No more typing reviews! Try our Samantha, our new voice AI agent.

Oracle Database In-Memory vs SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise 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

Oracle Database In-Memory
Ranking in Relational Databases Tools
11th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
33
Ranking in other categories
Embedded Database (2nd)
SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise
Ranking in Relational Databases Tools
20th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
5.9
Number of Reviews
14
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2026, in the Relational Databases Tools category, the mindshare of Oracle Database In-Memory is 2.2%, up from 1.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise is 1.4%, up from 0.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Relational Databases Tools Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Oracle Database In-Memory2.2%
SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise1.4%
Other96.4%
Relational Databases Tools
 

Featured Reviews

Hosney Osman - PeerSpot reviewer
Technical Solution Architect at Vodafone
Real-time analytics have transformed response times and support huge data volumes with compression
I do not have any comment related to the improvement of the solution; for sure, it needs improvement, but for my use cases, it is very sufficient, and I think for the biggest companies, it needs a very powerful infrastructure. The area where improvement is required the most in the product is the UI. The problem with the UI is that it is not complex for understanding, but it needs some training to know what each button does, how it works, and the many variables needed.
reviewer2784705 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Advisor at a government with 10,001+ employees
Long term database experience has supported OLTP workloads and delivers reliable cross platform migrations
SAP is not putting money into modernizing SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise. One of the things I discovered on the last project I was on was that they did not incorporate the Intel new instruction set in SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise. Intel has augmented its instruction set referred to as new instructions. They did that to make conversion easier. When you migrate SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise cross-platform, you go through a process where it converts the character set. If you are going from AIX to Linux or from Solaris to Linux, Linux is referred to as Little Endian, while AIX or Solaris are considered Big Endian. This is determined by how the product stores data. The word size of these processors is 32 bits long. If you start numbering from the little end, it is referred to as Little Endian. If you start numbering from the big end, it is called Big Endian. To migrate a SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise database from a Big Endian setup like AIX or Solaris to migrate to a Big Endian setup on an Intel, the operating system determines whether it is Little Endian or Big Endian. When you migrate from Big Endian to Little Endian, the database has to go through a character set conversion, and some of these databases are quite large with gigabytes and gigabytes of data. They have to do a character set conversion to the existing database before they do anything else. The worst part is that you have to rebuild all the indexes when you do that. When you switch endianness of the database, you have to rebuild all the indexes. It will automatically do that for system tables, but for actual user databases, you have to rebuild all your indexes, and it takes a long time. SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise is a relational database and is the predecessor of Microsoft SQL Server. All that functionality that Microsoft SQL Server had came from essentially SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise. The problem with SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise these days is it is not expanding its place in the marketplace or expanding its position in the marketplace. A lot of companies have migrated away from SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise. It works fairly well, but the problem is SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise was architected to be an OLTP engine and is now doing things for larger databases that were not in its original intended purpose. The endianness of the RDBMS is a major impediment to continuing to use SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise. You have a multi-gigabyte database, and it will go through a conversion process in a single-threaded fashion, and then you have to rebuild the indexes. Rebuilding the indexes is lengthy and time-consuming. The part of the conversion process that is concerned with conversion of the character set is single-threaded. You may have eight cores on your machine or virtual machine and only one can be used in the conversion process. There is another problem with the whole thing in that it will sometimes not operate properly. Under certain workloads, SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise will become overwhelmed. When you convert it, it does not operate properly in all circumstances. The root cause of that is that SAP in its desire to save money and desire to orphan the product has not recompiled or redeveloped the product to take advantage of the Intel new instruction set. Other relational databases such as Oracle and Microsoft SQL Server have the same issue to deal with, but with those platforms, they are taking advantage of the new instruction set. There are some additional Intel instruction sets or instructions in their Intel instruction set. With SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise, they did not bother to incorporate support for the new instruction set instructions. In certain circumstances, the database does not operate properly. It is unable to do what it needs to do. If you do your research and go on the internet and see what happens with Oracle or Microsoft SQL Server, what comes back is that it takes 4% longer to perform a lot of the instructions. When you are using the new instruction set, it adds 4% to the runtime of the database.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The solution provides a good environment and it's a product we trust."
"It accelerates query processing, which in turn speeds up operations and streamlines workflow, and ultimately enhancing productivity."
"We find the dashboard and the speed of data processing very valuable in Oracle Database In-Memory."
"Overall, it's a very good solution."
"Performance is probably the number one feature, because when we use it for OLTP, the response for the end-user is pretty fast, with website response times in micro milliseconds instead of waiting a few seconds for a page to load."
"The Oracle database is easier to program and manage, and is secure."
"Database In-Memory, to me, is the most compelling reason to go to Oracle 12c, release 1."
"We use the tool for real-time data transfer for risk management purposes. In a trading system, conversions happen fast. We use the product to handle fast transactions with low latency."
"During the last 20 years, I have never had a stability problem with this product."
"They provide easy integration with other systems."
"Sufficient, robust, power DB."
"It's user-friendly, especially in the logistics field."
"SAP ERP offers us a robust platform where financial stakeholders spend less time collating and sourcing out records and implementing payments."
"This product has my complete confidence."
"Provides very good integration."
"This is a wonderful database that is, in my opinion, underrated."
 

Cons

"The solution is very expensive."
"Lacks sufficient integration with other tools."
"The pricing could be improved. It would ideal if it was more reasonable."
"Oracle Database In-Memory appliance-based solutions can be restrictive for some applications, as they may require more flexibility in the database design to be tuned and sized to the customer's needs."
"The high cost of the product is an area of concern where improvements are required."
"Oracle Database In-Memory could improve by better supporting generative AI challenges, such as hallucination management."
""It depends". If you get a good support engineer, it is a dream. But, most times, it is not, unfortunately."
"The area where improvement is required the most in the product is the UI."
"They turned a functional product into something where you have to go through a difficult process to do the conversion."
"In my opinion, product support is not that great from SAP because they have already declared the end-of-date for SAP ASE. They will be stopping product support."
"I think that the solution needs to be positioned better within the market as it appears as though the Adaptive Server is being left out of the SAP scope."
"Because the solution is customized. we do occasionally face unique bugs. There are always some changes that need to be made here and there."
"Better promotion. Sybase seems little known."
"There could be some improvements in barcode scanning and RFID access."
"The solution should improve view partitioning. The documentation is very confined and available only for users. Distributors also would like access to it."
"There is lack of good support in Mexico - I would prefer Oracle or IBM over SAP in terms of support."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product is expensive."
"The solution's pricing is high."
"Database In-Memory is priced a bit higher than its competitors like Microsoft."
"I rate the pricing a zero out of ten because Database In-Memory is too costly."
"There is a need to make a yearly payment towards the licensing costs, after which there is any to pay towards the support cost attached to the solution."
"The platform's licensing cost needs improvement."
"It's quite costly and it comes with a fixed price."
"The pricing is pretty good so I rate it an eight out of ten."
"Price-wise, the product is worth it since one needs very less infrastructure to use it."
"I rate SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise's pricing a six out of ten."
"The licensing cost for ASE is pretty low."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Relational Databases Tools solutions are best for your needs.
900,644 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
14%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Construction Company
7%
Marketing Services Firm
7%
Construction Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
15%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Healthcare Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business6
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise23
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Large Enterprise11
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Oracle Database In-Memory?
I do not have any comment related to the improvement of the solution; for sure, it needs improvement, but for my use cases, it is very sufficient, and I think for the biggest companies, it needs a ...
What is your primary use case for Oracle Database In-Memory?
The major use case for Oracle Database In-Memory is real-time applications that need a fast response between the application and the database directly without any latency.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise?
From a pricing perspective, I would say the solution is fairly priced. In Oracle, you have two or three databases at most on one machine. In SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise, one machine can have mul...
What needs improvement with SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise?
SAP is not putting money into modernizing SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise. One of the things I discovered on the last project I was on was that they did not incorporate the Intel new instruction set...
What is your primary use case for SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise?
I have worked with SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise, SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise IQ, and Replication Server. I also worked with SQL Anywhere at one point. SAP acquired Sybase at one point, and the...
 

Also Known As

No data available
SAP ASE
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Shanghai Customs
City of Buenos Aires, ASR Group, Citrix, EarlySense, Usha International Limited, Automotive Resources International (ARI), Takisada-Osaka Co. Ltd., Coelba (Grupo Neoenergia), RZD Russian Railways, National Basketball Association - NBA, TALLY
Find out what your peers are saying about Oracle Database In-Memory vs. SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
900,644 professionals have used our research since 2012.