Top Anaplan Alternatives & Competitors For 2024

Anaplan has garnered a reputation for its robust modeling capabilities, allowing users to create intricate financial models with ease. Reviewers frequently praise its flexibility and ability to handle complex calculations, making it a powerful tool for forecasting, budgeting, and scenario planning. The platform's "Connected Planning" approach, which links various planning processes across an organization, is seen as a major advantage, enabling better collaboration and alignment between departments. However, some users find the interface to be less intuitive than other performance management systems, requiring a steeper learning curve. Additionally, the platform's extensive customization options, while powerful, can sometimes lead to complexity and require specialized knowledge to manage effectively. Compared to competitors like Oracle Hyperion and SAP BPC, Anaplan stands out for its cloud-based architecture and user-friendly interface. Reviewers often highlight its ease of use and accessibility from any device, making it a popular choice for organizations with distributed teams. While Anaplan may not have the same level of industry-specific functionality as some of its competitors, its flexibility and ability to integrate with other systems make it a versatile solution for a wide range of planning needs. The platform's scalability is also a significant advantage, allowing organizations to easily adjust their usage as their needs evolve. Anaplan is best suited for mid-sized to large organizations with complex planning requirements and a need for collaboration across departments. Its ability to handle large data sets and perform sophisticated calculations makes it ideal for financial planning, sales forecasting, and supply chain management. However, smaller organizations or those with simpler planning needs may find the platform's capabilities to be excessive and the learning curve to be a barrier to adoption.

Essbase is a multidimensional database with a fast querying engine and an intuitive interface. Available both in the cloud or on-premises, it enables users to build and manage analytic applications, which can be migrated to the cloud. It features a robust set of tools to perform planning, forecasting and analytics. Users can slice and dice intersections easily to find specific data. It can be integrated with Excel, enabling users to build budget and forecasting models, with ad hoc reporting capabilities. Users liked the flexibility offered when designing reports, or changing hierarchies. With access to all optimization and tuning options, users are given control of hardware utilizations and other settings. However, users complained that they needed to learn multiple languages, such as Calc scripts, MDX, business rules and Groovy, to leverage the platform’s capabilities. They also found it difficult to export data or integrate it with a data warehouse. Some users reported performance and stability issues, with rare instances of crashes and connection loss. Reviewers also complained about the low level of support provided when critical tickets are submitted, some of which are closed without providing any solution. Overall, it’s a flexible solution with a powerful calculation engine to drive business insights.

Jedox has garnered a reputation for its robust data modeling capabilities and Excel integration, making it a popular choice for organizations with existing Excel-based processes. Users appreciate the familiar interface and the ability to leverage their existing Excel skills, reducing the learning curve and facilitating user adoption. The platform's strength lies in its ability to handle complex calculations and data manipulations, making it suitable for financial planning, budgeting, and forecasting tasks. However, some users find the interface outdated and less intuitive compared to modern cloud-based solutions. Additionally, while Jedox offers cloud deployment options, its on-premise roots can lead to challenges with scalability and accessibility for remote teams. When compared to competitors like Anaplan and Adaptive Insights, Jedox stands out with its powerful OLAP engine and Excel integration. This makes it a preferred choice for organizations that prioritize data analysis and manipulation capabilities. However, Jedox may fall short in terms of user-friendliness and collaboration features, where cloud-native platforms often excel. The platform's pricing structure, which can be complex and involve multiple components, is another factor that potential users should carefully consider. Ultimately, Jedox is best suited for organizations with strong Excel expertise and a need for advanced data modeling and analytical capabilities, particularly in finance and controlling departments.

User reviews from the past year suggest that Kepion is a strong contender in the EPM software arena, particularly praised for its robust budgeting and forecasting functionalities. Users highlight its intuitive interface as a major strength, making it easier to adopt than more complex platforms like Oracle Hyperion. However, some users have pointed out that Kepion's reporting capabilities, while functional, could benefit from more customization options. A key differentiator is its seamless integration with Microsoft products, a major plus for organizations heavily reliant on the Microsoft ecosystem. This native integration streamlines data flow and enhances user experience, making it a more attractive choice than standalone solutions. Overall, Kepion seems best suited for mid-sized businesses looking for a user-friendly yet powerful EPM solution tightly integrated with Microsoft technologies. Its robust planning features and intuitive design make it a good fit for companies aiming to streamline their budgeting and forecasting processes without a steep learning curve. However, organizations requiring highly customized reporting might need to consider other options or factor in potential development costs.

Can SAP Profitability and Performance Management make your business perform better, or is it just a lot of hype? User reviews from the last year reveal a mixed bag. On the plus side, SAP Profitability & Performance Management consistently wows users with its robust financial analytics and ability to handle complex cost allocations, such as step-down allocations for warranty reserve management, without breaking a sweat. This, coupled with its lightning-fast performance on the SAP HANA platform, makes it a darling for businesses dealing with large data volumes and intricate calculations. Users especially love how it simplifies financial planning and reporting, allowing them to generate detailed insights and make data-driven decisions faster. The software's integration with other SAP systems, like SAP ERP, is also praised for streamlining data flow. However, it's not all sunshine and roses. The learning curve is steep, and users frequently cite the need for extensive training during implementation due to the system's complexity. One user even compared it to learning a new language! The lack of comprehensive documentation only adds fuel to the fire, leaving users feeling lost and frustrated. Additionally, while not a deal-breaker, some users have reported encountering occasional bugs and quirks that require attention. For example, the connectivity with SAP Analytics Cloud, while promised, is still in development, limiting its full potential. Despite these hiccups, SAP Profitability & Performance Management stands out from its predecessor, SAP PCM, and other similar products with its superior flexibility, enhanced performance, and advanced simulation capabilities. The visual modeling and step-by-step data transformation functions are particularly noteworthy, providing crystal-clear insights and simplifying model maintenance. This makes it ideal for businesses looking to ditch error-prone spreadsheets and embrace a more robust, transparent, and repeatable process for profitability and performance management. In conclusion, SAP Profitability & Performance Management is a powerful tool, best suited for large enterprises with complex business processes and a dedicated IT team to support implementation and training. While it requires a significant investment of time and resources upfront, the long-term benefits in terms of improved profitability, streamlined financial planning, and data-driven decision-making are undeniable.