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Magic xpa Application Platform vs SAP Mobile Platform comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 4, 2025

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

Magic xpa Application Platform
Ranking in Mobile Development Platforms
9th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
10
Ranking in other categories
Application Server (8th), Application Infrastructure (14th)
SAP Mobile Platform
Ranking in Mobile Development Platforms
11th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
8
Ranking in other categories
Mobile App Platforms (4th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Mobile Development Platforms category, the mindshare of Magic xpa Application Platform is 4.2%, up from 2.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP Mobile Platform is 3.5%, up from 2.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Mobile Development Platforms
 

Featured Reviews

Mylsamy T. - PeerSpot reviewer
Enables us to develop more than 90 applications in-house, which are used across our organization
It's a bit difficult to work with purely web-based applications to get the data and display it. There have been a few times when the connection was disconnected between the server and your browser. The connectivity on browser-built applications needs to be improved. The mobile application development could be easier. They could include different external applications, like finger sensors. I'm not sure whether it's in version 3.8 or not.
ShahzadRafique - PeerSpot reviewer
Flexible, well-designed, and offers good scalability
It's not that difficult to set up. SAP has provided the complete installation and configuration scripts, and there's ample documentation available. Implementing it is not an issue. If you are just talking about installing the standalone SAP Mobile Platform, that won't take more than two to three hours. The problem is that when you have multiple integrated third-party integrations, it can be longer. In that case, the deployment really depends on how you actually do it, as, in a financial institution, there is a lot of middleware and other third-party systems that are also integrated with your system. We have a complete set of APIs exposed to different partners, and how everything goes together depends on what type of integrations are there and how complex they are. That said, it should not take more than three to four hours when it comes to only the standalone SMP.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Speed of development and database connectivity (MS SQL, Oracle, DB2, Btrieve/Pervasive PSQL, ODBC, MySql, and SQLite)."
"Being able to make changes to existing programs to comply with last minute changes in requirements, and/or being able to fix, test, review, and deploy new code in a manner of hours instead of days, definitely gives us a huge advantage over our competitors and this is only possible thanks to Magic’s speed of programming."
"The speed of development is the quickest for any tool on the market."
"The Magic xpa Application Platform is very suitable for production since it is easy to update. The program is simple to upgrade and deploy. The solution is convenient in production. You need to adjust the data, then adjust the program which is not difficult."
"xpa gives us a fast development speed."
"Magic’s unique approach to development ensures that the programmer stays focused on the objective of the program (i.e. display all customers in California), instead of the repetitive tasks that surround it (i.e. connect to database, open customers table, create the query to retrieve records within the specified criteria, fetch the result of the query, connect it to a data grid, etc.)."
"The solution makes the managing and adapting of the software very easy."
"The best feature of Magic is the development time. The time it takes to develop something is incredibly fast if you compare Magic with, for example, Java."
"The initial setup is not overly complex."
"Both platforms, the SAP Mobile Platform, and SAP, are highly valuable for our company because they facilitate integration, which can be expensive. It's very convenient to connect and create billing accounts through the SAP Mobile Platform."
"If we work with the mobile extension of the ERP platform, we save time."
"Technical support is helpful."
"One valuable feature of SAP Mobile Platform is its enterprise-grade standard and maintained APIs, available out of the box for easy integration with various systems."
"It's not that difficult to set up."
"Two of the very fascinating features that make SAP Mobile Platform stand out from other platforms are its offline capability and integration capability."
 

Cons

"Support is very bad."
"There is room for improvement in Magic's marketing and licensing. I would like to see more integration of web functionality."
"Throughout my career, I've encountered difficulties when integrating new technologies with Magic xpa Application Platform. In particular, when attempting to incorporate features from other development languages into earlier versions of the solution called uniPaaS. I struggled to integrate .NET components due to the limited options available. This made the process more challenging and complicated. I find it challenging to create a more user-friendly experience for users who may be comparing the system to other systems they have used outside or within the company on different platforms."
"The Android environment is missing a number of functions for file/folder manipulation, sending receiving text messages (SMS) and the menuing options are limited. For now, it is left to the developer to write his/her own Java functions to include in the APK."
"The configuration of the xpa RIA mobile environment is complex and a discouragement to new developers. Also, Magic's documentation can be less than complete at times which leads to frustration for new developers. (I encourage new Magic developers to join the Magic Users Group)."
"The user interface could be improved to be more friendly for developers."
"Magic has a tradition, when it adds new technologies/features to the Magic development tool, to provide either no documentation or documentation that does not provide an organized approach for bringing this new technology/feature to experienced Magic programmers."
"I would like to see a spell checker included with optional language support. Currently, this has to be purchased from a third-party."
"SAP has announced that they'll be ending the support on the SAP platform."
"The tool is not easy or simple to integrate with other infrastructures."
"If it was low code or no code it would be ideal."
"The toolkit to develop front end applications, especially native applications, is not that good."
"The licensing model is a bit dated."
"One drawback is that SAP Mobile Platform apps are only available through the browser, making offline capability more challenging to implement."
"The cost of the SAP Mobile Platform is high, and there is room for improvement in its pricing."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"My clients have to purchase additional licenses in order to use what I built. It's not a fair approach."
"The main problem with the Magic xpa Application Platform is pricing. You have to pay a lot of money for development, and you also have to pay a lot for the deployments and runtime, while in most competitors, you have to pay a lot for one of the two and not both."
"The licensing is too costly."
"It's not cheap. The licenses are not cheap. Not at all. They cost much money. There are other tools with free licenses but Magic asks for a lot of money."
"The licensing cost varies because nowadays Magic has tailor-made offerings for clients. I think the solution is worth the money."
"Magic is not the cheapest IDE out there. If you are considering Magic xpa, you should do a cost-benefit analysis to feel comfortable with your decision. The Magic sales staff is very helpful in providing pricing."
"The cost for developers is high because you have to pay for licenses as well as runtime."
"There are different licenses, we have the application and the online application. There are two different licenses for two different program sites for the Magic xpa Application Platform."
"If you already paying for an SAP license and have SAP products that you are using, the price for SAP Mobile Platform is negligible."
"The cost of SAP is extremely high, and it's not affordable for everyone."
"The tool is expensive. I rate the tool's price as an eight or nine out of ten."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Government
9%
Insurance Company
9%
Computer Software Company
15%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Government
9%
Financial Services Firm
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

Ask a question
Earn 20 points
What do you like most about SAP Mobile Platform?
One valuable feature of SAP Mobile Platform is its enterprise-grade standard and maintained APIs, available out of the box for easy integration with various systems.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SAP Mobile Platform?
The tool is expensive. I rate the tool's price as an eight or nine out of ten.
What needs improvement with SAP Mobile Platform?
For a couple of years, SAP deployment and updates were not fair and simple. After the last evolution of mobile development in SAP, I need to check the latest features of the tool. At the company wh...
 

Also Known As

uniPaaS
SAP Syclo Agentry Mobile Platform, Sybase Mobile Development Platform, Sybase Unwired Platform
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

ADD, Cape plc, Adecco, Kuno Kinzoku Industry Co., GE Capital, Dove Tree, CBS Outdoor, Paris-Nord Villepinte Exhibition Center, Allstate Life Insurance Company, Titan Software Systems
Swarovski, CareFusion Corp., Adarsh Credit Co-operative Society Ltd.
Find out what your peers are saying about Magic xpa Application Platform vs. SAP Mobile Platform and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
849,963 professionals have used our research since 2012.