse Management and Transportation Management into the S/4HANA cloud. Most big companies that use a solution like S/4HANA have a legal department within the organization. Suppose they can incorporate that to be in S/4HANA suites; I think it'll be good. It will be just like what we have with Transportation Management and Extended Warehouse Management. The user interface could be better. They have too much information on the interface, and our customers still keep complaining that it looks complex. Even though many things have changed, they still complain that the interface or the screen they see is a bit complex. It's only when they see the Fiori interface that their mind becomes a bit calm."
"There should be an easier way to migrate customers from all versions to SAP S/4HANA."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"I rate the price of SAP Business ByDesign a seven out of ten."
"The tool’s pricing is expensive."
"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 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."
"The cost starts anywhere between fifty thousand dollars and up depending on the number of licenses."
"Its pricing could be better."
"People concerned about the costs need to evaluate whether implementing this system is profitable."
"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."
"There is a license to use this solution."
"We're not sure yet. I think it was six figures a year, over 100,000. It has straight-up licensing fees."
"The solution might be expensive."
"The product is expensive"
"SAP is a costly product in terms of maintenance for an organization who has reached a particular level."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Cloud ERP solutions are best for your needs.
842,161 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Answers from the Community

RB
Jun 30, 2021
Jun 30, 2021
The main difference is RISE is associated with S/4 Product Range on Cloud while By Design is modeled after SAP Business One also on Cloud. So both are SaaS but the difference is in enterprise size and also application complexities. Also, RISE offers a bundle of pre-configured modules while By Design is similar to B1 with a lot more flexibility and high scalability. License wise both are per us...
See 2 answers
EB
Jun 28, 2021
Hello @Terry Jones ​, @Sanath Premachandra ​, @Ben Melchionno ​and @ASalman. Can you please assist in answering this question?
PB
Jun 30, 2021
The main difference is RISE is associated with S/4 Product Range on Cloud while By Design is modeled after SAP Business One also on Cloud.  So both are SaaS but the difference is in enterprise size and also application complexities. Also, RISE offers a bundle of pre-configured modules while By Design is similar to B1 with a lot more flexibility and high scalability. License wise both are per user on the cloud.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
24%
Real Estate/Law Firm
9%
Healthcare Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
6%
Educational Organization
39%
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 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.
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?
 

Also Known As

No data available
SAP S4HANA
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

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
Nestle, O.C. Tanner, Sabre, New York Life Insurance Co., MEMEBOX, Siemens AG.
Find out what your peers are saying about Oracle, NetSuite, SAP and others in Cloud ERP. Updated: March 2025.
842,161 professionals have used our research since 2012.