Pentaho Reviews & Pricing

by Hitachi Vantara | Founded 2004, Orlando, FL

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What is Pentaho?

Industry Specialties: Serves all industries

Pentaho is a data integration and analytics platform that helps businesses extract, transform, analyze, and visualize data from diverse sources. It caters to organizations navigating growing data volumes and seeking insights for informed decision-making. Users praise Pentaho's open-source, free core version, making it a budget-friendly option for beginners or small teams. Its wide range of tools tackles various data challenges, from basic reporting to advanced analytics. Scalability shines for larger datasets, handling complex processing effectively. Additionally, an active community offers valuable support. However, prepare for a steeper learning curve compared to more user-friendly options. Limited documentation can occasionally leave users struggling. Users report encountering bugs and glitches, potentially requiring technical expertise. Be mindful of resource intensiveness, as large-scale operations might demand powerful hardware. While customization options exist, some users crave more flexibility. Overall, Pentaho offers a powerful, free data platform, with trade-offs between its extensive capabilities and ease of use. Consider its strengths and limitations in the context of your specific needs and technical expertise.

Pros

Open-source and free
Wide range of tools
Scalable for large datasets
Active community support
Integration with various platforms

Cons

Steeper learning curve
Limited documentation
Occasional bugs and glitches
Can be resource-intensive
Limited customization options

PRICE

COMPANY SIZE

DEPLOYMENT

PLATFORM

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User Sentiment i

Based on 307 reviews:

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#18

Pentaho is ranked #18 in the Business Intelligence Tools product directory based on the latest available data collected by SelectHub. Compare the leaders with our In-Depth Report.

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Pentaho Pricing

Based on our most recent analysis, Pentaho pricing starts at $100 (Monthly, Freemium).

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Starting From: $100
Pricing Model: Monthly, Freemium
Free Trial: Yes, Request for Free

Training Resources

Pentaho is supported with the following types of training:

Documentation
In Person
Live Online
Videos
Webinars

Support

The following support services are available for Pentaho:

Email
Phone
Chat
FAQ
Forum
Help Desk
Knowledge Base
Tickets
Training
24/7 Live Support

Pentaho Benefits and Insights

Why use Pentaho?

Key differentiators & advantages of Pentaho

High-Level Overviews: Track KPI progress, capitalize on wins or improve upon stagnant growth.
Enhanced Productivity: A code-free design produces a 15x boost in productivity. Execution of Spark or Hadoop jobs in clusters leads to high-performance output.
Big Data Analytics: Integrate with Hadoop and Spark to ensure big data aggregation, preparation and integration, interactive visualization, analysis, and prediction. Blend multiple sources and process data at scale in a visual design environment.
Efficient Data Management: Improve pipeline management for structured and unstructured data using flow orchestration, managed from a single console. Data engineers and analysts can perform automated data integration tasks for onboarding and data prep using templates.
Predictive Analytics: Monitor, evaluate, compare and rebuild predictive models to perform predictive analysis using machine learning algorithms. Maximize model accuracy while in production and choose from a broad selection of evaluation statistics to identify degraded models. Analyze model performance and uncover inadequacies using rich visualizations.
Community-Driven Tools: Use external components or plugins to extend standard functions. Installed on top of the platform, the plugins aid customizations.
Metadata Editor: Automate data ingestion and onboarding, and cleanse and blend to create analytics-ready data models.
Embedded Analytics: Embed real-time reports and dashboards into existing applications, web-based user interfaces and web APIs. Leverage multiple options to embed the application into clients’ systems. Supports multi-tenant deployment with single sign-on and security integration.
Multi-Cloud Support: Deploy in a multi, hybrid or private cloud environment, with a single tool to simplify architecture management. Ensures connectivity to cloud storage and computing in AWS, Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure. Supports bulk loading of cloud data warehouses, including Amazon Redshift, Snowflake and Google BigQuery.
Streaming Analytics: Get constant statistical analysis from data streams, collected from sources such as log files, social media, IoT platforms, telemetry and more. Manage, monitor and record real-time analytics of live streaming data to quickly extract the necessary information.

Industry Expertise

Serves marketing, finance, manufacturing and more since 2004.

Pentaho Reviews

Average customer reviews & user sentiment summary for Pentaho:

307 reviews

81%

of users would recommend this product

Pentaho has a 'great' User Satisfaction Rating of 81% when considering 307 user reviews from 4 recognized software review sites.

Synopsis of User Ratings and Reviews

Based on an aggregate of Pentaho reviews taken from the sources above, the following pros & cons have been curated by a SelectHub Market Analyst.

Pros

Open-source and free core version: Makes Pentaho accessible to individuals and small teams, reducing initial investment costs.
Wide range of tools: Covers various data analysis needs, from basic reporting to advanced analytics, eliminating the need for multiple tools.
Scalable for large datasets: Handles growing data volumes efficiently, ensuring smooth performance for complex analyses.
Active community support: Provides valuable resources and troubleshooting assistance, especially for the open-source version.
Integration with various platforms: Connects seamlessly with existing data sources and BI tools, simplifying data workflows.

Cons

Steeper learning curve: Compared to user-friendly options, Pentaho's interface and features might require more technical expertise to master.
Limited documentation: While resources exist, some users find the documentation incomplete or outdated, hindering troubleshooting and advanced usage.
Occasional bugs and glitches: Users report encountering bugs and glitches, especially in the open-source version, potentially impacting data analysis workflows.
Resource-intensive: Large-scale data processing and complex analyses can demand powerful hardware, increasing infrastructure costs.
Limited customization options: While customization is possible, some users crave more flexibility and control over the platform's look and feel.

Researcher's Summary:

Reviews of Pentaho paint a picture of a powerful, open-source data platform with both promise and pitfalls. Many users cite its wide range of tools and impressive scalability as major strengths, allowing them to tackle diverse tasks without needing multiple products. "It's a Swiss Army knife for data," one reviewer enthusiastically declared. But this power comes with a caveat – a steeper learning curve compared to more user-friendly options like Tableau. "It's not drag-and-drop intuitive," another user cautioned. Documentation is another point of contention. While some praise the available resources, others lament it as incomplete or outdated, often requiring community forums for troubleshooting. This is where the strong, active community becomes a saving grace – a true differentiator for Pentaho compared to pricier competitors. "The community is like having a built-in support team," a user noted, highlighting the value of shared knowledge and collaboration. However, users also report occasional bugs and glitches, especially in the free Community Edition. This can be a frustration for those seeking enterprise-level stability. And while Pentaho handles large datasets admirably, its resource-intensive nature can demand costly hardware upgrades, a factor to consider against competitors with built-in cloud options. Overall, Pentaho emerges as a versatile platform for those willing to invest time in learning its intricacies. Its open-source nature and powerful toolset make it a budget-friendly choice for startups and data-savvy teams. But for those prioritizing user-friendliness and seamless workflows, alternatives might be more appealing. Ultimately, the choice boils down to balancing Pentaho's strengths and weaknesses against your specific needs and technical expertise.

Key Features

Data Visualizations: Includes built-in tools and panel configurations. In-memory data caching aids speed-of-thought analysis on large data volumes. Understand and exclude outliers and drill down into supporting reports using visual lasso filtering and zooming.
Data Source: Build interactive analysis reports by using data from CSV files as well as relational and multidimensional data models.
Data Integration: Flexible data ingestion ensures no limitation in terms of data type or source that’s accessible. Provides Extract, Transform, and Load (ETL) capabilities to capture, cleanse and store data using a uniform and consistent format.
Reporting: View interactive reports in dashboards, with different capabilities such as column resizing and sorting, drag-and-drop report design, font selection, unlimited undo and redo functionality, and more. Export formats include HTML, PDF, CSV, Excel and Excel 93-2003.
OLAP Analytics: Mondrian, an open-source business analytics engine, enables interactive data analysis in real time. Build business intelligence solutions as an Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) engine, enabling multidimensional queries against business data using the MDX query language.
Data Modeling: Maps the physical structure of the database into a logical business model and Streamlined Data Refinery (SDR) using a relational data model. Helps augment and blend raw data through a request form to then be published.
Data Transformation: Design transformations and jobs to run with a graphical user interface, executed in XML or in a database repository. A data transformation engine reads, writes and manipulates data to and from various sources.
Role-Based Security: Restricts access to certain portions of a metadata model that are used as a data source. Offers table, column and row-level authorization control.
Mobility: Get immediate access to business analysis at any time using a mobile app for iPad that uses touch navigation technology.
Big Data Sources: Supports more than 15 big data sources such as Microsoft, Google Cloud, Apache Hive, MAPR and more.
Data Model Integration: Integrate third-party models like R, Python, Scala with Spark MLlib and Weka into data flows.
Integrations with Data Processing Distributions: Integrates Hadoop (and its distributions), NoSQL stores, log files, and JSON and XML data formats.
Customization: A highly-customizable, web-based UI and its API integrations ensure complete control over look, feel and function.
Tailored Training: Access architect-level staff with a proven track record of success with hundreds of customers.

Approach to Common Challenges

Data Silos: Pentaho's Data Integration tool bridges disparate data sources, enabling seamless extraction, transformation, and loading (ETL) processes for a unified view. It supports various databases, file formats, and cloud applications, breaking down silos and fostering collaboration.
Data Quality Issues: Built-in data quality tools help detect and rectify errors, inconsistencies, and missing values. These tools ensure data integrity and accuracy, bolstering confidence in analytical outcomes.
Limited Data Exploration and Visualization: An intuitive visual dashboard designer empowers users to create interactive reports and dashboards, facilitating data exploration and comprehension for a wide range of stakeholders.
Complex Data Analysis: Pentaho's Business Analytics platform offers a spectrum of analytical tools, from basic reporting to predictive modeling and data mining. These tools empower organizations to unveil hidden patterns, uncover trends, and extract valuable insights.
Scalability Challenges: Pentaho's architecture supports horizontal scaling, enabling it to handle growing data volumes and complex workloads without compromising performance. This scalability ensures adaptability to evolving business needs.

Cost Of Ownership

Frequently asked questions regarding Pentaho pricing include:

Q: Is there a free version of Pentaho?
A: Yes, Pentaho Community Edition is open-source and freely available. It includes core features for data integration, reporting, and analysis, making it a cost-effective option for those with basic needs or those wanting to explore its capabilities.
Q: How is the paid version of Pentaho priced?
A: Pentaho Enterprise Edition follows a flexible, subscription-based pricing model, tailored to individual organizational needs. Factors influencing pricing include the number of users, data volume, deployment options (on-premises or cloud), and required features. Contact Pentaho's sales team for a customized quote.
Q: What hidden costs should I consider?
A: While the software itself might be free or subscription-based, consider potential additional costs: Hardware and infrastructure to support Pentaho's deployment, Training and development for users to master its features, Ongoing maintenance and support, especially for Enterprise Edition, Integration with other systems or platforms, Customization costs for specific needs.

Limitations

These limitations, based on user feedback, are accurate at the time of this review:

Unclear error codes. Detailed explanations needed for quick resolution.
Scheduling ETL packages through the Windows Task Scheduler is difficult.
Database connection information times out after a certain period of time.

Suite Support

Three tiers of support available: Standard, Premium and Enterprise.

Email: Not listed.

Phone: Enterprise support offers customized, one-on-one single point phone support. Support agents can create a virtual replica of a business analytics environment for better troubleshooting.

Training: Free and paid options available, as well as a certification program. Along with in-person and digital training, a robust library of user docs, forum answers, video tutorials and much more are available.

Tickets:Submit through the support portal. Turnaround times depend on support tier.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions regarding Pentaho include:

Q: How does Pentaho compare to other Business Analytics tools?
A: Pentaho distinguishes itself with its open-source, free core version, extensive toolset, scalability, and active community. However, it faces competition in terms of user-friendliness, documentation, and customization options. Evaluate its strengths and weaknesses against specific needs and technical expertise.
Q: What technical skills are required to use Pentaho?
A: While basic tasks might be manageable for non-technical users, advanced features necessitate familiarity with SQL, scripting, and data modeling concepts. The learning curve can be steeper compared to more user-friendly options.
Q: What are the key features of Pentaho Data Integration?
A: Pentaho Data Integration (PDI) offers tools for extracting, transforming, and loading data from diverse sources. It handles various file formats, databases, and cloud applications, enabling seamless data integration and preparation for analysis.
Q: How does Pentaho handle large datasets?
A: Pentaho's architecture supports horizontal scaling, efficiently distributing workloads across multiple nodes for enhanced performance. This scalability ensures it can tackle growing data volumes and complex processing tasks.
Q: What are the deployment options for Pentaho?
A: Pentaho offers flexibility in deployment, supporting both on-premises installations and cloud-based solutions. Choose the option that best aligns with your infrastructure, security requirements, and budget considerations.
Q: What support resources are available for Pentaho users?
A: Pentaho offers a range of support resources: Extensive online documentation and tutorials, Active community forums for knowledge sharing and troubleshooting, Paid support options for Enterprise Edition users, including technical assistance and access to experts.