No more typing reviews! Try our Samantha, our new voice AI agent.

SAP SQL Anywhere vs SQL Server 2014 Express comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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 SQL Anywhere
Ranking in Relational Databases Tools
35th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
6
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
SQL Server 2014 Express
Ranking in Relational Databases Tools
9th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
12
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Relational Databases Tools category, the mindshare of SAP SQL Anywhere is 1.4%, up from 0.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SQL Server 2014 Express is 0.4%, up from 0.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Relational Databases Tools Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
SQL Server 2014 Express0.4%
SAP SQL Anywhere1.4%
Other98.2%
Relational Databases Tools
 

Featured Reviews

Crewmem67 - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Consultant at College Notre Dame de Nazareth
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.
Shubham-Agarwal - PeerSpot reviewer
Manager - Projects at Cognizant
Migration to structured data has improved security and performance and enables faster insights
SQL Server 2014 Express could be improved by addressing its data limitations, especially for users with larger datasets that may not be suitable for production environments. Compared to the Enterprise or Standard versions, SQL Server 2014 Express does not provide the same functionalities or performance, so organizations with rapidly growing data should seek those options instead. Regarding needed improvements, I can say that integration with various ETL tools is essential, as we often need to use SSIS or other ETL tools to pull and transform data. It would be greatly beneficial if SQL Server 2014 Express could include functionality to integrate directly with APIs or other databases rather than relying on external ETL tools.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The auto-backup replication is a perfect feature. That is the feature I liked the most."
"SAP SQL Anywhere is very helpful."
"The most valuable features of SAP SQL Anywhere are the ease of use and the user interface is intuitive."
"It's a great product to use if you are already have an integration with SAP's ERP/CRM systems."
"We've found the solution very reliable overall. It's very fast."
"It works well in general."
"SQL Anywhere is easy and it did not cost as much as SQL Microsoft."
"The transition from Excel to SQL Server 2014 Express has greatly improved our team's efficiency and data accuracy."
"SQL Server 2014 Express had a positive impact because it provided a cost-effective and reliable database solution for our work."
"SQL Server 2014 Express has positively impacted my organization by improving my knowledge in SQL coding and making my work faster."
"SQL Server 2014 Express has positively impacted my organization because it is good for small clients, allowing us to save on licensing costs, and clients could later migrate to Standard or Enterprise solutions if needed as they scale."
"The best features of SQL Server 2014 Express are that it can be downloaded, it is open source, can be downloaded on any desktop, and it is a free version with no charge for downloads, making it highly useful for students and developers building applications for standalone or enterprise applications."
"My advice for anyone looking to use SQL Server 2014 Express is that if someone is using or planning to build an enterprise application, especially for .NET or Java, they should definitely consider SQL Server 2014 Express as it is the most reliable SQL server available, plus the support from Microsoft is consistently good."
"SQL Server 2014 Express has provided a return on investment by saving money and time compared to other SQL servers such as MySQL and PostgreSQL, which are similar but more expensive and less user-friendly for non-technical clients."
"SQL Server 2014 Express has impacted my organization positively because earlier I was using SharePoint, and in Power Apps, whenever we fetched the data, it took quite an ample amount of time to show the details from the back end, but when I started using SQL Server 2014 Express, it was much faster and helped me fetch more records at a time compared to the other data sources because of the indexing and primary keys."
 

Cons

"It is not as secure as it could be."
"It is not as secure as it could be; there needs to be more encryption and we can find passwords very easily."
"Performance issues when syncing the MBO packages to the server."
"A problem we are experiencing now is when doing a backup in SQL 2012 and 14 there's a problem with the license."
"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."
"The interface is not easy in comparison to the SQL Server. It could be more user-friendly."
"Additionally, SQL Server Management Studio takes a lot of time to start compared to the latest version."
"SQL Server 2014 Express's scalability has limitations for growth in data and users."
"SQL Server 2014 Express could be improved by offering multiple authentication methods."
"The biggest operational limitations of SQL Server 2014 Express are the 10 GB database limit, memory restrictions, and the absence of SQL Server Agent."
"Regarding improvements for SQL Server 2014 Express, I believe it is quite helpful, but I suggest enhancing security since it involves customer data and we do not want to lose data or have it misused."
"SQL Server 2014 Express can be improved as there are some resource limits. There are limitations on database size, memory, and CPU usage which restrict scalability."
"The Express edition has limitations in database size and system resource usage, so performance may be reduced with large data volumes or heavy workloads."
"SQL Server 2014 Express can be improved by increasing the maximum 10 gigabytes for a database, as it would be better if this limit were increased."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"SQL Anywhere cost us about $400."
"SAP SQL Anywhere is affordable."
Information not available
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Relational Databases Tools solutions are best for your needs.
909,725 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Healthcare Company
9%
Construction Company
9%
University
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Construction Company
28%
Outsourcing Company
11%
Healthcare Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business2
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise14
 

Questions from the Community

Ask a question
Earn 20 points
What needs improvement with SQL Server 2014 Express?
SQL Server 2014 Express can be improved in terms of scalability, as it has CPU and memory restrictions and a 10 GB limit for the free version, which can lead to performance issues as the organizati...
What is your primary use case for SQL Server 2014 Express?
The main use case for SQL Server 2014 Express is to create the database architecture for my work and during SQL Server 2014 Express interactions, which adds to my code level. I use Entity Framework...
What advice do you have for others considering SQL Server 2014 Express?
My advice to others considering SQL Server 2014 Express is that for small businesses, it is suitable for inventory tracking, simple reporting, product development, and test environments because it ...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

Sybase SQL Anywhere
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

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
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about SAP SQL Anywhere vs. SQL Server 2014 Express and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.
909,725 professionals have used our research since 2012.