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Oracle Database Appliance 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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
7.1
Oracle Database Appliance offers long-term value with efficient support and quality, ensuring positive ROI despite variable setup complexity.
Sentiment score
7.7
SAP BW4HANA centralizes data, enhances productivity and insights, with ROI expected in three to five years.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.2
Oracle Database Appliance customer service is generally solid but faces criticism for costs, response times, and mixed hardware service experiences.
Sentiment score
5.6
SAP BW4HANA support receives mixed reviews, praised for technical assistance but criticized for variable response times and delays.
In the meantime, I found solutions independently and provided two solutions to my client.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
6.6
Oracle Database Appliance offers scalable CPU and storage options but faces limitations in on-premises scalability and storage scalability.
Sentiment score
7.1
SAP BW4HANA provides strong scalability through horizontal and vertical scaling, with positive user feedback despite budgeting challenges.
All enterprise-grade analytics tools allow rapid scaling, making our business more competitive.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.5
Oracle Database Appliance is praised for stability and performance, with minor issues resolved by support and high satisfaction ratings.
Sentiment score
7.6
SAP BW4HANA is stable and reliable but faces scalability challenges with large datasets and needs more cloud-orientation.
 

Room For Improvement

Oracle Database Appliance requires improved scalability, flexibility, integration, and pricing, along with AI features and better support.
SAP BW4HANA struggles with complexity, integration issues, high costs, a steep learning curve, and limited customization and support.
There is room for improvement in better integration with third-party tools, such as Power BI or Redshift.
Integration needs improvement.
 

Setup Cost

Oracle Database Appliance is cost-effective for its value, but licensing and support can be expensive compared to alternatives.
SAP BW4HANA is costly, with high migration and certification fees, affordable for large enterprises but expensive for smaller ones.
Oracle is on the higher end of the pricing spectrum, along with SAP.
The certification cost for SAP BW4HANA in 2025 is expected to be one lakh forty thousand.
 

Valuable Features

Oracle Database Appliance offers easy deployment, scalability, high performance, and seamless integration, popular for data processing and application hosting.
SAP BW4HANA offers flexible, efficient data management and real-time analytics, featuring user-friendly interfaces and strong integration with SAP ERP.
The most valuable feature is the ease of dashboarding and ease of reporting.
The best features include the ability to create data sources directly on tables, and perform mapping without creating info objects.
 

Categories and Ranking

Oracle Database Appliance
Ranking in Data Warehouse
5th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
44
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
SAP BW4HANA
Ranking in Data Warehouse
9th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
43
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Data Warehouse category, the mindshare of Oracle Database Appliance is 5.4%, down from 6.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP BW4HANA is 4.3%, down from 4.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Data Warehouse
 

Featured Reviews

Ahmed-Yehia - PeerSpot reviewer
Enhanced performance and simplified operations with integrated features
All improvements for ODA are already applied or enhanced in Exadata. ODA is mainly for small businesses or limited businesses and is used predominantly for database warehouses and not for OLTP databases. You can only scale storage, not developer nodes. It's priced a little higher, which could be optimized for small or medium businesses.
AjayKumar7 - PeerSpot reviewer
Intuitive modeling and reporting capabilities and supports both vertical and horizontal scaling
I like the modeling and reporting capabilities. Real-time processing isn't BW/4HANA's strongest point. We typically run batch jobs for this purpose. So, it's not good for real-time reporting. BW/4HANA's modeling is quite intuitive because even those without technical database knowledge can model data from a business perspective. The tool can still be done without knowing the database functionalities of the data warehouse. Even if someone doesn't understand the database functionalities, you can still model. It provides the functions in a way that even a less technical person can do the modeling. The tool facilitates modeling for non-technical users, ensuring good modeling results.
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Data Warehouse solutions are best for your needs.
860,592 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
27%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
7%
Manufacturing Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Computer Software Company
10%
Retailer
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Oracle Database Appliance?
Oracle Database Appliance provides high stability.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Oracle Database Appliance?
While I'm somewhat familiar with standard licensing, pricing isn't really my area of expertise. However, Oracle is on the higher end of the pricing spectrum, along with SAP.
What needs improvement with Oracle Database Appliance?
There is room for improvement in better integration with third-party tools, such as Power BI or Redshift. When dealing with federated data sources, this integration can be a challenge.
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 is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SAP BW4HANA?
The certification cost is extremely high. I completed certification for $40,000. The certification cost for SAP BW4HANA in 2025 is expected to be one lakh forty thousand.
What needs improvement with SAP BW4HANA?
Integration needs improvement. In reporting, I am not comfortable with the creation of variables, and some calculations need improvement in BW queries.
 

Also Known As

X5-2
SAP BW/4HANA
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

LifeLock, Incarlopsa, Al Yusur Industrial Contracting
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Oracle Database Appliance vs. SAP BW4HANA and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
860,592 professionals have used our research since 2012.