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IBM Cognos Dashboard vs ThoughtSpot 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
14th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
ThoughtSpot
Ranking in Data Visualization
8th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
17
Ranking in other categories
BI (Business Intelligence) Tools (10th), Embedded BI (4th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Data Visualization category, the mindshare of IBM Cognos Dashboard is 1.2%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of ThoughtSpot is 2.5%, up from 2.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Data Visualization Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
ThoughtSpot2.5%
IBM Cognos Dashboard1.2%
Other96.3%
Data Visualization
 

Featured Reviews

SM
Freelancer at 0
A tool that helps create creative dashboards while offering high performance and stability
For reporting and data visualization, the tool is mainly used based on the data dimensions, which are stored in the data warehouse since it is where IBM Cognos Dashboard is used to bind the data and visualize the reports. The integration with our company's business intelligence workflows is based on the existing connectors that IBM Cognos Dashboard has. I am not aware because I do not manage that in the application, but what I see is that it is mainly through the connectors that the tool is connected to the data warehouse. The editor in IBM Cognos Dashboard is the most beneficial for creating an interactive dashboard. The dashboard customization and the flexibility in the IBM Cognos Dashboard enhance data analysis since it has a graphical builder that is quite user-friendly for creating different dimensions. I recommend the solution to those who plan to use it. The tool is effective when it comes to integration with other data sources because it has the connectors to connect to different data sources. The real-time data refresh in Cognos impacted my decision-making since the tool ensures more business benefits in areas around all the financial reporting or marketing trends of the users or customers, including the billing analytics to know what the RPU or to know the areas that can help in the marketing decisions while being able to create new portfolios or new products for the market. The tool is mainly for marketing and financial reporting. I rate the overall tool a ten out of ten.
Sushma Polavarapu - PeerSpot reviewer
Sr Data Analytics Consultant at Capgemini
Creates user-friendly analysis environments for large datasets
The tool is user-friendly for the end users. It is primarily a search-based tool. Users do not need a technical background to work directly on the dataset. Its compatibility with most databases, including the latest from FlexMovely and Redshift, allows users to create joins and worksheets easily. ThoughtSpot is fast, even with one to ten terabytes of data.

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."
"The product helps us update the KPI automatically."
"It is a pretty stable solution."
"The main feature that is useful is the on-demand report generation through the dashboard."
"The point which I found to be a strength point for Domo was collaboration while building dashboards and pipelines, and the volume of data it used to handle."
"The initial setup was very straightforward."
"ThoughtSpot is much easier to work with and maintain than other BI solutions, and it significantly reduces costs related to manual labor."
"The self-service analytics capabilities are unrivaled, making it a top-notch solution."
"ThoughtSpot excels in being self-service oriented, allowing users who aren't developers to easily create their own reports and visualizations, making it very intuitive."
"I would say the return on investment is good. Whatever we invested, we got results. We have been finding it easy to use and onboard new use cases."
"ThoughtSpot empowers businesses to make informed decisions by providing real-time data insights."
"The tool is user-friendly for the end users."
 

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."
"The price point is one of the major areas to be improved."
"They should include proper documentation to learn more about the product."
"A customized visualization is lacking in this product."
"The visualization customization needs improvement."
"In terms of features, I'd like to be able to pivot data - for example, going from rows to columns. It's not easy to do."
"Some areas for improvement include the pixel-perfect dashboards, which are not as refined as those in Tableau."
"The support team gets a six out of ten. They are not as proactive."
"The most difficult thing I found is that it only deals with the files and does not have direct connectivity to databases."
"ThoughtSpot is a fairly new product, so some usability aspects aren't as mature as we'd like them to be. One example is their organizational methodology, like how objects are organized in their dashboards inside the product. They're all on a flat list, which works if you've got five or 10 dashboards. However, it's insufficient when you're a large enterprise with multiple groups looking at the same dashboards. It isn't organized well."
"The prediction model needs improvement. While NLQ is working perfectly fine and the data understanding capabilities of ThoughtSpot are good, there is room for improvement."
 

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."
"I give the pricing a six out of ten."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Financial Services Firm
18%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Healthcare Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise13
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with IBM Cognos Dashboard?
The tool is good enough to serve the purpose of what it is meant in our company. The scalability of the product's on-premises version is an area with certain shortcomings where improvements are req...
What is your primary use case for IBM Cognos Dashboard?
In my company, the solution is mainly used for business reporting where the organization or the business team, especially the marketing department, or even data scientists can actually draw reports...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ThoughtSpot?
The pricing is on the higher end but reasonable for what ThoughtSpot offers.
What needs improvement with ThoughtSpot?
There should be a free version of it for people to learn easily so that they get adapted easily and get used to supporting the Domo community, which is something very important. The certification c...
What is your primary use case for ThoughtSpot?
I had some experience with ThoughtSpot. It was a very limited use case, as I was just a part of a POC, so I cannot really comment.
 

Also Known As

Cognos Dashboard
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Primary Capital Mortgage, Sterling Backcheck, RichRelevance, Rambus, Batteries Plus Bulbs
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Cognos Dashboard vs. ThoughtSpot and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.