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IBM Cloud Pak for Data 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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
6.9
IBM Cloud Pak for Data enhances data quality, boosts AI efficiency, reduces costs, and improves compliance for large companies.
Sentiment score
6.1
SAP HANA offers time and cost savings, with notable ROI and customization benefits, though integration costs challenge some companies.
We have been able to drive responsible, transparent, and explainable AI workflow to operationalize AI and mitigate risk and regulatory compliance easily.
Senior Data Analyst at Wipro Limited
We do not feel we're getting value for the investment due to the additional resources needed for integration and maintenance.
Director of Infrastructure at a university with 5,001-10,000 employees
I have seen a return on investment with SAP HANA as it typically delivers measurable ROI, especially in finance and month-end close processes.
Finance Analyst at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
SAP HANA is a cost-saving solution that helps save money and serves as a time-saving solution that helps save time.
Senior Manager at PwC
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.4
IBM Cloud Pak for Data offers good support with direct contact but needs faster response times and issue resolution.
Sentiment score
6.1
SAP HANA offers high-quality 24/7 customer service, but experiences vary, with concerns over slow responses and complex issue handling.
Cloud Pak is a complicated system, and it's often difficult to find the right resource in IBM to help with specific issues.
Data asset management engineer at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
I would rate IBM's support at about a seven or eight out of ten because we have good support coverage owing to our long association with IBM.
EDW Manager at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees
Customer support should be more responsive and reach and respond on time.
Senior Data Analyst at Wipro Limited
The community support is better than the official SAP support.
SAP Analytics Lead at Miracle Software Systems, Inc
While issues are resolved eventually, the first level of support is not as good as we would like.
Sup-basis consultant at a security firm with 51-200 employees
When we raise a ticket for AWS or Azure issues, we find their support is very proactive, while SAP's support is quite passive.
Senior SAP Basis Consultant at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.5
IBM Cloud Pak for Data is highly scalable, supporting large environments efficiently but may be resource-intensive with potential added costs.
Sentiment score
7.8
SAP HANA provides scalable enterprise-level solutions, allowing seamless vertical and horizontal expansion to efficiently handle substantial data volumes.
I have not noticed any downtime or lagging, especially when dealing with large data, so it is relatively very scalable.
Senior Data Analyst at Wipro Limited
SAP HANA handles large data volumes efficiently, allowing for adding more modules or users without performance issues.
Finance Analyst at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Our operations have grown from a hundred data operations a day to as many in a couple of seconds.
Director of Infrastructure at a university with 5,001-10,000 employees
It depends on what needs to change in the structure, as some entities cannot be changed and require a new implementation, while others can be modified.
IT Application Manager at TBTD
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.7
IBM Cloud Pak for Data is stable with high ratings, but users seek improved scalability for diverse organizational needs.
Sentiment score
7.8
SAP HANA is praised for its stability, reliability, and efficiency, with improvements seen in version 2.0 and initial configurations.
We recently faced customer data loss during the cluster handover or failover fallback.
Senior SAP Basis Consultant at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
We have not had any problems in the last seven to eight years.
Sup-basis consultant at a security firm with 51-200 employees
Regarding stability, they are using legacy systems and have implemented SAP HANA.
SAP Analytics Lead at Miracle Software Systems, Inc
 

Room For Improvement

IBM Cloud Pak for Data needs better resource management, support, integration, and ease of transition to improve user experience.
SAP HANA needs improvements in interface, scalability, integration, and cost efficiency, with enhanced support, training, and mobile integration.
Setting up the hybrid and multi-cloud environments is a long job and it takes time.
Senior Data Analyst at Wipro Limited
I would love Cloud Pak to come with a demo database that illustrates the different components of data management in a logical way, so I can see the whole picture instead of just the area I'm specializing in.
Data asset management engineer at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
I do not know if Cognos has all the features that users are looking for since we provide it as our standard and do not maintain infrastructure for other tools.
EDW Manager at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees
The main issue is the ecosystem, which lacks the widespread support that SQL enjoys.
Director of Infrastructure at a university with 5,001-10,000 employees
The setup process and deployment process for SAP HANA is complex.
Program manger at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
Licensing costs with SAP HANA are very high.
SAP Analytics Lead at Miracle Software Systems, Inc
 

Setup Cost

IBM Cloud Pak for Data pricing is costly for small companies, with complex licensing but competitive for large enterprises.
SAP HANA is costly due to licensing, setup, and hardware expenses, affecting affordability for smaller businesses despite robust capabilities.
The setup cost is very expensive.
Data asset management engineer at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
Regarding my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing, for a small organization, the price might be relatively high, but for huge enterprises such as ours, the price is relatively affordable.
Senior Data Analyst at Wipro Limited
It's a recurring subscription model, which is expensive compared to legacy systems with just a maintenance fee.
Director of Infrastructure at a university with 5,001-10,000 employees
SAP is not a cheap company, and its licenses are expensive.
Sup-basis consultant at a security firm with 51-200 employees
I would rate the price for SAP HANA as high.
Senior SAP Basis Consultant at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
 

Valuable Features

IBM Cloud Pak for Data offers robust data management, AI-driven insights, and seamless integration with hybrid and multi-cloud environments.
SAP HANA offers real-time processing, integration, scalability, and user-friendly interface, enhancing speed, reporting, and diverse business adaptability.
From there, I can work my way into a more granular level, applying all of that information on top of my actual data to understand what my data looks like, where it came from, and where it went wrong, managing it throughout the cycle.
Data asset management engineer at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
The benefits of choosing IBM Cognos, in addition to saving on cost, include having institutional knowledge about maintaining this infrastructure and enough people who have developed on Cognos in the past, which creates comfort in its use.
EDW Manager at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees
We have been able to save approximately 80 percent of our time. We are not doing data analysis manually, so this relieves our data department of dealing with data.
Senior Data Analyst at Wipro Limited
This architecture allows for faster data processing and real-time analytics that were not possible with traditional databases.
Director of Infrastructure at a university with 5,001-10,000 employees
The concept enhances speed, allowing the database to serve and move data quickly.
Sup-basis consultant at a security firm with 51-200 employees
One of our dashboards using Excelsius was previously developed on normal BW on Oracle data, which took 10 minutes to open. After developing the same calculation views using those tables and replacing them with calculation views in Excelsius, the dashboard opened in seconds.
SAP Analytics Lead at Miracle Software Systems, Inc
 

Categories and Ranking

IBM Cloud Pak for Data
Ranking in Data Virtualization
3rd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
Data Integration (23rd)
SAP HANA
Ranking in Data Virtualization
2nd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
93
Ranking in other categories
Embedded Database (2nd), Relational Databases Tools (3rd), Database Management Systems (DBMS) (4th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the Data Virtualization category, the mindshare of IBM Cloud Pak for Data is 11.9%, down from 17.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP HANA is 10.4%, down from 16.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Data Virtualization Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
SAP HANA10.4%
IBM Cloud Pak for Data11.9%
Other77.7%
Data Virtualization
 

Featured Reviews

ArchanaSingh - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Data Analyst at Wipro Limited
Collaborative data platform has transformed analytics and now drives faster decisions
The best features IBM Cloud Pak for Data offers include robust data visualization, centralized data analytics, data reliability, and compatibility with hybrid and multi-cloud environments. The compatibility with hybrid and multi-cloud environments has helped our organization as data visualization is very simple. Migrations, reading, analysis, and data management from other sources are performed without problems of requirements. We have a team of experts in IBM Cloud Pak for Data to maintain security and correct data management easily. I find this cloud excellent for visualizing and managing data across networks and also fulfilling fastest data storage, making it less complex and completely improving productivity in my organization. Everything is managed in multiple environments without any problem. IBM Cloud Pak for Data has positively impacted my organization, and I have noticed some improvement since we started using this tool. Configuration with hybrid and multi-cloud environments has been very seamless and easy. It is a robust platform capable of working with multiple data sources where we gain insights to make data-driven decisions easily. It automates data analysis for quick and better performance. We have seen improvements in analysis and data correction from multiple sources. Our productivity in the company is growing, thanks to the data analysis team. We have also seen a robust hybrid and multi-cloud access system working seamlessly. I can share specific outcomes that show how productivity has grown and how performance has improved since the data is automated, and the analysis is done much faster, saving us a lot of time. We have been able to save approximately 80 percent of our time. We are not doing data analysis manually, so this relieves our data department of dealing with data. We have been relieved of a lot of duties, and now we are able to focus on other strategic tasks. Our productivity has greatly increased since we are able to make concrete and data-driven decisions easily.
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.
report
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
26%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
Government
4%
Manufacturing Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Computer Software Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business7
Large Enterprise12
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business26
Midsize Enterprise12
Large Enterprise62
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Cloud Pak for Data?
The pricing and setup cost are handled by a different procurement team. Our IT procurement team is centralized, so licensing and the actual cost of the software are taken care of by a different tea...
What needs improvement with IBM Cloud Pak for Data?
I do not know if Cognos has all the features that users are looking for since we provide it as our standard and do not maintain infrastructure for other tools.
What is your primary use case for IBM Cloud Pak for Data?
The main use case for IBM Cognos is for business intelligence and reporting.
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...
 

Also Known As

Cloud Pak for Data
SAP High-Performance Analytic Appliance, HANA
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Qatar Development Bank, GuideWell, Skanderborg Music Festival
Unilever, NHS 24, adidas Group, CHIO Aachen, Hamburg Port Authority (HPA), Bangkok Airways Public Company Limited
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Cloud Pak for Data vs. SAP HANA and other solutions. Updated: February 2026.
881,455 professionals have used our research since 2012.