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SAP ERP vs SAP S/4HANA comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 27, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
5.6
SAP ERP enhances inventory management and efficiency, offering cost savings and faster ROI through automation and data analysis.
Sentiment score
6.0
SAP S/4HANA provides strong long-term ROI by streamlining operations and reducing costs, particularly benefiting larger companies.
SAP ERP did provide value for money.
It's not a matter of the solution; it's a matter of the clients and the approach that we follow.
If we can maximize that, we can get the full price benefit of the solution.
We have observed a good return on investment, with calculations based on a five-year ROI plan.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.1
SAP ERP customer service is generally praised, but technical support experiences vary, with some noting improvements and valuable features.
Sentiment score
6.5
SAP S/4HANA support receives mixed reviews, with satisfaction influenced by service contracts and partner involvement, highlighting response variability.
SAP technical support is very good.
It was very quick, and we didn't have many tickets, but every time any issues arose, they were very quickly resolved.
It is not easy to justify something as high priority unless the system is completely down.
A traditional challenge with SAP support is that SAP teams only support the standard functions, which are part of the product.
Establishing the right channels was a challenge, as BTP was new to everyone, including our SAP contacts.
I would rate the support a ten because there are a lot of knowledge-based articles published, and most of them are available online.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.9
SAP ERP is praised for its scalability, flexibility, and ability to handle large user bases and significant data loads.
Sentiment score
7.9
SAP S/4HANA is scalable for medium to large enterprises, offering cloud flexibility but potentially overwhelming for smaller companies.
It is scalable when moving from one version to another or adding additional components like warehouse management.
The scalability of SAP ERP is excellent.
SAP S/4HANA scales exceptionally well.
It is very easy to scale within businesses, especially when a new business falls within the range.
Scalability is a key strength of SAP, especially for HANA, compared to all the other ERPs.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.2
SAP ERP is praised for reliability and efficiency, with stability ratings often between 8 to 10 out of 10.
Sentiment score
7.7
SAP S/4HANA is generally stable with high ratings, dependent on implementation, infrastructure, skilled teams, and hardware setup.
Production processes would be on hold without stability, so it is quite important that the software is very stable.
Stability-wise, SAP ERP is the best product among others.
The SAP HANA system is not very easy to unlock, and it's something strange as, compared to other databases, when transaction logs are full, you stop the system, run the transaction log backups, and then restart.
Not very often, but it can happen, especially with user load; if many people use the system at the same time, there might be issues depending on various factors.
I rate the stability of SAP S_4HANA as fairly stable because we have never experienced any downtime from SAP, and the performance is good.
 

Room For Improvement

SAP ERP faces criticism for high costs, outdated interface, limited flexibility, and struggles with integration and real-time needs.
SAP S/4HANA needs interface improvements, simplified customization, better integration, and enhanced usability to address cost, complexity, and migration challenges.
SAP ERP could improve by integrating additional components such as digital signatures and barcoding.
SAP recently implemented Databricks, and they started investing significantly in the analytic environment.
We are using version 6.0 and it meets our needs.
Organizations face challenges like adapting to new technologies rapidly, and whether customers are early or late adopters influences their experience.
I can perform a lot of data manipulation directly on SAP using S-One, without having to resort to Excel, unlike with View ID.
The performance of the SAP interface could be improved.
 

Setup Cost

SAP ERP is costly, with implementation exceeding $1.5 million, but valuable for large enterprises due to extensive features.
SAP S/4HANA is costly for SMBs, with variable licensing and setup fees, often requiring negotiation, plus annual maintenance costs.
Small and medium companies can struggle with the pricing.
The pricing for SAP ERP is medium but slightly on the higher side.
It's higher compared to similar peer solutions.
Most users or IT professionals typically criticize the high price of SAP license costs.
It's not easy to have a clear understanding of the price and the value, especially if I talk about the business transaction platform.
 

Valuable Features

SAP ERP offers integration, customization, and efficiency with industry-specific modules, a centralized database, and robust architecture for seamless operations.
SAP S/4HANA offers a user-friendly interface, real-time analytics, seamless integration, and industry-specific functionalities, improving efficiency and scalability.
The consistent integrations and real-time data analytics in SAP ERP significantly enhance the decision-making process by facilitating follow-ups and action points.
SAP ERP has impacted our organization positively because it is highly customizable to build any process we have in our companies and to write programs.
SAP ERP is particularly strong in manufacturing, from production planning to plant maintenance, then Material Management itself, and managing warehouse management and inventory control.
It enables the posting of transactions and allows us to see the impact across various application scenarios, providing significant benefits for business.
The way SAP has helped our customers is by establishing a discipline where industry-specific operations and SAP's standard processes work hand in hand, improving resource utilization, material movement control, and cost control.
The insights given help us make strategic decisions.
 

Categories and Ranking

SAP ERP
Ranking in ERP
2nd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
107
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
SAP S/4HANA
Ranking in ERP
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
124
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2025, in the ERP category, the mindshare of SAP ERP is 17.2%, down from 22.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP S/4HANA is 9.6%, down from 16.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
ERP Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
SAP S/4HANA9.6%
SAP ERP17.2%
Other73.2%
ERP
 

Featured Reviews

Achmad Dimyati - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
Deepak Madhavan - PeerSpot reviewer
Implementation simplifies ERP management with comprehensive data integration and visibility
A lot of people would say the pricing. SAP is seen as quite expensive even now. It doesn't work for smaller or medium optimizations. The licensing and pricing could be looked at. In Brownfield migration, the trade-off between greenfield and brownfield means you either keep it clean or match the business requirements. Sometimes, it's not possible to do both. While ValixAPI provides significant support in making those decisions and the SAP consultant is very useful, we are still dependent on past history and how it was originally set up. I wouldn't call that a real disadvantage, yet more accessible consulting would be beneficial. Incorporating all other cloud products, like APO or IPP, into the S/4 house might also help.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
14%
Computer Software Company
11%
Retailer
7%
University
6%
Manufacturing Company
13%
Computer Software Company
12%
Outsourcing Company
8%
Retailer
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business31
Midsize Enterprise30
Large Enterprise76
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business50
Midsize Enterprise26
Large Enterprise53
 

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...
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...
What needs improvement with SAP ERP?
SAP ERP is fine as it is at the moment. It is difficult to comment on improvements for this version. I know HANA has improved regarding user interface and other functions, but we don't use that par...
Are there any advantages of SAP S4 HANA over SAP Business One (SAP B1) apart from the cost?
SaP Business One is a complete solution for business management. The software applications are broad, ranging from accounting to project management and human resources. It is very versatile and com...
What needs improvement with SAP S4HANA?
SAP S/4HANA has room for improvement because we are still exploring functionality, and while most modules are implemented or supported by the partner, we are still in the process of exploring. Righ...
What is your primary use case for SAP S4HANA?
I use SAP S/4HANA because most of the manufacturers in pharmaceuticals are using it. We migrated from Microsoft Dynamics to SAP S/4HANA. My relationship is with solutions in retail as we are custom...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

No data available
SAP S4HANA
 

Overview

 

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.
Nestle, O.C. Tanner, Sabre, New York Life Insurance Co., MEMEBOX, Siemens AG.
Find out what your peers are saying about SAP ERP vs. SAP S/4HANA and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
867,445 professionals have used our research since 2012.