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IBM Cognos Dashboard vs SAS Visual Analytics comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 1, 2025

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

IBM Cognos Dashboard
Ranking in Data Visualization
28th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
SAS Visual Analytics
Ranking in Data Visualization
12th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
5.7
Number of Reviews
41
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Data Visualization category, the mindshare of IBM Cognos Dashboard is 0.9%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAS Visual Analytics is 1.6%, down from 3.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Data Visualization Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
SAS Visual Analytics1.6%
IBM Cognos Dashboard0.9%
Other97.5%
Data Visualization
 

Featured Reviews

Unes Ay - PeerSpot reviewer
Data Scientist at a manufacturing company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Provides efficient data modules, but it could be more user-friendly
We use IBM Cognos Dashboard for data manufacturing, reporting, costing, quality check, etc The product helps us update the KPI automatically. We can access reports and analyze if a particular solution fits the requirements. The product's most valuable is the concept of data modules. IBM Cognos…
Namanjbaraiya Baru - PeerSpot reviewer
Biostatistician at Lambda Therapeutic Research Ltd.
Interactive dashboards have transformed clinical reporting and now support real time decisions
The best features of SAS Visual Analytics include performing data manipulation. I would characterize this as making data ready, transforming data, and making new variables through code while utilizing low-code and no-code facilities. In my experience, low-code features in SAS Visual Analytics help when I need to create a new variable. For instance, I can extract a date through the data roll step, and with no-code features, I can perform report creation by simply using drag and drop functionality. After implementing SAS Visual Analytics, we have generated a new way to generate revenue by providing live data visuals to our clients and making our team aware of data in real time, which has had a significant positive impact.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The tool's valuable features are that it is easy to use and stable."
"It is a pretty stable solution."
"The product helps us update the KPI automatically."
"The main feature that is useful is the on-demand report generation through the dashboard."
"After implementation of SAS Visual Analytics, we overcome the prediction of future business and we were able to plan the future business, who are our premium customers, where we can cross-sell our products more, etc."
"Go ahead and do it! It’s the best tool for insightful and analytical dashboard development and reporting."
"It is a very stable solution."
"SAS Visual Analytics is an excellent platform; the user interface is good, it has a good look and feel, it is simple to use, it integrates well with SAS making it simple and quick for developers, does not require a high level of skill but rather a medium level, and it is very easy and fast to learn so that people who don't know the product can work in a very autonomous manner after one week."
"The advantage of this tool is its big data handling in seconds and its predefined statistical methods for better data evaluation and understanding."
"The most solution's notable aspect, in my view, is the ability to integrate various data sources and harness advanced technologies such as machine learning and artificial intelligence. This helps with quality assurance processes."
"I would rate the overall solution a ten out of ten."
"The tool's most valuable features are its ease of use and advanced data visualization capabilities."
 

Cons

"The scalability of the product's on-premises version is an area with certain shortcomings where improvements are required."
"Visualization is an area where the product lacks."
"They should include proper documentation to learn more about the product."
"The price point is one of the major areas to be improved."
"The reason we haven't rolled it out across the board is due to the fact that the licensing is so expensive."
"Many things are missing, including Infomaps, Facebook connection, and better objects, and forecasting, auto-charting, and correlation are only available in exploration but should be available in reports."
"Regarding performance, they have some issues. They have always had some issues there."
"The preliminary setup is complex."
"The visualization should be better in SAS Visual Analytics. It is easy to use but when compared to other solutions it is lacking and the support is not very good."
"SAS Visual Analytics offers many options, and new users unfamiliar with SAS might face some difficulties."
"Colours used on report objects"
"There are a lot of technicalities in setting up the product."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Licensing is based on individual usage, and it is more expensive than other providers."
"The product is expensive for small businesses compared to other vendors."
"It was licensed for corporate use, and its licensing was on a yearly basis."
"The cost of the solution can be expensive. There is an additional cost for users."
"Visual Analytics is expensive for a small company like mine. You also need to deploy it on a server or cloud, so you pay for the license as well as the cost of the cloud or the server that you will deploy on."
"Licensing is simple."
"$10,000 per annum for an enterprise license."
"I work with the tool's free version...The tool's corporate version is very expensive and requires a monthly hire."
"It's approximately $114,000 US dollars per year."
"The product is expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
10%
Construction Company
10%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Transportation Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Construction Company
10%
Government
10%
Comms Service Provider
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business13
Midsize Enterprise10
Large Enterprise19
 

Questions from the Community

Ask a question
Earn 20 points
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SAS Visual Analytics?
My experience with pricing, setup costs, and licensing was positive, and I am happy with it.
What needs improvement with SAS Visual Analytics?
SAS Visual Analytics offers many options, and new users unfamiliar with SAS might face some difficulties. Training on SAS Visual Analytics is required to help overcome these issues.
What is your primary use case for SAS Visual Analytics?
My main use case for SAS Visual Analytics is making visual reports such as graphs, gauge plots, outlier plots, geomaps, and presenting my clinical data into a report or an interactive dashboard whi...
 

Also Known As

Cognos Dashboard
SAS BI
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Staples, Ausgrid, Scotiabank, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, Oklahoma Gas & Electric, Xcel Energy, and Triad Analytics Solutions.
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Cognos Dashboard vs. SAS Visual Analytics and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.
909,725 professionals have used our research since 2012.