Best Business Intelligence Software Tools

Tableau is a data visualization and analytics solution that assists enterprises in making data-driven business decisions. It blends information from a wide range of sources to deliver actionable, real-time insights. It allows exploration of data via intuitive means such as drag-and-drop filtering and natural language queries, irrespective of skill levels. With ample customization and security options, it offers control over data visualization, enabling creation of dashboards and stories that effectively convey business narratives. It can be purchased as part of the Tableau Creator package, which includes the desktop version, Prep and a Creator license of the server or online version.

Microsoft Power BI is an analytics tool that assists in reporting, data mining and data visualization to provide business insights. Through Power BI's simple interface, businesses can connect to a variety of data sources and create their own dashboards and reports. Originally born from Excel as an add-on, Power BI has since grown to stand on its own. At a relatively low cost, Power BI fulfills the needs of organizations ranging from small business owners to enterprise operators. There are three versions: Desktop, which is available for free for individual use, an upgraded Pro plan offered on a monthly price-per-user SaaS subscription and a capacity-based Premium plan which provides enterprise-level insights with on-premise deployment and a dedicated cloud infrastructure.

Board is a robust solution that offers analytical insights, business analytics and enterprise performance management all under the same hood. It helps key players of a company improve the effectiveness of their decision making. Its customizable and interactive dashboards give enterprises the ability to see a high-level overview of their business, as well as drill down into their KPIs to assess business performance goals. It serves mid- to large-sized companies across various industries, and its programming-free toolkit helps businesses analyze and plan with a tailored, efficient approach, irrespective of technical skill levels.

Looker is a web-based analytics solution that offers businesses the ability to explore, discover, visualize and share data insights. Enterprises can view data sources and drill down into data to better understand their business and metrics. Using a simple proprietary modeling language, this system helps define data relationships while bypassing SQL. It facilitates data literacy and accessibility, irrespective of technical skill levels. It was acquired by Google on June 6, 2019, for $2.9 billion.

Qlik Sense is a self-service data analytics software that enhances human intuition with the power of artificial intelligence to enable better data-driven business decisions. It allows organizations to explore their data and create intuitive and compelling visualizations from data insights with drag-and-drop simplicity. As the next-generation advancement of QlikView, released in 2014, it expands analytical possibilities to support the entire insights life cycle and helps businesses modernize their approach to intelligence. It has two editions: Business and Enterprise, offered on a per account annual subscription. Enterprises can choose between a hosted SaaS public cloud or multi-cloud, on-premise or private cloud deployment. Qlik Sense Business comes with a free 30-day trial. Its desktop version is available for free for personal use.

Apache Spark is an open source unified analytics software for distributed, rapid processing. It distributes data across clusters in real time to produce market-leading speeds. It is rising in popularity in the space, catching up to its sister-offering, Hadoop, because of its quicker speeds and specific focus on optimizing processing performance and ability to stream data. It supports several coding languages, including Python, R, Scala, SQL and Java. It can function stand-alone, or be integrated into broader workflows easily.

PowerPoint is a rising application that ranks 7 among all Business Intelligence Tools according to our research analysts and 1356 crowd-sourced reviews from 2 sources. Starting from $6, PowerPoint is priced below average, commonly offers a free trial and is most fitting for all company sizes. Businesses who have used PowerPoint include ABB, CAT and Chevron. PowerPoint can be deployed online and on-premise and is accessible from a handful of platforms including Windows devices.

QlikView is a data discovery and customer insight platform from Qlik, a leader in the insight and intelligence space. However, it is not available for purchase any longer. Qlik Sense, Qlik’s next-generation offering, is available for new customers. It offers self-service data that can help drive decisions and generate significant ROI for technical skill level users. It’s built from the ground up to be affordable, scalable and adaptable. It can ingest data from diverse sources like big data streams, file-based data, and on-premise or cloud data. It is well-known for its data associations and relationship functionality, keeping data in context automatically. It delivers results quickly via its patented in-memory data processing module, processing data down to as little as 10% of its original size.

TIBCO Spotfire is a complete business intelligence and data discovery platform that can perform various functions, including in-depth analysis and robust visual reporting, all powered by artificial intelligence. It offers data streaming technology, which can support insights with AI, big data integration, integration with the Internet of things (IoT) and more.

Oracle Analytics Cloud is an AI-powered solution that provides robust reporting and analytics features to businesses of all sizes. It offers a strong selection of reporting and analytics features from the convenience of the cloud. It prepares and analyzes data for trends, then turns that data into an intuitive visualization for users to explore and share. This helps users get a deeper understanding of a range of business questions as well as make accurate predictions and forecasts.

Sisense is an end-to-end data analytics platform that makes data discovery and analytics accessible to customers and employees alike via an embeddable, scalable architecture. With a back-end powered by in-chip technology, it allows analysts to blend large datasets from a variety of sources into a single cohesive database for the entire company. On the front-end, users of all technical skill levels can craft visualizations, reports and dashboards to explore and share insights that drive businesses forward. Its AI-driven, cloud-native analytics offering, Fusion, embeds into business workspaces and empowers teams to view key metrics and data insights where they work. Designed for companies of all sizes, it can be deployed on-premises, as a private cloud-hosted SaaS, as a fully managed SaaS or via a hybrid strategy. It is available via annual subscription pricing and offered in three packages: its main offering BI Analytics Teams, its embedded analytics component Product Teams and code-driven cloud analytics through Cloud Data Teams.

IBM Cognos Analytics is a self-service, web-based analytics platform which empowers users of all skill levels to explore data through reporting, data analytics, KPI monitoring, events and metrics. Reports give users the ability to not just visualize their insights, but also share them with colleagues. It integrates with Watson Analytics, which leverages IBM’s artificial intelligence and natural language processing to make insights more accessible to non-technical users. It has various components which give additional functionality, flexibility and agility when processing large sets of data.

Logi Symphony (formerly Logi Analytics) provides businesses with interactive data analytics and visualizations, offering advanced reporting and visualization features in a minimal-code environment. It offers self-service data analysis and data discovery; then connects and blends operational intelligence to prepare it; and finally lets users turn it into dashboards, reports and other visualizations.

BusinessObjects from SAP offers a variety of packages to fit businesses of all industries and sizes. It aims to reduce the cost of IT upkeep and increase responsiveness to business problems. It streamlines workloads and lets users share insights to make better business decisions.

MicroStrategy is a data analytics platform that delivers actionable intelligence to organizations of all sizes. It allows users to customize data visualizations and build personalized real-time dashboards. It leverages data connectivity, machine learning and mobile access to offer users comprehensive control over their insights. Due to its ease of use and scalability, it stands out as a leader in the enterprise analytics field. Users can choose between cloud, on-premise or hybrid deployment according to their needs.

Formerly known as Periscope Data, Sisense for Cloud Data Teams is a data analytics software tool that integrates seamlessly with the Sisense platform, offering advanced analytics that delivers actionable insights to teams that work with data in the cloud. It provides a single, cohesive interface for users to store, organize, analyze and visualize all their data for better decision-making. It empowers users of all kinds to produce, consume and share insights intuitively together, with or without coding knowledge. Originally founded in 2012 in San Francisco, California, it was acquired by Sisense in May 2019 and rebranded in January 2020.

ThoughtSpot offers analytics and insight capabilities to industries seeking a deeper understanding of their proprietary data in order to make data-driven business decisions. It focuses on giving nontechnical users access to processing and analytics, bringing the ease of a search function to enterprise-scale data analysis. It offers a powerful search engine integrated with in-memory computing for a consumer-class UI.

Pentaho Business Analytics helps users gain insights to drive decisions and manage their data. Notable features include data visualization, dashboards, data modeling, reporting, role-based security, mobile access and a host of analytics capabilities. It serves customers of any size in all industries and can be delivered in the cloud or as an embedded implementation. It’s built on open-source principles to leverage existing data against future data and has enough to offer users of any skill level.

Klipfolio is an analytics software tool that helps users wield data intelligently and confidently by building dashboards and reports that track KPIs and monitor trends. Users can glean insights from information across the organization collected in one convenient place and deploy interactive data visualizations that they can share with ease. It is available through an annual or monthly subscription to one of four plans: Publish, Grow, Team and Team+. The number of dashboards and users allowed, as well as the data refresh rate and level of support varies depending on the pricing plan selected.

RStudio is an integrated development environment suite for the R programming language, synthesizing coding tools into one software tool for easier advanced data processing. Using in-memory processing, it is capable of parsing big data through integrations and connections. It is available in both open-source and commercial formats, with extra features available in the paid edition includes more sophisticated collaboration and security efforts. The free version is capable of end-to-end analytics, from API connectivity and data ingestion to visualization creation and distribution. It can be deployed standalone or on a web browser through connection to RStudio Server.

Dundas BI is a browser-based analytics platform built to embed from the ground up. The vendor provides single and multi-tenant deployments with access to shared, reusable content. HTML5 enables customizable visualizations and user-friendly dashboards to build reports with interactivity options to drill down into data on demand. It allows secure write-backs to the database, capturing input through custom forms, stored procedures and REST APIs. It gives businesses complete control over the data stored on their IT infrastructure. The vendor offers a 25-day free trial.

Infor Birst is a cloud-based analytics software tool that aims to help users discover insights without the need for analyst input. It unifies IT-managed enterprise data with user-owned data, supporting the blending of both in a top-down and bottom-up manner. It uses consistent business metrics to structure raw data into organized sets and visualizations. It helps users identify patterns and better understand their organization’s KPIs. It offers a seamless, integrated UI that allows users to perform every step of the data analysis process in a single interface, enabling a smooth experience. It can be deployed either from the cloud or self-hosted on-premise. Users can purchase it in three available formats: per-user fee, by department or business unit or by end-customer in embedded scenarios.

Zoho Analytics (formerly Zoho Reports) allows users to create visualizations and dashboards to present their data via a quick, easy, self-service model. It brings insight and analysis to an organization’s business data on-demand without needing IT assistance or data analysts through extensive automation efforts in several dimensions of the analytical process. Users can crunch huge datasets, clean and blend data, perform various analytical tasks and visualize the results in dynamic graphics to uncover insights. They can make data-informed business decisions in a stand-alone or embedded environment with support for mobile devices. It has flexible on-premise or cloud deployment models.

GoodData is a powerful, embeddable, customizable SaaS solution that combines, analyzes and visualizes the internal and external data of an organization to help businesses change the way they make decisions, with a focus on data-driven best practices. It lets users process data, analyze trends and create visualizations that present information in an easily-digestible format. Users can interpret these visualizations to draw insights and make intelligent business decisions.

Domo is a cloud-based business management suite that accelerates digital transformation for businesses of all sizes. It performs both micro and macro-level analysis to provide teams with in-depth insight into their business metrics as well as solve problems smarter and faster. It presents these analyses in interactive visualizations to make patterns obvious to users, facilitating the discovery of actionable insights. Through shared key performance indicators, users can overcome team silos and work together across departments.

Ibi by Information Builders offers cloud-based data and analytics platforms that empower users to turn their information into insights through robust visualization, reporting and data management. WebFOCUS is its primary offering. Flexible, configurable and scalable, it integrates data from many sources, simplifies data workflows and enables fast, easy organization and analysis of data. It allows users to make more confident data-driven decisions that drive business results.As of 2020, the vendor has announced that it will be acquired by TIBCO.

Jaspersoft is a reporting and data analytics suite built around the JasperReports engine that helps businesses create seamlessly embeddable, pixel-perfect reports, dashboards and visualizations. It empowers businesses with the self-service capabilities to find answers to data questions through beautifully rendered visuals that are easy to understand and explain. Bridging the gap between insight and action, it promotes ownership of the decision-making process across organizations. It includes JasperReports Library, JasperReports Server and JasperReports Studio. The vendor also offers a cloud and microservice-embeddable reporting engine, JasperReports IO.

SAS Visual Analytics offers fast answers to complex questions drawn from datasets of all sizes. It provides guided exploration, interactive dashboards, smart visualizations and self-service analytics to users of all technical skill levels, promoting data literacy and visibility. Its versatile, scalable design helps users make better business decisions based on data transparency. Built on a cohesive in-memory architecture, it promotes intelligent action driven by insight.

Pyramid Analytics offers an enterprise-grade operating system that scales smoothly from single-user to organization-wide implementation. It’s OS agnostic and can be deployed in the cloud or on-premise. It promotes data literacy by allowing different levels of users to utilize different capabilities. It is designed to support an organization’s decision workflow end-to-end from self-service analytics to forecasting.

FullStory is a digital intelligence platform that provides comprehensive insights into users’ interactions with digital business experiences. It automatically detects issues that cause funnel drop, measures impacts, fixes bugs and finds solutions. Seamless communication through Slack and Jira links teams to the exact time and place where an issue occurs. It optimizes the client experience by allowing tracking and monitoring throughout the customer journey. It indexes entire sites and user interactions while spotting errors for the end-user.

Izenda (replaced by Logi Symphony) is a business intelligence product that allows users to embed reporting and analytics capabilities into other applications. It monetizes data, promotes data literacy, offers insights and sets users up to make data-driven business decisions.From ad-hoc reports to ongoing insights, this software tool offers users a flexible range of data analysis features and visualization capabilities. It was designed for both developers and end users with a modern technology stack, flexible architecture and intuitive drag-and-drop interface.

Exago (replaced by Logi Symphony) is embeddable, flexible and scalable. It is designed for multi-tenant SaaS use and requires no additional desktop downloads or plug-ins. It offers an open API and customizable UI, giving users control and flexibility. It includes express reports, pixel-perfect reports, report formatting templates, crosstab reports, drill-down, a dashboard designer, maps, data blending and OLAP.

WebFOCUS is a data analytics solution from Information Builders that helps businesses transform their data into actionable insights. Its intuitive interface makes self-service intelligence accessible to users of all skill levels. Its capabilities include dashboards, scorecards, mobile access, guided ad hoc reporting, data integrations, dynamic report distribution and much more. As of 2020, the vendor has announced that it will be acquired by TIBCO.

ClearStory Data was acquired by Alteryx in 2019. Data access and analysis were once relegated to specialists, quants or statisticians. Today, competitiveness on the front lines of business is dictated by the speed of data access and the quality of informed decision-making. ClearStory Data’s end-to-end solution includes an integrated Spark-based data processing platform and an incredibly simple user application for business consumption of insights.

Datorama helps businesses handle their processing and analysis needs for data sets of any size and complexity. It is scalable and cloud-based for growth, access and convenience. Powered by Salesforce, it’s built to provide enterprise-grade intelligence and insights.

It’s an open-source project on Eclipse and is an acronym for Business Intelligence and Reporting Tools. It lets organizations extract and transform data for business analysis. Its Report Designer enables visual report-building within interactive dashboards. The runtime component executes the reports once ready. Embedded into a range of business interfaces, it enables custom design layout, data access and scripting to present report output over the web. It supports charts, crosstabs, using multiple data sources within the same report, re-using queries within reports and addition of custom code.