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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: March 19, 2024

General Feature Comparison between
SAS® Studio and SAS® Enterprise Guide®
SAS® Enterprise Guide® SAS® Studio
SAS client version 7.1x 8.1-8.4 8.4 3.8 SAS® Analytics Pro
(SAS Studio 5.2)
5.2 2022.x and later
SAS server SAS® 9 SAS® Viya® SAS® 9 SAS® Viya®
Application type              
Desktop client Checkmark 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 Checkmark
Support for all SAS/ACCESS interfaces 1 Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Parquet files   Checkmark Checkmark       Checkmark
Social media sources             Checkmark
Programming              
SAS code editor Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Ability to use SAS programs in flows Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark     Checkmark
Python code editor             Checkmark
Ability to use PROC PYTHON in SAS programs     Checkmark   Checkmark   Checkmark
Ability to use SAS programs with PROC PYTHON in flows     Checkmark       Checkmark
Ability to use Python programs 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 Checkmark
Insert code from another program Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark   Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Flows (data pipelines)              
Flows Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark     Checkmark
Subflows             Checkmark
Swimlanes             Checkmark
Ability to create a flow from a SAS program Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark       Checkmark
Code optimization           Checkmark
Prompts Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark 3        
Conditional processing Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark        
Mix of SAS 9 and SAS Viya servers in same flow     Checkmark        
Steps in flows (low-code/no-code) 4              
Foundational steps Checkmark 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
Steps for advanced machine learning and analysis             Checkmark
Ability to hide and show steps in Steps menu             Checkmark
Type-ahead filter Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Extensibility model              
Custom steps and tasks Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Ability to open a custom step as standalone       Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Visual designer for custom step UI 5             Checkmark
Coding logic of a custom step C# or VB.NET 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 C# or VB.NET XML XML XML JSON
Public GitHub repository of community-built steps 6             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 Checkmark
Abbreviations Checkmark 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 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 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 Checkmark
Autoscaling of compute sessions     Checkmark       Checkmark
SAS Cloud Analytic Services (CAS) engine for fast in-memory calculations     Checkmark       Checkmark
General Capabilities              
Background submit       Checkmark   Checkmark Checkmark
Submit SAS code when server is connected (client-side autoexec) Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark       Checkmark
Ability to show list of open items   Checkmark Checkmark   Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Automation 7 Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark   Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Keyboard management Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark   Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Stored process functionality 8 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 Checkmark
SAS 9 Assets Support              
Information Map support Checkmark Checkmark        
OLAP cube support Checkmark Checkmark          
SAS Stored Process support Checkmark Checkmark 9          
Catalog and Formats Explorer Checkmark Checkmark          
Import and Migration Functionality              
Ability to import and migrate SAS Enterprise Guide projects 10             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 Prompt types with metadata dependency are not supported (Data Source, Data Source Item, Library, Prompt using a Dynamic List of Values).
4 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.
5 Available in SAS Studio Analyst and SAS Studio Engineer. For more information, see About SAS Studio Licenses.
6 GitHub repository: https://github.com/sassoftware/sas-studio-custom-steps/.
7 For more information, see About the Command Line Interface in SAS Studio: User's Guide or Automating Projects in SAS Enterprise Guide: User's Guide.
8 The functionality of SAS Stored Processes in SAS 9 is available in SAS Viya in the Job Execution Service (job definition objects).
9 Available when a connection to SAS Metadata Server is active in SAS Enterprise Guide.
10 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: March 19, 2024


Comparison of Program Editor Options between
SAS® Studio and SAS® Enterprise Guide®
SAS® Enterprise Guide® SAS® Studio
SAS client version 7.1x 8.1-8.4 8.4 3.8 5.2 2022.x and later
SAS server SAS® 9 SAS® Viya® SAS® 9 SAS® Viya®
Show autocomplete list Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Enable hint when hovering over keywords       Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Code folding Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark   Checkmark Checkmark
Syntax highlighting (color coding)       Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Column editing       Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Auto-indent Checkmark 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 Checkmark
Print line numbers         Checkmark Checkmark
Set tab width spaces Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark   Checkmark Checkmark
Substitute spaces for tabs Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark   Checkmark Checkmark
Change editor theme Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark   Checkmark Checkmark
Set background color         Checkmark Checkmark
Change font Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark   Checkmark Checkmark
Change font size Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Change element styles Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark   Checkmark Checkmark
Allow cursor movement past end of line Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark      
Drag and drop text editing Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark      
Strip CTRL+Z characters Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark      
Enable smart highlighting Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark      
   For word selection Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark      
   For find/replace search Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark      
Case-sensitive smart highlighting Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark      
Put "THEN/ELSE DO" or "%THEN/%ELSE%DO" on a single line Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark      
Capitalize first letter of every procedure name Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark      
Add a blank line before statements and definitions Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark      
Exclusions - for adding blank lines Checkmark 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: March 19, 2024


Comparison of Git Features -
SAS® Studio and SAS® Enterprise Guide®
SAS® Enterprise Guide® SAS® Studio
SAS client version 8.1-8.4 8.4 3.8 5.2 2022.x
and later
SAS server SAS® 9 SAS® Viya® SAS® 9 SAS® Viya®
Support working repositories through the SAS server   Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Support working repositories through the local file system Checkmark Checkmark      
Clone repository using HTTPS authentication 1 Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Clone repository using SSH authentication   Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Initialize repository Checkmark Checkmark   Checkmark Checkmark
Profiles Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Push Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Pull Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Fetch Checkmark Checkmark   Checkmark Checkmark
Branch Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Stash       Checkmark Checkmark
Rebase       Checkmark Checkmark
Reset Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
History log and graph Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Commit (Stage and Unstage changes) Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Diff 2 Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark Checkmark
Merge 3 Checkmark 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