Lightspeed Retail vs. Sisense

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Lightspeed Retail
Score 6.9 out of 10
N/A
Lightspeed Retail is a retail PoS system from Lightspeed headquartered in Quebec. Core retail POS features are expanded on higher service tiers with ecommerce option and payments gateway, an accounting system, and a customer loyalty program.N/A
Sisense
Score 8.4 out of 10
N/A
Sisense is a BI software and analytics platform. With what the vendor calls their In-Chip™ and Single Stack™ technologies, users have access to a comprehensive tool to analyze and visualize large, disparate data sets without IT resources.N/A
Pricing
Lightspeed RetailSisense
Editions & Modules
Basic
$79.00 ($69.00)
per month (when billed annually)
Starter
$119.00 ($99.00)
per month (when billed annually)
Standard
$139.00 ($119.00)
per month (when billed annually)
Advanced
$189.00 ($169.00)
per month (when billed annually)
Pro
$259.00 ($229.00)
per month (when billed annually)
Enterprise
Contact Sales
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Lightspeed RetailSisense
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsMust contact sales team for pricing.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Lightspeed RetailSisense
Features
Lightspeed RetailSisense
BI Standard Reporting
Comparison of BI Standard Reporting features of Product A and Product B
Lightspeed Retail
-
Ratings
Sisense
9.7
Ratings
17% above category average
Pixel Perfect reports00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Customizable dashboards00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Report Formatting Templates00 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Ad-hoc Reporting
Comparison of Ad-hoc Reporting features of Product A and Product B
Lightspeed Retail
-
Ratings
Sisense
8.8
Ratings
9% above category average
Drill-down analysis00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Formatting capabilities00 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Integration with R or other statistical packages00 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Report sharing and collaboration00 Ratings7.30 Ratings
Report Output and Scheduling
Comparison of Report Output and Scheduling features of Product A and Product B
Lightspeed Retail
-
Ratings
Sisense
10.0
Ratings
18% above category average
Publish to Web00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Publish to PDF00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Report Versioning00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Report Delivery Scheduling00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Data Discovery and Visualization
Comparison of Data Discovery and Visualization features of Product A and Product B
Lightspeed Retail
-
Ratings
Sisense
9.5
Ratings
17% above category average
Pre-built visualization formats (heatmaps, scatter plots etc.)00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization00 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Predictive Analytics00 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Pattern Recognition and Data Mining00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Access Control and Security
Comparison of Access Control and Security features of Product A and Product B
Lightspeed Retail
-
Ratings
Sisense
10.0
Ratings
16% above category average
Multi-User Support (named login)00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Role-Based Security Model00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Multiple Access Permission Levels (Create, Read, Delete)00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Report-Level Access Control00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Mobile Capabilities
Comparison of Mobile Capabilities features of Product A and Product B
Lightspeed Retail
-
Ratings
Sisense
9.7
Ratings
21% above category average
Responsive Design for Web Access00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Mobile Application00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Dashboard / Report / Visualization Interactivity on Mobile00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Lightspeed RetailSisense
Small Businesses
Square POS
Square POS
Score 10.0 out of 10
BrightGauge
BrightGauge
Score 9.1 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Epicor Eagle
Epicor Eagle
Score 7.9 out of 10
Reveal
Reveal
Score 10.0 out of 10
Enterprises

No answers on this topic

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User Ratings
Lightspeed RetailSisense
Likelihood to Recommend
7.7
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
-
(0 ratings)
8.9
(0 ratings)
Usability
10.0
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Availability
-
(0 ratings)
8.2
(0 ratings)
Performance
-
(0 ratings)
8.2
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
9.8
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
In-Person Training
-
(0 ratings)
7.3
(0 ratings)
Online Training
-
(0 ratings)
8.2
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
-
(0 ratings)
7.1
(0 ratings)
Configurability
-
(0 ratings)
8.2
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
-
(0 ratings)
8.2
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
-
(0 ratings)
8.2
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Lightspeed RetailSisense
Likelihood to Recommend
It is perfect for any small business looking for inventory control, Tracking purchase history, and just an all round easy to use software for retail and beyond. I would not use it if I have only a few hundred items or was a larger company that can afford to build my own POS software.
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I believe Sisense is perfectly suited for any organization of any size that have access to the proper resources, as the tool is very expensive. The data connectors come in all shapes and sizes out of the box, which allows a great deal of data control within the ElastiCubes. Additionally, while the platform only runs on Windows platforms, the web application can be accessed on any client: mobile, Apple, Windows, etc. This allows a much more flexible user experience, resulting in data and dashboards reaching further than any other tool.
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Pros
  • Very very user friendly.
  • Easy iPad interface that is easy to upgrade to new hardware if an iPad breaks, etc.
  • On the Advanced plan the reporting is outstanding.
  • Very easy to train new employees, especially younger employees raised on phones and tablets.
  • We use their payments system and it's a very easy integration. I believe Stripe is their payment provider.
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  • The biggest pro I found with Sisense is that you do not need a DBA in order to manage the system. This makes the learning curve really easy, which helps lots when thinking of implementation across a whole organization. This reflects well for the tool, since it is powerful, but easy to use.
  • ALL-IN-ONE! Sisense answered all of my customers and our company's requirements, to include data modelling and complex calculations.
  • Sisense is as accurate as your data, and best of all, it is real time. After using other visualization tools, I learned that when using multiple sources, errors occur. Sisense prevents this risk by allowing all of the resources to be managed at their engine, maintains connections, and as a developer, the EliastiCube allows you to source large volumes of data with an easy click.
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Cons
  • They have not had major updates to their system in years. The inventory system is stagnant. Although their inventory system is robust, it is outdated.
  • They do have 24-hour support, however, wait times are excessive and representatives have challenges understanding your issues.
  • Trying to get issues resolved can take months or never at all. Management is non-existent. Trying to reach a supervisor is impossible.
  • They have a culture of telling you what you want to hear but have no intentions of actually following through.
  • Lightspeed is a great solution if you are a small business just getting started. But if you are intending to grow and expand, Lightspeed will become detrimental to your growth.
  • The reporting/analytics is basic at best. They do offer paid options that are very expensive, but it is very robust. The basic reporting is very minimal.
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  • Some functionality is missing as built-in functionality, and can only be added by using Javascript, which requires technical knowledge of JS from the dashboard designer to implement. So although almost anything is possible to implement, some things which should be basic require high-level skills.
  • Viewers of dashboards have very limited customization options, almost any customization requires the dashboards designer to implement.
  • Particularly, viewers are unable to select conditional formatting, rename fields, change the order of items, etc.
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Likelihood to Renew
No answers on this topic
I think the business and myself as a user has come to rely on SiSense as a dashboarding and quick ad-hoc reporting tool. I am hoping to integrate SiSense dashboards into more parts of the business in the future. We have reduced our report turn-around time for the most part from hours/days to minutes and in some cases almost the speed of thought. Reports are also easier on the eye and more easily distributed. I would also like to say that the support and professionalism from the SiSense team has been excellent.
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Usability
Very easy to use and figure out without calling customer support which is also very responsive and helpful.
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There is no doubt it is easy to use solution. It always equips me with authentic reporting, I can have the detailed analysis of the operations. This tool has helped me to collect every bit of the data and it would be just to say that it has influenced my lead generation and helped to build strong customer relations.
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Reliability and Availability
No answers on this topic
There are very few situations when there is unexpected downtime. Mostly during development, new dashboard implementation and during upgrades. other then that there were very few crashes.
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Performance
No answers on this topic
SiSense is usually performing better then other solutions even if going for complex reports/dashboards(of course within reasonable frames). I haven't noticed any bad influence on other systems, usually if something happens it stays within SiSense.
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Support Rating
I gave the rating of a 9 because ninety percent of the time when I talk to their support they're very helpful. One of the only real issues I have is there are times where the queue will be 7-9 people deep. When you have an error you don't know how to fix, sometimes this is very troubling. But overall their support is usually quick and friendly.
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SiSense's support ninjas are very knowledgeable and are exceptionally responsive. So far, all of the issues we ran into were resolved within minimum time. My sense of dealing with the support staff at SiSense is that they are very focused on not just answering your immediate question, but also to delve into the cause of the matter.
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In-Person Training
No answers on this topic
Easy and free training that allowed us quickly understand basics in SiSense and start using them. More advanced features requires some browsing through SiSense forums, but there is always support to help, and SiSense support is one of the best whith which I worked so far.
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Online Training
No answers on this topic
Many examples, videos and scenarios which you try on your own right away. This combined with in-person training gives you enough to utilize most of SiSense's power.
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Implementation Rating
No answers on this topic
Would like to have more information about configuration of dev to production deployments architectures.
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Alternatives Considered
We used Microsoft Retail Management System before this and this was in a whole other league of its own with features and ease of use. I really like using Macs also. They are much more reliable and longer lasting than IBM or Similar computers. The cloud based system is great also so you do not have to have another unit to store you database on
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Sisense was chosen as our BI platform for a few key reasons. Excellent customer support is a key reason why. Additionally, continuing innovation in new product features and the ability to embed reports and do quite a bit in terms of customization.
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Scalability
No answers on this topic
Product is quite easily scalable. The whole installation can be easily moved to stronger machine if needed.
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Return on Investment
  • I have to spend a lot less time training my employees because Lightspeed is so easy to use!
  • Keeping track of our inventory is as simple as clicking a few buttons.
  • Our online sales have grown tremendously since changing to Lightspeed
Read full review
  • Report development time is reduced from 2~3 days to 2~3 hours.
  • Report querying time is improved from 0.5~10 mins to 2~30 seconds.
  • A 2-staff team delivers 10 times the BI output that we did on the old system.
  • We were able to deliver BI and data analysis for all business functions instead of a very limited group of users
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ScreenShots