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Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central vs SAP ERP vs SAP S/4HANA comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

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

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the ERP category, the mindshare of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is 6.5%, up from 6.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP ERP is 19.0%, down from 22.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP S/4HANA is 11.9%, down from 16.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
ERP
 

Featured Reviews

StefaanVandesompele - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides end-to-end accounting and finance module at reasonable pricing
365 Business Central integrates with Office 365 to streamline the invoice approval process. This allows businesses to manage and approve invoices efficiently within a unified system. Our organization plans to transition to the Dynamics 365 environment, where various functions will be centralized. We will consolidate everything into one system instead of maintaining multiple databases for each country with local data. Dynamics 365 is fully integrated, which should address many of our challenges when we migrate to this new environment. We look forward to seeing how it performs in practice. The project is progressing well overall, though integrating it with other tools and ensuring Dynamics 365 operates smoothly can be challenging. Dynamics 365 is user-friendly and effective. However, a deeper understanding of its technical capabilities and architecture might be necessary to optimize its use fully. The software landscape is evolving, and achieving the best reporting and functionality with just a click can be complex. A clear vision of what you want to achieve with Dynamics 365 is essential. Proper preparation and configuration are crucial to achieving the desired outcomes. This principle applies not only to Dynamics 365 but to all software packages. Understanding the system's flexibility and adaptability based on your specific business needs is key to its successful implementation. Overall, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.
Srinivasan Kuppuswamy - PeerSpot reviewer
The amazing, robust framework with unlimited scalability earns its #1 status
The solution is not ready for the current e-commerce environment. Its was built for large enterprises who need to predictably optimize their human, material, and financial resources. ERP has evolved and businesses are changing. There are not many large corporations. Most are small enterprises with the capabilities of large enterprises through networking and platform integration. Some companies promote products but get things done with other enterprises as a network. Companies do not want to create new capacity but want to leverage existing capacity with innovative products. They do not want to spend resources on duplicating capacity or facilities. I do not think any ERP product is ready to support this environment so ERPs as a whole might end up being used for back-office functions only. It is not easy to evolve an ERP product because its intent is to integrate functions and processes within an organization. Whereas, in the new business model, processes are not limited to one's own enterprise but cut across different enterprises. There is no enterprise solution as this point in time for the current e-commerce environment so companies must integrate with many solutions.
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The solution's integrations and interface are very good."
"The most valuable features of Business Central for me are its seamless integration with Power BI and the ability to create customized reports."
"The selling feature is the most valuable."
"The vertical covers all aspects of functionality and integrates easily with the existing Office products."
"The product is customizable so we can tune it according to our requirements."
"NAV covers everything from purchasing and selling items to invoicing. Everything is within NAV, so it's all very neat."
"We like the manufacturing and case management modules."
"Microsoft Dynamics NAV's most valuable feature is the integration with other Microsoft solutions."
"It provides great visibility into the details of enterprise resource planning."
"The Material Management and Sales and Distribution modules are great. The Financial Accounting module is also great."
"SAP is more reliable in terms of data quality than other systems."
"The most valuable features are the claim management."
"Its customer support is highly rated, and the technical support provided by SAP is considered very good."
"The solution can easily be standardized across processes."
"ERP is very stable."
"It provides one overview of the capacity planning."
"The ability to optimize performance by allowing both data transactions and analytics on a single platform is particularly valuable."
"Provides SAP Fiori apps with numerous dashboards and KPIs"
"Overall, I would rate the product ten out of ten."
"S/4HANA is so much faster today than it was before. High performance is one of the best features, but the backbone of S/4HANA is its integration capabilities. They've also shifted to a focus on user experience."
"One of the most valuable features is the in-memory database."
"The Fiori design is a valuable feature."
"The Order-to-Cash feature is indispensable"
"I am really happy to use HANA since it is highly syndicated with public office systems."
 

Cons

"Microsoft Dynamics NAV could be improved in terms of exporting income statements and balance sheets. Currently, there is a feature, but you can only have the last three years. I spent some time trying to improve the KPI portion that exports the data, that already calculates the sub forms or subtotals, but they weren't able to break that up into different dimensions. They've now managed to crowd the separate table and you can export that, but it's only for the last three years. So, they could improve this solution by getting the chart of accounts or the account schedules to be exported, where you can go further than just three years with it."
"The formulas in Power BI could be simpler. Sometimes, it's difficult to figure them out, but I am part of a lot of communities that work with us, so we help each other."
"We need to customize more often than we would like."
"There is a need for improvement in consolidation and multi-country master data management."
"The stability could always be improved."
"Microsoft Dynamics NAV will be replaced with Office 365 in the future."
"I wouldn't say that Microsoft Dynamics is very scalable."
"Customization and costs could be improved."
"SAP is not making a big effort to make it easy to integrate solutions from other vendors. It's not easy at all... Integration is what they can do better."
"I'm only working on the front end with ERP's user interface, which isn't very easy for end-users. It's an old-school interface, so it's often challenging to find what you need."
"Improvements to the UI. The UI is pretty old, but this will change with the upcoming release of S.4.​"
"The integration with others application could be easier. There are many different features that this solution offers which could be easier to implement."
"I think that implementation could be simplified."
"It is a little difficult to use."
"The warehouse management could be better."
"The power of ABAP Development Tools is the main valuable feature in the SAP ECC system. Every couple of years SAP upgrades ABAP technology significantly, which facilitates developers' work."
"SAP has packages in countries like Poland, Spain, and Italy for these regulations, such as e-invoicing. However, we are missing these standard packages here in Turkey."
"SAP is seen as quite expensive even now. It doesn't work for smaller or medium optimizations."
"MRP repost area should be improved. The production information report also needs to be improved."
"The initial setup was difficult."
"Extensions to SAP S/4HANA have room for improvement, especially in integration with low-code/no-code platforms. Creating these extensions through Fiori transactions is more tedious than customers would like. Although the SAP build process has become more linear, further improvements could provide a huge benefit."
"The tool's high cost is an area of concern where improvements are required."
"The classic interface needs improvement"
"SAP S/4HANA offers two deployment options: the private cloud and the public cloud. The private cloud is a comprehensive solution. While it does require numerous approvals, it is a highly reliable product."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central could improve. It is costly. We are paying for the solution on a monthly basis."
"The solution is a little bit expensive."
"The solution is on the cloud and they provide 50 gigabytes of free space on their Microsoft Drive. The reason for this is that Microsoft is requiring you to upgrade all of your systems to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central in order to effectively use the cloud. This means that if you are currently using a different version of Microsoft for a specific purpose that does not require this solution, it can be frustrating to have to spend money to upgrade to this solution just for the purpose of syncing with the cloud. Additionally, even if you do purchase Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, there can still be issues with syncing between the on-premise and cloud clients. This can be especially frustrating as the cloud storage is not free and can be difficult to access even after purchasing."
"The price of the solution is reasonable."
"The per user price of $100 a month is better than competitors."
"I have some subscription-based customer and a few customers who have perpetual licenses that hosted the application on the cloud."
"There is an annual cost of using Microsoft Dynamics NAV. The cost is approximately 140,000 INR."
"The solution's cost is reasonable."
"My company makes early payments towards the licensing costs attached to the product. There are no additional costs apart from the charges paid toward the subscription-based license offered by SAP."
"When you have a solution that is stable, reliable, and has a high performance as this solution, the price is going to be expensive. However, when you evaluate the service you are paying for the cost is quite reasonable for this solution."
"This is a costly product."
"The solution can cost approximately $1 million a year for maintenance for a small-size company and can grow from there. Approximately $1 million is needed for a good-size company."
"The on-premises licensing model comes with annual maintenance whereas the cloud-based licensing model is a yearly subscription. The tool’s pricing is normal and not expensive."
"The solution is expensive so I rate cost a five out of ten."
"The product has high pricing."
"The pricing is based on the license per user, which I think makes the solution a bit costly...Basically, the prices of the solution are high, and we don't have that much revenue."
"The problem with SAP is that it offers two licenses, namely runtime license and enterprise license. If you have a runtime license, then you are doomed since you can't take any data out from the tool."
"It is never a cheap product since it is a prime tool in the worldwide market."
"Licensing works on a subscription model for the cloud version and it's a one-time fee for the on-premises version."
"It is costly in computing because these VMs have a huge CPU and utilization."
"Though we are talking about a competitively priced model, the pricing could be more cost-effective."
"Pricing is one area where S/4HANA has room for improvement. It's too costly for many people. They have come up with"
"There is a license to use this solution."
"I have found the price of the solution is on the medium to the expensive side of the scale. There is a license for this solution and there are additional maintenance fees."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
15%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Retailer
7%
Comms Service Provider
6%
Manufacturing Company
14%
Computer Software Company
12%
Retailer
7%
University
6%
Educational Organization
34%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
4%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Microsoft Dynamics NAV?
The platform offers a robust and comprehensive cycle for supply chain and inventory management, with features like mi...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Dynamics NAV?
The pricing for Dynamics 365 Business Central is reasonable. The value for money is very high.
What needs improvement with Microsoft Dynamics NAV?
There is a need for improvement in consolidation and multi-country master data management.
Is Anaplan better than SAP ERP?
There are different aspects of both Anaplan and SAP ERP that I like and dislike. Anaplan improves forecast accuracy a...
What do you like most about SAP ERP?
The solution has made the most significant impact on our human resources function, specifically in HR operations and ...
What needs improvement with SAP ERP?
There is a need for improvement in the business analytics aspect in financial reporting and also in sales and marketi...
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 ac...
What needs improvement with SAP S4HANA?
There could be a bit more competitiveness in their licensing and pricing.
What is your primary use case for SAP S4HANA?
It is a great product to be implemented for different industries for my customers. Can it be used globally?
 

Also Known As

Dynamics NAV, MS Dynamics NAV
No data available
SAP S4HANA
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Harris Farm Markets, Mister Spex GmbH, Bounce Foods, Eurofin Services SA, Medica Medizintechnik, Associated Gaskets, Onduline, Sitka Surfboard Corporation, World Animal Protection
B&G Manufacturing, Unilever, Life is good Inc., Joy Global Inc., City of Cape Town, Bhopal Municipal, Corporation (BMC), adidas Group, Butcher & Packer Supply Company, Franklin Valve L.P., Evoshield, Prime Meats, a Norsan Group company, EMC Corporation, Varian Medical Systems Inc., FC Bayern Mªnchen AG, AkzoNobel Chemicals B.V., T¾V Rheinland, Pacific Drilling S.A., Fire & Rescue New South Wales, University of Amsterdam, Pa_alon S.A.
Nestle, O.C. Tanner, Sabre, New York Life Insurance Co., MEMEBOX, Siemens AG.
Find out what your peers are saying about SAP, Microsoft, Oracle and others in ERP. Updated: April 2025.
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