No more typing reviews! Try our Samantha, our new voice AI agent.

Oracle Database vs SAP SQL Anywhere comparison

Why PeerSpot?
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 3, 2026

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) (1st)
SAP SQL Anywhere
Ranking in Relational Databases Tools
35th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
6
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2026, in the Relational Databases Tools category, the mindshare of Oracle Database is 10.3%, down from 12.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP SQL Anywhere is 1.5%, up from 1.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Relational Databases Tools Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Oracle Database10.3%
SAP SQL Anywhere1.5%
Other88.2%
Relational Databases Tools
 

Featured Reviews

Philemon Olusegun - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
MT
Automation Project Manager at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
Scalable, easy to use, but stability could improve
We use SAP SQL Anywhere because we have a lot of Power BI reports that connect with the SQL database that we have for our robotic process automation data. We create procedures and other elements within the solution The most valuable features of SAP SQL Anywhere are the ease of use and the user…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"This is a powerful solution that offers us a lot of backup security and we can make an image and a backup of the database every day."
"It has improved my organisation with the stability of its systems."
"The solution has an endless capacity."
"The most valuable feature of Oracle Database is all the functionalities. When we write a code we sometimes have to create an explicit functionality to process the data that we want. At times we find that there is already existing functionality in data created by Oracle itself, it is helpful."
"Oracle Database is highly scalable."
"The feature I find most valuable about this solution is the reliability."
"Despite the fact that it's the most expensive of the RDBMS solution available, there's a reason why Oracle Database has the largest market share."
"For us, the most valuable features of Database have been its robustness, reliability, and the fact that it's highly tuneable."
"The most valuable features of SAP SQL Anywhere are the ease of use and the user interface is intuitive."
"It's a great product to use if you are already have an integration with SAP's ERP/CRM systems."
"It works well in general."
"SAP SQL Anywhere is very helpful."
"We've found the solution very reliable overall. It's very fast."
"SQL Anywhere is easy and it did not cost as much as SQL Microsoft."
"The auto-backup replication is a perfect feature. That is the feature I liked the most."
 

Cons

"It would be better if the administrator part could be simplified. At the moment, we need specialized skills for managing or administering Oracle Database. If that is simplified, my juniors or basic database engineers could use it. Right now, we need specific administrative skills to manage the Oracle Server."
"Recently with the 12.102 version, Oracle decreased the number of hardware you can use. I would like them to revert that back to where it was."
"Although we're not using the latest version, there are some ODB tools that are quite cumbersome to use."
"The integration can be made much easier for the Oracle tools, for example, Oracle Database or OPI."
"Technical support could be quicker to respond to queries."
"The compression does not give much value-add or provide performance benefits as was highlighted."
"Cost is always a concern."
"The dashboard is not user-friendly, and I would like to see it improved."
"It is not as secure as it could be; there needs to be more encryption and we can find passwords very easily."
"A problem we are experiencing now is when doing a backup in SQL 2012 and 14 there's a problem with the license."
"SAP SQL Anywhere needs to incorporate functionalities like SAP S/4HANA."
"It is not as secure as it could be."
"The interface is not easy in comparison to the SQL Server. It could be more user-friendly."
"Performance issues when syncing the MBO packages to the server."
"We have had some stability issues with SAP SQL Anywhere, but I am not sure if it is an application or network issue. We sometimes have a large amount of data being queried and it cannot handle it."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Generally, when you buy Oracle Database, and if you're buying it for your own data center on the on-prem side, you have to go by the processor cores and the list price is around $47,500 for the enterprise edition per core."
"Its cost is astronomical. They charge by the size of the server rather than what you're actually using. It is just a terrible business model. It has got a ton of features that are great, but you have to pay for them, and we don't want to spend a lot of money. If you use any of their additional products, you have to pay for those. Almost everything extra is at an additional charge. We also use RAC, and there is an additional charge for that."
"The Oracle Database licensing price could be less expensive. We pay annually for the use of the solution."
"We pay a yearly maintenance fee."
"We mainly use a special license for ERP systems specifically, instead of a general purpose license. This ERP-focused license is very simple. You just have to use Oracle Database with an ERP system and that's it."
"The solution is expensive."
"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."
"The license is inexpensive."
"SQL Anywhere cost us about $400."
"SAP SQL Anywhere is affordable."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Relational Databases Tools solutions are best for your needs.
915,287 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Outsourcing Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Construction Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Healthcare Company
9%
Construction Company
9%
University
9%
Comms Service Provider
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business87
Midsize Enterprise66
Large Enterprise180
No data available
 

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 ...
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...
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...
Ask a question
Earn 20 points
 

Also Known As

Oracle 12c, RDBMS
Sybase SQL Anywhere
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Agncia 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), FundaÊo 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 Estatstica, 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 Ro 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
AOK Bundesverband, Surgutneftegas Open Joint Stock Company, Molson Coors Brewing Company, City of Buenos Aires, ASR Group, Citrix, EarlySense, Usha International Limited, Automotive Resources International, Wªrth Group, Takisada-Osaka Co. Ltd., Coelba, RZD Russian Railways, National Basketball Association, TALLY WEiJL
Find out what your peers are saying about Oracle Database vs. SAP SQL Anywhere and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
915,287 professionals have used our research since 2012.