Is Anaplan or Preset better?

Neither clearly leads. Anaplan starts at On request and Preset at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, Anaplan or Preset?

Preset has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Anaplan and Free for Preset.

Does Anaplan or Preset run on more platforms?

Anaplan runs on Web, iOS. Preset runs on Web, Cloud.

Can I use Preset for free?

Yes. Preset has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Anaplan starts at On request.

What is Anaplan best used for?

Anaplan is most often used for sales territory and quota planning across thousands of reps where a change to segmentation must reflow quota immediately, demand and supply planning at sku and location level for a manufacturer with tens of thousands of items, workforce planning that ties headcount, cost and capacity to a revenue plan across dozens of business units, replacing a spreadsheet estate where the master planning model has become too large and too fragile for excel to open reliably. Of those, sales territory and quota planning across thousands of reps where a change to segmentation must reflow quota immediately and demand and supply planning at sku and location level for a manufacturer with tens of thousands of items are not what Preset is typically brought in for.

What can Anaplan do that Preset cannot?

Anaplan covers Hyperblock calculation engine, Connected planning, Scenario and versioning, Model builder. Preset covers Managed Superset, Auto-scaling, Enterprise Security, Custom Branding.

Business Intelligence · head to head

Anaplan vs Preset

Anaplan

Business Intelligence

Connected planning platform with an in-memory calculation engine for large multidimensional models

From: On request
Rated: -

Full review Website

Preset

Business Intelligence

Managed Apache Superset

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

The short version

Only Preset has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
Each has a real cost: Anaplan workspace is licensed by memory consumed, so a model that grows as the business adds SKUs, regions or scenarios generates a bill increase without a single new user being added, and teams end up optimising models for licence cost rather than clarity.; Preset limited SQL IDE advanced features compared to specialized query tools
They diverge on capability: Anaplan covers Hyperblock calculation engine, Preset covers Managed Superset.
Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Anaplan and Preset actually diverge.

Attributes where Anaplan and Preset differ
Attribute	Anaplan	Preset
Starting price	On request	Free
Pricing model	quote	Unknown
Free tier	No	Yes
Platforms	Web, iOS	Web, Cloud
Founded	Unknown	2019

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (Business Intelligence).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Anaplan

Hyperblock calculation engine
Connected planning
Scenario and versioning
Model builder
Anaplan PlanIQ
Workflow and approvals
Application lifecycle management
Data integration

Only in Preset

Managed Superset
Auto-scaling
Enterprise Security
Custom Branding
API Access
Snowflake
BigQuery
Redshift

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Anaplan

Sales territory and quota planning across thousands of reps where a change to segmentation must reflow quota immediatelynot Preset
Demand and supply planning at SKU and location level for a manufacturer with tens of thousands of itemsnot Preset
Workforce planning that ties headcount, cost and capacity to a revenue plan across dozens of business unitsnot Preset
Replacing a spreadsheet estate where the master planning model has become too large and too fragile for Excel to open reliablynot Preset

Preset

Self-service analyticsnot Anaplan
Data explorationnot Anaplan
Ad-hoc reportingnot Anaplan
Collaborative analysisnot Anaplan
Embedded analyticsnot Anaplan

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Anaplan

Workspace is licensed by memory consumed, so a model that grows as the business adds SKUs, regions or scenarios generates a bill increase without a single new user being added, and teams end up optimising models for licence cost rather than clarity.
Model building requires certified Anaplan modellers using a proprietary formula language, and the labour market for that skill is small, so most customers stay dependent on a systems integrator long after go-live.
Thoma Bravo took the company private in 2022 in a $10.7bn deal, and customers have since reported firmer renewal terms; a private-equity owner optimising for cash flow is a real factor in a multi-year planning contract.
Native reporting and visualisation are weak for anything beyond planning grids, so most customers push data out to Power BI or Tableau for executive reporting, adding another tool and another latency point.
Implementations are long. A connected planning programme across finance and supply chain routinely runs six to eighteen months before the first production plan, which is difficult to justify when the business wants a forecast this quarter.

Preset

Limited SQL IDE advanced features compared to specialized query tools
Viewer licenses add substantial cost for embedded analytics deployments
Dataset-centric approach requires preprocessing by data teams for some use cases

Pricing, plan by plan

Anaplan

On request

Anaplan$undefined/year
- Licensed by user tier and by workspace capacity
- Workspace charged on memory consumed by models, independent of user count
- Multi-year enterprise agreements are the norm

Preset

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Preset review.

Which should you pick?

Choose Anaplan if

You need hyperblock calculation engine.
You work on Web, iOS.
You also want connected planning.

Anaplan review

Choose Preset if

You need managed superset.
You want to start without paying.
You work on Web, Cloud.
You also want auto-scaling.

Preset review

Questions people ask

Is Anaplan or Preset better?: Neither clearly leads. Anaplan starts at On request and Preset at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Anaplan or Preset?: Preset has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Anaplan and Free for Preset.
Does Anaplan or Preset run on more platforms?: Anaplan runs on Web, iOS. Preset runs on Web, Cloud.
Can I use Preset for free?: Yes. Preset has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Anaplan starts at On request.
What is Anaplan best used for?: Anaplan is most often used for sales territory and quota planning across thousands of reps where a change to segmentation must reflow quota immediately, demand and supply planning at sku and location level for a manufacturer with tens of thousands of items, workforce planning that ties headcount, cost and capacity to a revenue plan across dozens of business units, replacing a spreadsheet estate where the master planning model has become too large and too fragile for excel to open reliably. Of those, sales territory and quota planning across thousands of reps where a change to segmentation must reflow quota immediately and demand and supply planning at sku and location level for a manufacturer with tens of thousands of items are not what Preset is typically brought in for.
What can Anaplan do that Preset cannot?: Anaplan covers Hyperblock calculation engine, Connected planning, Scenario and versioning, Model builder. Preset covers Managed Superset, Auto-scaling, Enterprise Security, Custom Branding.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Anaplan: Why is Anaplan expensive even when user counts are low?

Because workspace is licensed on the memory your models consume as well as on users. Large models cost money regardless of how many people log in.

Preset: Is Preset free?

Preset offers a free tier for small teams called Starter with 5 users and no credit card required. Paid plans start at $25 per user per month.

Source

Anaplan: Do we need a systems integrator?

Almost always for the first implementation. The proprietary modelling language and the scale of typical models make an experienced partner or an internal certified team effectively mandatory.

Preset: Can I export my data from Preset?

Yes. Preset uses Apache Superset and the founders contribute over 75% of commits to the open-source project, enabling migration to Superset without vendor lock-in.

Source

Anaplan: Who owns Anaplan?

Thoma Bravo, which took it private in 2022 for $10.7bn.

Preset: Does Preset include embedded analytics?

Yes. Embedded dashboards are available on Professional and Enterprise plans, with viewer licenses starting at $500 per month for 50 licenses.

Source

Anaplan: Can it replace our BI tool?

No. It is a planning and calculation platform; most customers still export to Power BI or Tableau for reporting and dashboards.

Preset: What is the enterprise pricing for Preset?

Enterprise plans are custom quoted. The median buyer pays $35,495 per year.

Source

Preset: Does Preset support AI-powered analytics?

Yes. As of 2026, Preset includes an AI Chatbot and MCP (Model Context Protocol) integration for building charts and dashboards via natural language.

Source

Anaplan vs Preset

Anaplan

Preset

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Anaplan

Only in Preset

What people use each for

Anaplan

Preset

Where each one falls short

Anaplan

Preset

Pricing, plan by plan

Anaplan

Preset

Which should you pick?

Choose Anaplan if

Choose Preset if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on Anaplan

More on Preset

Keep looking

Other head to heads