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SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform vs Zoho Analytics 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
6.6
SAP BusinessObjects BI Platform's ROI varies by usage and integration, with potential returns within 6-12 months if deployed properly.
Sentiment score
7.6
Zoho Analytics saves time, improves decision-making, and reduces costs for $50 monthly, enhancing focus on data analysis.
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.
I have seen a return on investment so far in the form of saved time and resources.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.5
SAP BusinessObjects support varies from poor to excellent; forums and community resources are valuable despite connectivity issues.
Sentiment score
7.4
Zoho Analytics support is praised for responsiveness but criticized for documentation mismatches, call delays, and occasional slow resolutions.
Sometimes, they forward my ticket to the technical team, especially when my issue involves technical aspects that basis people may not be familiar with.
I have experience with SAP technical support and have supported customers, including those in financial services.
I would rate their technical support as excellent.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.8
SAP BusinessObjects BI Platform offers seamless scaling and integration, supporting enterprise-level deployments with reliable performance across various organizations.
Sentiment score
6.8
Zoho Analytics is scalable and efficient, accommodating diverse users and data needs, comparable to Qlik Sense in capabilities.
I rate the scalability of SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform as a nine due to performance issues related to optimizing parts.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.0
SAP BusinessObjects' stability varies with configuration; though resilient, complexity and issues impact reliability compared to competitors.
Sentiment score
7.5
Users find Zoho Analytics mostly stable with minimal downtime, appreciating its responsiveness, though some suggest performance improvements.
When they tried upgrading from 4.2 to 4.3, they found it buggy in some reports, which was quite problematic.
 

Room For Improvement

The SAP BusinessObjects BI Platform struggles with integration, complexity, performance, and usability, needing improvement in cloud integration and support.
Zoho Analytics needs improved graphics, data connectivity, user interface navigation, and more intuitive options for users seeking better functionality.
I've worked with other tools, for example, Microsoft Power BI, which is visualization-wise very strong.
I would appreciate integration with Outlook as an additional feature in the future to make it closer to a perfect score.
If SAP could split the analytics side from financial analytics, it would become more affordable and easier to learn for technicians.
 

Setup Cost

SAP BusinessObjects is costly for enterprises, with complex licensing, yearly fees, and high implementation costs compared to Power BI.
Zoho Analytics offers reasonable pricing starting at a few dollars, with better value for enterprises using Zoho One.
The price is very competitive and reliable.
I rate the pricing for SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform as a seven or eight.
 

Valuable Features

SAP BusinessObjects provides flexible, secure, user-friendly BI tools, enabling efficient report creation and insightful analytics integration with databases.
Zoho Analytics is a powerful tool with extensive features for intuitive visualization, collaboration, and automated reporting, enhancing data-driven insights.
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.
One advantage of SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform is self-service capabilities, allowing users to do drag and drop to build their own reports and perform analyses without needing technical know-how.
The important features include a dashboard and reporting capabilities through SAP Analytics Cloud, which I consider to be a better version than the initial BusinessObjects platform.
 

Categories and Ranking

SAP BusinessObjects Busines...
Ranking in BI (Business Intelligence) Tools
4th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
108
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Zoho Analytics
Ranking in BI (Business Intelligence) Tools
15th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
24
Ranking in other categories
Reporting (11th), Data Visualization (10th), Embedded BI (7th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the BI (Business Intelligence) Tools category, the mindshare of SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform is 3.8%, down from 5.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zoho Analytics is 0.5%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
BI (Business Intelligence) Tools
 

Featured Reviews

Declan Dempsey - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
Laban Kipngeno - PeerSpot reviewer
It's come along way, reviewing it in 2025, and it's a lot more versatile than it was 2 years ago.
Zia serves as a powerful tool for efficiently navigating and retrieving insights from extensive datasets. It enables users to perform rapid searches and gain quick access to relevant information, streamlining the process of analyzing and understanding large volumes of data. This capability significantly enhances decision-making by providing timely and accurate insights tailored to the user's needs.
report
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Comparison Review

it_user6663 - PeerSpot reviewer
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
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
8%
Educational Organization
61%
Computer Software Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
4%
Insurance Company
3%
 

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...
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 SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform?
What I like the most about SAP BusinessObjects BI Platform is that it has significantly improved our decision-making process.
What do you like most about Zoho Analytics?
Zoho Analytics's most valuable feature is the ability to provide excellent analytics through a single platform.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Zoho Analytics?
I rate the tool's pricing seven out of ten. The licensing costs are yearly.
What needs improvement with Zoho Analytics?
The improvement needed is regarding the number of API calls. Currently, Zoho Analytics only allows us to update data hourly. It would be much better to have updates more frequently every half an hour.
 

Also Known As

SAP BusinessObjects BI Platform, SAP BusinessObjects, Business Objects
Zoho Reports
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

SRAM, Kennametal, Fairfax Water, British American Tobacco, Velux, and FedEx.
Suzuki, American Pacific Mortgage, KPMG, Air Canada, University of Michigan, BricozOr, WorldWide Express, The University of Melbourne, Novartis, SAIC
Find out what your peers are saying about SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform vs. Zoho Analytics and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
857,162 professionals have used our research since 2012.