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SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform vs TIBCO Spotfire comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 1, 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
5.8
SAP BusinessObjects BI Platform yields high ROI in large deployments, despite steep costs, through efficiency and decision-making improvements.
Sentiment score
6.1
TIBCO Spotfire boosts ROI by enhancing data analysis, reducing manual work, and fostering efficient decision-making for various industries.
The initial investment will be more, but the ROI is also good, so they can consider it if they're looking for something in the long run.
Associate Software Enginner at Siddaganga Institute of Technology
For most of my clients using the on-premises version of SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform, the return on investment is positive due to its affordability and ability to handle diverse reporting needs while automating information distribution.
Data Analytics Manager at Dangote Industries Limited
I have seen a return on investment so far in the form of saved time and resources.
SAP Consultant at Sierra Digital Inc
I have seen a return on investment with TIBCO Spotfire; it has significantly reduced our manual report creation time and increased data-driven decision-making efficiency, so our ROI is good in that aspect.
Global Head - DevOps and AIOps Startegist at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.5
Customer service for SAP BusinessObjects is mixed, showing both responsiveness and delays, with inconsistent technical support quality.
Sentiment score
6.9
TIBCO Spotfire's support is highly rated for expertise and responsiveness, though language barriers and regional variations affect experiences.
I would rate their technical support as excellent.
IT at a marketing services firm with 10,001+ employees
I have experience with SAP technical support and have supported customers, including those in financial services.
Data Analytics Manager at Dangote Industries Limited
Sometimes, they forward my ticket to the technical team, especially when my issue involves technical aspects that basis people may not be familiar with.
SAP Consultant at Sierra Digital Inc
Having a local partner was crucial for us while they were there.
Production Engineer at Parex Resources Inc
I would rate the customer support for TIBCO Spotfire nine out of ten.
Global Head - DevOps and AIOps Startegist at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
TIBCO's support, especially for integration products, is swift.
Business Enabler at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.6
SAP BusinessObjects BI Platform efficiently scales for global enterprises, supporting thousands of users with seamless advanced analytics integration.
Sentiment score
7.0
TIBCO Spotfire is praised for scalability, able to handle large datasets, though issues can arise with outdated versions.
The scalability of SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform is adequate; it is very scalable and grows with my organization's needs.
Senior Data Engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
I rate the scalability of SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform as a nine due to performance issues related to optimizing parts.
SAP Consultant at Sierra Digital Inc
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
6.9
SAP BusinessObjects BI Platform is stable and robust with proper configuration, despite occasional bugs and integration challenges.
Sentiment score
6.5
TIBCO Spotfire is highly stable, with minor issues primarily due to hardware, complex customizations, or resource-intensive conditions.
When they tried upgrading from 4.2 to 4.3, they found it buggy in some reports, which was quite problematic.
Senior Consultant at Keyrus
There are no significant stability issues as long as the product's capabilities are understood and not overly pushed.
Business Enabler at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
Overall, TIBCO Spotfire is a good product and has been a stable platform.
Lead Data Engineer at a transportation company with 10,001+ employees
 

Room For Improvement

SAP BusinessObjects BI Platform faces challenges in performance, integration, user experience, setup, flexibility, and costly licensing.
TIBCO Spotfire needs improved UI, integrated visualizations, mobile capabilities, data handling, and global support for better user experience.
I've worked with other tools, for example, Microsoft Power BI, which is visualization-wise very strong.
Senior Consultant at Keyrus
SAP BusinessObjects is expected to be phased out by 2027 as reports are moving to SAP Analytics Cloud.
SAP enterpise cloud architect at ECC Experienced Certified Consulting
I would appreciate integration with Outlook as an additional feature in the future to make it closer to a perfect score.
IT at a marketing services firm with 10,001+ employees
TIBCO Spotfire and ClickView need improvement in scheduling, which is critical yet lacking in quality.
Business Enabler at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
It could be very useful if the coding part of using the platform could be more user-friendly in terms of visual capability.
Production Engineer at Parex Resources Inc
The usage and flexibility need to be better compared to other analytical tools.
Lead Data Engineer at a transportation company with 10,001+ employees
 

Setup Cost

SAP BusinessObjects BI Platform's licensing is flexible but costly compared to alternatives, suited for large enterprises, budget-sensitive for smaller businesses.
TIBCO Spotfire's pricing is high with strong ROI, offering various licensing options requiring negotiation and patience for competitive deals.
SAP BTP is an expensive solution.
Associate Software Enginner at Siddaganga Institute of Technology
The price is very competitive and reliable.
IT at a marketing services firm with 10,001+ employees
I rate the pricing for SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform as a seven or eight.
SAP Consultant at Sierra Digital Inc
TIBCO Spotfire's pricing is high, particularly in traditional markets like Turkey, impacting market penetration.
Business Enabler at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for TIBCO Spotfire appears fair.
Global Head - DevOps and AIOps Startegist at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
 

Valuable Features

SAP BusinessObjects BI Platform offers scalable, user-friendly reporting with robust features, enhancing decision-making and data governance.
TIBCO Spotfire offers interactive visualizations, real-time analytics, and seamless integration, enhancing data exploration and decision-making efficiency.
For calculations, SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform outperforms all other tools such as Power BI and Tableau, showing more accuracy, reliability, and flexibility compared to all other BI tools worldwide.
SAP Consultant at Sierra Digital Inc
Since we started using SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform, we have been able to make faster, data-driven business decisions based on actual data insights and data analysis, which has accelerated our ability to make better decisions for our business productivity.
Senior Data Engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
The best feature about it for me, and for them, is the fact that you have a universe that is well made.
Senior Consultant at Keyrus
TIBCO Spotfire integrates with R and Python, offering a differentiator from the competition.
Business Enabler at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
I think having Python included is a big win because you get the chance to customize your algorithm and your in-house development without having a big dependency on a third party.
Production Engineer at Parex Resources Inc
TIBCO Spotfire offers excellent features, including flexibility and the ability to do much better compared to other analytical tools.
Lead Data Engineer at a transportation company with 10,001+ employees
 

Categories and Ranking

SAP BusinessObjects Busines...
Ranking in BI (Business Intelligence) Tools
6th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
112
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
TIBCO Spotfire
Ranking in BI (Business Intelligence) Tools
13th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
5.5
Number of Reviews
73
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the BI (Business Intelligence) Tools category, the mindshare of SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform is 2.3%, down from 3.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of TIBCO Spotfire is 1.1%, up from 1.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
BI (Business Intelligence) Tools Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform2.3%
TIBCO Spotfire1.1%
Other96.6%
BI (Business Intelligence) Tools
 

Featured Reviews

Declan Dempsey - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Consultant at Keyrus
Provides efficient data reporting while needing easier deployment and improved interface
Users tend to put everything into Excel, though I try to discourage this. The best feature about it for me, and for them, is the fact that you have a universe that is well made. This means you don't have those months that get assigned. You can just get to the point and get a report very quickly. Unfortunately, in some ways, it's a double-edged sword because it becomes more of a self-service ETL, even for the reporting team. If you have a decent universe and you just want to quickly get something together, it's very usable. Compared to Click, you can drop those reports very quickly.
RA
Global Head - DevOps and AIOps Startegist at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
Advanced analytics have transformed self-service insights while the interface still needs improvement
The best features TIBCO Spotfire offers, in my opinion, are its built-in advanced analytics and automation services, which make it really powerful compared to typical reporting tools such as Power BI or Tableau. When I mention advanced analytics automation services in TIBCO Spotfire, I mean it handles large data volumes efficiently with stable performance and good refresh speeds that we get. TIBCO Spotfire's integration capabilities are smooth; it seamlessly integrates with SQL databases, cloud systems, and Excel files without requiring heavy IT intervention. TIBCO Spotfire has positively impacted my organization; we now have extensive use, with around 50 plus users across operations, finance, and business strategy teams using TIBCO Spotfire for self-service insights. Since rolling out TIBCO Spotfire to those 50 plus users, we have seen specific outcomes, such as cost and time saving, and decision-making has also become faster using TIBCO Spotfire with its deep analytics.
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Comparison Review

it_user6663 - PeerSpot reviewer
BI Expert at a transportation company with 51-200 employees
May 25, 2013
SAP Business Objects vs. Microsoft BI
A quick look at the whole idea on another weblogs gives you a sense that all of them just talked about very brief things like report refresh feature in BO or cube feature in MS Analysis Service. I choose MS BI and I want to share my reasons and opinions on why I choose it and give you another quick…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
15%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
8%
Manufacturing Company
19%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Healthcare Company
8%
Energy/Utilities Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business32
Midsize Enterprise19
Large Enterprise67
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business18
Midsize Enterprise12
Large Enterprise41
 

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...
Tableau vs. Business Objects - Which is a better solution for visualization and analysis?
Both tools have their positives and negatives. First, I should mention that I am relatively new to Tableau. I have been working on and off Tableau for about a year, but getting to work on it consta...
What do you like most about TIBCO Spotfire?
TIBCO Spotfire is easy to use. We initiated Spotfire as POC, with support from a tech team based in South Africa. While they assisted with the setup, we conducted the POC ourselves.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for TIBCO Spotfire?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for TIBCO Spotfire appears fair, and I think they are fairly priced as far as the features are concerned.
What needs improvement with TIBCO Spotfire?
TIBCO Spotfire can be improved in several areas. The UI can be enhanced, and the usage and flexibility need to be better compared to other analytical tools.
 

Also Known As

SAP BusinessObjects BI Platform, SAP BusinessObjects, Business Objects
Spotfire
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

SRAM, Kennametal, Fairfax Water, British American Tobacco, Velux, and FedEx.
Allergan, ASSS de Montreal, Avantium, Blue River, Bank of Montreal, Citibank, FrieslandCampina, Hellmann Logistics, Merck, Novartis
Find out what your peers are saying about SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform vs. TIBCO Spotfire and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
879,927 professionals have used our research since 2012.