Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

IBM Planning Analytics vs Salesforce Einstein Analytics 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
6.8
IBM Planning Analytics boosts budgeting productivity but faces challenges from rising costs, prompting some companies to explore alternatives.
Sentiment score
5.8
Salesforce Einstein Analytics provides varied ROI experiences, with smaller companies and implementation stages influencing overall satisfaction and value.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.0
IBM Planning Analytics support is positive, yet response times vary; documentation, training, and multi-level support are valued.
Sentiment score
7.1
Salesforce Einstein Analytics' customer service is praised for effective support, professionalism, and satisfactory response time despite occasional delays.
Instead, we rely on third-party partners recognized by IBM, who provide cost-effective support.
We have a multi-level support system, with the initial level handled by the company we bought the license from and subsequent support from IBM.
Tech support for Salesforce Einstein Analytics is generally good.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.5
IBM Planning Analytics excels in scalability and real-time data, though complexity and pricing pose challenges for some users.
Sentiment score
7.7
Salesforce Einstein Analytics is highly scalable, integrating well and accommodating large user bases efficiently, despite licensing cost challenges.
Scalability is quite hard to implement in TM1, largely since the on-premise installation chosen back in 2014.
Scalability is straightforward but it is pricey since it's a SaaS model priced per user.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.7
IBM Planning Analytics is stable and reliable, praised for robustness, supporting budgeting in various industries with few issues.
Sentiment score
8.2
Salesforce Einstein Analytics is praised for stability and reliability, with minor issues resolved quickly and rated highly by users.
A stable platform prevents loss of time during this process.
 

Room For Improvement

IBM Planning Analytics needs improved integration, pricing, visualization, user interface, functionality, automation, design, speed, and predictive analytics support.
Salesforce Einstein Analytics needs improved usability, affordability, and integration, with enhanced reporting, customization, and transparency features.
The abundance of features results in complexity, requiring strict guidelines for developers to ensure simplistic approaches are adhered to.
IBM's visualization needs significant improvement.
There is a learning curve associated with Salesforce Einstein Analytics, particularly since users need to learn a new language.
 

Setup Cost

Enterprise IBM Planning Analytics has setup costs from consulting fees and varied licensing, offering market-standard ROI and compatibility.
Salesforce Einstein Analytics is subscription-based, perceived as costly, but value can be found in bundled pricing agreements.
Given the product's old architecture and interface, they need to make it more affordable.
While IBM's solutions were costly before, the introduction of SaaS models has reduced prices significantly.
A benefit is that the pricing is available online, ensuring there are no hidden costs.
 

Valuable Features

IBM Planning Analytics enhances planning with flexible design, Excel integration, sandbox testing, machine learning, and user-friendly interface.
Salesforce Einstein Analytics provides intuitive data handling, AI-powered insights, seamless integration, and scalable solutions for efficient decision-making and workflow management.
It also integrates machine learning and AI engines, enabling us to use algorithms for inventory forecasting which optimizes our inventory and replenishment rates.
Its stability helps controllers win time in their planning processes.
It allows for a personalized customer experience by providing insights.
 

Categories and Ranking

IBM Planning Analytics
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
25
Ranking in other categories
Business Performance Management (3rd)
Salesforce Einstein Analytics
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
20
Ranking in other categories
BI (Business Intelligence) Tools (11th)
 

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 8.6%, down 9.4% compared to last year.
Salesforce Einstein Analytics, on the other hand, focuses on BI (Business Intelligence) Tools, holds 1.2% mindshare, down 1.8% since last year.
Business Performance Management
BI (Business Intelligence) Tools
 

Featured Reviews

Gnanavel-Chakkarapani - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
Parker Goodson - PeerSpot reviewer
Helpful consistent measurements, high availability, and scales well
When it comes to generating reports, it appears that many users rely on experts to handle technical aspects. For instance, if you require a weekly report displaying accounts transitioning in and out of your modules, it seems challenging to accomplish without consulting experts for assistance. Such tasks should be user-friendly and easily achievable without external assistance. It would be beneficial to have visibility into any changes made to your account by individuals other than yourself or your team. It is also important to clearly track the history of these modifications and identify the responsible parties.
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Business Performance Management solutions are best for your needs.
850,043 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
40%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Computer Software Company
7%
Computer Software Company
18%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Healthcare Company
6%
 

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?
TM1 is quite expensive, and I'd rate the pricing as an eight out of ten. While we do get what we want in terms of functionalities and compatibility with other IBM tools, given the product's old arc...
What needs improvement with IBM Planning Analytics?
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. ...
What do you like most about Salesforce Einstein Analytics?
The tool is valuable. It's one of the greatest programs I'm currently working with, and I believe it will continue to be crucial in the next four to five years. It's the future of our operations. I...
What needs improvement with Salesforce Einstein Analytics?
Salesforce is working very rigorously on improvements with each release.
What is your primary use case for Salesforce Einstein Analytics?
I am a Salesforce CPQ developer. I have also worked on Einstein Analytics for reporting purposes.
 

Also Known As

Cognos TM1, IBM Cognos TM1
Einstein Analytics, Salesforce Wave Analytics
 

Overview

 

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
ADS Securities, Alstom Grid, American Express, Barclays Bank, Coca-Cola, CoderDojo, Dubai Multi Commodities Centre, Financial Conduct Authority
Find out what your peers are saying about Anaplan, Oracle, IBM and others in Business Performance Management. Updated: April 2025.
850,043 professionals have used our research since 2012.