Microsoft Azure vs SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud comparison

Microsoft and SAP are both solutions in the Infrastructure as a Service Clouds (IaaS) category. Microsoft is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.3, while SAP is ranked #12 with an average rating of 9.1. Microsoft holds a 10.8% mindshare in ISI, compared to SAP’s 1.4% mindshare. Additionally, 95% of Microsoft users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 89% of SAP users who would recommend it.

Microsoft Azure

Read 323 Microsoft Azure reviews

18,565 Views
9,839 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud

Read 25 SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud reviews

1,305 Views
1,227 Comparison Views

89% willing to recommend

Microsoft Azure

SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 16, 2024

Microsoft Azure and SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud are both leading solutions in the cloud computing market. Azure's strength lies in its versatility and extensive global infrastructure, making it a compelling choice for businesses seeking a flexible cloud environment. Conversely, SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud stands out for its deep integration capabilities specifically tailored for SAP applications, providing an edge for enterprises dependent on the SAP ecosystem.

Features: Microsoft Azure provides comprehensive integration with various programming languages and frameworks, extensive global data centers enhancing customer proximity, and a robust PaaS platform. It also includes reliable distributed caching and scalability, addressing the needs of large organizations and developers. SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud excels in offering a secure, managed environment for SAP workloads with seamless SAP application integration, which is vital for organizations with significant SAP investments.

Room for Improvement: Microsoft Azure could enhance its pricing transparency, improve debugging tools and integration capabilities for non-Microsoft platforms. Additionally, security in multitenant settings and complex cost estimates need attention. SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud requires improvement in customization flexibility, cost management, and data center localization. Enhancing update and configuration flexibility would also benefit users.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Microsoft Azure is praised for its deployment ease due to extensive documentation and public cloud reach. However, its customer service quality can vary, although business-tier support is often reliable. SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud focuses on strong SAP-specific deployment support, which is generally effective but potentially expensive, offering integrated deployment dedicated to SAP suite challenges. This suggests a balance between Azure's broader support and SAP's dedicated enterprise support.

Pricing and ROI: Microsoft Azure offers competitive pricing with flexible pay-as-you-go options, yet costs may rise with increased use and complex pricing models can lead to unexpected expenses. Its ROI is strengthened by eliminating physical infrastructure needs and enabling scalable cost-efficient solutions. SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud provides substantial SAP-integrated value, albeit at higher costs with annual contract structures and additional integration fees, making it favorable for large enterprises.

To learn more, read our detailed Microsoft Azure vs. SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Azure vs. SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud

December 2025

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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

Microsoft Azure

Ranking in Infrastructure as a Service Clouds (IaaS)

1st

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

323

Ranking in other categories

PaaS Clouds (1st)

SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud

Ranking in Infrastructure as a Service Clouds (IaaS)

12th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Infrastructure as a Service Clouds (IaaS) category, the mindshare of Microsoft Azure is 10.8%, down from 19.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud is 1.4%, down from 1.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Infrastructure as a Service Clouds (IaaS) Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Microsoft Azure	10.8%
SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud	1.4%
Other	87.8%

Infrastructure as a Service Clouds (IaaS)

Featured Reviews

Syed Abid

Snr. Infrastructure Architect (Data Centre) at LogicEra

Versatile integrations and reliable customer satisfaction elevate cloud service experience

For Microsoft Azure improvement, they need to enhance their support system. The first level of support should be improved in terms of quality and response time. They need more technical support at the first level, as there are currently only one or two technical people among five to ten staff members at this level. They should ensure that the first level support is more technical because we normally provide services to technical users ourselves. When an issue arises, it usually escalates to the second or third level. When facing first level support, they may have limited knowledge and only collect screenshots to forward to their seniors. They should ensure that the first level support is aligned with L2 and L3 to better assist us, especially since we mention in the ticket that our issues are related to specific problems and require that sort of support.

Read full review

Salman Mukhtar Baig

SAP Technical Manager at VS Furniture Middle East

Cloud access has improved reporting and sales operations across global locations

I cannot say anything about what areas of SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud could be improved or enhanced because so far, we are happy with this implementation. We are not facing any problem, or I cannot say that this can be improved. Although SAP keeps improving themselves day by day, we cannot say that SAP needs to improve anything. One thing which we face, not as a problem, is the pricing. SAP pricing is a bit higher day by day. Before, it was not too much higher, but I don't know why they are increasing their price. They should see this thing, so other customers, such as SMBs customers or small and mid-sized customers, can also avail this thing. Otherwise, we don't have any problem. First, there is the limitation. If you are a SAP user, you don't feel any problem with the limitation because if you know how to use the product, you can easily implement this thing. Otherwise, if you don't know the business process or how to integrate and implement, it could be a problem. We have a limitation, but we developed some add-ons for this. So we fulfilled these requirements.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Its ability to scale is most valuable. There are certain periods of the year when we are busier, and we're able to scale up and scale down with Azure depending upon our needs."

"The most valuable aspect of Azure is the flexibility you have for all the services and solutions it offers, even if you use IaaS, PaaS, or SaaS, you have the option to only pay for the services you use."

"Good security, scalability, and elasticity."

"The system is more secure, and this is valuable."

"The most valuable feature is the single sign-on with multifactor authentication."

"The solution offers very good upgrades and updates regularly."

"It is easy to install."

"The automated connectors to some of our critical enterprise systems are an important feature. These are very large, critical, global HCM systems."

More Microsoft Azure pros

"This solution is as good as any other S/4HANA SAP solution. The continuous support we get is very valuable."

"It has significantly streamlined our operations."

"The most valuable feature is virtual modeling, which is beneficial because you don't really save the data multiple times the way we did in the past."

"Traditionally, SAP worked with Oracle databases, but SAP is getting rid of the other databases and promoting its own. SAP will stop support for other databases around 2026, so everyone is moving to SAP S/4HANA for the performance and because it's the preferred database for SAP. S/4HANA has new features from the front-end or application feature perspective. The idea is to move toward future-ready technology."

"In SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud, HANA has the best performance for hosting the data warehouse and analytics solution mainly, and this is the good feature in it."

"The processes and the way we take advantage and use assistance are good."

"The solution's initial setup process is straightforward."

"Fiori is the most valuable feature, as well as the the integration between S/4 and another solution as an extension."

More SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud pros

Cons

"The price should be lower."

"I would like to see all of the cloud providers be more compatible with each other."

"The solution could improve by providing a better user interface and more organized workflows."

"Microsoft Azure is so complicated inside. If you should do something internally, if you have to configure something, the opinion about Azure is that it is a little complicated inside. That's why the end users and clients are looking for help and why we help them configure and do anything inside of Azure. That is why we offer other tools to optimize the Azure environment."

"It would be helpful if Azure provided more information on the various add-ons to give people an understanding of what they are used for, and how they're applied by other companies or businesses."

"I would say an improvement could be allowing for more external, third-party tools. However, I think that's their vision, how they develop the product."

"The initial setup could be simplified."

"Support could be improved. If you pay for a higher plan, it's okay, however, the lower plans don't offer as good of a service experience."

More Microsoft Azure cons

"The customer has a lot of dependencies on SAP which means they don't have much flexibility to go and update the system when or if they need to. They will need to wait for the quarterly updates. It's possible to maybe raise a special request with SAP if it is absolutely necessary."

"The stability of the product is an area of concern where improvements are required."

"One thing which we face, not as a problem, is the pricing. SAP pricing is a bit higher day by day."

"The cost could be improved. I think it's higher than the competition."

"SAP support isn't on par with products like Microsoft Azure or AWS. It's nowhere close to the competitors."

"I would rate the stability a four out of ten. It's an area that could use improvement"

"The product must provide more details of the errors."

More SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price needs to be lower because they're competing with AWS."

"The long-term cost is higher than if you set up the servers on-premises, which is something that could be improved through more competitive pricing."

"The price of the solution is reasonable."

"The pricing model is subscription-based and it's not an expensive solution."

"The subscription models can be confusing and it would be beneficial for them to simplify them. We are on an annual subscription."

"The price of this solution is one of the things that attracted us to it."

"This is an expensive product."

"I rate the tool's pricing a six out of ten."

More Microsoft Azure pricing and cost advice

"The product itself is relatively expensive."

"SAP may not be the most cost-effective option, but it does offer a comprehensive set of tools and features. When you have the right information, structure, and dashboard in place, it can provide excellent value. Additionally, competition with Oracle might be a factor to consider."

"It's very, very expensive."

"The licensing of the solution is on a yearly basis. The normal price of the solution is quite high, but I received a special discount by making a purchase near the end of the year."

"The price is expensive compared to the competition."

"If you choose the minimum, it will probably cost around $1,000 USD per month if you take a contract for a year or two."

"The pricing is reasonable when compared to other vendors like Oracle who offer technology enterprise resource software."

"The price is high compared to other databases, which is why HANA is still not widely used. Some enterprises prefer Sybase, Oracle, or other traditional databases because HANA is a little pricey. Cost is one factor SAP needs to work on to make it more competitive with other databases. Otherwise, they'll never be able to develop a mass customer base."

More SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud pricing and cost advice

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Engineer at a tech consulting company with 51-200 employees

Aug 14, 2013

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Answers from the Community

Harraj Saraon

Financial Guidelines Specialist at Nestle

Sep 21, 2021

SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud (HEC): how to migrate to Microsoft Azure?

Hi, It could be easy as Azure is one of the partners of SAP HEC. Please contact your SAP HEC technical account manager who can guide you on this.

2 out of 3 answers

Evgeny Belenky

Director of Community at PeerSpot (formerly IT Central Station)

Aug 3, 2021

Hi @Abdul-Rasool, @RamakrishnanRamanathaiah and @Ramakrishna Potluri. It seems you should be able to provide some assistance to @Harraj Saraon with this question.

Read full answer

Michael-Bell

Vice President of Sales at Coforge

Aug 5, 2021

@Harraj Saraon, did you get your answer?

Read full answer

See all 3 answers

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

13%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Computer Software Company

University

Manufacturing Company

16%

Healthcare Company

University

Computer Software Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	140
Midsize Enterprise	53
Large Enterprise	150

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	8
Midsize Enterprise	4
Large Enterprise	16

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 ...

See all answers

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...

See all answers

How does Microsoft Azure compare to Google Firebase?

I would recommend Google Firebase instead of Microsoft Azure, simply for the array of features that it has to offer. In particular, the Firebase library grants you access to a shared data structure...

See all answers

What do you like most about SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud?

It has significantly streamlined our operations.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud?

SAP HANA Cloud can be quite costly compared to other solutions. The high licensing costs make it an expensive option, particularly for smaller customers. However, they offer solutions for mid-sized...

See all answers

What needs improvement with SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud?

See all answers

Comparisons

Alibaba Cloud vs Microsoft Azure

Compared 11% of the time

Amazon AWS vs Microsoft Azure

Compared 10% of the time

Pivotal Cloud Foundry vs Microsoft Azure

Compared 9% of the time

Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) vs Microsoft Azure

Compared 8% of the time

Red Hat OpenShift vs Microsoft Azure

Compared 7% of the time

More Microsoft Azure Competitors

Amazon AWS vs SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud

Compared 22% of the time

SAP S4HANA on AWS vs SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud

Compared 16% of the time

Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) vs SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud

Compared 10% of the time

Media Temple IaaS Cloud vs SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud

Compared 8% of the time

Google Cloud vs SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud

Compared 5% of the time

More SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Azure

January 2026

Download Microsoft Azure product report

Buyer's Guide

SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud

December 2025

Download SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud product report

Also Known As

Windows Azure, Azure, MS Azure

No data available

Overview

Microsoft Azure integrates services and offers flexibility, ensuring compatibility with diverse environments. Its scalability, security, and cost-efficient features enhance deployment and management, making it ideal for infrastructure services and application hosting.

Azure provides a comprehensive suite of tools for application deployment, virtual machine management, and data analytics. It allows seamless integration with Power BI and offers a user-friendly interface supported by detailed documentation and technical support. Though users appreciate its capabilities, they sometimes face challenges with costs, setup, and interface complexity, alongside integration and performance issues. Frequent updates and a learning curve are also noted, though Azure's cloud-based security and scalability remain critical for disaster recovery and business continuity.

What are Azure's key features?

Integrated Services: Ensures compatibility with Microsoft and non-Microsoft environments.
Scalability: Supports growing business demands with flexible computing power.
Security: Offers robust cloud-based security features for data protection.
Cost Efficiency: Provides options that optimize costs for diverse requirements.
Application Deployment: Facilitates quick rollout of apps and services.

What benefits should users expect from Azure?

Operational Optimization: Allows companies to streamline processes effectively.
Innovative Efficiency: Empowers businesses to innovate with powerful tools.
Reliable Support: Backed by strong technical support and comprehensive documentation.
Flexible Cloud Solutions: Offers a range of options for cloud migrations and infrastructure management.

Microsoft Azure is widely implemented in industries like financial services, healthcare, and logistics for hosting enterprise applications and vital services. Companies utilize its capabilities for IoT applications, DevOps, and Kubernetes clusters, benefiting from its cloud migrations, data analytics, and active directory support.

Microsoft

SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud is a fully scalable and secure private managed cloud solution. It empowers organizations to unlock the full value of SAP HANA in the cloud - accelerating growth and innovation, driving IT and business transformation, quickly delivering business outcomes, and reducing risk.

SAP

Sample Customers

BMW, Toyota, easyJet, NBC Sports, HarperCollins, Aviva, TalkTalk Business, Avanade, and Telenor.

FC Bayern Munich, Reuters News Agency, MEMEBOX

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Azure vs. SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud

December 2025

Free Report: Microsoft Azure vs. SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud

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