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IBM Cognos Dashboard vs Qlik Sense 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:
 

Categories and Ranking

IBM Cognos Dashboard
Ranking in Data Visualization
28th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Qlik Sense
Ranking in Data Visualization
6th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.2
Number of Reviews
126
Ranking in other categories
Embedded BI (2nd), AI Data Analysis (16th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Data Visualization category, the mindshare of IBM Cognos Dashboard is 0.9%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Qlik Sense is 4.9%, down from 8.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Data Visualization Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Qlik Sense4.9%
IBM Cognos Dashboard0.9%
Other94.2%
Data Visualization
 

Featured Reviews

Unes Ay - PeerSpot reviewer
Data Scientist at a manufacturing company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Provides efficient data modules, but it could be more user-friendly
We use IBM Cognos Dashboard for data manufacturing, reporting, costing, quality check, etc The product helps us update the KPI automatically. We can access reports and analyze if a particular solution fits the requirements. The product's most valuable is the concept of data modules. IBM Cognos…
Saranya Deepthi - PeerSpot reviewer
Project Engineer at Wipro
Improved AI-driven dashboards have accelerated decisions but still need better visuals and faster refresh
Absolutely, nothing is entirely positive, and everything has both advantages and disadvantages. When I worked with Qlik Sense, circular charts were not available, which meant I had to look for alternative solutions that would be reliable or make the functionality work. There are some features that need to be added. Additionally, there is a limit to the number of fields that can be added in Qlik Sense, and I believe it would be beneficial if they increased the count for fields and columns. There might be requirements where an Excel file contains many columns that need to be displayed as visual representations to clients, and in those situations, it becomes very difficult and I have to use alternative approaches. When this problem arose, I used HTML code to write a solution and make it work. Qlik Sense should avoid these types of limitations in future updates. Another issue is page resolution. If a client wants to view the dashboard on a single page without scrolling, bar charts appear small and the values in KPIs, bar charts, scatter plots, and line graphs cannot be seen very clearly. Adding more extensions to make the job easier would also be beneficial. Improvements to reporting would be helpful as well, because working with large datasets makes reporting very difficult. Additionally, when data is refreshed, it cannot be completed in a short timeframe. Refreshing very large datasets can take one, two, or even three hours, so reducing the refresh time would be very useful for customers.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It is a pretty stable solution."
"The tool's valuable features are that it is easy to use and stable."
"The main feature that is useful is the on-demand report generation through the dashboard."
"The product helps us update the KPI automatically."
"Data collection, cleaning, transforming, and visualization become convenient, easy, and quick, consequently business users can make use of data by the fastest way and transform into better data-centric mindsets."
"The product is very stable."
"The most valuable feature of Qlik Analytics Platform is its Change Data Capture capability."
"The most valuable feature is the interface for the end-user."
"We have had an easy time supplying content to our customers."
"Qlik helped a lot during this uncertain period."
"Qlik Sense is a very powerful and useful tool, and it is very worth mastering, especially for people like me, who are much more visual than coders."
"The extensibility of the Platform with either internally created extensions or the use of third-party provided items really opens the platform up."
 

Cons

"Visualization is an area where the product lacks."
"The scalability of the product's on-premises version is an area with certain shortcomings where improvements are required."
"They should include proper documentation to learn more about the product."
"The price point is one of the major areas to be improved."
"I would like to see more types of visual elements and better configuration options for additional flexibility when developing charts."
"The cost of the Qlik ecosystem is higher than other competitors."
"Customer service is decent. There is a lot of passing off to other techs during the escalation process."
"Only when our usage outgrew our physical environment (server size) did we have stability issues."
"If a team wants to keep track of source code changes, there is not an out-of-the-box solution for it."
"The augmented intelligence features don't work well for the analytical user."
"Qlik Sense requires one to have a lot of technical knowledge."
"It would be nice to have more native features from QlikView built into Qlik Sense."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Licensing is based on individual usage, and it is more expensive than other providers."
"The product is expensive for small businesses compared to other vendors."
"Ultimately, the cost is low, and it implements fast. The limiting factor is how quickly your staff can keep up."
"Know your needs when going into the purchasing decision."
"You will spend more time on educating your staff than licensing the product."
"The cost is not bad considering the flexibility and support you receive from Qlik. I believe it is worth the cost."
"The costs can initially become quite high. Make sure you have a clear understanding of who will truly use the product as opposed to someone that will simply receive the end report."
"The new licensing model is much better."
"Licensing could be cheaper."
"Licensing can start to get expensive, but compared to other tools in this space it is about average."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Financial Services Firm
18%
Construction Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business34
Midsize Enterprise40
Large Enterprise89
 

Questions from the Community

Ask a question
Earn 20 points
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 is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Qlik Sense?
It is not about performance. It is just about how expensive it is to implement.
 

Also Known As

Cognos Dashboard
QlikSense, Qlik Analytics Platform
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Abbvie, Airbus, Barclays, BT Openreach, BMW, Daimler AG, HSBC, IKEA, Nationwide Building Society, Royal Mail Group, Sanofi, Siemens, Wendy'', Vodafone, Volvo
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Cognos Dashboard vs. Qlik Sense and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
908,834 professionals have used our research since 2012.