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Pentaho Business Analytics vs Zendesk comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 4, 2025

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
5.9
Pentaho Business Analytics enhanced efficiency and output but faced ROI calculation challenges compared to alternatives like QlikView and Tableau.
Sentiment score
7.3
Zendesk offers cost efficiency and improved productivity, with ROI influenced by alignment with operational needs and process integration.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.8
Pentaho receives mixed feedback on support, with strong community engagement but varying customer service and documentation quality.
Sentiment score
7.0
Zendesk receives praise for responsiveness and ease of use, but some users desire better chat features and human interaction.
The technical support provided by Zendesk has been very satisfactory.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.2
Pentaho scales well and fits organizational needs but may require admin expertise for complex environments and large data.
Sentiment score
7.5
Zendesk is praised for scalability and customization, although some face initial setup challenges and structural integration issues.
Zendesk can scale from very small companies to very large ones.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
6.6
Pentaho Business Analytics is generally stable but has occasional Java caching, RAM, and subprocess issues with large databases.
Sentiment score
7.9
Zendesk is stable with minimal downtimes, reliable performance, occasional minor issues, and high reliability ratings, especially for smaller businesses.
It can handle large datasets.
The stability has been quite reliable.
 

Room For Improvement

Pentaho needs user interface, reporting, and visualization enhancements, along with better debugging, metadata management, and cost-effective licensing.
Zendesk faces challenges with data management, flexibility, integration, user-friendliness, and customer communication, while users are dissatisfied with support and pricing.
Pentaho Business Analytics is hard to learn and not suited for initial users as it requires knowledge of operating systems, Java, and other technical skills.
There could be improvements in integration, which can be achieved with APIs or tools like Zapier.
 

Setup Cost

Pentaho's Community Edition is cost-free, while the Enterprise Edition, offering enhanced features, can cost up to $250,000 annually.
Enterprise buyers find Zendesk's pricing high but valuable, with costs varying by agent count and business needs for tailored solutions.
Pentaho Business Analytics is priced similarly to other competitors such as QlikView and Tableau.
It is not the cheapest solution nor the most expensive, but it provides value for money.
 

Valuable Features

Pentaho Business Analytics offers powerful ETL, user-friendly interface, customizable dashboards, and cost-saving, open-source analytics and reporting features.
Zendesk offers user-friendly ticket management, seamless integrations, multi-channel support, and robust security for efficient and productive customer service.
It is a stable product, and it can handle large datasets.
It allows us to handle more support cases with fewer people due to its advanced artificial intelligence capabilities.
 

Categories and Ranking

Pentaho Business Analytics
Ranking in Reporting
16th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
44
Ranking in other categories
BI (Business Intelligence) Tools (20th), Cloud Operations Analytics (4th)
Zendesk
Ranking in Reporting
13th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
60
Ranking in other categories
CRM Customer Engagement Centers (7th), CRM (20th), Help Desk Software (9th), IT Service Management (ITSM) (7th), Sales Force Automation (7th), Knowledge Management Software (3rd), Community Platforms (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Reporting category, the mindshare of Pentaho Business Analytics is 1.1%, down from 1.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zendesk is 0.2%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Reporting
 

Featured Reviews

Sayan König - PeerSpot reviewer
Flexible, easy to understand, and simple to set up
The repository should be improved. There should be the possibility to have versioning, to make it combinable with some Git repositories or something like that, to check out the processes and make sure it has a traceable history. The solution could really be improved. There are too many bugs in our version.
JohanSkibdahl - PeerSpot reviewer
Automating customer support with advanced AI capabilities and seamless communication
Zendesk has been invaluable in automating communications such as email and phone calls. It allows us to handle more support cases with fewer people due to its advanced artificial intelligence capabilities. This intelligent tool can manage complex queries before users even realize they are interacting with a non-human. Additionally, we have integrated Zendesk with Datto and Klaviyo ( /products/klaviyo-reviews ), enhancing our workflows.
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Reporting solutions are best for your needs.
850,028 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Comparison Review

it_user6978 - PeerSpot reviewer
Jun 10, 2013
Jaspersoft vs. Pentaho – Which one to use & is there any need to purchase the commercial edition
Any company (be it technology, manfucaturing, human resource, ecommerce, SME etc) always has the need for Business Intelligence to some or the other extent. If cost is one of the consideration factor, then the 2 BI tools which are at the forefront are Pentaho and Jaspersoft. But, often the same…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
24%
Computer Software Company
14%
Educational Organization
7%
Real Estate/Law Firm
7%
Computer Software Company
24%
Educational Organization
11%
Financial Services Firm
8%
University
5%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

Seeking lightweight open source BI software
There are many...It would rather depend what System BI architecture or Enterprise legacy you have at your end...I would recommend as follows: 1) If you have legacies of SAP, Oracle - look for SAP...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Pentaho Business Analytics?
Pentaho Business Analytics is priced similarly to other competitors such as QlikView ( /products/qlikview-reviews ) and Tableau ( /products/tableau-reviews ). I usually use the community edition.
What needs improvement with Pentaho Business Analytics?
Pentaho Business Analytics ( /categories/bi-business-intelligence-tools ) is hard to learn and not suited for initial users as it requires knowledge of operating systems, Java, and other technical ...
What do you like most about Zendesk Support?
I found the user experience with vendors on Zendesk to be straightforward, especially when it comes to understanding and searching for specific tickets. The search and navigation tools are easy to ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Zendesk Support?
Zendesk's pricing is reasonable. It is not the cheapest solution nor the most expensive, but it provides value for money.
What needs improvement with Zendesk Support?
There could be improvements in integration, which can be achieved with APIs or tools like Zapier ( /products/zapier-reviews ). However, easier integration could enhance the usability. Multilingual ...
 

Also Known As

Pentaho, Kettle, Hitachi Pentaho Business Analytics
Zendesk Support, Zendesk Guide, Zendesk Sell
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Cargo 2000 Lufthansa, Marketo, ModCloth, Cardiac Science, Telefonica, ExactTarget, Active Broadband Networks, and Brussels Airport.
Mailchimp, Tesco, Vimeo, Instacart, Mediaocean, Slack, Uber
Find out what your peers are saying about Pentaho Business Analytics vs. Zendesk and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
850,028 professionals have used our research since 2012.