Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

Pros & Cons summary

Buyer's Guide

Get pricing advice, tips, use cases and valuable features from real users of this product.
Get the report

Prominent pros & cons

PROS

Pentaho's BI Server, CDE Dashboards, Saiku, and Kettle are highly experienced and effective tools.
Components are easy to use for job creation.
Initial setup is straightforward, and installation is possible without tech support.
Offers valuable features like Tableau reports and ease in developing data flows.
Provides a wide range of database connectivity options, including cloud support, and is suitable for big data management and analytics.

CONS

Pentaho should improve dashboard construction and integration of information from different sources without technical user intervention.
Logging capability and version control are needed.
The repository requires improvement, and Pentaho is not customizable or interactive.
Pentaho is hard to learn and not suited for initial users due to its reliance on Java and technical skills.
Deployment is complex due to dealing with large amounts of data and storage.
 

Pentaho Business Analytics Pros review quotes

SR
Solution Architect at MIMOS Berhad
Apr 28, 2020
Making business decision easily and efficient by simplifying the Performance Management of each business units on timely basis.
Ricardo Díaz - PeerSpot reviewer
COO at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Aug 10, 2015
Powerful Analytics, Fast KPI Analysis
it_user164859 - PeerSpot reviewer
Data Warehouse Specialist at a educational organization with 501-1,000 employees
Nov 23, 2014
It has provided the ability to successfully integrate many different systems into one big data warehouse.
Learn what your peers think about Pentaho Business Analytics. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2026.
884,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.
it_user164988 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Analyst at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Apr 24, 2015
Pentaho reports have enabled our client and their users to take calculated and informed tactical decisions.
it_user165003 - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Manager at a transportation company with 51-200 employees
Nov 30, 2014
The ROI of this product is good, because in little time you can have the first’s outputs.
it_user165039 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Software Engineer - BI at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
Jan 5, 2015
For decision purposes, it serves the information to managers so they can make proper decisions using the data.
it_user375249 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Software Engineer - Alfresco, Liferay, Pentaho at a construction company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Jan 27, 2016
We wanted a tool where by using it we could integrate multiple data sets, and could get responsive reports and Pentaho helped us do this in a good way.
it_user383829 - PeerSpot reviewer
Founder and Business Intelligence Consultant at Know Solutions
Feb 7, 2016
I use Pentaho everyday in my company, creating new BI environments for my customers.
CK
Manager at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
Feb 9, 2016
Pentaho data integration, where most of the ETL work can be done with minimal coding, along with its reporting capabilities, helped us manage data from different sources into one unique target.
it_user384954 - PeerSpot reviewer
Data Modeller and Pentaho Integration Analyst at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Feb 9, 2016
It covers most of our ETL requirements.
 

Pentaho Business Analytics Cons review quotes

SR
Solution Architect at MIMOS Berhad
Apr 28, 2020
Customer Service: 3 (out of 5 scale) Technical Support: 3 (out of 5 scale)
Ricardo Díaz - PeerSpot reviewer
COO at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Aug 10, 2015
Customer Service: 5/10 Technical Support: 9/10
it_user164859 - PeerSpot reviewer
Data Warehouse Specialist at a educational organization with 501-1,000 employees
Nov 23, 2014
Technical Support: Less than average.
Learn what your peers think about Pentaho Business Analytics. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2026.
884,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.
it_user164988 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Analyst at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Apr 24, 2015
Customer Service: A 3/5. The support is prompt and timely, but there have been some technical limitations sometimes.
it_user165003 - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Manager at a transportation company with 51-200 employees
Nov 30, 2014
For me, Pentaho is not growing in terms of functionality as fast as other companies in the same segment.
it_user165039 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Software Engineer - BI at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
Jan 5, 2015
It was complex to set-up.
it_user375249 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Software Engineer - Alfresco, Liferay, Pentaho at a construction company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Jan 27, 2016
The presentation of data and reports. Pentaho have made a lot of improvements in the newer versions, but it's still an area of improvement when compared to other products in market.
it_user383829 - PeerSpot reviewer
Founder and Business Intelligence Consultant at Know Solutions
Feb 7, 2016
The ad-hoc reporting needs to be improved.
CK
Manager at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
Feb 9, 2016
In the reporting tool, I would like to see what code it generates. As of now, there is no provision to see the underlying code of the PRD file.
it_user384954 - PeerSpot reviewer
Data Modeller and Pentaho Integration Analyst at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Feb 9, 2016
There are issues with clustering, and partitioning which we have reported.