Pentaho and Jaspersoft: Good Alternates to Bigger-Name Software?

If you believe the hype, the business-intelligence tools offered by some of the world’s largest software companies also pack a substantial punch. But these systems are often difficult to install and maintain, not to mention downright expensive. Small and medium-sized businesses typically can’t afford software platforms that cost upwards of several hundred thousand dollars, but that doesn’t mean they’re cut off from BI tools in general. In fact, there are some decent open-source options. In this article, I’m going to examine a couple.

When I set out to write this review, my plan was to compare two of the big players in the open-source BI space, Pentaho and Jaspersoft. But while installing and evaluating the two, I noticed some striking similarities, as well as some common software between them. It turns out that both platforms rely on the same open-source tools under the hood—two in particular: Mondrian (available on SourceForge) and JPivot (also available on Sourceforge). The latter provides the user interface for OLAP (Online Analytical Processing), while Mandrian supplies actual OLAP analysis.

Note, however, that I’m only talking about the open-source variants of the products offered by these two companies. Both companies provide “community” versions based on open-source tools, as well as “enterprise” versions that cost actual money. Pentaho, which acquired another company that created commercial and closed-source BI tools, includes different engines in its open-source and premium software; if you use the open-source version of Pentaho, you’re denied access to the supposedly fancy BI tools available with the commercial product.

I’m going to take a good look at Jaspersoft, and then a brief look at Pentaho, since several of the features I describe in the former apply to the latter. I’m still not covering all the features in either product, because there just isn’t space. Instead, I want to focus on some factors important to small business owners, with thoughts about the following:

1. Price, price, price. This is why I chose open-source products for this run-through: small businesses simply aren’t in a position to give six figures to Oracle.

2. Ease of installation. If you read this, you’ll know why such things are important. And here’s something else to consider: When you go to the BI product website, do you know exactly what you’re supposed to install, or are you hit with a whole slew of products, with little idea of how they fit together? Is it clear whether you’re actually installing the open-source version as opposed to a trial version?

3. Ease of use, early on. Nobody wants to have to spend six weeks learning how to use a product. Small business entrepreneurs don’t have that kind of time.

4. Good, solid examples. Not just a couple of silly, small examples, but real examples to get you up to speed.