SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence vs. Spotfire

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
Score 8.1 out of 10
N/A
The SAP® BusinessObjects™ Business Intelligence Platform provides users with ad hoc queries, reporting, data visualizations, and analysis tools. Its integrated, unified infrastructure aims to offer scalability from one-to-many tools and interfaces on-premise, in the cloud, or as a hybrid approach.N/A
Spotfire
Score 8.6 out of 10
N/A
Spotfire® is a data visualization platform that utilizes predictive analytics. In addition to data viz, it includes data wrangling capabilities, predictive analytics, location analytics, and real-time streaming analytics. Spotfire® is a business unit of Cloud Software Group, formerly known as TIBCO Spotfire.
$0.99
Per Hour (Starting)
Pricing
SAP BusinessObjects Business IntelligenceSpotfire
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Spotfire for Amazon Web Services
$0.99
Per Hour (Starting)
Spotfire Cloud - Consumer
$250/yr
per seat
Spotfire Cloud - Business Author
$650/yr
per seat
Spotfire Cloud - Analyst
$1250/yr
per seat
Spotfire Platform
Please contact Spotfire sales
Spotfire Cloud Enterprise
Please contact Spotfire sales
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
SAP BusinessObjects Business IntelligenceSpotfire
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoYes
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsFor Enterprise engagements, please contact TIBCO directly for a custom price quote.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
SAP BusinessObjects Business IntelligenceSpotfire
Considered Both Products
SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
Chose SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
Some organizations use Spotfire which is far more advanced in terms of its analytical capabilities vs. Lumira/PA etc. but the sharing/storage side of the BI Platform is far superior and much better managed. The ability to create user groups, access levels etc. on BI Platform …
Chose SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
We selected SAP Business Objects in the previous instance because we were implementing SAP ERP and the choice of Business Objects was favorable from an integration and cost perspective. We did not choose SAP Business Objects most recently because of the predicted long …
Spotfire
Chose Spotfire
Although I don't have an extensive history with Tableau, from what I understand, Spotfire offers an overall more complete package of data analysis and data visualization. It's the best of both worlds, if you will. Tableau stands out with its data visualization but is behind …
Chose Spotfire
It looks more complete, configurable, and easy to use compared to those. It is also expandable thanks to the other tools in the Spotfire Suite.
Chose Spotfire
This tool was selected in my organization around 10 years back. It was suggested to be one of the best and it proved to be. My users are also satisfied with the performance of the tool, but we had some setbacks with SharePoint online and the Azure SQL database. Hopefully, if …
Chose Spotfire
I have used Tableau Desktop which is almost similar to Spotfire! Both Spotfire and Tableau have their own pros and cons, which depending on various data connectivity options and other tool integrations, Spotfire stands better and while Tableau has some good advanced …
Chose Spotfire
Tableau is more user friendly with better formatting capabilities, however Spotfire is far more robust. I would chose Spotfire over Tableau for meeting my reporting and analysis needs.
Chose Spotfire
We evaluated on Mobility, Dashboarding, Web Based User Interface and Analytical capability. At the forefront was the user experience which accounted for just over half of our evaluation criteria. No platform was a 10/10 in all four categories - SAS Visual Analytics excelled in …
Chose Spotfire
We selected Spotfire for the data visualization capabilities, thus the shortcomings were not as important. However, it would have been nice to be able to consolidate reporting / analytics platforms into one product instead of having BI and Spotfire or Tableau.
Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
SAP BusinessObjects Business IntelligenceSpotfire
BI Standard Reporting
Comparison of BI Standard Reporting features of Product A and Product B
SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
7.7
49 Ratings
6% below category average
Spotfire
8.3
299 Ratings
1% above category average
Pixel Perfect reports7.444 Ratings8.030 Ratings
Customizable dashboards8.145 Ratings9.1294 Ratings
Report Formatting Templates7.745 Ratings7.9258 Ratings
Ad-hoc Reporting
Comparison of Ad-hoc Reporting features of Product A and Product B
SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
8.2
46 Ratings
1% above category average
Spotfire
8.2
311 Ratings
1% above category average
Drill-down analysis9.045 Ratings8.3289 Ratings
Formatting capabilities8.345 Ratings7.8302 Ratings
Integration with R or other statistical packages7.531 Ratings8.3224 Ratings
Report sharing and collaboration8.245 Ratings8.5274 Ratings
Report Output and Scheduling
Comparison of Report Output and Scheduling features of Product A and Product B
SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
8.7
46 Ratings
4% above category average
Spotfire
8.3
283 Ratings
1% below category average
Publish to Web8.338 Ratings8.2228 Ratings
Publish to PDF7.944 Ratings8.6267 Ratings
Report Versioning9.140 Ratings8.018 Ratings
Report Delivery Scheduling9.145 Ratings8.4178 Ratings
Delivery to Remote Servers9.224 Ratings00 Ratings
Data Discovery and Visualization
Comparison of Data Discovery and Visualization features of Product A and Product B
SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
8.3
41 Ratings
3% above category average
Spotfire
8.2
310 Ratings
1% above category average
Pre-built visualization formats (heatmaps, scatter plots etc.)8.339 Ratings8.6306 Ratings
Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization7.737 Ratings8.4271 Ratings
Predictive Analytics8.936 Ratings8.1234 Ratings
Pattern Recognition and Data Mining00 Ratings7.68 Ratings
Access Control and Security
Comparison of Access Control and Security features of Product A and Product B
SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
9.4
46 Ratings
9% above category average
Spotfire
8.1
250 Ratings
6% below category average
Multi-User Support (named login)8.946 Ratings8.7241 Ratings
Role-Based Security Model9.144 Ratings8.5206 Ratings
Multiple Access Permission Levels (Create, Read, Delete)9.843 Ratings7.8228 Ratings
Single Sign-On (SSO)9.927 Ratings00 Ratings
Report-Level Access Control00 Ratings7.48 Ratings
Mobile Capabilities
Comparison of Mobile Capabilities features of Product A and Product B
SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
8.8
32 Ratings
10% above category average
Spotfire
7.3
189 Ratings
8% below category average
Responsive Design for Web Access8.331 Ratings7.9177 Ratings
Mobile Application9.026 Ratings7.6126 Ratings
Dashboard / Report / Visualization Interactivity on Mobile9.128 Ratings7.5148 Ratings
Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding
Comparison of Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding features of Product A and Product B
SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
7.5
22 Ratings
5% below category average
Spotfire
8.3
89 Ratings
5% above category average
REST API7.319 Ratings8.371 Ratings
Javascript API7.217 Ratings8.370 Ratings
iFrames8.116 Ratings8.454 Ratings
Java API7.520 Ratings8.257 Ratings
Themeable User Interface (UI)7.319 Ratings8.269 Ratings
Customizable Platform (Open Source)7.318 Ratings8.560 Ratings
Best Alternatives
SAP BusinessObjects Business IntelligenceSpotfire
Small Businesses
BrightGauge
BrightGauge
Score 8.9 out of 10
BrightGauge
BrightGauge
Score 8.9 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Reveal
Reveal
Score 9.9 out of 10
Reveal
Reveal
Score 9.9 out of 10
Enterprises
Jaspersoft Community Edition
Jaspersoft Community Edition
Score 9.7 out of 10
Jaspersoft Community Edition
Jaspersoft Community Edition
Score 9.7 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
SAP BusinessObjects Business IntelligenceSpotfire
Likelihood to Recommend
7.7
(71 ratings)
8.6
(335 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
8.3
(24 ratings)
8.3
(29 ratings)
Usability
9.0
(14 ratings)
8.0
(27 ratings)
Availability
10.0
(5 ratings)
9.0
(14 ratings)
Performance
9.0
(10 ratings)
7.1
(14 ratings)
Support Rating
8.6
(16 ratings)
8.7
(27 ratings)
In-Person Training
10.0
(4 ratings)
7.3
(52 ratings)
Online Training
9.0
(2 ratings)
8.8
(55 ratings)
Implementation Rating
9.0
(8 ratings)
8.0
(17 ratings)
Configurability
9.0
(2 ratings)
7.1
(3 ratings)
Ease of integration
9.0
(1 ratings)
7.0
(2 ratings)
Product Scalability
9.0
(2 ratings)
7.0
(4 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
9.0
(1 ratings)
5.0
(1 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
9.0
(1 ratings)
5.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
SAP BusinessObjects Business IntelligenceSpotfire
Likelihood to Recommend
SAP
The proper management of SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards requires an expert on the team to manage and build reports. If an organization does not have the proper expertise on board to build and deploy reports it will fail. Data analytics, dropping into excel, and broadcasting of information are major bonuses for the use of SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards.
Read full review
Spotfire
A high level of data integration is available here it supports various data sources and so on. Collaborating features allow users to give access to the dashboard and merge data analytics with other team members. It can meet the demands of both small and large size business enterprises. A customized dashboard and reports are provided to meet the specific needs and get support of extensibility through APIs and customized scripts.
Read full review
Pros
SAP
  • This software is easy to initially learn, and very powerful in producing reusable reports.
  • It is much faster than my company's internal manual queries. The ability to build off of a saved query and share queries to other users is a great positive.
  • My favorite part is that you can run queries in the background and it does not interfere with your current work or slow your computer down.
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Spotfire
  • It has the best coding integration (python, R) of any BI product
  • The ability to work with very large datasets (10 mil+) is better than competitors
  • Export options are more complete and have better functionality
  • The data canvas is the best tool to join and transform data vs. competitors
Read full review
Cons
SAP
  • The installation can be very complex and time-consuming, it requires a lot of planning and foresight as to what role the software will play in the organization.
  • The software has a relatively large learning curve that takes dedicated users months to get comfortable with, the UI is a bit intimidating for new users.
  • SAP could organize their help better, it can be difficult to find dependable solutions to issues via their website and support channels.
Read full review
Spotfire
  • The donut chart is I guess a powerful illustrations but I hope it should be done quite simple in Spotfire. But in Spotfire there are lots of steps involve just to build a simple donut chart.
  • Table calculation (like Row or Column Differences) should be made simple or there should be drag and drop function for Table Calculation. No need for scripting.
  • Information Link should be changed. If new columns are added to the table just refreshing the data should be able to capture the new column. No need extra step to add column
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
SAP
The institution has decided to move in a different direction, and will be using MSBI for reporting. I have been very happy with the Business Objects suite of tools, and will continue to use them heavily until we make the transition.
Read full review
Spotfire
-Easy to distribute information throughout the enterprise using the webplayer. -Ad hoc analysis is possible throughout the enterprise using business author in the webplayer or the thick client. -Low level of support needed by IT team. Access interfaces with LDAP and numerous other authentication methods. -Possible to continually extend the platform with JavaScript, R scripts, HTML, and custom extensions. -Ability to standardize data logic through pre-built queries in the Information Designer. Everyone in the enterprise is using the same logic -Tagging and bookmarking data allows for quick sharing of insights. -Integration with numerous data sources... flat files, data bases, big data, images, etc. -Much improved mapping capability. Also includes the ability to apply data points over any image.
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Usability
SAP
From a server and client side perspective. the Business Intelligence Platform provides a foundation for all aspects of content development, distribution, analysis, collaboration and self service. Ease of use from targeted content delivery through controlled accessibility. Content exporting in the format of the users choice. Scheduling for internal or external delivery. Public and private folders for secure content access when requied. Web based for viewing on the users device of choice without the need to download additional applications.
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Spotfire
Basic tasks like generating meaningful information from large sets of raw data are very easy. The next step of linking to multiple live data sources and linking those tables and performing on the fly analysis of the imported data is understandably more difficult.
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Reliability and Availability
SAP
When we implemented 3.1, we had a tough time managing the system: It took almost a year to stabilize.

With 4.0, we want to roll out to more users, and are holding back because of fears about the performance issue
Read full review
Spotfire
Even though, it's a rather stable and predictable tool that's also fast, it does have some bugs and inconsistencies that shut down the system. Depending on the details, it could happen as often as 2-3 times a week, especially during the development period.
Read full review
Performance
SAP
Overall, the tool (Web Intelligence 4.2) is fast and solid. One issue is a dependability on JAVA for a full feature report creation/edit capabilities (as opposed to limited HTML option). Second, planned end of JAVA support by major browsers (Chrome is already not supporting JAVA applet).
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Spotfire
Generally, the Spotfire client runs with very good performance. There are factors that could affect performance, but normally has to do with loading large analysis files from the library if the database is located some distance away and your global network is not optimal. Once you have your data table(s) loaded in the client application, usually the application is quite good performance-wise.
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Support Rating
SAP
SAP has released various versions of SAP BO BI. starting from 3.1 and going to 4.0,4.1,4.2 and latest being 4.3. SAP provides support to these new versions. As new versions keep on coming, support for the very old software goes out of scope from SAP. it is when the different organization plans to get their BO content migrated from a lower version to a newer version. The newer version had definitely added functionality and features which ease the work of users.
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Spotfire
Support has been helpful with issues. Support seems to know their product and its capabilities. It would also seem that they have a good sense of the context of the problem; where we are going with this issue and what we want the end outcome to be.
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In-Person Training
SAP
SAP authorized training is best, Please go ahead with it. Even lot of online training options/videos available for self learning
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Spotfire
The instructor was very in depth and provided relevant training to business users on how to create visualizations. They showed us how to alter settings and filter views, and provided resources for future questions. However, the instructor failed to cover data sources, connecting to data, etc. While it was helpful to see how users can use the data to create reports, they failed to properly instruct us on how to get the dataset in to begin with. We are still trying to figure out connections to certain databases (we have multiple different types).
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Online Training
SAP
I haven't used it or got feedback from the end user.

Content looks to be pretty detailed. Focused on SQL but not BW.
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Spotfire
The online training is good, provides a good base of knowledge. The video demonstrations were well-done and easy to follow along. Provided exercises are good as well, but I think there could be more challenging exercises. The training has also gone up in price significantly in the last 3 years (in USD, which hurts us even more in Canada), and I'm not sure it is worth the money it now costs (it is worth how much it cost 3 years ago, but not double that.)
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Implementation Rating
SAP
Hire specialists and experienced staff. Mix some beginners so that everyone is not a leader but a learner too. Plan well; architect well; break down implementation in small steps and move towards larger steps. Create a centralized and authorized SAP Business Objects implementation team.
Read full review
Spotfire
The original architecture I created for our implementation had only a particular set of internal business units in mind. Over the years, Spotfire gained in popularity in our company and was being utilized across many more business units. Soon, its usage went beyond what the original architectural implementation could provide. We've since learned about how the product is used by the different teams and are currently in the middle of rolling out a new architecture. I suggest:
  • Have clearly defined service level agreements with all the teams that will use Spotfire. Your business intelligence group might only need availability during normal working hours, but your production support group might need 24/7 availability. If these groups share one Spotfire server, maintenance of that server might be a problem.
  • Know the different types of data you will be working with. One group might be working with "public" data while another group might work with sensitive data. Design your Library accordingly and with the proper permissions.
  • Know the roles of the users of Spotfire. Will there only be a small set of report writers or does everyone have write access to the Library?
  • ALWAYS add a timestamp prompt to your reports. You don't want multiple users opening a report that will try and pull down millions of rows of data to their local workstations. Another option, of course, is to just hard code a time range in the backing database view (i.e. where activity_date >= sysdate - 90, etc.), but I'd rather educate/train the user base if possible.
  • This probably goes without saying, but if possible, point to a separate reporting database or a logical standby database. You don't want the company pounding on your primaries and take down your order system.
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Alternatives Considered
SAP
We selected SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence (BI) based on price. It can stack up against others in terms of price and honestly, that's about it. Salesforce Commerce does a hell of a better job at handling it. However, in the space of Business Intelligence, SAP can do more, and that's why at the end we went with it
Read full review
Spotfire
Spotfire is significantly ahead of both products from an ETL and data ingestion capability. Spotfire also has substantially better visualizations than Power BI, and although the native visualizations aren't as flexible in Tableau, Spotfire enables users to create completely custom javascript visaualizations, which neither Tableau or Power BI has. Tableau and Power BI are likely only superior to Spotfire with respect to embedded analysis on a website.
Read full review
Scalability
SAP
SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence (BI) Platform supports SOA Service Oriented Architecture. You can start/restart/enable/disable all the servers. You can seamless do load balancing and clustering. It supports all leading application and web server. Supports LDAP SSO integration. People who can work on excel with training they can work on SAP Business Objects Web Intelligence, dashboard, Lumira, Information design tool product suite. Tool is very user friendly and easy to learn and implement
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Spotfire
In an enterprise architecture, if Spotfire Advanced Data services(Composite Studio),data marts can be managed optimally and scalability in a data perspective is great. As the web player/consumer is directly proportional to RAM, if the enterprise can handle RAM requirement accomodating fail over mechanisms appropraitely, it is definitely scalable,
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Return on Investment
SAP
  • By generating and distributing reports in a timely manner, we were able to save millions of dollars for the company which otherwise would not have been visible.
  • Almost realtime dashboard, saved the company a huge amount by showing the outages and kept the company from buying a tool to do just that.
  • It showed the customers who were not paying the bills and were missing in the system due to some loophole. This was visible by doing reporting on the theft usage of electricity.
Read full review
Spotfire
  • It is costly, so not suitable for small scale implementations.
  • Dashboards are as good as the developer, so need experience to get most out of it
  • You need to be on Spotfire 11 at least to implement out of the box visualizations
  • Integration with Python and R is a game changer, it comes very handy to onboard data scientists without much hassle
  • performance is exceptionally well.
  • Secure
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ScreenShots

Spotfire Screenshots

Screenshot of Smart Visual AnalyticsScreenshot of Geospatial AnalyticsScreenshot of Intelligent Data WranglingScreenshot of Point-and-click Data ScienceScreenshot of Real-time Streaming Analytics