Disclaimer: We source public information for IBM Cognos Analytics’s pricing, including its own site. All pricing information within this resource is accurate at the time of publication.
IBM Cognos Analytics is a business intelligence software solution that helps users quickly make well-informed decisions. It has an artificial intelligence (AI) Assistant that allows users to ask questions in their data, and it recommends new data visualizations and connections in data sources. Additional features include a drag-and-drop interface, data modeling and the ability to send reports via email or Slack.
In this post, we’ll discuss IBM Cognos Analytics’s pricing in more detail.
Does IBM Cognos Analytics have a free trial?
Yes, Cognos Analytics has a 30-day free trial for companies with up to 200 users that want to deploy it in the cloud. New users can sign up for the trial and begin using the software in minutes.
IBM Cognos Analytics Pricing Plans
IBM Cognos Analytics offers three types of deployment options: On Demand (cloud deployment for up to 200 users), On Cloud Hosted (supports up to 10,000 users) and Client Hosted (on-premise solution). We review the pricing of each deployment below:
On Demand
As mentioned, On Demand is a cloud-based deployment for companies with up to 200 users. It has two pay-as-you-go plans with no minimum user requirements. Companies can either sign up for a free trial or purchase a subscription via IBM’s site.
The two plans are:
Standard
The Standard plan costs $10 per user, per month and includes:
- Dashboards, storytelling and collaboration
- Up to 10 on-premise and cloud data connections
- Cognos mobile app
Premium
The Premium plan costs $40 per user, per month and includes the features of the Standard plan, plus:
- AI Assistant and Watson Insights
- Data exploration
- Smart data discovery and AI exploration
- Enterprise reporting and managed report distribution
On Cloud Hosted
This option allows the software to be hosted on IBM Cloud and includes a dedicated environment that covers up to thousands of users. Each environment requires a minimum of one analytics user, and there’s a minimum annual subscription. IBM offers production and non-production environments, and companies can integrate Cognos with their existing authentication network partner.
There are three pricing plans:
Mobile
The Mobile plan costs $5 per user, per month and only includes access to the Cognos mobile app, where users can see dashboards and explorations, create pin boards, use the AI assistant feature and get proactive alerts.
Viewer
The Viewer plan costs $40 per user, per month and includes:
- The ability to see reports and interact with dashboards
- Storytelling and collaboration features
- Cognos mobile app features
- The ability to perform and receive promoted reports
User
The User plan costs $80 per user, per month and includes all of the features of the Viewer plan, plus
- Data preparation and connection to on-premise and cloud sources
- The ability to create reports, dashboards and open source visualizations
- Smart data discovery and AI exploration
- Managed report distribution
- Integration with IBM Watson Studio (requires a separate subscription)
Client Hosted
The Client Hosted option is intended for companies that want to host the software on their server or prefer a hybrid of cloud and on-premise deployment. IBM supports deployment via RedHat OpenShift with IBM Cloud Pak for Data, as well as third party sources, such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google or Microsoft Azure. Note that there’s an administrator license required for app administration, security and user onboarding.
There are five pricing plans:
Mobile
The Mobile plan costs $5 per user, per month and only includes access to the Cognos mobile app, where users can see dashboards and explorations, create pin boards, use the AI assistant feature and get proactive alerts.
Viewer
The Viewer plan costs $12 per user, per month and includes:
- The ability to see reports and interact with dashboards
- Storytelling and collaboration features
- Cognos mobile app features
User
The User plan costs $40 per user, per month and includes all of the features of the Viewer plan, plus
- Data preparation and connection to on-premise and cloud sources
- The ability to create reports, dashboards and open source visualizations
- The ability to perform and received promoted reports
- Smart data discovery and AI exploration
- Managed report distribution
Explorer
The Explorer plan costs $75 per user, per month and includes all of the features of the User plan, plus advanced pattern detection and the ability to work with Jupyter Notebooks and Python applications.
Admin
The Admin plan costs $450 per user, per month and includes all of the features of the Explorer plan, plus security and user management and Cognos SDK.
Conclusion
Companies can choose from any of the three deployment options based on their size and requirements. Depending if they prefer to host the data themselves or have it fully hosted by IBM, they can choose from a range of plans based on mobile-only, viewer-only or full user permissions. While the On Demand option comes with a free trial and ease of purchasing the subscription online, the other deployment options require businesses to contact IBM’s sales team.
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