IBM Cognos vs Qlik Sense comparison

The compared IBM and Qlik solutions aren't in the same category. IBM is ranked #10 in BIT , with an average rating of 8.6, and holds a 1.4% mindshare in the category. Qlik is ranked #5 in DV , with an average rating of 8.0, and holds a 4.8% mindshare. Additionally, 92% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 96% of Qlik users who would recommend it.

IBM Cognos

Read 141 IBM Cognos reviews

9,428 Views
5,468 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

Qlik Sense

Read 125 Qlik Sense reviews

10,291 Views
5,557 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

IBM Cognos

Qlik Sense

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between IBM Cognos and Qlik Sense based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, Salesforce, SAP and others in BI (Business Intelligence) Tools.

To learn more, read our detailed BI (Business Intelligence) Tools Report (Updated: May 2026).

Buyer's Guide

BI (Business Intelligence) Tools

May 2026

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Helped 899,125 peers since 2012

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

6.9

IBM Cognos enhances decision-making and efficiency, offering savings, improved collaboration, and data-driven insights with automation and tailored reports.

Sentiment score

6.2

Qlik Sense delivers high ROI through faster decision-making, cost savings, and enhanced insights, boosting operations and revenue growth.

I have seen a return on investment through improved decision making, as automated distribution and uptime, along with scheduled report delivery and bursting, have eliminated various manual emailing and delays, thereby saving time and cost.

Rawen Lawrence

Senior Project Manager at BD

Management can now drill down and view executive summaries for new products and fraud analytics quickly, resulting in less red tape during the decision-making process.

reviewer2787339

Quality Engineering Lead at a logistics company with 51-200 employees

This demonstrates that it requires a lesser number of people. You do not need a huge team for maintaining or working with IBM Cognos.

reviewer2167305

Sr cloud engineer at a tech vendor with 201-500 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the IBM Cognos report

In my organization, we moved from OBI to Qlik Sense due to limitations with OBI, resulting in very high ROI.

reviewer2592669

Director Software Engineer at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Qlik Sense report

Customer Service

Sentiment score

6.4

IBM Cognos support experiences are mixed, with praise for expertise but concerns over response times and documentation quality.

Sentiment score

5.4

Qlik Sense's customer service is praised for technical support, though response times vary, with community forums and partners being essential.

Our systems team, operating on a lot of Red Hat Enterprise Linux and maintaining long-term relations with IBM, benefits from good support coverage.

reviewer2648136

EDW Manager at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees

The customer support has been proactive, solution-oriented, and helpful whenever I have needed to reach out.

Rawen Lawrence

Senior Project Manager at BD

Customer support for IBM Cognos is very responsive.

reviewer2843004

Data and BI Analyst at a educational organization with 51-200 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the IBM Cognos report

While tech support is comprehensive, the stability of Qlik Sense means I generally do not need it.

reviewer2592669

Director Software Engineer at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees

Technical support requires improvement.

reviewer1586415

Associate Director at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

In Turkey, the consultant firms are very professional, and they support you.

Hasan ÖZ

Business Intelligence Architect at a financial services firm with 5,001-10,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Qlik Sense report

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score

7.5

IBM Cognos is praised for scalability, efficiently managing growth and balancing workloads, despite configuration and hardware challenges.

Sentiment score

7.7

Qlik Sense is praised for scalability, efficiently handling large data sets and users, but requires careful licensing and server management.

IBM Cognos displays good scalability, as it handles increased data growth well.

reviewer2843004

Data and BI Analyst at a educational organization with 51-200 employees

It works across small teams to enterprise-level deployment.

Rahul Podishetty

Quality Engineering Specialist at a consultancy with 1,001-5,000 employees

It can be scaled out to other teams, but requires building cubes and implementing policies.

Robert Thorpe

head of commercial at Assimil8 Ltd.

For more quotes and insights, download the IBM Cognos report

It performs well in terms of performance and load compared to others.

reviewer1586415

Associate Director at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

Qlik Sense helps analyze data and can handle larger amounts of data compared to other BI tools.

Shraddha Waghulde

Solution Architect at Predoole Analytics

It is easily scalable with Microsoft, with other services Azure and other tools they provide.

reviewer2737320

student at a educational organization with 1,001-5,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Qlik Sense report

Stability Issues

Sentiment score

7.3

IBM Cognos is highly stable, with occasional minor issues, and users report excellent reliability with regular updates and maintenance.

Sentiment score

7.6

Qlik Sense is highly stable, with users praising its reliability, effective support, smooth upgrades, and robust functionality.

IBM Cognos is stable and very flexible.

Rahul Podishetty

Quality Engineering Specialist at a consultancy with 1,001-5,000 employees

I rate the stability of this solution as nine out of ten, indicating it is highly stable.

Robert Thorpe

head of commercial at Assimil8 Ltd.

In my experience, IBM Cognos is stable, as I have not experienced any downtime or lagging issues.

Rawen Lawrence

Senior Project Manager at BD

For more quotes and insights, download the IBM Cognos report

The stability is very good.

reviewer1586415

Associate Director at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Qlik Sense report

Room For Improvement

IBM Cognos needs improvements in visualization, interface, data connectivity, integration, stability, support, and mobile user experience to compete.

Qlik Sense users seek better customization, real-time features, data handling, visualization, ease of use, cost efficiency, and improved support.

I would also suggest enhanced predictive analytics to move from more reactive to proactive decision-making.

Rahul Podishetty

Quality Engineering Specialist at a consultancy with 1,001-5,000 employees

IBM Cognos can be improved by addressing its limited real-time data connectivity, as well as enhancing the endpoint experience and mobility, which currently is not satisfactory due to limited data blending.

Rawen Lawrence

Senior Project Manager at BD

IBM Cognos could improve by introducing different role types, such as viewer roles, user roles, and admin roles, along with assigning minor modules to specific individuals.

reviewer2787339

Quality Engineering Lead at a logistics company with 51-200 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the IBM Cognos report

Power BI has better visualizations and interactions with updates in 2023 that provide ease of use.

Hasan ÖZ

Business Intelligence Architect at a financial services firm with 5,001-10,000 employees

Providing an API feature to access data from the dashboard or QEDs could be beneficial.

reviewer2592669

Director Software Engineer at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees

There should be more comprehensive documentation and explanatory videos available to help clients understand and calculate capacity-based pricing, making it easier to predict costs before implementing Qlik Sense Cloud.

Shraddha Waghulde

Solution Architect at Predoole Analytics

For more quotes and insights, download the Qlik Sense report

Setup Cost

IBM Cognos is costly but feature-rich; negotiate discounts or bundled licenses for better pricing.

Qlik Sense offers flexible, albeit pricier, licensing options praised for easy setup and quick ROI, but requires careful cost analysis.

Our central team negotiated a different price because multiple teams within our organization use IBM Cognos, bringing the price down to around $10 to $11 per user per month.

reviewer2787339

Quality Engineering Lead at a logistics company with 51-200 employees

I rate pricing as a four, meaning it is more expensive compared to other solutions.

Robert Thorpe

head of commercial at Assimil8 Ltd.

My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing is positive, as the price is relatively competitive and affordable.

Rawen Lawrence

Senior Project Manager at BD

For more quotes and insights, download the IBM Cognos report

It is just about how expensive it is to implement.

reviewer2737320

student at a educational organization with 1,001-5,000 employees

Compared to Power BI, it is definitely costly.

reviewer1586415

Associate Director at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

Among the BI tools and data analytics tools, Qlik is the most expensive.

Hasan ÖZ

Business Intelligence Architect at a financial services firm with 5,001-10,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Qlik Sense report

Valuable Features

IBM Cognos excels in enterprise reporting, dashboard creation, and scalability, offering AI-driven insights and user-friendly features for data management.

Qlik Sense provides intuitive dashboard creation, seamless integration, and robust data handling with powerful analytics and flexible development capabilities.

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.

TarunKumar7

Senior Data Engineer at LTI LATAM and Toubro Improtech

Some of the best features that IBM Cognos offers are enterprise reporting, which enables us to create, customize, and run reports on sales trends, consumer sentiment, and many more; dashboard creation; and data exploration and analysis.

Rawen Lawrence

Senior Project Manager at BD

Our dedicated cybersecurity team ensures that sensitive data does not become public, making it crucial that data stored in IBM Cognos remains secure throughout the entire data cycle, which is where these enterprise-grade security measures prove invaluable.

reviewer2787339

Quality Engineering Lead at a logistics company with 51-200 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the IBM Cognos report

From an end-user perspective, it's convenient and performance-oriented, providing something meaningful from all the organization's data.

reviewer2592669

Director Software Engineer at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees

The true power is in the ability to connect with any database, get the data, and work with the data.

PawanSingh3

Director at a consultancy with 1,001-5,000 employees

It is a single product that I can use as an ETL database, BI, and more.

reviewer1586415

Associate Director at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Qlik Sense report

Categories and Ranking

IBM Cognos

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.2

Number of Reviews

141

Ranking in other categories

BI (Business Intelligence) Tools (10th), Reporting (5th)

Qlik Sense

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.3

Number of Reviews

125

Ranking in other categories

Data Visualization (5th), Embedded BI (3rd), AI Data Analysis (17th)

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 1.4%, down 3.3% compared to last year.
Qlik Sense, on the other hand, focuses on Data Visualization, holds 4.8% mindshare, down 8.4% since last year.

BI (Business Intelligence) Tools Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
IBM Cognos	1.4%
Microsoft Power BI	7.5%
Tableau Enterprise	5.8%
Other	85.3%

BI (Business Intelligence) Tools

Data Visualization Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Qlik Sense	4.8%
Tableau Enterprise	9.7%
Domo	3.7%
Other	81.8%

Data Visualization

Featured Reviews

Rawen Lawrence

Senior Project Manager at BD

Data insights have transformed reporting speed and support faster, informed decisions

IBM Cognos makes it simple to create visually appealing products, and we are able to run about 1,000 reports on a daily basis while another 1,000 are run through the scheduler built into IBM Cognos Analytics. It offers triggering through the scheduler, which we use to confirm the completion of other processes needed to be available before the job is scheduled to run, allowing us to make data-driven decisions easily. Some of the best features that IBM Cognos offers are enterprise reporting, which enables us to create, customize, and run reports on sales trends, consumer sentiment, and many more; dashboard creation; and data exploration and analysis. We are able to use the drag and drop feature to create ad-hoc visualizations. Additionally, I find the AI-powered natural language query feature for data analysis and dashboard input to be very useful for a non-technical person to put queries around the spreadsheets data to get a quick answer. Building insights for accurate decision-making has been great. Moreover, we can package reports with data-backed insights for stakeholders in PDF and Excel format to support business ad-hoc cases, forecasting, and strategic recommendations on relevant tasks. Of all those features, the visual graphs, predictive analytics, and data cleansing feature makes the biggest difference for my team. IBM Cognos is deployed in my organization using a hybrid cloud setup with Amazon Web Services as our cloud provider.

Read full review

Shraddha Waghulde

Solution Architect at Predoole Analytics

Unlocks actionable insights through user-friendly analysis features

The self-service capabilities that Qlik Sense offers are significant. They offer natural language processing, allowing users to ask questions in layman language, and Qlik Sense will create charts and narratives automatically. Users can access any dashboard developed in Qlik Sense from familiar portals such as Okta or other company portals through embedding features. The integration with chatbots, particularly Microsoft Teams, allows users to access dashboards and ask questions directly within Teams. The collaboration feature enables users to share analysis by taking snapshots and tagging team members within the Qlik Sense interface, eliminating the need for lengthy emails or screenshots. The storytelling feature allows users to create presentations directly in Qlik Sense using dashboard analysis, making it easier to answer questions during meetings. The subscription feature enables users to receive charts and sheets via email instead of navigating to the dashboard, facilitating monitoring purposes. Qlik Sense offers alerting capabilities where users can set thresholds for KPIs and receive notifications when these thresholds are reached. The platform also includes AI/ML features for predictive modeling through a no-code component, allowing business users to create and deploy AutoML models without depending on data scientists. The Qlik Answers component, featuring generative AI capability, enables users to get answers from unstructured data including Excel, HTML documents, or Microsoft Word documents by creating a knowledge base. The user-friendly interface operates on a drag-and-drop approach, with Qlik Sense suggesting appropriate charts based on selected dimensions and measures. The associative engine capabilities allow data association between tables, implementing selections across related tables. The platform uses a color-coding system (white, gray, and dark gray) to show related, excluded, and unrelated data selections, providing insights beyond traditional BI tools.

Read full review

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Comparison Review

it_user79932

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…

Read full review

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

14%

Insurance Company

10%

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

Financial Services Firm

19%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Construction Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	37
Midsize Enterprise	24
Large Enterprise	92

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	34
Midsize Enterprise	40
Large Enterprise	88

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...

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What needs improvement with IBM Cognos?

IBM Cognos can improve its error messages, as whenever something is wrong, it does not give us the proper error message, and we end up rebooting the entire software. Additionally, they can improve ...

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What is your primary use case for IBM Cognos?

My main use case for IBM Cognos is to generate reports for clients and maintain IBM Cognos. My company is a retail company that provides the best price solutions to clients, and we use client data ...

See all answers

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...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Qlik Sense?

It is not about performance. It is just about how expensive it is to implement.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Qlik Sense?

Everything depends on the use case, but I would prefer Power BI because of how mainstream it is. There is not much information available. It is not a mainstream tool that many companies use, so if ...

See all answers

Comparisons

Microsoft Power BI vs IBM Cognos

Compared 13% of the time

Tableau Enterprise vs IBM Cognos

Compared 9% of the time

Oracle OBIEE vs IBM Cognos

Compared 6% of the time

SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence vs IBM Cognos

Compared 6% of the time

SAP Crystal Reports vs IBM Cognos

Compared 2% of the time

More IBM Cognos Competitors

Tableau Enterprise vs Qlik Sense

Compared 7% of the time

Apache Superset vs Qlik Sense

Compared 6% of the time

Microsoft Power BI vs Qlik Sense

Compared 5% of the time

SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence vs Qlik Sense

Compared 3% of the time

Amazon QuickSight vs Qlik Sense

Compared 3% of the time

More Qlik Sense Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IBM Cognos

May 2026

Download IBM Cognos product report

Buyer's Guide

Qlik Sense

May 2026

Download Qlik Sense product report

Also Known As

Cognos, Cognos Analytics, IBM Cognos Analytics

QlikSense, Qlik Analytics Platform

Overview

IBM Cognos provides a powerful toolset with AI-driven data exploration and robust reporting for efficient data-driven decisions. It supports seamless data integration and user-friendly dashboards for flexible report creation.

IBM Cognos enables organizations to leverage AI-enhanced analytics, integrating data from multiple sources to create comprehensive business insights. It supports complex report creation, dashboards, and predictive capabilities, enhancing decision-making through customizable reports and connectivity with multiple databases. The platform is recognized for strong security, scalability, and integration capabilities, but may require more intuitive visualization and documentation improvements.

What are the key features of IBM Cognos?

AI-Driven Data Exploration: Harnesses AI to uncover insights from data.
Robust Reporting: Delivers comprehensive and customizable reports.
Data Integration: Connects seamlessly with multiple data sources.
User-Friendly Dashboards: Offers dashboards for intuitive navigation.
Strong Security: Provides robust security features for data protection.

What benefits can users expect from IBM Cognos?

Efficient Decision-Making: Facilitates data-driven decisions with accurate insights.
Comprehensive Analytics: Enhances analysis capabilities through extensive data integration.
Customizable Reports: Offers flexibility in creating tailored reports and visualizations.
Scalability: Supports growth with scalable solutions for expanding businesses.

In specific industries, IBM Cognos is used for financial reporting, operational dashboards, sales performance monitoring, and fraud analytics. Companies leverage its predictive capabilities for proactive planning and risk assessment, benefiting from its integration with IBM Watson for enhanced AI-driven analysis.

IBM

Qlik Sense offers drag-and-drop dashboard creation, multi-data source integration, and self-service analytics. Users benefit from associative data modeling and real-time insights. The platform enhances quick deployment across any device with its flexibility and ease of use.

Qlik Sense provides rapid dashboard creation and seamless multi-data source integration, supporting real-time analytics and high-speed ETL capabilities. Users enjoy advanced visualizations and natural language processing within an intuitive interface. The solution's in-memory engine ensures fast data processing while offering flexibility and quick deployment on all devices. Its open API facilitates extensive customization and integration with chatbots and third-party extensions.

What are the key features of Qlik Sense?

Rapid Dashboard Creation: Enables quick creation of insightful dashboards using a drag-and-drop interface.
Multi-Data Source Integration: Supports seamless integration across various data sources for comprehensive analysis.
Self-Service Analytics: Empowers users with intuitive tools for independent data exploration and insights generation.
Associative Data Modeling: Enhances understanding of complex datasets and relationships.
Advanced Visualizations: Offers sophisticated visual options to present data clearly and engagingly.
Real-Time Insights: Provides up-to-the-minute data analysis capabilities.
Open API Integration: Allows extensive customization and integration with third-party tools.

What benefits should users look for in reviews?

Fast Deployment: Enjoys rapid setup and integration across devices, facilitating immediate data access.
Enhanced Flexibility: Customization options allow tailored solutions that meet specific user needs.
Comprehensive Integration: Capable of integrating multiple data sources, improving analytical scope.
Improved Data Accessibility: Offers easy access and understanding of complex data.
Automation Efficiency: Streamlines reporting and analytics tasks, boosting productivity.

In industries such as finance and sales, Qlik Sense enables interactive data analyses and dashboard creation across departments. It supports business intelligence for financial reporting, sales analysis, and decision-making. By automating reporting and combining data from multiple sources, it facilitates users in generating insights and enhancing data accessibility for informed business decisions.

Qlik

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.

Abbvie, Airbus, Barclays, BT Openreach, BMW, Daimler AG, HSBC, IKEA, Nationwide Building Society, Royal Mail Group, Sanofi, Siemens, Wendy'', Vodafone, Volvo

Buyer's Guide

BI (Business Intelligence) Tools

May 2026

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