SAP Business One vs SAP S/4HANA comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary
Updated on Mar 21, 2022

We performed a comparison between SAP Business One and SAP S4HANA based on our users’ reviews in four categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.

  • Ease of Deployment: Users of SAP Business One and SAP S4HANA expressed mixed opinions on the ease of deployment. While the majority of users said it was simple and straightforward for both solutions, others had some difficulty and mentioned that if you have training on how to use their products and knowledge of how the system works, it is more manageable.
  • Features: Valuable features of SAP Business One and SAP S4HANA include scalability, stability, and great dashboards. Valuable features of SAP Business One also include ease of use, document search, inventory control, project budget, accounting and business information features, analytics, KPIs, user-defined fields and user-defined forms, customization options, Material Requirements Planning (MRP), ERP system, production planning and maintenance models and that it is user-friendly. Users of SAP Business One would prefer if there was a proper master data management function, think that the integration and the reports could be better, say the user interface could be improved with drag-and-drop functionality, and would like to see a simple reporting tool, a mobile version, and more personalization features.

    Valuable features of SAP S4HANA include fast reporting, POD applications, FI module for finance, excellent performance, a great interface, an efficient database, good flexibility, security, inbuilt standards included in SAP that customers can easily adopt, and great functionality. Additional features that users say they would like to see include better AI, improvements on the user experience level and digital work, better integration, and more DevOps capabilities in the future.
  • Pricing: Users of SAP Business One feel that the pricing for the solution is reasonable, while users of SAP S4HANA consider the solution to be quite expensive.
  • Service and Support: SAP Business One users unanimously agree that the service and support is good. In contrast, some SAP S4HANA users stated that the support is satisfactory, but could be better. Others mentioned that it used to be good but they are getting worse.

Comparison Results: When comparing SAP Business One and SAP S4HANA, users rate SAP S4HANA as the better solution. In contrast to SAP Business One, reviewers of SAP S4HANA feel that SAP S4HANA is a very powerful and highly customizable tool. That being said, the pricing and service of SAP Business One are rated as better.

To learn more, read our detailed SAP Business One vs. SAP S/4HANA Report (Updated: March 2024).
763,955 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"For us, the most useful feature of Business One is Material Requirements Planning (MRP).""The document search feature is very good.""The ability to link documents to accounts, partners and events via the Golden/Yellow Arrow feature is very useful.""The solution has all the basic features that are required for us.""The solution is user-friendly in comparison with Oracle.""The Material Requirements Planning (MRP) feature of SAP Business One has been most beneficial for our reporting needs.""Business One's best feature is transport management and collections.""It offers users a rather simple interface."

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"S/4HANA is so much faster today than it was before. High performance is one of the best features, but the backbone of S/4HANA is its integration capabilities. They've also shifted to a focus on user experience.""One of the things I like about it is its well-integrated and secure nature.""Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten...Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten.""The most valuable feature of SAP S/4HANA is the innovational process. We are able to receive more efficiency or accuracy than previous versions.""It is a very scalable solution. We have enterprise-level businesses using this solution.""It's reliable and the performance is good.""In terms of its most valuable feature, I would say the finance module.""S/4HANA falls under a single terminal. We can easily access the data, and the performance is good."

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Cons
"The solution needs to have comprehensive visibility into the entire sales-to-purchase cycle, enabling businesses to monitor SO-PO relationships, track order progress, and generate insightful reports.""SAP Business One could be improved if SAP creates one platform to integrate different solutions, particularly having a multi-company concept rather than having different databases. The solution could be similar to SAP S/4 Hana and the SAP Business ByDesign concept.""The solution could improve by providing HR payroll, quality control, and maintenance. These are the missing features which we have to use add-ons solutions to provide the functionality.""SAP Business One would be a great product if more customization is available.""Lacks an advanced HR model with payroll.""SAP Business One could improve project management, quality assurance, material management, forecasting, full costing, and quality control. Many modules are missing in this solution.""The installation process could be easier. They should have better tools to improve the effectiveness of the installation.""In terms of business processes, the production could use improvement."

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"The migration to SAP S/4HANA is hard.""Items that impact the TCO should be improved because the solution is very complex to integrate and keep running.""Every year, when a new version is released, it comes with a very thick booklet of 300 or 400 pages and it is a little difficult to comprehend.""So, there is room for improvement in pricing. HANA is not a simple product; it's quite complex by design.""We found that the implementing partners themselves are struggling with S4HANA's features. It's not an exact translation of the older ECC, so SAP has taken a new route to do things with S4HANA. Maybe it's a good product, but the implementing partners also like to have an in-depth understanding of the full feature set the product offers.""In an upcoming release of SAP S4HANA, chain management should be easier.""The resource usage could be improved - it's memory-hungry, so mid-range servers struggle to run it.""The install can be difficult. There's something called secondary sales solutions that is not there in SAP. We need to have third-party tools to integrate to do the automatization. The two parts are missing on the secondary sales solution and automation."

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Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "Business One is reasonable considering the functionality."
  • "In terms of price, it's fair, but the problem is with AMC."
  • "Its price is reasonable. People are able to spend that much."
  • "Its licensing model is good. There is a one-off payment for the software license, and after that, you only need to pay the annual maintenance fee. Compared to other cloud-based systems, this cost model is quite reasonable for SMEs."
  • "We pay annually. It is around 800 a month."
  • "We feel that the licensing fees are a bit on the higher side."
  • "We compared the Microsoft solution with Oracle NetSuite, as they have a price decrease. It is, however, not that much cheaper, and the price is comparable to SAP."
  • "Its price is reasonable. We have about 200 licenses. We have to pay every year for the license."
  • More SAP Business One Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "It is an expensive solution."
  • "The price of this product is an issue for some customers."
  • "I have found the price of the solution is on the medium to the expensive side of the scale. There is a license for this solution and there are additional maintenance fees."
  • "The solution is expensive."
  • "We're not sure yet. I think it was six figures a year, over 100,000. It has straight-up licensing fees."
  • "Licensing works on a subscription model for the cloud version and it's a one-time fee for the on-premises version."
  • "The price of the solution is reasonable but some modules can be expensive. When comparing SAP S4HANA to other solutions, such as Oracle, it is not expensive."
  • "The price of the solution is expensive."
  • More SAP S/4HANA Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Answers from the Community
    Shibu Ms
    Mohammed Shakir Ibrahim - PeerSpot reviewerMohammed Shakir Ibrahim
    Real User

    Hi Shibu,

    Here is a brief comparison between SAPB1 and SAP S/4 Hana. SAP B1 was not originally a SAP product it was a product developed by an Israel founder in 195 built only for MAC OS SAP bought it over in 2003, Whereas SAP S/4 Hana is natively built by SAP.

     Scope and Complexity:



    • SAP B1: SAP Business One is designed for small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and covers a broad range of business processes, including accounting, inventory management, and sales.


    • SAP S/4HANA: SAP S/4HANA is an enterprise-level solution designed for larger organizations, offering a more comprehensive suite of applications that include advanced analytics, industry-specific features, and support for complex business processes. It's strong in manufacturing, Service industry, government, and Oil & Gas industries.


    Database Technology:



    • SAP B1: SAP B1 typically uses Microsoft SQL Server as its underlying database management system, but there is a new variant where you can use the HANA database with Business One.


    • SAP S/4HANA: SAP S/4HANA uses in-memory computing and the SAP HANA database, which enables real-time data processing, faster reporting, and advanced analytics capabilities. This technology shift is a major differentiator and provides significant performance advantages.


    Scalability:



    • SAP B1: SAP B1 is not scalable for large organizations due to the complexity of the processes.


    • SAP S/4HANA: SAP S/4HANA is made for larger organizations which can cater to any complicated business processes.


    If you need further information you can reach me at shakir52268@gmail.com

    Avigayil Henderson - PeerSpot reviewerAvigayil Henderson
    User

    Hello Shibu, I am writing this answer on behalf of a Director at a small tech services company: 

    The key difference is about 2 and a half million dollars - jokingly - we’ve had some clients go with B1 and the projects were smallish - $70k - $120k. We’ve also had clients spending nearly $3m on S/4HANA projects. I’d say B1 is more for mid-market, and S/4HANA is a tier one large company, Fortune 1000 size project. Now of course that’s super generalized from a small sample size - for what it’s worth.

    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer:SaP Business One is a complete solution for business management. The software applications are broad, ranging from accounting to project management and human resources. It is very versatile and… more »
    Top Answer:The most valuable features of the solution are reporting, a dashboard, customized reports, and third-party integration.
    Top Answer:On a scale from one to ten, where one is expensive and ten is cheap, I rate the solution's pricing a seven out of ten.
    Top Answer:During parallel preparation of go-live processes, SAP B1 and S4H transactional data alignment can be difficult to track. The approach is to have the same sales order amount and quantity to compare the… more »
    Top Answer:We use the solution to import master data. We use classic resolution to collect local US company material masters and align HQ material masters' numbers. We import FI/CO/MM/PP/SD IMG and opening… more »
    Top Answer:It's helped with business aspects and improved material planning and RMA processes.
    Ranking
    3rd
    out of 66 in ERP
    Views
    10,037
    Comparisons
    6,911
    Reviews
    27
    Average Words per Review
    513
    Rating
    8.1
    2nd
    out of 66 in ERP
    Views
    19,024
    Comparisons
    13,087
    Reviews
    23
    Average Words per Review
    396
    Rating
    8.5
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    Business One
    SAP S4HANA
    Learn More
    Overview

    The SAP Business One application offers a way to manage your entire business – from accounting and financials, purchasing, inventory, sales and customer relationships, and project management, to operations and human resources. SAP Business One helps you to streamline processes, gain a greater insight into your business, so that you can act fast and make decisions based on real time information, to help you drive profitable growth.

    SAP S4HANA is an ERP (enterprise resource planning) system that uses sophisticated technologies including machine learning and AI. It is most commonly used to integrate and manage business functions and is an ideal solution for large enterprises. The platform includes supplier relationship management (SRM), customer relationship management (CRM), supply chain management (SCM), and product lifecycle management (PLM) functionality.

    SAP S4HANA offers three different deployment options:

    • On-premises
    • Cloud
    • Hybrid

    SAP S4HANA Features

    SAP S4HANA has many valuable key features, including:

    • Customizable
    • ERP, CRM, SRM, SCM, PLM co-deployed
    • High throughput
    • Fast analytics and reporting
    • Smaller total data footprint
    • SAP HANA multi-tenancy
    • All data: social, text, geo, graph, processing
    • New SAP Fiori UX for any device (mobile, desktop, tablet)
    • Unlimited workload capacity
    • High-volume transaction processing (OLTP)
    • High volume real-time analytical processes (OLAP)
    • Service Management
    • Digital Boardroom Integration

    SAP S4HANA Benefits

    Some of the benefits of using SAP S4HANA include:

    • Speed: S4 HANA applications leverage speed, context, and data accessibility to ensure you can stay up to date with rapidly evolving technology.
    • Improved performance: With SAP S4HANA, you can plan, execute, or generate reports and analytics based on live data to increase performance.
    • Simplicity: SAP S4HANA’s whole infrastructure was designed with simplification in mind — from the management of the solution to the administration of the IT landscape. The solution serves as the digital core for business process simplification and enables the centralizing of hardware and network resources.
    • Cost effective: SAP S4HANA is a cost effective solution. It provides the ability to bring together all the analytical and transactional capabilities of a variety of systems in one location, enabling better decision making.

    Reviews from Real Users

    Below are some reviews and helpful feedback written by SAP S4HANA users.

    A Mechanical Engineer at a construction company says, “It is a very powerful, highly customizable tool. The most valuable feature is that the reporting is fast. We can see the results from that in that our commissions come in fast. That is the main advantage.”

    Another reviewer, a SAP Technology Manager at a financial services firm, mentions, "It is more or less a very, very smooth and seamless product. Day by day they are increasing their technology features and they are keen to resolve the issues. India has a complex business scenario and SAP is thinking about that and resolving the issues day by day. In terms of the features I have found most valuable, I don't think that there is any lack or any gap process-wise. SAP is a very good tool."

    A Project and Service delivery Manager at a tech services company comments, "One of the most valuable features, which we used the most, was the FI module, for finance. It involved controlling, account receivables, account payables, and complete financial steering."

    A Senior Architect at a construction company states, “The POD applications are very useful to us. There are a few POD apps which we are using for different business scenarios. They are quite interesting.” He also adds, “The initial setup is pretty straightforward. The documentation is very good. The solution can scale well. The solution is stable.”

    Sample Customers
    Ego Pharmaceuticals Pty. Ltd
    Nestle, O.C. Tanner, Sabre, New York Life Insurance Co., MEMEBOX, Siemens AG.
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Manufacturing Company26%
    Computer Software Company12%
    Healthcare Company9%
    Comms Service Provider9%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company12%
    Manufacturing Company11%
    Comms Service Provider9%
    Retailer6%
    REVIEWERS
    Manufacturing Company13%
    Computer Software Company13%
    Financial Services Firm10%
    Retailer10%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Educational Organization34%
    Computer Software Company9%
    Manufacturing Company8%
    University4%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business40%
    Midsize Enterprise26%
    Large Enterprise34%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business29%
    Midsize Enterprise15%
    Large Enterprise56%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business38%
    Midsize Enterprise21%
    Large Enterprise41%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business16%
    Midsize Enterprise41%
    Large Enterprise43%
    Buyer's Guide
    SAP Business One vs. SAP S/4HANA
    March 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about SAP Business One vs. SAP S/4HANA and other solutions. Updated: March 2024.
    763,955 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    SAP Business One is ranked 3rd in ERP with 29 reviews while SAP S/4HANA is ranked 2nd in ERP with 22 reviews. SAP Business One is rated 8.0, while SAP S/4HANA is rated 8.2. The top reviewer of SAP Business One writes "Caters to the company's B2B business model and highly stable solution". On the other hand, the top reviewer of SAP S/4HANA writes "The solution is highly scalable, with solid performance and integration". SAP Business One is most compared with SAP ERP, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, Oracle Fusion Cloud ERP, SAP S/4HANA Cloud and Epicor ERP, whereas SAP S/4HANA is most compared with SAP ERP, Oracle Fusion Cloud ERP, NetSuite ERP, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central and Oracle E-Business Suite. See our SAP Business One vs. SAP S/4HANA report.

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    We monitor all ERP 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.