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CA IDMS vs Oracle Essbase comparison

 

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

CA IDMS
Ranking in Database Development and Management
29th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.8
Number of Reviews
5
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Oracle Essbase
Ranking in Database Development and Management
18th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
4.6
Number of Reviews
18
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Database Development and Management category, the mindshare of CA IDMS is 1.3%, up from 1.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Oracle Essbase is 1.5%, up from 0.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Database Development and Management Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Oracle Essbase1.5%
CA IDMS1.3%
Other97.2%
Database Development and Management
 

Featured Reviews

AS
ALiBS Solutions at ALiBS Solutions
Helps us to manage user profiles very quickly and in an assertive way
I would rate this solution 9 out of 10. I would advise that they should evaluate other possibilities because this is a very quickly changing environment and there are other possible providers that have good solutions. I would do some kind of test. I would test other possible solutions too and compare them.
Bhavya N - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior System Engineer at Infosys
Ensuring efficient data analysis and reporting while identifying areas for calculation and export improvements
The features of Oracle Essbase are valuable, such as its multi-dimensional database used for dynamic calculations and reporting purposes. These features are valuable because they support multi-dimensional data views, allowing users to analyze relationships across various data categories and establish a comprehensive perspective on business operations. Moreover, dynamic calculations allow real-time data analysis, significantly improving the accuracy and depth of financial insights. I have utilized Essbase's data aggregation capabilities. The Oracle Essbase interface provides a good user experience, allowing users to easily navigate and analyze data with fast query performance, effective data visualization tools such as charts, graphs, and tables, and flexibility for customizable analysis and reporting, including the ability to create ad hoc reports. The benefits of the interface include improving productivity and enhancing decision-making.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The solution is the community - a tightly knit group of experts who have been working on the product set for many years."
"The most useful feature is the governance feature, because it can show us and help us to manage user profiles very quickly and using it in assertive way."
"The most valuable feature is the performance of the database; it's very efficient at what it does, quite reliable, and provides us with a very stable platform that we've been running for many years."
"Stability is perfect! It is a really stable platform; it has been around for many years, and we trust it implicitly."
"We've been able to fine tune it over the years to get really good performance out of it, and maintain some database network support."
"Technical support is very good. They are very knowledgeable, very quick to respond, and very nice people, too.​"
"It is very fast compared to other normal databases, like SQL and MySQL."
"The solution is scalable."
"The Oracle Essbase interface provides a good user experience, allowing users to easily navigate and analyze data with fast query performance, effective data visualization tools such as charts, graphs, and tables, and flexibility for customizable analysis and reporting, including the ability to create ad hoc reports."
"Essbase is a multidimensional database (MOLAP) is undoubtedly leading in that space."
"It is my opinion, it is more comfortable in Oracle rather than a SQL server."
"Oracle's capability to define custom hierarchies and dimensions has helped my organization in performing nuanced data exploration and advanced modeling because we use Oracle Essbase for dimension definition and also to define the properties of these members, such as dynamic members, stored members, shared members."
"Oracle Essbase enables organizations to take their strategic decisions, which helps them make the right decisions at the right time."
"The solution can handle a large volume of data."
 

Cons

"Right now, it's not easy to start using this solution. You have to take long course and train people. It's not an easy path."
"We need to make it much easier to support and maintain, because the skills required are quite specialized and we're not going to have people in the future who've got the necessary experience and knowledge."
"I'd like to see some of the installation, maintenance, and support functions simplified so that some of our younger, newer members can take advantage of the product and maintain it to the same standard that the older members have in the past."
"​I would like to see it made simpler to operate and maintain."
"We have to use DB2 when we need more relational constructs, expanded inquiry and reporting; so it's not perfect in that regards."
"I would like to see an integration with application performance management and a version control management tool."
"The initial setup is pretty complex."
"When it comes to scalability, I note that the on-premise solution of Oracle Essbase is not very scalable. In the cloud solution, I think it is easier, because that is the point; however, in the on-premise solution, there is no scalability, so if the server goes down, Oracle Essbase is not reachable."
"The ability to drive external reporting out for development could be improved."
"I find managing the database difficult, especially regarding optimization and data storage with the huge volume of data."
"The technical support for EPM is bad. I don't remember anytime that the service support helped me in something."
"The reporting tool of Essbase needs improvement."
"Variable attributes functionality needs to be incorporated in Planning, though it is available in Essbase I believe it is still not in Planning."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Do not hold back on asking questions about the maintenance and continued support of the product."
"The solution is expensive."
"It is a costly solution."
"I believe the licensing is on a monthly base."
"Essbase is competitively priced."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
13%
Outsourcing Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Construction Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
17%
Construction Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Comms Service Provider
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business4
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise14
 

Questions from the Community

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What needs improvement with Oracle Essbase?
A significant area for improvement in Oracle Essbase is that financial statement analysis, CAPEX and OPEX analysis, and financial consolidation must be done manually, as Oracle Essbase doesn't incl...
What is your primary use case for Oracle Essbase?
The initial setup of Oracle Essbase is dependent on whether you select BSO or ASO cubes. First, you need to set up the type of information and once the type of cubes is defined, you need to define ...
What advice do you have for others considering Oracle Essbase?
The pricing functionality in Oracle Essbase is handled through the model you develop, where each cube can be customized with members and dimensions for pricing and entities. You can implement any f...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

IDMS
Essbase
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Blue Hill Data Services Inc.
CHU de Rennes, Bellco Credit Union, Akindo Sushiro Co. Ltd, Deutsche Telekom AG, Samarco MineraÊo S.A., PCCW Ltd., QDQ media S.A.U., Boiron Italia, Specialized Bicycle Components Inc., Akindo Sushiro Co. Ltd., Air Canada, Daelim Industrial Co. Ltd.
Find out what your peers are saying about CA IDMS vs. Oracle Essbase and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.
909,725 professionals have used our research since 2012.