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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

"The most valuable feature of SAP HANA is the modeling of the databases."
"It has a very huge bandwidth and data transfer."
"What I like most are the dashboards and pervasive analytics."
"Anyone currently using SAP will be transitioning to HANA."
"It's sufficed all of our requirements. We primarily needed it to run SAP applications, like NetWeaver or S/4HANA, and it has been really good at that."
"The product handles high volumes very well and provides good integration."
"The solution is easy to manage enterprise resources and the reporting and analytics are including. It is good for company growth and all module are managed well."
"The speed at which it gets the data is great."
"One of Spark SQL's most beautiful features is running parallel queries to go through enormous data."
"I find the Thrift connection valuable."
"Offers a variety of methods to design queries and incorporates the regular SQL syntax within tasks."
"The stability was fine. It behaved as expected."
"This solution is useful to leverage within a distributed ecosystem."
"Spark SQL's efficiency in managing distributed data and its simplicity in expressing complex operations make it an essential part of our data pipeline."
"Overall the solution is excellent."
"The solution is easy to understand if you have basic knowledge of SQL commands."
 

Cons

"The initial setup was pretty complex, considering the enormous amount of data they had from an Oracle ERP."
"The initial setup was very, very complex, tedious, and costly and required someone with great expertise to complete it."
"When we are using SAP HANA we have some difficulty with the customization. We would like to be able to add and make customized menus."
"The support is lacking and not worth the premium price. If support was just a nominal fee, it would be perceived differently."
"The solution could improve in the handling of backup data and the administration tools."
"SAP HANA is not perfect and they could improve by having more options and more integration."
"The only downside of the product is that it is an expensive solution that needs to consider lowering its prices to improve the product."
"In terms of improvement, the speed is not as good as we thought it would be. That is why we are trying different solutions that will be built with different technologies."
"SparkUI could have more advanced versions of the performance and the queries and all."
"I've experienced some incompatibilities when using the Delta Lake format."
"It would be useful if Spark SQL integrated with some data visualization tools."
"Anything to improve the GUI would be helpful."
"In the next release, maybe the visualization of some command-line features could be added."
"There should be better integration with other solutions."
"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."
"It takes a bit of time to get used to using this solution versus Pandas as it has a steep learning curve."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We pay for a maintenance license, and the licensing cost is high. In general, it is a very expensive solution."
"The tool has a high price. I rate the solution’s pricing, one on a scale of ten, where one is expensive and ten is cheap."
"SAP HANA is very expensive for small to medium businesses."
"The pricing is relatively high for both customers and partners."
"We pay $200 on a monthly basis."
"The price of the solution could be reduced, it is expensive."
"It comes with a significant cost."
"It is expensive."
"The solution is open-sourced and free."
"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."
"There is no license or subscription for this solution."
"The solution is bundled with Palantir Foundry at no extra charge."
"We use the open-source version, so we do not have direct support from Apache."
"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."
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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
26%
Computer Software Company
15%
Retailer
7%
University
6%
 

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: January 2025.
837,501 professionals have used our research since 2012.