Apache Superset vs IBM Cognos Analytics
Apache Superset
superset.apache.org
IBM Cognos Analytics
ibm.comSide by side
| Figure | Apache Superset | IBM Cognos Analytics |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | $10.60/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | — |
| Free trial | — | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | — | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| iOS | — | Yes |
| Android | — | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 2 |
| Spec score · Bi Platforms | 8.8 (#1) | 8.7 (#2) |
| Spec score · Business Analytics | 8.7 (#1) | 8.7 (#2) |
| Spec score · Business Intelligence & Analytics - Midmarket Software | 8.8 (#1) | 8.7 (#2) |
| Spec score · Business Intelligence & Analytics - Enterprise Software | 8.7 (#2) | 8.7 (#3) |
| Spec score · Self Service Analytics | 8.7 (#2) | 8.7 (#3) |
| Spec score · Dashboards | 8.7 (#4) | 8.7 (#5) |
| Spec score · Business Intelligence Tools | 8.7 (#15) | 8.9 (#10) |
| Spec score · Data Analytics Software | 8.7 (#6) | 8.7 (#7) |
| Dashboards | Users can explore data through interactive dashboards and create charts and tables with drag-and-drop tools. | The product provides interactive dashboards with visualizations, drill-downs and email or Slack sharing. |
| Deployment | self-hosted | Deployment options include on-premises, IBM-hosted cloud and certified containers for cloud or on-premises environments. |
| Founded | 2015 | 1911 |
| Free plan | Yes | No |
| Natural-language queries | Yes | Yes |
| Purpose | Apache Superset is an open-source modern data exploration and visualization platform. | IBM Cognos Analytics is a business intelligence platform for reporting, business analytics and AI-assisted insights. |
| Scheduled reports | Yes | Yes |
Plans
In their own words
Apache Superset
Apache Superset is a free, open-source platform for exploring data and creating visualizations. Users can build charts with a no-code tool or work in a SQL IDE, then assemble charts and tables into interactive dashboards with drag-and-drop tools. It includes more than 40 visualization types and supports custom visualizations through plug-ins. Dashboard features include filters, cross-filters, drill-to-detail, and drill-by; other listed tools include caching, Jinja templating, CSS templates, and a semantic layer. The database guide lists 81 supported databases, with each engine requiring a separately installed driver; examples include Trino, Apache Hive, Apache Spark SQL, PostgreSQL, and Google BigQuery. Superset is self-hosted and can be installed through Docker Compose, Kubernetes, or as a Python package from PyPI. Kubernetes is described as the production best-practice option and requires Kubernetes expertise. Superset also lists row-level security, scheduled reports, embedded analytics, and natural-language queries. Its OpenAPI-specification REST API supports automation and integrations, and most endpoints require JWT authentication. Community support is available through Slack, GitHub, a mailing list, and meetups.
IBM Cognos Analytics
IBM Cognos Analytics is a paid business-intelligence platform for reporting, business analytics and AI-assisted insights. It supports hybrid deployment, real-time refresh, scheduled reports and natural-language queries across Android, iOS, Linux, Windows, web, API and self-hosted environments. Users can build multipage reports and share them as HTML, CSV, PDF or Excel files. Interactive dashboards provide visualizations, drill-downs and email or Slack sharing. Time-series modeling supports trend prediction, while the AI Assistant answers natural-language questions about selected data sources and can create dynamic dashboards. Standard costs $10.60 a month per authorized user and includes dashboards, data modules, mobile access, basic administration and AI capabilities, but users receive reports only. Premium costs $42.40 a month per authorized user and adds report creation, execution and scheduling, data explorations, custom visualizations, advanced administration and reporting agents. A free 30-day On-Demand trial supports up to five users.