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SAP HANA vs SQL Server comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 6, 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
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
85
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

"The main feature is that the processes are very flexible, they are able to be adapted to the business and their departments."
"The product's initial setup phase was really easy."
"The most valuable features are the flexibility and the integration with other solutions in data quality."
"The UX experience is very good."
"Our operations have grown from a hundred data operations a day to as many in a couple of seconds."
"SAP HANA's best features are its programmability and extensibility - you can size and shape the software however you need."
"The solution is very stable."
"The solution can easily be modeled."
"It's a very capable, efficient, price-performant OLAP server."
"The product's initial setup phase was simple."
"It integrates well with other platforms."
"SQL Server stands out due to its robust parallel processing capabilities."
"It is easy to manage for the administrator. It is also easy to use for applications that are Windows-based. It is a very stable product, and it has got backup and recovery tools."
"I've been using SQL Server for 20 years, and there is nothing that it can't do. It is awesome."
"Its security is good. The GUI of SQL Server is also very good."
"SQL Server is very good, it can be used as a transactional database and used to support the data warehouse. Additionally, the ANSI-compliant satisfies our database properties."
 

Cons

"If the developers were to enhance or improve the application logic while processing the transactions, that would be great."
"The product is very demanding on memory requirements."
"The bid process needs to be improved."
"SAP HANA is a very proprietary tool and there's not as much support available for it as there is for an SQL Server (which is more popular)."
"While new users to this solution have the benefit of the new design, existing ERP users may experience issues with migrating legacy data. We would like to see development of ready-made tools that allow for easy mapping when upgrading."
"It is challenging to integrate it with third-party tools."
"The solution's development platform should be more flexible and scalable to adapt to other solutions."
"What needs improvement in SAP HANA is its automation, in particular, it needs more enhancements in that area."
"Sometimes, the tool doesn't support all the native features, and because of this, our company has to customize it to meet our requirements, which is a challenging process for our company's engineers."
"Only one CPU core can be used. Can’t move a database between servers easily. Can’t use triggers."
"The pricing and quality of the product could be improved."
"The ability to connect with other environments needs to be improved."
"As a software developer, it can be hard to do something in Oracle that is SQL Server specific, and vice-versa, sometimes."
"Performance could be improved."
"If you are a new user then this solution could be difficult, they could improve by making the overall usage easier."
"Support could be improved."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"SAP HANA is very expensive for small to medium businesses."
"There is a yearly subscription to use SAP HANA. There is a fee for maintenance."
"SAP HANA is more expensive than other solutions."
"I would rate the pricing of the solution a ten on ten. The pricing for on-prem SAP HANA is on a yearly basis and expensive. I am not aware of the actual pricing but it is based on 64 Gigabytes. For instance, if you consider $10,000 for 64 Gigabytes, then you can calculate the cost for Terabytes in case you have one. You will have to buy expensive hardware as well which is quite a lot."
"It is expensive."
"SAP HANA is expensive, but unfortunately, we do not have any alternatives."
"The pricing is a bit on the high side."
"It is expensive, which isn't a problem for us because SAP HANA is processing the data so fast."
"The cost is high and because it's an expensive product, we are in the process of moving towards open-source solutions."
"The price of the solution could be reduced, it is expensive."
"Licensing fees are paid on a yearly basis."
"For medium-sized customers who don't need some enterprise features, the tool would be available for 200 USD per month. For the enterprise segment, the tool's cost can go up to 6,000 USD."
"We have had to purchase the Enterprise version to the tune of a few hundred thousand dollars, which is just ridiculous."
"The price of the solution is very expensive. If I went with the cloud version of SQL a license would cost me approximately 11,000 Riyals per month."
"This is a downside of enterprise Microsoft products."
"It is expensive, especially when you have open-source products that are just about as functional and they're free. They might want to consider re-evaluating their pricing. We purchased it in retail. It was somewhere in the neighborhood of 9,000. There is just the standard licensing fee. If they migrate this product the way they're trying to do everything else, eventually, it is going to be subscription-based, which is going to suck, but that's the way the industry is going, so it is what it is."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
15%
Computer Software Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Government
7%
Educational Organization
50%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Computer Software Company
7%
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: April 2025.
849,190 professionals have used our research since 2012.