IBM Planning Analytics vs Pyramid Analytics comparison

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IBM Planning Analytics

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between IBM Planning Analytics and Pyramid Analytics based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Oracle, Anaplan, IBM and others in Business Performance Management.

To learn more, read our detailed Business Performance Management Report (Updated: August 2025).

Business Performance Management

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Helped 865,164 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

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Business Performance Management (4th)

Pyramid Analytics

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

BI (Business Intelligence) Tools (15th), Data Visualization (12th)

Mindshare comparison

While both are Business Intelligence solutions, they serve different purposes. IBM Planning Analytics is designed for Business Performance Management and holds a mindshare of 8.0%, down 9.5% compared to last year.
Pyramid Analytics, on the other hand, focuses on BI (Business Intelligence) Tools, holds 0.9% mindshare, up 0.7% since last year.

Business Performance Management

BI (Business Intelligence) Tools

Featured Reviews

Gnanavel-Chakkarapani

Junior Consultant at CMA CGM

Can easily create dashboards and helps businesses improve forecasting accuracy

The product has improved our company's forecasting accuracy since it serves as a very useful tool for our sales and controller teams as they easily get to enter the inputs using views in TM1, which gets loaded into our main database. If there are sales team members in different parts of the world, like in Hong Kong and Singapore, they may prefer to use IBM Planning Analytics, which is easy to use when compared to the Excel tool. Speaking about planning analytics and data analysis, I would say that our company used to use IBM Cognos Analytics for reporting, where we used to use Cognos Dynamic Cubes so that users can easily use its drag and drop features while getting to see the data for which the users had to wait for two to three minutes prior to its use. In our company, tons of data are loaded into the memory, and users can use Cognos Dynamic Cubes to analyze data and understand it. The AI capabilities of IBM have benefited our planning strategy as they are very useful for business. The tool allows the easy creation of dashboard reports using AI capabilities. No technical knowledge is required for business use cases. It is possible to integrate the product in scenarios where some new integrations are available. I remember that my company used Azure Data Factory to connect Azure, Oracle, and IBM WebSphere Application Server. When it comes to IBM Planning Analytics, it is complex to integrate it with LDAP and or any other authentication tool offered by Microsoft. In our company, some users like to integrate IBM Planning Analytics with the common LDAP or Microsoft AD, which we currently use for all our applications. The authentication part is difficult to configure with IBM Planning Analytics. The maintenance of the product is easy. My company has scheduled maintenance on the product every week, especially during forecast times, so that memories automatically lapse and users can freely access their servers. The use of the tool has had an impact on collaboration within our company's planning team since everyone knows how to easily access the data and publish the results. I recommend the product to those who plan to use it. I rate the tool a nine out of ten.

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Shyam Pendyala

Manager, BI Platforms at Refinitiv, an LSEG Business at LSEG (London Stock Exchange Group)

A comprehensive and user-friendly business intelligence for enhanced data insight

When developing multidimensional IMDS models in Pyramid Analytics, there is a need for better features to maintain and analyze data. The application currently lacks the ability to easily track the original physical table and field names, making it challenging to relate them to business names. It would be desirable to have the possibility to generate a data dictionary, detailing the original physical tables, renamed fields, and derived fields. Such features would simplify documentation, facilitate understanding of how calculations depend on physical fields and aid in explaining the development process to others. Having this lineage and easy-to-generate data dictionary would greatly enhance the usability of Pyramid Analytics for developers.

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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

"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."

"It's a very stable, robust product."

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

"This level of stability is crucial for a product like Cognos TM1, as using an unstable platform would result in loss of time."

"Navigating through the data to make analysis is really quick."

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

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

"IBM Planning Analytics can help us build scenarios through a sandbox environment, allowing us to test multiple variables and assess their impact on our budget and planning."

More IBM Planning Analytics pros

"The features I find most valuable are 'Discover,' 'Formulate,' and 'Model.' I use them regularly to build logic and create reports for my job."

"I think the most valuable Pyramid Analytics feature is the solution's ability to drill down and dice in the loop. I think it is better than InExcel or Power BI."

"It offers a wide range of analytics options including statistics and visualizations, as well as prediction capabilities, allowing users to make forecasts based on the latest data."

"The on-premise version has quite good scalability."

"Pyramid has a wide level of uses, as it's a complete ETL process and has a good level of connecting to a lot of data sources."

"It proved to be a very powerful and useful tool due to its breakdown capabilities, easy reporting features, flexibility in building custom calculations, and the ability to integrate them into reports."

"It seems quite performant in analyzing multi-dimensional information sets and presenting them."

"The most valuable feature of Pyramid Analytics, outshining even top-tier platforms like Power BI, is its robust support for DAX queries."

Cons

"The dashboard is very poor and needs a lot of improvement."

"The local authentication part is difficult to manage in the product, making it an area where improvements are required."

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

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

"It would have been better if the solution was not just a tool kit."

"If we talk only about the TM1 engine, it's quite rich and possibly too rich, making it complex to perform simple tasks."

"Extracting data is a little slow."

"Scalability is quite hard to implement in TM1, largely since the on-premise installation chosen back in 2014. On a scale, I'd rate scalability at four, out of ten. It's difficult."

More IBM Planning Analytics cons

"There is room for improvement in terms of the user interface, particularly when it comes to modifying connections between filters and visual components in a dashboard."

"The general amount of negative comments that I am hearing from my team makes me very wary."

"There is room for improvement in terms of documentation and examples, especially for newcomers like me who are learning both business intelligence and Pyramid."

"Pyramid Analytics could improve by speeding up data refresh, especially for large datasets."

"Even though the solution has a functionality for every step, it's not so well- defined. That needs to be improved."

"I think the graphic number of charts and components could be higher, at least comparable to Brain Power BI."

"It would be desirable to have the possibility to generate a data dictionary, detailing the original physical tables, renamed fields, and derived fields."

"I find that this is quite a heavy, time-consuming tool for developers."

Pricing and Cost Advice

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

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

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

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

"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."

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

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

"The licensing cost is not excessively expensive, but it does increase with the addition of new features and modules."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

16%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Retailer

Computer Software Company

Financial Services Firm

11%

Computer Software Company

11%

Government

11%

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

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.

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...

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...

What do you like most about Pyramid Analytics?

The most valuable feature of Pyramid Analytics, outshining even top-tier platforms like Power BI, is its robust support for DAX queries.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Pyramid Analytics?

I find the price of Pyramid Analytics to be quite reasonable, especially when compared to other tools in the industry. It is a cost-effective choice, particularly for mid-sized or larger companies ...

What needs improvement with Pyramid Analytics?

Pyramid Analytics could improve by speeding up data refresh, especially for large datasets. While it is currently an in-memory tool, efforts are underway to enhance direct connections to source sys...

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Product Reports

IBM Planning Analytics

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Also Known As

Cognos TM1, IBM Cognos TM1

No data available

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

The BI Office from Pyramid Analytics is a web-based governed data discovery and analytics platform. It integrates the four principal functions of any comprehensive BI strategy into a single, seamless application. Users can now analyze, present, report and predict on their data in a single application. Pyramid Analytics has native apps to cover the entire mobile spectrum, iOS, Android and Windows. With BI Office users can integrate SAP data with data from other sources giving them the right tools and better data to make data-driven decisions.

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

US Department of Veterans Affair, Volkswagen, Siemens, Blackboard, Hallmark, Orange, CDW, LA Fitness, Atelier GS, Memorial Healthcare, Acadia Insurance, BancoBic, Advanced Learning, Microsoft, Drake University

Business Performance Management