Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

NetSuite ERP vs SAP Business ByDesign comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 10, 2024

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

NetSuite ERP
Ranking in Cloud ERP
2nd
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
35
Ranking in other categories
Activity Based Costing Software (6th), Billing Software (3rd)
SAP Business ByDesign
Ranking in Cloud ERP
6th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Cloud ERP category, the mindshare of NetSuite ERP is 20.0%, down from 34.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP Business ByDesign is 8.8%, down from 9.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Cloud ERP
 

Featured Reviews

Haggit Russo - PeerSpot reviewer
Effective financial management with real-time analytics and a straightforward setup
Reports are good but not perfect. The custom reports could be improved. The initial setup process for reports can be a bit complicated and may require more user-friendly options. My previous company faced difficulty with reporting when it was too complicated to find proper reports. Overall, improving the reporting feature would be beneficial.
Majid-Mustafa - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides custom versions of reports personalized for users
For AI initiatives, you need to purchase a separate AI license to integrate with SAP Business ByDesign. I'd recommend SAP Business ByDesign for large companies that want to check data graphically, especially for monthly income, expenses, and taxes in the millions or trillions. Overall, for large-scale companies, I'd rate it ten out of ten.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The features that have been most effective in improving the financial management perspective include the budgeting, revenue recognition, and accounting perspectives."
"I have found there to be many features, such as manufacturing, accounting, financials, inventory, and purchasing."
"NetSuite ERP is good for a trading company that involves buying and selling."
"Every year, they release a new version."
"NetSuite is a better value than some competing solutions. The fee structure is simpler, and other ERP solutions don't offer as many options for configuration."
"It offers reporting flexibilities that were previously unavailable to us."
"It's integrated into everything well so you can navigate and use it in a very simple way."
"The most valuable feature is that it works according to how the Internet works."
"The most valuable features of Business ByDesign are the integration of its modules, analytics, and dashboards."
"The standard system is stable."
"The most helpful feature is the integrations. Integrating the tool with SAP S/4HANA Cloud is easy, facilitating implementation and deployment. The runtime analysis checks for real-time analytics to see if the software works properly. This is a powerful feature."
"The most valuable feature is the feature called Financial Closing Cockpit. This feature allows us to monitor our accounting and processing closely."
"The most valuable feature of SAP Business ByDesign is it has a streamlined design."
"It has a quick implementation and onboarding of users. It is flexible with reports and powerful."
"I have found the consolidation of the business and group reports very useful. There is plenty of features and the manufacturing and finance aspect of the solution are strong."
"When we were using it, we did see an immediate benefit, especially in the inventory on consignment issue. We were a biotech pre-revenue company and most of our manufacturing was outsourced. So being able to track inventory within the system without creating a financial impact was very key for us."
 

Cons

"The custom reports could be improved."
"If they could provide more integration options to connect with different products, that would be ideal."
"Many features such as local taxation and fund management are not there yet."
"Improvement-wise, it should be more customizable. Currently, you can't enhance the product yourself in terms of development for any applications unless you've got a very strong and big development team. Those are the skills that are in very short supply."
"The pricing is high."
"The communication has been peculiar, and the overall commercial process has been less than satisfactory."
"The areas that this product needs to improve on is the implementation and inventory processes."
"The solution could be more stable."
"There might be some hurdles when integrating with SAP ECC, but integration with SAP S/4HANA Cloud is smooth."
"I would say budget controlling needs improvement. I mention this because it does not have all the functionalities that we need in terms of managing the budget."
"The database needs to be more customizable."
"ByDesign could be improved by making screen modifications easier."
"I would like the tool’s interface to be better. Currently, we use a client application to access the product. I want that to be replaced with a web version. I would like to improve the tool’s internet availability. I also want the product’s setup to be easier."
"SAP Business ByDesign is a very vast product, but it has to be a bit more centralized. All the models need to be more centralized for a better experience."
"The Purchase to Pay process could benefit from further sophistication and additional functionality. It would be helpful for the user community to receive clearer information about the future roadmap of the business. Unfortunately, there were some confusing articles in the German press towards the end of last year about the future of SAP Business ByDesign. Therefore, more clarity is needed in the support function to address this."
"With SAP S/4HANA, you can design your release strategy and modify it to include as many people as possible, which is missing in SAP Business ByDesign."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is completely on a subscription basis. We pay yearly and, and you do not have to do anything on a monthly basis. Prices depend on the organization's scale and all those things, but they are doing a good job with the pricing."
"Regarding costs, it's not just about licensing. Customization recurring costs can become expensive over five to eight years, especially with new releases. However, NetSuite ERP integrates well with third-party applications, so it can still be used for finance while another ERP is used for localized production."
"Pricing for NetSuite ERP is okay, but it could be better. The licensing model for NetSuite ERP is based on the number of modules and users. The standard license covers up to twenty-five users. If you have more than twenty-five users, you'll have to buy the premium license, which would double the price. For one module with five user licenses, the cost is between $40,000 to $50,000."
"The price is less than the cost of daily hours."
"There is an annual license required to use this solution."
"I would advise that you first meet with and scope out your project with a NetSuite VAR (Value Added Reseller)."
"The price of the solution is quite high."
"NetSuite ERP has a cost per module you want to use, and then you have the license per user."
"The tool’s subscription is yearly. There is no flat pricing involved and everything has a range. Pricing depends on the functionality that you would use. You need to also pay for the additional hosting and maintenance costs."
"The tool’s pricing is expensive."
"Everything is included in the licensing cost of the solution. However, they use a per-user model for additional charges."
"The pricing depends on company size. It's cheaper for small companies and more expensive for large ones."
"The cost starts anywhere between fifty thousand dollars and up depending on the number of licenses."
"The price of SAP Business ByDesign is less expensive than SAP S/4HANA. However, the price is on par with other similar competitors, such as Microsoft."
"We have to pay yearly."
"I rate the price of SAP Business ByDesign a seven out of ten."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Cloud ERP solutions are best for your needs.
856,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
31%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
6%
Computer Software Company
26%
Real Estate/Law Firm
10%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Healthcare Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about NetSuite ERP?
The inventory feature in NetSuite ERP is very valuable to me because it provides clear estimates about the depreciation of details and includes useful mobile modules.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for NetSuite ERP?
If you buy it through Europe or North America, it is quite expensive. However, if you can buy it from developing markets according to NetSuite, you can get significant discounts, up to 70%.
What needs improvement with NetSuite ERP?
Reports are good but not perfect. The custom reports could be improved. The initial setup process for reports can be a bit complicated and may require more user-friendly options. My previous compan...
What do you like most about SAP Business ByDesign?
The most valuable features of SAP Business ByDesign are customer invoicing and cost and revenue, from which I get the data for my project reports.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SAP Business ByDesign?
The pricing depends on company size. It's cheaper for small companies and more expensive for large ones.
What needs improvement with SAP Business ByDesign?
There might be some hurdles when integrating with SAP ECC, but integration with SAP S/4HANA Cloud is smooth.
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

2Pure, Accuvant, Actian, Adtegrity, Advantage Sign Supply, All-Safe Pool Safety Products, Alton Lane, AMC Liquidators
Standard Bank of South Africa, AOK Bundesverband, PT XL Axiata Tbk, Tvoy Dom, Schaidt Innovations GmbH & Co. KG, DeLaval International AB, EMC Corporation, Lenovo, Castle Importing Inc., Unilever, Rifle Paper Co., RAK Ceramics, Rough Country, B&G Manufacturing, Life is good Inc., Joy Global Inc., City of Cape Town
Find out what your peers are saying about NetSuite ERP vs. SAP Business ByDesign and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
856,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.