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SAP Mobile Platform vs Xamarin Platform 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 Mobile Platform
Ranking in Mobile Development Platforms
11th
Average Rating
7.8
Number of Reviews
8
Ranking in other categories
Mobile App Platforms (4th)
Xamarin Platform
Ranking in Mobile Development Platforms
6th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
40
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2025, in the Mobile Development Platforms category, the mindshare of SAP Mobile Platform is 3.5%, up from 3.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Xamarin Platform is 7.2%, down from 8.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Mobile Development Platforms
 

Featured Reviews

ShahzadRafique - PeerSpot reviewer
Flexible, well-designed, and offers good scalability
It's not that difficult to set up. SAP has provided the complete installation and configuration scripts, and there's ample documentation available. Implementing it is not an issue. If you are just talking about installing the standalone SAP Mobile Platform, that won't take more than two to three hours. The problem is that when you have multiple integrated third-party integrations, it can be longer. In that case, the deployment really depends on how you actually do it, as, in a financial institution, there is a lot of middleware and other third-party systems that are also integrated with your system. We have a complete set of APIs exposed to different partners, and how everything goes together depends on what type of integrations are there and how complex they are. That said, it should not take more than three to four hours when it comes to only the standalone SMP.
Prince Tiwari - PeerSpot reviewer
Facilitates UI development with XAML, enabling shared UI code across platforms and reducing platform-specific work
I like its simplicity. As someone who didn't start my career as a dedicated developer, I was used to building websites or Windows applications. Transitioning to mobile app development meant learning new languages like Swift or Java. With C# and Xamarin, though, I could leverage my existing skillset. Xamarin, and specifically Xamarin.Forms, let me write my code once and deploy it natively to both Android and iOS. Xamarin.Forms are very useful. Essentially, it's a framework that allows me to create the UI mostly in XAML. This XAML code is then translated into the native UI elements for each respective platform. The advantage is that roughly 90% of my UI code can be shared. This significantly reduces the amount of platform-specific UI work compared to having to write separate UIs for each platform. For the most part, Xamarin's integration with Visual Studio improved the workflow, whether I'm on Windows or Mac. Since I'm familiar with Visual Studio, it provides a comfortable development environment. Additionally, features like Hot Reload and the integration of tools like Copilot help streamline the development process. Overall, it offers a positive development experience.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"If we work with the mobile extension of the ERP platform, we save time."
"The initial setup is not overly complex."
"Two of the very fascinating features that make SAP Mobile Platform stand out from other platforms are its offline capability and integration capability."
"Both platforms, the SAP Mobile Platform, and SAP, are highly valuable for our company because they facilitate integration, which can be expensive. It's very convenient to connect and create billing accounts through the SAP Mobile Platform."
"Technical support is helpful."
"It's not that difficult to set up."
"One valuable feature of SAP Mobile Platform is its enterprise-grade standard and maintained APIs, available out of the box for easy integration with various systems."
"It usually saves time for application development. We write once and the code works everywhere."
"The most valuable feature of the Xamarin Platform is that both the UI are the same in Android and iOS, in one project and Android and iOS, are applications for developing PCL projects. Additionally, the dashboard is good."
"The most important impact is the reduction in product lifecycle costs."
"On the market, compared to everyone else, they're the top solution. They're the best solution out there that I could see."
"For me, developing apps for iOS and Android is a dream came true, without migrating to Objective-C or Java. Xamarin enables me to do so."
"A single line of code works with android and iOS."
"The combination of forms for cross-platform UI and C-Sharp for the programming language are my two favorite features."
"The native features and Xamarin Essentials package are highly valuable to us."
 

Cons

"The tool is not easy or simple to integrate with other infrastructures."
"The licensing model is a bit dated."
"If it was low code or no code it would be ideal."
"SAP has announced that they'll be ending the support on the SAP platform."
"The toolkit to develop front end applications, especially native applications, is not that good."
"One drawback is that SAP Mobile Platform apps are only available through the browser, making offline capability more challenging to implement."
"The cost of the SAP Mobile Platform is high, and there is room for improvement in its pricing."
"The android application compilation time needs to be reduced."
"Xamarin Platform is missing the code renderer."
"Regarding improvements, there are still some limitations with Xamarin, particularly regarding access to core functionality in Android and iOS."
"The solution does not include Hot Reload which is painful because it causes us to wait quite some time for huge builds."
"There is room for increasing the scale a little bit further with the designer in the Visual Studio, more specifically, Xamarin.Android Designer in Visual Studio."
"The Xamarin.Forms could improve."
"For those who use only XAML to design the UI, it would be better if there was a better XAML previewer or designer."
"There is limited support for UX widgets."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The cost of SAP is extremely high, and it's not affordable for everyone."
"If you already paying for an SAP license and have SAP products that you are using, the price for SAP Mobile Platform is negligible."
"The tool is expensive. I rate the tool's price as an eight or nine out of ten."
"There is no license fee because the solution is open-source."
"There is no requirement for a license. It is available for free as an open-source product."
"This is an open-source solution, but there is a subscription charge to use the App Center of around $100."
"The price of the Xamarin Platform is not expensive. However, the price of the solution depends on the application that is made. For example, if you have small applications, it's different from large or enterprise applications."
"In most cases, it is sufficient to have free/community license. But if you plan to seriously develop production-level, highly polished apps, you need to use Xamarin.Profiler and the professional or enterprise license."
"It saved a lot of time and resources needed to develop a cross platform mobile app."
"Xamarin is available under several licensing arrangements. Each developer needs one license at least. All features, especially the Profiler, unlock only with the highest tier."
"My company provided all the licenses that we need to support our use of Xamarin Platform."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
12%
Government
11%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Educational Organization
17%
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
12%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about SAP Mobile Platform?
One valuable feature of SAP Mobile Platform is its enterprise-grade standard and maintained APIs, available out of the box for easy integration with various systems.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SAP Mobile Platform?
The tool is expensive. I rate the tool's price as an eight or nine out of ten.
What needs improvement with SAP Mobile Platform?
For a couple of years, SAP deployment and updates were not fair and simple. After the last evolution of mobile development in SAP, I need to check the latest features of the tool. At the company wh...
What do you like most about Xamarin Platform?
Xamarin.Forms are very useful. Essentially, it's a framework that allows me to create the UI mostly in XAML. This XAML code is then translated into the native UI elements for each respective platform.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Xamarin Platform?
Xamarin Platform is free, and we use an Azure subscription at a relatively low cost for our builds. It offers a good value for money, although it requires time to make it work effectively.
What needs improvement with Xamarin Platform?
The primary area for improvement is the support for third-party libraries, especially for major providers like Microsoft and Google. The lack of robust documentation and support for third-party bin...
 

Also Known As

SAP Syclo Agentry Mobile Platform, Sybase Mobile Development Platform, Sybase Unwired Platform
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Swarovski, CareFusion Corp., Adarsh Credit Co-operative Society Ltd.
Cinemark, MixRadio, Sqor Sports, Storyo, JetBlue, The World Bank, Cr_dito Agrcola, Applied Research Associates
Find out what your peers are saying about SAP Mobile Platform vs. Xamarin Platform and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.
837,501 professionals have used our research since 2012.