SAP ERP vs SAP S/4HANA Cloud comparison

The compared SAP ERP and SAP S/4HANA Cloud solutions aren't in the same category. SAP ERP is ranked #2 in ERP , with an average rating of 8.0, and holds a 20.0% mindshare in the category. SAP S/4HANA Cloud is ranked #3 in CE , with an average rating of 8.1, and holds a 19.2% mindshare. Additionally, 86% of SAP ERP users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 89% of SAP S/4HANA Cloud users who would recommend it.

SAP ERP

Read 104 SAP ERP reviews

15,213 Views
13,712 Comparison Views

86% willing to recommend

SAP S/4HANA Cloud

Read 52 SAP S/4HANA Cloud reviews

1,645 Views
681 Comparison Views

89% willing to recommend

SAP ERP

SAP S/4HANA Cloud

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between SAP ERP and SAP S/4HANA Cloud based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about SAP, Microsoft, Oracle and others in ERP.

To learn more, read our detailed ERP Report (Updated: March 2025).

Buyer's Guide

ERP

March 2025

Download the complete report

Helped 845,040 peers since 2012

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

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

Founder Partner & Chief Consultant at Sagesse Abundance

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.

Read full review

Sajid Farooq

Head of Professional Services at HCC - Technology & Advisory

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.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It is the best solution in the class of ERP products."

"It meets our requirements for what we need it to do in the manufacturing industry."

"SAP ERP offers a wide range of functional modules, including payroll, HR, financials, and others."

"SAP is more reliable in terms of data quality than other systems."

"I like that SAP ERP is very robust and stable."

"The solution has a lot of good integrated modules."

"From a long-term perspective, I can say that the solution can offer a return on investment, but it may take around three to four years for our company to experience it."

"It is an integrated application, and it has been working really well. Earlier, there were different companies for different applications for manufacturing, finance controlling, logistics, and quality. It probably was the first fully integrated application. Whenever somebody is entering any data, for example, invoice data or ordering data, everyone with a right to see this data can see it in the system."

More SAP ERP pros

"The product's most valuable features include its real-time data storage and integration capabilities through SAP connectors."

"The most valuable feature of SAP S/4HANA Cloud is the new UX design."

"It is a straightforward solution."

"Managing the server and taking advantage of the services provided by SAP itself is the most valuable feature."

"S/4HANA Cloud is very stable."

"The tool selection is really robust and scalable for multiple scenarios."

"The solution links everything and allows us to integrate into our entire supply chain."

"The solution is versatile with various integrated tools such as connecting with finance modules, controlling parameters, and creating universal journals."

More SAP S/4HANA Cloud pros

Cons

"It's very difficult to find people who are well versed in it."

"I believe there's room for improvement in terms of user experience."

"When there is a system error it provides an error code and a lot of times these can be complicated. The support team could have more knowledge to be able to assist with these situations more promptly."

"The service could be more user-friendly in the area of transition codes."

"The warehouse management could be better."

"It is very expensive to customize to meet compliance with regulations in some countries."

"Improvements to the UI. The UI is pretty old, but this will change with the upcoming release of S.4."

"Lacks sufficient technical support with slow response times."

More SAP ERP cons

"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."

"I don't recommend it for very small enterprises."

"There have been some pain points in moving from SAP to S/4HANA, but the company seems to be staying on top of those issues."

"The solution is expensive. That can be an issue for clients."

"The solution's speed and dashboard could be improved."

"It is a complicated solution. So it should be easier to use."

"We'd like to have more of a low-code platform."

"The scalability of the solution could improve."

More SAP S/4HANA Cloud cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"This is a costly product."

"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."

"There is an annual subscription for the use of SAP ERP."

"It could always be cheaper. They don't have a very easy model of licensing, but large entities would get the upper hand in negotiating the license."

"SAP is quite expensive."

"We pay annually for the use of this solution."

"I rate the product's price a seven on a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive. SAP ERP is a costly tool."

"The solution has moved from a licensing model to a rights-based, subscription model in the cloud."

More SAP ERP pricing and cost advice

"I'm not directly involved in the pricing discussions; it's more of a concern for the finance team."

"The pricing is competitive with other products at that level in that category."

"Its pricing is way over any of the other ERPs. I'd rate it one out of ten in terms of pricing."

"The license for S/4HANA is expensive, and the licensing structure is hard to understand. The admin license is something like 500 euros per user. Other ERP solutions allowed you to pick only the modules you need. The SAP ECC version requires you to take all the modules even if you are not using them."

"The licensing process for SAP S/4HANA Cloud has worked well."

"The solution's costs have significantly increased, and we have not seen any anticipated cost savings."

"The pricing model can be complicated in certain scenarios."

"It's very expensive."

More SAP S/4HANA Cloud pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which ERP solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

845,040 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Manufacturing Company

14%

Computer Software Company

12%

Retailer

Financial Services Firm

Computer Software Company

15%

Manufacturing Company

13%

Construction Company

Educational Organization

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...

See all answers

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...

See all answers

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.

See all answers

What do you like most about SAP S/4HANA Cloud?

The manufacturing area is a good feature.

See all answers

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...

See all answers

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...

See all answers

Comparisons

SAP S/4HANA vs SAP ERP

Compared 16% of the time

Microsoft Dynamics AX vs SAP ERP

Compared 13% of the time

Infor M3 vs SAP ERP

Compared 12% of the time

Anaplan vs SAP ERP

Compared 11% of the time

Infor LN vs SAP ERP

Compared 9% of the time

More SAP ERP Competitors

SAP Business ByDesign vs SAP S/4HANA Cloud

Compared 23% of the time

Oracle Fusion Cloud ERP vs SAP S/4HANA Cloud

Compared 21% of the time

SAP Business One vs SAP S/4HANA Cloud

Compared 14% of the time

NetSuite ERP vs SAP S/4HANA Cloud

Compared 10% of the time

Oracle E-Business Suite vs SAP S/4HANA Cloud

Compared 7% of the time

More SAP S/4HANA Cloud Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

SAP ERP

March 2025

Download SAP ERP product report

Buyer's Guide

SAP S/4HANA Cloud

March 2025

Download SAP S/4HANA Cloud product report

Also Known As

No data available

SAP S4HANA Cloud

Overview

SAP ERP addresses the core business software requirements of midsize and large organizations in all industries and sectors. SAP ERP includes four individual solutions that support key areas of enterprise resource planning: human capital management, financials, operations, corporate services.

SAP

SAP S/4HANA stands for SAP Suite 4 HANA. It is a next-generation integrated enterprise resource planning (ERP) software that is designed for businesses of all sizes, in all industries, that require deep and broad functionality combined with a high degree of flexibility. SAP S/4HANA was launched in 2015 and been adopted by more than 3,200 customers over a period of sixteen months. SAP S/4HANA is materially different from anything SAP has done before and represents the company’s biggest innovation since SAP R/3.

SAP S/4HANA is intended to provide a digital core for an organization. It is fully architected for the most advanced in-memory platform, SAP HANA, and is designed on the most modern design principles with the SAP Fiori user experience to create a personalized and simple feel on users’ device of choice (tablet, laptop, mobile). SAP S/4HANA aims to simplify an organizations’ system landscape and reduce total cost of ownership by shrinking the data footprint while at the same time improving productivity levels in the form of higher throughput. Timelines for cloud deployments average around six months.

SAP S/4HANA is designed to drive business innovation by connecting people, devices, and business networks in real time to support the development of new business models. It will also help accelerate the adoption of, and connection to, the Internet of Things and Big Data. SAP S/4HANA can analyze big data at unprecedented speed allowing users to access real-time information from anywhere, any way they’d like and thus help managers make truly insightful decisions. The simplified data model allows customers to reimagine their IT, helping to drive lower costs and deliver IT efficiency. This, coupled with the SAP S/4HANA prediction and simulation capabilities allow it to anticipate the impact of business outcomes. By doing all the above, SAP S/4HANA aims to provide ultimate sophistication in the simplest possible manner.

To learn more about SAP S/4HANA, visit http://go.sap.com/product/enterprise-management/s4hana-erp.html

SAP

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: March 2025.

DOWNLOAD NOW

845,040 professionals have used our research since 2012.

We monitor all ERP reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.