Foglight for Databases vs Oracle Essbase comparison

Quest Software and Oracle are both solutions in the Database Development and Management category. Quest Software is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.5, while Oracle is ranked #18 with an average rating of 7.3. Quest Software holds a 3.5% mindshare in DDM, compared to Oracle’s 1.5% mindshare. Additionally, 95% of Quest Software users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Oracle users who would recommend it.

Foglight for Databases

Read 22 Foglight for Databases reviews

4,165 Views
4,123 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

Oracle Essbase

Read 18 Oracle Essbase reviews

3,020 Views
876 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Foglight for Databases

Oracle Essbase

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 3, 2026

Oracle Essbase and Foglight for Databases are strong contenders in business analytics and database management spheres. While Oracle Essbase excels with its multidimensional database engines suited for complex analytical tasks, Foglight for Databases has the edge with its advanced monitoring tools, making it a preferred choice for organizations focusing on performance monitoring.

Features: Oracle Essbase boasts high-speed data processing and robust calculation engines, supporting intricate analytical queries with ease. Its multi-dimensionality enables complex data modeling useful for financial analyses. Additionally, aggregate storage applications facilitate swift, large-scale data handling. Foglight for Databases provides comprehensive performance monitoring across multiple database environments, allowing real-time tracking of system health. Its cross-platform flexibility supports various databases, enhancing system efficiency and minimal downtime. It also offers historical performance insights for database management improvement.

Room for Improvement: Oracle Essbase could enhance user interface design to make complex operations more intuitive and accessible to non-technical users. Increasing automation for database management tasks and refining cloud integration capabilities would improve overall usability. On the other hand, Foglight for Databases could benefit from optimizing the report generation process to streamline user interaction. Enhancing real-time data visualization features and broader custom scripting support would also help address complex user requirements.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Deploying Oracle Essbase requires comprehensive planning due to its advanced features, but is well-supported with rich documentation and dedicated support services. Foglight for Databases offers a smoother setup with efficient configuration processes and proactive customer engagement, ensuring a well-supported experience designed for quick scalability.

Pricing and ROI: Oracle Essbase has higher initial setup costs but provides considerable long-term value due to its extensive analytical features and performance metrics. Foglight for Databases offers a moderate investment level with significant ROI benefits stemming from enhanced monitoring capabilities and reduced system downtime, providing a cost-effective advantage, particularly for performance-focused organizations.

To learn more, read our detailed Foglight for Databases vs. Oracle Essbase Report (Updated: August 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Foglight for Databases vs. Oracle Essbase

August 2026

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Helped 909,701 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

Foglight for Databases

Ranking in Database Development and Management

1st

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Oracle Essbase

Ranking in Database Development and Management

18th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

4.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Database Development and Management category, the mindshare of Foglight for Databases is 3.5%, down from 7.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Oracle Essbase is 1.5%, up from 0.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Database Development and Management Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Foglight for Databases	3.5%
Oracle Essbase	1.5%
Other	95.0%

Database Development and Management

Featured Reviews

Vijay Ram

Technical Engineer at Hitachi Systems, Ltd.

Centralized monitoring has simplified multi-database oversight and improved query analysis

Foglight for Databases is very useful; however, the negative side we face is that customer care support is not frequent. If any issues related to Foglight arise, we cannot reach customer care support as soon as possible. It takes much longer compared to other third-party tools, and that is a major issue we are facing with Foglight for Databases. Foglight for Databases is good for monitoring, and we can fetch problematic issues and queries. However, the only main drawback is the customer care support. It is available only during the general shift, so if any issue occurs after 6:00 p.m. or before 9:00 a.m., there is usually no one to handle it. I think there are only two or three people handling customer care for Foglight for Databases.

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Bhavya N

Senior System Engineer at Infosys

Ensuring efficient data analysis and reporting while identifying areas for calculation and export improvements

The features of Oracle Essbase are valuable, such as its multi-dimensional database used for dynamic calculations and reporting purposes. These features are valuable because they support multi-dimensional data views, allowing users to analyze relationships across various data categories and establish a comprehensive perspective on business operations. Moreover, dynamic calculations allow real-time data analysis, significantly improving the accuracy and depth of financial insights. I have utilized Essbase's data aggregation capabilities. The Oracle Essbase interface provides a good user experience, allowing users to easily navigate and analyze data with fast query performance, effective data visualization tools such as charts, graphs, and tables, and flexibility for customizable analysis and reporting, including the ability to create ad hoc reports. The benefits of the interface include improving productivity and enhancing decision-making.

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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

"If you used to work without it, once you've used it, I'm not sure you'd want to do your job without it anymore."

"Foglight's Change Tracking capabilities are another huge feature. It is wonderful to be able to do that. People don't realize the amount of information that Foglight gathers from a given server or instance. It gets down to the version of SQL, the disk array, everything that's there. Any change that's made, any upgrade to SQL, shows up on the dashboard almost immediately. You don't know how much time you save just having a tool in your back pocket that does that for you."

"Foglight for Databases provides real-time data that is invaluable for analyzing ongoing issues with database servers."

"The ability to monitor multiple database platforms streamlines our database operations. The single pane of glass is what we were really after when we picked Foglight. We knew we wanted something that could monitor cross-platform because it does save a lot of time to use the same tool. The one thing that I like with Foglight is that we don't have to install anything locally, like agents, directly on the database servers. That was also a big seller because it simplifies things."

"For me, one of the most useful components has been Performance Investigator, because it completely helps with bottlenecks or performance problems quickly, evaluating whether the root is at the server level, at the development level, or at the database level."

"Based on my experience, I would estimate we are able to resolve database-related performance issues about thirty to forty percent faster than before."

"The most valuable feature is the in-depth capability SQL Performance Investigator provides. It allows you to drill down to the smallest detail that occurs on our platform. It does a highly detailed and atomic follow-up of what one wants to look for in relation to time and our different instances."

"Foglight for Databases allows us to save up to four months of data, enabling us to track performance data for at least one quarter."

More Foglight for Databases pros

"It is highly efficient and easily scalable, particularly for handling large databases."

"Essbase is a kind of backbone, or back end, for systems like Hyperion Planning."

"It is my opinion, it is more comfortable in Oracle rather than a SQL server."

"The solution is quite scalable, which is the most useful aspect for us."

"The solution can handle a large volume of data."

"It's a very powerful analytical engine with Essbase as the back end. We can analyze, transform, or utilize a big chunk of data for our calculations."

"Essbase is extremely stable and low-maintenance."

"It provides for faster and more assertive forecast cycles and enables businesses to improve their process since with this tool, you can do things easily and quicker as the business can create more complex models than were possible before."

More Oracle Essbase pros

Cons

"Over this past weekend I had 400 emails from Foglight. That's a lot. And at least 395 of them were white noise."

"Foglight for Databases could benefit from fewer generic alerts and more rules based on impact, priority, and action path, which would make it more useful for daily operations, on-call shifts, and incident follow-up."

"The system is not that stable; we started having a lot of stability issues once the environment crossed 150 or 160 Db2 servers, with the Agent Manager restarting every five minutes and generating a lot of alerts."

"I had problems with it for a long time, and it took a while before we could get it running with optimum performance."

"I get a lot of alerts that, while important, are not critical. Then I have to dig in and figure out how to turn alerts off, but not the logging. I want to be able to go back, once we get the other big issues out of the way, and start fine-tuning some of those other areas, but I don't necessarily want to receive an email for all of them."

"The system is not that stable. We have been facing a lot of issues. We built a new store environment of Foglight, an environment for monitoring the Lowe's store servers, which are all Db2 servers. The objective is to monitor 800 Db2 servers in each Foglight instance. Up to 150 Db2 servers, the environment was working fine. The moment it crossed 150 or 160, we started having a lot of stability issues."

"One thing that I would like, and it's probably something that I could set up internally, is something other than a dashboard which I have to look at to know that a server is down. I'd like bells and whistles to go off... If I look at the dashboard I know there's a server down. But if I'm not looking at it, if I'm looking at some other problem, I want to know about it. You can do that, you can use SMSs and alerts to your phone, and I could set it up to handle that, but it would be nice if, out-of-the-box, Foglight did that."

"It would be amazing if they could enable the "Performance Investigator" functionality across all database platforms."

More Foglight for Databases cons

"I would like to improve calculations by optimizing performance and reducing processing time."

"The solution could enhance business analytics. I delved into the data using Oracle Essbase to create a new support tool."

"There is room for improvement in terms of cost-effectiveness."

"I find managing the database difficult, especially regarding optimization and data storage with the huge volume of data."

"It's not a very scalable solution."

"The reporting tool of Essbase needs improvement."

"Variable attributes functionality needs to be incorporated in Planning, though it is available in Essbase I believe it is still not in Planning."

"I would like to see an integration with application performance management and a version control management tool."

More Oracle Essbase cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Compared to the other tools on the market, Foglight is okay in terms of pricing and licensing."

"This is like the "Cadillac" of performance monitoring software. It's not cheap... I am currently with a company that I was able to convince that the product is worth the cost."

"The price is worth it, if you have the time to go through the information."

"It is cost-effective. With our EA, it is really based on the scale of our database environment. We found the Quest team to be reasonable and flexible when it comes to pricing and scaling of licenses."

"Pricing is very reasonable. We were able to construct a pretty easy contract with Quest, who were very easy to work with and very amenable to what we are trying to do. It worked out well for us."

"The price of Foglight could be a little more competitive in Chile, and it should be lowered for long-time customers— at least by 20 percent. Sometimes the price is a limitation. We have seven instances and nearly 5 million users. If Quest Foglight could reduce its prices for the clients that have been with it for a long time, we would be able to have more instances."

"It is a costly solution."

"I believe the licensing is on a monthly base."

"Essbase is competitively priced."

"The solution is expensive."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

16%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Outsourcing Company

Financial Services Firm

17%

Construction Company

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	4
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	18

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	4
Midsize Enterprise	1
Large Enterprise	14

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Quest Foglight for Databases?

I have had a good experience with the licensing costs of Foglight for Databases, as we have a provider who has given us good prices, and so far we have not had any cost problems. Regarding configur...

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What needs improvement with Quest Foglight for Databases?

Overall, I am happy with the product, but there are a few areas where it could be improved. First, I think the user interface could be more modern and intuitive, especially for new users. Some dash...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Quest Foglight for Databases?

My main use case is database performance monitoring and troubleshooting. As a developer, I use Foglight for Databases to understand whether database performance is contributing to an application is...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Oracle Essbase?

A significant area for improvement in Oracle Essbase is that financial statement analysis, CAPEX and OPEX analysis, and financial consolidation must be done manually, as Oracle Essbase doesn't incl...

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What is your primary use case for Oracle Essbase?

The initial setup of Oracle Essbase is dependent on whether you select BSO or ASO cubes. First, you need to set up the type of information and once the type of cubes is defined, you need to define ...

See all answers

What advice do you have for others considering Oracle Essbase?

The pricing functionality in Oracle Essbase is handled through the model you develop, where each cube can be customized with members and dimensions for pricing and entities. You can implement any f...

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Foglight for Databases

August 2026

Download Foglight for Databases product report

Buyer's Guide

Oracle Essbase

August 2026

Download Oracle Essbase product report

Also Known As

No data available

Essbase

Overview

Foglight for Databases offers comprehensive monitoring with real-time activity screens and adaptive baselines. It provides a 360-degree overview and efficient UI, requiring no custom scripts, aiding in proactive issue identification and resolution before impacting end users.

Foglight for Databases is a robust tool for monitoring across multiple platforms, including SQL and Oracle. It provides features like the "Morning Coffee" dashboard and SQL Performance Investigator, enabling effective workload analysis and historical investigation. Despite some challenges with sluggish performance on large data volumes and excessive non-critical alerts, it remains a preferred choice for its ability to support proactive management and resource planning. Users appreciate its centralized view of extensive database systems, enabling swift detection and resolution of issues in real-time.

What are the key features?

Comprehensive Monitoring: Provides cross-platform real-time monitoring, ensuring effective database management.
Adaptive Baselines: Adjusts to various workloads, enhancing monitoring accuracy.
SQL Performance Investigator: Offers detailed workload analysis without server impact.
Proactive Alerts: Delivers timely notifications, aiding in immediate issue resolution.
Efficient UI: Streamlines user interaction, minimizing the need for custom scripts.

What benefits and ROI should be considered?

Time Saving: Reduces time in root cause analysis, enhancing productivity.
Proactive Management: Detects issues before they affect end users, minimizing downtime.
Resource Planning: Aids in effective allocation planning for enterprise and cloud platforms.

Foglight is extensively implemented in industries managing extensive database systems, handling numerous servers to ensure availability and performance. It assists businesses in resolving blocking and locking deadlocks, crucial for maintaining smooth operations in production and development environments.

Quest Software

Oracle Essbase provides robust multi-dimensional analysis with a strong calculation engine and aggregate storage, enabling fast calculations and swift response times for large data volumes.

Essbase offers scalable, stable multi-dimensional analysis capabilities, important for enterprises managing large datasets. Its flexibility and efficiency support detailed reporting, strategic decision-making, and advanced modeling. An intuitive interface allows fast data visualization and dynamic analysis, aiding strategic business operations. Continuous upgrades enhance performance and productivity.

What are the key features of Oracle Essbase?

Multi-dimensional Analysis: Enables complex data insights through powerful analysis capabilities.
Calculation Engine: Provides swift calculations essential for timely decision-making in business environments.
Aggregate Storage: Ensures efficient data handling, supporting fast response times and large data volumes.
Intuitive Interface: Facilitates fast visualization and enhances productivity through easy data management.

What benefits or ROI should users focus on in reviews?

Scalability: Supports growing data needs efficiently, maintaining stability.
Performance Upgrades: Continuously improves data processing speeds and system functionality.
Flexibility: Adapts to diverse reporting and analysis needs effectively.
Enhanced Productivity: Increases organizational efficiency with dynamic data analysis capabilities.

In industries like telecommunications, banking, and healthcare, Essbase is used extensively for financial management, including planning, budgeting, and reporting. It facilitates decision-making in multinational firms by supporting enterprise performance management and generating comprehensive financial statements. Users leverage it for complex data processing and intensive queries, improving operational efficiency.

Oracle

Sample Customers

CommitDBA

CHU de Rennes, Bellco Credit Union, Akindo Sushiro Co. Ltd, Deutsche Telekom AG, Samarco MineraÊo S.A., PCCW Ltd., QDQ media S.A.U., Boiron Italia, Specialized Bicycle Components Inc., Akindo Sushiro Co. Ltd., Air Canada, Daelim Industrial Co. Ltd.

Buyer's Guide

Foglight for Databases vs. Oracle Essbase

August 2026

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