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

SAP HANA vs SQL Server comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 5, 2025

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
Ranking in Relational Databases Tools
4th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
84
Ranking in other categories
Data Virtualization (2nd), Embedded Database (4th)
SQL Server
Ranking in Relational Databases Tools
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
268
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Relational Databases Tools category, the mindshare of SAP HANA is 11.4%, up from 11.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SQL Server is 18.6%, down from 23.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Relational Databases Tools
 

Q&A Highlights

AS
Feb 15, 2021
 

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…
Azizul Haque - PeerSpot reviewer
It has eliminated all kinds of inconsistencies, and it is reliable, secure, and fast
I don't know whether SQL Server can support large organizations where the database size is more than 100 GB. It might be because of SQL Server, or it might be because of the programming of the software vendor, but a lot of people think that it is a problem with SQL Server. It can't handle a large amount of data or large data size. In terms of its usage, about 90% of our applications are running on the SQL Server database. We have around 1,600 users for our software, and all the applications are connected to the SQL Server database.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The solution operates well."
"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."
"SAP HANA is vertically and horizontally scalable."
"The solution is stable."
"The solution is easy to scale."
"A very feature-rich solution with excellent performance."
"The most valuable feature of SAP HANA is its performance and integration."
"SAP HANA's interface is pretty user-friendly."
"The technical support that Microsoft provides is great."
"SQL Server is easy to manage because all our DevOps team are familiar with it and simple to access because it is cloud-based."
"The product can scale if a company needs it to."
"The management studio is probably the thing we use the most for running quick queries and creating quick reports. Quite often, somebody comes and says, "Hey, can you find XYZ?" It is so much easier just to jump in there and run a quick query."
"It integrates well with other platforms."
"I think just having everything in one centralized set of databases where there is easily managed manageable."
"Since we can automate most of our tasks, it means that the management is very easy."
"Similar to Microsoft SQL, it is easy to scale."
 

Cons

"The performance and integration with other products are areas in need of improvement."
"The high price of the product is an area of concern where improvements are required."
"The inclusion of a well-performing Time Machine is vital."
"SAP HANA is not perfect and they could improve by having more options and more integration."
"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."
"The product lacks some flexibility in its settings and configurations."
"I give the scalability of SAP HANA a six out of ten."
"The installation process could be more straightforward."
"Right now we don't get much technical support from Microsoft"
"SQL Server could improve by providing something similar to an interface or dashboard where a developer can do debugging, this would make a developer's work easier. Additionally, the optimization could be better. If there was an interface showing information needed for the optimization it would help because there can be some data loss making it difficult to optimize the SQL Server."
"Scalability of the database could be improved if it could handle increased volumes of data."
"More things in SQL Server need to be automated."
"From a DB administrator perspective, I would like to see more space requirements and space capacity history, so that we are able to see which DBs are growing, and by how much per day or week."
"The interface of the tool has certain shortcomings, making it an area where improvements are required."
"I would like to see the database become fully automated."
"The solution could be better when it comes to security."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Setup and licensing require planning and proper budgeting, as it is not cheap."
"There is an annual license to use SAP HANA."
"The price of this product is good."
"I would rate the pricing of the solution a ten on ten. The pricing for on-prem SAP HANA is on a yearly basis and expensive. I am not aware of the actual pricing but it is based on 64 Gigabytes. For instance, if you consider $10,000 for 64 Gigabytes, then you can calculate the cost for Terabytes in case you have one. You will have to buy expensive hardware as well which is quite a lot."
"We pay $200 on a monthly basis."
"The tool is expensive compared to other products, like Oracle R or Microsoft, but it offers a range of all the company's functions."
"The tool’s subscription is yearly."
"The pricing is relatively high for both customers and partners."
"It comes with the bundle package that we have. We have Microsoft Volume Licensing, so we don't have to pay for it separately. It is a part of the package."
"The licensing is on an annual basis."
"The price of the solution could be cheaper."
"Licensing fees increase depending on size and performance. If you want higher performance, you should go for a different course."
"There is a license required for servers and for the POS we use the free version. The free version allows you to have tables and a total database size of approximately 10 GB, which is enough for our requirements."
"It is annual."
"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 product is expensive."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Relational Databases Tools solutions are best for your needs.
845,040 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
15%
Computer Software Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Government
7%
Educational Organization
53%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Computer Software Company
6%
Manufacturing Company
5%
 

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...
Would you say the price of SQL Server is high compared to that of similar products?
SQL Server is fairly priced because it has various editions, depending on the number of users, servers, or core packs you are using. If you compare the product to others in this category, the price...
Has using SQL Server helped your organization in any way?
SQL Server has helped my organization through partitioning to distribute the workload, as it splits them up into smaller pieces so the machines can easily deal with it. However, this comes with a h...
Which authentication mode is best for SQL Server?
My company connects through SQL Server authentication. We have company Windows accounts, but we do not want to connect the two, out of security concerns and to keep things separated for our own pur...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

SAP High-Performance Analytic Appliance, HANA
Microsoft SQL Server, MSSQL, MS SQL
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Unilever, NHS 24, adidas Group, CHIO Aachen, Hamburg Port Authority (HPA), Bangkok Airways Public Company Limited
Microsoft SQL Server is used by businesses in every industry, including Great Western Bank, Aviva, the Volvo Car Corporation, BMW, Samsung, Principality Building Society, Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield, and the Catholic District School Board of Eastern Ontario.
Find out what your peers are saying about SAP HANA vs. SQL Server and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
845,040 professionals have used our research since 2012.