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IBM Cognos vs SAP Analytics Hub 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
Ranking in BI (Business Intelligence) Tools
8th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
134
Ranking in other categories
Reporting (6th)
SAP Analytics Hub
Ranking in BI (Business Intelligence) Tools
31st
Average Rating
7.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
7
Ranking in other categories
Data Integration (49th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the BI (Business Intelligence) Tools category, the mindshare of IBM Cognos is 3.2%, down from 4.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP Analytics Hub is 0.3%, down from 0.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
BI (Business Intelligence) Tools
 

Featured Reviews

AMOL JAJU - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers ad hoc analysis reports and good for operational dashboarding
There used to be many valuable features, but in the last three or four years, whatever IBM is doing with enhancements, it has taken a lot of time to build and develop. But the best usage of Cognos is the ad hoc analysis reports. I really like that. Our customers also like that. But now the usage of Cognos and OBIE is reduced by various business users because people and business users are now more focused on analytics, slice and dice, and the dashboard, and the widgets.
Hyunwook Kang - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides efficient data integration features, but the technical support services need improvement
We use the product for analytics across various business processes and sectors. It helps us analyze SAP ERP data The platform's main benefit is its integration with SAP ERP data. It’s effective for data integration and integrity. The platform could easily integrate with other ERP data solutions.…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Previously, we were doing static reporting. Management would request a report, and it would take staff a week or more to provide it. With Cognos, we have dynamic reporting, and it has reduced both reporting and decision making times significantly. With the solution's dashboard, the company's management team has updated records at their fingertips. This means that they can directly access the data they need to make decisions."
"The tool can join data from different sources, write back to databases, generate alerts, and be customized to our preferences. It's an enterprise BI tool that's more powerful than just visualization tools like Power BI or Tableau."
"It is a stable product."
"The dashboarding offered by this solution is very valuable to us."
"This solution allows you to input a wide range of file formats."
"The main difference that I like about Cognos compared to other solutions is its data splitting functionality. We have all our company data inside the Cognos environment and so we prefer to split the information Cognos itself. It's more efficient this way."
"A positive feature is Report Studio, where we create beautiful, complex reports."
"It has a very powerful edit feature which allows users to back out of changes (undo) without forcing them to recreate entire reports."
"SAP Analytics Hub offers a user-friendly interface with effortless configuration, seamless updates, and real-time availability of information. It avoids the complexities associated with batch processing, providing a smooth and efficient experience."
"What I like best about this solution is that it is built into the SAP line, making it easier to integrate with other SAP products."
"Data consistency is also a notable feature; the system takes care of data consistency, so you don't need to handle it manually."
"For report scheduling, I always prefer SAP because it has the most powerful scheduling features, like sending reports to more than 1,000 customers per day. That option is not as good in Microsoft BI and in Tableau it only exists as an add-on option."
"The platform's main benefit is its integration with SAP ERP data. It’s effective for data integration and integrity."
"This product provides good reports using a single pane of glass."
 

Cons

"The tool needs to improve the connectivity since I see that, at times, there is a need to increase the memory in the database."
"Data modeling needs to be improved. We use the ETL process, and when we get errors, we then need to identify which structural change is required. The error messaging should be better. They should be descriptive rather than semantic."
"One key area for improvement is the need to improve the self-service nature and functionality of the product in terms of visual analytics."
"Tableau and Power BI are faster than Cognos."
"Compared to Tableau and PowerBI, the IBM interface is easier to use. However, the drag-and-drop functionality isn't as straightforward. Formatting is also more challenging in the cloud than in other applications, like Power BI. Also, if you encounter an issue, it takes more time to resolve it on the formatting side."
"There are some small features that are missing. It would be nice if the graphics were better. You can use external sources for charts, but it's quite complex to use and not easy to implement. If you want a new chart, you can download it from multiple tools and implement it into IBM Cognos."
"It would be nice to offer free online training on the tool for end-users."
"I would like them to reinclude PowerPlay. One thing that I am missing in the current Cognos is what was formally named PowerPlay. They have basically removed PowerPlay from it, which is something that I fail to understand because it was the most wonderful tool for business intelligence that I've ever used. As far as I know, they don't provide this functionality anymore, so this is one thing that I dislike about Cognos."
"Faster implementation of new functions for the new product is an area of improvement in SAP Analytics Hub."
"Pricing and support are integrated into the system. However, the support process can be challenging, particularly when navigating the SAP support site, which lacks user-friendliness and ease of access."
"The analytics part of SAP has not been that good up until now. They're still in the infant stage and development is still going on. SAP has some cloud analytics and they're trying to configure it in Lumira, but it's not that good at this point."
"The interface can be simplified because it is not a user-friendly experience."
"The platform could easily integrate with other ERP data solutions. Additionally, it should be faster compared to competitors in the cloud space."
"The technical support for Analytics Hub is limited and could be improved."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There is some additional licensing that we needed to purchase because we were touching data outside of our core data platform. The cost was approximately $25,000 for the additional licenses, which were approximate 45 licenses. For the application itself, updates, and the core platform it was approximately $50,000. Giving a total cost of $75,000 annually for our usage of IBM Cognos."
"It is quite pricy. I think Microsoft BI is cheaper. Tableau might also be cheaper, but it also depends on the usage. If you have very many users, Cognos can be a problem. It could be cheaper than Tableau but not for so many users. If you have a few thousand users, Tableau, which is generally quite expensive, can be cheaper than Cognos."
"The pricing of this product is meant for medium to large-scale enterprises."
"It is averagely priced."
"On a scale from one to ten where one is low pricing and ten is high pricing, I would rate this solution at eight."
"Pricing should be improved."
"My company uses IBM Cognos with another IBM product, so I think only one license is used."
"There is a standard license required to use this solution. There are some additional tools but I am not sure if they are an extra cost."
"They are pursuing a highly assertive approach to target businesses of all sizes within the industry."
"The pricing is reasonable."
"It is an expensive solution."
"The product is expensive."
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Comparison Review

it_user79932 - PeerSpot reviewer
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%
Educational Organization
13%
Insurance Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Computer Software Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Healthcare Company
10%
Energy/Utilities Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

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?
There is room for improvement in self-service analytics and predictiveness.
What do you like most about SAP Analytics Hub?
Data consistency is also a notable feature; the system takes care of data consistency, so you don't need to handle it manually.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SAP Analytics Hub?
The product is expensive. The cost starts from $1,000,000 per year. Moreover, there are additional costs involved for customization.
What needs improvement with SAP Analytics Hub?
The platform could easily integrate with other ERP data solutions. Additionally, it should be faster compared to competitors in the cloud space.
 

Also Known As

Cognos, Cognos Analytics, IBM Cognos Analytics
No data available
 

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.
STIB-MIVB
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Cognos vs. SAP Analytics Hub and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
862,077 professionals have used our research since 2012.