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Oracle Database In-Memory vs SAP HANA comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 6, 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
7.7
Organizations find Oracle Database In-Memory offers significant returns and enhanced performance, despite long-term licensing costs.
Sentiment score
6.1
Companies have mixed experiences with SAP HANA, benefiting from efficiency but facing potential unforeseen costs and integration challenges.
We do not feel we're getting value for the investment due to the additional resources needed for integration and maintenance.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
5.3
Opinions on Oracle Database In-Memory's support are mixed, citing both effective assistance and frequent issues with inconsistency and responsiveness.
Sentiment score
6.0
SAP HANA support is generally positive but needs improvements in response times and issue prioritization, varying by user experience.
Support quality varies across regions, with more advanced solutions from the U.S. and UK compared to Asian region support.
The community support is better than the official SAP support.
Time to respond to SAP support is an issue, and finding the right person and handling the whole process are problems too.
When we raise a ticket for AWS or Azure issues, we find their support is very proactive, while SAP's support is quite passive.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.9
Oracle Database In-Memory excels in scalability, supporting large-scale operations and multiple users with minimal performance impact and downtime.
Sentiment score
7.8
SAP HANA is praised for its scalable, adaptable infrastructure, efficiently managing large-scale deployments despite potential speed impacts.
Our operations have grown from a hundred data operations a day to as many in a couple of seconds.
The scalability rating is based on the ability to expand.
There is enough scalability offered by SAP to meet our deployment needs.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.0
Oracle Database In-Memory is stable, reliable, and ideal for high-transaction systems, though premium support may be necessary.
Sentiment score
7.8
SAP HANA is highly stable and reliable, with ongoing updates improving performance and most users rating its stability highly.
We recently faced customer data loss during the cluster handover or failover fallback.
We have not had any problems in the last seven to eight years.
Regarding stability, they are using legacy systems and have implemented SAP HANA.
 

Room For Improvement

Oracle Database In-Memory requires analytics, security, scalability improvements; cost, user interface, migration, and support challenges persist.
SAP HANA is criticized for high cost, integration challenges, cumbersome interface, complex setup, and need for better customization.
Enhancing features like CAG augmentation and cache augmentation could significantly optimize performance for large language models.
The problem is the price; it's too expensive for what it actually delivers.
Many customers still prefer Oracle, possibly due to cost or familiarity, despite SAP mandating that they have to go to SAP HANA.
Licensing costs with SAP HANA are very high.
 

Setup Cost

Oracle Database In-Memory is costly but valued for features; however, smaller businesses struggle despite recent cost reductions.
SAP HANA is costly, especially on-premise, but cloud deployment offers a more affordable option for smaller businesses.
Recent reductions in cloud costs and learning opportunities, such as free portals for students, make the pricing reasonable without hindering access to powerful features and performance.
It's a recurring subscription model, which is expensive compared to legacy systems with just a maintenance fee.
SAP is not a cheap company, and its licenses are expensive.
I would rate the price for SAP HANA as high.
 

Valuable Features

Oracle Database In-Memory boosts performance with fast transactions, real-time capabilities, advanced security, and efficient memory management for large datasets.
SAP HANA's in-memory computing offers fast data processing, seamless integration, robust security, and efficient analytics for enhanced database management.
The valuable features of Oracle Database In-Memory include its capability to bypass disk storage for faster memory operations, which is critical for transactions and analytics.
This architecture allows for faster data processing and real-time analytics that were not possible with traditional databases.
One of our dashboards using Excelsius was previously developed on normal BW on Oracle data, which took 10 minutes to open. After developing the same calculation views using those tables and replacing them with calculation views in Excelsius, the dashboard opened in seconds.
The concept enhances speed, allowing the database to serve and move data quickly.
 

Categories and Ranking

Oracle Database In-Memory
Ranking in Embedded Database
3rd
Ranking in Relational Databases Tools
9th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.9
Number of Reviews
31
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
SAP HANA
Ranking in Embedded Database
4th
Ranking in Relational Databases Tools
3rd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
89
Ranking in other categories
Data Virtualization (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Embedded Database category, the mindshare of Oracle Database In-Memory is 8.2%, down from 13.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP HANA is 9.2%, down from 11.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Embedded Database
 

Featured Reviews

Laksiri Bala - PeerSpot reviewer
Faster processing and improved memory operations have enhanced transaction and analytics efficiency
The valuable features of Oracle Database In-Memory ( /products/oracle-database-in-memory-reviews ) include its capability to bypass disk storage for faster memory operations, which is critical for transactions and analytics. It also offers specific memory areas, like in-memory cache, that act as intermediaries between disk and buffer cache. This feature helps organizations handle real-time memory requirements effectively.
Dhiraj Jankar - PeerSpot reviewer
Users appreciate the mix of in-memory architecture and ease of backend management
The most valuable SAP HANA features are that, compared to Oracle, there is less administrative work and less complex work to handle, making it very straightforward. The tool itself takes care of the backend work. The main benefits SAP HANA provides to users include its architecture, which combines both column store and row store capabilities. Some places find the row feature important, whereas others find column store important. It allows some tables to be stored in a column base, others in a row base, and the In-Memory functionalities are mostly the highlight of SAP HANA, especially compared to disk-based memory users. This was the main reason SAP HANA was introduced initially.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
19%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
6%
Manufacturing Company
15%
Computer Software Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Government
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Oracle Database In-Memory?
We can integrate it with any data sources as well.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Oracle Database In-Memory?
Pricing is justified by the performance and business value offered by Oracle Database In-Memory. Although slightly higher, recent reductions in cloud costs and learning opportunities, such as free ...
What needs improvement with Oracle Database In-Memory?
Oracle Database In-Memory could improve by better supporting generative AI challenges, such as hallucination management. Enhancing features like CAG augmentation and cache augmentation could signif...
What are the biggest benefits of using SAP HANA?
Based on my work with SAP HANA, the biggest benefit that it can bring to your business is total data management. This product is by SAP - a company that serves almost all needs a client may have co...
Is SAP HANA’s customer and technical support reliable?
We have been using SAP HANA for a fairly short period of time and have only taken advantage of their customer support. So far, we have not had issues that required specialized help from technical s...
Is SAP HANA difficult to set up and start using?
SAP HANA is fairly easy to set up, however, I do not think a complete beginner can do it. You certainly need some preparation - either you need to have experience with similar solutions, or with ot...
 

Also Known As

No data available
SAP High-Performance Analytic Appliance, HANA
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Shanghai Customs
Unilever, NHS 24, adidas Group, CHIO Aachen, Hamburg Port Authority (HPA), Bangkok Airways Public Company Limited
Find out what your peers are saying about Oracle Database In-Memory vs. SAP HANA and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
860,168 professionals have used our research since 2012.