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SAP ERP vs SAP S/4HANA comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 20, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
7.8
SAP ERP optimizes inventory and efficiency, offering long-term savings despite unclear ROI, benefiting finance more than other departments.
Sentiment score
6.1
SAP S/4HANA offers significant ROI and efficiency, appealing to large organizations despite initial costs, due to cloud-based savings.
It's not a matter of the solution; it's a matter of the clients and the approach that we follow.
We have observed a good return on investment, with calculations based on a five-year ROI plan.
There is an ROI, otherwise I would not buy it.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.8
SAP ERP customer service is valued for knowledgeable support but criticized for response delays and high costs without priority plans.
Sentiment score
6.4
SAP S/4HANA's customer service is knowledgeable but varies in response speed, with room for process and speed improvement.
SAP technical support is very good.
A traditional challenge with SAP support is that SAP teams only support the standard functions, which are part of the product.
Establishing the right channels was a challenge, as BTP was new to everyone, including our SAP contacts.
I would rate the support a ten because there are a lot of knowledge-based articles published, and most of them are available online.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.9
SAP ERP is highly scalable, with adaptability and modularity praised, though smaller businesses may face complexity and cost challenges.
Sentiment score
7.9
SAP S/4HANA is scalable and flexible, suitable for medium to large businesses, adaptable across various sectors and global locations.
It is scalable when moving from one version to another or adding additional components like warehouse management.
SAP S/4HANA scales exceptionally well.
It is very easy to scale within businesses, especially when a new business falls within the range.
Scalability is a key strength of SAP, especially for HANA, compared to all the other ERPs.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.2
SAP ERP is highly stable and reliable, with minimal downtime and effective performance in various operational environments.
Sentiment score
7.7
SAP S/4HANA is praised for stability and reliability, especially in the private cloud, with up to 10/10 user ratings.
Stability-wise, SAP ERP is the best product among others.
The SAP HANA system is not very easy to unlock, and it's something strange as, compared to other databases, when transaction logs are full, you stop the system, run the transaction log backups, and then restart.
Not very often, but it can happen, especially with user load; if many people use the system at the same time, there might be issues depending on various factors.
I rate the stability of SAP S_4HANA as fairly stable because we have never experienced any downtime from SAP, and the performance is good.
 

Room For Improvement

SAP ERP needs better user interface, easier integration, improved support, flexible reporting, affordable pricing, and enhanced user-friendliness.
SAP S/4HANA needs enhancements in pricing, customization, usability, support, integration, AI, cloud capabilities, and regional compliance.
SAP ERP could improve by integrating additional components such as digital signatures and barcoding.
Organizations face challenges like adapting to new technologies rapidly, and whether customers are early or late adopters influences their experience.
I can perform a lot of data manipulation directly on SAP using S-One, without having to resort to Excel, unlike with View ID.
The performance of the SAP interface could be improved.
 

Setup Cost

SAP ERP is costly, favored by large enterprises for features, but may deter smaller businesses due to high expenses.
SAP S/4HANA pricing is complex, varying by user, deployment, and functionality, with high costs for small businesses.
The pricing for SAP ERP is medium but slightly on the higher side.
It's higher compared to similar peer solutions.
Most users or IT professionals typically criticize the high price of SAP license costs.
It's not easy to have a clear understanding of the price and the value, especially if I talk about the business transaction platform.
 

Valuable Features

SAP ERP offers integration, customization, and scalability with strong finance modules, enhancing decision-making and user experience for enterprises.
SAP S/4HANA offers efficient management, fast reporting, real-time analytics, and scalability with AI and IoT for diverse industries.
The consistent integrations and real-time data analytics in SAP ERP significantly enhance the decision-making process by facilitating follow-ups and action points.
It enables the posting of transactions and allows us to see the impact across various application scenarios, providing significant benefits for business.
The way SAP has helped our customers is by establishing a discipline where industry-specific operations and SAP's standard processes work hand in hand, improving resource utilization, material movement control, and cost control.
The insights given help us make strategic decisions.
 

Categories and Ranking

SAP ERP
Ranking in ERP
2nd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
105
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
SAP S/4HANA
Ranking in ERP
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
123
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the ERP category, the mindshare of SAP ERP is 18.8%, down from 22.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP S/4HANA is 11.1%, down from 16.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
ERP
 

Featured Reviews

Patrick Posch - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides full integration and automates workflows
The best feature of SAP ERP is the full integration. Each model in the SAP system works with the same data. You have only one single point of truth, considering the data. You can automate many things in SAP, like workflows and some APIs to send and receive EDI (electronic data interchange) documents from our customers and suppliers.
Deepak Madhavan - PeerSpot reviewer
Implementation simplifies ERP management with comprehensive data integration and visibility
A lot of people would say the pricing. SAP is seen as quite expensive even now. It doesn't work for smaller or medium optimizations. The licensing and pricing could be looked at. In Brownfield migration, the trade-off between greenfield and brownfield means you either keep it clean or match the business requirements. Sometimes, it's not possible to do both. While ValixAPI provides significant support in making those decisions and the SAP consultant is very useful, we are still dependent on past history and how it was originally set up. I wouldn't call that a real disadvantage, yet more accessible consulting would be beneficial. Incorporating all other cloud products, like APO or IPP, into the S/4 house might also help.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
14%
Computer Software Company
12%
Retailer
7%
University
6%
Educational Organization
24%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Computer Software Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
5%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

Is Anaplan better than SAP ERP?
There are different aspects of both Anaplan and SAP ERP that I like and dislike. Anaplan improves forecast accuracy and drives up the quality of analytics. Rather than spending all of their time co...
What do you like most about SAP ERP?
The solution has made the most significant impact on our human resources function, specifically in HR operations and HR analytics. One feature of SAP ERP that I found most valuable is its use of co...
What needs improvement with SAP ERP?
SAP ERP could improve by integrating additional components such as digital signatures and barcoding. Having such features embedded within the ERP would be more beneficial rather than relying on ext...
Are there any advantages of SAP S4 HANA over SAP Business One (SAP B1) apart from the cost?
SaP Business One is a complete solution for business management. The software applications are broad, ranging from accounting to project management and human resources. It is very versatile and com...
What needs improvement with SAP S4HANA?
SAP S/4HANA has room for improvement because we are still exploring functionality, and while most modules are implemented or supported by the partner, we are still in the process of exploring. Righ...
What is your primary use case for SAP S4HANA?
I use SAP S/4HANA because most of the manufacturers in pharmaceuticals are using it. We migrated from Microsoft Dynamics to SAP S/4HANA. My relationship is with solutions in retail as we are custom...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

No data available
SAP S4HANA
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

B&G Manufacturing, Unilever, Life is good Inc., Joy Global Inc., City of Cape Town, Bhopal Municipal, Corporation (BMC), adidas Group, Butcher & Packer Supply Company, Franklin Valve L.P., Evoshield, Prime Meats, a Norsan Group company, EMC Corporation, Varian Medical Systems Inc., FC Bayern Mªnchen AG, AkzoNobel Chemicals B.V., T¾V Rheinland, Pacific Drilling S.A., Fire & Rescue New South Wales, University of Amsterdam, Pa_alon S.A.
Nestle, O.C. Tanner, Sabre, New York Life Insurance Co., MEMEBOX, Siemens AG.
Find out what your peers are saying about SAP ERP vs. SAP S/4HANA and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
856,856 professionals have used our research since 2012.
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