It is difficult for me to narrow down what the best features are in SAP HANA because they work together to provide the overall functionality of the solution. However, the Fiori application is very good.
Manager IT at a educational organization with 51-200 employees
Highly stable, plenty of features, and useful Fiori application
Pros and Cons
- "It is difficult for me to narrow down what the best features are in SAP HANA because they work together to provide the overall functionality of the solution. However, the Fiori application is very good."
- "In a future release, SAP HANA should add a module for taxation, such as income tax and withholding tax."
What is most valuable?
What needs improvement?
In the Asian market, we have to customize SAP HANA to fit our needs and if we are implementing any solution from SAP or Oracle it is not recommended to customize them.
In a future release, SAP HANA should add a module for taxation, such as income tax and withholding tax.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using SAP HANA for a few months.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
SAP HANA is highly stable.
Buyer's Guide
SAP HANA
January 2026
Learn what your peers think about SAP HANA. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: January 2026.
881,114 professionals have used our research since 2012.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We have not gone live yet with the solution to determine how many people with be using it. We have some applications deployed on our CRM and others will be deployed on SAP making it difficult to determine the potential usage of the solution at this time.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The price of SAP HANA is very expensive and it is paid annually.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I have evaluated other solutions from Oracle.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend this solution to others.
I rate SAP HANA a six out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
SAP Basis Consultant at a energy/utilities company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Reliable, fast, stable, scalable, and innovative
Pros and Cons
- "It is very stable and very innovative. You can integrate many applications with it."
- "The worst thing about SAP HANA is the price; it's very expensive. The licensing cost, implementation cost, hosting cost, and appliance cost are all high."
What is our primary use case?
The internet of things, big data, and utilization of block chain will be possible with HANA.
What is most valuable?
It's a reliable and fast solution.
It is very stable and very innovative. You can integrate many applications with it.
What needs improvement?
The worst thing about SAP HANA is the price; it's very expensive. The licensing cost, implementation cost, hosting cost, and appliance cost are all high.
For how long have I used the solution?
We've been using it for three years now.
It's a cloud-based solution.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is a very stable solution.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It's very scalable.
How are customer service and technical support?
The technical support has been fine.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We were running SAP on Oracle, and then we switched to HANA.
How was the initial setup?
If it's a new installation, it is straightforward. However, if it's a migration from one system to a new system, it's not as straightforward as you might think it would be.
What about the implementation team?
We utilized around 30 technical and functional staff because we were leaving our legacy system behind and migrating to a new one.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We pay for a maintenance license, and the licensing cost is high. In general, it is a very expensive solution.
What other advice do I have?
This product covers almost everything, and it's scalable and very innovative. On a scale from one to ten, I would rate SAP HANA at nine.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Buyer's Guide
SAP HANA
January 2026
Learn what your peers think about SAP HANA. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: January 2026.
881,114 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Development & ERP Technologies Department Manager at a aerospace/defense firm with 10,001+ employees
Very fast, good memory, and very good scalability
Pros and Cons
- "The memory is the solution's most valuable feature. It's the main feature of HANA. Others are still the regular IT databases that are on storage and are therefore much slower than HANA. The solution is quite fast."
- "Unlike other databases, it lacks management features that legacy databases like Oracle or SQL servers have. They need to make the solution easier to manage and offer tools that make management more effective. A lot of things you have on traditional databases you have to develop into HANA."
What is our primary use case?
We are primarily using the solution for the BW system of SAP. We also use the legacy reporting, which is very good.
The solution is quite fast.
How has it helped my organization?
We hoped to move all our BI systems to work with HANA, unfortunately, there are a lot of performance issues, even after remodeling the BW models.
What is most valuable?
The memory is the solution's most valuable feature. It's the main feature of HANA. Others are still the regular IT databases that are on storage and are therefore much slower than HANA. The solution is quite fast.
What needs improvement?
Unlike other databases, it lacks management features that legacy databases like Oracle or SQL servers have. They need to make the solution easier to manage and offer tools that make management more effective. A lot of things you have on traditional databases you have to develop into HANA.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using the solution for about 3 years
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is less stable than traditional databases. We have encountered several cases when the database just flows. For some reason, that database took a lot of memory, and when we opened a case with SAP, we had to send a lot of logs, which did nothing because at the end, they couldn't find the root cause for this issue. This happened in several cases. We had production down and that's not acceptable for our business.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is very scalable. We have about 10,000 users.
Each of those is not connecting to the database per se, but we are using HANA to take all the data and a lot of users. Several other software applications are also connecting to it.
How are customer service and technical support?
Technical support is okay, but not great. It seems like there are a lot of SAP support packages that are coming out and lots of versions. For me, this indicates that the product is not quite ready or stable enough.
We've contacted technical support in the past and did not get good results. Eventually, we just created some parameters that we have configured into the system. We solved the problem by ourselves by creating a workaround that avoided the problem. SAP never gave us a straight answer about what we should do in our case.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was quite complicated. We had to do a migration, so it wasn't a fresh installation. We had Oracle as our legacy system and had to move everything over to HANA. We had to do half a year of testing and had to do several cycles of tests and migrations before deploying. Once that was done, we deployed over a weekend.
What about the implementation team?
We handled the implementation ourselves.
What other advice do I have?
We use the on-premises deployment model.
I'd advise others to wait until the software will be much more stable before implementing it.
I'd rate it eight out of ten. If it was more stable and more manageable, I'd rate it higher. If people could have the ability to do things on their own within the solution, to read the software logs on their own, and get the root cause of any problem, and not just send it to the support, it would be much better.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
IT Manager , SAP HANA Administrator at a pharma/biotech company with 201-500 employees
Easy to manage, includes reporting and analytics, but priced high
Pros and Cons
- "The solution is easy to manage enterprise resources and the reporting and analytics are including. It is good for company growth and all module are managed well."
What is our primary use case?
We are using this solution for enterprise resource planning.
What is most valuable?
The solution is easy to manage enterprise resources and the reporting and analytics are including. It is good for company growth and all module are managed well.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for approximately five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable. I have not had any bugs or issues.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We have over 50 people using the solution in my organization.
How are customer service and technical support?
The technical support is good.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is straightforward.
What about the implementation team?
We used an integrator for the implementation of the solution and we were satisfied.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The price is high and could be a bit cheaper.
What other advice do I have?
I rate SAP HANA a six out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Project Manager at a logistics company with 11-50 employees
Good reporting and analytics, but the performance and integration should be improved
Pros and Cons
- "Using this solution has given us better details for reporting and analytics."
- "The performance and integration with other products are areas in need of improvement."
What is our primary use case?
We are using this product for IAM.
How has it helped my organization?
Using this solution has given us better details for reporting and analytics.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature is optimization.
What needs improvement?
The performance and integration with other products are areas in need of improvement.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with SAP HANA for between three and four years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability is okay.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It scales well and we have had no trouble with it.
How are customer service and technical support?
The technical support is good.
How was the initial setup?
The deployment was straightforward.
What about the implementation team?
We had assistance from an SAP partner for deployment.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The price of this product is good.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate this solution a seven out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. partner
Datawarehouse Lead | Data Engineer at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Operates well, good functionality and usability
Pros and Cons
- "The solution operates well."
- "I would have rated the solution higher if this version was not missing some key features the newer version has."
What is most valuable?
The solution operates well. I had no problems with the functionality.
What needs improvement?
The current version we are using is lacking some unique features, we are upgrading to the newer version of this solution that has these features, S4 HANA.
What other advice do I have?
I would have rated the solution higher if this version was not missing some key features the newer version has. We are going to continue to use the solution.
I rate SAP HANA an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Java Software Engineer at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Has good stability and an easy setup
Pros and Cons
- "The initial setup is straightforward. It usually takes around eight months but it depends on a customer's requirements. We can spend a month or two customizing."
- "SAP HANA is not strong like Oracle when it comes to finance. They are only strong with the logistic business project."
What needs improvement?
Compared to Oracle, the licensing could be better.
SAP HANA is not strong like Oracle when it comes to finance. They are only strong with the logistic business project.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have around 12 years of experience implementing SAP HANA.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It depends on the enterprise, but the average enterprise has 20 employees. They buy two accounts to use the SAP S4HANA. It means that on average the enterprise will buy 20% to buy the license.
How are customer service and technical support?
So far technical support is good. If we have any problem that a local partner cannot resolve for the customer, they will write to SAP and support will help fix the problem.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is straightforward. It usually takes around eight months but it depends on a customer's requirements. We can spend a month or two customizing.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The SAP license fee is more expensive than other solutions like Oracle or Microsoft Dynamics.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate SAP HANA a nine out of ten. Not a ten because of the price.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Implementer
Technical Department Manager at a computer software company with 11-50 employees
Fast performance with good dashboards and analytics, but the documentation needs improvement
Pros and Cons
- "What I like most are the dashboards and pervasive analytics."
- "The documentation can be improved in the future."
What is our primary use case?
We have an ongoing cloud installation but mostly, we implement on-premises.
We use this solution for SAP Business One.
It's used mainly for analytic purposes, reporting, and the processing of large data.
What is most valuable?
What I like most are the dashboards and pervasive analytics. Those are the most useful to us.
What needs improvement?
The documentation can be improved in the future.
In the next release, I would like to see integration with smart devices.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been implementing SAP Hana for six years.
We are using the latest version.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It's a stable solution.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
SAP HANA is scalable.
We are project-based. In each project, there are anywhere from 30 to 50 users.
How are customer service and technical support?
We have not really received any technical support from SAP HANA.
I think that's also one thing that maybe SAP would be most helpful, especially if we encounter several errors during installation. We don't get to have many references or we don't get to ask the technical guys of SAP HANA.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Previously we were using MySQL, but due to the fast performance of SAP HANA, we switched approximately three years ago.
How was the initial setup?
In the newer versions, the initial setup is mostly straightforward. However, the older version was more complex. We had several issues with installing.
The installation usually takes approximately four hours.
There are two admins at the most to maintain this solution.
What other advice do I have?
We definitely plan to keep implementing this product in the future and I can recommend it.
I would rate this solution a seven out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Implementer
Buyer's Guide
Download our free SAP HANA Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros
sharing their opinions.
Updated: January 2026
Product Categories
Embedded Database Data Virtualization Relational Databases Tools Database Management Systems (DBMS)Popular Comparisons
Teradata
SQL Server
Snowflake
MySQL
Oracle Database
MariaDB
Denodo
IBM Db2 Database
SQLite
CockroachDB
IBM Cloud Pak for Data
Amazon Aurora
Oracle Database In-Memory
SAP IQ
IBM Informix
Buyer's Guide
Download our free SAP HANA Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros
sharing their opinions.
Quick Links
Learn More: Questions:
- Microsoft sql2017 VS SAP Hana
- What are the biggest benefits of using SAP HANA?
- Is SAP HANA’s customer and technical support reliable?
- Is SAP HANA difficult to set up and start using?
- Which is better: SQL Server or SAP HANA?
- What are the main differences between SAP HANA and Oracle E-Business Suite (EBS)?
- Can anyone share a price comparison between Oracle Cloud (Oracle Fusion), SAP HANA and Microsoft Dynamics NAV?
- How do I extract SAP BW data models and SAP HANA data models?
- When using SAP CAP as the backend, is UI5 better than Vue, React or any other frontend framework?
- What are the differences between SAP ASE and SAP HANA?













