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Oracle Database Appliance vs SAP BW4HANA comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 18, 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

Oracle Database Appliance
Ranking in Data Warehouse
6th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
44
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
SAP BW4HANA
Ranking in Data Warehouse
8th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
42
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Data Warehouse category, the mindshare of Oracle Database Appliance is 5.3%, down from 6.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP BW4HANA is 4.6%, down from 4.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Data Warehouse
 

Featured Reviews

Charu Mazumdar - PeerSpot reviewer
Simplifies database management tasks and provides high availability and disaster recovery
Oracle Database Appliance has simplified our database management tasks. Our clients are using the solution for high availability and disaster recovery. Our overall experience with the solution was good, especially the DR. Oracle Database Appliance's integrated storage solutions have enhanced our data management. Oracle Database Appliance's integration with other solutions was straightforward. We faced compatibility issues while moving from another device to this one, and the integration was not seamless. I would recommend the solution to other users. Overall, I rate the solution an 8 out of 10.
Csaba Grünblatt - PeerSpot reviewer
Performs all necessary data warehouse tasks and offers additional functionalities
SAP BW4HANA improved data reporting processes significantly. Performance on HANA database is good. Well-built data models ensure consistent and fast reporting. Reusable models enhance efficiency, even for SaaS services. In-memory computing, especially since HANA, has greatly improved performance in data analysis tasks. It eliminates the need for complex optimizations like creating indexes or aggregates. Queries that once took minutes now run in seconds, enabling real-time reporting, especially for SAP ECC on HANA. SAP BW4HANA's integration capabilities are streamlined with a simplified architecture and more virtual layers. You can directly load data into optimized layers, reducing the need for extra storage. The introduction of Open ODS Views allows for additional logic and master data inclusion, making integration faster and simpler. The learning curve for SAP BW4HANA is much faster now compared to ten years ago, thanks to abundant free resources like documentation, videos, blogs, and learning journeys provided by SAP. It is simpler to learn with these resources available compared to the past when you had to attend courses and rely on books. I would recommend SAP BW4HANA to users looking to implement it, especially if they want to keep their systems on-premise and already have SAP systems. Those with BW on HANA have two choices: BW4HANA or DataSphere, depending on their cloud strategy. If they are advanced in their cloud strategy and want to migrate off-premise, DataSphere is a good choice. However, for a robust solution on-premise or in a private cloud, BW4HANA is an excellent option. Overall, I would rate BW4HANA as a nine out of ten. It performs all necessary data warehouse tasks and offers additional functionalities. We use it traditionally, with complex transformations and models but with less emphasis on real-time processing and third-party sources.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"If the database goes down on one of the servers, the load is automatically shifted to another server. You can troubleshoot the one that is down without affecting uptime."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is the ability to combine all the data without the need for additional devices."
"The most valuable features of the solution revolve around its performance, simplicity, and its installation phase."
"The product is very light."
"We use the solution for our Java applications."
"The initial setup was straightforward and quick - I was able to configure everything within an hour."
"NVM Express (NVMe) solid-state drives: This technology brings outstanding I/O performance for midsize databases. We have tested it by doing POCs on customer sites and the results were quite satisfying."
"Oracle Database Appliance is a stable solution. We have clients that have been running it for 10 years."
"Its direct approach is the most valuable. You get more real time and capabilities than BW."
"The UI is completely new, beautiful, and user-friendly. There are some other helpful features like global filters and advanced tools. We can perform custom calculations easily From a technical perspective, the performance has been enhanced and optimized for a limited number of flows. The content settings are more advanced, and there are so many other features that I can't name them all."
"It provides the functions in a way that even a less technical person can do the modeling."
"The ability to instantly pull data is the most valuable feature."
"I like the reporting features of the solution."
"Out of the box, this solution has a lot of standard features."
"We can get good visualization and less redundant data."
"The most valuable feature is that it's robust."
 

Cons

"The product's technical support services need improvement."
"The setup is a bit complex."
"The solution's initial setup is not easy."
"Since we don't have the room to scale up, I rate this solution a six out of ten for scalability."
"If we were able to use Oracle Database to create mobile apps, that would be great. I don't know multiple languages, like Java, etc. I need to learn a separate language, right now in order to do this."
"Oracle Database Appliance could improve by having better integration."
"The solution’s flexibility could be improved."
"Virtualization needs improvement. It's not easy to back up the virtual machines in the Oracle VM architecture. I would also like to see native support for Veeam Backup Software."
"I would like to be able to design new reports in a future release."
"There's the complexity in migration from BW to BW/4HANA, especially with data migration."
"The licensing cost could be made better."
"It's complicated to use. You need to spend a lot of time learning about it. The interface could be improved. It's not intuitive to build a data model and use their ETL tools."
"There should be a direct pipeline from Azure to SAP."
"Connecting multiple sources is a challenge because you have to go through a lot of different setups."
"Not a ten because it's expensive and its ecosystem is not very open."
"The dashboard should be simplified and made easier for exploration and decision making."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Oracle Database Application's support and maintenance are included in the contract."
"I would rate the pricing a four on a scale of one (high price) to ten (low cost)."
"Compared to Oracle Exadata, Oracle Database Appliance is affordable."
"On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive, I rate the solution's pricing seven and a half or eight out of ten."
"The product is costly."
"Leverage the Pay-As-You-Grow licensing, and consider using the ODA X6-2 S/M/L models also for SE2/SE."
"The solution's pricing is very high."
"Oracle’s pricing is ridiculously high."
"As an investment, the solution is very expensive."
"The solution is expensive."
"This is an expensive solution and there are costs in addition to the standard licensing fees."
"For some, the rates offered by SAP can be costly while for others it may seem cheap. The price ultimately depends on how you have negotiated your contract with SAP."
"We started as early birds from the SAP side. We got this entire suite for free. I cannot really talk about the price because we didn't have to pay anything."
"We have a broad licensing arrangement, which is expensive but worth it for sizeable businesses."
"For the on-premises version of the product, the solution offers a perpetual-based licensing model to its users. In general, SAP offers a monthly subscription-based licensing model to its users."
"In general, it's quite expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
30%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
9%
Manufacturing Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
Retailer
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Oracle Database Appliance?
Oracle Database Appliance provides high stability.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Oracle Database Appliance?
While I'm somewhat familiar with standard licensing, pricing isn't really my area of expertise. However, Oracle is on the higher end of the pricing spectrum, along with SAP.
What needs improvement with Oracle Database Appliance?
There is room for improvement in better integration with third-party tools, such as Power BI or Redshift. When dealing with federated data sources, this integration can be a challenge.
What do you like most about SAP BW4HANA?
One significant advantage of SAP BW/4HANA is the direct integration with the SAP HANA database, providing seamless access to real-time analytics. Additionally, it enables real-time data integrati...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SAP BW4HANA?
We have a broad licensing arrangement, which is expensive but worth it for sizeable businesses.
What needs improvement with SAP BW4HANA?
The interface could be more user-friendly, as we often need to do low-level coding to get things done.
 

Also Known As

X5-2
SAP BW/4HANA
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

LifeLock, Incarlopsa, Al Yusur Industrial Contracting
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Oracle Database Appliance vs. SAP BW4HANA and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
849,686 professionals have used our research since 2012.