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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
14th
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 June 2025, in the Data Warehouse category, the mindshare of SAP BW4HANA is 4.4%, down from 4.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP NetWeaver Business Warehouse is 0.3%, down from 0.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Data Warehouse
 

Featured Reviews

AjayKumar7 - PeerSpot reviewer
Intuitive modeling and reporting capabilities and supports both vertical and horizontal scaling
I like the modeling and reporting capabilities. Real-time processing isn't BW/4HANA's strongest point. We typically run batch jobs for this purpose. So, it's not good for real-time reporting. BW/4HANA's modeling is quite intuitive because even those without technical database knowledge can model data from a business perspective. The tool can still be done without knowing the database functionalities of the data warehouse. Even if someone doesn't understand the database functionalities, you can still model. It provides the functions in a way that even a less technical person can do the modeling. The tool facilitates modeling for non-technical users, ensuring good modeling results.
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

"The most valuable aspect of this solution is that the infrastructure is easy to understand."
"The most valuable feature is the dashboard."
"Provides a great analytics engine with all the capabilities."
"We can get good visualization and less redundant data."
"The processes are the most valuable aspect of this solution."
"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 integration. We don't need to rely on historical data alone; we can provide reporting and features based on real-time information."
"It can calculate data in detail. Before we could not calculate financial documents and accountant documents in detail, we could not do it at a document level but now we can. This is the most important feature. It also has predictive analysis memory."
"It is a stable solution."
"It's an excellent over-all tool for managers to analyze their business."
"It provides us with proof of data, we can centralize all of the information, check it, and then provide the information to our users."
"The security and audit procedures are the most valuable features."
"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."
"Data modeling is a valuable feature."
"A robust and efficient product."
"It is a robust system."
 

Cons

"We cannot integrate with third-party tools like Python or advanced integration options. You can't fine-tune tables within BW or generate specific views or reports."
"Pricing would be a good improvement. A lot of customers think that it's very expensive and especially support is very expensive."
"The solution is not scalable. It does not have a data streaming feature as well."
"Support could be more reliable."
"The solution does occasionally get a few bugs, but this is typical for any product."
"They have taken out a few BW functionalities when they redesigned this. The way of multi-dimensional thinking and star schema got a little bit lost. It may be because of the cost, but certain functionalities that were previously implemented from the BW side should come back again in the whole product. It is a young product. It is version 2.0. In time, I'm pretty sure they will come back again because otherwise, it limits the potential of the product, and I have to do a lot of modeling towards that direction. For me, the analytics focus is too much. It is not cube-oriented in that way, so its functionality is limited. It is not really technically limited in the back end; it is more limited in the front end. It has a data-mining mindset for SQL developers. The navigational attributes should be easy. It needs to be built in models. I see the data mark cube or understanding that the composite provider needs to be models in a cube coming back. The multi-dimensional star schema approach and the reporting need to be done as well as possible to leverage the star scheme below. This is definitely not understood by many consultants and even composite providers for star schema. They always think in terms of flat tables, which is limiting. You need to build the right dimensions, objects, and so on. If you can build this in BW4HANA, then you have this understanding that BW4HANA is not forcing you in this direction, but it should force you a bit better in this direction. Maybe a few elements which were in use in BW should come back again. It would help the community to determine the direction to build on the cube. You can have maybe 50 elements, and then you can expand it to what you need by leveraging navigation. So far, this functionality is a little bit limited in the tool, and it is not thought through, but I think it will come. They should also be adding more capabilities for the transformation between different objects. In BW, this is currently limited, especially towards composite providers. It is a bit complex basically in the building. You have to have a lot of knowledge as well as know how to do it better because it is a bit different from BW. There is not too much expertise currently in the consulting markets. Many are trying to build something, but it may be based on their knowledge of what they have from the BW and HANA side. You have to find the right mix from both of them at this time. We also have HANA Native. These are our two different sync sources basically, and we have approaches to connect nicely, but it is hard to manage your team because a lot of coaching is required."
"I don't see SAP actively supporting the solution now...a better support from SAP would be appreciated."
"I would like more integration."
"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."
"The program is difficult to learn to use"
"There are performance issues in terms of scalability and availability."
"I think more integration with other applications would be perfect."
"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."
"Design and modeling could be simplified."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The cost and licensing depends on how the customer is going to use the solution."
"The SAP HANA application still hasn't been leveraged to the fullest extent, but it's a five-year enterprise license."
"For some, the rates offered by SAP can be costly while for others it may seem cheap. The price ultimately depends on how you have negotiated your contract with SAP."
"The solution is expensive."
"It's a little expensive compared to Microsoft Azure."
"It is an expensive product."
"The product is free if we have the ECC license."
"The cost of ownership is higher. It's resource-intensive, and naturally, that increases costs."
"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%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Computer Software Company
9%
Retailer
8%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

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.
 

Comparisons

No data available
 

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: June 2025.
856,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.