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SAP SQL Anywhere vs SQL Server comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 4, 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 SQL Anywhere
Ranking in Relational Databases Tools
31st
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
6
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
SQL Server
Ranking in Relational Databases Tools
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
273
Ranking in other categories
Database Management Systems (DBMS) (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2026, in the Relational Databases Tools category, the mindshare of SAP SQL Anywhere is 1.2%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SQL Server is 11.9%, down from 18.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Relational Databases Tools Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
SQL Server11.9%
SAP SQL Anywhere1.2%
Other86.9%
Relational Databases Tools
 

Featured Reviews

MT
Automation Project Manager at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
Scalable, easy to use, but stability could improve
We use SAP SQL Anywhere because we have a lot of Power BI reports that connect with the SQL database that we have for our robotic process automation data. We create procedures and other elements within the solution The most valuable features of SAP SQL Anywhere are the ease of use and the user…
Peter Larsson - PeerSpot reviewer
Data Warehouse Lead at Resurs Bank AB (publ.)
Ledger and seamless integrations have strengthened trusted analytics and unified workloads
SQL Server's high availability and disaster recovery features work for supporting mission-critical applications, but there is much more to wish for. These features are not quite ready yet, although they do function. However, they could be significantly better. High availability and disaster recovery features should be improved in the next releases. I have noticed that everything could be improved or enhanced in the future, particularly temporal tables and window functions. Sometimes, I believe Microsoft releases features to stay ahead of competitors, but they do not make them feature-rich or feature-complete. They release something to be ahead of leaders and then seem to forget to maintain and upgrade them. I want Microsoft to pay more attention and be more mindful about the things they implement. It is fine to do a first release that works, but you cannot simply abandon it in the following years without service packs and improvements. You must continue to build on features rather than forgetting about them.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"SAP SQL Anywhere is very helpful."
"It works well in general."
"The most valuable features of SAP SQL Anywhere are the ease of use and the user interface is intuitive."
"We've found the solution very reliable overall. It's very fast."
"SQL Anywhere is easy and it did not cost as much as SQL Microsoft."
"It's a great product to use if you are already have an integration with SAP's ERP/CRM systems."
"The most valuable features of SAP SQL Anywhere are the ease of use and the user interface is intuitive."
"The auto-backup replication is a perfect feature."
"We assist companies to improve the performance of their servers, and we're generally able to improve performance by 40%."
"The performance is good."
"We are using it for accounts payable and accounts receivable automation."
"SQL Server is definitely easy to use, and with the volume that we have, it's also stable."
"One of the best features of SQL Server is the efficient retrieval of information."
"It's much more friendly in comparison with Oracle."
"I would say that it is a stable product."
"Reliability, transaction management, and its higher limits for storage and table management are the most valuable features for us."
 

Cons

"The interface is not easy in comparison to the SQL Server. It could be more user-friendly."
"It is not as secure as it could be."
"A problem we are experiencing now is when doing a backup in SQL 2012 and 14."
"We have had some stability issues with SAP SQL Anywhere, but I am not sure if it is an application or network issue."
"The interface is not easy in comparison to the SQL Server. It could be more user-friendly."
"It is not as secure as it could be; there needs to be more encryption and we can find passwords very easily."
"SAP SQL Anywhere needs to incorporate functionalities like SAP S/4HANA."
"Performance issues when syncing the MBO packages to the server."
"Issues encountered with stability were always correctable assuming we as a business were willing to spend money."
"SQL Server needs to improve in performance and monitoring because there are no specific monitoring solutions to detect and analyze events for issues in the database."
"Additional interfaces would be an improvement."
"Analysis services have a lot of room for improvement. Basically, manageability on the available tools; they are not very efficient and my main headache is with the analysis service."
"From a development perspective, the solution needs to be a lot easier to understand or it needs to be easier to implement API packages for connection pooling so we don't have connection interruptions when, let's say, a hundred people simultaneously access the network on a given system, utilizing a specific or single database."
"Microsoft support is an issue unto itself."
"It would be better if it had more integration with other systems."
"The UX design of this system needs improvement."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"SAP SQL Anywhere is affordable."
"SQL Anywhere cost us about $400."
"We purchased our license and the pricing is fine for us."
"Pricing is reasonable for small organizations, but the scaling increases the price."
"Licensing fees are paid on a yearly basis."
"The price could be cheaper."
"We have an enterprise license, which we consider to be fine."
"The price of SQL Server could be better in the African market. The licensing model needs to be improved, it is confusing."
"Currently, almost all of my machines are in Azure and I think it is the best way of licensing now (VM+software)."
"It's a bit expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
10%
Retailer
7%
University
7%
Construction Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
39%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Computer Software Company
5%
Comms Service Provider
4%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business119
Midsize Enterprise60
Large Enterprise117
 

Questions from the Community

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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 SQL Anywhere
Microsoft SQL Server, MSSQL, MS SQL
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

AOK Bundesverband, Surgutneftegas Open Joint Stock Company, Molson Coors Brewing Company, City of Buenos Aires, ASR Group, Citrix, EarlySense, Usha International Limited, Automotive Resources International, Wªrth Group, Takisada-Osaka Co. Ltd., Coelba, RZD Russian Railways, National Basketball Association, TALLY WEiJL
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 SQL Anywhere vs. SQL Server and other solutions. Updated: March 2026.
885,789 professionals have used our research since 2012.