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SAP IQ pros and cons

Vendor: SAP
3.9 out of 5

Pros & Cons summary

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Prominent pros & cons

PROS

SAP IQ offers unbeatable speed and compression with its columnar storage, allowing for high compression, high load rates, and high query performance.
Its column-based technologies are highly valued for fast response time, easy object maintenance, and robust performance for ad hoc data warehouse queries.
SAP IQ limits the expansion of costly SAP HANA databases by providing effective data archiving and management through SAP NLS.
The database is highly scalable, efficient with multiple servers, and allows easy addition of additional servers to the setup.
Data in SAP IQ is fully compressed and indexed for quick transaction execution, enhancing high-performance operations.

CONS

Concurrency and functional error messaging issues are noted.
Multiplex has consistency problems in metadata, leading to potential metadata inconsistency.
Lack of significant development and support from the organization owning SAP IQ.
The high cost of SAP IQ is challenging for companies, particularly in Peru.
Technical support staff appear to lack thorough knowledge of SAP IQ.
 

SAP IQ Pros review quotes

it_user155730 - PeerSpot reviewer
Database Senior Manager at a financial services firm with 201-500 employees
Jun 29, 2017
Columnar storage allows high compression, high load rates and high query performance.
it_user705720 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior SAP SYBASE/SQL SERVER DBA at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Jul 19, 2017
Valuable features for us include the compression, speed, fast response time, and easy object maintenance.
it_user719802 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Database Administrator & BigData Administrator at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Aug 16, 2017
It is very robust for ad hoc DW queries and its columnar compression is unique and valuable.
Learn what your peers think about SAP IQ. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: December 2025.
879,259 professionals have used our research since 2012.
it_user727509 - PeerSpot reviewer
Technology Lead at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Aug 29, 2017
The column-based technologies (basically all the database for ITP) are used for SAP IQ. It is used as a column-based solution.
it_user1055472 - PeerSpot reviewer
Snr DBA at a insurance company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Jul 29, 2019
Unbeatable speed and compression with a colummn-structured relational database.
Mani Velayudhan - PeerSpot reviewer
Manager, SAP Basis at The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company
Mar 1, 2023
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.
Tejas Raj - PeerSpot reviewer
Manager at Capgemini
May 14, 2024
The initial setup is easy.
Pavankumar Balusupati - PeerSpot reviewer
Member of Technical Staff at HCL Technologies
May 14, 2024
The product is easy to learn.
Fredy Alfaro - PeerSpot reviewer
Systems Engineer at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
Oct 3, 2024
IQ is a very high-performance and high-transaction database.
Fredy Alfaro - PeerSpot reviewer
Systems Engineer at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
Nov 7, 2024
All data is compressed and indexed, allowing for fast execution of transactions.
 

SAP IQ Cons review quotes

it_user155730 - PeerSpot reviewer
Database Senior Manager at a financial services firm with 201-500 employees
Jun 29, 2017
Concurrency and functional error messaging.
it_user705720 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior SAP SYBASE/SQL SERVER DBA at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Jul 19, 2017
I think the universe should be part of the Sybase IQ tool set.
it_user719802 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Database Administrator & BigData Administrator at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Aug 16, 2017
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.
Learn what your peers think about SAP IQ. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: December 2025.
879,259 professionals have used our research since 2012.
it_user727509 - PeerSpot reviewer
Technology Lead at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Aug 29, 2017
The room for improvement would be the marketing of the product, because this product is much better than advertised.
it_user1055472 - PeerSpot reviewer
Snr DBA at a insurance company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Jul 29, 2019
The organization who owns the product does not support it well and appears not to be doing significant development for the future.
Mani Velayudhan - PeerSpot reviewer
Manager, SAP Basis at The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company
Mar 1, 2023
The solution works best when combined with other SAP solutions. If the environment has other systems other options might be better.
Tejas Raj - PeerSpot reviewer
Manager at Capgemini
May 14, 2024
There is very little documentation available.
Pavankumar Balusupati - PeerSpot reviewer
Member of Technical Staff at HCL Technologies
May 14, 2024
The tool gets stuck sometimes.
Fredy Alfaro - PeerSpot reviewer
Systems Engineer at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
Oct 3, 2024
The only negative aspect of IQ is the cost, which can be challenging for companies in Peru.
Fredy Alfaro - PeerSpot reviewer
Systems Engineer at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
Nov 7, 2024
The primary negative aspect is the cost, which can be a challenge due to the economic conditions in Peru.