Knowage vs SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence comparison

Why PeerSpot?

Knowage and SAP are both solutions in the BI (Business Intelligence) Tools category. Knowage is ranked #32, while SAP is ranked #5 with an average rating of 8.3. Knowage holds a 1.1% mindshare in BIT, compared to SAP’s 2.9% mindshare. Additionally, 85% of Knowage users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 91% of SAP users who would recommend it.

Knowage

Read 18 Knowage reviews

3,821 Views
2,751 Comparison Views

85% willing to recommend

SAP BusinessObjects Busines...

Read 114 SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence reviews

15,752 Views
10,869 Comparison Views

91% willing to recommend

Knowage

SAP BusinessObjects Busines...

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 3, 2026

SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence and Knowage compete within the business intelligence solutions category. SAP seems to have the upper hand for large organizations due to its comprehensive features, while Knowage attracts smaller enterprises looking for cost-effective, open-source options.

Features: SAP BusinessObjects includes dynamic visibility, query prompt selector, and a powerful semantic layer known as Universes. These features are designed for large enterprises, enabling complex data integration and automated report scheduling. Knowage focuses on user-friendly visualization development and self-service capabilities, making it ideal for smaller organizations or those with tight budgets.

Room for Improvement: SAP users highlight difficulties in ease of use and integration, especially regarding licensing and deployment. It sometimes struggles with big data performance and integration depth. Knowage is noted for limited documentation and lack of support for some advanced BI features, which can hinder user adaptation.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: SAP BusinessObjects offers hybrid and cloud deployment flexibility but requires expert handling due to its complexity, with variable tech support quality. Knowage is primarily on-premises, limiting scalability for larger firms. Its tech support is competent for basic issues, consistent with its open-source nature.

Pricing and ROI: SAP BusinessObjects has substantial licensing costs but promises significant ROI through its advanced analytics capabilities suitable for environments with high data volumes. Knowage provides financial advantages with its free open-source license, appealing to smaller organizations looking for cost-effective BI solutions.

To learn more, read our detailed Knowage vs. SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Report (Updated: September 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Knowage vs. SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence

September 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:

Categories and Ranking

Knowage

Ranking in BI (Business Intelligence) Tools

32nd

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Reporting (22nd)

SAP BusinessObjects Busines...

Ranking in BI (Business Intelligence) Tools

5th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

114

Ranking in other categories

Data Visualization (4th)

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2026, in the BI (Business Intelligence) Tools category, the mindshare of Knowage is 1.1%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence is 2.9%, down from 3.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

BI (Business Intelligence) Tools Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence	2.9%
Knowage	1.1%
Other	96.0%

BI (Business Intelligence) Tools

Featured Reviews

Albert Masanja

Margin Assurance Analyst at a comms service provider with 1,001-5,000 employees

A stable open source suite for modern business analytics with a useful replication feature

It would be better if more resources were available to help us learn how to use it. I wanted to use Knowage for a more extended period, but learning materials around the product were not really available and were not really straightforward. I've also seen inconsistencies between versions. For example, under the tools, especially in the cockpit, the way you create reports is now different. You will also find some configurations within a particular state, like a line chart, which differs from version to version. I think consistency is an essential feature in a product, especially for business intelligence products.

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TarunKumar7

Senior Data Engineer at LTI LATAM and Toubro Improtech

Data insights have driven faster financial forecasts and improved role-based decision making

The best features SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform offers include cross-enterprise sharing, where sharing insights is easier and seamless across my organization, and creating role-based dashboards. The role-based dashboards help my team and organization by providing information to specific users, allowing them to make decisions more easily, anytime, anywhere, across any device. SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform has positively impacted my organization by allowing us to perform financial reporting to make decisions faster. Since we started using SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform, we have been able to make faster, data-driven business decisions based on actual data insights and data analysis, which has accelerated our ability to make better decisions for our business productivity.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Nice features available in SpagoBI compared with other open-source BI are Auditing, Collaborative BI, Query By Example, and User Profiling."

"The concept of engines is quite powerful allowing the user to work with report authoring/provisioning tools of their choice."

"The embedding feature is great."

"Our customers really appreciate the self-service BI functionalities."

"Being able to schedule necessary jobs needed for production jobs and programming run times"

"Unified interface, a lot of tools for BI, easy configuration, standalone SDK."

"The most valuable features to us are application implementation, development, and analysis."

"I am satisfied with the product in general given what the company invested in it, which was just our time."

More Knowage pros

"It's the best product in the market when it comes to reporting technology."

"There are two tools inside BusinessObjects' schematic layout called the Universal Design Tool and Information Design Tool. These are the most powerful tools that set BusinessObjects' reporting from other solutions. If my organization has 300 or 400 tables, I can combine all of them into one universe, and everyone can use that. It is just a schematic layout that does not hold any data but the table relationships."

"It is more user-friendly and easier to work with the report creation part, creating reports out of an established universe. Maybe a business person could liberate the existing universe and create a report on top of it, as well. So that's one cool feature."

"The most valuable features of the solution are its stability and user-friendliness, making it easy to manage."

"It has been extremely valuable, to combine data from various data sources."

"The nicest part of BOE remains the semantic layer (Designer), giving developers a powerful way to encapsulate business logic and push it out to users through Webi or WRC."

"SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform is definitely scalable."

"What I like the most about SAP BusinessObjects BI Platform is that it has significantly improved our decision-making process."

More SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence pros

Cons

"There are additional features such as Data Integration, Data Visualization, MobileBI, Cloud BI, Data enrichment and massaging should be implemented in the next release."

"We expected the community to be bigger than what it currently is."

"We had stability issues."

"Tomcat configuration was tricky in earlier versions."

"The only challenge here is that it's a Java-based platform. It requires very high technical skills."

"It would be better if more resources were available to help us learn how to use it. I wanted to use Knowage for a more extended period, but learning materials around the product were not really available and were not really straightforward. I've also seen inconsistencies between versions. For example, under the tools, especially in the cockpit, the way you create reports is now different. You will also find some configurations within a particular state, like a line chart, which differs from version to version. I think consistency is an essential feature in a product, especially for business intelligence products."

"Many things need to be improved, most of all robustness."

"Development of SpagoBI has now been moved to Knowage. Users interested in further developments of the platform will have to look there."

More Knowage cons

"We regret that versions that are initially released do not seem to be well finished (a lot of bugs), and that a lot of patching is necessary to get to a stable version (our experience for BOXIR3, BI4 and so on)."

"They need to improve the processing of software as it has lag when it initially starts."

"ROI for the reporting product alone, as a component in a whole stack of things contributing to ROI, is in my view a minor contributor."

"SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform should be made easier for the end-users and the performance could be improved."

"SAP only focuses on the sales side—only money is important for SAP, not the quality."

"SAP does force users to manage it a certain way, specifically around queries, and does not integrate well with other platforms, or lacks a certain level of flexibility."

"We have encountered so many issues when the architecture and design was fragile."

"The dashboard tool is called Lumira and it is very uncomfortable for developers to use. They should improve this in the future."

More SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It allows the implementation of an effective reporting system using internal skills at a limited upfront cost."

"Knowage is open-source, and an enterprise edition is also available."

"The SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform has to improve its licensing cost."

"It has an option of a Cloud Platform (SAP Analytics Cloud) which has a lower price than the on-premise platform, and you can buy individual licences per user."

"Depending on your size, try to stick with SAP BusinessObjects BI Edge. Most people tend to overthink the licensing. Remember that one concurrent user means that one person can be performing a task at a given time. That does not mean that only one user can be on the system at a time, it means that only one person can be refreshing a report or designing a dashboard. There are tons of ways you can access your data or reports without consuming a license. I've seen cases where five concurrent licenses support thousands of users."

"The price and the pricing model are fine. We find the solution does not give us a lot of additional value."

"We are satisfied with the solution, but we are not satisfied with the licensing cost which SAP offers. They offer one lumpsum licensing which does everything. That is not the right strategy, because sometimes you don't have power users, they are only viewers, but we need to buy the full license for them. This is not something we want to continue with."

"It is not cost-effective. It is expensive."

"There is an annual license to use SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform."

"Its price is fair."

More SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence pricing and cost advice

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Comparison Review

it_user6663

BI Expert at a transportation company with 51-200 employees

May 25, 2013

SAP Business Objects vs. Microsoft BI

A quick look at the whole idea on another weblogs gives you a sense that all of them just talked about very brief things like report refresh feature in BO or cube feature in MS Analysis Service. I choose MS BI and I want to share my reasons and opinions on why I choose it and give you another quick…

Read full review

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Construction Company

20%

Outsourcing Company

11%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Construction Company

11%

Outsourcing Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	7
Midsize Enterprise	6
Large Enterprise	6

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	34
Midsize Enterprise	20
Large Enterprise	67

Questions from the Community

Ask a question

Earn 20 points

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...

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Tableau vs. Business Objects - Which is a better solution for visualization and analysis?

Both tools have their positives and negatives. First, I should mention that I am relatively new to Tableau. I have been working on and off Tableau for about a year, but getting to work on it consta...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform?

SAP BTP is an expensive solution.

See all answers

Comparisons

Tableau Enterprise vs Knowage

Compared 7% of the time

Pentaho Business Analytics vs Knowage

Compared 7% of the time

Procurify vs Knowage

Compared 6% of the time

Microsoft Power BI vs Knowage

Compared 5% of the time

Looker Studio vs Knowage

Compared 3% of the time

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SAP Business Data Cloud vs SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence

Compared 20% of the time

Microsoft Power BI vs SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence

Compared 6% of the time

Tableau Enterprise vs SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence

Compared 5% of the time

Oracle OBIEE vs SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence

Compared 4% of the time

IBM Cognos vs SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence

Compared 3% of the time

More SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Knowage

October 2026

Download Knowage product report

Buyer's Guide

SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence

September 2026

SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence report

Download SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence product report

Also Known As

SpagoBI

SAP BusinessObjects BI Platform, SAP BusinessObjects, Business Objects, SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards, SAP BusinessObjects Design Studio

Overview

Knowage is an open-source business intelligence suite offering features like engine concepts and report customization. It's favored for its integration capabilities and self-service BI functionality, allowing users to leverage cross-platform access and conduct comprehensive data analysis.

Knowage stands out in the BI landscape by providing tools that facilitate autonomous data exploration, with an emphasis on flexibility and extensive integration options. With capabilities for embedding reports and dynamic dashboards, it supports various analysis needs through integration with databases and tools like Jasper and BIRT. Despite its technical complexity and interface limitations, Knowage's features such as GIS integration and big data visualization enhance operational efficiency and profitability analysis.

What are the key features of Knowage?

Powerful engines: Facilitate complex data processing with high efficiency.
Report customization: Tailor reports to meet specific business requirements.
Cross-platform access: Enable data accessibility across different devices.
Open-source: Leverage the flexibility and cost-effectiveness of open-source solutions.
Embedding capabilities: Integrate seamlessly with tools like Jasper for enhanced functionality.
Python support: Use Python for advanced data correlation and analyses.
GIS integration: Incorporate geographical data for enriched insights.

What benefits should you consider in reviews?

Increased efficiency: Streamlined report deployment and big data visualization.
Comprehensive analysis: Tools for evaluating activities and profitability.
Data export options: Support for exporting data in preferred formats simplifies reporting tasks.
Operational cost savings: Eliminates the need for third-party BI solutions.

In the healthcare and financial sectors, Knowage is used for deriving insights from health data warehouses and performing financial analyses. Companies use it to create dashboards and reports from MySQL databases, embedding them for wider distribution, and enabling effective resource evaluation and decision-making.

Knowage

SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform offers powerful tools for enterprise reporting and data visualization, enhancing strategic decision-making through robust integration and secure analytics capabilities.

Designed for comprehensive enterprise reporting, SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform integrates seamlessly with SAP ERP, supporting organizations in creating detailed financial, operational, and academic reports. The platform allows data manipulation across multiple sources using a semantic layer and provides intuitive tools like Web Intelligence and Lumira for user-driven report creation. It features centralized management, versatile connectors, and supports large-scale data analytics critical for business forecasting.

What are the key features of SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform?

Integration Capabilities: Seamless connection with SAP ERP and various data sources.
Dynamic Scheduling: Automate report generation for timely insights.
Robust Security: Protects data with stringent security measures.
Semantic Layer: Simplifies data manipulation across sources.
Intuitive Tools: Facilitates user-driven report creation with Web Intelligence and Lumira.

What benefits should be considered in reviews?

Comprehensive Reporting: Enables detailed and accurate enterprise reports.
Decision-Making Support: Enhances strategic decisions with reliable data.
Scalability: Efficiently manages large-scale and complex data analytics.
Versatility in Analysis: Offers flexibility for ad hoc analysis and KPI monitoring.

Organizations across sectors like healthcare, education, insurance, and retail leverage SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform for its capability in facilitating detailed reports and integrating dashboards for key performance indicators. Its extensive reporting features support in-depth analytics vital for business prediction and decision-making processes.

SAP

Sample Customers

FIAT Group, Italian air navigation service provider, Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, Telecom Italia, ASL Genovese, San Giovanni Battista University Hospital

SRAM, Kennametal, Fairfax Water, British American Tobacco, Velux, and FedEx.

Buyer's Guide

Knowage vs. SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence

September 2026

Free Report: Knowage vs. SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence

Find out what your peers are saying about Knowage vs. SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.

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