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Microsoft Analytics Platform System vs SAP BW4HANA comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 18, 2024

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

Microsoft Analytics Platfor...
Ranking in Data Warehouse
20th
Average Rating
6.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
9
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
SAP BW4HANA
Ranking in Data Warehouse
10th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
44
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Data Warehouse category, the mindshare of Microsoft Analytics Platform System is 2.2%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP BW4HANA is 3.2%, down from 4.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Data Warehouse Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
SAP BW4HANA3.2%
Microsoft Analytics Platform System2.2%
Other94.6%
Data Warehouse
 

Featured Reviews

MahmoudMohamed1 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Data Engineer at Tatweer Educational Technologies Company - TETCO
Offers smooth data integration between systems, but requires better real-time analytics capabilities
We leverage its capabilities for many applications. We can integrate with our databases, like Oracle, MySQL, or any other, using Microsoft Integration Services. This lets us continue using private databases without paying additional licensing fees. Additionally, the license includes Analytics services and Power BI, which work on-premises, unlike most other technologies that require cloud solutions.
HP
SAP Analytics Lead at Miracle Software Systems, Inc
Support and pricing challenges overshadow user expertise
In SAP BW4HANA, I have worked in modeling, extraction, and reporting. I have experience with different tools including Power BI, BEx tools, Web Intelligence reports, and SSC. The best features include the ability to create data sources directly on tables, and perform mapping without creating info objects. It directly maps to target fields and source fields. There is no info cube concept, only ODS concept. We can create BEx queries in HANA itself, not as a separate tool. The modeling and reporting processes are easier to accomplish.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"This is a well-integrated solution and that integration empowers results."
"The Cube Solution is quite different when compared to the rest of the competition and has unique functionality for advanced analytics."
"By combining both Microsoft Parallel Data Warehouse (PDW) and unstructured Hadoop analytical capabilities in a single, easy-to-manage EDW appliance, Microsoft APS is well positioned to help organizations use information to enhance their competitive position."
"We help customers in many ways from customized analysis for detection of anomalies in tax, operations, customer relationship, and marketing campaigns, and we also use mining and ML to help them discover trends, which provides useful information based on their business."
"We help customers in many ways from customized analysis for detection of anomalies in tax, operations, customer relationship, and marketing campaigns, and we also use mining and ML to help them discover trends, which provides useful information based on their business."
"The most valuable part of the product is that it is a system, with different tools for different services for different kinds of scenarios, making it a very rich, integrated, technology-rich platform whose total integration with the rest of Microsoft products creates flexibility and compatibility and makes the tool a very useful one."
"Helps our customers to discover trends, which provides useful information based on their business."
"I think Microsoft Stack offers the end-to-end solution I need."
"The most valuable features are the speed of reporting and the HANA database."
"Out of the box, this solution has a lot of standard features."
"It is a stable solution...It is a scalable solution."
"The solution seamlessly integrates with SAP products."
"For customers who use SAP ERP, SAP BW4HANA is a good choice for their DW implementation."
"It is a stable solution."
"The product has efficient performance."
"I like how it blends no-code and ABAP code for complex transformations during data loading."
 

Cons

"I think the biggest problem with the product is that it does a data ingest model, which is very expensive."
"​Hybrid environments are complex to manage."
"Hybrid environments are complex to manage."
"The trouble is Microsoft has changed their licensing. It's an extremely expensive product now."
"We need better real-time analytics capabilities. It's a bit challenging for us."
"In general, I am not really very satisfied with the tutorials that are out there."
"Microsoft Analytics Platform System could have better support."
"However, centralized EDW tends to be extremely expensive and very inflexible."
"The dashboard should be simplified and made easier for exploration and decision making."
"The solution is not easy to implement. It requires a lot of learning at the beginning."
"The initial setup is quite complex. We are a worldwide team, we need quite a few people to manage this solution."
"Pricing would be a good improvement. A lot of customers think that it's very expensive and support is especially very expensive."
"Price wise, this solution is on the higher side."
"Support could be more reliable."
"From a technical perspective, it could be even more related to legacy systems. The connectivity requirement is quite high and requires systems that are up-to-date."
"BW/4HANA could improve query optimization. For example, there could be an error message that pops up when you hover over it if any query fails. That would make it easier to find out what went gone wrong. Guided SAP help tools would make it easier for us to go forward."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Users have to pay extra for premium-level technical support."
"We are currently paying $200,000 a year for all the different parts of the suite during an ingest model Microsoft now charges us $700,000 a year."
"The initial price is lower than Oracle, but extensive use of SQL may lead to a higher total cost of ownership."
"I rate Microsoft Analytics Platform System a seven out of ten for pricing."
"The product is free if we have the ECC license."
"The solution is expensive."
"Price wise, this solution is on the higher side."
"The price is high and currently only affordable for large organizations."
"For the on-premises version of the product, the solution offers a perpetual-based licensing model to its users. In general, SAP offers a monthly subscription-based licensing model to its users."
"The SAP HANA application still hasn't been leveraged to the fullest extent, but it's a five-year enterprise license."
"In general, it's quite expensive."
"For some, the rates offered by SAP can be costly while for others it may seem cheap. The price ultimately depends on how you have negotiated your contract with SAP."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Manufacturing Company
11%
Retailer
11%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Comms Service Provider
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business4
Large Enterprise7
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business16
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise29
 

Questions from the Community

Ask a question
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What do you like most about SAP BW4HANA?
One significant advantage of SAP BW/4HANA is the direct integration with the SAP HANA database, providing seamless access to real-time analytics. Additionally, it enables real-time data integrati...
What needs improvement with SAP BW4HANA?
The integration with AI/ML in SAP BW4HANA is currently very limited, which is definitely an area that needs improvement. The second area for improvement is integration with third-party systems, whi...
 

Also Known As

Microsoft APS, MS Analytics Platform System
SAP BW/4HANA
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Transport for London, E-Plus Mobilfunk GmbH & Co. KG, Prometeia, Tangerine, SSM Health Care, Service Corporation International
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Analytics Platform System vs. SAP BW4HANA and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
893,221 professionals have used our research since 2012.