IBM Planning Analytics vs SAP Crystal Reports comparison

The compared IBM and SAP solutions aren't in the same category. IBM is ranked #4 in BPM , with an average rating of 8.2, and holds a 4.5% mindshare in the category. SAP is ranked #9 in RT , with an average rating of 8.0, and holds a 2.6% mindshare. Additionally, 92% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 96% of SAP users who would recommend it.

IBM Planning Analytics

Read 28 IBM Planning Analytics reviews

3,062 Views
1,286 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

SAP Crystal Reports

Read 52 SAP Crystal Reports reviews

1,918 Views
1,592 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

IBM Planning Analytics

SAP Crystal Reports

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between IBM Planning Analytics and SAP Crystal Reports based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Anaplan, Oracle, IBM and others in Business Performance Management.

To learn more, read our detailed Business Performance Management Report (Updated: January 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Business Performance Management

January 2026

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Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score

7.3

IBM Planning Analytics boosts ROI by enhancing budgeting, analysis, and productivity but faces affordability issues due to increased pricing.

Sentiment score

5.7

SAP Crystal Reports greatly enhances ERP reporting and efficiency, offering ROI over 1000%, despite costly user training.

I have seen a return on investment, as the accuracy has really improved in my organization since everything is automated.

Sai Tilak

Team Lead Manager at Finlays

Since using this tool, I can now make decisions faster, even when there is just a small change in the data.

Gladys Njeri

Key Account Manager at DHL

For more quotes and insights, download the IBM Planning Analytics report

No quotes available

For more quotes and insights, download the SAP Crystal Reports report

Customer Service

Sentiment score

7.0

IBM Planning Analytics support is responsive and efficient, rated highly by users, yet there's room for faster direct resolutions.

Sentiment score

5.7

SAP Crystal Reports customer support is inconsistent, with mixed reviews, leading users to favor online resources and self-help solutions.

We have a multi-level support system, with the initial level handled by the company we bought the license from and subsequent support from IBM.

reviewer1517922

Responsable B.I at a retailer with 51-200 employees

Instead, we rely on third-party partners recognized by IBM, who provide cost-effective support.

Ayman Alshabani

Financial Performance Manager at a retailer with 1,001-5,000 employees

They have been very dedicated and provided top-notch solutions.

reviewer2798436

Senior Software Engineer at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees

For more quotes and insights, download the IBM Planning Analytics report

I have not encountered any problems requiring assistance.

Salman Mukhtar Baig

SAP Technical Manager at VS Furniture Middle East

For more quotes and insights, download the SAP Crystal Reports report

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score

7.9

IBM Planning Analytics offers high scalability, efficiently managing data with real-time handling and flexibility for small to enterprise businesses.

Sentiment score

7.6

SAP Crystal Reports supports scalability and is suitable for medium to large enterprises, with room for scalability improvements.

IBM Planning Analytics' scalability is impressive, as it is able to gather data from multiple sources and handle huge amounts of data without any lagging or downtime.

Sai Tilak

Team Lead Manager at Finlays

Scalability is quite hard to implement in TM1, largely since the on-premise installation chosen back in 2014.

reviewer1517922

Responsable B.I at a retailer with 51-200 employees

Scalability is straightforward but it is pricey since it's a SaaS model priced per user.

Ayman Alshabani

Financial Performance Manager at a retailer with 1,001-5,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the IBM Planning Analytics report

No quotes available

For more quotes and insights, download the SAP Crystal Reports report

Stability Issues

Sentiment score

7.9

IBM Planning Analytics offers stability and reliable performance for forecasting, with occasional fixable issues requiring vendor support.

Sentiment score

7.1

SAP Crystal Reports is stable on Windows, with Unix challenges and improved performance on specialized servers post-2011.

The performance of IBM Planning Analytics has always been fast and reliable for my needs, even when dealing with huge volumes of data.

Gladys Njeri

Key Account Manager at DHL

This stability is really important as we use it for budget calculation, which is time-consuming.

reviewer1517922

Responsable B.I at a retailer with 51-200 employees

IBM Planning Analytics is stable because the reason we switched from IBM Cognos is that IBM Planning Analytics capability allows us to connect to multiple tools, which we could not do before.

reviewer2798436

Senior Software Engineer at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees

For more quotes and insights, download the IBM Planning Analytics report

No quotes available

For more quotes and insights, download the SAP Crystal Reports report

Room For Improvement

Users recommend improving IBM Planning Analytics usability, interface design, automation, integration, performance, scalability, offline access, and reducing upgrade frequency.

SAP Crystal Reports needs better visualization, modern tech integration, improved analytics, compatibility, and enhanced documentation and support.

The abundance of features results in complexity, requiring strict guidelines for developers to ensure simplistic approaches are adhered to.

reviewer1517922

Responsable B.I at a retailer with 51-200 employees

IBM's visualization needs significant improvement.

Ayman Alshabani

Financial Performance Manager at a retailer with 1,001-5,000 employees

The advanced features are somewhat complex to understand, and if the data set is very large, it takes a lot of time to process, which causes performance to become slower.

reviewer2798436

Senior Software Engineer at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees

For more quotes and insights, download the IBM Planning Analytics report

If it is closed due to any problem, it should be able to recover where I left off, similar to Excel, which should be a feature for SAP Crystal Reports.

Salman Mukhtar Baig

SAP Technical Manager at VS Furniture Middle East

Enabling better practices and testing to enhance data accuracy and efficiency for company sectors.

MUHAMMAD_IMRAN

Inhouse SAP Business One Sr. Consultant at a retailer with 501-1,000 employees

It would be beneficial to have easier integration with Azure, Microsoft Power Platform, and similar cloud technologies.

Chamodr I'M

I'm at DTS Group

For more quotes and insights, download the SAP Crystal Reports report

Setup Cost

IBM Planning Analytics offers flexible licensing models and competitive pricing, with consulting fees impacting overall costs significantly.

SAP Crystal Reports pricing perceptions vary; some find it costly, but discounts and volume deals can reduce expenses.

TM1 is quite expensive, and I'd rate the pricing as an eight out of ten.

reviewer1517922

Responsable B.I at a retailer with 51-200 employees

While IBM's solutions were costly before, the introduction of SaaS models has reduced prices significantly.

Ayman Alshabani

Financial Performance Manager at a retailer with 1,001-5,000 employees

My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for IBM Planning Analytics is that the pricing and licensing cost can be somewhat on the higher side, especially for small organizations.

reviewer2798436

Senior Software Engineer at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees

For more quotes and insights, download the IBM Planning Analytics report

No quotes available

For more quotes and insights, download the SAP Crystal Reports report

Valuable Features

IBM Planning Analytics provides fast calculations, customization, Excel integration, and automation for efficient financial performance management and data analysis.

SAP Crystal Reports provides flexible data connectivity, custom design, and efficient reporting, enhancing decision-making and client communication.

Its stability helps controllers win time in their planning processes.

reviewer1517922

Responsable B.I at a retailer with 51-200 employees

It also integrates machine learning and AI engines, enabling us to use algorithms for inventory forecasting which optimizes our inventory and replenishment rates.

Ayman Alshabani

Financial Performance Manager at a retailer with 1,001-5,000 employees

Some of the valuable features of IBM Planning Analytics are its intuitive and user-friendly interface, reporting output and scheduling, access control and security, and mobile capabilities.

reviewer2798436

Senior Software Engineer at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees

For more quotes and insights, download the IBM Planning Analytics report

SAP Crystal Reports has had a very positive impact and benefits. It's a powerful tool to design any kind of report if you have knowledge of the database, and it can attach to both HANA and SQL databases.

Salman Mukhtar Baig

SAP Technical Manager at VS Furniture Middle East

The efficiency gained by our organization from SAP Crystal Reports is measurable through multiple export formats such as PDF and Excel.

MUHAMMAD_IMRAN

Inhouse SAP Business One Sr. Consultant at a retailer with 501-1,000 employees

The best features SAP Crystal Reports offers are powerful data connectivity, customized report design, interactive and visual reports, import, export, sharing options, and automation and scheduling.

Chamodr I'M

I'm at DTS Group

For more quotes and insights, download the SAP Crystal Reports report

Categories and Ranking

IBM Planning Analytics

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Business Performance Management (4th)

SAP Crystal Reports

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Reporting (9th)

Mindshare comparison

While both are Business Intelligence solutions, they serve different purposes. IBM Planning Analytics is designed for Business Performance Management and holds a mindshare of 4.5%, down 9.1% compared to last year.
SAP Crystal Reports, on the other hand, focuses on Reporting, holds 2.6% mindshare, down 2.7% since last year.

Business Performance Management Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
IBM Planning Analytics	4.5%
Anaplan	6.9%
CCH Tagetik	5.1%
Other	83.5%

Business Performance Management

Reporting Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
SAP Crystal Reports	2.6%
Microsoft Power BI	17.3%
Tableau Enterprise	15.6%
Other	64.5%

Reporting

Featured Reviews

Gladys Njeri

Key Account Manager at DHL

Data-driven planning has transformed financial decisions and now saves major reporting time

IBM Planning Analytics helps with collaboration between teams by allowing us to gather data from various departments, analyze it, and collaborate on the data to make data-driven decisions between different departments easily. As I mentioned previously, I mainly use IBM Planning Analytics to visualize the existing data to generate meaningful report dashboards and use it during stakeholder meetings to arrive at the right decision. The best features IBM Planning Analytics offers include budgeting, forecasting, and what-if scenario analysis. The scenario modeling feature in IBM Planning Analytics is probably the most robust planning and forecasting solution we use, especially for what-if scenarios, where we are able to forecast using Watson Studio, which helps in better prediction. I really appreciate the Excel integration in IBM Planning Analytics because it keeps things familiar and adds more power.

Read full review

Salman Mukhtar Baig

SAP Technical Manager at VS Furniture Middle East

Unlock data insights with seamless integration and robust reporting features

I assess the impact of SAP Crystal Reports' dynamic parameters on the customization and flexibility of my reports as very good. Sometimes it creates a problem when it suddenly closes during work due to improper shutdowns, but most of the time it's beneficial since I can fetch the data in one report very efficiently, which is great for the company. The sub reports in SAP Crystal Reports help me enhance the depth and detail of my reports by allowing me to use multiple sets of records, especially when I have very large requirements, such as company dashboards that show what sales, purchases, productions, and HR are doing. Using sub reports as the main report is very beneficial because I can pull multiple department data into the main report. Over the years, SAP Crystal Reports has had a very positive impact and benefits. It's a powerful tool to design any kind of report if you have knowledge of the database, and it can attach to both HANA and SQL databases. I can also connect this data with Excel, which makes it a very powerful tool for me.

Read full review

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881,733 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

17%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Retailer

Educational Organization

Financial Services Firm

12%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Government

Computer Software Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	16
Midsize Enterprise	4
Large Enterprise	15

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	18
Midsize Enterprise	15
Large Enterprise	22

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about IBM Planning Analytics?

The most valuable features of IBM Planning Analytics for streamlining planning processes include a unified database where all data are centralized.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Planning Analytics?

While IBM's solutions were costly before, the introduction of SaaS models has reduced prices significantly. Comparatively, IBM rates may be better than those of competitors, such as Hyperion ( /pro...

See all answers

What needs improvement with IBM Planning Analytics?

IBM is behind competitors like Tableau ( /products/tableau-reviews ) and Power BI in terms of visualization. Their visuals are less innovative and practical with fewer varieties. IBM's visualizatio...

See all answers

What needs improvement with SAP Crystal Reports?

SAP Crystal Reports could be improved with more modern user-friendly interfaces and better integration with cloud platforms and AI tools. It would be beneficial to have easier integration with Azur...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for SAP Crystal Reports?

I have been using SAP Crystal Reports for six months. I am using SAP Crystal Reports to develop data-driven reports and use customer data printing. When I use SAP Crystal Reports for customer data ...

See all answers

What do you like most about SAP Crystal Reports?

We use SAP Crystal Reports for operational reporting.

See all answers

Comparisons

Microsoft Power BI vs IBM Planning Analytics

Compared 14% of the time

SAP Analytics Cloud vs IBM Planning Analytics

Compared 12% of the time

Anaplan vs IBM Planning Analytics

Compared 8% of the time

IBM Cognos vs IBM Planning Analytics

Compared 5% of the time

Oracle Hyperion vs IBM Planning Analytics

Compared 5% of the time

More IBM Planning Analytics Competitors

Microsoft Power BI vs SAP Crystal Reports

Compared 13% of the time

Windward Core vs SAP Crystal Reports

Compared 10% of the time

Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services vs SAP Crystal Reports

Compared 8% of the time

IBM Cognos vs SAP Crystal Reports

Compared 8% of the time

Syncfusion Report Platform vs SAP Crystal Reports

Compared 8% of the time

More SAP Crystal Reports Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IBM Planning Analytics

January 2026

Download IBM Planning Analytics product report

Buyer's Guide

SAP Crystals

January 2026

Download SAP Crystal Reports product report

Also Known As

Cognos TM1, IBM Cognos TM1

No data available

Overview

IBM Planning Analytics is an integrated planning solution that uses AI to automate planning, budgeting, and forecasting and drive more intelligent workflows.

Built on TM1, IBM’s powerful calculation engine, this enterprise performance management tool allows you to transcend the limits of manual planning and become the Analytics Hero your business needs. Quickly and easily drive faster, more accurate plans for FP&A, sales, supply chain and beyond.

IBM

Turn information from almost any data source into a sophisticated, interactive report with SAP Crystal Reports. This powerful, user-friendly application for small businesses and departments can help you deliver key insights to the right decision maker, at the right time, in the right format.

Click here for a free trial

SAP

Sample Customers

ManpowerGroup, Convergys, AIG, Orchard Brands, Citibank, InterGen, Northwestern University, EF Education First, Ironside, Bazan Group, CSOB Insurance, Macquarie Group, Charles Stanley, SATO, Government of Sint Maarten, BMW Financial Services

City of Buenos Aires, ASR Group, Citrix, EarlySense, Usha International Limited, Automotive Resources International (ARI), LivePerson, Coelba (Grupo Neoenergia), RZD Russian Railways, National Basketball Association - NBA, TALLY WEiJL, El Machetazo, Young Heroes, Mozzart, Mitsui Knowledge Industry (MKI) , Surgutneftegas Open Joint Stock Company, The VELUX Group, AOK Bundesverband, AL-KO KOBER GROUP

Buyer's Guide

Business Performance Management

January 2026

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Find out what your peers are saying about Anaplan, Oracle, IBM and others in Business Performance Management. Updated: January 2026.

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We monitor all Business Performance Management reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.