IBM Planning Analytics vs Planful comparison

IBM and Planful are both solutions in the Business Performance Management category. IBM is ranked #6 with an average rating of 8.0, while Planful is ranked #15. IBM holds a 5.3% mindshare in BPM, compared to Planful’s 3.0% mindshare. Additionally, 90% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Planful users who would recommend it.

IBM Planning Analytics

Read 25 IBM Planning Analytics reviews

2,944 Views
1,178 Comparison Views

90% willing to recommend

Planful

Read 2 Planful reviews

739 Views
643 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

IBM Planning Analytics

Planful

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 19, 2024

IBM Planning Analytics and Planful are competing products in the business planning and performance management space. Planful often has an upper hand based on customer satisfaction, particularly for pricing and feature sets.

Features: IBM Planning Analytics has strong financial planning features, operational planning functionalities, and uses predictive analytics. Planful is recognized for its user-friendly experience, flexible reporting, and collaboration tools across the organization.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Planful is reported to offer a smoother deployment experience with excellent customer support. IBM Planning Analytics often requires more complex setup and training.

Pricing and ROI: IBM Planning Analytics can involve higher initial setup costs. Planful is highlighted for its competitive pricing, offering attractive ROI through cost-effectiveness and quick benefit realization.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM Planning Analytics vs. Planful Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

IBM Planning Analytics vs. Planful

December 2025

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Helped 879,259 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:

Categories and Ranking

IBM Planning Analytics

Ranking in Business Performance Management

6th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Planful

Ranking in Business Performance Management

15th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Financial Close Software (19th)

Mindshare comparison

As of December 2025, in the Business Performance Management category, the mindshare of IBM Planning Analytics is 5.3%, down from 9.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Planful is 3.0%, up from 2.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Business Performance Management Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
IBM Planning Analytics	5.3%
Planful	3.0%
Other	91.7%

Business Performance Management

Featured Reviews

reviewer1517922

Responsable B.I at a retailer with 51-200 employees

Ensured functionality meets user needs, yet complexity remains a challenge

Since I'm using TM1 as an old version of Planning Analytics, it wouldn't be fair to specify what needs improvement because it's possible these issues have already been addressed in newer versions. If we talk only about the TM1 engine, it's quite rich and possibly too rich, making it complex to perform simple tasks. The abundance of features results in complexity, requiring strict guidelines for developers to ensure simplistic approaches are adhered to. This complexity makes it hard to maintain and evolve developments.

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reviewer1110591

Financial Planning & Analysis - Finance Manager at a engineering company with 501-1,000 employees

It has helped us speed up the turnaround time on our consolidation, and we haven't had anything come up that the program has not been able to solve

The part that we liked about Excel is that it had a better interface in terms of just graphical illustration of our results. So, if we wanted to look at our financial trends and put it into some type of graphical interface for people to look at, we still have to leverage Excel for that. The dashboards aren't as usable as maybe some of the other solutions, such as Tableau or other BI tools. The application that we use today for our BI tools is Tableau. That's how people absorb information. We don't really use the functionality or dashboards within Planful because of the robustness of Tableau. That's our single source of data. If Planful was better or more comparable in terms of features and functionality, we could probably leverage that in Planful.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The flexibility of IBM Planning Analytics is a great feature of this solution. The design flexibility with data rules and defining calculations The ability to combine online and offline calculations are a benefit. Additionally, the forecasting features and predictive analytics is very good."

"A lot of the platform is in-memory, so Planning Analytics can run calculations quite fast. It also offers several user interfaces. And in the newest version of Planning Analytics, there is a new one called the Planning Analytics Workspace. Maybe it could be useful for the business side."

"The product's stability is good."

"The most valuable feature is that it is able to slice and dice the data."

"Planning Analytics' best features include automatic updates and slicing."

"The scenario modeling capabilities are frequently used to create different scenarios, compare them, and see which action leads to which result."

"Its stability helps controllers win time in their planning processes."

"The ease of use is valuable. The fact that it's plugged into Excel spreadsheets is also valuable. It provides additional functionality where you can slice and dice the information in a way that you can't do with spreadsheets"

More IBM Planning Analytics pros

"It has helped us speed up the turnaround time on our consolidation. We don't have to do reporting in Excel anymore, which has cut down on the errors and the efficiency of our close time."

Cons

"It's wonky, and not super user-friendly with Excel."

"The tool should include features for prediction. It can also improve the scalability."

"The tool's transport layer could be improved when promoting development between environments."

"Planning Analytics could be improved by adding automation features."

"Adding predefined templates could be beneficial."

"It is a bit expensive, but it does the job."

"The workspace API should be improved and documented so we know better which objects are used."

"Extracting data is a little slow."

More IBM Planning Analytics cons

"The part that we liked about Excel is that it had a better interface in terms of just graphical illustration of our results. So, if we wanted to look at our financial trends and put it into some type of graphical interface for people to look at, we still have to leverage Excel for that. The dashboards aren't as usable as maybe some of the other solutions, such as Tableau or other BI tools."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"IBM Planning Analytics is not the cheapest solution, but it's priced per the market standard for this type of solution. I rate the price at seven out of ten."

"Our licensing cost is approximately $50,000.00 per year."

"It is a bit expensive, but you get what you are paying for."

"Compared with the other tools in the market, IBM Planning Analytics is a bit expensive."

"I would rate the tool's pricing a nine out of ten since it's expensive."

"IBM Planning Analytics is priced well, and licensing costs are yearly."

"The license of this solution is paid annually. Most of my customers choose a license that includes support."

"Right now, everything is on a three-year term contract, and that is our main cost."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

15%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Retailer

Educational Organization

Computer Software Company

21%

Financial Services Firm

Construction Company

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	16
Midsize Enterprise	4
Large Enterprise	9

No data available

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about IBM Planning Analytics?

The most valuable features of IBM Planning Analytics for streamlining planning processes include a unified database where all data are centralized.

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Planning Analytics?

While IBM's solutions were costly before, the introduction of SaaS models has reduced prices significantly. Comparatively, IBM rates may be better than those of competitors, such as Hyperion ( /pro...

See all answers

What needs improvement with IBM Planning Analytics?

IBM is behind competitors like Tableau ( /products/tableau-reviews ) and Power BI in terms of visualization. Their visuals are less innovative and practical with fewer varieties. IBM's visualizatio...

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Comparisons

Microsoft Power BI vs IBM Planning Analytics

Compared 18% of the time

SAP Analytics Cloud vs IBM Planning Analytics

Compared 14% of the time

Anaplan vs IBM Planning Analytics

Compared 9% of the time

IBM Cognos vs IBM Planning Analytics

Compared 7% of the time

Oracle Hyperion vs IBM Planning Analytics

Compared 7% of the time

More IBM Planning Analytics Competitors

Adaptive Insights vs Planful

Compared 20% of the time

Pigment vs Planful

Compared 17% of the time

Anaplan vs Planful

Compared 17% of the time

Oracle Planning and Budgeting Cloud vs Planful

Compared 9% of the time

More Planful Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IBM Planning Analytics

December 2025

Download IBM Planning Analytics product report

Buyer's Guide

Business Performance Management

December 2025

Download Planful product report

Also Known As

Cognos TM1, IBM Cognos TM1

Host Analytics

Overview

IBM Planning Analytics is an integrated planning solution that uses AI to automate planning, budgeting, and forecasting and drive more intelligent workflows.

Built on TM1, IBM’s powerful calculation engine, this enterprise performance management tool allows you to transcend the limits of manual planning and become the Analytics Hero your business needs. Quickly and easily drive faster, more accurate plans for FP&A, sales, supply chain and beyond.

IBM

You need a financial planning solution that meets the structured demands of standardized financial planning and reporting requirements and regulations. Structured Planning with Planful automates labor-intensive planning activities in a complete cloud-based platform – giving your finance team control, consistency, and confidence in corporate financial plans.

Planful

Sample Customers

ManpowerGroup, Convergys, AIG, Orchard Brands, Citibank, InterGen, Northwestern University, EF Education First, Ironside, Bazan Group, CSOB Insurance, Macquarie Group, Charles Stanley, SATO, Government of Sint Maarten, BMW Financial Services

Tandem Diabetes Care, Reed Exhibitions, SkyGolf, Zep Inc., Thule, Stylesight, Schumacher Group, Parsons Electric, Nextag, Groupon

Buyer's Guide

IBM Planning Analytics vs. Planful

December 2025

Free Report: IBM Planning Analytics vs. Planful

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