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Actian PSQL vs SAP HANA comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 25, 2026

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

Actian PSQL
Ranking in Embedded Database
11th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
5.5
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
SAP HANA
Ranking in Embedded Database
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
93
Ranking in other categories
Data Virtualization (2nd), Relational Databases Tools (3rd), Database Management Systems (DBMS) (5th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Embedded Database category, the mindshare of Actian PSQL is 3.1%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP HANA is 11.1%, up from 9.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Embedded Database Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
SAP HANA11.1%
Actian PSQL3.1%
Other85.8%
Embedded Database
 

Featured Reviews

辺琢也 渡 - PeerSpot reviewer
Solution Architect at Dropbox
Easy configuration, with affordable pricing, and reliable
We use Actian PSQL for analytics purposes Actian PSQL is easy to configure and the performance is affordable. It would be great to have some sizing guides to configure the on-premise software to make it easier. We need to improve the security options for the on-premise option. I would like to…
HP
SAP Analytics Lead at Miracle Software Systems, Inc
Performs well with high database and reporting performance
We face difficulties replicating the AC DOCA table, which is a huge table, from S/4HANA to SAP HANA BAS, Business Application Studio, or HANA Studio using SLT. For developing Power BI reports using the AC DOCA table, we are replicating full data daily. We want to implement delta load, and while we used OData service for one client, the delta OData service link is not properly updating delta records. Licensing costs with SAP HANA are very high. Due to high pricing, many clients are moving from BW on SAP HANA and S/4HANA to Azure SQL. I have worked with several clients who have moved all data flows to Azure and developed Power BI queries on top of Azure. Many clients are also using Google Cloud Platform (GCP). The certification costs are also very high, more than ₹1,40,000 INR. Previously, it was ₹30,000 to ₹40,000. I want to pursue three certifications but am unable to do so due to the cost.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Actian PSQL is easy to configure and the performance is affordable."
"Actian PSQL is easy to configure and the performance is affordable."
"MySQL is too poor in functionality, Oracle is too big slow and the price is not quite good."
"On the basis of my experience, SAP HANA is better than other solutions."
"One feature I find very valuable, is the response time of the application on the database memory."
"The most valuable SAP HANA features are that, compared to Oracle, there is less administrative work and less complex work to handle, making it very straightforward."
"If you want to scale with new processes and new reports, that's fairly easy."
"I would rate the stability a 10 out of 10, and it absolutely deserves that mark."
"We use SAP HANA for Master Data Governance."
"SAP HANA is vertically and horizontally scalable."
"The solution is easy to scale."
 

Cons

"We need to improve the security options for the on-premise option."
"We need to improve the security options for the on-premise option."
"MySQL is too poor in functionality, Oracle is too big slow and the price is not quite good."
"The worst thing about SAP HANA is the price; it's very expensive. The licensing cost, implementation cost, hosting cost, and appliance cost are all high."
"I would have rated the solution higher if this version was not missing some key features the newer version has."
"The documentation can be improved in the future."
"If the developers were to enhance or improve the application logic while processing the transactions, that would be great."
"It could be a bit more scalable."
"I think that the pricing is high and it needs improvement."
"Some production features are lacking. For example, we cannot see any dashboards in the production department."
"When you do a report on a non-SAP platform, you face some compatibility problems."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We have found Actian PSQL to be affordable."
"The pricing for SAP HANA is high. You pay a lot for the license, and you also have to pay for some add-ons."
"The tool has a high price. I rate the solution’s pricing, one on a scale of ten, where one is expensive and ten is cheap."
"Its licensing is expensive for SMEs and large enterprises alike."
"The licensing cost for SAP HANA is approximately $200 per user per month."
"There is an annual payment needed to use the solution."
"There is an annual license to use SAP HANA."
"SAP HANA is very expensive for small to medium businesses."
"We pay annually for the license of the solution."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Manufacturing Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Government
5%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business26
Midsize Enterprise12
Large Enterprise63
 

Questions from the Community

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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...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

PSQL, Pervasive PSQL
SAP High-Performance Analytic Appliance, HANA
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Datamatics, Medical Data Vision, Inferenda, Sheetz, SecureAlert, Zilliant
Unilever, NHS 24, adidas Group, CHIO Aachen, Hamburg Port Authority (HPA), Bangkok Airways Public Company Limited
Find out what your peers are saying about Actian PSQL vs. SAP HANA and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
893,438 professionals have used our research since 2012.