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SAP Business ByDesign vs Sage Business Cloud Enterprise Management comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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

Sage Business Cloud Enterpr...
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
5.8
Number of Reviews
5
Ranking in other categories
ERP (24th), Activity Based Costing Software (9th)
SAP Business ByDesign
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
16
Ranking in other categories
Cloud ERP (5th)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Enterprise Resource Planning solutions, they serve different purposes. Sage Business Cloud Enterprise Management is designed for ERP and holds a mindshare of 0.6%, up 0.5% compared to last year.
SAP Business ByDesign, on the other hand, focuses on Cloud ERP, holds 8.3% mindshare, down 9.1% since last year.
ERP
Cloud ERP
 

Featured Reviews

Ikbel Zammit - PeerSpot reviewer
Makes processes including calculating costs, accessing inventory information quickly, validating offers, and extracting data easier
I use Sage Business Cloud Enterprise Management to digitize our processes. I put our work and the opportunities on the platform, validate financial offers, and manage fees from transport and financial management.  I also use the system for record-keeping of client information and work…
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

"Sage Business Cloud Enterprise Management has helped by making processes such as calculating costs, accessing inventory information quickly, validating offers, and extracting data easier."
"The initial setup is not complex. The deployment process was relatively straightforward."
"The interface is rich in features, allowing efficient management of business operations."
"The accounting part and the procurement part are most valuable. It is a very good system with workflows and notifications."
"The solution is parameterized so it naturally has the ability to parameterize, configure, and adapt to various organizational procedures."
"The most valuable feature of Sage Business Cloud Enterprise Management is the business intelligence module. Additionally, report consolidation, cloud access, and analysis are useful."
"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."
"ByDesign's best features are its speed, real-time data, and reporting."
"When comparing SAP Business ByDesign to much larger ERP solutions, such as SAP ECC 6.0 or SAP S/4HANA, SAP Business ByDesign is more user-friendly and easier to implement."
"The standard system is stable."
"The most valuable features of Business ByDesign are the integration of its modules, analytics, and dashboards."
"I find the tool’s every feature valuable."
"I like the tool’s customization."
"SAP Business ByDesign is connected to our S/4 HANA system, and we have developed some APIs which help us integrate the system with S/4 HANA."
 

Cons

"It is not suitable for corporate or manufacturing companies. For example, it's challenging to use it for a manufacturing company."
"Integration with other tools like BOM or Cisco BlueQ could be improved."
"Sage Business Cloud Enterprise Management could improve the search functionality. For example, if I was to search for a transaction from last year it would be difficult to accomplish. I have to scroll through to find what I am looking for. The approach should be more similar to Quickbooks where when you search for something it takes you directly to the searched item."
"The solution does not have a solid, out-of-the-box API architecture that is supported."
"Its implementation process is kind of complicated. If the person implementing it doesn't know what he is doing, the system can have many issues. Sage X3 is just an accounting system. As compared to Oracle E-Business Suite, it does not cover a lot of functionality. It doesn't have the payroll, lease management, and HR modules. Oracle E-Business Suite is better than Sage X3."
"Integration with other tools like BOM or Cisco BlueQ could be improved."
"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."
"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."
"ByDesign could be improved by making screen modifications easier."
"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 solution does not support customization for forms and reports. It's not flexible in case you need some enhancements in business processes."
"Scalability is difficult."
"One disadvantage was that we had the legacy system, SAP Business One, and we could not migrate our data to SAP Business ByDesign. They should have provided a migration path."
"The Arabic localization is neglected. It should have an Arabic interface. It lacks Arabic translation or support from right to left."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The cost is not expensive."
"It is very cheap. There are no additional charges, but the problem is that you have to acquire an additional supporting system such as a budgeting system. You will have to implement the integration and maintain two systems. So, you need to pay for the license of that budgeting system and this one. You also need to pay the license for the payroll and integration. There are all these integrations that you have to pay for."
"The price of this solution is expensive. However, it depends on the number of branches used. The price can be upwards of $40,000 annually."
"The solution delivers the same capabilities of SAP or Oracle at about 30% to 40% of the cost."
"The pricing depends on company size. It's cheaper for small companies and more expensive for large ones."
"I rate the price of SAP Business ByDesign a seven out of ten."
"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."
"The cost starts anywhere between fifty thousand dollars and up depending on the number of licenses."
"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."
"We have to pay yearly."
"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."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
25%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Comms Service Provider
12%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Computer Software Company
24%
Real Estate/Law Firm
8%
Healthcare Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Sage Business Cloud Enterprise Management?
The initial setup is not complex. The deployment process was relatively straightforward.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Sage Business Cloud Enterprise Management?
The pricing of Sage Business Cloud Enterprise Management is high compared to other solutions like Bitrix.
What needs improvement with Sage Business Cloud Enterprise Management?
Integration with other tools like BOM or Cisco BlueQ could be improved. The importation of configurations like BOQs is challenging as each line has to be added individually, which is time-consuming...
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 price is high, as every year SAP increases the price by 3.5%.
What needs improvement with SAP Business ByDesign?
We received a few complaints about the slowness in SAP Business ByDesign last year, so I think SAP can focus on improving performance, particularly when it becomes slow during data saving and handl...
 

Also Known As

Sage ERP X3, Sage X3
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Power Distributing, Universal Paper and Plastics
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 SAP, Microsoft, Infor and others in ERP. Updated: June 2025.
861,390 professionals have used our research since 2012.