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Amazon QuickSight vs IBM Cognos 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
3.8
Amazon QuickSight provides competitive pricing, significant time savings, and value, though ROI varies based on usage effectiveness.
Sentiment score
5.8
IBM Cognos boosts efficiency, saves over $650k annually, improving data insights and operational performance, with varied ROI based on implementation.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
5.7
Amazon QuickSight's support experiences vary, with helpful Enterprise Support, useful documentation, but inconsistent general assistance based on issues.
Sentiment score
6.4
IBM Cognos support quality varies, with competent tech support; costs and partner reliance are noted; ratings mostly 6-9.
I would say out of all the support experience I've had, only 5% took quite a long time to respond to the support message.
Engineer at Hubtel
I would say at the moment, so far, good in the sense of Amazon's technical support.
General Manager Information Systems at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
Our systems team, operating on a lot of Red Hat Enterprise Linux and maintaining long-term relations with IBM, benefits from good support coverage.
EDW Manager at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees
I rate technical support from IBM as eight out of ten, indicating a high quality of service.
head of commercial at Assimil8 Ltd.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
5.8
Amazon QuickSight offers scalability for various organizations but faces mixed reviews regarding performance with large datasets.
Sentiment score
7.4
IBM Cognos is generally scalable, handling thousands of users, though some face configuration challenges in distributed systems.
It can be scaled out to other teams, but requires building cubes and implementing policies.
head of commercial at Assimil8 Ltd.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
6.5
Amazon QuickSight is stable and reliable, with occasional issues quickly resolved, but lacks maturity compared to Tableau and Power BI.
Sentiment score
7.2
IBM Cognos is generally stable, with occasional issues due to external factors, poor design, or large queries.
I rate the stability of this solution as nine out of ten, indicating it is highly stable.
head of commercial at Assimil8 Ltd.
 

Room For Improvement

QuickSight users seek improved features like data integration, visualizations, machine learning, user design, cost efficiency, and documentation.
IBM Cognos needs better data visualization, simplified database connections, enhanced interface, and improved performance to compete with Tableau.
Understanding how AWS charges for Amazon QuickSight usage is critical for all users wanting to visualize their data effectively.
IT Infrastructure Support Specialist at Olam Agri
For example, making automation for filling missing data or reformatting incorrect data formats, and making date corrections.
Freelancer at a government with 501-1,000 employees
On the analytics side, we are migrating into Amazon QuickSight. One of the products is already migrating, and the rest is in the pipeline.
General Manager Information Systems at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
There is room for improvement in self-service analytics and predictiveness.
head of commercial at Assimil8 Ltd.
Since IBM Cognos is a futuristic platform with many robust features, it takes time to grasp all the features and how they work, so there is a learning curve.
Senior Data Engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
We are generally satisfied, but I am not certain if IBM Cognos meets every feature request from users since we only provide IBM Cognos as our standard and do not maintain infrastructure for other tools.
EDW Manager at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Setup Cost

Amazon QuickSight offers cost-effective, flexible pricing, ideal for AWS users, with potential savings through pay-as-you-go options.
IBM Cognos is costly but valued for features; negotiate near fiscal year-end for discounts, especially through partners.
It is not expensive, but it is also not cheap.
Senior Solutions Architect at a media company with 10,001+ employees
I rate pricing as a four, meaning it is more expensive compared to other solutions.
head of commercial at Assimil8 Ltd.
 

Valuable Features

Amazon QuickSight offers seamless AWS integration, ease of use, cost efficiency, fast visualizations, and advanced analytics features for diverse needs.
IBM Cognos offers flexible reporting, interactive dashboards, AI insights, and comprehensive BI functions for enhanced decision-making and scalability.
The interactive dashboards of Amazon QuickSight are very important tools in business intelligence.
Freelancer at a government with 501-1,000 employees
The natural language query is very important, and natural language processing is crucial for disseminating dashboards across multiple formats and mechanisms.
Senior Solutions Architect at a media company with 10,001+ employees
Interactive dashboards do help with data analysis.
General Manager Information Systems at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
The AI features in IBM Cognos helped me gain deeper insights into our business processes, enabling me to make data-driven decisions easily and understand which points need our attention and which areas of our business are performing well.
Senior Data Engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
IBM Cognos is a robust governed platform with significant security features and provides excellent graphics and reporting.
head of commercial at Assimil8 Ltd.
IBM Cognos is evaluated and complies fully with all our security standards.
EDW Manager at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Categories and Ranking

Amazon QuickSight
Ranking in BI (Business Intelligence) Tools
5th
Average Rating
7.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
34
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
IBM Cognos
Ranking in BI (Business Intelligence) Tools
9th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.0
Number of Reviews
136
Ranking in other categories
Reporting (5th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the BI (Business Intelligence) Tools category, the mindshare of Amazon QuickSight is 3.7%, down from 7.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM Cognos is 1.3%, down from 3.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
BI (Business Intelligence) Tools Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Amazon QuickSight3.7%
IBM Cognos1.3%
Other95.0%
BI (Business Intelligence) Tools
 

Featured Reviews

SN
IT Infrastructure Support Specialist at Olam Agri
Can always access reports through intuitive dashboards that support diverse data connections
I can't specifically say how Amazon QuickSight could be improved since I focus more on using it and leveraging its functionalities. However, I could invest additional time to explore possible feedback from customers regarding their challenges. As cloud engineers, our capacity to improve is limited since AWS manages the services, but I would be open to feedback. I'm aware there are minor details that AWS could enhance, such as optimizing costs for beginners or small startups, which can be steep when trying to take Amazon QuickSight into production. Many have noticed that AWS services greatly benefit well-established companies, while startups struggle with costs as they transition data out of AWS. Understanding how AWS charges for Amazon QuickSight usage is critical for all users wanting to visualize their data effectively.
reviewer2648136 - PeerSpot reviewer
EDW Manager at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees
Centralized reporting has supported university-wide regulatory dashboards and secure data access
From my experience, we use regular dashboarding with IBM Cognos for producing scheduled reports and for mandatory regulatory reporting. All our departments use IBM Cognos, with each department developing their own reports while our corporate IT team provides the data. Some people use the interactive dashboards feature of IBM Cognos, and there are also other tools in use. I think some users utilize Power BI and Tableau, but our IT organization only provides IBM Cognos as an enterprise business intelligence and reporting tool. IBM Cognos is evaluated and complies fully with all our security standards. In my opinion, IBM Cognos is very stable. It has been around for many years and many users are familiar with it, ensuring it performs well in its intended capacity. The benefits of choosing IBM Cognos, aside from cost savings, include having institutional knowledge for maintaining this infrastructure and a reliable solution that enhances developer productivity, given our team's extensive experience with IBM Cognos.
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Comparison Review

it_user79932 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Manager - BI Head with 5,001-10,000 employees
Feb 4, 2015
Comparison of SAP BO, Tableau, QlikView, Cognos, Microsoft, OBIEE and Pentaho
1. SAP BO/BI Enterprise scalability Security Ease of use Semantic layer 2. Tableau Visualization Data discovery Turnaround time 3. IBM Cognos Enterprise scalability Security In-memory feature 4. MS BI - Flexibility 5. Pentaho - Open source but still enterprise grade 6. QlikView Data…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
16%
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Government
6%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Insurance Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business7
Midsize Enterprise10
Large Enterprise16
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business34
Midsize Enterprise23
Large Enterprise86
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Amazon QuickSight?
The integration is very seamless. We stored our result CSV files in S3 and connected directly from there.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Amazon QuickSight?
Amazon QuickSight charges $250 per user, which becomes expensive when managing multiple departments. However, this cost is offset by the advantages it provides.
What needs improvement with Amazon QuickSight?
Amazon QuickSight could be improved by embedding AI features. For example, making automation for filling missing data or reformatting incorrect data formats, and making date corrections. This would...
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...
What do you like most about IBM Cognos?
The solution's most valuable feature is its ease of use, which makes it easily compatible with other tools.
What needs improvement with IBM Cognos?
Since IBM Cognos is a futuristic platform with many robust features, it takes time to grasp all the features and how they work, so there is a learning curve. The more I use this platform, the more ...
 

Also Known As

QuickSight
Cognos, Cognos Analytics, IBM Cognos Analytics
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

MLB Advanced Media, Infor, HotelBeds, Gemini, Jivochat, Edmunds.com
More than 23,000 leading organizations across multiple industries use Cognos. Some examples of Cognos customers include BMW Financial Services, Quinte Health Care, Troy Corporation, Michigan State University, and GKN Land System.
Find out what your peers are saying about Amazon QuickSight vs. IBM Cognos and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
879,889 professionals have used our research since 2012.