SAP Business ByDesign vs SAP S/4HANA Cloud comparison

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SAP Business ByDesign and SAP S/4HANA Cloud are both solutions in the Cloud ERP category. SAP Business ByDesign is ranked #6 with an average rating of 8.0, while SAP S/4HANA Cloud is ranked #3 with an average rating of 8.2. SAP Business ByDesign holds a 3.9% mindshare in CE, compared to SAP S/4HANA Cloud’s 8.8% mindshare. Additionally, 92% of SAP Business ByDesign users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 90% of SAP S/4HANA Cloud users who would recommend it.

SAP Business ByDesign

Read 16 SAP Business ByDesign reviews

1,747 Views
1,048 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

SAP S/4HANA Cloud

Read 58 SAP S/4HANA Cloud reviews

5,089 Views
3,003 Comparison Views

90% willing to recommend

SAP Business ByDesign

SAP S/4HANA Cloud

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 10, 2024

SAP Business ByDesign and SAP S/4HANA Cloud are both competitive solutions in the ERP sector, offering distinct advantages for various business sizes and requirements. SAP S/4HANA Cloud has the upper hand for larger enterprises due to its scalability and advanced analytics.

Features: SAP Business ByDesign integrates various modules like finance, analytics, and dashboards, providing quick implementation and real-time data reporting. SAP S/4HANA Cloud offers advanced analytics, seamless module integration, and an intuitive interface, making it ideal for global operations.

Room for Improvement: SAP Business ByDesign could benefit from enhanced customization and scalability to better serve larger enterprises. Improving user interface flexibility may also benefit diverse users. SAP S/4HANA Cloud might improve by simplifying its complex deployment, reducing high entry costs, and offering better resource allocation for midsize businesses.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: SAP Business ByDesign excels in faster deployment and user-friendly setup, backed by strong customer service. SAP S/4HANA Cloud, though resource-intensive to deploy, ensures comprehensive support for intricate business needs, suitable for enterprises with complex IT infrastructures.

Pricing and ROI: SAP Business ByDesign offers a lower entry cost with faster ROI for cost-sensitive organizations. SAP S/4HANA Cloud, with its premium pricing model, promises significant long-term returns on investment, aligning with larger firms ready to invest in robust digital infrastructure.

To learn more, read our detailed SAP Business ByDesign vs. SAP S/4HANA Cloud Report (Updated: September 2026).

Buyer's Guide

SAP Business ByDesign vs. SAP S/4HANA Cloud

September 2026

Download the complete report

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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

SAP Business ByDesign

Ranking in Cloud ERP

6th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

SAP S/4HANA Cloud

Ranking in Cloud ERP

3rd

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the Cloud ERP category, the mindshare of SAP Business ByDesign is 3.9%, down from 7.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP S/4HANA Cloud is 8.8%, down from 13.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Cloud ERP Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
SAP S/4HANA Cloud	8.8%
SAP Business ByDesign	3.9%
Other	87.3%

Cloud ERP

Featured Reviews

Manoj Sahoo

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.

Read full review

Philipp Klingmann

Partner at Deloitte

Financial processes have become automated and integrated reporting delivers faster insights

A lot of my clients are complaining about the SAP license policy. I think that is quite intransparent and obviously quite expensive. I think that is a usual complaint. And also the flexibility to shift between different products and getting some kind of credits. People perceive that as intransparent and also not really flexible. This is what I would say. And obviously, as the product is quite complex, it's not intuitive. But this is basically the business processes. I would say the business processes themselves are complex, so I think this is not a problem of the system, it's rather a problem of the business processes that are trying to be reflected in the system. It's not a disadvantage but just a perception clients often quote. Everybody can improve. I think it depends on what kind of support package you have agreed with SAP. It depends, do you have premium service, do you have the basic support? Obviously, the basic support is lacking, but the SAP premium engagement, if you have chosen that one, then that's adequate. It's not, I would say it's not a great experience, but it's a good support. If you pay for it, you get what you need.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"ByDesign's best features are its speed, real-time data, and reporting."

"It has a quick implementation and onboarding of users. It is flexible with reports and powerful."

"I like its modern approach. It is very modern and new technology."

"I like the tool’s customization."

"I have found the consolidation of the business and group reports very useful, there are plenty of features, and the manufacturing and finance aspect of the solution are strong."

"The most valuable feature is the feature called Financial Closing Cockpit. This feature allows us to monitor our accounting and processing closely."

"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 most valuable features of Business ByDesign are the integration of its modules, analytics, and dashboards."

More SAP Business ByDesign pros

"It is stable and scalable, and in the S4HANA plain version, they have new dashboards and things like that."

"The accounting on SAP is great."

"We were migrating from our in-house ERP solution to the solution, which was a more corporate-centralized solution. My role was to lead the team in mapping our processes with the central team. We aimed to find synergies and learn how to handle processes that weren't directly covered."

"Speed has improved and getting analytical reports has been simplified."

"I found the integration feature of SAP S_4HANA Cloud the most valuable so far because prior to that, we used multiple systems that were not ERP; for finance to know procurement details, they had to log in to different systems; now it's all integrated, so finance can see anything, whether it's services or material procurement, which goes through procurement review and approval, enforcing that without a purchase order, there is no payment; this brought a lot of control to financial transactions and also provided visibility about revenues and profits against each business unit."

"The product's most valuable features include its real-time data storage and integration capabilities through SAP connectors."

"The tool selection is really robust and scalable for multiple scenarios."

"SAP S4HANA Cloud is stable, and its computational power and speed have improved in later versions."

More SAP S/4HANA Cloud pros

Cons

"The solution does not support customization for forms and reports. It's not flexible in case you need some enhancements in business processes."

"SAP Business ByDesign can improve the flexibility and user-friendliness of the reporting during the implementations. Customizing the reports inside the device requires a lot of knowledge and most of the time a developer level is needed. For example, if you want to have a more specific reporting layout."

"There might be some hurdles when integrating with SAP ECC, but integration with SAP S/4HANA Cloud is smooth."

"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."

"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 database needs to be more customizable."

"The Arabic localization is neglected. It should have an Arabic interface. It lacks Arabic translation or support from right to left."

"With SAP S/4HANA, you can design your release strategy and modify it to include as many people as possible, which is missing in SAP Business ByDesign."

More SAP Business ByDesign cons

"I would like to see a feature where it allows integration with more platforms."

"The initial setup can be complex, depending on the environment."

"Difficult to install and difficult to test. Testing needs to be improved. Scalability of this solution also needs improvement."

"Integrating SAP with other products like payroll solutions should be smoother. I wish there were some tools a consultant could build according to the client's requirements. For example, say I want to process debit and credits. In SAP, we have to follow SAP terminologies and patterns. I need a template to deploy my structure according to the client's requirements. There is no structure available in SAP that a consultant can mold."

"There were a few hiccups that some customers may have experienced with the newer S/4HANA solution."

"The scalability of the solution could improve."

"The solution is expensive. That can be an issue for clients."

"Certain add-ons like quality control, payroll, and HRMS are not part of the SAP S/4HANA Cloud."

More SAP S/4HANA Cloud cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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 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."

"I rate the price of SAP Business ByDesign a seven out of ten."

"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."

"The price of the solution could be better. They have to come up with a new strategy."

"The cost starts anywhere between fifty thousand dollars and up depending on the number of licenses."

More SAP Business ByDesign pricing and cost advice

"The price of SAP S/4HANA Cloud is expensive. However, the benefits are good. We did not purchase any upgrades."

"The license for S/4HANA is expensive, and the licensing structure is hard to understand. The admin license is something like 500 euros per user. Other ERP solutions allowed you to pick only the modules you need. The SAP ECC version requires you to take all the modules even if you are not using them."

"Pricing wise, SAP S4HANA Cloud is very expensive. The licensing cost can be 100,000 euros per year, depending on the number of users in your company."

"The pricing of SAP S/4HANA Cloud is on the higher side."

"I'm not directly involved in the pricing discussions; it's more of a concern for the finance team."

"SAP S/4 Hana isn't cheap, but its value depends on how much you can leverage from it. It's not just about the system but how well your people are trained to use it and adapt to derive benefits."

"I don't remember the specifics about the licensing, but it's scaled and modular. You pay for what you use. It's not a one-size-fits-all license. You have a license for every single module. It's similar to Oracle."

"The pricing model can be complicated in certain scenarios."

More SAP S/4HANA Cloud pricing and cost advice

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Answers from the Community

Rana Bhattacharjee

SAP Practice Manager at Data-core systems

Jun 30, 2021

What are the main differences between SAP RISE and SAP Business ByDesign?

The main difference is RISE is associated with S/4 Product Range on Cloud while By Design is modeled after SAP Business One also on Cloud. So both are SaaS but the difference is in enterprise size and also application complexities. Also, RISE offers a bundle of pre-configured modules while By Design is similar to B1 with a lot more flexibility and high scalability. License wise both are per us...

See 2 answers

Evgeny Belenky

Director of Community at PeerSpot (formerly IT Central Station)

Jun 28, 2021

Hello @Terry Jones , @Sanath Premachandra , @Ben Melchionno and @ASalman. Can you please assist in answering this question?

Read full answer

Pradipta Bhattacharya

Project Delivery Head - MENA at WMS Middle East LLC

Jun 30, 2021

Read full answer

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Outsourcing Company

13%

Construction Company

11%

Comms Service Provider

Healthcare Company

Financial Services Firm

18%

Manufacturing Company

Construction Company

Marketing Services Firm

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	8
Midsize Enterprise	4
Large Enterprise	5

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	25
Midsize Enterprise	9
Large Enterprise	30

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%.

See all answers

What needs improvement with SAP Business ByDesign?

See all answers

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...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SAP S/4HANA Cloud?

SAP S/4HANA Cloud is very expensive, both to purchase and maintain. It's important to evaluate the costs of recruiting and maintaining trained personnel as it's not just a one-time payment yet requ...

See all answers

What needs improvement with SAP S/4HANA Cloud?

I do not have the details with me at this moment as it is very difficult to share. However, there are a lot of SAP forums where we have participated and provided inputs, especially in the retail se...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for SAP S/4HANA Cloud?

We are using SAP S_4HANA Cloud for a company that specializes in retail and fashion products. Because the company I am referring to is one of the top brands of retail and beauty products, SAP S_4HA...

See all answers

Comparisons

Oracle Fusion Cloud ERP vs SAP Business ByDesign

Compared 12% of the time

SAP Business One vs SAP Business ByDesign

Compared 10% of the time

NetSuite ERP vs SAP Business ByDesign

Compared 10% of the time

Microsoft Dynamics AX vs SAP Business ByDesign

Compared 7% of the time

Infor LX vs SAP Business ByDesign

Compared 7% of the time

More SAP Business ByDesign Competitors

Oracle Fusion Cloud ERP vs SAP S/4HANA Cloud

Compared 16% of the time

NetSuite ERP vs SAP S/4HANA Cloud

Compared 14% of the time

SAP S/4HANA vs SAP S/4HANA Cloud

Compared 14% of the time

SAP Business One vs SAP S/4HANA Cloud

Compared 8% of the time

Oracle E-Business Suite vs SAP S/4HANA Cloud

Compared 6% of the time

More SAP S/4HANA Cloud Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

SAP Business ByDesign

October 2026

Download SAP Business ByDesign product report

Buyer's Guide

SAP S/4HANA Cloud

October 2026

Download SAP S/4HANA Cloud product report

Also Known As

No data available

SAP S4HANA Cloud

Overview

SAP Business ByDesign offers real-time integration and a streamlined design with comprehensive management of suppliers and service agents, making it ideal for financial reporting and project management.

SAP Business ByDesign is recognized for its comprehensive capabilities in financial and project management across sectors. With its Financial Closing Cockpit and real-time reporting, it integrates easily with SAP S/4HANA and offers a user-friendly approach to business process management. Challenges may exist in budget management, reporting, and user interface requiring further enhancements. Despite integration challenges, it streamlines operations in education, automotive manufacturing, and professional services.

What features are most important in SAP Business ByDesign?

Financial Closing Cockpit: Streamlines closing processes with automation.
Real-Time Integration: Ensures seamless data flow between systems.
End-to-End Process Capabilities: Supports comprehensive management activities.
Analytics and Dashboards: Provides actionable insights to drive decisions.
Customizable Interface: Allows businesses to tailor functionalities.

What benefits or ROI can users expect to find in reviews?

Streamlined Operations: Enhances efficiency without increasing user count.
Improved Real-Time Reporting: Delivers accurate and timely insights.
Comprehensive Management: Ensures effective handling of suppliers and services.
Reduced Time to Implementation: Facilitates quicker deployment.
Enhanced Performance: Boosts data-driven decision-making and accuracy.

SAP Business ByDesign is leveraged by education, automotive, and professional service industries for enhanced financial reporting and inventory management. It supports sales, service, and CRM functionalities, catering to companies looking to streamline their operations efficiently.

SAP

SAP S/4HANA Cloud offers robust features including integration, scalability, and advanced analytics, enhancing real-time data access and reporting efficiency for enterprises.

This enterprise resource planning system delivers financial management, logistics, and inventory integration while supporting data governance and core financial transactions. The platform's intuitive Fiori interface and automation of standard processes streamline business operations, enabling reduced manual efforts and increased organizational efficiency. Although improvements in user experience and integration with third-party systems could be made, SAP S4HANA Cloud remains a valuable tool for operational efficiency.

What are key features of SAP S/4HANA Cloud?

Integration: Facilitates seamless interoperability with third-party systems.
Scalability: Allows enterprises to grow without requiring major system changes.
Advanced Analytics: Enhances data access and reporting through embedded analytics.
Fiori Interface: Provides a modern, intuitive user interface for better user experience.
Automation: Reduces manual tasks, increasing efficiency.

What benefits should users look for?

Efficiency: Streamlined operations and reduced manual tasks.
Cost Management: Potential for reduced costs despite initial high pricing and licensing concerns.
User Experience: Simplifies complex business processes.
Real-time Data: Immediate access to data enhances decision-making.

Organizations in industries like automotive, oil and gas, and manufacturing implement SAP S/4HANA Cloud to manage finances, logistics, and manufacturing processes effectively. The integration of applications and management of payroll, timesheets, and project plans support enhanced efficiency and improved user experiences across business functions.

SAP

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

La Trobe University, Carrefour Comércio e Indústria Ltda, Delaware Consulting and Corning Inc.

Buyer's Guide

SAP Business ByDesign vs. SAP S/4HANA Cloud

September 2026

Free Report: SAP Business ByDesign vs. SAP S/4HANA Cloud

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