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IBM Planning Analytics vs SAS Activity-Based Management comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 19, 2024

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 Planning Analytics
Ranking in Business Performance Management
5th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
28
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
SAS Activity-Based Management
Ranking in Business Performance Management
20th
Average Rating
5.0
Reviews Sentiment
5.9
Number of Reviews
5
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the Business Performance Management category, the mindshare of IBM Planning Analytics is 4.0%, down from 6.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAS Activity-Based Management is 2.4%, up from 1.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Business Performance Management Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
IBM Planning Analytics4.0%
SAS Activity-Based Management2.4%
Other93.6%
Business Performance Management
 

Featured Reviews

Gladys Njeri - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
it_user530763 - PeerSpot reviewer
CEO at a financial services firm with 1-10 employees
Helps to compare production costs across different departments. Try CostPerform from QPR.
Helps to compare production costs across different departments The data integration is very complex Visualization of the cost flow is not user-friendly It takes hours to build OLAP cubes to analyze the results of the model We have been using this solution for three years. I would rate the…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"This product is entirely designable and flexible, you can answer to very complex requirements."
"The flexibility of IBM Planning Analytics is a great feature of this solution. The design flexibility with data rules and defining calculations The ability to combine online and offline calculations are a benefit. Additionally, the forecasting features and predictive analytics is very good."
"The most valuable feature is that it is able to slice and dice the data."
"The ease of use is valuable. The fact that it's plugged into Excel spreadsheets is also valuable. It provides additional functionality where you can slice and dice the information in a way that you can't do with spreadsheets"
"The product's stability is good."
"A lot of the platform is in-memory, so Planning Analytics can run calculations quite fast. It also offers several user interfaces. And in the newest version of Planning Analytics, there is a new one called the Planning Analytics Workspace. Maybe it could be useful for the business side."
"I would strongly recommend to go with TM1 Enterprise in terms of stability, scalability and performance."
"I would recommend Planning Analytics to other users as it's user-friendly, accessible, and flexible."
"Helps to compare production costs across different departments."
"We use ABM as an expense allocation model and it has improved the awareness and accountability of the cost incurred due to the traceability feature."
"The product helped determine the organization's true cost of providing its products and services to customers."
"Cube generation is a valuable feature."
"The product allows us to calculate the distributed cost across activities."
 

Cons

"TM1 is a bit expensive, especially for small companies who should look more at products like Jedox or Tableau etc.. Who propose all in 1 products with good looking visualization components"
"If we talk only about the TM1 engine, it's quite rich and possibly too rich, making it complex to perform simple tasks."
"Given the fact that IBM Planning Analytics is quite pricey in terms of the cost for the subscription and the monthly subscription, we just did the first-tier plan where we are only allowed to have five users at a time."
"It would have been better if the solution was not just a tool kit. They did not embed some functionalities already developed, we are having to develop them ourselves."
"It's highly competitive right now, and all the vendors are in a race to put out new versions with additional features. IBM comes out with new versions too often, and it has an impact on quality."
"It is a bit expensive, but it does the job."
"Adding predefined templates could be beneficial."
"The tool's transport layer could be improved when promoting development between environments."
"The interface is poorly designed and could really use an improvement to compete with other comparable software."
"The usability needs to be improved but bear in mind that we did not have the latest update."
"We experienced severe performance issues when the models created are getting more details and becoming more complex."
"It could be made much more simpler. Most of the time it looks like a black box for developers."
"The data integration is very complex Visualization of the cost flow is not user-friendly It takes hours to build OLAP cubes to analyze the results of the model"
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Our licensing cost is approximately $50,000.00 per year."
"IBM Planning Analytics is priced well, and licensing costs are yearly."
"Compared with the other tools in the market, IBM Planning Analytics is a bit expensive."
"IBM Planning Analytics is not the cheapest solution, but it's priced per the market standard for this type of solution. I rate the price at seven out of ten."
"I would rate the tool's pricing a nine out of ten since it's expensive."
"The license of this solution is paid annually. Most of my customers choose a license that includes support."
"It is a bit expensive, but you get what you are paying for."
Information not available
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
15%
Retailer
10%
Outsourcing Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
19%
Financial Services Firm
15%
Outsourcing Company
9%
Performing Arts
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business19
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise18
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Planning Analytics?
Regarding pricing, the cost is high compared to the competitors of IBM Planning Analytics, but given that we as an organization already use IBM, we decided to go for IBM Planning Analytics. We did ...
What needs improvement with IBM Planning Analytics?
Regarding the local industry concerning IBM Planning Analytics, the first improvement I suggest is pricing, and they should focus on local training; as much as people become aware of the product, t...
What is your primary use case for IBM Planning Analytics?
Most customers using IBM Planning Analytics are from the banking industry, and some are SMEs like Honda Car and Toyota in Pakistan.
Ask a question
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Also Known As

Cognos TM1, IBM Cognos TM1
No data available
 

Overview

 

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
Bank of Queensland, Barclays Bank, BioMar, Danske Bank, Danske Spil, DPPS, First Allied
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Planning Analytics vs. SAS Activity-Based Management and other solutions. Updated: November 2026.
920,769 professionals have used our research since 2012.