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SAP BW4HANA vs SAP NetWeaver Business Warehouse 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:
 

Categories and Ranking

SAP BW4HANA
Ranking in Data Warehouse
9th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
43
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
SAP NetWeaver Business Ware...
Ranking in Data Warehouse
16th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
9
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2025, in the Data Warehouse category, the mindshare of SAP BW4HANA is 3.9%, down from 4.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP NetWeaver Business Warehouse is 1.0%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Data Warehouse Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
SAP BW4HANA3.9%
SAP NetWeaver Business Warehouse1.0%
Other95.1%
Data Warehouse
 

Featured Reviews

Csaba Grünblatt - PeerSpot reviewer
Performs all necessary data warehouse tasks and offers additional functionalities
SAP BW4HANA improved data reporting processes significantly. Performance on HANA database is good. Well-built data models ensure consistent and fast reporting. Reusable models enhance efficiency, even for SaaS services. In-memory computing, especially since HANA, has greatly improved performance in data analysis tasks. It eliminates the need for complex optimizations like creating indexes or aggregates. Queries that once took minutes now run in seconds, enabling real-time reporting, especially for SAP ECC on HANA. SAP BW4HANA's integration capabilities are streamlined with a simplified architecture and more virtual layers. You can directly load data into optimized layers, reducing the need for extra storage. The introduction of Open ODS Views allows for additional logic and master data inclusion, making integration faster and simpler. The learning curve for SAP BW4HANA is much faster now compared to ten years ago, thanks to abundant free resources like documentation, videos, blogs, and learning journeys provided by SAP. It is simpler to learn with these resources available compared to the past when you had to attend courses and rely on books. I would recommend SAP BW4HANA to users looking to implement it, especially if they want to keep their systems on-premise and already have SAP systems. Those with BW on HANA have two choices: BW4HANA or DataSphere, depending on their cloud strategy. If they are advanced in their cloud strategy and want to migrate off-premise, DataSphere is a good choice. However, for a robust solution on-premise or in a private cloud, BW4HANA is an excellent option. Overall, I would rate BW4HANA as a nine out of ten. It performs all necessary data warehouse tasks and offers additional functionalities. We use it traditionally, with complex transformations and models but with less emphasis on real-time processing and third-party sources.
Gebrehiwot Tesfay Gebreslassie - PeerSpot reviewer
Data modeling is a valuable feature but there are some issues with scalability
We are an airline and use the system for data modeling and data warehousing, and we implement it for time performance and feedback analysis. I'm the business intelligence senior developer and we are customers of SAP.  The data modeling is very valuable for us. There are performance issues in…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It is a stable solution...It is a scalable solution."
"The solution saves time and cost."
"Its direct approach is the most valuable. You get more real time and capabilities than BW."
"We like that it is an SAP product, so we can easily connect with the SAP ERP system."
"The solution's performance is really good. Also, it's easy to operate, easy to administer, and relatively simple to install."
"It is a stable solution."
"It is a stable solution...The initial setup was easy."
"The most valuable features are the speed of reporting and the HANA database."
"It's an excellent over-all tool for managers to analyze their business."
"Transformation is a valuable feature of SAP NetWeaver. I can transform the data as per my needs or my client's needs. For example, flat tables can be transformed with respect to our requirements to combine multiple modules into one single table, and we can derive analytics."
"It is a robust system."
"Data modeling is a valuable feature."
"A robust and efficient product."
"The security and audit procedures are the most valuable features."
"It provides us with proof of data, we can centralize all of the information, check it, and then provide the information to our users."
 

Cons

"The speed of operations could be a little faster."
"I would like more integration."
"Connecting multiple sources is a challenge because you have to go through a lot of different setups."
"The solution is not easy to implement. It requires a lot of learning at the beginning."
"The cost of the product might be an area that might introduce some restrictions or limitations to customers, making it one of the aspects where improvements are required."
"One thing that could be enhanced in SAP BW4HANA is the user interface for process chains."
"The solution does occasionally get a few bugs, but this is typical for any product."
"The product's initial setup phase is a bit complex."
"The product could provide more features."
"Connectors are complex, and it is difficult to understand or know which connector should be used. For instance, if I want to connect APIs, I will not be able to do it directly. I would have to go to the portal integration to get the data. Therefore, having simplified connectors will make things much easier."
"There are performance issues in terms of scalability and availability."
"I think more integration with other applications would be perfect."
"The program is difficult to learn to use"
"Design and modeling could be simplified."
"It is difficult when your native language is not English. It is difficult for us to explain our issue and also difficult for the technical team to explain a resolution to us."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price is high and currently only affordable for large organizations."
"The product is free if we have the ECC license."
"SAP BW/4HANA is expensive."
"It is an expensive product."
"The SAP HANA application still hasn't been leveraged to the fullest extent, but it's a five-year enterprise license."
"We started as early birds from the SAP side. We got this entire suite for free. I cannot really talk about the price because we didn't have to pay anything."
"The cost and licensing depends on how the customer is going to use the solution."
"As an investment, the solution is very expensive."
"All SAP products are expensive."
"Pricing is based on the number of user IDs and tyhe user ID works across a suite of products."
"The licensing cost is high for SAP NetWeaver compared to that for other products."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
16%
Retailer
9%
Computer Software Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business16
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise27
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Large Enterprise7
 

Questions from the Community

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

SAP BW/4HANA
NetWeaver Business Warehouse, NetWeaver BusinessObjects Warehouse
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
EMC Corporation, Takisada-Osaka Co. Ltd., Eldorado, Mozzart, The VELUX Group, AOK Bundesverband, Hilti Group, Nissha Printing Company Ltd., Asian Paints, Aareal Bank Group, Magazine zum Globus (Migros Group)
Find out what your peers are saying about SAP BW4HANA vs. SAP NetWeaver Business Warehouse and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
867,370 professionals have used our research since 2012.