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Appium vs SAP Mobile Platform 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

Appium
Ranking in Mobile Development Platforms
6th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
30
Ranking in other categories
Regression Testing Tools (6th)
SAP Mobile Platform
Ranking in Mobile Development Platforms
11th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
8
Ranking in other categories
Mobile App Platforms (4th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Mobile Development Platforms category, the mindshare of Appium is 4.4%, down from 7.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP Mobile Platform is 3.2%, up from 2.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Mobile Development Platforms
 

Featured Reviews

Abhishek-Tiwari - PeerSpot reviewer
Has cross-platform flexibility and a record-and-play option
The challenging part with Appium is that installation can be a bit tricky. It can be challenging to set up in Android versus iOS environments. Appium has some limitations in terms of writing code using simulators and online cloud devices. I faced challenges with native based scenarios, battery turn out percentage, battery charging percentage, and memory capacity. The other challenge I faced involved codes changing from device to device. For example, the piece of code that works in iOS version 10.1 won't work in iOS version 6.0. In upcoming releases, if they can reduce some more of the dependencies like SDK, UIAutomator, etc., it would be great. That is, I'd like to see a consolidated package or bundle release that is much more user-friendly.
ShahzadRafique - PeerSpot reviewer
Flexible, well-designed, and offers good scalability
It's not that difficult to set up. SAP has provided the complete installation and configuration scripts, and there's ample documentation available. Implementing it is not an issue. If you are just talking about installing the standalone SAP Mobile Platform, that won't take more than two to three hours. The problem is that when you have multiple integrated third-party integrations, it can be longer. In that case, the deployment really depends on how you actually do it, as, in a financial institution, there is a lot of middleware and other third-party systems that are also integrated with your system. We have a complete set of APIs exposed to different partners, and how everything goes together depends on what type of integrations are there and how complex they are. That said, it should not take more than three to four hours when it comes to only the standalone SMP.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Obviously because of automation, it reduces manual testing efforts."
"It's an open-source solution with a very large community and available documentation."
"The latest versions of the solution are stable."
"The most valuable feature of Appium is it supports iOS and AOS and is open-source."
"We get a list that shows all devices that are connected to the system."
"The best feature of Appium is that it allows you to inspect the element. With the Appium Inspector, you don't have to install another application to do the inspection. I also like that Appium has Android device connectivity. Currently, most people use Appium as automation software, and I haven't found any other tool that's more powerful than Appium."
"The solution helps with test automation. We focus mostly on Java."
"We do not need to pay for the solution. It’s free."
"It's not that difficult to set up."
"The initial setup is not overly complex."
"Two of the very fascinating features that make SAP Mobile Platform stand out from other platforms are its offline capability and integration capability."
"One valuable feature of SAP Mobile Platform is its enterprise-grade standard and maintained APIs, available out of the box for easy integration with various systems."
"Technical support is helpful."
"If we work with the mobile extension of the ERP platform, we save time."
"Both platforms, the SAP Mobile Platform, and SAP, are highly valuable for our company because they facilitate integration, which can be expensive. It's very convenient to connect and create billing accounts through the SAP Mobile Platform."
 

Cons

"Configuring the project to be used in Appium is a little bit tedious."
"One thing which can be really helpful is that there is some kind of a recorder made available rather than scripting everything."
"They should add an in-built framework."
"We haven't been able to fully leverage Appium for multiple reasons. I think number one is just that the tests take a long time to run. We have had some issues around just the results themselves and how predictable they are, but those are not issues with Appium directly."
"The deployment process and configuration are quite complex and require improvement."
"I rarely use Appium nowadays because I'm now at the managerial level, but the last time I used it, whenever I selected and clicked on an element, Appium was very slow. I tried to debug it, but I still couldn't find the problem, so this is an area for improvement in the solution. Another area for improvement lies with the connector and server. For example, the effort to get into the local machine sometimes causes the emulator to become slow, which then leads to failure in testing, and this is the usual issue I've encountered from Appium. An additional feature I'd like added to Appium in its next release is being able to do automation in iOS without using XPath and the name of the element. In Xcode, you can use previous UI tests for detecting elements, but in Appium, you have to use Xpath and the element name instead of being able to directly put the X-UiPath, which is what you can do in Xcode. In iOS as well, sometimes the element doesn't have a name or a path. Sometimes, there's also no element."
"Appium could improve by enabling record and run techniques similar to what they have in other licensing tools, such as Micro Focus. We have to all write the code, and then we can proceed."
"An application developed on the Unity platform, such as a gaming application, objects are moving in that case. Interacting with those elements is still lacking in Appium. Appium doesn't have the internal library to play with the Unity platform. That is a huge lack right now."
"One drawback is that SAP Mobile Platform apps are only available through the browser, making offline capability more challenging to implement."
"The tool is not easy or simple to integrate with other infrastructures."
"SAP has announced that they'll be ending the support on the SAP platform."
"The toolkit to develop front end applications, especially native applications, is not that good."
"If it was low code or no code it would be ideal."
"The licensing model is a bit dated."
"The cost of the SAP Mobile Platform is high, and there is room for improvement in its pricing."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Appium is free and open-source."
"Appium is open source; we can use it for free."
"The price is good for people to be able to make a favorable decision for the value."
"It's completely 100% free, and there are no hidden fees."
"The solution is open-source."
"The solution is free."
"There is no license for this solution because it is open-source."
"This is an open source solution so it does not cost anything for licensing or otherwise."
"The cost of SAP is extremely high, and it's not affordable for everyone."
"If you already paying for an SAP license and have SAP products that you are using, the price for SAP Mobile Platform is negligible."
"The tool is expensive. I rate the tool's price as an eight or nine out of ten."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
19%
Computer Software Company
15%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Retailer
5%
Computer Software Company
12%
Government
11%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

Do you recommend Appium?
I do recommend Appium. It is an open-source solution and completely free of charge. We use Appium and Appium Studio as our base for any type of mobile automation for testing. It has a great interfa...
What do you like most about Appium?
Appium helps me to do as much as much as I want to.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Appium?
My experience with Appium from a pricing perspective is favorable due to it being open source, making it a cost-effective option.
What do you like most about SAP Mobile Platform?
One valuable feature of SAP Mobile Platform is its enterprise-grade standard and maintained APIs, available out of the box for easy integration with various systems.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SAP Mobile Platform?
The tool is expensive. I rate the tool's price as an eight or nine out of ten.
What needs improvement with SAP Mobile Platform?
For a couple of years, SAP deployment and updates were not fair and simple. After the last evolution of mobile development in SAP, I need to check the latest features of the tool. At the company wh...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

No data available
SAP Syclo Agentry Mobile Platform, Sybase Mobile Development Platform, Sybase Unwired Platform
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Nuvizz, Coupa Software, Eventbrite, Evernote
Swarovski, CareFusion Corp., Adarsh Credit Co-operative Society Ltd.
Find out what your peers are saying about Appium vs. SAP Mobile Platform and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
845,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.