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SAP Business ByDesign vs SAP ERP 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

SAP Business ByDesign
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
16
Ranking in other categories
Cloud ERP (6th)
SAP ERP
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.2
Number of Reviews
109
Ranking in other categories
ERP (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Enterprise Resource Planning solutions, they serve different purposes. SAP Business ByDesign is designed for Cloud ERP and holds a mindshare of 3.6%, down 7.6% compared to last year.
SAP ERP, on the other hand, focuses on ERP, holds 8.8% mindshare, down 17.4% since last year.
Cloud ERP Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
SAP Business ByDesign3.6%
NetSuite ERP20.6%
Oracle Fusion Cloud ERP20.5%
Other55.3%
Cloud ERP
ERP Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
SAP ERP8.8%
SAP S/4HANA6.1%
Oracle E-Business Suite4.0%
Other81.1%
ERP
 

Featured Reviews

MS
Divisional Manager IT at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Valuable features enhance sales and service capabilities while performance improvements are needed
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 handling. My feedback about the modular architecture and customized features of SAP Business ByDesign is that it is only good, but we have not explored much on this one. The initial setup for SAP Business ByDesign was complex. 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.
Achmad Dimyati - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Service Management Team Lead at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Long-term adaptation and evolution meets changing technology trends
SAP ERP is not really real-time. We use the HANA database which is supposed to be memory data in memory, but we are still not very happy. It is supposed to be real-time and come very quickly, but in reality, it still takes time to run. That is why we use BW of SAP, Business Objects, and now we have moved to the Analytic Cloud where we start using predictive AI. SAP recently implemented Databricks, and they started investing significantly in the analytic environment. SAP ERP has been left behind as they moved to S/4HANA with the HANA database. They restructured the whole table structure of SAP ERP, introduced simple finance, simple logistics, and moved HR to SuccessFactors. They have the BTP layer where they manage everything from integration to master data management. The challenge with SAP is that they move very fast to different products and buy different products. It requires significant investment and many skills to catch up because all of these have different sets of technology. The fundamental has changed differently. It is not monolithic anymore but different products under one name, SAP. You have to buy it model by model for additional models. Products such as SuccessFactors, Ariba for procure to pay, Concur for travel, and Facility Management use totally different technology. They try to integrate with each other, but it remains a challenge for SAP to make them have the same management, technology, and operational approach.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The standard system is stable."
"I find the tool’s every feature valuable."
"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."
"The stability has been great, and compared to other products that I have used before, they have been doing really well with stability."
"I like its modern approach. It is very modern and new technology."
"The most valuable features of Business ByDesign are the integration of its modules, analytics, and dashboards."
"Now we can know our available stock; this visibility enables us to make better resource and supply chain operations decisions as well as better financial decisions."
"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."
"Our primary use case for the solution is maintaining and deploying queries and internal controls."
"The solution has made the most significant impact on our human resources function, specifically in HR operations and HR analytics. One feature of SAP ERP that I found most valuable is its use of codes for accessing specific functions."
"The most valuable features are the ease of installation and the MM functionality."
"SAP ERP provides the perfect database and options for additional production. It's also good for finance analytics, production drill-down, and other types of analysis."
"The most valuable features are the claim management."
"SAP ERP is one of the most well-integrated solutions with all of the applications in my company, making it one of the most advantageous traits of the product."
"The initial setup was straightforward."
"Generally, there's a lot of possibilities as the solution is quite vast and flexible."
 

Cons

"The solution does not support customization for forms and reports. It's not flexible in case you need some enhancements in business processes."
"The database needs to be more customizable."
"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."
"ByDesign could be improved by making screen modifications easier."
"The payroll module of the solution could improve."
"The solution could improve the stability. It is approximately 60% stable."
"SAP Business ByDesign is a very vast product, but it has to be a bit more centralized. All the models need to be more centralized for a better experience."
"SAP is more expensive than some of its competitors."
"Agility is an area that needs to improve. The speed to build and the speed to deliver could be better."
"All SAP solutions are quite costly. They could be cheaper. The license costs are pretty high."
"The user interface can be more intuitive and user-friendly by having it be more menu-driven, this would be a large benefit."
"ERP could use better integration with other systems. That's always the thing."
"The problem for us, we are one company that has seven home markets. Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru."
"We have never had a bad experience with this solution, except for how the system is over-customized."
"The flexibility in using the software could improve. I am from a product background and I've been testing a lot of applications, for example, Informatics. The UI, features, and cloud version could improve."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We have to pay yearly."
"The cost starts anywhere between fifty thousand dollars and up depending on the number of licenses."
"The price of the solution could be better. They have to come up with a new strategy."
"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."
"The tool’s pricing is expensive."
"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 pricing depends on company size. It's cheaper for small companies and more expensive for large ones."
"The pricing is based on the license per user, which I think makes the solution a bit costly...Basically, the prices of the solution are high, and we don't have that much revenue."
"My company makes early payments towards the licensing costs attached to the product. There are no additional costs apart from the charges paid toward the subscription-based license offered by SAP."
"I am not sure. However, extensions cost approximately $100,000 or$200,000."
"SAP ERP is expensive."
"Licensing can vary, but for educational institutions, there are often favorable conditions."
"This is a costly product."
"There is a one-time license that is needed to use the solution. The support is what is needed to be renewed annually."
"The solution has moved from a licensing model to a rights-based, subscription model in the cloud."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
12%
Healthcare Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Outsourcing Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
15%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Construction Company
7%
Computer Software Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business8
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise5
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business31
Midsize Enterprise31
Large Enterprise78
 

Questions from the Community

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...
What is your primary use case for SAP Business ByDesign?
Our use case for SAP Business ByDesign is our dealer team accessing their system to perform sales and service; these two functionalities are done through SAP Business ByDesign. SAP Business ByDesig...
Is Anaplan better than SAP ERP?
There are different aspects of both Anaplan and SAP ERP that I like and dislike. Anaplan improves forecast accuracy and drives up the quality of analytics. Rather than spending all of their time co...
What needs improvement with SAP ERP?
To make the product better, I notice that deployment must improve, and so should performance; it should be faster, along with pricing.
What is your primary use case for SAP ERP?
I have not actually used SAP ERP's analytical tools, but I leverage SAP ERP for human capital management. I am using SuccessFactors for that, and SAP ERP's real-time data insights have contributed ...
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

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
B&G Manufacturing, Unilever, Life is good Inc., Joy Global Inc., City of Cape Town, Bhopal Municipal, Corporation (BMC), adidas Group, Butcher & Packer Supply Company, Franklin Valve L.P., Evoshield, Prime Meats, a Norsan Group company, EMC Corporation, Varian Medical Systems Inc., FC Bayern Mªnchen AG, AkzoNobel Chemicals B.V., T¾V Rheinland, Pacific Drilling S.A., Fire & Rescue New South Wales, University of Amsterdam, Pa_alon S.A.
Find out what your peers are saying about Oracle, NetSuite, SAP and others in Cloud ERP. Updated: August 2026.
910,956 professionals have used our research since 2012.