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IBM Cognos vs Teradata comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 4, 2026

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
6.2
Organizations benefit from IBM Cognos by saving costs, reducing delivery times, enhancing productivity, and improving data insights and decision-making.
Sentiment score
6.9
Teradata significantly boosts speed, efficiency, and ROI, with studies showing a 427% average ROI over three years.
I have seen a return on investment with time savings and productivity gains, as we have consistent, governed data models that reduce the risk of errors by eliminating manual data entry.
Senior Software Engineer at McKinsey and Company
I have seen a return on investment, as I mentioned earlier about time saving and productivity gains, with a consistent governed data model that reduces the risk of errors.
Sr. Project Manager at GlaxoSmithKline
At least fifteen to twenty percent of our time has been saved using Teradata, which has positively affected team productivity and business outcomes.
Senior product analyst at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Independent research showed that Teradata VantageCloud users achieved an average ROI of 427% across three years with payback under a year, demonstrating the platform's ability to deliver a strong financial return.
Engineers at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
We have realized a return on investment, with a reduction of staff from 27 to eight, and our current return on investment is approximately 14%.
Interim and Fractional CIO and CTO at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.4
IBM Cognos support varies; online resources and knowledgeable staff assist, but complex issues lead to frustration with resolution times.
Sentiment score
7.1
Teradata's support is praised for professionalism and responsiveness, but feedback on speed is mixed; training resources enhance service.
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.
they are slow to respond to my queries
Senior Software Engineer at McKinsey and Company
The customer support for Teradata has been great.
Interim and Fractional CIO and CTO at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
They are responsive and knowledgeable, and the documentation is very helpful.
Engineers at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
Customer support is very good, rated eight out of ten under our essential agreement.
Team Leader for Data Base Administrators at a government with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.4
IBM Cognos is praised for its scalability, though it requires correct hardware and configuration to optimize performance fully.
Sentiment score
7.5
Teradata offers scalable cloud and on-premise solutions with strong adaptability, overcoming hardware limitations and cost challenges efficiently.
The scalability of IBM Cognos is very good, as it has continued growing with my organization's needs, allowing us to analyze and store a significant amount of data and handle our organization's growth efficiently.
Sr. Project Manager at GlaxoSmithKline
It can be scaled out to other teams, but requires building cubes and implementing policies.
head of commercial at Assimil8 Ltd.
Whenever we need more resources, we can add that in Teradata, and when not needed, we can scale it down as well.
Senior product analyst at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
This flexibility allows organizations to scale according to their needs, balancing performance, cost, and compliance requirements.
Engineers at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
This expansion can occur without incurring downtime or taking systems offline.
Principal Consultant & Director at Quensulting
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.2
IBM Cognos is reliable with correct setup, but complex tasks and high loads may cause occasional performance slowdowns.
Sentiment score
8.3
Teradata's robust architecture ensures exceptional stability and reliability, with minimal downtime and high user ratings despite some integration challenges.
Even though we deal with a huge amount of data, it is capable of handling it, making it very stable.
Senior Software Engineer at McKinsey and Company
I rate the stability of this solution as nine out of ten, indicating it is highly stable.
head of commercial at Assimil8 Ltd.
Its massively parallel process architecture allows the platform to distribute workload efficiently, enabling organizations to run heavy analytic queries without compromising speed or stability.
Engineers at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
I find the stability to be almost a ten out of ten.
Team Leader for Data Base Administrators at a government with 1,001-5,000 employees
The workload management and software maturity provide a reliable system.
Principal Consultant & Director at Quensulting
 

Room For Improvement

IBM Cognos needs better data visualization, user interface, and integration improvements to compete effectively with Tableau and Power BI.
Teradata requires improvements in transaction processing, scalability, UI, cost-effectiveness, analytics features, integration capabilities, and security measures.
Integration with Azure login makes trouble.
Sr. Project Manager at GlaxoSmithKline
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 LTI LATAM and Toubro Improtech
I want to highlight two features for improvement: first, storing data in various formats without requiring a tabular structure, accommodating unstructured data; and second, adding AI ML features to better integrate Gen AI, LLM concepts, and user-friendly experiences such as text-to-SQL capabilities.
Data Engineer at Tredence Inc.
Unlike SQL and Oracle, which have in-built replication capabilities, we don't have similar functionality with Teradata.
Team Leader for Data Base Administrators at a government with 1,001-5,000 employees
The most challenging aspect is finding Teradata resources, so we are focusing on internal training and looking for more Teradata experts.
Interim and Fractional CIO and CTO at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
 

Setup Cost

IBM Cognos offers comprehensive features with competitive pricing, making it cost-effective for enterprises despite perceived high costs.
Teradata offers high-value analytics with flexible pricing, excelling in performance and ROI, ideal for large enterprises and data-intensive sectors.
I rate pricing as a four, meaning it is more expensive compared to other solutions.
head of commercial at Assimil8 Ltd.
I believe the pricing is affordable and pocket-friendly for every organization.
Senior Software Engineer at McKinsey and Company
Teradata is much more expensive than SQL, which is well-performed and cheaper.
Team Leader for Data Base Administrators at a government with 1,001-5,000 employees
Initially, it may seem expensive compared to similar cloud databases, however, it offers significant value in performance, stability, and overall output once in use.
Principal Consultant & Director at Quensulting
Role-based access control (RBAC), strong audit and compliance features, high availability, fault tolerance, and encrypted data at rest and in-transit are key features.
Engineers at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
 

Valuable Features

IBM Cognos excels in reporting, integration, security, and analytics, providing essential tools for data-driven enterprise decision-making.
Teradata excels in parallel processing, scalability, and performance, offering robust data management, security, and integration for efficient data warehousing.
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 LTI LATAM and Toubro Improtech
IBM Cognos transforms raw data into insights and analytics, enabling our data team to make great insights and data-driven decisions easily.
Senior Software Engineer at McKinsey and Company
I love the seamless and efficient data integration capability of IBM Cognos Analytics, where it allows us easy merging of data from various sources such as customer feedback and sales figures.
Sr. Project Manager at GlaxoSmithKline
Teradata's security helps our organization meet compliance requirements such as GDPR and IFRS, and it is particularly essential for revenue contracting or revenue recognition.
Interim and Fractional CIO and CTO at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
Its architecture allows information to be processed efficiently while maintaining stable performance, even in highly demanding environments.
Engineers at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
It facilitates data integration, where we integrate and analyze data from various sources, making it a powerful and high-quality reliable solution for the company.
Senior Data Engineer at a media company with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Categories and Ranking

IBM Cognos
Ranking in BI (Business Intelligence) Tools
9th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.0
Number of Reviews
138
Ranking in other categories
Reporting (5th)
Teradata
Ranking in BI (Business Intelligence) Tools
8th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
83
Ranking in other categories
Customer Experience Management (6th), Backup and Recovery (15th), Data Integration (15th), Relational Databases Tools (6th), Data Warehouse (3rd), Marketing Management (5th), Cloud Data Warehouse (3rd), Database Management Systems (DBMS) (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the BI (Business Intelligence) Tools category, the mindshare of IBM Cognos is 1.3%, down from 3.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Teradata is 1.0%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
BI (Business Intelligence) Tools Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
IBM Cognos1.3%
Teradata1.0%
Other97.7%
BI (Business Intelligence) Tools
 

Featured Reviews

Christine Wanjiru - PeerSpot reviewer
Sr. Project Manager at GlaxoSmithKline
Reporting workflows have become faster and data-driven decisions are made confidently
The best features IBM Cognos offers include seamless data integration, AI-powered insights, and user-friendly dashboards that really make my job easier. The AI-powered insights help me automatically identify patterns and insights where they enhance analysis depth effortlessly, and this feature has been very instrumental in uncovering variable insights that might have otherwise gone unnoticed. When it comes to seamless data integration, I love the seamless and efficient data integration capability of IBM Cognos Analytics, where it allows us easy merging of data from various sources such as customer feedback and sales figures. The smooth integration process streamlines workflow efficiency and enhances overall data management practice. I also really love the user-friendly and intuitive dashboards where IBM Cognos Analytics enables quick creation of custom dashboards and an easy understanding of visual data presentation, allowing us to identify trends at a glance and enhance our analytical capabilities. IBM Cognos has positively impacted my organization since implementing this tool, as it has been very helpful with a particularly strong data analysis capability that helps us in business planning. Its strong data analysis capability helps us for business planning, and the great reporting capacity helps update all the leadership management about the business in one report. Auto-scheduling and report generation is a good feature that saves a significant amount of time. Specific outcomes that show how IBM Cognos has helped my organization include saving time, as we have been able to save forty to fifty percent of our time with its auto-scheduling and report generation functionality.
David Durand Velásquez - PeerSpot reviewer
Engineers at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
Delivers consistent performance and enables advanced analytics across complex data environments
Teradata stands out as a solid platform for managing and analyzing large volumes of data. Its architecture allows information to be processed efficiently while maintaining stable performance, even in highly demanding environments. One of its most notable strengths is the ability to run complex queries at high speed, which is essential for organizations that require timely and reliable analytics. Teradata offers a well-integrated ecosystem that supports working with different types of data and enables scalability as organizational needs grow. Its focus on advanced analytics, integration with modern business intelligence tools, and the ability to operate both on-premise and in the cloud make it a versatile solution for data warehousing and large-scale processing. Teradata's stability, technological maturity, and the availability of strong documentation and best practices are noteworthy. I consider Teradata to be a tool with great potential for any organization looking to enhance its analytical capabilities, optimize data processing, and move toward more data-driven decision-making. Teradata stands out as a solid platform for managing a large volume of data in different projects. Its architecture allows information to be processed efficiently while maintaining stable performance, even in high-demanding environments. A well-integrated AI ecosystem that supports working with different types of data and enables scalability as organizational needs grow across different kinds of enterprises or organizations. The focus on advanced analytics integration with modern business intelligence tools is particularly valuable. Teradata combines a powerful parallel process and optimizing SQL engine with a highly scalable architecture allowing businesses to execute complex queries and analytics in real-time. It supports multi-cloud, hybrid, and on-premise environments, giving organizations flexibility to choose the setup that best aligns with their strategy. One of the biggest strengths is the ability to unify disparate data sources and support high concurrency, enabling different teams, such as analytics, operations, BI, and data science, to access consistent, trusted data across the enterprise.
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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
14%
Insurance Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
24%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Computer Software Company
7%
Government
5%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business34
Midsize Enterprise23
Large Enterprise88
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business28
Midsize Enterprise13
Large Enterprise52
 

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?
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 ...
Comparing Teradata and Oracle Database, which product do you think is better and why?
I have spoken to my colleagues about this comparison and in our collective opinion, the reason why some people may declare Teradata better than Oracle is the pricing. Both solutions are quite simi...
Which companies use Teradata and who is it most suitable for?
Before my organization implemented this solution, we researched which big brands were using Teradata, so we knew if it would be compatible with our field. According to the product's site, the comp...
Is Teradata a difficult solution to work with?
Teradata is not a difficult product to work with, especially since they offer you technical support at all levels if you just ask. There are some features that may cause difficulties - for example,...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

Cognos, Cognos Analytics, IBM Cognos Analytics
IntelliFlex, Aster Data Map Reduce, , QueryGrid, Customer Interaction Manager, Digital Marketing Center, Data Mover, Data Stream Architecture, Teradata Vantage Enterprise (DIY)
 

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.
Netflix
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Cognos vs. Teradata and other solutions. Updated: February 2026.
881,346 professionals have used our research since 2012.