SAP Mobile Platform vs Xamarin Platform comparison

SAP and Microsoft are both solutions in the Mobile Development Platforms category. SAP is ranked #11 with an average rating of 8.0, while Microsoft is ranked #5 with an average rating of 6.0. SAP holds a 3.5% mindshare in MDP, compared to Microsoft’s 6.8% mindshare. Additionally, 87% of SAP users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 90% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.

SAP Mobile Platform

Read 10 SAP Mobile Platform reviews

1,281 Views
807 Comparison Views

87% willing to recommend

Xamarin Platform

Read 41 Xamarin Platform reviews

1,878 Views
1,784 Comparison Views

90% willing to recommend

SAP Mobile Platform

Xamarin Platform

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 4, 2025

SAP Mobile Platform and Xamarin Platform compete in mobile application development. Xamarin Platform seems to have the upper hand with its cross-platform development efficiencies and reduced development time.

Features: SAP Mobile Platform integrates strongly with enterprise systems and supports secure mobile solutions. It enables seamless integration with both SAP and non-SAP systems. The platform supports enterprise-grade APIs and offers customization options. Xamarin Platform provides a single codebase for multiple operating systems, supports Xamarin.Forms for easier UI development, and offers access to native UI features with dependency services.

Room for Improvement: SAP Mobile Platform can improve by addressing gateway limitations for more flexible scripting, enhancing support to boost user adoption, and expanding cloud integration options. Xamarin Platform needs better support for third-party libraries, improvements in handling larger app sizes, and enhancements to its PDF module integration for full functionality.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: SAP Mobile Platform offers a comprehensive deployment model with enterprise support, beneficial for complex infrastructures. Xamarin Platform provides a simplified deployment process, leveraging Microsoft's extensive support infrastructure, making it appealing for rapid deployment and ongoing support.

Pricing and ROI: SAP Mobile Platform has a higher initial setup cost but offers strong long-term ROI in large-scale enterprises due to its robust features. Xamarin Platform, with its cost-effective setup and faster ROI, is attractive for businesses prioritizing development cost-efficiency due to reduced development time and shared code capabilities.

To learn more, read our detailed SAP Mobile Platform vs. Xamarin Platform Report (Updated: June 2026).

Buyer's Guide

SAP Mobile Platform vs. Xamarin Platform

June 2026

Download the complete report

Helped 900,747 peers since 2012

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 Mobile Platform

Ranking in Mobile Development Platforms

11th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

5.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Mobile App Platforms (2nd)

Xamarin Platform

Ranking in Mobile Development Platforms

5th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2026, in the Mobile Development Platforms category, the mindshare of SAP Mobile Platform is 3.5%, up from 3.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Xamarin Platform is 6.8%, down from 7.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Mobile Development Platforms Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Xamarin Platform	6.8%
SAP Mobile Platform	3.5%
Other	89.7%

Mobile Development Platforms

Featured Reviews

ShahzadRafique

Head of Product strategy (Mobility & Islamic Banking) at AutoSoft Dynamics Pvt Ltd

Have faced challenges continuing use due to support discontinuation despite past effectiveness

There was no reporting functionality in the version we used. It all had to be done by another BI or reporting platform, so we used to actually migrate data from SAP Mobile Platform to that platform. Inherently, that product at that time had no reporting capabilities. It had to be done through some other platform. The only issue arose when SAP actually marked it as end-of-support. Otherwise, as a platform, it was fantastic. I don't think there was any major concern we had with the product itself. But when you mark any platform as end-of-support and we, being the OEM partners, it definitely created significant challenges for us.

Read full review

Anubrata Ghosh

Technical Manager at Landmark Group

Unified codebase has reduced mobile development effort but now faces SDK and support limits

You can still develop public-facing apps with Xamarin Platform, but there are restrictions on Xamarin Platform App Store and Google Play that prevent you from publishing your apps because they require you to use their latest SDKs and their latest libraries. Xamarin Platform, having been discontinued a couple of years ago, is no longer compatible with the latest libraries and SDKs offered by Google and Apple. So you have to use obsolete libraries and obsolete packages, which means that when you try to publish them, your Google Play or Apple App Store will prevent you from doing that because you have not used the latest libraries. Right now, Xamarin Platform has been discontinued. Xamarin Platform had its flaws, and there were known issues. Xamarin Platform has a big community of developers, so even though there are known issues and flaws, there are known workarounds. In terms of stability, I would rank it at 7.5, but I believe 7 would be a more accurate rating, so 7 out of 10.

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

"One valuable feature of SAP Mobile Platform is its enterprise-grade standard and maintained APIs, available out of the box for easy integration with various systems."

"With mobile services, they just carry the mobile phone with them, do it straight on the device, and it updates the SAP system, saving quite a lot of time for the end users."

"It's a wonderful solution from a design perspective and from a scalability perspective."

"If we work with the mobile extension of the ERP platform, we save time."

"Solid development platform that allows you to automate functions from different backend systems."

"Ericsson is still working in Pakistan, running one of the biggest mobile wallet platforms in the country, and if SAP hadn't marked it as end-of-life, we could have penetrated this market for at least two to three more customers."

"Both platforms, the SAP Mobile Platform, and SAP, are highly valuable for our company because they facilitate integration, which can be expensive. It's very convenient to connect and create billing accounts through the SAP Mobile Platform."

"The initial setup is not overly complex."

More SAP Mobile Platform pros

"The Xamarin platform can reduce overhead significantly through code-share and reuse. The typical team size for a Xamarin project is significantly reduced compared to purely native projects."

"Plugins like MvvmCross make a developer’s life easy."

"The combination of forms for cross-platform UI and C-Sharp for the programming language are my two favorite features."

"It usually saves time for application development. We write once and the code works everywhere."

"It will save time, cost, and money."

"It has significantly reduced the skill barrier for development and testers."

"It helped to automate iOS and Android apps for our client within short time which helped them for regression testing on a daily basis so manual effort reduced."

"All of our mobile developers can easily substitute for each other on different projects and platforms."

More Xamarin Platform pros

Cons

"The only issue arose when SAP actually marked it as end-of-support. Otherwise, as a platform, it was fantastic."

"The tool is not easy or simple to integrate with other infrastructures."

"The cost of the SAP Mobile Platform is high, and there is room for improvement in its pricing."

"We don't have wider reporting capabilities within mobile services. There is some reporting functionality, which I would classify as very basic, just to indicate how many devices are being connected, but it's not that comprehensive in terms of reporting."

"If I have to go for hybrid development, it is still too complex of development, per se."

"One drawback is that SAP Mobile Platform apps are only available through the browser, making offline capability more challenging to implement."

"The licensing model is a bit dated."

"The toolkit to develop front end applications, especially native applications, is not that good."

More SAP Mobile Platform cons

"Regarding improvements, there are still some limitations with Xamarin, particularly regarding access to core functionality in Android and iOS."

"I feel that the Android AppCompat library creates a lot of issues. A lot of development time is often wasted solving these issues."

"The performance needs improvement, especially the dev tools, and also the ultimate output of the mobile applications."

"In Xamarin.Forms, we have the option to preview our UI designs, but the functionality can be limited. So, this is not fully functional. Since I have some knowledge of iOS, where when you write code or design in the storyboard, your design is immediately visible in the preview."

"However, Xamarin Platform lacks in app size."

"The android application compilation time needs to be reduced."

"Xamarin Platform, having been discontinued a couple of years ago, is no longer compatible with the latest libraries and SDKs offered by Google and Apple, so you have to use obsolete libraries and obsolete packages, which means that when you try to publish them, your Google Play or Apple App Store will prevent you from doing that because you have not used the latest libraries."

"Creating an application works like a native application, but the file size is a bit big, so you have to make certain layers."

More Xamarin Platform cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The cost of SAP is extremely high, and it's not affordable for everyone."

"If you already paying for an SAP license and have SAP products that you are using, the price for SAP Mobile Platform is negligible."

"The tool is expensive. I rate the tool's price as an eight or nine out of ten."

"This is a free product, so there is zero investment on licenses and IDE."

"Xamarin Platform is a free open-source solution."

"Xamarin Platform is open-source, but there are fees for deployment, the API Store and Play Store, and using third-party libraries."

"The price of the Xamarin Platform is not expensive. However, the price of the solution depends on the application that is made. For example, if you have small applications, it's different from large or enterprise applications."

"There's no licensing cost for Xamarin."

"Xamarin Platform is open-source, so it is free to use."

"There is no requirement for a license. It is available for free as an open-source product."

"In most cases, it is sufficient to have free/community license. But if you plan to seriously develop production-level, highly polished apps, you need to use Xamarin.Profiler and the professional or enterprise license."

More Xamarin Platform pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Mobile Development Platforms solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

900,747 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

14%

Construction Company

Marketing Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

16%

Construction Company

14%

Manufacturing Company

Marketing Services Firm

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	6
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	2

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	18
Midsize Enterprise	5
Large Enterprise	15

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SAP Mobile Platform?

The tool is expensive. I rate the tool's price as an eight or nine out of ten.

See all answers

What needs improvement with SAP Mobile Platform?

See all answers

What is your primary use case for SAP Mobile Platform?

It was basically for branchless banking and mobile wallet. There are multiple use cases built on top of that including agent banking, wallet transactions, fund transfers, merchant payments, and all...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Xamarin Platform?

It is free to use Xamarin Platform as we utilize the community edition. Xamarin Platform was acquired by Microsoft and then made free, which happened way back in 2015, I believe, or 2014. After it ...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Xamarin Platform?

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Xamarin Platform?

I have been doing mobile development using Xamarin Platform for which I have already shared my feedback earlier, and I am focused on utilizing Xamarin Platform for my projects.

See all answers

Comparisons

Axway Appcelerator vs SAP Mobile Platform

Compared 9% of the time

Magic xpa Application Platform vs SAP Mobile Platform

Compared 8% of the time

IBM MobileFirst vs SAP Mobile Platform

Compared 8% of the time

Salesforce Platform vs SAP Mobile Platform

Compared 8% of the time

Bitbar vs SAP Mobile Platform

Compared 6% of the time

More SAP Mobile Platform Competitors

GeneXus vs Xamarin Platform

Compared 8% of the time

OutSystems vs Xamarin Platform

Compared 8% of the time

IBM MobileFirst vs Xamarin Platform

Compared 7% of the time

Mendix vs Xamarin Platform

Compared 7% of the time

Apple Xcode vs Xamarin Platform

Compared 7% of the time

More Xamarin Platform Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

SAP Mobile Platform

May 2026

Download SAP Mobile Platform product report

Buyer's Guide

Xamarin Platform

May 2026

Download Xamarin Platform product report

Also Known As

SAP Syclo Agentry Mobile Platform, Sybase Mobile Development Platform, Sybase Unwired Platform

No data available

Overview

SAP Mobile Platform is recognized for its independence, easy integration with various systems, and valuable features like mobile access and push notifications, making it efficient for enterprise use. Despite some challenges, it remains a favored choice for companies seeking robust mobile solutions.

SAP Mobile Platform offers a comprehensive suite of development tools and an integration gateway that simplifies customization. Its capacity to integrate smoothly with SAP and non-SAP systems ensures seamless enterprise operation. Though installation complexity and high costs are noted, it is sought after for time-saving features and stability. Companies use it extensively in branchless banking, energy modeling, and app development, especially with SAP UI5 technology, demonstrating its versatility across industry sectors.

What are the standout features of SAP Mobile Platform?

Platform Independence: Supports integration across diverse systems.
Offline Capabilities: Maintains functionality without continuous connectivity.
Push Notifications: Enhances user engagement with timely updates.
Enterprise-grade APIs: Facilitates secure and efficient data exchanges.
Integration Gateway: Simplifies connections between different platforms.

What benefits and ROI should users expect?

Time Savings: Speeds up development and deployment processes.
Streamlined Processes: Improves workflow efficiency through integration.
Technical Support: Offers reliable assistance for implementation challenges.
Scalability: Adapts to growing business requirements seamlessly.

In industries like logistics, SAP Mobile Platform empowers companies with enhanced SDKs for mobile wallets, customer onboarding, and network connectivity. It facilitates smooth integration with telcos and third-party agents, proving essential for branchless banking and efficient fund transfers.

SAP

Xamarin Platform enables cross-platform mobile development with a single codebase. It leverages C# and Visual Studio, allowing developers to create applications for Android and iOS. Despite its discontinuation, it remains a resourceful tool for building hybrid apps and managing costs.

Xamarin Platform offers access to native APIs and the creation of high-performance, data-driven apps with extensive Microsoft support and documentation. It integrates well with Visual Studio and supports Xamarin.Forms for shared UIs across platforms. It faces challenges with the latest SDKs, performance issues, app sizes, and profiling tools, requiring improvements in native controls, architecture, and documentation. Developers encounter difficulties with binding libraries, testing environments, and IDE support, emphasizing the need for better stability and third-party library documentation.

What are the key features?

Cross-Platform Development: Supports Android and iOS with a single codebase using Xamarin.Forms for shared UI components
Native API Access: Provides access to native APIs via Dependency Services
Microsoft Support: Offers official support and extensive documentation from Microsoft
C# and Visual Studio: Leverages familiar tools for efficient development and maintenance
Efficient Testing Capabilities: Provides tools for comprehensive app testing

What benefits should users look for?

Cost Savings: Lower development and maintenance costs with a shared codebase
Resource Management: Streamlines the development process by handling multiple platforms with minimal effort
High-Code Reuse: Enables a significant reuse of code for Android, iOS, Windows, and Mac
Production of Hybrid Apps: Facilitates the creation of high-performance hybrid applications

Xamarin Platform is employed by diverse industries for developing cross-platform mobile apps, focusing on efficient code reuse and integration with APIs. Organizations prefer it for its ability to build hybrid applications, manage resources, and reduce costs while creating data-driven solutions using a common software layer.

Microsoft

Sample Customers

Swarovski, CareFusion Corp., Adarsh Credit Co-operative Society Ltd.

Cinemark, MixRadio, Sqor Sports, Storyo, JetBlue, The World Bank, Cr_dito Agrcola, Applied Research Associates

Buyer's Guide

SAP Mobile Platform vs. Xamarin Platform

June 2026

Free Report: SAP Mobile Platform vs. Xamarin Platform

Find out what your peers are saying about SAP Mobile Platform vs. Xamarin Platform and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.

DOWNLOAD NOW

900,747 professionals have used our research since 2012.

See our SAP Mobile Platform vs. Xamarin Platform report.

See our list of best Mobile Development Platforms vendors.

We monitor all Mobile Development Platforms reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.