Metabase vs. SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Metabase
Score 7.8 out of 10
N/A
Metabase aims to bring data tools with the simplicity of consumer products to the crufty world of enterprise business intelligence. Their open source analytics and business intelligence applications connect to most commonly used databases to let anyone in a company ask questions, and create dashboards or nightly emails without knowing SQL. Metabase Enterprise enables the user to embed branded analytics into customer applications.
$85
per month (includes 5 users, then $5 per user, per month)
SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
Score 6.5 out of 10
N/A
The SAP® BusinessObjects™ Business Intelligence Platform provides users with ad hoc queries, reporting, data visualizations, and analysis tools. Its integrated, unified infrastructure aims to offer scalability from one-to-many tools and interfaces on-premise, in the cloud, or as a hybrid approach.N/A
Pricing
MetabaseSAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
Editions & Modules
Starter
$85
per month (includes 5 users, then $5 per user, per month)
Starter
$85
per month up to 5 users
Pro
$500
per month up to 10 users
Growth
$749
per month (includes 10 users, then $15 per user, per month)
Enterprise
15,000
per year
Open Source
Free
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
MetabaseSAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
YesNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
MetabaseSAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
Considered Both Products
Metabase
Chose Metabase
It does not stack up against Metabase, they complete each other.
Chose Metabase
I used Looker in a previous role and found it clunky, difficult to navigate, hard to collaborate on, and ultimately massively expensive. I evaluated Looker to see if it would be right to implement it as a solution in my current role, but Metabase was the clear winner - the ease …
Chose Metabase
I thought Metabase was the easiest option that allowed for flexibility. However, I did need dedicated engineering resources to get the system configured and basic queries started
SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
Chose SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
This has the biggest drawback of handling the large data volume which I feel is needed as this is time-consuming and making decisions at the right time is getting harder and we have decided to move to this platform considering the time taken to process the data.
Chose SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
We are using SAC as well but the Schedule part of SAC cannot be compared to SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence schedule.
Chose SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
Microsoft's Power BI has certainly gained a lot of attention and became a leader in Gartner's magic quadrant. This is certainly a good product for average data volume which can be handled in the cloud, however, SAP BI is capable of handling much more data with complex reporting …
Chose SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
SAP Business Objects have better security model than Tableau. One can setup a lot of security permissions as compared to a tool like Tableau. Tableau is good for creating visualizations/dashboards but not very great for operational reporting. Scheduling features are much better …
Chose SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
Other offering include PowerBI and Tableau. Both alternatives have different licensing options to consider, in terms of capabilities, they increase in conjunction with the license price.
Chose SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
When we get the installation of the SAP BO BI Platform done on one of the BO servers, we get a whole of stacks of SAP BO BI suite tools installed. This is a package that has reporting tools inside it. For instance, web intelligence-rich clients, sap crystal reports, etc. We can …
Chose SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
Board is a great ERP software. Business Objects is more nimble and flexible. Board is good if the Dash Boards and screens are relatively static and have selection/filter options. Business Objects is if you do lots of ad-hoc analysis and reporting on the fly.
Chose SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
I'd say they are on a par with each other. AppD definitely provides very technical insights, whereas BI provides better business reports.
Chose SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
MicroStrategy Analytics and IBM Cognos Analytics is costlier compared to SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence (BI) Platform stacks. SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence (BI) Platform stacks is user friendly, easy to adapt, easy to train resources and get them …
Chose SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
Even though all these tools are very similar to each other, SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence (BI) Platform does have better integration with the database than other competitors such as Microsoft Power BI. On the side of SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence (BI) …
Chose SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
SQL Server Integration Services, Tableau Prep and Tableau Desktop
Chose SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
SAP BO BI is very similar to Microsoft Power BI. However, SAP BO BI is much stronger in terms of analytics and document management while Power bI is stronger in data visualization and big data integration. SAP BO BI is a great tool within its ally, which is performance analysis …
Chose SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
There is no special differentiation point. My companies were using SAP as their main ERP and therefore using the SAP BO BI for reporting and analysis purposes. Some reports were defined to be released periodically but these reports were needed for day to day information. We …
Chose SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
Earlier, I used SAP BW's BEx tools for reporting, but it was challenging to format the report data and export to different formats. SAP BEx tools can access data from limited sources where as SAP BO can access data from most of the datasources which is why I prefer using BO …
Chose SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
An upgrade to SAP BW/4HANA could be considered to get better performance. But if performance is not a huge problem, SAP BusinessObjects BI is a good solution on-premise.
Chose SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
We tried YellowFin BI but it did not work for our business model. It was nice and the user-experience was good but ultimate we sided with SAP Business Objects BI Platform because the visual reports that were produced were simple and easy to understand. We need that level of …
Chose SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
Crystal was part of the platform prior to my tenure. Explorer has always had a limited use case. I helped drive the conversation for Visual Intelligence and by the time we acted, it turned into Lumira which can't hold a candle to Tableau or Power BI.
Chose SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence (BI) Platform is an on premise solution that allows you to display information hosted on an SAP BW / 4 HANA server.
SAP Analytics Cloud is SAP's business intelligence solution that works in the cloud and is complemented by SAP …
Chose SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
As we have been using SAP ERP, having SAP BI was one of the key factors in our choice. Also design efficiency, variety of data sources' integration and document versioning gave better advantages to SAP BI over others. Also adding SAP BI during the SAP ERP rollout provided …
Chose SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
Crystal Reports has the most features that we need for our custom and purpose built reports.
Chose SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
We selected SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence (BI) based on price. It can stack up against others in terms of price and honestly, that's about it. Salesforce Commerce does a hell of a better job at handling it. However, in the space of Business Intelligence, SAP can do …
Chose SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
Sometimes configuration is challenging (unless you are also very familiar with setting up Java VMs). I like the meta-data layer design tool. I like that there are thick and thin versions of the tools users use. Users at this point try to build a report themselves rather than …
Chose SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
We currently have implementations of both Microsoft BI and SAP Business Objects so our enterprise has found reasons for both. Some users prefer BI over SAP and it depends on the department they are working for. SAP was chosen for the more complex tasks that require large data …
Chose SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
I use the platform as it is all that is available to me. I have no ability to query the warehouse directly probably for good reason. I have been using PowerBI and I know it can connect to the warehouse and do the query and visualization in real time. However, our admins will …
Chose SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
That was the best alternative that could connect to our ERP instances. The availability of SAP Rapid Marts that could be leveraged to pull data models for specific SAP areas such as Sales tables, Production, Maintenance, and others was also a very important differentiation. …
Features
MetabaseSAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
BI Standard Reporting
Comparison of BI Standard Reporting features of Product A and Product B
Metabase
7.5
Ratings
8% below category average
SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
8.2
Ratings
1% above category average
Pixel Perfect reports8.00 Ratings8.60 Ratings
Customizable dashboards8.00 Ratings7.70 Ratings
Report Formatting Templates6.40 Ratings8.20 Ratings
Ad-hoc Reporting
Comparison of Ad-hoc Reporting features of Product A and Product B
Metabase
8.3
Ratings
3% above category average
SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
7.8
Ratings
3% below category average
Drill-down analysis8.50 Ratings7.10 Ratings
Formatting capabilities7.40 Ratings8.20 Ratings
Integration with R or other statistical packages7.80 Ratings7.20 Ratings
Report sharing and collaboration9.50 Ratings8.60 Ratings
Report Output and Scheduling
Comparison of Report Output and Scheduling features of Product A and Product B
Metabase
8.7
Ratings
5% above category average
SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
7.8
Ratings
6% below category average
Publish to Web9.00 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Publish to PDF9.00 Ratings7.30 Ratings
Report Versioning8.00 Ratings6.70 Ratings
Report Delivery Scheduling9.00 Ratings8.40 Ratings
Delivery to Remote Servers00 Ratings7.70 Ratings
Data Discovery and Visualization
Comparison of Data Discovery and Visualization features of Product A and Product B
Metabase
8.8
Ratings
10% above category average
SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
7.2
Ratings
10% below category average
Pre-built visualization formats (heatmaps, scatter plots etc.)8.50 Ratings6.80 Ratings
Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization10.00 Ratings6.80 Ratings
Predictive Analytics8.80 Ratings7.80 Ratings
Pattern Recognition and Data Mining7.80 Ratings7.20 Ratings
Access Control and Security
Comparison of Access Control and Security features of Product A and Product B
Metabase
9.5
Ratings
11% above category average
SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
9.2
Ratings
8% above category average
Multi-User Support (named login)8.60 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Role-Based Security Model10.00 Ratings9.60 Ratings
Multiple Access Permission Levels (Create, Read, Delete)9.50 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Report-Level Access Control9.50 Ratings9.60 Ratings
Single Sign-On (SSO)10.00 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Mobile Capabilities
Comparison of Mobile Capabilities features of Product A and Product B
Metabase
9.0
Ratings
13% above category average
SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
5.8
Ratings
30% below category average
Responsive Design for Web Access8.00 Ratings6.70 Ratings
Mobile Application10.00 Ratings3.90 Ratings
Dashboard / Report / Visualization Interactivity on Mobile9.00 Ratings3.90 Ratings
Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding
Comparison of Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding features of Product A and Product B
Metabase
8.8
Ratings
12% above category average
SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
7.0
Ratings
11% below category average
REST API8.90 Ratings6.70 Ratings
Javascript API9.00 Ratings7.20 Ratings
iFrames9.00 Ratings7.20 Ratings
Java API10.00 Ratings7.10 Ratings
Themeable User Interface (UI)7.00 Ratings7.20 Ratings
Customizable Platform (Open Source)9.00 Ratings6.70 Ratings
Best Alternatives
MetabaseSAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
Small Businesses
BrightGauge
BrightGauge
Score 9.0 out of 10
BrightGauge
BrightGauge
Score 9.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Reveal
Reveal
Score 10.0 out of 10
Reveal
Reveal
Score 10.0 out of 10
Enterprises
Kyvos Semantic Intelligence Layer
Kyvos Semantic Intelligence Layer
Score 9.9 out of 10
Kyvos Semantic Intelligence Layer
Kyvos Semantic Intelligence Layer
Score 9.9 out of 10
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User Ratings
MetabaseSAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
Likelihood to Recommend
8.5
(0 ratings)
7.7
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
-
(0 ratings)
8.3
(0 ratings)
Usability
8.0
(0 ratings)
7.6
(0 ratings)
Availability
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Performance
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
-
(0 ratings)
8.6
(0 ratings)
In-Person Training
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Online Training
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
Configurability
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
MetabaseSAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
Likelihood to Recommend
Getting data using query with multiple joins is very fast with Metabase, and role-based access to the reports can be provided to users. The only place it lags right now is the filter for page and page size. This comes with great support for container-based deployment and on-system deployment, too. I did both container and system direct installation, and direct deployment became a bit challenging. On the other hand, it really provides very good support for data representation.
Read full review
The proper management of SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards requires an expert on the team to manage and build reports. If an organization does not have the proper expertise on board to build and deploy reports it will fail. Data analytics, dropping into excel, and broadcasting of information are major bonuses for the use of SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards.
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Pros
  • Store Data
  • Make Querying easy
  • Quickly ingest data from many sources
Read full review
  • This software is easy to initially learn, and very powerful in producing reusable reports.
  • It is much faster than my company's internal manual queries. The ability to build off of a saved query and share queries to other users is a great positive.
  • My favorite part is that you can run queries in the background and it does not interfere with your current work or slow your computer down.
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Cons
  • The layout could be more modern
  • Would be great to have a drag and drop option to build dashboards
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  • The installation can be very complex and time-consuming, it requires a lot of planning and foresight as to what role the software will play in the organization.
  • The software has a relatively large learning curve that takes dedicated users months to get comfortable with, the UI is a bit intimidating for new users.
  • SAP could organize their help better, it can be difficult to find dependable solutions to issues via their website and support channels.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
No answers on this topic
The institution has decided to move in a different direction, and will be using MSBI for reporting. I have been very happy with the Business Objects suite of tools, and will continue to use them heavily until we make the transition.
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Usability
The tool serves as the purpose of what we were looking for. I am giving us eight because it is cumbersome and needs separate deployment on production; otherwise, it creates memory issues for small servers. Apart from this, this is an excellent tool, providing data features some analysts want. Its backend is heavy, but it works pretty smoothly on front-end users.
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SAP Business Objects is a great tool for operational reporting. It provides a lot of capabilities for scheduling the reports for end users as well as for Adhoc data analysis by business users. One can easily format a report in SAP BO. The tool is not very difficult to learn for both End users and Developers.
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Reliability and Availability
No answers on this topic
When we implemented 3.1, we had a tough time managing the system: It took almost a year to stabilize.

With 4.0, we want to roll out to more users, and are holding back because of fears about the performance issue
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Performance
No answers on this topic
Overall, the tool (Web Intelligence 4.2) is fast and solid. One issue is a dependability on JAVA for a full feature report creation/edit capabilities (as opposed to limited HTML option). Second, planned end of JAVA support by major browsers (Chrome is already not supporting JAVA applet).
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Support Rating
No answers on this topic
We are getting the BI support from our SAP support company. Although they are good at some basic staff, they are unable to answer our questions for some complex structures. Sometimes we got the feedback that our request was not possible to implement, however later we found there were some methods available.
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In-Person Training
No answers on this topic
This is more a function of the training I received from the systems experts in my organization, not training from Business Objects/SAP. The training was rushed, without an agenda, and didn’t meet my needs as a user.
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Online Training
No answers on this topic
I haven't used it or got feedback from the end user.

Content looks to be pretty detailed. Focused on SQL but not BW.
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Implementation Rating
No answers on this topic
Hire specialists and experienced staff. Mix some beginners so that everyone is not a leader but a learner too. Plan well; architect well; break down implementation in small steps and move towards larger steps. Create a centralized and authorized SAP Business Objects implementation team.
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Alternatives Considered
It does not stack up against Metabase, they complete each other.
Read full review
This has the biggest drawback of handling the large data volume which I feel is needed as this is time-consuming and making decisions at the right time is getting harder and we have decided to move to this platform considering the time taken to process the data.
Read full review
Scalability
No answers on this topic
SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence (BI) Platform supports SOA Service Oriented Architecture. You can start/restart/enable/disable all the servers. You can seamless do load balancing and clustering. It supports all leading application and web server. Supports LDAP SSO integration. People who can work on excel with training they can work on SAP Business Objects Web Intelligence, dashboard, Lumira, Information design tool product suite. Tool is very user friendly and easy to learn and implement
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Return on Investment
  • Departmental Reporting - allows each department to measure and track KPIs
  • Visibility - everyone has access to the data they need and context on the rest of the business' goals
  • Churn - Helps to predict churn from our partners given their sales and forecasts
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  • SAP BO BI Platform has a good positive impact on the overall business of any organization. It helps in important decision making, planning, and analyzing the growth of the particular organization
  • Another positive impact is that users get hold of data very easily and in a user-friendly manner. users can even interact with reports to get the meaningful data filtered out of that.
  • The negative impact can be on licensing costs and buying this software box. This in turn will add to the cost of expenses of a particular organization
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ScreenShots