Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse vs SAP IQ comparison

Microsoft and SAP are both solutions in the Data Warehouse category. Microsoft is ranked #12 with an average rating of 8.4, while SAP is ranked #15 with an average rating of 6.8. Microsoft holds a 1.7% mindshare in Data Warehouse, compared to SAP’s 2.4% mindshare. Additionally, 87% of Microsoft users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 80% of SAP users who would recommend it.

Microsoft Parallel Data War...

Read 40 Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse reviews

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557 Comparison Views

87% willing to recommend

SAP IQ

Read 23 SAP IQ reviews

1,362 Views
667 Comparison Views

80% willing to recommend

Microsoft Parallel Data War...

SAP IQ

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 18, 2024

Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse and SAP IQ are both in the data warehousing sector. Microsoft often has the upper hand in terms of ease of use and integration, while SAP IQ is favored for its compression and query performance.

Features: Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse offers performance enhancements, seamless integration with business intelligence tools, and uses SQL Server commands efficiently. Meanwhile, SAP IQ provides high data compression, quick query responses, and utilizes a column-based storage system for enhanced efficiency.

Room for Improvement: Microsoft requires significant infrastructure and SQL Server expertise and has limited compatibility with some BI tools. SAP IQ struggles with insufficient promotion, limited Hadoop integration, and high backup costs.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse supports varied deployment options, including public and hybrid clouds, while SAP IQ is primarily focused on on-premises environments. Microsoft's customer service benefits from an extensive support ecosystem and community engagement.

Pricing and ROI: Both solutions offer competitive pricing, with Microsoft benefiting larger organizations through special agreements. SAP IQ offers simplified licensing and cost advantages, with satisfactory ROI due to its efficient data management.

To learn more, read our detailed Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse vs. SAP IQ Report (Updated: January 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse vs. SAP IQ

January 2026

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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:

ROI

Sentiment score

4.9

Users find Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse effective in managing data, integrating tools, with ROI potential despite indirect tracking.

Sentiment score

6.2

SAP IQ boasts high ROI with substantial hardware savings, low maintenance costs, though some users lack authorization to confirm it.

No quotes available

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse report

No quotes available

For more quotes and insights, download the SAP IQ report

Customer Service

Sentiment score

6.8

Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse support is generally positive with responsive service, though some suggest enhancements in speed and Azure expertise.

Sentiment score

5.6

Customer service is 24/7 but varies in quality; technical support lacks experts, causing slow escalation and limited advanced assistance.

They are responsive and get back to us.

reviewer2254953

Service Desk Administrator at a real estate/law firm with 1,001-5,000 employees

I would rate my experience with technical support around six on a scale of 1 to 10 because I have not had a particular experience with technical support.

HassanFatemi

CEO at Smart Data-Driven Solutions

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse report

It seems very difficult to get proper advanced assistance on advanced or complicated problems.

Reviewer302462

Tech Director at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees

The quality of support from SAP is very good; if it's a known problem, they will have a knowledge base, so we will get immediate assistance.

Akhilesh Narayanan

Tech Lead, Database Section. at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the SAP IQ report

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score

7.3

Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse is scalable with SQL benefits, but may lag behind Snowflake in large data handling.

Sentiment score

7.4

SAP IQ offers scalable solutions with Simplex and Multiplex architectures, accommodating vast data volumes across PCs or servers.

We go from a couple of users to tons of users all the time, and it scales and handles things really well.

reviewer2254953

Service Desk Administrator at a real estate/law firm with 1,001-5,000 employees

I give the scalability an eight out of ten, indicating it scales well for our needs.

Ailton Souza

Architecture at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees

As a consultant, we hire additional programmers when we need to scale up certain major projects.

Ashok Bhadra

Associate Director at Sequentis

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse report

We can span the read and write load into multiple nodes, and that scalability is there.

Akhilesh Narayanan

Tech Lead, Database Section. at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees

If we wanted to add more servers into this entire setup, that would be fairly easy, so it's rather good when it comes to scalability.

Reviewer302462

Tech Director at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the SAP IQ report

Stability Issues

Sentiment score

8.1

Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse is stable, reliable, handles large volumes well, with occasional speed issues on vast datasets.

Sentiment score

6.0

SAP IQ is stable, effectively managing complex transactions despite occasional issues, making it a reliable choice for implementations.

Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse is stable for us because it is built on SQL Server.

Ailton Souza

Architecture at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse report

It's usually something external, such as lack of disk space or problems arising from the integration to other systems.

Reviewer302462

Tech Director at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the SAP IQ report

Room For Improvement

Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse needs better tool integration, scalability, compatibility, frequent updates, competitive pricing, and enhanced error messaging.

SAP IQ faces challenges with high costs, inadequate training, stability issues, and integration limitations, impacting performance and adoption.

Addressing the cost would be the number one area for improvement.

HassanFatemi

CEO at Smart Data-Driven Solutions

It would be better to release patches less frequently, maybe once a month or once every two months.

Ashok Bhadra

Associate Director at Sequentis

When there are many users or many expensive queries, it can be very slow.

Tcheupi Jonathan

Computer engineer at a engineering company with 5,001-10,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse report

If the CPU utilization is very high, there is no direct way we can find out which query is taking the most CPU.

Akhilesh Narayanan

Tech Lead, Database Section. at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees

When there is an issue, the error messaging we get is not always sufficient to do a fast and solid fix.

Reviewer302462

Tech Director at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the SAP IQ report

Setup Cost

Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse offers competitive pricing, suitable for large enterprises, but can be costly for high-performance needs.

SAP IQ is cost-effective with various licensing models, though price understanding and negotiation are essential for optimal implementation.

Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse is very expensive.

Ailton Souza

Architecture at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse report

No quotes available

For more quotes and insights, download the SAP IQ report

Valuable Features

Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse boosts data loads, integrates with Power BI, and offers scalable BI with minimal costs.

SAP IQ features column-based architecture, high compression, rapid queries, large-scale data handling, and integration with SAP BusinessObjects.

The columnstore index enhances data query performance by using less space and achieving faster performance than general indexing.

Vanessa Jin

BI/Data Warehouse Analyst at a healthcare company with 501-1,000 employees

There's a feature that allows users to set alerts on triggers within reports, enabling timely actions on pending applications and effectively reducing waiting time.

Ashok Bhadra

Associate Director at Sequentis

Its scalability is impressive as it scales up and down really well.

reviewer2254953

Service Desk Administrator at a real estate/law firm with 1,001-5,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse report

We can get historical data quickly, and you can fetch information very quickly because every column is indexed.

Akhilesh Narayanan

Tech Lead, Database Section. at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees

The most valuable feature of SAP IQ for us is that it works very effectively with the SAP BusinessObjects which we use it with.

Reviewer302462

Tech Director at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the SAP IQ report

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Parallel Data War...

Ranking in Data Warehouse

12th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

SAP IQ

Ranking in Data Warehouse

15th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Relational Databases Tools (24th)

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Data Warehouse category, the mindshare of Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse is 1.7%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP IQ is 2.4%, up from 2.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Data Warehouse Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse	1.7%
SAP IQ	2.4%
Other	95.9%

Data Warehouse

Featured Reviews

HassanFatemi

CEO at Smart Data-Driven Solutions

Has handled large volumes of data effectively but still needs cost flexibility

There could be improvements on the cost side of Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse because it is still considered to be quite expensive by a lot of users, and many companies are not interested in solutions with parallel data warehousing due to this expense. Addressing the cost would be the number one area for improvement. Additionally, I have not worked recently with it, so I don't know if this feature already exists, but if it doesn't, having an elastic feature that adjusts the service's power dynamically based on the workload would be beneficial instead of fixing the power at a specific level.

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Akhilesh Narayanan

Tech Lead, Database Section. at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees

Compression performance gets high marks but user-friendly interface needs improvement

The downside of SAP IQ, from what I understood from the management side, is that the front end for the DBA, for the admin, is not that user-friendly. If you compare it with SQL Server Management Studio, it is not that user-friendly GUI for the admin. But the engine is very strong and powerful. It is easy to deploy SAP IQ; the implementation and installation are easy. The downside I see is that it doesn't allow most integrated backups; many of the marketplace players such as NetBackup, those software integrated backups are not available. So, if you want to take a backup, you need to take it locally, and then only you can back it up to any storage or anything. Those features such as integrated backup, which would allow it to stripe into an appliance or something similar, are not present. One thing I notice as a downside is that if the CPU utilization is very high, there is no direct way we can find out which query is taking the most CPU. In any other RDBMS, there are DMVs available to find out which query is taking most of the CPU, but those features are not present in SAP IQ. If our CPU is hitting at 100%, it is not easy to identify which connection is taking the most CPU.

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881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Insurance Company

13%

University

Performing Arts

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

36%

Comms Service Provider

Outsourcing Company

Computer Software Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	16
Midsize Enterprise	6
Large Enterprise	22

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	6
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	16

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse?

Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse provides good firewall processing in terms of response time.

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse?

Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse is very expensive.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse?

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SAP IQ?

IQ implementation costs about three thousand dollars. It's less expensive compared to alternatives like Teradata Base in terms of transactional efficiency.

See all answers

What needs improvement with SAP IQ?

When it comes to SAP IQ, the areas that could be improved or enhanced include the error messaging and the locking capabilities, as that's where we often encounter problems. When there is an issue, ...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for SAP IQ?

Our usual use cases for SAP IQ is that we have a Software-as-a-Service architecture where this database is the foundation for our SAP BusinessObjects platform. This is where it's getting its data f...

See all answers

Comparisons

Teradata vs Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse

Compared 20% of the time

Oracle Exadata vs Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse

Compared 20% of the time

Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics vs Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse

Compared 14% of the time

VMware Tanzu Data Solutions vs Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse

Compared 10% of the time

SAP BW4HANA vs Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse

Compared 10% of the time

More Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse Competitors

SQL Server vs SAP IQ

Compared 11% of the time

SAP HANA vs SAP IQ

Compared 9% of the time

Snowflake vs SAP IQ

Compared 9% of the time

Oracle Database vs SAP IQ

Compared 8% of the time

OpenText Analytics Database (Vertica) vs SAP IQ

Compared 6% of the time

More SAP IQ Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse

January 2026

Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse report

Download Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse product report

Buyer's Guide

SAP IQ

January 2026

Download SAP IQ product report

Also Known As

Microsoft PDW, SQL Server Data Warehouse, Microsoft SQL Server Parallel Data Warehouse, MS Parallel Data Warehouse

Sybase IQ

Overview

The traditional structured relational data warehouse was never designed to handle the volume of exponential data growth, the variety of semi-structured and unstructured data types, or the velocity of real time data processing. Microsoft's SQL Server data warehouse solution integrates your traditional data warehouse with non-relational data and it can handle data of all sizes and types, with real-time performance.

Microsoft

SAP® IQ software delivers speed and power for extreme-scale enterprise data warehousing and analytics. Its column-oriented, grid-based massively parallel processing (MPP) architecture and patented data compression and indexing technologies enable companies to exploit the value of huge amounts of data at the speed of business.

SAP

Sample Customers

Auckland Transport, Erste Bank Group, Urban Software Institute, NJVC, Sheraton Hotels and Resorts, Tata Steel Europe

ASR Group, Citrix, State of Indiana, PocketCard Co. Ltd.

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse vs. SAP IQ

January 2026

Free Report: Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse vs. SAP IQ

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