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Qlik Sense vs SAP BusinessObjects Design Studio 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:
 

Categories and Ranking

Qlik Sense
Ranking in Data Visualization
3rd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
119
Ranking in other categories
Embedded BI (2nd)
SAP BusinessObjects Design ...
Ranking in Data Visualization
21st
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
5.8
Number of Reviews
1
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Data Visualization category, the mindshare of Qlik Sense is 7.5%, down from 9.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP BusinessObjects Design Studio is 0.7%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Data Visualization
 

Featured Reviews

Vishal_Goyal - PeerSpot reviewer
In-memory data storage boosts performance
The advantages compared to other BI tools show architectural differences. The main feature is that it keeps all the data in memory. It doesn't retrieve the data from data sources when I need it on the dashboard; instead, it quickly provides the desired data, making it very fast compared to other BI tools. The ROI is very high using Qlik Sense. It offers many benefits of BI. It is flexible from a developer's point of view, allowing me to accomplish many tasks compared to other BI tools. From an end-user perspective, it's convenient and performance-oriented, providing something meaningful from all the organization's data.
reviewer2329704 - PeerSpot reviewer
Comprehensive product with valuable dashboard and reporting features
SAP BusinessObjects offers a comprehensive solution with all BI functionalities. It includes valuable features like a dashboard, reporting, visualization, etc The platform's pricing needs improvement. It is very expensive. They should work on this particular area. We have been using SAP…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The associative searching and filtering capability is a unique feature among other BI tools, and one does not need to deeply understand the underlying data."
"The reports are better looking than in QlikView."
"It automates recurring processes to save time and money."
"It connects very simply​ to data sources."
"This solution has improved our organization by making our analysis results available to customers."
"Set analysis is a powerful scripting functionality which calculates complex queries into simple terms."
"The product is very stable."
"Leveraging and reusability of already existing QlikView assets and knowledge."
"It includes valuable features like a dashboard, reporting, visualization, etc."
 

Cons

"My advice to others is to make sure they have a good technical team. We have found that a lot of the consultants go in and out of the business and sometimes you are left alone without assistance."
"From the initial setup of the product we had some struggles getting connections to some of our databases to function, this indicated that some of the data extract drivers can be improved and addition of some of the older database engines need to be added in Qlik Sense."
"Areas for improvement include user-friendliness, self-service, and some of the visualization options for generating reports."
"The on-demand report generation button in Qlik Sense currently doesn't work if NPrinting requires Okta verification, which our company uses."
"I would like to see more types of visual elements and better configuration options for additional flexibility when developing charts."
"It needs continued improvement on its visualizations and content customization."
"I would like to have the ability to better customize the visuals including changing fonts, sizing, colors, axes, and titles."
"I would like to more easily themed environments."
"The platform's pricing needs improvement."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Understand the break over price point for switching to the Enterprise license."
"The cost is not bad considering the flexibility and support you receive from Qlik. I believe it is worth the cost."
"Costs are a little high on the license/token side. However, if you look at the TCO, it is not too bad, particularly against Power BI."
"For personal use, the desktop version of Qlik Sense is absolutely free, and you can share visualizations with others and to a personal cloud space, though limited with storage space."
"Licensing can start to get expensive, but compared to other tools in this space it is about average."
"It is a little expensive for the Italian market. Normally, Qlik Sense has two types and costs. The medium cost is around 700 euros per year."
"The solution is worth it."
"We have 20 licenses for Qlik Sense, and it is a special license that allows people in the whole company to use it over time. You buy this license and there are some minutes that can be used. For example, for the users that used only a few minutes in a month, we use this license. All the people have the ability to work with Qlik Sense. However, the number of licenses is not the number of users. The number of users that uses Qlik Sense is approximately 35 people."
"The platform's pricing needs to be revised."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
44%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Computer Software Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
6%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

Seeking lightweight open source BI software
It depends on the Data architecture and the complexity of your requirement. Some great tools in the market are Qlik Sense, Power BI, OBIEE, Tableau, etc. I have recently started using Cognos Enter...
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 do you like most about Qlik Sense?
The most valuable features of Qlik Sense are its speed and seamless development of web technologies.
What do you like most about SAP BusinessObjects Design Studio?
It includes valuable features like a dashboard, reporting, visualization, etc.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SAP BusinessObjects Design Studio?
The platform's pricing needs to be revised, and thus, one of its disadvantages.
What needs improvement with SAP BusinessObjects Design Studio?
The platform's pricing needs improvement. It is very expensive. They should work on this particular area.
 

Also Known As

QlikSense
SAP Design Studio, BusinessObjects Design Studio
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Abbvie, Airbus, Barclays, BT Openreach, BMW, Daimler AG, HSBC, IKEA, Nationwide Building Society, Royal Mail Group, Sanofi, Siemens, Wendy'', Vodafone, Volvo
Wipro, Tetra Pak, MIGROS
Find out what your peers are saying about Salesforce, Splunk, Qlik and others in Data Visualization. Updated: May 2025.
857,162 professionals have used our research since 2012.