Choosing InetSoft StyleBI over SAP Analytics Cloud
The InetSoft promise of easy, agile, and robust business intelligence is now backed up by a professional analysis.
To create its comparison of InetSoft StyleBI and SAP Analytics Cloud, analyst firm G2 Crowd compiled reviews and ratings done by independent users of the two BI vendors, comparing the BI tools in the areas of reporting and building reports, self-service, advanced analytics, and the strength of the overall platform.
The result? InetSoft outranked SAP Analytics Cloud in a majority of categories. So, according to independent BI users, what are those InetSoft strong points?
When compared to SAP Analytics Cloud, InetSoft's BI product was ranked highly in the general ratings of Meeting Requirements, Ease of Use, Quality of Support, Ease of Doing Business With, and Positive Product Direction. This is due to InetSoft having a more comprehensive and user friendly interface complete with clear and detailed documentation for both users and developers, along with a personable and responsive support team to handle the occasional customer issue.
Maximize Self Service with this SAP Analytics Cloud Alternative
StyleBI's advanced tools for visualization are rich in functionality; the level of customizing through Javascript is striking and supports a large variety of use cases. Once again, reviews on G2 Crowd establish the uniqueness of InetSoft's BI platform, choosing InetSoft as the winner in the ratings of Dashboards, Graphs and Charts, Scorecards, and Steps to Answer..
When it comes to business intelligence reporting, self-service can mean the difference between having the answer you need when you need it and waiting on IT for help.
InetSoft's solution delivers best when it comes to meeting changing business needs of any organization. With StyleBI, power users can do incredibly complicated data mashups and reporting and deliver the results to end users with ease. InetSoft makes this process easier than many other BI vendors, not just SAP Analytics Cloud. In this critical category of Self Service - Data Column Filtering, Data Discovery, and Search were compared and InetSoft's StyleBI rated higher than SAP Analytics Cloud on each parameter.
InetSoft Scored Higher than SAP Analytics Cloud in the Following Areas
The detailed list of categories & parameters where InetSoft StyleBI scored over SAP Analytics Cloud is presented below. Please click here or the G2 logo to go over the individual reviews.
- Meets Requirements
- Ease of Use
- Ease of Setup
- Quality of Support
- Ease of Doing Business With
- Product Direction (% Positive)
- Data Visualization
- Big data
- Steps to Answer
- Graphs and Charts
- Score Cards
- Dashboards
- Data Visualization
- WYSIWYG Report Design
- Data Column Filtering
- Data Discovery
- Search
- Sandbox/Test Environments
- Customization
- User, Role, and Access Management
- Performance and Reliability
Beating SAP Analytics Cloud in Advanced Analytics
Advanced Analytics, a key differentiator for any BI platform, should deliver capabilities like data mining and predictive modeling.
In the category of Advanced Analytics, InetSoft won out over SAP Analytics Cloud in the areas of Data Visualization and WYSIWYG Report Design. Companies that focus on data driven decision making can expect a strong competitive differentiation, and StyleBI helps an organization achieve that.
These high ratings recognize InetSoft's unique capability of end-user defined data mashup, which allows even business users to combine fields from different data sources that were not previously modeled, and even import external data sources such as spreadsheets, to create a new dashboard or report.
InetSoft: Delivering Maximum Value to its Users
In evaluating the overall BI platform, InetSoft's value was also recognized in the areas of Customization, User, Role and Access Management, and Performance and Reliability. InetSoft's reporting software provides powerful administrative tools that give precise security and access control over users and roles.
The InetSoft product set offers tremendous flexibility to support a range of application development philosophies, from "heads down, hands on" coding (programmatic), to the use of high-level intuitive and visual report development and server administration tools. If necessary, it is possible to combine the use of the high-level tools with the programmatic approach, thus utilizing the best of both worlds. To learn more of InetSoft's positive ratings by G2 crowd, click the ad below.
InetSoft StyleBI vs SAP Analytics Functional Differences
InetSoft StyleBI and SAP Analytics address business intelligence needs differently. Where SAP focuses on an enterprise-grade, cloud-centric analytics suite, StyleBI emphasizes lightweight embedding, rapid dashboard creation, and flexible integration. The following sections compare specific functional differences that often make StyleBI a superior choice for use cases that prioritize embedded analytics, rapid deployment, fine-grained customization, and low operational overhead.
Embedded Analytics and OEM Integration
StyleBI is designed with embedding as a first-class capability. It exposes APIs, SDKs, and UI components intended for seamless inclusion inside SaaS applications and portals. This results in smaller integration footprints, easier white-labeling, and granular control over user experience. In contrast, SAP’s analytics offerings prioritize full-suite deployments with broader platform dependencies, which can complicate tight OEM embedding and increase integration work for product teams.
Lightweight Architecture and Deployment Flexibility
StyleBI is built to run efficiently in diverse environments including on-premises, private cloud, and lightweight containers. Its architecture typically requires fewer infrastructure resources and simpler administration, enabling faster proofs-of-concept and lower total cost of ownership for smaller IT teams. SAP Analytics tends to be more feature-rich and enterprise-integrated, but that often comes with heavier infrastructure, more complex configuration, and longer implementation cycles.
Rapid Dashboarding and Ad Hoc Reporting
StyleBI focuses on fast, iterative dashboard creation with drag-and-drop designers that non-technical users can adopt quickly. The product includes flexible templating and customizable widgets that speed the creation of tailored views. While SAP offers powerful modeling and enterprise reporting, its authoring environment can be more prescriptive and requires additional setup for data models and security contexts, slowing ad hoc experimentation.
Fine-Grained Customization and UI Control
StyleBI provides extensive control over visual styling, embedding behavior, and UI component behavior through CSS-like theming and configuration APIs. This lets product teams align analytics exactly to brand and workflow requirements. SAP delivers standardized, polished visual components but offers less frictionless control for developers who need deep, pixel-level customization inside third-party applications.
Data Integration and Virtualization Approach
StyleBI supports flexible data connectivity patterns, including real-time queries, cached datasets, and simple in-memory mashups that are easy to configure without heavyweight ETL. This agility enables quicker access to varied data sources for embedded use cases. SAP’s stack emphasizes governed data models and centralized data management, which excels in large enterprises but can add overhead when quick, diverse connections are needed.
Extensibility and Developer Experience
StyleBI’s APIs and developer-focused tooling are intended to accelerate embedding, customization, and automation. Developers can script visual behaviors, automate report generation, and integrate deeply with application logic. SAP offers robust extensibility too, but the learning curve and the need to align with broader SAP platform paradigms can slow developer productivity for teams not already invested in SAP ecosystems.
Operational Simplicity and Maintenance
StyleBI’s operational model emphasizes low-maintenance deployments with straightforward upgrades and lightweight monitoring. For organizations that need analytics quickly without a large BI operations team, this simplicity is a major advantage. SAP Analytics is powerful for governed, enterprise-wide deployments but often requires dedicated administration, change control, and cross-team coordination.
For organizations prioritizing embedded analytics, rapid time-to-value, developer-friendly APIs, and low operational overhead, InetSoft StyleBI offers clear functional advantages. SAP Analytics remains a strong choice for deeply governed, enterprise-scale analytics, but StyleBI’s focus on agility, embedding, and fine-grained customization makes it superior in scenarios where integration, speed, and developer control are decisive factors.