IBM Cognos Analytics vs SAP Analytics Cloud
IBM Cognos Analytics
ibm.comSAP Analytics Cloud
sap.comSide by side
| Figure | IBM Cognos Analytics | SAP Analytics Cloud |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $10.60/mo | $36/mo |
| Free plan | — | — |
| Free trial | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | — |
| Linux | Yes | — |
| iOS | Yes | Yes |
| Android | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 2 | 2 |
| Spec score · Ai Analytics | 8.6 (#1) | 8.5 (#3) |
| Spec score · Business Intelligence & Analytics - Midmarket Software | 8.7 (#2) | 8.6 (#5) |
| Spec score · Business Intelligence Tools | 8.9 (#10) | 9.2 (#2) |
| Data connections | Cognos Analytics supports relational, OLAP and DMR data sources, and can apply Cognos security while respecting source-defined security. | It supports live connections that analyze source data without replication and import connections that acquire and replicate data for modeling. |
| Deployment | Deployment options include on-premises, IBM-hosted cloud and certified containers for cloud or on-premises environments. | hybrid |
| Founded | 1911 | 1972 |
| Free plan | No | No |
| Headquarters | Armonk, New York, United States | Walldorf, Germany |
| Integrations | IBM lists integrations with Planning Analytics, SPSS Statistics, watsonx BI and watsonx.data. | Named data sources include SAP HANA, SAP S/4HANA, SAP BW/4HANA, SAP BusinessObjects, SQL, OData, and Google BigQuery. |
| Natural-language queries | Yes | Yes |
| Refresh frequency | real-time | real-time |
| Scheduled reports | Yes | Yes |
| Support | IBM Support provides cases, fixes, technical documentation and known-issue information, and requires registration, an IBM Customer Number and Site Administrator approval. | SAP identifies partner specialists, SAP experts, and its extended developer community as support resources for deployment and questions. |
| Trial | The On-Demand trial is free for 30 days and includes Premium features for up to five users. | The basic trial is a no-cost, 30-day experience on a shared tenant using sample data; it omits some administration, customization, master data management, and integration capabilities. |
Plans
SAP Analytics Cloud
- Business Intelligence$36 a month
- SAP Analytics CloudPriced on request
In their own words
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.
SAP Analytics Cloud
SAP Analytics Cloud brings business intelligence, analytics and enterprise planning together in a cloud service. It supports financial, supply chain and operational planning, with real-time data refresh, scheduled reports, embedded analytics, natural-language queries and row-level security. Joule can automate reports, model scenarios, surface insights and handle analytics and planning tasks through conversation. More than 100 prebuilt business content packages are available across lines of business. Named data sources include SAP HANA, SAP S/4HANA, SAP BW/4HANA, SAP BusinessObjects, SQL, OData and Google BigQuery. Live connections analyze data at its source without replication; import connections bring data in for modeling. The service offers web, iOS and Android access and hybrid deployment. Mobile apps require an SAP Analytics Cloud account and mobile services enabled by the user's IT department. Pricing is on request, and there is no free plan. A no-cost 30-day trial uses sample data on a shared tenant and excludes some administration, customization, master data management and integration capabilities.