SAP Business ByDesign vs SAP S/4HANA Cloud comparison

SAP Business ByDesign and SAP S/4HANA Cloud are both solutions in the Cloud ERP category. SAP Business ByDesign is ranked #6 with an average rating of 8.5, while SAP S/4HANA Cloud is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.2. SAP Business ByDesign holds a 4.7% mindshare in CE, compared to SAP S/4HANA Cloud’s 9.7% mindshare. Additionally, 92% of SAP Business ByDesign users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 90% of SAP S/4HANA Cloud users who would recommend it.

SAP Business ByDesign

Read 16 SAP Business ByDesign reviews

870 Views
539 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

SAP S/4HANA Cloud

Read 57 SAP S/4HANA Cloud reviews

2,165 Views
1,299 Comparison Views

90% willing to recommend

SAP Business ByDesign

SAP S/4HANA Cloud

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 10, 2024

SAP Business ByDesign and SAP S/4HANA Cloud are both competitive solutions in the ERP sector, offering distinct advantages for various business sizes and requirements. SAP S/4HANA Cloud has the upper hand for larger enterprises due to its scalability and advanced analytics.

Features: SAP Business ByDesign integrates various modules like finance, analytics, and dashboards, providing quick implementation and real-time data reporting. SAP S/4HANA Cloud offers advanced analytics, seamless module integration, and an intuitive interface, making it ideal for global operations.

Room for Improvement: SAP Business ByDesign could benefit from enhanced customization and scalability to better serve larger enterprises. Improving user interface flexibility may also benefit diverse users. SAP S/4HANA Cloud might improve by simplifying its complex deployment, reducing high entry costs, and offering better resource allocation for midsize businesses.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: SAP Business ByDesign excels in faster deployment and user-friendly setup, backed by strong customer service. SAP S/4HANA Cloud, though resource-intensive to deploy, ensures comprehensive support for intricate business needs, suitable for enterprises with complex IT infrastructures.

Pricing and ROI: SAP Business ByDesign offers a lower entry cost with faster ROI for cost-sensitive organizations. SAP S/4HANA Cloud, with its premium pricing model, promises significant long-term returns on investment, aligning with larger firms ready to invest in robust digital infrastructure.

To learn more, read our detailed SAP Business ByDesign vs. SAP S/4HANA Cloud Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

SAP Business ByDesign vs. SAP S/4HANA Cloud

December 2025

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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

Ranking in Cloud ERP

6th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

SAP S/4HANA Cloud

Ranking in Cloud ERP

2nd

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the Cloud ERP category, the mindshare of SAP Business ByDesign is 4.7%, down from 8.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP S/4HANA Cloud is 9.7%, down from 16.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Cloud ERP Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
SAP S/4HANA Cloud	9.7%
SAP Business ByDesign	4.7%
Other	85.6%

Cloud ERP

Featured Reviews

Manoj Sahoo

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.

Read full review

Ramesh Pampana

Manager, SAP Practice at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Extensive real-time analytics and superior support enhance decision making but continued product evolution impacts existing investments

Improvement is needed, and they need to slow down. When I say slow down, they need to do more validation. Things are going rapidly and changing fast. For example, they moved from SAP SRM product to SAP CLM. They bought IBM CLM and marketed it as SAP CLM. Shortly after, they bought SAP Ariba and discontinued the SAP CLM product. Now they state that SAP SRM is outdated and has reached sunset. The challenge is that if a customer has already deployed the entire solution on-premises, it becomes difficult to immediately convert to the new product and manage new license costs. From a consulting perspective, it appears that SAP's biggest competitor is itself, as they sometimes discontinue their own products to promote new ones.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I like the tool’s customization."

"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 is the feature called Financial Closing Cockpit. This feature allows us to monitor our accounting and processing closely."

"The most helpful feature is the integrations. Integrating the tool with SAP S/4HANA Cloud is easy, facilitating implementation and deployment. The runtime analysis checks for real-time analytics to see if the software works properly. This is a powerful feature."

"It has a quick implementation and onboarding of users. It is flexible with reports and powerful."

"ByDesign's best features are its speed, real-time data, and reporting."

"The most valuable feature of SAP Business ByDesign is it has a streamlined design."

"When we were using it, we did see an immediate benefit, especially in the inventory on consignment issue. We were a biotech pre-revenue company and most of our manufacturing was outsourced. So being able to track inventory within the system without creating a financial impact was very key for us."

More SAP Business ByDesign pros

"The most valuable feature of SAP S/4HANA Cloud is the new UX design."

"The tool selection is really robust and scalable for multiple scenarios."

"It is a straightforward solution."

"It was easy to implement."

"The solution's most valuable feature is the seamless integration of different modules into one solution."

"S4HANA Cloud is reliable and accurate. Our existing team also has expertise in SAP, so it was simple to migrate to the cloud solution. S4HANA Cloud has advantages because we don't need to maintain the infrastructure, and there aren't any huge upfront costs."

"SAP S/4HANA Cloud provides easy database access."

"Managing the server and taking advantage of the services provided by SAP itself is the most valuable feature."

More SAP S/4HANA Cloud pros

Cons

"The Purchase to Pay process could benefit from further sophistication and additional functionality. It would be helpful for the user community to receive clearer information about the future roadmap of the business. Unfortunately, there were some confusing articles in the German press towards the end of last year about the future of SAP Business ByDesign. Therefore, more clarity is needed in the support function to address this."

"The Arabic localization is neglected. It should have an Arabic interface. It lacks Arabic translation or support from right to left."

"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. For example, if you want to have a more specific reporting layout."

"There might be some hurdles when integrating with SAP ECC, but integration with SAP S/4HANA Cloud is smooth."

"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."

"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."

"There is room for improvement in the reporting capability. To use it properly, you need intensive IT support. You cannot write your own reports."

"I would say budget controlling needs improvement. I mention this because it does not have all the functionalities that we need in terms of managing the budget."

More SAP Business ByDesign cons

"Public cloud is single-tenant so there are limitations on what can be customized."

"I'd like to share my experience during the migration from SAP ERP to SAP S/4HANA in the cloud. My primary challenge in this migration was the requirement to open a ticket for every request during the project phase, not during operational or post go-live phases. Despite this, I must acknowledge that overall, SAP has proven to be very reliable. To clarify the issue, after migrating to SAP S/4HANA, I opted to host my SAP solution on the private cloud by converting the license to SAP Cloud. The drawback I encountered during the project phase was the insistence on opening a ticket or service request for any issue or query I had within the project's activities. Looking ahead, I hope that SAP streamlines and simplifies this process for future customers, making it more user-friendly and efficient than my experience."

"The implementation time for S/4HANA Cloud could be reduced."

"UX design is not flexible and lacks compatibility with mobile devices."

"The only thing I would improve is the overall user experience, particularly the mobile app. S/4HANA is a powerful, scalable platform, but the user experience isn't positive. It's a bit complex. The look and feel aren't attractive, and the mobile experience isn't great."

"The scalability of the solution could improve."

"The scalability of SAP S/4HANNA is an area that could be improved."

"From a consulting perspective, it appears that SAP's biggest competitor is itself, as they sometimes discontinue their own products to promote new ones."

More SAP S/4HANA Cloud cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price of the solution could be better. They have to come up with a new strategy."

"The cost starts anywhere between fifty thousand dollars and up depending on the number of licenses."

"Everything is included in the licensing cost of the solution. However, they use a per-user model for additional charges."

"We have to pay yearly."

"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."

"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."

"The tool’s pricing is expensive."

"I rate the price of SAP Business ByDesign a seven out of ten."

More SAP Business ByDesign pricing and cost advice

"The solution’s pricing is very high."

"I don't remember the specifics about the licensing, but it's scaled and modular. You pay for what you use. It's not a one-size-fits-all license. You have a license for every single module. It's similar to Oracle."

"The tool's pricing is reasonable."

"The pricing model can be complicated in certain scenarios."

"I'm not directly involved in the pricing discussions; it's more of a concern for the finance team."

"The licensing process for SAP S/4HANA Cloud has worked well."

"The solution is affordable."

"Pricing wise, SAP S4HANA Cloud is very expensive. The licensing cost can be 100,000 euros per year, depending on the number of users in your company."

More SAP S/4HANA Cloud pricing and cost advice

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Answers from the Community

Rana Bhattacharjee

SAP Practice Manager at Data-core systems

Jun 30, 2021

What are the main differences between SAP RISE and SAP Business ByDesign?

The main difference is RISE is associated with S/4 Product Range on Cloud while By Design is modeled after SAP Business One also on Cloud. So both are SaaS but the difference is in enterprise size and also application complexities. Also, RISE offers a bundle of pre-configured modules while By Design is similar to B1 with a lot more flexibility and high scalability. License wise both are per us...

See 2 answers

Evgeny Belenky

Director of Community at PeerSpot (formerly IT Central Station)

Jun 28, 2021

Hello @Terry Jones , @Sanath Premachandra , @Ben Melchionno and @ASalman. Can you please assist in answering this question?

Read full answer

Pradipta Bhattacharya

Project Delivery Head - MENA at WMS Middle East LLC

Jun 30, 2021

Read full answer

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Healthcare Company

11%

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

Computer Software Company

13%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Marketing Services Firm

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	7
Midsize Enterprise	4
Large Enterprise	5

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	24
Midsize Enterprise	9
Large Enterprise	30

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about SAP Business ByDesign?

The most valuable features of SAP Business ByDesign are customer invoicing and cost and revenue, from which I get the data for my project reports.

See all answers

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%.

See all answers

What needs improvement with SAP Business ByDesign?

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SAP S/4HANA Cloud?

SAP S/4HANA Cloud is very expensive, both to purchase and maintain. It's important to evaluate the costs of recruiting and maintaining trained personnel as it's not just a one-time payment yet requ...

See all answers

What needs improvement with SAP S/4HANA Cloud?

A lot of my clients are complaining about the SAP license policy. I think that is quite intransparent and obviously quite expensive. I think that is a usual complaint. And also the flexibility to s...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for SAP S/4HANA Cloud?

SAP S_4HANA Cloud is still used for ERP, so enterprise resource planning, and I would say the true core of SAP S_4HANA Cloud is truly the financial planning, the financial transactional accounting....

See all answers

Comparisons

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Sage Business Cloud Enterprise Management vs SAP Business ByDesign

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Compared 12% of the time

NetSuite ERP vs SAP S/4HANA Cloud

Compared 10% of the time

Oracle E-Business Suite vs SAP S/4HANA Cloud

Compared 9% of the time

SAP Business One vs SAP S/4HANA Cloud

Compared 8% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

SAP Business ByDesign

January 2026

Download SAP Business ByDesign product report

Buyer's Guide

SAP S/4HANA Cloud

January 2026

Download SAP S/4HANA Cloud product report

Also Known As

No data available

SAP S4HANA Cloud

Overview

SAP Business ByDesign is a cloud-based business management software that supports everything from finance to CRM – and is available anytime, anywhere, on almost any device. It helps medium-sized businesses seize new opportunities and accelerate growth – and it helps subsidiaries take advantage of head office resources, while keeping their flexibility.

Streamline end-to-end processes and maximize efficiency across your organization
Gain timely business insights with integrated analytics and reporting powered by SAP HANA
Manage your business from anywhere, at any time, with built-in mobile apps
Rely on highly secure data centers that are managed, monitored, and maintained by SAP experts

SAP

SAP S/4HANA stands for SAP Suite 4 HANA. It is a next-generation integrated enterprise resource planning (ERP) software that is designed for businesses of all sizes, in all industries, that require deep and broad functionality combined with a high degree of flexibility. SAP S/4HANA was launched in 2015 and been adopted by more than 3,200 customers over a period of sixteen months. SAP S/4HANA is materially different from anything SAP has done before and represents the company’s biggest innovation since SAP R/3.

SAP S/4HANA is intended to provide a digital core for an organization. It is fully architected for the most advanced in-memory platform, SAP HANA, and is designed on the most modern design principles with the SAP Fiori user experience to create a personalized and simple feel on users’ device of choice (tablet, laptop, mobile). SAP S/4HANA aims to simplify an organizations’ system landscape and reduce total cost of ownership by shrinking the data footprint while at the same time improving productivity levels in the form of higher throughput. Timelines for cloud deployments average around six months.

SAP S/4HANA is designed to drive business innovation by connecting people, devices, and business networks in real time to support the development of new business models. It will also help accelerate the adoption of, and connection to, the Internet of Things and Big Data. SAP S/4HANA can analyze big data at unprecedented speed allowing users to access real-time information from anywhere, any way they’d like and thus help managers make truly insightful decisions. The simplified data model allows customers to reimagine their IT, helping to drive lower costs and deliver IT efficiency. This, coupled with the SAP S/4HANA prediction and simulation capabilities allow it to anticipate the impact of business outcomes. By doing all the above, SAP S/4HANA aims to provide ultimate sophistication in the simplest possible manner.

To learn more about SAP S/4HANA, visit http://go.sap.com/product/enterprise-management/s4hana-erp.html

SAP

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

La Trobe University, Carrefour Comércio e Indústria Ltda, Delaware Consulting and Corning Inc.

Buyer's Guide

SAP Business ByDesign vs. SAP S/4HANA Cloud

December 2025

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