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IFS Cloud Platform vs SAP S/4HANA comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 3, 2024

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
5.1
Users reported improved operations and financial reporting with IFS Cloud, seeing up to 4.5x ROI over 18 months.
Sentiment score
6.0
SAP S/4HANA provides strong long-term ROI by streamlining operations and reducing costs, particularly benefiting larger companies.
It's not a matter of the solution; it's a matter of the clients and the approach that we follow.
If we can maximize that, we can get the full price benefit of the solution.
We have observed a good return on investment, with calculations based on a five-year ROI plan.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
5.7
Australian support is strong with expert consultants, but timeliness and service consistency vary, impacting resolution times and communication.
Sentiment score
6.5
SAP S/4HANA support receives mixed reviews, with satisfaction influenced by service contracts and partner involvement, highlighting response variability.
A traditional challenge with SAP support is that SAP teams only support the standard functions, which are part of the product.
Establishing the right channels was a challenge, as BTP was new to everyone, including our SAP contacts.
I would rate the support a ten because there are a lot of knowledge-based articles published, and most of them are available online.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.8
IFS Cloud Platform is scalable for businesses of all sizes, though some face complexity in updates and dependency management.
Sentiment score
7.9
SAP S/4HANA is scalable for medium to large enterprises, offering cloud flexibility but potentially overwhelming for smaller companies.
IFS Cloud Platform has standard functionalities that follow the standard supply chain management processes, and it is easy to customize or configure.
SAP S/4HANA scales exceptionally well.
It is very easy to scale within businesses, especially when a new business falls within the range.
Scalability is a key strength of SAP, especially for HANA, compared to all the other ERPs.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.0
IFS Cloud Platform is praised for stability and reliability, with rare downtime, and depends on client maintenance and setup.
Sentiment score
7.7
SAP S/4HANA is generally stable with high ratings, dependent on implementation, infrastructure, skilled teams, and hardware setup.
Now, with the drastic developments especially in the cloud applications known as Arena on IFS Cloud Platform, it has improved tremendously.
The SAP HANA system is not very easy to unlock, and it's something strange as, compared to other databases, when transaction logs are full, you stop the system, run the transaction log backups, and then restart.
Not very often, but it can happen, especially with user load; if many people use the system at the same time, there might be issues depending on various factors.
I rate the stability of SAP S_4HANA as fairly stable because we have never experienced any downtime from SAP, and the performance is good.
 

Room For Improvement

IFS Cloud Platform requires usability, integration, and support improvements, along with enhanced customization, AI, and simplified user experience.
SAP S/4HANA needs interface improvements, simplified customization, better integration, and enhanced usability to address cost, complexity, and migration challenges.
There is not much available online, and the documentation availability is on the lower side compared to other products, especially Maximo.
They are working on IFS AI, but we have not explored much into that yet, and if they want to keep their competitive edge, that is an area they need to concentrate on.
Organizations face challenges like adapting to new technologies rapidly, and whether customers are early or late adopters influences their experience.
I can perform a lot of data manipulation directly on SAP using S-One, without having to resort to Excel, unlike with View ID.
The performance of the SAP interface could be improved.
 

Setup Cost

IFS Cloud Platform offers competitive pricing, best for large enterprises, with scalable value similar to SAP and Oracle.
SAP S/4HANA is costly for SMBs, with variable licensing and setup fees, often requiring negotiation, plus annual maintenance costs.
It's higher compared to similar peer solutions.
Most users or IT professionals typically criticize the high price of SAP license costs.
It's not easy to have a clear understanding of the price and the value, especially if I talk about the business transaction platform.
 

Valuable Features

IFS Cloud Platform offers customizable pricing, robust integration, intuitive interface, and excels in enterprise management with adaptable features.
SAP S/4HANA offers a user-friendly interface, real-time analytics, seamless integration, and industry-specific functionalities, improving efficiency and scalability.
The cloud feature in IFS Cloud Platform is predominantly valuable, especially the enterprise asset management module, which IFS has very good business into, along with strong finance, project management, and supply chain management modules.
There are fewer fields on the user screen compared to other products.
It enables the posting of transactions and allows us to see the impact across various application scenarios, providing significant benefits for business.
The way SAP has helped our customers is by establishing a discipline where industry-specific operations and SAP's standard processes work hand in hand, improving resource utilization, material movement control, and cost control.
The insights given help us make strategic decisions.
 

Categories and Ranking

IFS Cloud Platform
Ranking in ERP
12th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
31
Ranking in other categories
CRM (20th), Customer Experience Management (6th), Field Service Management (1st), Help Desk Software (12th), Activity Based Costing Software (7th), Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) (2nd), Local Government CRM (9th), IT Asset Management (10th), IT Service Management (ITSM) (11th), License Management (2nd)
SAP S/4HANA
Ranking in ERP
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
124
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2025, in the ERP category, the mindshare of IFS Cloud Platform is 2.5%, up from 2.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP S/4HANA is 9.6%, down from 16.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
ERP Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
SAP S/4HANA9.6%
IFS Cloud Platform2.5%
Other87.9%
ERP
 

Featured Reviews

Thangaraj Ramasamy - PeerSpot reviewer
Has supported project management and business customization through strong modular flexibility
The cloud feature in IFS Cloud Platform is predominantly valuable, especially the enterprise asset management module, which IFS has very good business into, along with strong finance, project management, and supply chain management modules; these are the major modules that are performing well with IFS, and the cloud options along with user-friendly customizations for any technical developments are additional advantages. The integration of IoT with IFS Cloud Platform is performing well, enabling us to integrate with predominantly any third party through the standard inbuilt connectors that are readily available, and if we need to customize the integration, we can certainly do that too.
Deepak Madhavan - PeerSpot reviewer
Implementation simplifies ERP management with comprehensive data integration and visibility
A lot of people would say the pricing. SAP is seen as quite expensive even now. It doesn't work for smaller or medium optimizations. The licensing and pricing could be looked at. In Brownfield migration, the trade-off between greenfield and brownfield means you either keep it clean or match the business requirements. Sometimes, it's not possible to do both. While ValixAPI provides significant support in making those decisions and the SAP consultant is very useful, we are still dependent on past history and how it was originally set up. I wouldn't call that a real disadvantage, yet more accessible consulting would be beneficial. Incorporating all other cloud products, like APO or IPP, into the S/4 house might also help.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
20%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Energy/Utilities Company
7%
Comms Service Provider
6%
Manufacturing Company
14%
Computer Software Company
12%
Outsourcing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business14
Midsize Enterprise9
Large Enterprise10
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business50
Midsize Enterprise26
Large Enterprise53
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about IFS Applications?
Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a nine or ten out of ten since it is an extremely scalable solution that can be used for various use cases with thousands of users.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IFS Applications?
The product is reasonably priced. The costs are justified by the value provided, considering the comprehensive features and minimal need for customization. I rate the pricing a seven out of ten.
What needs improvement with IFS Applications?
I am not able to recall much about batch. Documentation-wise, they need more. There is not much available online, and the documentation availability is on the lower side compared to other products,...
Are there any advantages of SAP S4 HANA over SAP Business One (SAP B1) apart from the cost?
SaP Business One is a complete solution for business management. The software applications are broad, ranging from accounting to project management and human resources. It is very versatile and com...
What needs improvement with SAP S4HANA?
SAP S/4HANA has room for improvement because we are still exploring functionality, and while most modules are implemented or supported by the partner, we are still in the process of exploring. Righ...
What is your primary use case for SAP S4HANA?
I use SAP S/4HANA because most of the manufacturers in pharmaceuticals are using it. We migrated from Microsoft Dynamics to SAP S/4HANA. My relationship is with solutions in retail as we are custom...
 

Also Known As

IFS Applications, Assyst, IFS Cloud
SAP S4HANA
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

China Airlines, Electrolux Group, Babcock, Cimcorp, Sky, Multiplex, Veolia. 
Nestle, O.C. Tanner, Sabre, New York Life Insurance Co., MEMEBOX, Siemens AG.
Find out what your peers are saying about IFS Cloud Platform vs. SAP S/4HANA and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
867,299 professionals have used our research since 2012.