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Actian Ingres vs Oracle Exadata vs SAP BW4HANA 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:
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2025, in the Data Warehouse category, the mindshare of Actian Ingres is 1.4%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Oracle Exadata is 14.1%, down from 18.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP BW4HANA is 3.9%, down from 4.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Data Warehouse Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Oracle Exadata14.1%
SAP BW4HANA3.9%
Actian Ingres1.4%
Other80.6%
Data Warehouse
 

Featured Reviews

GH
Reliable performance enhances operations with good technical support
We run the entire IRS system, the income system, and the tax system. We also manage the entire Absa banking system in Africa. There's a lot of database applications, similar to those used in banks and the IRS The most valuable features for us are reliability and performance. Our system is used…
Ahmed-Yehia - PeerSpot reviewer
Exceptional database performance with high availability and good reliability
The major use of Exadata is for running databases, big databases, and also for backing them up. It provides high availability and high performance specifically for databases, and not for applications, just Oracle databases High availability and high performance are very valuable aspects of the…
Csaba Grünblatt - PeerSpot reviewer
Performs all necessary data warehouse tasks and offers additional functionalities
SAP BW4HANA improved data reporting processes significantly. Performance on HANA database is good. Well-built data models ensure consistent and fast reporting. Reusable models enhance efficiency, even for SaaS services. In-memory computing, especially since HANA, has greatly improved performance in data analysis tasks. It eliminates the need for complex optimizations like creating indexes or aggregates. Queries that once took minutes now run in seconds, enabling real-time reporting, especially for SAP ECC on HANA. SAP BW4HANA's integration capabilities are streamlined with a simplified architecture and more virtual layers. You can directly load data into optimized layers, reducing the need for extra storage. The introduction of Open ODS Views allows for additional logic and master data inclusion, making integration faster and simpler. The learning curve for SAP BW4HANA is much faster now compared to ten years ago, thanks to abundant free resources like documentation, videos, blogs, and learning journeys provided by SAP. It is simpler to learn with these resources available compared to the past when you had to attend courses and rely on books. I would recommend SAP BW4HANA to users looking to implement it, especially if they want to keep their systems on-premise and already have SAP systems. Those with BW on HANA have two choices: BW4HANA or DataSphere, depending on their cloud strategy. If they are advanced in their cloud strategy and want to migrate off-premise, DataSphere is a good choice. However, for a robust solution on-premise or in a private cloud, BW4HANA is an excellent option. Overall, I would rate BW4HANA as a nine out of ten. It performs all necessary data warehouse tasks and offers additional functionalities. We use it traditionally, with complex transformations and models but with less emphasis on real-time processing and third-party sources.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The deployment of our solution across a number of servers using Ingres .NET has meant that we can protect the database server behind a highly secure firewall and deploy the front end solutions on a normal web server."
"The most valuable features for us are reliability and performance."
"The new Exadata x9m has an even higher speed of 100GBps connectivity."
"The performance on the databases is good."
"The most valuable feature of Oracle Exadata is the integration with other solutions, such as SAN storage and shared VLAN network."
"Before using this machine, we took no less than two days to run a report. Now, we can do it within five hours. So, there is a lot of improvement."
"The storage capacity and the performance of Oracle Exadata are good. When comparing the performance to other technologies it is very good. I am satisfied with the management of the solution."
"Oracle Exadata's performance is one of its best features. We very satisfied with it."
"The product is flexible."
"The performance of the data is the most important part."
"It provides the functions in a way that even a less technical person can do the modeling."
"The product has efficient performance."
"Out of the box, this solution has a lot of standard features."
"It is a very stable solution."
"The solution's performance is really good. Also, it's easy to operate, easy to administer, and relatively simple to install."
"Provides a great analytics engine with all the capabilities."
"It's quite scalable."
"One significant advantage of SAP BW/4HANA is the direct integration with the SAP HANA database, providing seamless access to real-time analytics. Additionally, it enables real-time data integration. We don't need to rely on historical data alone; we can provide reporting and features based on real-time information."
 

Cons

"The ability to reset the log file without stopping the DBMS would be helpful for us."
"The seamless integration is a bit of an issue."
"It is difficult to evaluate return-on-investment because of the way billing is handled for the product. This should be improved by oracle."
"There is a feature for security, but it is not included in the first purchase of this solution. That means if you need to increase the security, you need to buy the security feature which doesn't come by default on these solutions."
"We used the support from Oracle Exadata to complete the implementation."
"The cost of the solution is high and can be improved."
"One small area for improvement in Oracle Exadata is integration, particularly at the consolidated application level."
"The setup is a little bit complex. We would like to see the installation part get easier."
"Patching must be simplified."
"Tech support sometimes takes some time to identify and rectify issues."
"The problem is the expensive pricing of technical support, making it an area where improvements are required."
"In the next release, I would like to see their BI component introduced with a mobile version, as it is not currently present."
"There's the complexity in migration from BW to BW/4HANA, especially with data migration."
"The product needs to improve with more performance and fewer data layers."
"I would like to be able to design new reports in a future release."
"It's complicated to use. You need to spend a lot of time learning about it. The interface could be improved. It's not intuitive to build a data model and use their ETL tools."
"If I want to have good reporting, then I have to buy a separate license."
"Connecting multiple sources is a challenge because you have to go through a lot of different setups."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"Our customers are always looking to reduce the license's cost."
"Oracle Exadata is not a cheap solution. Pricing is a problem for Oracle, and every client, not just my company, would like the vendor to improve on the price, or lower the price. My company paid for several years' worth of Oracle Exadata licenses. You need to pay for the technical support and other features separately, on different contracts. In terms of affordability, my rating for Oracle Exadata is two out of five."
"It is an expensive product and you pay more for certain performance enhancements."
"You have to pay for the storage and the database in Oracle Exadata. It cost a lot, but it is worth it. It would be a benefit if we could reduce the price for the number of CPUs and extend the memory."
"The solution is expensive."
"The pricing of Oracle Exadata is too high."
"Oracle Exadata is costly. Its licensing should also be more versatile. Smaller companies would benefit if Oracle Exadata had lower pricing."
"The licensing can be a bit expensive because you need to have certain tools enabled that require them."
"The cost of ownership is higher. It's resource-intensive, and naturally, that increases costs."
"It's a little expensive compared to Microsoft Azure."
"The solution is expensive."
"For some, the rates offered by SAP can be costly while for others it may seem cheap. The price ultimately depends on how you have negotiated your contract with SAP."
"We started as early birds from the SAP side. We got this entire suite for free. I cannot really talk about the price because we didn't have to pay anything."
"For the on-premises version of the product, the solution offers a perpetual-based licensing model to its users. In general, SAP offers a monthly subscription-based licensing model to its users."
"The cost and licensing depends on how the customer is going to use the solution."
"SAP BW/4HANA is expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
23%
Insurance Company
9%
Government
7%
Legal Firm
7%
Financial Services Firm
32%
Computer Software Company
10%
Government
6%
Manufacturing Company
5%
Manufacturing Company
17%
Retailer
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business47
Midsize Enterprise13
Large Enterprise86
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business16
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise27
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Actian Ingres?
The seamless integration is a bit of an issue. I would like to see more direct connectors and stuff like SQLAlchemy. ...
What is your primary use case for Actian Ingres?
We run the entire IRS system, the income system, and the tax system. We also manage the entire Absa banking system in...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Actian Ingres?
Initially, it's a lot less expensive than competitors. Price performance has always been a priority, ensuring we rema...
What do you like most about Oracle Exadata?
It is the best solution for OLTP and data warehousing.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Oracle Exadata?
The cost of Oracle Exadata is substantial, particularly in terms of maintenance costs and licensing. This pricing str...
What needs improvement with Oracle Exadata?
Patching Oracle Exadata can be challenging due to its numerous components including network, blade, CPU, storage, and...
What do you like most about SAP BW4HANA?
One significant advantage of SAP BW/4HANA is the direct integration with the SAP HANA database, providing seamless ac...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SAP BW4HANA?
The certification cost is extremely high. I completed certification for $40,000. The certification cost for SAP BW4HA...
What needs improvement with SAP BW4HANA?
Integration needs improvement. In reporting, I am not comfortable with the creation of variables, and some calculatio...
 

Also Known As

Ingres, Ingres 2006
No data available
SAP BW/4HANA
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Groupe Adeo, IsCool Entertainment
PayPal, EBS, Organic Food Retailer, Garmin, University of Minnesota, Major Semiconductor Company, Deutsche Bank, Starwood, Ziraat Bank, SK Telecom, and P&G.
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