Clear Analytics vs. IBM Cognos Analytics

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Clear Analytics
Score 8.8 out of 10
Enterprise companies (1,001+ employees)
Clear Analytics is a business intelligence solution that enables non technical end users to perform analytics by leveraging existing knowledge of Excel coupled with a built in query builder. Some key features include: Dynamic Data Refresh, Data Share and In-Excel Collaboration.
$29
Per Seat per Month
IBM Cognos Analytics
Score 7.8 out of 10
N/A
IBM Cognos is a full-featured business intelligence suite by IBM, designed for larger deployments. It comprises Query Studio, Reporting Studio, Analysis Studio and Event Studio, and Cognos Administration along with tools for Microsoft Office integration, full-text search, and dashboards.
$10
per month per user
Pricing
Clear AnalyticsIBM Cognos Analytics
Editions & Modules
Personal
$29
Per Seat per Month
Team
$165
upto 10 Seat per Month
Department
$265
upto 25 Seat per month
Organization
$565
Upto 100 per seat per month
On Demand - Standard
USD 10.00
per month per user
On Demand - Premium
USD 42.40
per month per user
On Demand - Standard
USD 10.60
per month per user
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Clear AnalyticsIBM Cognos Analytics
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesYes
Entry-level Setup Fee$800 Initial OnBoardingOptional
Additional DetailsCertain Enterprise level features can be made available to Small Business edition at additional cost. Such services include Scheduler and OLAP connectivity. Custom adapters can also be created to connect to SaaS services.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Clear AnalyticsIBM Cognos Analytics
Features
Clear AnalyticsIBM Cognos Analytics
BI Standard Reporting
Comparison of BI Standard Reporting features of Product A and Product B
Clear Analytics
9.0
8 Ratings
10% above category average
IBM Cognos Analytics
7.4
129 Ratings
10% below category average
Pixel Perfect reports9.08 Ratings7.3119 Ratings
Customizable dashboards9.18 Ratings7.7125 Ratings
Report Formatting Templates8.78 Ratings7.3121 Ratings
Ad-hoc Reporting
Comparison of Ad-hoc Reporting features of Product A and Product B
Clear Analytics
8.9
8 Ratings
10% above category average
IBM Cognos Analytics
7.5
129 Ratings
7% below category average
Drill-down analysis9.28 Ratings7.0126 Ratings
Formatting capabilities8.78 Ratings7.6128 Ratings
Report sharing and collaboration8.98 Ratings8.0122 Ratings
Integration with R or other statistical packages00 Ratings7.491 Ratings
Report Output and Scheduling
Comparison of Report Output and Scheduling features of Product A and Product B
Clear Analytics
9.0
8 Ratings
9% above category average
IBM Cognos Analytics
8.1
127 Ratings
2% below category average
Publish to Web9.08 Ratings8.327 Ratings
Publish to PDF9.17 Ratings7.6121 Ratings
Report Versioning8.98 Ratings8.626 Ratings
Report Delivery Scheduling8.87 Ratings8.0123 Ratings
Delivery to Remote Servers00 Ratings8.112 Ratings
Data Discovery and Visualization
Comparison of Data Discovery and Visualization features of Product A and Product B
Clear Analytics
9.0
8 Ratings
12% above category average
IBM Cognos Analytics
7.0
116 Ratings
13% below category average
Pre-built visualization formats (heatmaps, scatter plots etc.)8.98 Ratings7.5111 Ratings
Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization9.18 Ratings7.5106 Ratings
Predictive Analytics00 Ratings6.6102 Ratings
Pattern Recognition and Data Mining00 Ratings6.439 Ratings
Access Control and Security
Comparison of Access Control and Security features of Product A and Product B
Clear Analytics
9.3
8 Ratings
9% above category average
IBM Cognos Analytics
7.4
121 Ratings
14% below category average
Multi-User Support (named login)9.48 Ratings7.3118 Ratings
Role-Based Security Model9.08 Ratings7.4117 Ratings
Multiple Access Permission Levels (Create, Read, Delete)9.48 Ratings6.7116 Ratings
Report-Level Access Control00 Ratings7.846 Ratings
Single Sign-On (SSO)00 Ratings8.0100 Ratings
Mobile Capabilities
Comparison of Mobile Capabilities features of Product A and Product B
Clear Analytics
8.6
6 Ratings
10% above category average
IBM Cognos Analytics
6.6
101 Ratings
16% below category average
Mobile Application8.54 Ratings6.785 Ratings
Dashboard / Report / Visualization Interactivity on Mobile8.76 Ratings7.091 Ratings
Responsive Design for Web Access00 Ratings6.895 Ratings
Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding
Comparison of Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding features of Product A and Product B
Clear Analytics
-
Ratings
IBM Cognos Analytics
7.5
81 Ratings
3% below category average
REST API00 Ratings7.178 Ratings
Javascript API00 Ratings7.575 Ratings
iFrames00 Ratings8.39 Ratings
Java API00 Ratings6.911 Ratings
Themeable User Interface (UI)00 Ratings7.110 Ratings
Customizable Platform (Open Source)00 Ratings7.87 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Clear AnalyticsIBM Cognos Analytics
Small Businesses
BrightGauge
BrightGauge
Score 8.9 out of 10
BrightGauge
BrightGauge
Score 8.9 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Reveal
Reveal
Score 10.0 out of 10
Reveal
Reveal
Score 10.0 out of 10
Enterprises
Kyvos Semantic Layer
Kyvos Semantic Layer
Score 9.5 out of 10
Kyvos Semantic Layer
Kyvos Semantic Layer
Score 9.5 out of 10
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User Ratings
Clear AnalyticsIBM Cognos Analytics
Likelihood to Recommend
9.0
(8 ratings)
7.5
(146 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
-
(0 ratings)
8.2
(30 ratings)
Usability
9.1
(8 ratings)
7.3
(9 ratings)
Availability
-
(0 ratings)
8.6
(4 ratings)
Performance
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(5 ratings)
Support Rating
9.5
(8 ratings)
1.0
(9 ratings)
In-Person Training
-
(0 ratings)
8.7
(4 ratings)
Online Training
-
(0 ratings)
8.0
(4 ratings)
Implementation Rating
-
(0 ratings)
7.0
(7 ratings)
Configurability
-
(0 ratings)
7.0
(3 ratings)
Ease of integration
-
(0 ratings)
5.8
(5 ratings)
Product Scalability
-
(0 ratings)
2.8
(4 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
-
(0 ratings)
7.0
(1 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
-
(0 ratings)
7.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
Clear AnalyticsIBM Cognos Analytics
Likelihood to Recommend
Clear Analytics
Clear Analytics has almost all the features which are mostly required by the organizations for their data analytics and transformation activities. Clear Analytics is built on the support of a parallel query engine which makes it handle large volume requests and also provides optimized results. However, every solution has some limitations, Clear Analytics lacks advanced features such as Predictive Analytics which is a very demanding feature in the market as most organizations are adopting AI/ML automation for their businesses. Also, it needs to add a lot of advanced visualizations so that the user has the choice of selection. Overall a good solution to be recommended.
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IBM
IBM Cognos Analytics has great scheduling capabilities. A single report can be parameterized (e.g., “Store Manager ID”) and burst to thousands of recipients with their slice of data.IBM Cognos Analytics is a good fit for highly complex, multi-level calculations which can be handled by Report Studio. For example Monthly balance sheet that requires multi step calculation
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Pros
Clear Analytics
  • Quick management of the data through Excel thanks to the tools Clear Analytics provides such as filtering different information for an easier view.
  • Ability to add new KPIs to measure different areas of our business.
  • Drag and drop tool which makes an easier usage of Excel.
  • Cost-effective. I find Clear Analytics to be affordable considering the number of features added and the unlimited sharing and editing it provides.
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IBM
  • We can make dozens of dispatchers all focusing on different types of workloads.
  • Friendly user interface, without the need for coding or complicated editing.
  • Highly functionality reporting tools.
  • We can easily create trigger when a certain threshold are met sending reports or alerts to needed parties.
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Cons
Clear Analytics
  • For Charts and Graphs , getting the Power Point Deck would be helpful. As of now we use the data from Excel Reports
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IBM
  • IBM Cognos Analytics enables customer data segmentation, which is essential for marketing, improving and streamlining purchasing behavior and preferences. This helps companies create more targeted and effective marketing campaigns.
  • Our clients Through data analysis, we can identify and observe trends in the behavior of other clients, allowing us to anticipate needs and adjust strategies to avoid consequences.
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Likelihood to Renew
Clear Analytics
No answers on this topic
IBM
For an existing solution, renewing licenses does provide a good return on investment. Additionally, while rolling out scorecards and dashboards with little adhoc capabilities, to end users, cognos is very easily scalable. It also allows to create a solution that has a mix of OLAP and relational data-sources, which is a limitation with other tools. Synchronizing with existing security setup is easy too.
Read full review
Usability
Clear Analytics
I have really enjoyed working with Clear Analytics. This platform has contributed to increased production and reliable data control processes. It has flexible user interface that can be operated by any organization member. Reports are shared on simple and transparent way in the dashboard for easy access. Data analytics from all departments have created manageable working environment that have increased production.
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IBM
We have a strong user base (3500 users) that are highly utilizing this tool. Basic users are able to consume content within the applied security model. We have a set of advanced users that really push the limits of Cognos with Report and Query Studio. These users have created a lot of personal content and stored it in 'My Reports'. Users enjoy this flexibility.
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Reliability and Availability
Clear Analytics
No answers on this topic
IBM
Reports can typically be viewed through any browser that can access the server, so the availability is ultimately up to what the company utilizing it is comfortable with allowing, though report development tends to be more picky about browsers and settings as mentioned above. It also has an optional iPad app and general mobile browsing support, but dashboards lack the mobile compatibility. What keeps it from getting a higher score is the desktop tools that are vital to the development process. The compatibility with only Windows when the server has a wide range of compatibility can be a real sore point for a company that outfits its employees exclusively with Mac or Linux machines. Of course, if they are planning on outsourcing the development anyways, it's a rather moot point
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Performance
Clear Analytics
No answers on this topic
IBM
Overall no major complaints but it doesn't handle DMR (Dimensionally Modeled for Relational) very well. DMR modelling is a capability that IBM Cognos Framework Manager provides allowing you to specify dimensional information for relational metadata and allows for OLAP-style queries. However, the capability is not very efficient and, for example, if I'm using only 2 columns on a 20-column model, the software is not smart enough to exclude 18 columns and the query side gets progressively larger and larger until it's effectively unusable.
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Support Rating
Clear Analytics
I have had multiple scenarios where I had to reach out to the support team of Clear Analytics, be it access-related, general queries, during initial implementation, etc. My overall experience has always been good. I got the needed support every time without any delay. I can definitely recommend Clear Analytics simply on the basis of its excellent support team.
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IBM
Why is their web application not working as fast as you think it should? They never know, and it is always a a bunch of shots in the dark to find out. Trying to download software from them is like trying to find a book at the library before computers were invented.
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In-Person Training
Clear Analytics
No answers on this topic
IBM
Onsite training provided by IBM Cognos was effective and as expected. They did not perform training with our data which was a bit difficult for our end-users.
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Online Training
Clear Analytics
No answers on this topic
IBM
The online courses they offer are thorough and presented in such a way that someone who isn't already familiar with the general design methodologies used in this field will be capable of making a good design. The training environments are provided as a fully self contained virtual machine with everything needed already to create the environments. We've had some persisting issues with the environments becoming unavailable, but support has been responsive when these issues arise and straightening them out for us
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Implementation Rating
Clear Analytics
No answers on this topic
IBM
Make sure that any custom tables that you have, are built into your metadata packages. You can still access them via SQL queries in Cognos, but it is much easier to have them as a part of the available metadata packages.
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Alternatives Considered
Clear Analytics
There are other great tools that are out there but Clear Analytics is reasonable for our business and provides a lot of features that we specifically needed
Read full review
IBM
My company selected IBM Congos Analytics because of its advanced features and data representation for data analysis. Its row and column features are very effective for creating dashboards and reports to visualize data. It's chart representation and view format are very attractive and useful for representation.
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Scalability
Clear Analytics
No answers on this topic
IBM
The Cognos architecture is well suited for scalability. However, the architecture must be designed with scalability in mind from day one of the implementation. We recently upgraded from 10.1 to 10.2.1 and took the opportunity to revamp our architecture. It is now poised for future growth and scalability.
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Return on Investment
Clear Analytics
  • Super useful to get started immediately
  • Didn't have to rely on migrating data
  • Easy to add members
  • Easy to learn and build charts
Read full review
IBM
  • We use the tool for data modeling as it helps in predictive data analysis for complex data, which is very similar to real-life scenarios.
  • Options of customizing & scheduling reports as per our requirements basis.
  • Has mobile application which works seamless.
  • API integration is not upto the mark with very limited options.
  • Licensing & Maintenance can go from cheap to expensive depending on the scope.
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ScreenShots

Clear Analytics Screenshots

Screenshot of Clear Analytics integrated Excel panel essentially transforms standalone Excel into an enterprise strength, fully auditable, collaborative and centralized business intelligence platform.Screenshot of Users have the ability to dynamically query systems and render that data in any way they like.  No more waiting on IT to create reports.Screenshot of Your firms existing knowledge of Excel enables the firm to be product from day 1. Use the skills already present in your organization and don't pay for outside reporting consultants to create reports for you.Screenshot of Leverage the integration capability of Microsoft's Power BI to extend the reach of your data to web and mobile devices.Screenshot of Leverage all of Excels capabilities, from it's slicers to miniature spark-line charts to create incredibly informative and responsive dashboards.

IBM Cognos Analytics Screenshots

Screenshot of a natural language query, used in IBM Cognos Analytics to get AI-powered insights from data.Screenshot of AI-generated insights and forecasts that can be added with just a click of a button.Screenshot of a dashboard that can be generated automatically using IBM Cognos Analytics by uploading or selecting data.Screenshot of an AI-generated dashboard from a spreadsheet that was just uploaded. This offers a great starting point for the creative process.Screenshot of where to import data to IBM Cognos Analytics from CSV files and spreadsheets. Users can connect to cloud or on-premises data sources, including SQL databases, Google BigQuery, Amazon, and Redshift.Screenshot of a sample operational dashboard of a coffee shop created using IBM Cognos Analytics.