SAP ERP vs SAP S/4HANA Cloud comparison

The compared SAP ERP and SAP S/4HANA Cloud solutions aren't in the same category. SAP ERP is ranked #2 in ERP , with an average rating of 8.0, and holds a 19.0% mindshare in the category. SAP S/4HANA Cloud is ranked #3 in CE , with an average rating of 8.1, and holds a 18.9% mindshare. Additionally, 86% of SAP ERP users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 89% of SAP S/4HANA Cloud users who would recommend it.

SAP ERP

Read 104 SAP ERP reviews

15,213 Views
13,712 Comparison Views

86% willing to recommend

SAP S/4HANA Cloud

Read 52 SAP S/4HANA Cloud reviews

1,645 Views
681 Comparison Views

89% willing to recommend

SAP ERP

SAP S/4HANA Cloud

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between SAP ERP and SAP S/4HANA Cloud based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about SAP, Microsoft, Oracle and others in ERP.

To learn more, read our detailed ERP Report (Updated: April 2025).

Buyer's Guide

ERP

April 2025

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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 ERP

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

104

Ranking in other categories

ERP (2nd)

SAP S/4HANA Cloud

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Cloud ERP (3rd)

Mindshare comparison

While both are Enterprise Resource Planning solutions, they serve different purposes. SAP ERP is designed for ERP and holds a mindshare of 19.0%, down 22.8% compared to last year.
SAP S/4HANA Cloud, on the other hand, focuses on Cloud ERP, holds 18.9% mindshare, up 12.5% since last year.

ERP

Cloud ERP

Featured Reviews

Srinivasan Kuppuswamy

Founder Partner & Chief Consultant at Sagesse Abundance

The amazing, robust framework with unlimited scalability earns its #1 status

The solution is not ready for the current e-commerce environment. Its was built for large enterprises who need to predictably optimize their human, material, and financial resources. ERP has evolved and businesses are changing. There are not many large corporations. Most are small enterprises with the capabilities of large enterprises through networking and platform integration. Some companies promote products but get things done with other enterprises as a network. Companies do not want to create new capacity but want to leverage existing capacity with innovative products. They do not want to spend resources on duplicating capacity or facilities. I do not think any ERP product is ready to support this environment so ERPs as a whole might end up being used for back-office functions only. It is not easy to evolve an ERP product because its intent is to integrate functions and processes within an organization. Whereas, in the new business model, processes are not limited to one's own enterprise but cut across different enterprises. There is no enterprise solution as this point in time for the current e-commerce environment so companies must integrate with many solutions.

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Sajid Farooq

Head of Professional Services at HCC - Technology & Advisory

Provides seamless integration of different modules in one place

Certain add-ons like quality control, payroll, and HRMS are not part of the SAP S/4HANA Cloud. SAP S/4HANA Cloud doesn't provide a quality control module. SAP S/4HANA Cloud does not have its own payroll and HRMS system. The partners develop their own cloud and integrate with the solution. There are certain modules specific to some industries, and SAP S/4HANA Cloud doesn't deal with those modules. Every partner of SAP S/4HANA Cloud has to develop its own and then integrate and certify with that solution. We can't say that these modules are part of SAP S/4HANA Cloud. There is a little area of improvement that SAP has to opt for particular types of solutions like QC, payroll, and HRMS. The graphics of SAP S/4HANA Cloud are not user-friendly. They don't look like they belong to a branded solution that costs too much. The solution's user interface is not appealing or user-friendly. On a scale from one to ten, where one is bad and ten is good, I rate the solution's user interface a five out of ten. SAP S/4HANA Cloud has built-in reports that are hard-coated. We have to alter or modify built-in reports in different marking segments, but there are no options for that. We have to build complete reports from scratch, and SAP-developed reports are not used in the market. SAP should provide a tool for customizing its developed reports so that there should not be a process of reengineering or reinventing the process.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The solution has a lot of good integrated modules."

"I like that SAP ERP is very robust and stable."

"The best feature of SAP ERP is the full integration."

"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."

"It gives us full control over each change, to the level of the individual field in a master record, including certificates."

"The solution has far more features, processes, and functionalities than we previously had."

"Well-integrated multilingual technology."

"SAP is a very process controlled application. It does not allow users to manage the data. Once the initial process is set, it works smoothly."

More SAP ERP pros

"For supply chain management, we are using WMS. When you go to public cloud, you get a full-fledged EWM."

"It is a stable solution...It is a scalable solution."

"The most valuable features of SAP S/4HANA Cloud are the detailed solution costing, integration, and built-in analytics."

"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."

"Real-time data analytics capabilities and the ability to integrate external tools like Qlik Sense are some of the most valuable features."

"The most valuable aspect of SAP S/4HANA Cloud is its ease of deployment and the reduced hassles of infrastructure support."

"I like the SAP offerings and the standard best practices included in the SAP S/4HANA Cloud version."

"The integration between SAP EWM and S4HANA Cloud is seamless."

More SAP S/4HANA Cloud pros

Cons

"The problem for us, we are one company that has seven home markets. Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. When we need to configure, modify rules, change policies, or taxes rules, when we move currencies around based on our other financial results, it can get very complicated. When we try to join everything together we have some problems. However, the process good, all of our material and procurement processes are going well. The problem is trying to consolidate the financial reports and this is where I have problems."

"It would also help if it were more open, more flexible, with more standard products."

"The product can be a little slow when dealing with thousands of employee data."

"It is not easily integrated with outside products."

"In general, a user should attend training before they can use this platform. There's definitely a learning curve. As a new user or employee, there may be some difficulty with onboarding."

"This solution could be made more user-friendly for development teams."

"The UI could use improvement."

"It is not flexible for the users. SAP works in a specific way, and the users and the processes have to adapt to the way it works. It is hard to customize it to the level that we need for our work. It is not easy to get new extensions for process functions, modules, or activities."

More SAP ERP cons

"Generally, there's not much noise or many issues, but we sometimes open tickets. These are mainly due to underestimating business needs at the beginning of deployment or sudden changes in the business. For example, when we suddenly open branches in other countries, add many users or the business grows fast, we might need more memory or disk space. We sometimes underestimate our needs from the cloud. This isn't a problem with the cloud or the vendor but more about our estimation. We raise tickets for things like increasing memory, dealing with one-time errors, or issues with space utilization. We might need to increase resources or improve performance."

"SAP S/4HANA Cloud's customization can be improved."

"The user experience has some room for improvement. S/4HANA covers various scenarios based on the best business practices, but users complain about its user experience. It is not a user-friendly ERP solution. I rate the current UX seven out of 10."

"I don't recommend it for very small enterprises."

"We'd like to have more of a low-code platform."

"It is a complicated solution. So it should be easier to use."

"The pricing is high."

"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

"SAP is a bit on the costly side, but they also provide support and other things. We are paying for licenses and the use of the cloud."

"When you have a solution that is stable, reliable, and has a high performance as this solution, the price is going to be expensive. However, when you evaluate the service you are paying for the cost is quite reasonable for this solution."

"There are licensing costs."

"The licensing costs are slightly on the higher side. They need to make it more competitive."

"This is a costly product."

"When we talk about pricing it is expensive. On a scale of one to ten, it would rank a two. There are no additional fees but the user licenses are high."

"SAP ERP is expensive."

"It could always be cheaper. They don't have a very easy model of licensing, but large entities would get the upper hand in negotiating the license."

More SAP ERP pricing and cost advice

"S/4HANA is an enterprise solution that many can't afford. You must invest a lot to get the most out of it. It isn't cheap. I rate the price seven out of 10."

"I feel the solution is expensive when it comes to what can be obtained with open source software."

"It's very expensive."

"This is a pricey solution that best serves large enterprises. Be sure to ensure that your company's requirements need to be fulfilled by SAP. There are many other ERP's that are cheaper yet highly functional. However, it is still cheaper than some of the competition (i.e. Oracle, ESD, etc.)"

"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."

"The solution's costs have significantly increased, and we have not seen any anticipated cost savings."

"The tool's pricing is reasonable."

More SAP S/4HANA Cloud pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Manufacturing Company

14%

Computer Software Company

12%

Retailer

University

Computer Software Company

16%

Manufacturing Company

12%

Educational Organization

Construction Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

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...

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What do you like most about SAP ERP?

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 co...

See all answers

What needs improvement with SAP ERP?

There is a need for improvement in the business analytics aspect in financial reporting and also in sales and marketing analytics.

See all answers

What do you like most about SAP S/4HANA Cloud?

The manufacturing area is a good feature.

See all answers

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?

The system is very heavy and requires a lot of resources and a dedicated team. It is costly to maintain, demanding trained professionals, which adds to the expenses. This makes the overall cost ver...

See all answers

Comparisons

SAP S/4HANA vs SAP ERP

Compared 14% of the time

Microsoft Dynamics AX vs SAP ERP

Compared 12% of the time

Infor M3 vs SAP ERP

Compared 12% of the time

Anaplan vs SAP ERP

Compared 10% of the time

Infor LN vs SAP ERP

Compared 10% of the time

More SAP ERP Competitors

Oracle Fusion Cloud ERP vs SAP S/4HANA Cloud

Compared 24% of the time

SAP Business ByDesign vs SAP S/4HANA Cloud

Compared 22% of the time

SAP Business One vs SAP S/4HANA Cloud

Compared 14% of the time

NetSuite ERP vs SAP S/4HANA Cloud

Compared 10% of the time

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

Compared 8% of the time

More SAP S/4HANA Cloud Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

SAP ERP

April 2025

Download SAP ERP product report

Buyer's Guide

SAP S/4HANA Cloud

April 2025

Download SAP S/4HANA Cloud product report

Also Known As

No data available

SAP S4HANA Cloud

Overview

SAP ERP addresses the core business software requirements of midsize and large organizations in all industries and sectors. SAP ERP includes four individual solutions that support key areas of enterprise resource planning: human capital management, financials, operations, corporate services.

SAP

SAP S/4HANA stands for SAP Suite 4 HANA. It is a next-generation integrated enterprise resource planning (ERP) software that is designed for businesses of all sizes, in all industries, that require deep and broad functionality combined with a high degree of flexibility. SAP S/4HANA was launched in 2015 and been adopted by more than 3,200 customers over a period of sixteen months. SAP S/4HANA is materially different from anything SAP has done before and represents the company’s biggest innovation since SAP R/3.

SAP S/4HANA is intended to provide a digital core for an organization. It is fully architected for the most advanced in-memory platform, SAP HANA, and is designed on the most modern design principles with the SAP Fiori user experience to create a personalized and simple feel on users’ device of choice (tablet, laptop, mobile). SAP S/4HANA aims to simplify an organizations’ system landscape and reduce total cost of ownership by shrinking the data footprint while at the same time improving productivity levels in the form of higher throughput. Timelines for cloud deployments average around six months.

SAP S/4HANA is designed to drive business innovation by connecting people, devices, and business networks in real time to support the development of new business models. It will also help accelerate the adoption of, and connection to, the Internet of Things and Big Data. SAP S/4HANA can analyze big data at unprecedented speed allowing users to access real-time information from anywhere, any way they’d like and thus help managers make truly insightful decisions. The simplified data model allows customers to reimagine their IT, helping to drive lower costs and deliver IT efficiency. This, coupled with the SAP S/4HANA prediction and simulation capabilities allow it to anticipate the impact of business outcomes. By doing all the above, SAP S/4HANA aims to provide ultimate sophistication in the simplest possible manner.

To learn more about SAP S/4HANA, visit http://go.sap.com/product/enterprise-management/s4hana-erp.html

SAP

Sample Customers

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.

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

Find out what your peers are saying about SAP, Microsoft, Oracle and others in ERP. Updated: April 2025.

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