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IBM Public Cloud vs SAP Cloud Platform comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 15, 2024

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

IBM Public Cloud
Ranking in PaaS Clouds
15th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
18
Ranking in other categories
IoT Platforms (6th)
SAP Cloud Platform
Ranking in PaaS Clouds
6th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
46
Ranking in other categories
Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS) (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the PaaS Clouds category, the mindshare of IBM Public Cloud is 3.3%, down from 4.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP Cloud Platform is 7.7%, up from 7.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
PaaS Clouds
 

Featured Reviews

Premnath Jaganathan - PeerSpot reviewer
Affordability and security improve our cloud experience while learning new systems
I'm not working with any AI features in IBM Public Cloud, but they are in the process of building it.I am very satisfied with the security that IBM Public Cloud provides. I would rate IBM Public Cloud eight out of ten, where one is worst and ten is the best.
PinakiGhosh - PeerSpot reviewer
The implementation cycle has been reduced significantly but has room for integration enhancements
Our existing customers who are on ECC are on-premises. They are migrating to SAP Cloud Platform, specifically on S4HANA.  One of our clients was on SAP ECC on-premises, and they are moving to the cloud on S4HANA on the public cloud system.  We are supporting about 15 customers, mostly small to…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"There is no installation for this product because it is a cloud product."
"This product is very good because it is accessible in remote locations, and anyone can deploy from any place."
"It is easy to deploy what you need for the initial setup"
"What I like most in IBM Public Cloud is how easy it is to create serverless functions. They are called IBM functions, but in AWS, they are called Lambda functions. Those are pretty standard, and another thing I like the most is that you have fewer restrictions on the amount of data you can transfer across those functions. IBM Public Cloud is way more flexible than AWS. I also like that IBM Public Cloud is pretty straightforward to integrate. As long as you have all the tools IBM provides you, getting everything up and running is straightforward."
"I am very much satisfied with the technical support team at IBM Public Cloud."
"The price of IBM Cloud is most valuable for us. The service is personable and gives us a good rapport. I can't say it's the best, but it was enough for our needs."
"One of the features that I really like about IBM Cloud is the flexibility where you can order your own hardware."
"The beauty of cloud service providers, especially public cloud service providers, is that they are scalable every time when you need them because their payment model is pay-as-you-go."
"The ability to expand it whenever required has been great — it's very simple."
"It is a stable solution, as I never encountered issues when using it."
"The tool's most valuable aspects are the niche technologies and the latest editions. The way these updates are rolled out makes it easy to manage because clients and customers are not responsible for keeping everything up to date. It's SAP's responsibility, which makes it much easier to take advantage of the new features they roll out every month."
"The product is very stable."
"The product's initial setup phase is pretty straightforward."
"The ability to build custom applications on the BTP platform, reducing customization on the SAP HANA system and improving performance and management."
"The features I found most valuable are the integration options."
"The solution is scalable."
 

Cons

"An area for improvement in IBM Public Cloud is getting up-to-date information on how to set up everything. It's hard to find new documentation."
"I would like to see a more user-friendly deployment process in the next release of this solution."
"It could be more secure."
"They do not have a very good virtual network implemented, and the VPC is the most important feature that needs to be improved."
"The connectivity and speed of IBM Public Cloud are much lower compared to the competition."
"While they have about 99% of what we need, the only exception, perhaps, was the push notification feature that was discontinued. They delayed the replacement product."
"The solution needs to be more autonomous. It should let the DL go to allow for more jobs on the cloud. It could have a better interface as well."
"Maybe performance enhancers and reports could be better improved. If they do so, it would be better. Of all the drawbacks I saw, this would be the biggest enhancement."
"Shows errors without providing any analysis."
"The pricing is too high across all SAP products relative to resource utilization."
"I would like to see more and better support for data transformations."
"The product's support team has certain shortcomings, not from the solution's portal perspective but from the back-end side."
"The product's price is an area of concern where improvements are required."
"The product could be improved for consistent user interfaces."
"Regarding improvements, I think the user experience, specifically the developer experience during design time, could be better. Platforms like MuleSoft and Flowgear have much better design times."
"The tool's reliability is a disappointment for us."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Pricing is not as fair as Amazon or Azure."
"IBM has a lesser price compared to other cloud service providers like Azure and AWS."
"We are using the trial version of this solution, so we have not paid anything."
"In order to be competitive, you have to commit to a contract for at least one year, but you pay a fixed monthly fee."
"The price of IBM Cloud is very cheap compared to competitors AWS and Azure."
"On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive, I rate the solution's pricing a nine out of ten."
"IBM Public Cloud is pretty cheap. They have an ongoing free tier that basically won't expire, so as long as your solution is small enough, you can have a test set that you can use for demos, which will cost you almost nothing."
"The licensing fees are straightforward and predictable."
"SAP Cloud Platform costs $2 to $5 per hour, while I found other platforms way more affordable. You have to pay per use, though that's fine because that means the cost is flexible."
"SAP provides good discounts."
"Cost-wise, I'm unsure of how expensive the SAP Cloud Platform is."
"The solution is worth the money."
"Licensing costs for this solution are based on the number of users and the bandwidth."
"The tool could get too pricey...Small enterprises that want to leverage the tool's features will have difficulty in utilizing the solution."
"The pricing can be negotiated."
"The product's pricing varies and depends on the customers' needs."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
University
14%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
15%
Computer Software Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
8%
University
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

Which is preferable - IBM Public Cloud or Microsoft Azure?
IBM Public Cloud is IBM’s Platform-as-a-Service. It aims to provide organizations with a secure cloud environment to manage data and applications. One of the features we like is the cloud activity ...
What needs improvement with IBM Cloud?
The front end is not pervasive, so it is very difficult get the status of your current services or account from a mobile device.
What do you like most about IBM Public Cloud?
The most valuable feature of IBM Public Cloud is the AI integrations.
Which is better - SAP Cloud Platform or Microsoft Azure?
One of the best features of SAP Cloud Platform is that it is web-based and you can log in from anywhere in the world. SAP Cloud Platform is suitable for companies of any size; it works well with bo...
How is SAP Cloud Platform different than Amazon AWS?
How is SAP Cloud Platform different than Amazon AWS? Amazon AWS offers options both in terms of upgrading and expanding capabilities as well as acquiring greater storage space. These upgrades can ...
What do you like most about SAP Cloud Platform?
The product improved our company's business operations since we got value out of it.
 

Also Known As

IBM Bluemix
SAP HANA Cloud Platform
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Uvionics Tech, Komsomolskaya Pravda, Alpha Modus, Inventive, Web Business Consulting, FindBrok, SilverHook Powerboats, United Way of Allegheny County
Siemens, Shell & Volkswagen, Still, EarlySense, Roche, National Football League, Heidelberg University Hospital, In Mind Computing, The Timken Company, OPAL, EnterpriseJungle, Groupe Danone, Accenture, T-Systems, Sailing Team Germany, Sloan Valve
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Public Cloud vs. SAP Cloud Platform and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
859,687 professionals have used our research since 2012.