Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

Qlik Sense vs ThoughtSpot comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary
 

Categories and Ranking

Qlik Sense
Ranking in Data Visualization
2nd
Ranking in Embedded BI
2nd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
115
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
ThoughtSpot
Ranking in Data Visualization
11th
Ranking in Embedded BI
7th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
8
Ranking in other categories
BI (Business Intelligence) Tools (17th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of December 2024, in the Data Visualization category, the mindshare of Qlik Sense is 8.0%, down from 10.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of ThoughtSpot is 2.3%, up from 2.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Data Visualization
 

Featured Reviews

Bruno Preti - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides ability to analyze data independently without relying on IT for every query
I would rate the scalability a ten out of ten. You can start with one user and easily scale up to even a thousand without limitations. We mainly have medium and enterprise, though we also have some small clients. But in the Italian market, "small" and "medium" have different meanings than other markets. A typical Italian medium company might only have 10-15 users, while in other markets, this would be considered small.
Avirat Gaikwad - PeerSpot reviewer
It's great not having to write SQL queries but they lack custom visualization functionalities
The majority of issues we have are similar to those every visualization tool faces in the initial phase. Something like a customized visualization, which a lot of companies build for Power BI or Tableau isn't available in ThoughtSpot, or there are minimal options. That's something that I'd like to see in the next release. ThoughtSpot is essentially a query-based search engine where you can type your query and get the answer. If you don't have your data prepared well, your user won't understand what this search engine is for, or they won't get the right answer. So, it doesn't have that powerful query. We usually create models in DBT and then get that into ThoughtSpot as a worksheet.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Business users have been able to use the BI self-serve model."
"Leveraging and reusability of already existing QlikView assets and knowledge."
"The integration with R & Python for predictive modeling, and possibly machine learning in the future, is very valuable."
"The Nprinting is useful."
"Set analysis is great for its power user capabilities such as performing an IF on an aggregated column. The ability to create custom coloring expressions based on values is also a good idea although not as easy as I wished it was."
"We can generate various graphs, various reports and we can mainly use it for dashboard related things. We can create a dashboard with live data and we can make decisions based on this information,"
"The most valuable feature is the drag-and-drop reporting."
"The product is reasonably priced."
"It's easy to drill down or expand data to get more details right out of the box."
"It is easy to set up the solution."
"The ability to do ad hoc explorations of data has been most valuable."
"I would say the return on investment is good. Whatever we invested, we got results. We have been finding it easy to use and onboard new use cases."
"I like ThoughtSpot's search capabilities. You can also create custom analytics even if you aren't an experienced data analyst. We have users with no data analytics experience making some of the dashboards we've created, copying components, and customizing them to their specific use cases."
"ThoughtSpot takes the modifying of existing reports out of our hands."
"The initial setup was very straightforward."
"The scalability is good."
 

Cons

"Moving forward I would like to see more features that are currently available in QlikView, such as being able to better customize coloring within charts. I would also like to see the ability to add calculated dimensions to the selections tool in the page."
"Dates. My goodness, working with dates in set analysis can be a nightmare! Much room for improvement."
"It's going to take 20 to 30 minutes to refresh sometimes."
"My advice to others is to make sure they have a good technical team. We have found that a lot of the consultants go in and out of the business and sometimes you are left alone without assistance."
"They should generally focus more on the evolution of current capabilities rather than doing everything but only at 50% effectiveness."
"The use of APIs is not as friendly as it should be in the first place, especially when considering Python scripts and all other scripts, making it an area where improvements are required."
"If a team wants to keep track of source code changes, there is not an out-of-the-box solution for it."
"Some of the charts are still a bit basic and screen rendering on different sized monitors can be an issue."
"The one area of the solution that I do hear needs improvement is on the visualization front."
"I would like to see more flexibility in adding the pins. Currently, we have four different sizes in which I can add pins, but I would like to be able to resize my pins."
"ThoughtSpot is a fairly new product, so some usability aspects aren't as mature as we'd like them to be. One example is their organizational methodology, like how objects are organized in their dashboards inside the product. They're all on a flat list, which works if you've got five or 10 dashboards. However, it's insufficient when you're a large enterprise with multiple groups looking at the same dashboards. It isn't organized well."
"The dashboards could give you more ability to fine tune the appearance. You get a great deal more control over how something looks in Power BI than you do in ThoughtSpot."
"In terms of features, I'd like to be able to pivot data - for example, going from rows to columns. It's not easy to do."
"A customized visualization is lacking in this product."
"If I want to order columns, this feature is not there."
"The most difficult thing I found is that it only deals with the files and does not have direct connectivity to databases."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product is expensive compared to one of its competitors."
"Licensing is quite good, easy, but slightly expensive."
"We have 20 licenses for Qlik Sense, and it is a special license that allows people in the whole company to use it over time. You buy this license and there are some minutes that can be used. For example, for the users that used only a few minutes in a month, we use this license. All the people have the ability to work with Qlik Sense. However, the number of licenses is not the number of users. The number of users that uses Qlik Sense is approximately 35 people."
"Licensing could be cheaper."
"Licensing: Review the named model and move towards a usage model (e.g., cores, memory, computers, API calls, etc.)."
"Qlik Sense and its pricing model can follow any scalability."
"The new licensing model is much better."
"QlikSense offers a Hybrid environment architecture, which is very cost effective based on where the enterprise data resides."
"I give the pricing a six out of ten."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Data Visualization solutions are best for your needs.
824,067 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
58%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Computer Software Company
5%
Manufacturing Company
5%
Financial Services Firm
24%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Healthcare 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...
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 do you like most about Qlik Sense?
The most valuable features of Qlik Sense are its speed and seamless development of web technologies.
What do you like most about ThoughtSpot?
It's easy to drill down or expand data to get more details right out of the box.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ThoughtSpot?
I like the pricing structure. I get billed by how much data I put in, not how many people are looking at the data. It's better for me as I can control pricing a bit more easily.
What needs improvement with ThoughtSpot?
We'd like more flexibility with the calendar as our fiscal year does not align with the calendar year. We have to load or create our own custom calendar to actually need our fiscal year-end. With o...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

QlikSense
No data available
 

Learn More

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Abbvie, Airbus, Barclays, BT Openreach, BMW, Daimler AG, HSBC, IKEA, Nationwide Building Society, Royal Mail Group, Sanofi, Siemens, Wendy'', Vodafone, Volvo
Primary Capital Mortgage, Sterling Backcheck, RichRelevance, Rambus, Batteries Plus Bulbs
Find out what your peers are saying about Qlik Sense vs. ThoughtSpot and other solutions. Updated: November 2024.
824,067 professionals have used our research since 2012.