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SAP Business ByDesign vs SAP ERP comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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

SAP Business ByDesign
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
16
Ranking in other categories
Cloud ERP (6th)
SAP ERP
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
108
Ranking in other categories
ERP (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Enterprise Resource Planning solutions, they serve different purposes. SAP Business ByDesign is designed for Cloud ERP and holds a mindshare of 4.2%, down 9.0% compared to last year.
SAP ERP, on the other hand, focuses on ERP, holds 9.0% mindshare, down 17.9% since last year.
Cloud ERP Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
SAP Business ByDesign4.2%
Oracle Fusion Cloud ERP18.5%
NetSuite ERP18.2%
Other59.1%
Cloud ERP
ERP Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
SAP ERP9.0%
SAP S/4HANA5.8%
Oracle E-Business Suite4.0%
Other81.2%
ERP
 

Featured Reviews

MS
Divisional Manager IT at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Valuable features enhance sales and service capabilities while performance improvements are needed
We received a few complaints about the slowness in SAP Business ByDesign last year, so I think SAP can focus on improving performance, particularly when it becomes slow during data saving and handling. My feedback about the modular architecture and customized features of SAP Business ByDesign is that it is only good, but we have not explored much on this one. The initial setup for SAP Business ByDesign was complex. One disadvantage was that we had the legacy system, SAP Business One, and we could not migrate our data to SAP Business ByDesign. They should have provided a migration path.
Achmad Dimyati - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Service Management Team Lead at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Long-term adaptation and evolution meets changing technology trends
SAP ERP is not really real-time. We use the HANA database which is supposed to be memory data in memory, but we are still not very happy. It is supposed to be real-time and come very quickly, but in reality, it still takes time to run. That is why we use BW of SAP, Business Objects, and now we have moved to the Analytic Cloud where we start using predictive AI. SAP recently implemented Databricks, and they started investing significantly in the analytic environment. SAP ERP has been left behind as they moved to S/4HANA with the HANA database. They restructured the whole table structure of SAP ERP, introduced simple finance, simple logistics, and moved HR to SuccessFactors. They have the BTP layer where they manage everything from integration to master data management. The challenge with SAP is that they move very fast to different products and buy different products. It requires significant investment and many skills to catch up because all of these have different sets of technology. The fundamental has changed differently. It is not monolithic anymore but different products under one name, SAP. You have to buy it model by model for additional models. Products such as SuccessFactors, Ariba for procure to pay, Concur for travel, and Facility Management use totally different technology. They try to integrate with each other, but it remains a challenge for SAP to make them have the same management, technology, and operational approach.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"When comparing SAP Business ByDesign to much larger ERP solutions, such as SAP ECC 6.0 or SAP S/4HANA, SAP Business ByDesign is more user-friendly and easier to implement."
"The most valuable feature of SAP Business ByDesign is it has a streamlined design."
"Now we can know our available stock; this visibility enables us to make better resource and supply chain operations decisions as well as better financial decisions."
"The stability has been great, and compared to other products that I have used before, they have been doing really well with stability."
"I like its modern approach. It is very modern and new technology."
"The most valuable features of Business ByDesign are the integration of its modules, analytics, and dashboards."
"The standard system is stable."
"I have found the consolidation of the business and group reports very useful. There is plenty of features and the manufacturing and finance aspect of the solution are strong."
"As our Warehouse Management System, SAP efficiently manages our warehouse operations in real-time."
"It is an integrated application, and it has been working really well."
"Their tech support is always good."
"In summary, this is a good product but it is made by humans hands."
"It provides great visibility into the details of enterprise resource planning."
"I like the solution’s features in finance, supply chain, sales, and distribution."
"The most valuable features of SAP ERP are the integration between all departments, such as purchasing, finance, trading, and sales."
"What makes SAP ERP better than others is that SAP has taken into consideration the business processes of different industries, such as manufacturing, and has already implemented these best practices in SAP ERP, which are readily available for a client and can be customized based on individual needs."
 

Cons

"I would like the tool’s interface to be better. Currently, we use a client application to access the product. I want that to be replaced with a web version. I would like to improve the tool’s internet availability. I also want the product’s setup to be easier."
"There is room for improvement in the reporting capability. To use it properly, you need intensive IT support. You cannot write your own reports."
"The Arabic localization is neglected. It should have an Arabic interface."
"Scalability can be an issue. That is why SAP Business ByDesign needs to be more customizable and more flexible."
"ByDesign could be improved by making screen modifications easier."
"There might be some hurdles when integrating with SAP ECC, but integration with SAP S/4HANA Cloud is smooth."
"SAP Business ByDesign is a very vast product, but it has to be a bit more centralized. All the models need to be more centralized for a better experience."
"SAP Business ByDesign can improve the flexibility and user-friendliness of the reporting during the implementations. Customizing the reports inside the device requires a lot of knowledge and most of the time a developer level is needed."
"It is not easily integrated with outside products."
"Our customers initially find the solution quite complex and not very user-friendly so that is something that could be improved."
"SAP ERP was not very user-friendly."
"The challenge with SAP is that they move very fast to different products and buy different products. It requires significant investment and many skills to catch up because all of these have different sets of technology."
"In the next release, I would like to see more technical integration for directly designed solutions on behalf of the selling process so that you can design solutions and not have to use ten or more other tools to get the solution for selling."
"The product is less intuitive and cumbersome for certain tasks."
"I think that implementation could be simplified."
"It should be less complex. It should also have better integration capability. I am using the ACC version, and in this version, the integration and the communication are very difficult and complicated."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The tool’s pricing is expensive."
"The price of SAP Business ByDesign is less expensive than SAP S/4HANA. However, the price is on par with other similar competitors, such as Microsoft."
"We have to pay yearly."
"The pricing depends on company size. It's cheaper for small companies and more expensive for large ones."
"The cost starts anywhere between fifty thousand dollars and up depending on the number of licenses."
"The price of the solution could be better. They have to come up with a new strategy."
"The tool’s subscription is yearly. There is no flat pricing involved and everything has a range. Pricing depends on the functionality that you would use. You need to also pay for the additional hosting and maintenance costs."
"I rate the price of SAP Business ByDesign a seven out of ten."
"SAP ERP is expensive."
"I rate the product's price a nine on a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap or affordable, and ten is really expensive. The solution is expensive."
"The pricing is based on the license per user, which I think makes the solution a bit costly...Basically, the prices of the solution are high, and we don't have that much revenue."
"Some components are available at an additional cost, depending on the type of contract that you have."
"Licensing can vary, but for educational institutions, there are often favorable conditions."
"It could always be cheaper. They don't have a very easy model of licensing, but large entities would get the upper hand in negotiating the license."
"There is a license needed to use this solution."
"My company makes early payments towards the licensing costs attached to the product. There are no additional costs apart from the charges paid toward the subscription-based license offered by SAP."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Healthcare Company
11%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Construction Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Manufacturing Company
15%
Computer Software Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
6%
Healthcare Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business7
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise5
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business30
Midsize Enterprise31
Large Enterprise78
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SAP Business ByDesign?
The price is high, as every year SAP increases the price by 3.5%.
What needs improvement with SAP Business ByDesign?
We received a few complaints about the slowness in SAP Business ByDesign last year, so I think SAP can focus on improving performance, particularly when it becomes slow during data saving and handl...
What is your primary use case for SAP Business ByDesign?
Our use case for SAP Business ByDesign is our dealer team accessing their system to perform sales and service; these two functionalities are done through SAP Business ByDesign. SAP Business ByDesig...
Is Anaplan better than SAP ERP?
There are different aspects of both Anaplan and SAP ERP that I like and dislike. Anaplan improves forecast accuracy and drives up the quality of analytics. Rather than spending all of their time co...
What needs improvement with SAP ERP?
SAP ERP logged out in slightly less time than expected. Updates to the SAP UI would be useful.
What is your primary use case for SAP ERP?
I have been using SAP ERP for posting journal entries and analyzing the P&Ls and the financial close. By posting in FBL3N in SAP ERP, I can verify my journals and review how they were posted. I...
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Standard Bank of South Africa, AOK Bundesverband, PT XL Axiata Tbk, Tvoy Dom, Schaidt Innovations GmbH & Co. KG, DeLaval International AB, EMC Corporation, Lenovo, Castle Importing Inc., Unilever, Rifle Paper Co., RAK Ceramics, Rough Country, B&G Manufacturing, Life is good Inc., Joy Global Inc., City of Cape Town
B&G Manufacturing, Unilever, Life is good Inc., Joy Global Inc., City of Cape Town, Bhopal Municipal, Corporation (BMC), adidas Group, Butcher & Packer Supply Company, Franklin Valve L.P., Evoshield, Prime Meats, a Norsan Group company, EMC Corporation, Varian Medical Systems Inc., FC Bayern Mªnchen AG, AkzoNobel Chemicals B.V., T¾V Rheinland, Pacific Drilling S.A., Fire & Rescue New South Wales, University of Amsterdam, Pa_alon S.A.
Find out what your peers are saying about SAP, Oracle, NetSuite and others in Cloud ERP. Updated: May 2026.
893,221 professionals have used our research since 2012.