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Pentaho Business Analytics vs Sisense 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
5.9
Pentaho Business Analytics enhanced efficiency and output but faced ROI calculation challenges compared to alternatives like QlikView and Tableau.
Sentiment score
6.6
Sisense offers time-saving benefits with cost-effectiveness, but experiences vary based on existing analytics systems and initial investments.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.8
Pentaho receives mixed feedback on support, with strong community engagement but varying customer service and documentation quality.
Sentiment score
8.6
Sisense excels in customer service with expert support, responsive assistance, and a strong commitment to client success.
The support was very good.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.2
Pentaho scales well and fits organizational needs but may require admin expertise for complex environments and large data.
Sentiment score
7.3
Sisense is praised for scalability, though some users report performance issues with large data volumes; security concerns exist.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
6.6
Pentaho Business Analytics is generally stable but has occasional Java caching, RAM, and subprocess issues with large databases.
Sentiment score
7.8
Sisense is stable and reliable, with minor slowdowns during data import, but users report no major stability issues.
 

Room For Improvement

Pentaho needs user interface, reporting, and visualization enhancements, along with better debugging, metadata management, and cost-effective licensing.
Sisense users want enhanced large dataset handling, improved dashboards, better data connectivity, and reduced costs with more customization options.
Pentaho Business Analytics is hard to learn and not suited for initial users as it requires knowledge of operating systems, Java, and other technical skills.
I would like to see an improvement in the live data connection, specifically making the process faster.
 

Setup Cost

Pentaho's Community Edition is cost-free, while the Enterprise Edition, offering enhanced features, can cost up to $250,000 annually.
Sisense offers a subscription model with competitive pricing, ideal for mid-sized to large enterprises due to its robust features.
Pentaho Business Analytics is priced similarly to other competitors such as QlikView and Tableau.
There was no significant difference in pricing between Sisense and ThoughtSpot.
 

Valuable Features

Pentaho Business Analytics offers powerful ETL, user-friendly interface, customizable dashboards, and cost-saving, open-source analytics and reporting features.
Sisense offers user-friendly deployment, rapid data integration, intuitive dashboards, and advanced analytics for enhanced data insights and visualization.
It is a stable product, and it can handle large datasets.
It offers two ways to access data: by cubing the data or hitting it live.
 

Categories and Ranking

Pentaho Business Analytics
Ranking in BI (Business Intelligence) Tools
20th
Ranking in Reporting
16th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
44
Ranking in other categories
Cloud Operations Analytics (4th)
Sisense
Ranking in BI (Business Intelligence) Tools
19th
Ranking in Reporting
14th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
41
Ranking in other categories
Cloud Analytics (4th), Data Visualization (15th), Embedded BI (9th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the BI (Business Intelligence) Tools category, the mindshare of Pentaho Business Analytics is 0.5%, down from 0.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sisense is 1.5%, down from 1.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
BI (Business Intelligence) Tools
 

Featured Reviews

Sayan König - PeerSpot reviewer
Flexible, easy to understand, and simple to set up
The repository should be improved. There should be the possibility to have versioning, to make it combinable with some Git repositories or something like that, to check out the processes and make sure it has a traceable history. The solution could really be improved. There are too many bugs in our version.
Wiboon Thabsuwan - PeerSpot reviewer
Helps businesses save time and offers good integration features
I would say that using Sisense on Linux's platform might not be advantageous for everyone. I am more familiar with Windows than Linux. With Windows, the system performs very fast. Even if your data size consists of like 10,00,00,000 loads or whatever, it works very fast. When using Sisense, it is better to have some people with a very good understanding of Linux. I need more technical people who understand about Linux OS. Only two people would be enough to operate the tool.
report
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847,625 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Comparison Review

it_user6978 - PeerSpot reviewer
Jun 10, 2013
Jaspersoft vs. Pentaho – Which one to use & is there any need to purchase the commercial edition
Any company (be it technology, manfucaturing, human resource, ecommerce, SME etc) always has the need for Business Intelligence to some or the other extent. If cost is one of the consideration factor, then the 2 BI tools which are at the forefront are Pentaho and Jaspersoft. But, often the same…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
24%
Computer Software Company
13%
Educational Organization
7%
Real Estate/Law Firm
6%
Financial Services Firm
21%
Computer Software Company
15%
Government
6%
University
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

Seeking lightweight open source BI software
There are many...It would rather depend what System BI architecture or Enterprise legacy you have at your end...I would recommend as follows: 1) If you have legacies of SAP, Oracle - look for SAP...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Pentaho Business Analytics?
For those starting to use this tool, there is a free version available which is beneficial. The company also finds the pricing to be good.
What needs improvement with Pentaho Business Analytics?
The tool is very good, and yet it has some problems as it relies heavily on Java. The platform works with Java, and it has brought some issues to the company.
What do you like most about Sisense?
The solution's technical support team is good.
What needs improvement with Sisense?
I would like to see an improvement in the live data connection, specifically making the process faster. Additionally, incorporating more self-service capabilities would benefit the product.
What is your primary use case for Sisense?
I was looking into some of our business operations with tow truck companies. I focused on evaluating turnaround times for tow trucks to arrive on-site for accidents and how long it took them to cle...
 

Also Known As

Pentaho, Kettle, Hitachi Pentaho Business Analytics
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Cargo 2000 Lufthansa, Marketo, ModCloth, Cardiac Science, Telefonica, ExactTarget, Active Broadband Networks, and Brussels Airport.
Ebay, WIX, Wave Accounting, ESPN.com, Magellan Luxury Hotel, Paylogic, Sony, Merck, EDA, One Hour Translation, NASA, Plastic Jungle, Philips, Yahoo
Find out what your peers are saying about Pentaho Business Analytics vs. Sisense and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
847,625 professionals have used our research since 2012.