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Google Universal Analytics (discontinued) vs. IBM Cognos Analytics

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Google Universal Analytics (discontinued)

    Score7.6 out of 10
    N/AGoogle Universal Analytics was an enterprise-level analytics solution that was sunset in July of 2024.

    $150,000

    Up to 1 Billion hits/month

    IBM Cognos Analytics

    Score7.7 out of 10
    N/AIBM 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.

    $11.25

    per month per user

    Pricing
    Google Universal Analytics (discontinued)IBM Cognos Analytics
    Editions & Modules
    Google Analytics Premium
    $150,000
    Up to 1 Billion hits/month
    Google Analytics
    Free
    On Demand - Standard
    USD 11.25
    per month per user
    On Demand - Premium
    USD 44.90
    per month per user
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Google Universal Analytics (discontinued)IBM Cognos Analytics
    Free Trial
    NoYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    YesNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    YesYes
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeOptional
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Google Universal Analytics (discontinued)IBM Cognos Analytics
    Considered Both Products
    Discontinued Products
    No answer on this topic
    IBM
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    97%
    Would buy again
    34 Answers
    97%
    Would buy again
    92 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    90%
    Delivers good value for the price
    26 Answers
    94%
    Delivers good value for the price
    79 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    91%
    Happy with the feature set
    32 Answers
    96%
    Happy with the feature set
    91 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    96%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    27 Answers
    93%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    55 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    89%
    Implementation went as expected
    24 Answers
    96%
    Implementation went as expected
    64 Answers
    Features
    Google Universal Analytics (discontinued)IBM Cognos Analytics
    Web Analytics
    Comparison of Web Analytics features of Google Universal Analytics (discontinued) and IBM Cognos Analytics
    Feature
    Google Universal Analytics (discontinued)
    6.9
    1 Ratings
    16% below category average
    IBM Cognos Analytics
    -
    Ratings
    Lead Conversion Tracking7.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Device and Browser Reporting1.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Pageview Tracking7.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Event Tracking8.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Reporting in real-time10.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Referral Source Tracking10.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Customizable Dashboards5.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    BI Standard Reporting
    Comparison of BI Standard Reporting features of Google Universal Analytics (discontinued) and IBM Cognos Analytics
    Feature
    Google Universal Analytics (discontinued)
    -
    Ratings
    IBM Cognos Analytics
    7.7
    138 Ratings
    6% below category average
    Pixel Perfect reports00 Ratings7.6129 Ratings
    Customizable dashboards00 Ratings8.0136 Ratings
    Report Formatting Templates00 Ratings7.5131 Ratings
    Ad-hoc Reporting
    Comparison of Ad-hoc Reporting features of Google Universal Analytics (discontinued) and IBM Cognos Analytics
    Feature
    Google Universal Analytics (discontinued)
    -
    Ratings
    IBM Cognos Analytics
    7.9
    138 Ratings
    1% below category average
    Drill-down analysis00 Ratings7.4136 Ratings
    Formatting capabilities00 Ratings8.3139 Ratings
    Integration with R or other statistical packages00 Ratings7.397 Ratings
    Report sharing and collaboration00 Ratings8.6133 Ratings
    Report Output and Scheduling
    Comparison of Report Output and Scheduling features of Google Universal Analytics (discontinued) and IBM Cognos Analytics
    Feature
    Google Universal Analytics (discontinued)
    -
    Ratings
    IBM Cognos Analytics
    9.2
    136 Ratings
    11% above category average
    Publish to Web00 Ratings9.836 Ratings
    Publish to PDF00 Ratings8.2132 Ratings
    Report Versioning00 Ratings9.833 Ratings
    Report Delivery Scheduling00 Ratings8.2134 Ratings
    Delivery to Remote Servers00 Ratings9.918 Ratings
    Data Discovery and Visualization
    Comparison of Data Discovery and Visualization features of Google Universal Analytics (discontinued) and IBM Cognos Analytics
    Feature
    Google Universal Analytics (discontinued)
    -
    Ratings
    IBM Cognos Analytics
    7.4
    124 Ratings
    8% below category average
    Pre-built visualization formats (heatmaps, scatter plots etc.)00 Ratings7.9121 Ratings
    Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization00 Ratings8.0114 Ratings
    Predictive Analytics00 Ratings6.7110 Ratings
    Pattern Recognition and Data Mining00 Ratings6.947 Ratings
    Access Control and Security
    Comparison of Access Control and Security features of Google Universal Analytics (discontinued) and IBM Cognos Analytics
    Feature
    Google Universal Analytics (discontinued)
    -
    Ratings
    IBM Cognos Analytics
    7.8
    130 Ratings
    8% below category average
    Multi-User Support (named login)00 Ratings7.5129 Ratings
    Role-Based Security Model00 Ratings7.5127 Ratings
    Multiple Access Permission Levels (Create, Read, Delete)00 Ratings7.4127 Ratings
    Report-Level Access Control00 Ratings8.257 Ratings
    Single Sign-On (SSO)00 Ratings8.6111 Ratings
    Mobile Capabilities
    Comparison of Mobile Capabilities features of Google Universal Analytics (discontinued) and IBM Cognos Analytics
    Feature
    Google Universal Analytics (discontinued)
    -
    Ratings
    IBM Cognos Analytics
    6.4
    109 Ratings
    19% below category average
    Responsive Design for Web Access00 Ratings6.8104 Ratings
    Mobile Application00 Ratings6.390 Ratings
    Dashboard / Report / Visualization Interactivity on Mobile00 Ratings6.696 Ratings
    Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding
    Comparison of Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding features of Google Universal Analytics (discontinued) and IBM Cognos Analytics
    Feature
    Google Universal Analytics (discontinued)
    -
    Ratings
    IBM Cognos Analytics
    9.2
    87 Ratings
    17% above category average
    REST API00 Ratings7.683 Ratings
    Javascript API00 Ratings7.779 Ratings
    iFrames00 Ratings9.912 Ratings
    Java API00 Ratings10.013 Ratings
    Themeable User Interface (UI)00 Ratings9.915 Ratings
    Customizable Platform (Open Source)00 Ratings9.99 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Google Universal Analytics (discontinued)IBM Cognos Analytics
    Small Businesses
    Matomo Analytics
    Score9 out of 10
    Cyfe
    Score4 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Lead Forensics
    Score8.9 out of 10
    Qlik Cloud Analytics (Qlik Sense)
    Score8.1 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Chartbeat
    Score9.2 out of 10
    Sisense
    Score6.9 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Google Universal Analytics (discontinued)IBM Cognos Analytics
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.0
    (55 ratings)
    8.0
    (158 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    10.0
    (11 ratings)
    8.4
    (31 ratings)
    Usability
    9.0
    (5 ratings)
    7.3
    (10 ratings)
    Availability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.6
    (4 ratings)
    Performance
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    9.0
    (5 ratings)
    Support Rating
    10.0
    (23 ratings)
    1.0
    (9 ratings)
    In-Person Training
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    8.7
    (4 ratings)
    Online Training
    7.0
    (1 ratings)
    8.0
    (4 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    10.0
    (3 ratings)
    7.0
    (7 ratings)
    Configurability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.0
    (3 ratings)
    Data Sharing and Collaboration
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.6
    (40 ratings)
    Data Sources
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.3
    (40 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    -
    (0 ratings)
    5.5
    (6 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    6.4
    (5 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.0
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.0
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Google Universal Analytics (discontinued)IBM Cognos Analytics
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Discontinued Products
    As I have discussed previously their insights were very useful. The second thing is since it is a Google product you will connect the data very easily from other platforms like Bigquery, Google Drive, etc. and even you can connect Google marketing platform. through this tool, you can track your live campaign how they were performing, and how it will be engaging your customer as well.
    Read full review
    IBM
    For Transaction monitoring, we build reports for executive management, providing insights into the number of alerts, the types or categories of detection scenarios, the risk profile, and a snapshot of high- or urgent-priority cases to be reported to AUSTRAC. Congos helps to build the report by ingesting alert data exported from SAS datasets. It joins with other data from Teradata and Customer Hub (Oracle).
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Discontinued Products
    • It is an excellent cloud analytics platform that is easy to install and configure and easy to deploy and use, allowing us to measure web traffic and other tools.
    • It is an entirely online tool; it does not take up hard disk space like other desktop tools.
    • Since this tool is draggable, Google is constantly adding more features.
    • Even beginners who do not have a custom dashboard can get information. If there is a problem somewhere on the site that needs to be investigated, Google Analytics 360 will notify you.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    IBM
    • Enterprise reporting - Create, customise, and run reports on sales trends, consumer sentiment, etc.
    • Dashboard creation and data exploration & analysis - Using drag and drop feature to create ad-hoc visualisation. Additionally, using AI powered natural language query feature for data analysis and dashboard input (formation of pie, bar, line charts). It's useful for no-technical person to put queries around the spreadsheet data to get quick answers.
    • Building insights for accurate decision making - Package reports with data backed insights for stakeholders in pdf, and Excel format to support business ad-hoc cases, forecasting and strategic recommendations on relevant asks.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Discontinued Products
    • Generally I think there is a lot you can do within the tool, but as it is a Google product it means there is limited support - something which I think lets all of the platform stacks down
    • There could be more visual signifiers to identify if a feature is a normal or 360 feature. This would mean you can really get to grips with what the extra more advanced elements are
    Read full review
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Discontinued Products
    Google Analytics 360 is an upgraded version of the most widely used web/app analytics tracking tools in the market. The price is stable and predictable making it a long-term product of choice. It's easy to use and pairs so well with other Google Marketing Platform products.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    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
    Discontinued Products
    The UI is very easy to navigate and use. The features are well designed and intuitive. As long as the user has a good understanding of basic digital analytics definitions and capabilities, this tool should be quite easy to use. I consider Google Analytics Premium to be the easiest of all of the enterprise solutions out there to use.
    Read full review
    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.
    Read full review
    Reliability and Availability
    Discontinued Products
    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
    Read full review
    Performance
    Discontinued Products
    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.
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    Discontinued Products
    If you purchase Premium through a reseller like LunaMetrics, you are going to be taken care of. The additional amount of support and services that a reseller provides to make sure you have the best experience with the product is the reason why the reseller program exists to begin with. Support doesn't have to be just reactive, it can be proactive as well.
    Read full review
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    In-Person Training
    Discontinued Products
    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.
    Read full review
    Online Training
    Discontinued Products
    There is a ton of information online about Google Analytics, but Google Analytics Premium users will have dedicated support and training from Google or an Authorized Reseller.
    Read full review
    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
    Read full review
    Implementation Rating
    Discontinued Products
    If you already have the basic version of GA installed, "getting" GA Premium happens immediately through a virtual flipping of the switch - no need to re-implement. You'll want to expand your use of custom dimensions and metrics (you get 10x the amount with Premium). Ideally, you'll be using a tag management solution to talk with GA Premium, in concert with implementing a dataLayer (to note, Google's Tag Manager platform is covered under the same GA Premium SLA, and it's free). There are some welcomed "configurations" with GA Premium, such as integrating with DoubleClick products, activating data driven attribution models, and building roll-up executive reports - but all of these are easy point and click solutions. In comparison with any other enterprise analytics solution, implementing GA and GA Premium is traditionally easier and more flexible. And if you have any trouble or need an extra set of hands for implementation, GA Certified Partners like LunaMetrics can help
    Read full review
    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.
    Read full review
    Alternatives Considered
    Discontinued Products
    Unless you have very complex and edge case analytics needs, Google Analytics [360 (formerly Google Analytics Premium)] is likely going to be the best choice. From both a cost and usability stand point, Google wins. Adobe has the edge case when you need to create really custom reports, dimensions, metrics, etc. In my experience, this is rarely the case and you end up biting off more than you can chew. Stick with Google unless you are or plan on hiring an Adobe Analytics expert.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    IBM
    Power BI is stronger for quick ad-hoc analysis and dashboards, but IBM Cognos Analytics is better when consistency, precision, and mass distribution matter. Tableau is best for interactive analysis, while IBM Cognos Analytics is better for standardized, repeatable enterprise reporting. Sigma shines for customizable dashboards and drill-down analysis while IBM Cognos Analytics holds an edge in data discovery and visualization.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Scalability
    Discontinued Products
    No answers on this topic
    IBM
    We rate IBM Cognos Analytics a 9 out of 10 for overall scalability. The platform handles large numbers of users, reports, and analytical workloads very reliably. We have experienced strong performance even in demanding enterprise environments with substantial data volumes. Its architecture provides sufficient flexibility to scale resources according to demand, making it well suited for large, business-critical deployments.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Discontinued Products
    • It helps me understand which social media platforms are most successful for me - which I should focus on and which I might want to focus less on.
    • I can also see which blog posts people are reading - so I know which topics resonate most. I can write more of those, hopefully gaining more visitors.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    IBM
    • The platform can be pretty pricey.
    • Convoluted contracts and they fine you for any breach during audits.
    • Things are changed between releases without any warning and break.
    • It is second to none at being able to customize list and crosstab type reports.
    • You can easily set up a report to be emailed out every day and even have it export the report to a shared folder.
    • On-prem environments can be scaled up pretty much as much as you would like.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    IBM Cognos Analytics Screenshots

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