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SAP IQ vs SQL Server 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 IQ
Ranking in Relational Databases Tools
19th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
21
Ranking in other categories
Data Warehouse (12th)
SQL Server
Ranking in Relational Databases Tools
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
267
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2025, in the Relational Databases Tools category, the mindshare of SAP IQ is 0.6%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SQL Server is 20.1%, down from 23.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Relational Databases Tools
 

Featured Reviews

Tejas Raj - PeerSpot reviewer
Columnar database, so pulling records is easy but there isn't enough documentation for installation
I've seen very few SAP IQ systems in recent years. So people are moving away from SAP IQ In the last three years, I've rarely encountered customers using it. Fewer systems with SAP IQ usage among our customers. Most of them have moved on to HANA. There are parallel products, and there are also viable alternatives from AWS, so many have migrated to those.
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

"Unbeatable speed and compression with a colummn-structured relational database."
"Columnar storage allows high compression, high load rates and high query performance."
"The initial setup is easy."
"The product is easy to learn."
"The column-based technologies (basically all the database for ITP) are used for SAP IQ. It is used as a column-based solution."
"IQ is a very high-performance and high-transaction database."
"The primary benefit of SAP IQ is its ability to limit the expansion of the costly SAP HANA database, which has limited storage capacity. This necessitates a form of data management that involves moving data from SAP HANA to SAP NLS, which is essentially archiving. This allows us to retain access to the data via a link whenever it is required."
"All data is compressed and indexed, allowing for fast execution of transactions."
"I have experience with this product for many years. I never have problems with it. It can handle a PC, and it can also handle huge data. It is fast and efficient."
"I believe Always On is the most valuable feature. It's also easy to use and not very tricky."
"Unlike MySQL, SQL Server is advantageous because it allows the execution of stored procedures and commands. It's easy to understand, run, and manage. Also, Microsoft frequently updates SQL Server, quickly resolving issues in new versions."
"The performance is great."
"It is an extremely stable solution."
"The most valuable feature of SQL Server is the performance."
"The most valuable features are ease of use and the integration with Single Sign On (SSO), as well as with other Microsoft products."
"SQL Server is quite stable. And now we are using the Lattice 2017 version."
 

Cons

"The primary negative aspect is the cost, which can be a challenge due to the economic conditions in Peru."
"The solution works best when combined with other SAP solutions. If the environment has other systems other options might be better."
"The organization who owns the product does not support it well and appears not to be doing significant development for the future."
"There is very little documentation available."
"The room for improvement would be the marketing of the product, because this product is much better than advertised."
"I think the universe should be part of the Sybase IQ tool set."
"Multiplex is very problematic. There are consistency problems in the metadata, meaning it is possible to lose metadata consistency. You should make sure you have healthy backups."
"Concurrency and functional error messaging."
"The ability to connect with other environments needs to be improved."
"There is room for improvement in terms of pricing for SQL Server."
"The interface integration could be better."
"The solution is lacking a compound index for comparing values."
"The licensing costs are very high."
"CAL licenses should cost less. Microsoft usually prices high for client access licenses. Server plus user client access license (CAL) licensing requires a separate Server license for each server on which the software is installed, plus a user CAL for each user accessing the server."
"If you are a new user then this solution could be difficult, they could improve by making the overall usage easier."
"An area for improvement would be the SQL Server process monitoring, which is quite basic and could sustain more information."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Evaluate all options; check to see if you need expensive add-ons."
"Negotiation is very important."
"The cost of implementation is about $3,000."
"It's not that costly. So, the pricing is cheap."
"Negotiate based on the features required."
"The only costs after standard licensing fees are for add-ons and upgrades."
"Synapse is a bit costly. If I compare it with different databases, I think it's a reasonable price"
"You need to pay for the license. It most probably has per-core licensing."
"It's a bit expensive."
"Pricing is a bit on the higher side."
"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."
"For our purpose, we are not required to have a license for what we are using it for."
"The cost associated with SQL Servers is on the higher side."
"The product's price is reasonable."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
43%
Computer Software Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Government
5%
Educational Organization
52%
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 do you like most about SAP IQ?
The primary benefit of SAP IQ is its ability to limit the expansion of the costly SAP HANA database, which has limited storage capacity. This necessitates a form of data management that involves mo...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SAP IQ?
IQ implementation costs about three thousand dollars. It's less expensive compared to alternatives like Teradata Base in terms of transactional efficiency.
What needs improvement with SAP IQ?
The primary negative aspect is the cost, which can be a challenge due to the economic conditions in Peru.
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

Sybase IQ
Microsoft SQL Server, MSSQL, MS SQL
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

ASR Group, Citrix, State of Indiana, PocketCard Co. Ltd.
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 IQ vs. SQL Server and other solutions. Updated: February 2025.
837,501 professionals have used our research since 2012.