Oracle is leading the way in cloud ERP. Oracle Fusion Cloud ERP has been cloud-based from the beginning, with continuous innovation delivered quarterly. It's intelligent, predictive, fully connected, and built for flexibility. You can start your transformation now, whatever your starting point, to create instant business value in the cloud.
Compare SAP's ERP solutions to Oracle Cloud ERP and see why Oracle is the better choice for you.
Business benefit |
SAP S/4HANA Private Cloud |
SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud |
Oracle Cloud ERP |
Why this matters |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| True cloud SaaS applications | Not SaaS, hosted legacy | SaaS | SaaS | True SaaS is essential for the continuous digital innovation necessary for today’s business environment—without end-of life issues and implementation disruption. Source 1 |
| Complete suite of modular applications | ERP-centric but comprehensive set of modules. | Limited financials and manufacturing capabilities. | Full suite of flexible modular SaaS applications. | When all modules are built on unified data, you can optimize processes and analyze data across departments. Modularity allows for diverse business models and priority-focused implementation. Source 2 |
| Continuous innovation across all applications | Traditional complex and costly upgrades | Quarterly SaaS updates | Quarterly SaaS updates | Quarterly updates allow continuous innovation based on the latest technologies. Source 3 |
| Budgeting and forecasting across lines of business and data sources | Only traditional budgeting and forecasting. Business planning & consolidation (BPC) will not be supported starting in 2027. | Only traditional budgeting and forecasting. Will not be supported starting in 2027. | Supports connected enterprise planning and multiple planning approaches. | Planning and forecasting across functions leverages all enterprise data and gives you a holistic view of the business. Source 4 |
| Ability to anticipate and react to market conditions and disruptions with scenario modeling | Limited capabilities to anticipate and react to market conditions and limited capabilities for scenario modeling. | Limited capabilities to anticipate and react to market conditions and limited capabilities for scenario modeling. | Supports multiple scenario planning approaches. | Scenario planning prepares organizations for disruption and unforeseen events. Source 5 |
| Embedded risk management across functions | Fragmented across multiple application and technology layers. | Fragmented across multiple application and technology layers. | Pervasive risk management with embedded data science across the applications and platform. | Built-in risk management and data science strengthens financial controls, stops cash leaks, streamlines audit, and detects emerging risks. Source 6 |
| Flexible ledger structures | Thick ledger | Thick ledger | Choice of thick ledger, thin ledger, or structured federated ledger (subledger accounting). | A flexible ledger lets users decide how much data flows into the general ledger based on their business and reporting needs.* Source 7 |
| One source of truth for finance and HR data to improve decision-making | Legacy application connected to cloud. HR data is in silos. | SaaS with multiple acquired disparate HR modules. | SaaS solution with a single data model for HR, finance and other lines of business. | Unified data avoids overly complex reporting and analysis. No need for IT to normalize data. Source 8 |
| Configurable, not customizable applications | Customizable | Configurable | Configurable | Rule-driven configurations and workflow changes don't require IT support. They also drive security and continuous optimization without business disruption. Source 9 |
| One solution for small, midsize, and large companies | SAP positions different solutions based on company size. SAP Business ByDesign for small/midsize and the S/4 HANA products for large enterprises. | SAP positions different solutions based on company size. SAP Business ByDesign for small/midsize and the S/4 HANA products for large enterprises. | Single solution to support small, midsize, and large companies. Capabilities can be deployed as needed. | A single solution means no need to migrate if the company grows or requirements evolve. You can deploy the same applications across HQ, subsidiaries, and business units regardless of size. Source 10 |
Product comparison as of October 2022.
Check out these side-by-side comparisons to see how we can help and why Oracle Cloud ERP leads where it matters.
1 "Oracle is currently the only provider with a near-complete suite of applications in the cloud—having spent ten years rewriting its underlying code to create Oracle Fusion Applications.” Credit Suisse, “Steps for Navigating the Path Forward in Software,” 6 September 2022.
Rajarajeswari Kaliyaperumal, "Difference between SAP S/4HANA: public vs. private edition: RISE with SAP," SAP Blog, April 4, 2022
2 "Digital enterprise needs a new generation of cloud applications that are smarter, fully integrated, deliver faster time to value and are easy to onboard and use. Oracle Fusion Cloud Applications exemplifies this new breed of business applications that are built for the cloud and infused with autonomous capabilities."
Frank Della Rosa, "Oracle Innovation Manifests in a New Generation of Cloud Applications," IDC Perspective, September 2020.
3 Rajarajeswari Kaliyaperumal, "Difference between SAP S/4HANA: public vs. private edition: RISE with SAP," SAP Blog, April 4, 2022
4 Matthias Kraemer, "SAP BPC product suite extending maintenance," SAP Blog, April 30, 2020. https://blogs.sap.com/2020/04/30/sap-bpc-product-suite-extending-maintenance/
5 Wouter Vanhoutte, "Financial planning: SAP Analytics Cloud to replace SAP Business Planning & Consolidation?" SAP Blog, 29 April 2020.
Oracle Fusion Cloud EPM vs. SAP https://www.oracle.com/performance-management/oracle-vs-sap/side-by-side-comparison/
6 Oracle Risk Management and Compliance https://www.oracle.com/erp/risk-management/,
SAP S/4HANA Cloud, public edition https://www.sap.com/products/erp/s4hana/features.html
*A thin ledger contains the segments (data elements) company/account/center, such as project and product. The number of segments is geared toward financial reporting, such as creating an income statement, balance sheet, trial balance, etc. A thick ledger contains more segments than what you need for accounting. The additional segments add more to reporting and analyses, but make the general ledger more complex. Companies often use a thick general ledger as a general purpose analytics tool. Says Deloitte, "Making a COA overly complex isn’t going to ensure an unequivocal view of the business. It will open it up to interpretation and guesswork.” A third option is a structured federated ledger ("such as the Oracle Accounting Hub and Oracle Subledger Accounting), which allows for hierarchies of companies in general ledger, each with their own segments and some shared federated segments.
7 Pradeep Hota, "Areas where SAP Central Finance can improve its functionalities," Skillstek, April 9, 2021. https://skillstek.com/sap-central-finance-limitations/
“A ‘thick’ GL can extend the close process, with a greater number of segments to post transactions to, or more reconciliation of variances during the period end.” Deloitte, “Unlock the value of your Chart of Accounts,” June 2012
"Introducing the Universal Journal in SAP S/4HANA", 2020
8 Danielle Larocca, "What is SAP HCM for S/4HANA On-Premise (H4S4)?" SAP Blog, November 8, 2021. https://blogs.sap.com/2021/11/08/what-is-sap-hcm-for-s-4hana-on-premise-h4s4/
Katrin von Ahsen, "APIs, Prepackaged Integration Content and More," SAP presentation, December 4, 2019. https://assets.dm.ux.sap.com/webinars/sap-user-groups-k4u/pdfs/191204_apis_prepackaged_content.pdf
9 SAP, “Custom Code Migration Guide for S/4HANA” May 25, 2022. https://help.sap.com/doc/9dcbc5e47ba54a5cbb509afaa49dd5a1/202110.002/en-US/CustomCodeMigration_EndToEnd.pdf
10 David Riou, "Simplify Your Processes with Native SAP and SAP Concur Integration," SAP Concur Community Forum, July 22, 2019. https://community.concur.com/t5/Exploring-New-Solutions/Simplify-your-Processes-with-Native-SAP-and-SAP-Concur/ba-p/6537