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SAP IQ vs SAP SQL Anywhere comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 4, 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 IQ
Ranking in Relational Databases Tools
27th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
21
Ranking in other categories
Data Warehouse (15th)
SAP SQL Anywhere
Ranking in Relational Databases Tools
18th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
6
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Relational Databases Tools category, the mindshare of SAP IQ is 0.9%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP SQL Anywhere is 0.9%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Relational Databases Tools
 

Featured Reviews

Tejas Raj - PeerSpot reviewer
Columnar database, so pulling records is easy but there isn't enough documentation for installation
I've seen very few SAP IQ systems in recent years. So people are moving away from SAP IQ In the last three years, I've rarely encountered customers using it. Fewer systems with SAP IQ usage among our customers. Most of them have moved on to HANA. There are parallel products, and there are also viable alternatives from AWS, so many have migrated to those.
Crewmem67 - PeerSpot reviewer
Reliable and able to expand but needs to be more secure
It is not as good as a SQL Server. I prefer to work with the SQL Server for Microsoft or Oracle. These are better as there are some comments on SQL Anywhere that makes me feel that I'm blocked. We'd like to have them update to a new version. They should update more often. I find I can't move to a new version without running tests as there are chances of bugs that can get into my system. The initial setup is not simple or straightforward, and it took a while to deploy. It is not as secure as it could be. This is an aspect they need to improve. There needs to be more encryption.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The initial setup is easy."
"The column-based technologies (basically all the database for ITP) are used for SAP IQ. It is used as a column-based solution."
"Unbeatable speed and compression with a colummn-structured relational database."
"The primary benefit of SAP IQ is its ability to limit the expansion of the costly SAP HANA database, which has limited storage capacity. This necessitates a form of data management that involves moving data from SAP HANA to SAP NLS, which is essentially archiving. This allows us to retain access to the data via a link whenever it is required."
"Columnar storage allows high compression, high load rates and high query performance."
"All data is compressed and indexed, allowing for fast execution of transactions."
"It is very robust for ad hoc DW queries and its columnar compression is unique and valuable."
"IQ is a very high-performance and high-transaction database."
"The most valuable features of SAP SQL Anywhere are the ease of use and the user interface is intuitive."
"We've found the solution very reliable overall. It's very fast."
"It works well in general."
"The auto-backup replication is a perfect feature. That is the feature I liked the most."
"SAP SQL Anywhere is very helpful."
 

Cons

"I think the universe should be part of the Sybase IQ tool set."
"The organization who owns the product does not support it well and appears not to be doing significant development for the future."
"The only negative aspect of IQ is the cost, which can be challenging for companies in Peru."
"The tool gets stuck sometimes."
"There is very little documentation available."
"The primary negative aspect is the cost, which can be a challenge due to the economic conditions in Peru."
"Concurrency and functional error messaging."
"Multiplex is very problematic. There are consistency problems in the metadata, meaning it is possible to lose metadata consistency. You should make sure you have healthy backups."
"A problem we are experiencing now is when doing a backup in SQL 2012 and 14."
"The interface is not easy in comparison to the SQL Server. It could be more user-friendly."
"It is not as secure as it could be."
"We have had some stability issues with SAP SQL Anywhere, but I am not sure if it is an application or network issue. We sometimes have a large amount of data being queried and it cannot handle it."
"SAP SQL Anywhere needs to incorporate functionalities like SAP S/4HANA."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The cost of implementation is about $3,000."
"Negotiation is very important."
"Evaluate all options; check to see if you need expensive add-ons."
"It's not that costly. So, the pricing is cheap."
"The only costs after standard licensing fees are for add-ons and upgrades."
"Negotiate based on the features required."
"SAP SQL Anywhere is affordable."
"SQL Anywhere cost us about $400."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
41%
Computer Software Company
8%
Healthcare Company
6%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Computer Software Company
17%
Construction Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Government
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SAP IQ?
IQ implementation costs about three thousand dollars. It's less expensive compared to alternatives like Teradata Base in terms of transactional efficiency.
What needs improvement with SAP IQ?
The primary negative aspect is the cost, which can be a challenge due to the economic conditions in Peru.
What is your primary use case for SAP IQ?
I worked on implementing new databases, migration data in production, and developer environments with SAP IQ.
What needs improvement with SAP SQL Anywhere?
SAP SQL Anywhere needs to incorporate functionalities like SAP S/4HANA.
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

Sybase IQ
Sybase SQL Anywhere
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

ASR Group, Citrix, State of Indiana, PocketCard Co. Ltd.
AOK Bundesverband, Surgutneftegas Open Joint Stock Company, Molson Coors Brewing Company, City of Buenos Aires, ASR Group, Citrix, EarlySense, Usha International Limited, Automotive Resources International, Wªrth Group, Takisada-Osaka Co. Ltd., Coelba, RZD Russian Railways, National Basketball Association, TALLY WEiJL
Find out what your peers are saying about SAP IQ vs. SAP SQL Anywhere and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
860,825 professionals have used our research since 2012.