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SAP HANA vs Spark SQL 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 HANA
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
84
Ranking in other categories
Data Virtualization (2nd), Embedded Database (4th), Relational Databases Tools (4th)
Spark SQL
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
14
Ranking in other categories
Hadoop (5th)
 

Featured Reviews

Jayarami Reddy Pujeri - PeerSpot reviewer
Comprehensive system with real-time analytics for versatile industry applications
Our primary use case is working with various clients in industries such as pharmaceuticals and other services. We support clients as implementers of SAP HANA, providing expertise in functionality, finance, logistics, and processes The solution is very user-friendly and supports all kinds of…
Sahil Taneja - PeerSpot reviewer
Easy to use and do not require a learning curve
Spark SQL can improve the documentation they have provided. It can be a bit unclear at times. They could improve the documentation a bit more so that we can understand it more easily. Moreover, they could improve SparkUI to have more advanced versions of the performance and the queries and all.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Provides us with predictive capabilities for asset maintenance, and real-time forecasts."
"The in-memory database is excellent."
"What's most valuable in SAP HANA is that it covers the business process systems of my company. The solution also helps because it makes almost everything automated. Another valuable feature of SAP HANA is that it can be integrated with third parties and other enhancements needed by the company."
"We use SAP HANA for Master Data Governance."
"The product handles high volumes very well and provides good integration."
"Anyone currently using SAP will be transitioning to HANA."
"The UX experience is very good."
"It's easy to use, and the Hana Studio is pretty good."
"Overall the solution is excellent."
"Certain data sets that are very large are very difficult to process with Pandas and Python libraries. Spark SQL has helped us a lot with that."
"I find the Thrift connection valuable."
"Spark SQL's efficiency in managing distributed data and its simplicity in expressing complex operations make it an essential part of our data pipeline."
"This solution is useful to leverage within a distributed ecosystem."
"The team members don't have to learn a new language and can implement complex tasks very easily using only SQL."
"It is a stable solution."
"Offers a variety of methods to design queries and incorporates the regular SQL syntax within tasks."
 

Cons

"There could be better management for faster updates, last year there were some changes in India to the e-invoicing feature."
"In my limited experience using SAP, the process of granting access to different modules is difficult. Specifically, the requirement to assign roles and key codes to users rather than being able to assign them individually made the process more complex. It would be beneficial if there was a way to assign key codes separately, rather than having to create multiple roles. This would make managing access easier."
"It could be a bit more scalable."
"I would have rated the solution higher if this version was not missing some key features the newer version has."
"The relationship with a partner that sells SAP could be better. We depend much more on our own development, and the partner is for selling us the solutions, so we need them to be able to supply help and answers. The partner isn't very helpful, and we have to rely on our own knowledge and research."
"I don't have direct access to SAP, and instead, I need to go through the SAP office in India."
"A documents preview could be helpful."
"The initial setup of SAP HANA is complex. We did the implementation of one site, and a global deployment will take another three to four years."
"In the next update, we'd like to see better performance for small points of data. It is possible but there are better tools that are faster and cheaper."
"This solution could be improved by adding monitoring and integration for the EMR."
"SparkUI could have more advanced versions of the performance and the queries and all."
"In terms of improvement, the only thing that could be enhanced is the stability aspect of Spark SQL."
"There are many inconsistencies in syntax for the different querying tasks."
"Anything to improve the GUI would be helpful."
"It takes a bit of time to get used to using this solution versus Pandas as it has a steep learning curve."
"In the next release, maybe the visualization of some command-line features could be added."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing for SAP HANA is high. You pay a lot for the license, and you also have to pay for some add-ons."
"The solution's license is very expensive so I rate pricing a one out of ten."
"A monthly or yearly license must be purchased, although its utility will be based on the cost-benefit analysis that is reached by the individual customer."
"The licensing cost for SAP HANA is approximately $200 per user per month."
"The price is on the expensive side, at eight out of ten, with ten being expensive."
"There is an annual payment needed to use the solution."
"While the cost of the license may seem high, it is important to note that the benefits of the solution far outweighs the cost."
"The cost of SAP HANA is high, and I would rate the price at eight out of ten."
"The solution is open-sourced and free."
"The on-premise solution is quite expensive in terms of hardware, setting up the cluster, memory, hardware and resources. It depends on the use case, but in our case with a shared cluster which is quite large, it is quite expensive."
"There is no license or subscription for this solution."
"We use the open-source version, so we do not have direct support from Apache."
"We don't have to pay for licenses with this solution because we are working in a small market, and we rely on open-source because the budgets of projects are very small."
"The solution is bundled with Palantir Foundry at no extra charge."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
15%
Computer Software Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Government
7%
Financial Services Firm
23%
Computer Software Company
15%
Retailer
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What are the biggest benefits of using SAP HANA?
Based on my work with SAP HANA, the biggest benefit that it can bring to your business is total data management. This product is by SAP - a company that serves almost all needs a client may have co...
Is SAP HANA’s customer and technical support reliable?
We have been using SAP HANA for a fairly short period of time and have only taken advantage of their customer support. So far, we have not had issues that required specialized help from technical s...
Is SAP HANA difficult to set up and start using?
SAP HANA is fairly easy to set up, however, I do not think a complete beginner can do it. You certainly need some preparation - either you need to have experience with similar solutions, or with ot...
What do you like most about Spark SQL?
Spark SQL's efficiency in managing distributed data and its simplicity in expressing complex operations make it an essential part of our data pipeline.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Spark SQL?
We don't have to pay for licenses with this solution because we are working in a small market, and we rely on open-source because the budgets of projects are very small.
What needs improvement with Spark SQL?
In terms of improvement, the only thing that could be enhanced is the stability aspect of Spark SQL. There could be additional features that I haven't explored but the current solution for working ...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

SAP High-Performance Analytic Appliance, HANA
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Unilever, NHS 24, adidas Group, CHIO Aachen, Hamburg Port Authority (HPA), Bangkok Airways Public Company Limited
UC Berkeley AMPLab, Amazon, Alibaba Taobao, Kenshoo, Hitachi Solutions
Find out what your peers are saying about SAP HANA vs. Spark SQL and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
845,040 professionals have used our research since 2012.