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IBM Cognos vs Oracle Hyperion comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
5.8
IBM Cognos boosts efficiency, saves over $650k annually, improving data insights and operational performance, with varied ROI based on implementation.
Sentiment score
6.0
Users report varying ROI with Oracle Hyperion, highlighting process improvements, accuracy, reduced task time, and enhanced decision-making.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.4
IBM Cognos support quality varies, with competent tech support; costs and partner reliance are noted; ratings mostly 6-9.
Sentiment score
5.4
Oracle's customer service feedback is mixed, citing delays and coordination issues, though high-priority issues get faster responses.
Our systems team, operating on a lot of Red Hat Enterprise Linux and maintaining long-term relations with IBM, benefits from good support coverage.
EDW Manager at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees
I rate technical support from IBM as eight out of ten, indicating a high quality of service.
head of commercial at Assimil8 Ltd.
I rate Oracle's technical support as very good, giving it a score of 8 to 9 out of 10.
Product Support Engineer at JSW
Support is generally fast for Sev1 or Sev2 tickets but slower for lower-severity tickets.
Associate Consultant at a construction company with 10,001+ employees
The response time is not that good.
Consultant at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.4
IBM Cognos is generally scalable, handling thousands of users, though some face configuration challenges in distributed systems.
Sentiment score
7.0
Oracle Hyperion is scalable and suitable for large organizations, though some users face performance challenges during expansion.
It can be scaled out to other teams, but requires building cubes and implementing policies.
head of commercial at Assimil8 Ltd.
I rate the scalability of Oracle Hyperion as an 8 out of 10 because it remains a top choice in the market.
Product Support Engineer at JSW
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.2
IBM Cognos is generally stable, with occasional issues due to external factors, poor design, or large queries.
Sentiment score
7.0
Oracle Hyperion is stable with occasional bugs, reliable performance on-premises, and robust cloud versions when best practices are followed.
I rate the stability of this solution as nine out of ten, indicating it is highly stable.
head of commercial at Assimil8 Ltd.
Cloud configurations have not exhibited issues like crashing or slowing down for significant data volumes.
Associate Consultant at a construction company with 10,001+ employees
We sometimes encounter bugs and need to connect with Oracle Support.
Consultant at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
 

Room For Improvement

IBM Cognos needs better data visualization, simplified database connections, enhanced interface, and improved performance to compete with Tableau.
Oracle Hyperion requires user interface, reporting, integration, documentation, pricing, and support improvements for enhanced usability and advanced functionality.
There is room for improvement in self-service analytics and predictiveness.
head of commercial at Assimil8 Ltd.
Since IBM Cognos is a futuristic platform with many robust features, it takes time to grasp all the features and how they work, so there is a learning curve.
Senior Data Engineer at LTI LATAM and Toubro Improtech
We are generally satisfied, but I am not certain if IBM Cognos meets every feature request from users since we only provide IBM Cognos as our standard and do not maintain infrastructure for other tools.
EDW Manager at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees
It is user-friendly and offers several advantages in financial reporting and consolidation.
Product Support Engineer at JSW
For example, a company with fifty users versus five hundred users should see better pricing.
Associate Consultant at a construction company with 10,001+ employees
The pricing model could be more flexible as it's more expensive than its competitors.
Consultant at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
 

Setup Cost

IBM Cognos is costly but valued for features; negotiate near fiscal year-end for discounts, especially through partners.
Oracle Hyperion's pricing includes high setup costs and complex licensing, challenging for medium-sized firms due to user-based expenses.
I rate pricing as a four, meaning it is more expensive compared to other solutions.
head of commercial at Assimil8 Ltd.
The pricing model is on the higher side compared to its competitors.
Consultant at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
 

Valuable Features

IBM Cognos offers flexible reporting, interactive dashboards, AI insights, and comprehensive BI functions for enhanced decision-making and scalability.
Oracle Hyperion offers intuitive interfaces, data security, and efficient planning, streamlining global finance management with comprehensive insights.
The AI features in IBM Cognos helped me gain deeper insights into our business processes, enabling me to make data-driven decisions easily and understand which points need our attention and which areas of our business are performing well.
Senior Data Engineer at LTI LATAM and Toubro Improtech
IBM Cognos is a robust governed platform with significant security features and provides excellent graphics and reporting.
head of commercial at Assimil8 Ltd.
The benefits of choosing IBM Cognos, aside from cost savings, include having institutional knowledge for maintaining this infrastructure and a reliable solution that enhances developer productivity.
EDW Manager at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees
It enables me to input data directly based on my security and business lines, with an inbuilt calculation engine for data aggregation and reporting.
Associate Consultant at a construction company with 10,001+ employees
This issue has been resolved, and Oracle Hyperion data can now be updated, with data loads completed in 30 minutes.
Divisional Head Operational & Reputational Risk at Allied Bank Limited
The feature that allows automation of the budgeting and forecasting process is extremely valuable, especially when compared to Excel.
Consultant at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
 

Categories and Ranking

IBM Cognos
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.0
Number of Reviews
136
Ranking in other categories
BI (Business Intelligence) Tools (9th), Reporting (5th)
Oracle Hyperion
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
58
Ranking in other categories
Business Performance Management (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Business Intelligence solutions, they serve different purposes. IBM Cognos is designed for BI (Business Intelligence) Tools and holds a mindshare of 1.3%, down 3.6% compared to last year.
Oracle Hyperion, on the other hand, focuses on Business Performance Management, holds 5.5% mindshare, down 12.1% since last year.
BI (Business Intelligence) Tools Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
IBM Cognos1.3%
Microsoft Power BI9.4%
Tableau Enterprise6.7%
Other82.6%
BI (Business Intelligence) Tools
Business Performance Management Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Oracle Hyperion5.5%
Anaplan7.4%
CCH Tagetik5.7%
Other81.4%
Business Performance Management
 

Featured Reviews

reviewer2648136 - PeerSpot reviewer
EDW Manager at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees
Centralized reporting has supported university-wide regulatory dashboards and secure data access
From my experience, we use regular dashboarding with IBM Cognos for producing scheduled reports and for mandatory regulatory reporting. All our departments use IBM Cognos, with each department developing their own reports while our corporate IT team provides the data. Some people use the interactive dashboards feature of IBM Cognos, and there are also other tools in use. I think some users utilize Power BI and Tableau, but our IT organization only provides IBM Cognos as an enterprise business intelligence and reporting tool. IBM Cognos is evaluated and complies fully with all our security standards. In my opinion, IBM Cognos is very stable. It has been around for many years and many users are familiar with it, ensuring it performs well in its intended capacity. The benefits of choosing IBM Cognos, aside from cost savings, include having institutional knowledge for maintaining this infrastructure and a reliable solution that enhances developer productivity, given our team's extensive experience with IBM Cognos.
SC
Product Support Engineer at JSW
Empower financial planning with user-friendly and robust features
The best features of Oracle Hyperion revolve around their cloud-based technology, which is gradually moving to cloud solutions such as EPMCSG, while Anaplan uses two engines for calculations, the classic engine and the Essbase engine. Anaplan allows for quick module changes, where adjustments in one module reflect throughout the user experience. In contrast, Oracle Hyperion relies on Essbase as a database with calculation scripts and business rules, and it incorporates Smart View technology for Excel connections, providing a familiar interface for users. Oracle Hyperion is fundamentally a good technology and does not require significant improvements compared to other technologies because it is user-friendly and offers several advantages in financial reporting and consolidation. However, I have observed that Anaplan has built-in UX pages for report preparation, unlike Oracle Hyperion, which often relies on third-party tools such as Hyperion Financial Reporting and Power BI for reporting.
report
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Comparison Review

it_user79932 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Manager - BI Head with 5,001-10,000 employees
Feb 4, 2015
Comparison of SAP BO, Tableau, QlikView, Cognos, Microsoft, OBIEE and Pentaho
1. SAP BO/BI Enterprise scalability Security Ease of use Semantic layer 2. Tableau Visualization Data discovery Turnaround time 3. IBM Cognos Enterprise scalability Security In-memory feature 4. MS BI - Flexibility 5. Pentaho - Open source but still enterprise grade 6. QlikView Data…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
14%
Insurance Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
7%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
11%
University
8%
Computer Software Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business34
Midsize Enterprise23
Large Enterprise86
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business16
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise38
 

Questions from the Community

Seeking lightweight open source BI software
It depends on the Data architecture and the complexity of your requirement. Some great tools in the market are Qlik Sense, Power BI, OBIEE, Tableau, etc. I have recently started using Cognos Enter...
What do you like most about IBM Cognos?
The solution's most valuable feature is its ease of use, which makes it easily compatible with other tools.
What needs improvement with IBM Cognos?
Since IBM Cognos is a futuristic platform with many robust features, it takes time to grasp all the features and how they work, so there is a learning curve. The more I use this platform, the more ...
What do you like most about Oracle Hyperion?
We can collect data from various sources, which is very useful for budgeting and planning.
What needs improvement with Oracle Hyperion?
We are going to re-implement the Oracle Hyperion system due to changes in our chart of account process and some other factors. We were analyzing whether to move to a cloud system, EPM Cloud. We hav...
What is your primary use case for Oracle Hyperion?
We are using Oracle Financials and Oracle Hyperion. Oracle Hyperion is used for budget and MIS reporting, while Financials is used for financial accounting, payables, receivables, and general ledge...
 

Also Known As

Cognos, Cognos Analytics, IBM Cognos Analytics
Hyperion
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

More than 23,000 leading organizations across multiple industries use Cognos. Some examples of Cognos customers include BMW Financial Services, Quinte Health Care, Troy Corporation, Michigan State University, and GKN Land System.
ITNL, Aditya Birla Nuvo Ltd., Zaklady Farmaceutyczne Polpharma S.A., Daelim Industrial Co. Ltd., Barco N.V., SITA, McGregor Fashion Group B.V., PCCW Ltd.
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, Salesforce, Domo and others in BI (Business Intelligence) Tools. Updated: January 2026.
880,481 professionals have used our research since 2012.