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IBM Cognos vs Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 4, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

IBM Cognos
Ranking in Reporting
4th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
134
Ranking in other categories
BI (Business Intelligence) Tools (7th)
Microsoft SQL Server Report...
Ranking in Reporting
6th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
20
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2025, in the Reporting category, the mindshare of IBM Cognos is 4.6%, down from 5.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services is 3.3%, down from 4.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Reporting
 

Featured Reviews

AMOL JAJU - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers ad hoc analysis reports and good for operational dashboarding
There used to be many valuable features, but in the last three or four years, whatever IBM is doing with enhancements, it has taken a lot of time to build and develop. But the best usage of Cognos is the ad hoc analysis reports. I really like that. Our customers also like that. But now the usage of Cognos and OBIE is reduced by various business users because people and business users are now more focused on analytics, slice and dice, and the dashboard, and the widgets.
Gnanavel-Chakkarapani - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers useful templates but needs to improve the connectivity offered
In Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services, not much of the interface part is used. With Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services, its users face issues with the interface after they use Excel or create Microsoft SSIS Packages. The tool's interface is an area of concern requiring improvement. There needs to be an improvement in the product's connectivity so that the tool can connect easily with other third-party databases. In the dashboard, drag and drop functionality needs to improve, especially when compared to other tools like IBM Cognos Analytics and Qlik Sense. Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services is useful only for standard reports. In IBM Cognos Analytics, query studio can be used by users to drag the data and simply download the reports, so the user doesn't need to have any technical knowledge like developers. Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services is to be improved to offer features like query Studio, which is provided in IBM Cognos Analytics.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"Mapbox integration for geospatial analytics down to longitude/latitude layers."
"The most valuable feature is developing reports from different data sources, making it a reliable data source."
"IBM Cognos improves the effectiveness of the sales team."
"In terms of stability, I think that Cognos is more stable than Tableau and Power Bi because of its framework manager concept that allows us to import metadata and store it in the framework manager."
"The most valuable feature of IBM Cognos is security. The solution has updated features that other competitors' solutions come out with long after IBM Cognos has had them."
"For planning, forecasting, in-boxing, modeling in general and for predicting numbers and doing work analysis, they are excellent."
"The most valuable features of IBM Cognos are governance and enterprise reporting."
"I have worked on the features like dashboards and stories, and I do like them a lot."
"It is scalable."
"Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services has been functional whenever I needed to use it."
"I like Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services' automated reporting feature."
"I mainly use the solution for the ease of reporting and for executive dashboards."
"I'm very satisfied with the customer service. And usually, whenever we have any issue or details, we get to the person for the support. I'm really satisfied with the service. Within a few minutes or within a few hours, the support person will be available."
"The initial setup is easy."
"In Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services, the installation and configuration are easy."
"The stability of SSRS has been reliable, with minimal issues encountered during our usage."
 

Cons

"The solution seems to slow down the servers."
"In terms of what could be improved, I would say, monitoring, monitoring, monitoring. Some improvements in monitoring would be helpful. I'd like to see more monitoring of specific reports and fields. The way the auditing is now is very limited, so I'd like to see more of that - of the monitoring."
"I would like to see is more easy building, movement in the reports, and dashboard functionality within reporting. Overall more simple elements within reports. If the elements are simple then you don't have to render a full page, but you can move separate parts in the page."
"There are a lot of limitations with the out-of-the-box tool."
"We need more predictive analytical functions, not only diagnostic or decryptic analytics."
"I need improvements, particularly with the Framework Manager, which has an outdated user interface from older versions like IBM Cognos 10 or 8. Additionally, the Event Studio, which offered great flexibility in previous versions, is no longer available in IBM Cognos Analytics 12. These are areas that could be improved to enhance the product."
"Cognos charts are not as fast as those of the other tools, even with DQM (dynamic query mode)."
"The performance is a bottleneck and something that can be improved."
"There is room for improvement in the pricing model."
"The setup is difficult because you have to install different servers."
"It is not easy to integrate the product with other tools in the market."
"There are occasions during maintenance runs when the Check Point monitoring system reports a lot of blocked sessions."
"It would be really nice to have better integration between the solution and Power BI."
"In this solution, the cost should be reduced for the enterprise edition."
"Tableau is more user-friendly because it doesn't need to do any extra programming. It has drag-and-drop functionality."
"The solution's interface is old."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It's more expensive than similar solutions like Tableau and Power BI."
"It is quite pricy. I think Microsoft BI is cheaper. Tableau might also be cheaper, but it also depends on the usage. If you have very many users, Cognos can be a problem. It could be cheaper than Tableau but not for so many users. If you have a few thousand users, Tableau, which is generally quite expensive, can be cheaper than Cognos."
"There is a standard license required to use this solution. There are some additional tools but I am not sure if they are an extra cost."
"It is averagely priced."
"It is pretty expensive."
"IBM Cognos is priced reasonable. However, it is more expensive than Power BI and Tableau."
"The cost of IBM Cognos it's more or less the same as most of the other solutions on the market. They're very competitive with the rest of the market and it is not the most expensive product."
"I rate the product price as four or five on a scale from one to ten, where one is a low price, and ten is a high price."
"Value-wise, the solution's pricing is good for the price that we pay."
"The product pricing is reasonable in terms of suitable features for business."
"The solution is cheaper than its alternatives."
"The price is pretty good."
"The tool's licensing costs are expensive."
"The solution is free to use for developers."
"The solution is expensive."
"The pricing is high."
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Comparison Review

it_user79932 - PeerSpot reviewer
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
Educational Organization
56%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Computer Software Company
4%
Manufacturing Company
4%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Government
12%
Computer Software Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

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?
There is room for improvement in self-service analytics and predictiveness.
What do you like most about Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services?
I mainly use the solution for the ease of reporting and for executive dashboards.
What needs improvement with Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services?
They could improve the scalability and stability of SQL Server Reporting Services. I haven't used it recently, so I can't provide detailed suggestions on improvements.
 

Also Known As

Cognos, Cognos Analytics, IBM Cognos Analytics
SQL Server Reporting Services, Microsoft SSRS, SSRS, MS SQL Server Reporting Services
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

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.
CMS Wire, The New York Times
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Cognos vs. Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
842,296 professionals have used our research since 2012.