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SAS Studio: Help Center

What are the differences between SAS Studio and SAS Enterprise Guide?

Both SAS Studio and SAS Enterprise Guide provide a point-and-click interface to SAS that enables you to create reports, graphs, and charts; access SAS servers and data; and analyze data. Both products also include ready-to-use tasks for analysis and reporting, a color-coded SAS language editor, and access to some of the most common features of Git.

The primary difference between SAS Studio and SAS Enterprise Guide is that SAS Studio is a tool that you can use to write and run SAS code through your web browser. SAS Enterprise Guide is a Microsoft Windows client application that you install on your machine.

bullet icon Display a comparison of: General features | Program Editor options | Git integration features

The following table lists what features exist in each application by release. SAS Studio 2022.x and SAS Studio 5.2 replace the SAS Studio 4.x series on SAS Viya, so SAS Studio 4.x is not shown in the table. SAS Analytics Pro includes SAS Studio 5.2 and SAS Viya 4.

Last updated: December 1, 2023

General Feature Comparison between
SAS® Studio and SAS® Enterprise Guide®
SAS® Enterprise Guide® SAS® Studio
SAS® 9 SAS® Viya®
7.1x 8.x 3.8 SAS® Analytics Pro
(SAS Studio 5.2)
5.2 2022.x
2023.x
Application type            
Desktop client Checkmark Checkmark        
Web (browser) application     Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Progressive Web Application (PWA)           Checkmark
Data Access            
Core data sources Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Support for all SAS/ACCESS interfaces 1 Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Parquet files           Checkmark
Social media sources           Checkmark
Programming            
SAS code editor Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Ability to use SAS programs in flows Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark     Checkmark
Python code editor           Checkmark
Ability to use Python programs in flows           Checkmark
Ability to use PROC PYTHON in SAS programs       Checkmark   Checkmark
Ability to use SAS programs with PROC PYTHON in flows           Checkmark
Interactive SAS programming 2     Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Append log     Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
DATA Step debugger Checkmark Checkmark   Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Insert code from another program Checkmark Checkmark   Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Flows (data pipelines)            
Flows Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark     Checkmark
Subflows           Checkmark
Swimlanes           Checkmark
Ability to create a flow from a SAS program Checkmark Checkmark       Checkmark
Code optimization           Checkmark
Prompts Checkmark Checkmark        
Conditional processing Checkmark Checkmark        
Steps in flows 3            
Foundational steps Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark     Checkmark
Advanced data engineering steps           Checkmark
Data quality steps           Checkmark
Steps for executing decision flows from SAS Intelligent Decisioning on SAS Viya           Checkmark
Steps for registering models in SAS Model Manager on SAS Viya           Checkmark
Ability to hide and show steps in Steps menu           Checkmark
Type-ahead filter Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Extensibility model            
Custom steps and tasks Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Ability to open a custom step as standalone       Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Visual designer for custom step UI 4           Checkmark
Coding logic of a custom step C# or VB.NET C# or VB.NET SAS SAS SAS SAS, Python
UI definition of a custom step C# or VB.NET C# or VB.NET XML XML XML JSON
Public GitHub repository of community-built steps 5           Checkmark
Ability to share custom steps           Checkmark
Snippets (reusable code)            
Shipped with SAS     Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Custom (user-defined) Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Abbreviations Checkmark Checkmark   Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Hide and show       Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Organize snippets       Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Type-ahead filter       Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Scheduling and Orchestration            
User-specific (local) scheduling Checkmark Checkmark     Checkmark Checkmark
Centralized scheduling         Checkmark Checkmark
Integration with Apache Airflow           Checkmark
Ability to deploy and redeploy a flow or program as a job           Checkmark
Version Control            
Integration with Git-based platforms Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Integration capabilities            
REST API for code generation and execution of a program or flow           Checkmark
Integration with SAS Information Catalog           Checkmark
Integration with SAS Lineage           Checkmark
Integration with SAS Drive         Checkmark Checkmark
Platform capabilities            
Workload Manager / Grid integration Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Autoscaling of compute sessions           Checkmark
SAS Cloud Analytic Services (CAS) engine for fast in-memory calculations           Checkmark
General Capabilities            
Background submit     Checkmark   Checkmark Checkmark
Personal autoexec file           Checkmark
Ability to show list of open items   Checkmark   Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Command line interface (for interacting with SAS Studio functionality) and console       Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Keyboard management Checkmark Checkmark   Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Stored process functionality 6 Checkmark Checkmark   Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Ability to freeze column in table viewer       Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Maximum number of rows per page in table viewer     500 1000 1000 1000
Ability to change tab layout   Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
SAS 9 Assets Support            
Information Map support Checkmark Checkmark        
OLAP cube support Checkmark Checkmark        
Import and Migration Functionality            
Ability to import and migrate SAS Enterprise Guide projects 7           Checkmark

1 All SAS/ACCESS products are delivered on SAS Viya, except SAS/ACCESS Interface to OLE DB.
2 SAS Studio - improved interactive experience in 5.1 and later
3 Some steps are available with a particular SAS Studio license, such as SAS Studio Analyst or SAS Studio Engineer. For more information, see About SAS Studio Licenses.
4 Available in SAS Studio Analyst and SAS Studio Engineer. For more information, see About SAS Studio Licenses.
5 GitHub repository: https://github.com/sassoftware/sas-studio-custom-steps/.
6 The functionality of SAS Stored Processes in SAS 9 is available in SAS Viya in the Job Execution Service (job definition objects).
7 SAS Enterprise Guide projects can be imported by an administrator via SAS Environment Manager or a command-line interface. For more information about supported steps and features, see Migrating from SAS 9.4.

The following table lists the program editor options that exist in each application by release. SAS Studio 2022.x and SAS Studio 5.2 replace the SAS Studio 4.x series on SAS Viya, so SAS Studio 4.x is not shown in the table.

Last updated: June 16, 2022


Comparison of Program Editor Options between
SAS® Studio and SAS® Enterprise Guide®
SAS® Enterprise Guide® SAS® Studio
SAS® 9 SAS® Viya®
7.1x 8.x 3.8 5.2 2022.x
2023.x
Show autocomplete list Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Enable hint when hovering over keywords     Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Code folding Checkmark Checkmark   Checkmark Checkmark
Syntax highlighting (color coding)     Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Column editing     Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Auto-indent Checkmark Checkmark   Checkmark Checkmark
Auto-insert block comments       Checkmark Checkmark
Wrap text       Checkmark Checkmark
Use overtype mode       Checkmark Checkmark
Auto-pair quotation marks       Checkmark Checkmark
Auto-pair brackets       Checkmark Checkmark
Highlight matching brackets       Checkmark Checkmark
Show indent guides       Checkmark Checkmark
Show invisible characters       Checkmark Checkmark
Enable line highlighting       Checkmark Checkmark
Show line numbers Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Print line numbers       Checkmark Checkmark
Set tab width spaces Checkmark Checkmark   Checkmark Checkmark
Substitute spaces for tabs Checkmark Checkmark   Checkmark Checkmark
Change editor theme Checkmark Checkmark   Checkmark Checkmark
Set background color       Checkmark Checkmark
Change font Checkmark Checkmark   Checkmark Checkmark
Change font size Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Change element styles Checkmark Checkmark   Checkmark Checkmark
Allow cursor movement past end of line Checkmark Checkmark      
Drag and drop text editing Checkmark Checkmark      
Strip CTRL+Z characters Checkmark Checkmark      
Enable smart highlighting Checkmark Checkmark      
   For word selection Checkmark Checkmark      
   For find/replace search Checkmark Checkmark      
Case-sensitive smart highlighting Checkmark Checkmark      
Put "THEN/ELSE DO" or "%THEN/%ELSE%DO" on a single line Checkmark Checkmark      
Capitalize first letter of every procedure name Checkmark Checkmark      
Add a blank line before statements and definitions Checkmark Checkmark      
Exclusions - for adding blank lines Checkmark Checkmark      
The following table lists the Git integration features that exist in each application by release. SAS Studio 2022.x and SAS Studio 5.2 replace the SAS Studio 4.x series on SAS Viya, so SAS Studio 4.x is not shown in the table.

Last updated: June 16, 2022


Comparison of Git Features -
SAS® Studio and SAS® Enterprise Guide®
SAS® Enterprise Guide® SAS® Studio
SAS® 9 SAS® Viya®
8.x 3.8 5.2 2022.x
2023.x
Support working repositories through the SAS server   Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Support working repositories through the local file system Checkmark      
Clone repository using HTTPS authentication 1 Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Clone repository using SSH authentication   Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Initialize repository Checkmark   Checkmark Checkmark
Profiles Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Push Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Pull Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Fetch Checkmark   Checkmark Checkmark
Branch Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Stash     Checkmark Checkmark
Rebase     Checkmark Checkmark
Reset Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
History log and graph Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Commit (Stage and Unstage changes) Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Diff 2 Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Merge 3 Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark

1 This feature has security implications in SAS Studio and is hidden by default, but can be enabled via a config option.
2 Diff: SAS Enterprise Guide allows users to set their own diff tool
3 Merge: SAS Enterprise Guide allows users to set their own merge tool