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

Oracle Exadata 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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
6.3
Oracle Exadata offers early break-even, reduced costs, increased performance, and significant savings despite complex licensing challenges.
Sentiment score
6.6
SAP BW4HANA enhances data management, offering in-memory analytics for better insights, decision-making, productivity, and potential ROI over time.
The investment is good, which is why people choose this hardware.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.5
Oracle Exadata support praised for expertise, but critiques focus on delays and process efficiency improvement needs.
Sentiment score
5.7
SAP BW4HANA support is generally reliable with good resources, but response times vary based on service agreements.
This involved creating blueprints for integrating Oracle products into client systems, followed by technical presentations to Oracle teams and stakeholders.
Exadata comes with a platinum gateway and comprehensive support, which often gets immediate attention with severity one cases.
In the meantime, I found solutions independently and provided two solutions to my client.
I am satisfied with the response time and quality.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.5
Oracle Exadata offers efficient scalability with flexible configurations, easy expansion, and high costs; ensure compatible hardware generations.
Sentiment score
6.9
SAP BW4HANA is scalable for enterprise needs and effective on the cloud, despite hardware costs and no auto-scaling.
Within a site, scalability is excellent.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.8
Oracle Exadata is praised for reliability and stability, with improved models offering redundancy and high availability, minimizing downtime.
Sentiment score
7.5
SAP BW4HANA is reliable and stable, though scalability issues exist; cloud enhancements improve performance and integration with SAP strategy.
Once installed, Exadata is very stable.
 

Room For Improvement

Oracle Exadata needs cost management, simplified patching, improved support, better customization, enhanced security, and third-party integration.
SAP BW4HANA is viewed as complex, costly, lacking modern features, difficult to integrate, and needing better scalability and support.
I cannot create an extended rack cluster with one node on one site and another node on a different site.
There are minor areas where improvement is needed, such as making the user interface more user-friendly and enhancing configuration and customization options.
Integration needs improvement.
The integration with AI/ML in SAP BW4HANA is currently very limited, which is definitely an area that needs improvement.
 

Setup Cost

Oracle Exadata's high costs are justified by its performance and reliability, offering value through reduced operational expenses.
SAP BW4HANA is often considered costly due to extra fees, with varied pricing experiences among different enterprise clients.
I would rate the price an eight on a scale from one to ten, indicating it is fairly expensive.
The certification cost for SAP BW4HANA in 2025 is expected to be one lakh forty thousand.
 

Valuable Features

Oracle Exadata enhances performance, handles large databases efficiently, and simplifies management with advanced features and intelligent storage capabilities.
SAP BW4HANA provides fast, flexible analytics, real-time reporting, scalability, and easy integration, enhancing decision-making with robust features.
It also offers high backend speed between self-storage units and servers, which is beneficial for processing.
The most valuable features of Oracle Exadata are its high availability and cluster environment.
The capability to handle a large amount of data and perform ETL operations is most valuable.
The best features include the ability to create data sources directly on tables, and perform mapping without creating info objects.
 

Categories and Ranking

Oracle Exadata
Ranking in Data Warehouse
2nd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
129
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
SAP BW4HANA
Ranking in Data Warehouse
8th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
44
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Data Warehouse category, the mindshare of Oracle Exadata is 14.2%, down from 18.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP BW4HANA is 3.9%, down from 4.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Data Warehouse Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Oracle Exadata14.2%
SAP BW4HANA3.9%
Other81.9%
Data Warehouse
 

Featured Reviews

Mladen Vidic - PeerSpot reviewer
High availability and cluster support enhance daily operations and transaction processing.
We use Oracle Exadata for several enterprise databases that accommodate all-day operations on two Exadatas. I can't disclose the specific use of these databases, but they handle heavy connections and a large number of transactions. This environment is set up to process requests from a transaction…
Ritesh Durvasha - PeerSpot reviewer
Has supported efficient data processing and streamlined reporting for large-scale sales operations
The capability to handle a large amount of data and perform ETL operations is most valuable. Additionally, sending data out of SAP BW4HANA through Open Hub, which is a free service, is another valuable feature. In contrast, many other products charge for sending data out of their systems, such as Data Sphere or BDC, which charge premium service fees. Regarding advanced analytic tools in SAP BW4HANA, users can directly connect to Analysis for Office without additional charges. It's convenient as users don't have to download data into Excel since it's already connected to the system. From an integration capabilities perspective, it's easy to connect to SAP systems, though integration with non-SAP systems presents more challenges.
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Data Warehouse solutions are best for your needs.
872,706 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
31%
Computer Software Company
10%
Government
6%
Manufacturing Company
5%
Manufacturing Company
17%
Retailer
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business47
Midsize Enterprise13
Large Enterprise86
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business16
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise28
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Oracle Exadata?
It is the best solution for OLTP and data warehousing.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Oracle Exadata?
The cost of Oracle Exadata is substantial, particularly in terms of maintenance costs and licensing. This pricing strategy has led to strained relationships with IT companies including HP and Cisco...
What needs improvement with Oracle Exadata?
Patching Oracle Exadata can be challenging due to its numerous components including network, blade, CPU, storage, and VMs. The system's complexity extends beyond simple maintenance tasks. The perfo...
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?
The certification cost is extremely high. I completed certification for $40,000. The certification cost for SAP BW4HANA in 2025 is expected to be one lakh forty thousand.
What needs improvement with SAP BW4HANA?
Integration needs improvement. In reporting, I am not comfortable with the creation of variables, and some calculations need improvement in BW queries.
 

Also Known As

No data available
SAP BW/4HANA
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

PayPal, EBS, Organic Food Retailer, Garmin, University of Minnesota, Major Semiconductor Company, Deutsche Bank, Starwood, Ziraat Bank, SK Telecom, and P&G.
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Oracle Exadata vs. SAP BW4HANA and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
872,706 professionals have used our research since 2012.