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SAP HANA vs SQL Server comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 5, 2025

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 HANA
Ranking in Relational Databases Tools
4th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
84
Ranking in other categories
Data Virtualization (2nd), Embedded Database (4th)
SQL Server
Ranking in Relational Databases Tools
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
268
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Relational Databases Tools category, the mindshare of SAP HANA is 11.4%, up from 11.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SQL Server is 18.6%, down from 23.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Relational Databases Tools
 

Q&A Highlights

AS
Feb 15, 2021
 

Featured Reviews

Jayarami Reddy Pujeri - PeerSpot reviewer
Comprehensive system with real-time analytics for versatile industry applications
Our primary use case is working with various clients in industries such as pharmaceuticals and other services. We support clients as implementers of SAP HANA, providing expertise in functionality, finance, logistics, and processes The solution is very user-friendly and supports all kinds of…
Azizul Haque - PeerSpot reviewer
It has eliminated all kinds of inconsistencies, and it is reliable, secure, and fast
I don't know whether SQL Server can support large organizations where the database size is more than 100 GB. It might be because of SQL Server, or it might be because of the programming of the software vendor, but a lot of people think that it is a problem with SQL Server. It can't handle a large amount of data or large data size. In terms of its usage, about 90% of our applications are running on the SQL Server database. We have around 1,600 users for our software, and all the applications are connected to the SQL Server database.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"What I like most are the dashboards and pervasive analytics."
"The data in HANA is stored in columns rather than rows, which speeds up searches and aggregations."
"The solution is easy to scale."
"This solution is very fast."
"The speed at which it gets the data is great."
"The solution is very stable."
"Some functions have good performance."
"Technically it resembles Oracle, but as a somewhat lighter version."
"The product can scale if a company needs it to."
"The pricing of the solution is okay. It's less expensive than Oracle, for example."
"SQL Server is an inexpensive solution. I recommend it if the project isn't sensitive. SQL is similar to Oracle and integrates well with tools in the cloud environment. The difference is that Oracle is for data solutions where there is replication and moderation."
"The solution's most valuable part revolves around data management, which can be seen in its audit features and performance."
"The product has very good online documentation that can be used for troubleshooting."
"The feature that I have found most valuable is that it is easy to code."
"The most valuable features for database management in SQL Server are SQL Server Management Studio and Visual Studio Code with its administration capabilities."
"You could have an offsite and an onsite, and if the onsite goes down, the offsite picks it up. I like that flexibility to provide continuing operations."
 

Cons

"Uses a large amount of RAM and is costly."
"HANA could be improved by adding analytics and development models in the institution."
"The inclusion of a well-performing Time Machine is vital."
"The initial setup was very, very complex, tedious, and costly and required someone with great expertise to complete it."
"It would be nice to know when SAP plans to stop its maintenance of a previous version of SAP ECC ERP because, at this point, anyone utilizing SAP will have no choice but to go on S/4HANA Database."
"It is challenging to integrate it with third-party tools."
"I would have rated the solution higher if this version was not missing some key features the newer version has."
"When we are using SAP HANA we have some difficulty with the customization. We would like to be able to add and make customized menus."
"We experience latency at times when there is a lot of data being processed."
"The solution could improve by being more user-friendly."
"Technical support could be better."
"I would like to see the database become fully automated."
"They could improve the solution by allowing more portability between on-premise and the cloud."
"It would be nice if there was a feature to search for a specific value across multiple tables. This would save a lot of time for its users."
"The web interface and the command line interface could be better so we could manage and build some things around an API. If we could build our own solution, our own interface, and then manage the solution through that open API, that would be better."
"SQL Server could improve by enhancing the integration abilities, adding more inbuilt data security features, and simplifying the maintenance."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The cost of SAP HANA is high, and I would rate the price at eight out of ten."
"We pay annually for the license of the solution."
"The pricing for SAP HANA is high. You pay a lot for the license, and you also have to pay for some add-ons."
"It is expensive, which isn't a problem for us because SAP HANA is processing the data so fast."
"It comes with a significant cost."
"The price is high and could be a bit cheaper."
"SAP HANA is an expensive product."
"The price of SAP HANA is very expensive and it is paid annually."
"The pricing from Microsoft is quite expensive compared to Oracle."
"This solution is available at a much lower price point than Oracle."
"Our customers do pay license fees for the MS SQL Server but the Rabbit is free, as it is open-source software."
"Some of the licensing are very expensive, such as the Enterprise license."
"The price for the Standard Edition is approximately $3,000 USD per core. Once you include technical support, SQL Server is cheaper than PostgreSQL and MySQL."
"With recent releases, the Standard Edition (cheaper) SKU has some of the earlier version Enterprise features. SQL Express has some limitations."
"We pay per second of usage, but there are different offerings of the license."
"SQL Server is an expensive solution."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
15%
Computer Software Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Government
7%
Educational Organization
53%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Computer Software Company
6%
Manufacturing Company
5%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What are the biggest benefits of using SAP HANA?
Based on my work with SAP HANA, the biggest benefit that it can bring to your business is total data management. This product is by SAP - a company that serves almost all needs a client may have co...
Is SAP HANA’s customer and technical support reliable?
We have been using SAP HANA for a fairly short period of time and have only taken advantage of their customer support. So far, we have not had issues that required specialized help from technical s...
Is SAP HANA difficult to set up and start using?
SAP HANA is fairly easy to set up, however, I do not think a complete beginner can do it. You certainly need some preparation - either you need to have experience with similar solutions, or with ot...
Would you say the price of SQL Server is high compared to that of similar products?
SQL Server is fairly priced because it has various editions, depending on the number of users, servers, or core packs you are using. If you compare the product to others in this category, the price...
Has using SQL Server helped your organization in any way?
SQL Server has helped my organization through partitioning to distribute the workload, as it splits them up into smaller pieces so the machines can easily deal with it. However, this comes with a h...
Which authentication mode is best for SQL Server?
My company connects through SQL Server authentication. We have company Windows accounts, but we do not want to connect the two, out of security concerns and to keep things separated for our own pur...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

SAP High-Performance Analytic Appliance, HANA
Microsoft SQL Server, MSSQL, MS SQL
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Unilever, NHS 24, adidas Group, CHIO Aachen, Hamburg Port Authority (HPA), Bangkok Airways Public Company Limited
Microsoft SQL Server is used by businesses in every industry, including Great Western Bank, Aviva, the Volvo Car Corporation, BMW, Samsung, Principality Building Society, Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield, and the Catholic District School Board of Eastern Ontario.
Find out what your peers are saying about SAP HANA vs. SQL Server and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
845,040 professionals have used our research since 2012.