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SAP ERP vs SAP S/4HANA Cloud 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 ERP
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
104
Ranking in other categories
ERP (2nd)
SAP S/4HANA Cloud
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
52
Ranking in other categories
Cloud ERP (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Enterprise Resource Planning solutions, they serve different purposes. SAP ERP is designed for ERP and holds a mindshare of 20.0%, down 23.0% compared to last year.
SAP S/4HANA Cloud, on the other hand, focuses on Cloud ERP, holds 19.2% mindshare, up 12.4% since last year.
ERP
Cloud ERP
 

Featured Reviews

Srinivasan Kuppuswamy - PeerSpot reviewer
The amazing, robust framework with unlimited scalability earns its #1 status
The solution is not ready for the current e-commerce environment. Its was built for large enterprises who need to predictably optimize their human, material, and financial resources. ERP has evolved and businesses are changing. There are not many large corporations. Most are small enterprises with the capabilities of large enterprises through networking and platform integration. Some companies promote products but get things done with other enterprises as a network. Companies do not want to create new capacity but want to leverage existing capacity with innovative products. They do not want to spend resources on duplicating capacity or facilities. I do not think any ERP product is ready to support this environment so ERPs as a whole might end up being used for back-office functions only. It is not easy to evolve an ERP product because its intent is to integrate functions and processes within an organization. Whereas, in the new business model, processes are not limited to one's own enterprise but cut across different enterprises. There is no enterprise solution as this point in time for the current e-commerce environment so companies must integrate with many solutions.
Sajid Farooq - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides seamless integration of different modules in one place
Certain add-ons like quality control, payroll, and HRMS are not part of the SAP S/4HANA Cloud. SAP S/4HANA Cloud doesn't provide a quality control module. SAP S/4HANA Cloud does not have its own payroll and HRMS system. The partners develop their own cloud and integrate with the solution. There are certain modules specific to some industries, and SAP S/4HANA Cloud doesn't deal with those modules. Every partner of SAP S/4HANA Cloud has to develop its own and then integrate and certify with that solution. We can't say that these modules are part of SAP S/4HANA Cloud. There is a little area of improvement that SAP has to opt for particular types of solutions like QC, payroll, and HRMS. The graphics of SAP S/4HANA Cloud are not user-friendly. They don't look like they belong to a branded solution that costs too much. The solution's user interface is not appealing or user-friendly. On a scale from one to ten, where one is bad and ten is good, I rate the solution's user interface a five out of ten. SAP S/4HANA Cloud has built-in reports that are hard-coated. We have to alter or modify built-in reports in different marking segments, but there are no options for that. We have to build complete reports from scratch, and SAP-developed reports are not used in the market. SAP should provide a tool for customizing its developed reports so that there should not be a process of reengineering or reinventing the process.

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 SAP ERP are the general operations. It has a good way to manage a business and do financial reporting. Overall we are happy with the robustness of the solution."
"They provide a full service."
"The transactional integration of operations is the best-recommended feature of this product. It provides integration of all operational modules."
"It is a stable solution."
"Well-integrated multilingual technology."
"It is a utility-focused solution, and the deployment is very much aligned with utility service providers. If you look at the supply chain and the overall business model of a utility service provider, SAP is something that fits very well. That's because the company has invested tremendously in creating appropriate workflows pertaining to this segment or domain."
"The system's reliability has supported our day-to-day operations effectively without significant interruptions."
"There are many interfaces, so you really can build satellites around it like with other SAP stuff or even third-party stuff."
"With the newer update, there are more funnels as well as ample opportunity to customize the solution. With the SAP Optimizer, companies are using about five to ten percent of the product as-is while the other ninety to ninety five percent is customized to automate and standardize processes."
"Real-time data analytics capabilities and the ability to integrate external tools like Qlik Sense are some of the most valuable features."
"I like the SAP offerings and the standard best practices included in the SAP S/4HANA Cloud version."
"The most valuable features of SAP S/4HANA Cloud are the ease of use from the cloud, CapEx analysis report, and everything being connected together well."
"Managing the server and taking advantage of the services provided by SAP itself is the most valuable feature."
"The guidance SAP offers for implementing the product is clear and the online resources are great."
"S4HANA Cloud is reliable and accurate. Our existing team also has expertise in SAP, so it was simple to migrate to the cloud solution. S4HANA Cloud has advantages because we don't need to maintain the infrastructure, and there aren't any huge upfront costs."
"The integration between SAP EWM and S4HANA Cloud is seamless."
 

Cons

"SAP ERP is scalable. We have some five to ten thousand SAP ERP users."
"The solution is not ready for the current e-commerce environment."
"The service could be more user-friendly in the area of transition codes."
"SAP needs to be more intuitive."
"We will not make any major changes, and we are not expecting any enhancements or new features from SAP because they already have a new solution. No development is happening on SAP ERP because SAP has come up with a new version called SAP S/4HANA, which is memory-based technology. We are planning to upgrade to SAP S/4HANA, but we don't know when it will happen. We are in the preparation phase."
"SAP ERP needs to consider simplifying a few areas within the tool. Compared to SAP ERP, other solutions in the market are much more easily configurable and understandable. SAP has a lot of complex features."
"Presently, the solution's interface is not intuitive."
"The reporting feature could improve in SAP ERP. It could benefit from being more flexible."
"SAP promotes the cloud, but customers are worried about the security of their data. SAP suggests they have SAP S4HANA with RISE, which is a private cloud environment, but it is difficult to sell many of the customers on the cloud concept because of the privacy issues."
"The product could be improved by enhancing its user interface to make it more intuitive and by increasing the customization options for tracking and reporting, which would better align with our specific needs."
"The solution is expensive. That can be an issue for clients."
"Certain add-ons like quality control, payroll, and HRMS are not part of the SAP S/4HANA Cloud."
"S/4HANA isn't ideal for managing contracts and subscriptions. There isn't a feature to notify us when a contract for a service we need is approaching its end or a product is no longer supported. You need a separate solution for that."
"UX design is not flexible and lacks compatibility with mobile devices."
"It can be done within a few hours, but it also depends on the customer's requirements. If they want some changes, it may be done within one hour. But if there are large-scale changes, it may take one week or one month."
"We'd like to have more of a low-code platform."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"When we talk about pricing it is expensive. On a scale of one to ten, it would rank a two. There are no additional fees but the user licenses are high."
"I rate the product's price a nine on a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap or affordable, and ten is really expensive. The solution is expensive."
"Licensing can vary, but for educational institutions, there are often favorable conditions."
"The solution is expensive so I rate cost a five out of ten."
"SAP ERP is an expensive tool."
"The product has high pricing."
"SAP is a bit on the costly side, but they also provide support and other things. We are paying for licenses and the use of the cloud."
"The on-premises licensing model comes with annual maintenance whereas the cloud-based licensing model is a yearly subscription. The tool’s pricing is normal and not expensive."
"The pricing model can be complicated in certain scenarios."
"It's very expensive."
"This is a pricey solution that best serves large enterprises. Be sure to ensure that your company's requirements need to be fulfilled by SAP. There are many other ERP's that are cheaper yet highly functional. However, it is still cheaper than some of the competition (i.e. Oracle, ESD, etc.)"
"The pricing of SAP S/4HANA Cloud is on the higher side."
"I'm not directly involved in the pricing discussions; it's more of a concern for the finance team."
"The tool's pricing is reasonable."
"On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive, I rate the solution's pricing a seven out of ten."
"The solution's costs have significantly increased, and we have not seen any anticipated cost savings."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
14%
Computer Software Company
12%
Retailer
7%
University
6%
Computer Software Company
16%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Educational Organization
6%
Construction Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

Is Anaplan better than SAP ERP?
There are different aspects of both Anaplan and SAP ERP that I like and dislike. Anaplan improves forecast accuracy and drives up the quality of analytics. Rather than spending all of their time co...
What do you like most about SAP ERP?
The solution has made the most significant impact on our human resources function, specifically in HR operations and HR analytics. One feature of SAP ERP that I found most valuable is its use of co...
What needs improvement with SAP ERP?
There is a need for improvement in the business analytics aspect in financial reporting and also in sales and marketing analytics.
What do you like most about SAP S/4HANA Cloud?
The manufacturing area is a good feature.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SAP S/4HANA Cloud?
SAP S/4HANA Cloud is very expensive, both to purchase and maintain. It's important to evaluate the costs of recruiting and maintaining trained personnel as it's not just a one-time payment yet requ...
What needs improvement with SAP S/4HANA Cloud?
The system is very heavy and requires a lot of resources and a dedicated team. It is costly to maintain, demanding trained professionals, which adds to the expenses. This makes the overall cost ver...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

No data available
SAP S4HANA Cloud
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

B&G Manufacturing, Unilever, Life is good Inc., Joy Global Inc., City of Cape Town, Bhopal Municipal, Corporation (BMC), adidas Group, Butcher & Packer Supply Company, Franklin Valve L.P., Evoshield, Prime Meats, a Norsan Group company, EMC Corporation, Varian Medical Systems Inc., FC Bayern Mªnchen AG, AkzoNobel Chemicals B.V., T¾V Rheinland, Pacific Drilling S.A., Fire & Rescue New South Wales, University of Amsterdam, Pa_alon S.A.
La Trobe University, Carrefour Comércio e Indústria Ltda, Delaware Consulting and Corning Inc.
Find out what your peers are saying about SAP, Microsoft, Oracle and others in ERP. Updated: April 2025.
849,190 professionals have used our research since 2012.