Oracle Database vs SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise comparison

Oracle and SAP are both solutions in the Relational Databases Tools category. Oracle is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.4, while SAP is ranked #19 with an average rating of 8.5. Oracle holds a 10.4% mindshare in SQL, compared to SAP’s 1.5% mindshare. Additionally, 92% of Oracle users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 85% of SAP users who would recommend it.

Oracle Database

Read 294 Oracle Database reviews

16,983 Views
15,624 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise

Read 14 SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise reviews

1,871 Views
1,777 Comparison Views

85% willing to recommend

Oracle Database

SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 3, 2026

Oracle Database and SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise are strong contenders in the database market. Oracle Database holds the upper hand with its extensive feature set, market presence, and high availability.

Features: Oracle Database shines with features such as Real Application Clusters, Data Guard, and extensive backup and recovery solutions. It offers scalability, high availability, and strong market support. SAP ASE is favored for transaction handling efficiency, ease of installation, and lower infrastructure requirements, making it cost-effective for specific applications.

Room for Improvement: Oracle Database could enhance areas like performance insights, simplify licensing, and improve cost management. SAP ASE needs upgrades in scalability, transaction processing, and modernization to match current database trends, with concerns over long-term support lifecycle.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Oracle Database offers versatile deployment options, including Public Cloud, Hybrid Cloud, and On-premises solutions, but its support system can be complex. SAP ASE provides straightforward deployment in both On-premises and Hybrid Cloud environments, though support varies based on specific needs.

Pricing and ROI: Oracle Database is typically a higher-cost solution, justified by its robust feature set and capabilities, providing notable long-term ROI. SAP ASE appeals to cost-sensitive organizations needing solid transaction management, offering moderate pricing and lower initial and maintenance costs.

To learn more, read our detailed Oracle Database vs. SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise Report (Updated: June 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Oracle Database vs. SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise

June 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:

Categories and Ranking

Oracle Database

Ranking in Relational Databases Tools

2nd

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

294

Ranking in other categories

Database Management Systems (DBMS) (2nd)

SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise

Ranking in Relational Databases Tools

19th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

5.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2026, in the Relational Databases Tools category, the mindshare of Oracle Database is 10.4%, down from 12.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise is 1.5%, up from 0.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Relational Databases Tools Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Oracle Database	10.4%
SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise	1.5%
Other	88.1%

Relational Databases Tools

Featured Reviews

Philemon Olusegun

Qhse Manager at a outsourcing company with 10,001+ employees

Reliable backups and high-capacity data management have transformed large-scale census projects

When it comes to how Oracle Database can be improved, for me it is all about training and development in terms of gamification, creating awareness, and spreading the word to aspiring database administrators and database developers. As I have used it in the past and in recent times, many people are trying to get into IT, so the opportunity exists. Oracle has the market opportunity to take this time to spread its offerings and ensure that many aspiring professionals are aware of its services and products. From my perspective, there is not much to add regarding the needed improvements for the interface and the documentation. I give it a nine because I think Oracle sometimes can make things complicated. You have many services, many products, and many tools for different use cases. So it is difficult for someone who is only used to a particular product, such as Oracle Database, to understand all the other products and services that it provides. Probably streamlining it and making it available with categorized use cases for specific job roles would help. If you are a database developer, these are the tools that you need to be familiar with in Oracle's suite of products, and if you are a database administrator, these are the tools. Categorizing them based on the job role or function of people who are accessing these products and providing training capabilities on how to use them and how these products interchange and talk to each other would be very important because that is one of the things I struggled with when I started my journey as an Oracle Database administrator. Having that visibility of all the software products and providing free training and documentation on how you can improve and which products are best suited for integration to your product from Oracle would go a long way to help organizations and professionals. Regarding Oracle Database's AI capabilities, I am very keen on its governance and security. I think more work needs to be done on the security and ensuring that the database for a large number of people is watertight. AI is here to stay; however, governance and more stress testing of the AI capabilities needs to be done to ensure there is no breach of data. I would rate it currently at 6 over 10 and there is room for improvement. As long as there are government policies and Oracle policies that can mitigate any breaches of data and serious security issues, releasing people's records over the internet, there is always room for improvement in that regard.

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reviewer2784705

Senior Advisor at a government with 10,001+ employees

Long term database experience has supported OLTP workloads and delivers reliable cross platform migrations

SAP is not putting money into modernizing SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise. One of the things I discovered on the last project I was on was that they did not incorporate the Intel new instruction set in SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise. Intel has augmented its instruction set referred to as new instructions. They did that to make conversion easier. When you migrate SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise cross-platform, you go through a process where it converts the character set. If you are going from AIX to Linux or from Solaris to Linux, Linux is referred to as Little Endian, while AIX or Solaris are considered Big Endian. This is determined by how the product stores data. The word size of these processors is 32 bits long. If you start numbering from the little end, it is referred to as Little Endian. If you start numbering from the big end, it is called Big Endian. To migrate a SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise database from a Big Endian setup like AIX or Solaris to migrate to a Big Endian setup on an Intel, the operating system determines whether it is Little Endian or Big Endian. When you migrate from Big Endian to Little Endian, the database has to go through a character set conversion, and some of these databases are quite large with gigabytes and gigabytes of data. They have to do a character set conversion to the existing database before they do anything else. The worst part is that you have to rebuild all the indexes when you do that. When you switch endianness of the database, you have to rebuild all the indexes. It will automatically do that for system tables, but for actual user databases, you have to rebuild all your indexes, and it takes a long time. SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise is a relational database and is the predecessor of Microsoft SQL Server. All that functionality that Microsoft SQL Server had came from essentially SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise. The problem with SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise these days is it is not expanding its place in the marketplace or expanding its position in the marketplace. A lot of companies have migrated away from SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise. It works fairly well, but the problem is SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise was architected to be an OLTP engine and is now doing things for larger databases that were not in its original intended purpose. The endianness of the RDBMS is a major impediment to continuing to use SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise. You have a multi-gigabyte database, and it will go through a conversion process in a single-threaded fashion, and then you have to rebuild the indexes. Rebuilding the indexes is lengthy and time-consuming. The part of the conversion process that is concerned with conversion of the character set is single-threaded. You may have eight cores on your machine or virtual machine and only one can be used in the conversion process. There is another problem with the whole thing in that it will sometimes not operate properly. Under certain workloads, SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise will become overwhelmed. When you convert it, it does not operate properly in all circumstances. The root cause of that is that SAP in its desire to save money and desire to orphan the product has not recompiled or redeveloped the product to take advantage of the Intel new instruction set. Other relational databases such as Oracle and Microsoft SQL Server have the same issue to deal with, but with those platforms, they are taking advantage of the new instruction set. There are some additional Intel instruction sets or instructions in their Intel instruction set. With SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise, they did not bother to incorporate support for the new instruction set instructions. In certain circumstances, the database does not operate properly. It is unable to do what it needs to do. If you do your research and go on the internet and see what happens with Oracle or Microsoft SQL Server, what comes back is that it takes 4% longer to perform a lot of the instructions. When you are using the new instruction set, it adds 4% to the runtime of the database.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I like that it's stable. What's good is that Oracle manages the infrastructure. We have got better because they update the server by default or whenever it's needed. They try to fix it server by server because of their own support plans."

"The tool's most valuable feature is data encryption. The security features are good. They include field-level security, role-level security, and easy access controls."

"The most valuable features are stability, its backup and recovery, and its performance."

"Oracle Database is running on the same old hardware that I had the 11g version on and it is operating faster. It seems to be really good. It's fast even when the workload is heavy, easy to do backups and other administrative tasks with the Enterprise Manager."

"There is a lot of functionality in Oracle Database. The reports and the GUI are good."

"Oracle is a good database with decent performance, which is fortunate because we are required to use this database for our ERP system. Even if we thought Oracle was the worst database in the world, we would still have to use it."

"We do not experience performance issues or trouble with throughput."

"The performance and reliability are the best features of the Oracle Database."

More Oracle Database pros

"SAP ERP offers us a robust platform where financial stakeholders spend less time collating and sourcing out records and implementing payments."

"SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise was basically as good as its rivals in my experience."

"The most valuable part of the tool stems from the fact that it is a very cost-efficient product compared to the newer technologies because it needs a very small amount of RAM."

"I like that SAP ASE can match code and the database index to index data in the programming language. There are many other valuable features, such as the table buffer, tuning, and various control agents like dispatcher. SAP ASE can handle many different data types, including views, domains, data elements, structures, objects, and various table types that are most useful in the application. Its modularization technique is also handy."

"It's pretty good at handling a large number of transactions, which is critical for a banking client."

"They provide easy integration with other systems."

"In SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise, there are some built-in stored procedures that you can use to fire those commands and get the data in a very systematic manner where you can see the results."

"Sufficient, robust, power DB."

More SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise pros

Cons

"The Oracle Database could improve on integration with other infrastructure systems like Active Directory."

"Sometimes they tell us we can't upgrade the database for now as there's a vulnerability Oracle couldn't find a solution for."

"The previous version was a little clunky."

"Needs educational content that would help the individual to be able to work in a real life situation and scenarios."

"The solution has a high cost. Due to this, people are going for open-source instead."

"The licensing of the solution for only several virtual servers is a big issue which should be addressed."

"Compared to its reputation, it's worse than expected."

"Oracle Database required some time to learn the basics and how it works. However, this is typical for database solutions."

More Oracle Database cons

"The solution is kind-of expensive."

"There could be some improvements in barcode scanning and RFID access."

"I think that the solution needs to be positioned better within the market as it appears as though the Adaptive Server is being left out of the SAP scope."

"User interface could be more user friendly."

"In my opinion, product support is not that great from SAP because they have already declared the end-of-date for SAP ASE. They will be stopping product support."

"SAP should refine its debugging method, and the process needs to be a little faster. It should use more Pragmas and fewer pseudocomments. I would like if SAP added more features based on advanced technologies, like artificial intelligence and voice control. The modularization and if-else techniques could also incorporate the latest technology to code and solve complex problems. The SAP Editor should be more elaborative, and it should allow many more types of statements for all uses."

"When we acquire a new project that is sometimes related to data migrations, after getting those data, there are lots of deadlocks happening."

"The overall performance of the product is an area where the tool has certain shortcomings and needs to improve."

More SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price of the solution could be reduced."

"Seeing as a lot of our applications use Oracle, our team has been able to negotiate a better deal."

"My company has opted for perpetual licensing. We only need to make payments toward the licensing of the product."

"Oracle is an expensive product."

"The main issue where I feel that Oracle still has a problem is with the licensing. Licensing is still expensive and the reason why today most startups use other, cheaper databases. Those other databases are much less sophisticated than Oracle."

"We have a subscription."

"The price of the solution could improve."

"Our customers sometimes complain about the price of the license, as it is very high for them."

More Oracle Database pricing and cost advice

"Price-wise, the product is worth it since one needs very less infrastructure to use it."

"The licensing cost for ASE is pretty low."

"I rate SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise's pricing a six out of ten."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

12%

Construction Company

12%

Outsourcing Company

10%

Manufacturing Company

Construction Company

16%

Financial Services Firm

14%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	87
Midsize Enterprise	66
Large Enterprise	180

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	3
Large Enterprise	11

Questions from the Community

How do you run Oracle Database at your organization and why?

My company has been using Oracle Exadata Database Service for some years now, and we are happy with it. I will allow myself to answer your questions about why and what benefits it provides us with ...

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Do you know of any disadvantages of Oracle Database?

Undoubtedly, Oracle Database is a top product in its category. But it does have its disadvantages, and for me and my organization, that has been the limitations of the product. When it comes to Ora...

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What is the best use for Oracle Database?

Oracle Database is flexible and can be used for many things. My company's main use case for this product is for storing data. We benefit from its high level of security as well as from the fact tha...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise?

From a pricing perspective, I would say the solution is fairly priced. In Oracle, you have two or three databases at most on one machine. In SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise, one machine can have mul...

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What needs improvement with SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise?

See all answers

What is your primary use case for SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise?

I have worked with SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise, SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise IQ, and Replication Server. I also worked with SQL Anywhere at one point. SAP acquired Sybase at one point, and the...

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Comparisons

SAP HANA vs Oracle Database

Compared 22% of the time

SQL Server vs Oracle Database

Compared 8% of the time

IBM Db2 Database vs Oracle Database

Compared 6% of the time

Teradata vs Oracle Database

Compared 6% of the time

MySQL vs Oracle Database

Compared 5% of the time

More Oracle Database Competitors

SAP IQ vs SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise

Compared 22% of the time

SAP HANA vs SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise

Compared 13% of the time

SQL Server vs SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise

Compared 9% of the time

IBM Db2 Database vs SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise

Compared 8% of the time

Oracle Database In-Memory vs SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise

Compared 6% of the time

More SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Oracle Database

July 2026

Download Oracle Database product report

Buyer's Guide

SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise

July 2026

Download SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise product report

Also Known As

Oracle 12c, RDBMS

SAP ASE

Overview

Oracle Database is renowned for its reliability, scalability, and performance, delivering high availability and security. It integrates seamlessly with other systems, providing exceptional data protection and backup, suitable for managing multiple applications and supporting large datasets.

Oracle Database offers a powerful platform for managing data across industries such as finance, manufacturing, and agriculture. It is particularly beneficial for ERP systems, data warehouses, and transactional processing. Users can harness advanced security measures, automation, and integration capabilities, though high pricing and complex licensing can deter smaller enterprises. The database's flexible yet intricate setup process requires advanced skills, while limited integration with other databases and cloud platforms can be a drawback. User interface improvements, along with enhancements in query optimization and support services, are areas for potential development.

What are Oracle Database's key features?

Reliability and Scalability: Delivers consistent performance and can handle increasing workloads.
High Availability: Features like Data Guard ensure database uptime and disaster recovery.
Advanced Security: Protects sensitive data with robust security measures.
Seamless Integration: Works well with existing systems and applications.
Data Management: Supports large datasets and complex computations for varied applications.

What benefits can users expect?

Security: Offers comprehensive data protection mechanisms.
Scalability: Easily adapts to changing data processing needs.
Performance: Provides strong transactional and analytical processing capabilities.
Flexibility: Supports diverse applications, from CRM to e-commerce.
Disaster Recovery: Ensures continuity with reliable backup solutions.

Industries like finance, manufacturing, and agriculture utilize Oracle Database for its ability to handle extensive transactions and data analyses. It's essential for ERP systems, supporting CRM, e-commerce, and healthcare applications with its robust infrastructure and disaster recovery options. Despite its challenges in pricing and complexity, it remains a top choice for organizations requiring reliable and high-performing databases.

Oracle

SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise delivers customizable operations and reliable OLTP features crucial for banking, being resource-efficient and SQL-capable while maintaining high security and performance standards, though updates and cross-platform conversion can be challenging.

SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise is tailored for environments needing secure, efficient data handling. Its OLTP capabilities make it a top choice for banking and finance by ensuring smooth transactions. While the database supports multiple data types and cloud integration, it is essential to address the need for user-friendly interfaces and better synchronization features. Although its transaction management isn't as competitive compared to Oracle and PostgreSQL, its SQL capabilities and security tools remain highly regarded. Users primarily utilize it for data storage, scripting, and operational management across development environments, including banking, enabling effective data manipulation and storage.

What are the standout features of SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise?

Customizable Operations: Tailored configurations for diverse business needs.
Strong OLTP Features: Efficient and swift transaction processing.
SQL Capabilities: Robust tools for SQL programming and querying.
Financial Integration: Seamlessly handles financial data and transactions.
Cloud Integration: Supports integration with cloud-based storage and services.

What benefits should users look for when evaluating SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise?

Cost Efficiency: Requires minimal resources for effective performance.
User-friendliness: Easy learning curve for new users and developers.
High Security: Strong measures to protect sensitive data.
Efficient Transaction Handling: Smooth management of complex transactions.
Reliability: Consistent performance with minimal downtime.

SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise is widely implemented in banking, dealing with efficient data manipulation and storing historical data crucial for operations. It is leveraged for both financial and operational management tasks, including planning and logistics. The database's robust features extend benefits to industries requiring rigorous data management, such as development, testing, and production environments connected across banking networks, focusing on main data handling and replication tasks.

SAP

Sample Customers

Agncia Nacional de guas, Anbima, Aria Systems, Asiana Airlines, Astelit LLC, Australian Finance Group, Banco Occidental de Descuento, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited, BT, Caja de Seguros S.A., Casas GEO S.A.B. de C.V., Comic Relief UK, Corsair Components Inc., CSAM Health AS, CSOB Group, Datacraft Solutions, DenizBank A.S., Department of Treasury and Finance WA, Office of State Revenue, Deutsche B_rse AG, Deutsche Lufthansa AG, Deutsche Messe AG, Digicel Haiti, DPR COSEA, Essar Group, Essatto Software Pty Ltd, Farmšcia e Drogaria Nissei Ltda., Fomento Econ‹mico Mexicano S.A.B. de C.V. (FEMSA), FundaÊo Petrobras de Seguridade Social, Future Group, GFKL Financial Services AG, Grupo Posadas S.A.B. de C.V., Grupo Sinosserra, Guerra S.A. Implementos Rodovišrios, Hanatour International Service, Hays plc, Henan Mobile Co. Ltd, Hochschule Hof, Hong Kong and China Technology (Wuhan) Co. Ltd (Towngas Technology), Industries Corpa_al C.A., Infrastructure Development Finance Company Limited, Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatstica, Instituto Mexicano de la Propiedad Industrial, Kcell, LinkShare Corporation, MercadoLibre Inc., MetLife Inc., Nextgen Distribution, €BB-IKT GmbH, Octagon Research Solutions, Pacific Lutheran University, Paragon Data GmbH, Ping ltd., PJSC Trustbank, Prodaub _ Processamento de Dados de Uberl_ndia, Purdue University, Redknee Inc., Robi Axiata Limited, Shanghai Infoservice Technology Co. Ltd, Shanghai Sihua Technologies Co. Ltd, Sistema de Aguas de la Ciudad de M_xico, Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council, Suddenlink Communications, Suprajit Engineering Limited, Tallink Grupp, Terminales Ro de la Plata S.A., Therap Services LLC, Think Passenger Inc., Trafigura, Transmed S.A.L Lebanon, ValeShop, VelQuest Corporation, Vodafone Group plc, West Virginia Network, WIND Hellas Telecommunications S.A

City of Buenos Aires, ASR Group, Citrix, EarlySense, Usha International Limited, Automotive Resources International (ARI), Takisada-Osaka Co. Ltd., Coelba (Grupo Neoenergia), RZD Russian Railways, National Basketball Association - NBA, TALLY

Buyer's Guide

Oracle Database vs. SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise

June 2026

Free Report: Oracle Database vs. SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise

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