Pentaho Business Analytics Reviews

Name: Pentaho Business Analytics
Brand: Hitachi Vantara
Rating: 4.0 (44 reviews)

4.0 out of 5

44 reviews
87% willing to recommend

5,336 followers

What is Pentaho Business Analytics?

Pentaho is an open source business intelligence company that provides a wide range of tools to help their customers better manage their businesses. These tools include data integration software, mining tools, dashboard applications, online analytical processing options, and more.

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Pentaho Business Analytics is the #4 ranked solution in top Cloud Operations Analytics solutions, #13 ranked solution in top Reporting Tools, and #20 ranked solution in top Business Intelligence Tools. PeerSpot users give Pentaho Business Analytics an average rating of 8.0 out of 10. Pentaho Business Analytics is most commonly compared to Microsoft Power BI: Pentaho Business Analytics vs Microsoft Power BI. Pentaho Business Analytics is popular among the large enterprise segment, accounting for 54% of users researching this solution on PeerSpot. The top industry researching this solution are professionals from a financial services firm, accounting for 20% of all views.

Buyer's Guide

Pentaho Business Analytics

June 2025

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Featured Pentaho Business Analytics reviews

Mir Gulzar Ahmed

IT Manager at Synergy Computers

Pentaho can help organizations by providing them an insight of their unstructured data using one platform(Pentaho Business Analytics). The features are almost identical to other BIS platforms but to me, customers can benefit as it has a community version with most of its Enterprise features. It also has a free limited-period trial version. The other feature that I would like to share here is, that users have access to a complete spectrum of data from different sources with the system’s adaptive big data layer, which takes the source of the data into account. The software is built on an open architecture and can be integrated with multiple systems. However, Pentaho Data Integration and Analytics has been acquired by HDS which offers an Enterprise edition for organizations that also need to meet product compliance.

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Sayan König

Senior Manager, Financial Services at KPMG

The repository should be improved. There should be the possibility to have versioning, to make it combinable with some Git repositories or something like that, to check out the processes and make sure it has a traceable history. The solution could really be improved. There are too many bugs in our version.

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Azhagarasan Annadorai

Founder at Unknown.University

The fuzzy logic match component came in handy to identify AML suspects (anti-money laundering). The SHA key generation component helped in generating a unique identifier for our customers, without revealing personal data; especially when we send data to the AWS cloud. Regularly, we had to send the new policy data files to medical centers over email. Using Pentaho, we were able to compress the files in zip format with a password and email them to unlimited partners. We could confidently use Pentaho for sharing data with internal and external customers in mediums such as FTP servers, LAN folders (Local Area Network), email, etc. Connectivity to platforms such as snowflake is great.

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Pentaho Business Analytics mindshare

Product category:

As of July 2025, the mindshare of Pentaho Business Analytics in the BI (Business Intelligence) Tools category stands at 0.5%, down from 0.6% compared to the previous year, according to calculations based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

BI (Business Intelligence) Tools

PeerResearch reports based on Pentaho Business Analytics reviews

Type	Title	Date
Category	BI (Business Intelligence) Tools	Jul 1, 2025	Download
Product	Reviews, tips, and advice from real users	Jul 1, 2025	Download
Comparison	Pentaho Business Analytics vs Microsoft Power BI	Jul 1, 2025	Download
Comparison	Pentaho Business Analytics vs Tableau	Jul 1, 2025	Download
Comparison	Pentaho Business Analytics vs SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform	Jul 1, 2025	Download

Title	Rating	Mindshare	Recommending
Microsoft Power BI	4.0	20.7%	93%	321 interviews Add to research
Tableau	4.2	16.2%	89%	306 interviews Add to research

Valuable Features

Pentaho Business Analytics offers robust data integration and ETL capabilities, allowing users to manage transformations with ease. Users appreciate its customizable dashboards, user-friendly interface, and extensive database connectivity, including Big Data. The community edition provides open-source benefits with minimal coding required. Its plugin architecture supports custom extensions and community contributions. Pentaho's ability to maintain historical data, deliver flexible reporting, and integrate with diverse data sources efficiently stands out for users.

"The interface of Pentaho Business Analytics is easy to use and does not require high-level skills to operate the tool."
"It is robust, offers market intelligence, and utilizes modules effectively."
"Pentaho is an analytics platform that can be used when an organization has a lot of big data storage systems already installed and needs to manage and analyze that data. It has a specific use case for unstructured data, such as documents, and needs to be able to search and analyze it."

Room for Improvement

Feedback indicates Pentaho Business Analytics requires enhancements in user interface design, data integration, and report presentation. Issues include expensive licensing, limited community features, and a lack of flexibility and customization. Users experience challenges with debugging, scheduling, version control, and mobile responsiveness. Improved support and resources for both community and enterprise editions are needed. Users also find it difficult to implement metadata and self-service analysis features, citing steep learning curves and technical dependencies.

"Pentaho Business Analytics is hard to learn and not suited for initial users as it requires knowledge of operating systems, Java, and other technical skills."
"The tool is very good, and yet it has some problems as it relies heavily on Java."
"Deployment is not simple. It is not simple because we are dealing with a lot of data; we are dealing with a lot of storage. So, it's not a simple process."

ROI

Pentaho Business Analytics shows mixed results for ROI. Some organizations report significant efficiency improvements and time savings, with returns becoming apparent quickly. However, some users find the ROI unclear or not achieved, as the generated value did not exceed costs. In some cases, gains were noted due to increased order capacity, though exact figures remain elusive. The tool is praised for its stability, yet some companies moved to other platforms, impacting investment returns.

Pricing

Pentaho Business Analytics offers an open-source Community Edition with no licensing costs, making it a cost-effective choice for many. However, organizations requiring additional support and features can opt for the Enterprise Edition, which is perceived as expensive, with costs sometimes cited as high as $250,000 annually. Initial setup costs for the Enterprise Edition vary, but some reports indicate figures around $30,000 to $35,000, highlighting the importance of evaluating needs and budget before deciding.

"Pentaho is expensive ."
"We were lucky enough to find a Pentaho OEM partner who offered a data warehouse model and the ETL software for about 60K SGD per year."
"Free and commercial versions are available."

Popular Use Cases

Companies utilize Pentaho Business Analytics for managing data flows from diverse sources, tracking enterprise activities, analyzing subscriber data, and integrating legacy and active systems. It is employed for finance reporting, ETL pipelines, and creating standardized data for KPIs and dashboards. Users in telecoms, insurance, and marketing leverage it for ETL processes, predictive analytics, and marketing insights, often integrating with tools like Tableau, Qlikview, and Snowflake for comprehensive analytics.

Service and Support

Pentaho Business Analytics has a mixed perception of customer service and technical support. Community forums are widely used and appreciated for assistance, particularly with the open-source edition. Responses are often prompt and helpful, although there are concerns about documentation gaps. Technical support varies, with some praising it while others note limitations. Enterprise clients with paid editions receive better service. Overall, community support is a strong point, enhancing the open-source experience for many users.

Deployment

Many found Pentaho Business Analytics's setup easy and straightforward. Some faced medium complexity, especially with custom configurations or specific requirements like LDAP authentication. Installing additional features could increase difficulty, but Pentaho's documentation and support mitigate this. Issues related to scalability or complex environments occasionally arise but can often be handled internally without external tech support. Overall, most teams without prior expertise found setup manageable within a short timeframe.

Scalability

Pentaho Business Analytics is recognized for its robust scalability. Users note ease in setup for clustered architectures and distributed environments. Some encountered challenges with Java configurations or data type mismatches. Generally, it scales horizontally and vertically, fitting complex needs without issue. Some users highlight its suitability for scalable environments, while others mention maintaining efficiency and adaptability. However, complexity in setup could require support from clustering professionals. Concerns arose occasionally with large data volumes.

Stability

Pentaho Business Analytics is generally stable, though some users encounter issues with Java caching and RAM limitations. Occasionally, processes hang, requiring intervention, and large databases can affect stability. Many users report no significant stability concerns, while others note minor issues occasionally requiring fixes. Some subprocesses continue running despite stopping the main process, and instance-specific bugs may appear, but regular updates improve the experience. Stability is often linked with infrastructure and deployment methods.

These insights are based on the in-depth reviews provided by peers to help you make a better buying decision.

Download our Pentaho Business Analytics Buyer's Guide for additional reliable information.

Review data by company size

By reviewers

By visitors reading reviews

Top industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

20%

Computer Software Company

10%

Educational Organization

Real Estate/Law Firm

Manufacturing Company

Government

Retailer

University

Insurance Company

Comms Service Provider

Construction Company

Transportation Company

Non Profit

Performing Arts

Recreational Facilities/Services Company

Legal Firm

Hospitality Company

Media Company

Healthcare Company

Consumer Goods Company

Logistics Company

Aerospace/Defense Firm

Outsourcing Company

Compare Pentaho Business Analytics with alternative products

Learn more about Pentaho Business Analytics

Pentaho has two product categories: There is the standard enterprise version. This is the product that comes directly from Pentaho itself with all of the benefits, features, and programs that come along with a paid application such us analysis services, dashboard design, and interactive reporting.

The alternative is an open source version, which the public is permitted to add to and tweak the product. This solution has its advantages, aside from the fact that it is free, in that there are many more people working on the project to improve its quality and breadth of functionality.

Pentaho Business Analytics was previously known as Pentaho, Kettle, Hitachi Pentaho Business Analytics.