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Apache Superset vs SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 3, 2026

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Apache Superset
Ranking in Data Visualization
5th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
5.2
Number of Reviews
14
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
SAP BusinessObjects Busines...
Ranking in Data Visualization
4th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
114
Ranking in other categories
BI (Business Intelligence) Tools (5th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Data Visualization category, the mindshare of Apache Superset is 2.7%, down from 9.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence is 3.6%, up from 2.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Data Visualization Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence3.6%
Apache Superset2.7%
Other93.7%
Data Visualization
 

Featured Reviews

MP
Founder & CEO at Lanzar
Have saved significant operational costs and streamlined alert-driven analytics with customizable dashboards
I definitely see some disadvantages in Apache Superset, particularly in the tagging feature which is not up to the mark, creating a little bit of mess for the administrators. We work with a Role-Based Access Control feature in the product. I assess this feature as good; they have permissions which are in more plain English, but there is a little bit of convenience missed out because if I have to create a super user apart from admin, I need to add all the permissions manually.
TarunKumar7 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Data Engineer at LTI LATAM and Toubro Improtech
Data insights have driven faster financial forecasts and improved role-based decision making
The best features SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform offers include cross-enterprise sharing, where sharing insights is easier and seamless across my organization, and creating role-based dashboards. The role-based dashboards help my team and organization by providing information to specific users, allowing them to make decisions more easily, anytime, anywhere, across any device. SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform has positively impacted my organization by allowing us to perform financial reporting to make decisions faster. Since we started using SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform, we have been able to make faster, data-driven business decisions based on actual data insights and data analysis, which has accelerated our ability to make better decisions for our business productivity.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"Apache Superset allows us to set up alerts; for instance, if the failure rate exceeds 1.5%, we receive an alert to address the issue with our integration partners."
"The most valuable feature of Apache Superset is the easy way to configure dashboards as reports or analyses and it's easy to use and intuitive. Users do not need a lot of training to use the solution."
"It's very easy, reliable, and trustable because it's an Apache open-source product."
"The no-code interface is the most valuable as it allows us to operate without constant support from the data engineering team, fostering a self-service environment."
"I see savings from using Apache Superset in both time and money, particularly with the cost reduced by roughly 99% compared to Tableau where we previously paid almost 50k annually."
"It is a good visual solution tool in an open-source category."
"What I appreciate the most about Apache Superset is that it's free and easy to set up."
"Being able to quickly build standard dashboards around relational data in Apache Superset provides tremendous visibility for everyone on the team."
"The ability to merge dimensions in a report is great."
"The nicest part of BOE remains the semantic layer (Designer), giving developers a powerful way to encapsulate business logic and push it out to users through Webi or WRC."
"It allows hundreds of end-users to be able to access business reports and make business decisions based upon them."
"Semantic layer is their main heart of SAP Business Objects."
"The most valuable SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform feature are metadata service layers."
"It integrates well with BW and HANA, which demonstrates strong data integration capabilities."
"During the first of the 10 years we used it, it was a very valuable reporting product."
"The most important feature of BusinessObjects is its integration with the SAP ERP system. If an organization is using SAP as its ERP system, and they want to do business intelligence, reporting, or analysis, SAP BusinessObjects is the only tool that I see doing that quite efficiently. That's because of the fact it is tightly integrated, and it gives a good user experience in terms of faster reporting. Its integration is the feature that I have found most valuable, but there are also other factors."
 

Cons

"When comparing Apache Superset with Elasticsearch and Solar Search, it lacks some features that come with Elasticsearch, such as Kibana."
"Dynamic dashboarding could improve to enable smooth navigation when transitioning from a higher to a lower view, allowing for easy accessibility."
"Apache Superset could be improved by enhancing its interactivity and engagement capabilities."
"Building a full-fledged product or software as a service might be cumbersome due to performance limitations."
"Automation in terms of APIs for creating roles, and giving privileges to the user can be improved."
"Dark mode would be the main thing I would like; it does not really work because the chart text cannot be white in a dark mode setup, so it is not feasible."
"One potential area for improvement in Apache Superset is that it must be installed in a dedicated Docker image, which could be a limitation since the goal is to embed Apache Superset in a product offering."
"The platform's reporting feature needs enhancement."
"There are too many steps, and they take too much time."
"​This product could be improved with Cloud Integrations and Predictive Analytics functions integration."
"Technical Support: Fair to Poor..Business Objects sometimes gets lost in the quagmire of SAP"
"We're an Epic shop, and Epic is moving away from Crystal. It would be nice if it had tighter integration with products like Epic. It would be awesome to have better integration with third-party products."
"SAP only focuses on the sales side—only money is important for SAP, not the quality."
"While I recommend the SAP Analytics Cloud version, I do not recommend the on-premises version."
"The financial area in the solution has certain shortcomings that need improvement."
"SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform is scalable, but the scalability of the servers and other parts is complex. SAP has made scalability complex; it's not so easy, and it's not so quick, while in other solutions, we can increase the scalability of the servers very easily and very fast, e.g. in Microsoft, but in SAP, it's complex and it takes more time."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price of Apache Superset is less than some of its competitors."
"Apache Superset is open-source and free."
"Apache Superset is an open-source solution."
"Apache Superset has a three-year licensing model."
"SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform is an expensive application."
"SAP is losing market to its competitors because of its costly user license and licensing model. They can do much better on the licensing side. That's what Microsoft has been doing, and that's why Power BI is gaining market share at the moment. SAP needs to relax a little bit on the licensing part. If Microsoft is giving people a solution that is half of the cost of SAP, people will definitely go with Power BI."
"The price and the pricing model are fine. We find the solution does not give us a lot of additional value."
"There is an annual license to use SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform."
"There's no additional charge for a Development environment license, so build an additional development server."
"It is not cost-effective. It is expensive."
"Its price is fair."
"It has an option of a Cloud Platform (SAP Analytics Cloud) which has a lower price than the on-premise platform, and you can buy individual licences per user.​"
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Comparison Review

it_user6663 - PeerSpot reviewer
BI Expert at a transportation company with 51-200 employees
May 25, 2013
SAP Business Objects vs. Microsoft BI
A quick look at the whole idea on another weblogs gives you a sense that all of them just talked about very brief things like report refresh feature in BO or cube feature in MS Analysis Service. I choose MS BI and I want to share my reasons and opinions on why I choose it and give you another quick…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
21%
Government
8%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Computer Software Company
6%
Construction Company
12%
Outsourcing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business4
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise5
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business34
Midsize Enterprise20
Large Enterprise67
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Apache Superset?
I definitely see some disadvantages in Apache Superset, particularly in the tagging feature which is not up to the mark, creating a little bit of mess for the administrators. We work with a Role-Ba...
What is your primary use case for Apache Superset?
My major use case for Apache Superset is anything related to analytical dashboards.
What advice do you have for others considering Apache Superset?
In terms of dashboarding tools, I work with them on a daily basis and can help with Apache Superset. We use Apache Superset for dashboarding. I always use it for read purposes, and we don't manage ...
Seeking lightweight open source BI software
There are many...It would rather depend what System BI architecture or Enterprise legacy you have at your end...I would recommend as follows: 1) If you have legacies of SAP, Oracle - look for SAP...
Tableau vs. Business Objects - Which is a better solution for visualization and analysis?
Both tools have their positives and negatives. First, I should mention that I am relatively new to Tableau. I have been working on and off Tableau for about a year, but getting to work on it consta...
 

Also Known As

No data available
SAP BusinessObjects BI Platform, SAP BusinessObjects, Business Objects, SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards, SAP BusinessObjects Design Studio
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
SRAM, Kennametal, Fairfax Water, British American Tobacco, Velux, and FedEx.
Find out what your peers are saying about Apache Superset vs. SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.
911,473 professionals have used our research since 2012.