Staying ahead in the modern business landscape is easier with the help of business intelligence tools. Through features like customizable dashboards, real-time data visualization, reporting, predictive analytics, data mining, and more, BI tools provide easy access to important organizational data, empowering effective data-driven decision-making.
To help you leverage the power of streamlined business intelligence, we’ve provided a guide to the best tools and how to select one for your business.
| Platform | Price | G2 Rating |
|---|---|---|
| Tableau | Starts at $75 per user per month | 4.4 (2,000+ reviews) |
| Power BI | Starts at $0 | 4.5 (1,000+ reviews) |
| Klipfolio | Starts at $110 per month | 4.5 (200+ reviews) |
| Looker | Get a quote | 4.4 (1,000+ reviews) |
| Qlik Sense | Starts at $825 per month | 4.4 (900+ reviews) |
| Sisense | Get a quote | 4.2 (1,000+ reviews) |
| Metabase | Starts at $0 | 4.4 (100+ reviews) |
| Domo | Get a quote | 4.3 (800+ reviews) |
| Soho Analytics | Starts at $0 for on-premise deployment | 4.3 (300+ reviews) |
| SAP Business Objects | Get a quote | 3.8 (200+ reviews) |
*All prices are in USD.
What To Look For In A Business Intelligence Tool
The best business intelligence tool for your business will depend on your specific needs and circumstances. Analyzing the below factors can help you narrow your choices down.
Key Features
A good BI tool should contain basic business intelligence and data modernization features. These include:
- Data Integration Tools: BI tools pull organizational data from multiple sources—including spreadsheets, databases, and cloud platforms—and compile the information in a centralized location.
- Data Transformation Tools: BI tools’ data optimization capacities let you clean, structure, and aggregate data for enhanced usability and compatibility with organizational systems.
- Customizable Dashboards and Data Visualization: BI tools use customizable dashboards to present complex data in visual formats, such as charts, graphs, summaries, and information reports. Visualization makes the data easier to parse, empowering more informed decision-making and faster analysis.
- Reporting Tools: Good BI tools will pull and read your data and then allow you to present the information through a variety of formats, including tables, spreadsheets, and PDFs. You should be able to automate and schedule reports whenever you need the data.
- Predictive Analytics: Predictive analytics, also called ‘what if analysis,’ leverages statistics and data modeling tools to analyze past and present data for accurate forecasting. It lets you simulate the outcomes of future decisions, allowing risk-free hypothesis testing.
- Data Mining: BI tools should be able to process large batches of data. Data mining uses automation and statistical analysis to load your data into warehouses, sites, or cloud servers and then organize information based on recurring patterns.
Collaboration Tools
Visibility plays a key role in leveraging business intelligence. Limiting BI platform access to a select number of users slows down operations as all information moves through qualified users first.
A good BI platform allows multiple users according to the size of your team and provides customizable permissions that let you control the level of access each member has. For example, you can manage permissions to let low-level managers view charts and tables but not edit them.
Third-Party Integration
A lack of third-party integrations may slow you down whenever you need to import or present data. Select a BI platform that offers native integrations with the apps you use daily.
Take Microsoft’s Power BI, which integrates with the Microsoft suite of tools, including PowerPoint, Excel, and Teams. Users who already depend on Microsoft for day-to-day tasks benefit from the ability to import their reports into presentation tools like PowerPoint with ease.
Deployment Flexibility
Find a BI platform that offers native connections to your data. It should let you:
- Access live data without requiring a download
- Query databases with minimal coding
- Access multiple data deployment options, including cloud hosting, local servers, or off-site
A good BI tool will provide the above options without requiring additional purchases or downloads.
Ease of Use
The purpose of BI tools is to make your data easier to access and understand. Intuitive UI allows you to reach this goal with increased efficiency. Easy-to-navigate BI platforms make your data accessible and readable without putting your team through a steep learning curve, reducing onboarding downtime and increasing productivity.
Value for Money
The right BI tool will provide the exact features you need at an optimal price. Don’t be fooled by low subscription costs — some products offer basic plans for low prices but keep features limited, forcing you to spend extra on add-ons and other products.
Mobile Access
The option to access business intelligence on the go helps increase efficiency. If accessibility is a priority, find a platform with a mobile app version.
Alerts
It’s handy to have alerts for good and bad metrics. For example, if you’re using your BI tool to track sales revenue, you can set alerts to notify you when you’re above or below monthly revenue targets.
The 10 Best Business Intelligence Tools
Below are a few names in business intelligence that can help your business navigate its data analysis journey.
Tableau
Tableau is one of the biggest names in business intelligence. It is primarily a data visualization tool that empowers users to create interactive charts, graphs, and other visual data representations through an easy-to-navigate UI and drag-and-drop technology.
The software uses behind-the-scenes automation to add context and meaning to presented data, making business relevance easier to understand.
However, at $75 per user per month for a complete business intelligence package, Tableau is relatively pricey. You can test the product using the company’s 14-day free trial.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Free trial available | Expensive |
| AI analytics with every package | Steep learning curve for advanced features |
| Dynamic data visualization capabilities |
Pricing Plans
| Tableau Creator $75 per user per month |
Tableau Creator $42 per user per month |
Tableau Creator $15 per user per month |
|---|---|---|
| Data preparation and cleaning | Data visualization | Data visualization (view only) |
| Data visualization | Summary downloads | Summary downloads |
| Summary downloads | AI-powered analytics | AI-powered analytics |
| AI-powered analytics | Data alerts |
Power BI
Another big name in business intelligence is Microsoft’s Power BI. It is a full-featured platform that offers data aggregation, report sharing, customizable dashboards, data visualization, and AI analysis. The tool is available as a downloadable software and as a web-based application.
The platform is best for organizations that actively use the Microsoft suite of tools. Because the interface is similar to other Microsoft platforms, users who deal with Microsoft daily will have an easy time adjusting. It also integrates with all Microsoft tools.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Free account available | Limited features for free accounts |
| Integrates with Microsoft products |
Pricing Plans
| Free Account $0 |
Power BI Pro $10 per user per month |
Power BI Premium $20 per user per month |
|---|---|---|
| Create reports | Create and publish reports | Create and publish reports |
| Advanced AI, dataflows, and datamarts |
Klipfolio
Klipfolio is primarily a data visualization tool, offering reporting and customizable real-time dashboards. It integrates with 130+ data services and allows connections with outside parties through REST/URL options. You can also pull data from your cloud or on-premise hosting service, upload spreadsheets, or write custom queries.
Formulas and functions like filtering, grouping, aggregating, and sorting help you consolidate large batches of data even without a data warehouse. Meanwhile, its extensive chart library includes 30+ charts, gauges, pictographs, maps, and funnels to provide flexibility in data visualization.
One of the main benefits of using Klipfolio is that it does not charge on a per-user basis. All plans allow unlimited in-house users. However, the number of clients you can have is limited for lower-tier plans.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Unlimited users for every plan | No free account |
| Free trial available | Dashboard limit tied to pricing tier |
| Connects with a wide selection of data services |
Pricing Plans
| Starter $110 monthly |
Lite $210 monthly |
Pro $420 monthly |
Prremier $1025 monthly |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 dashboards | 15 dashboards | 30 dashboards | 80 dashboards |
| Unlimited users | Unlimited users | Unlimited users | Unlimited users |
| 5 clients | 15 clients | 30 clients | 80 clients |
| 4hr data refresh rate | 1hr data refresh rate | 30min data refresh rate | 30min data refresh rate |
| Scheduled reports | Scheduled reports | Scheduled reports | |
| Priority customer support | Priority customer support | ||
| Custom onboarding |
Looker
The Google Cloud service Looker offers data modeling, data visualization, and data collaboration. One of its biggest strengths is its ability to connect directly to your database rather than requiring an XML, CSV, or other type of file upload. Because Looker sits on top of your databases, any changes will reflect into your dashboards in real time, thereby increasing efficiency.
Looker is hosted entirely on the cloud, which makes your work accessible on-the-go. However, its mobile app received middling reviews on both the App Store and Google Play. Many users claimed that they found it difficult to get past the login stage.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Directly connects to your database | Poorly-rated mobile app |
| Entirely cloud-based | No pricing information available onlie |
| User-friendly to non-technical users |
Pricing Plans
Looker provides no pricing information on its website. To get a quote, you must contact sales and negotiate a pricing arrangement that works for the size of your team.
Qlik Sense
Overview
Qlik Sense is a BI tool that can be deployed on-premise or on Qlik’s cloud sharing platform (Qlik Cloud). Standout features include AI-augmented analyses and intelligent alerts.
Through machine learning, Qlik Sense generates context-aware insights that streamline the process of understanding your data. You can get answers to your business questions by simply inputting questions as prompts into the search bar. Because Qlik Sense understands what your data means, it can generate analyses while sparing you from the manual load of data visualization and modeling.
Meanwhile, intelligent alerts use Qlik Sense’s context awareness and your customized instructions to spot metric anomalies proactively. It will notify you when critical business metrics fall short or stray from set targets.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Conversational, AI-powered insight generation | Slows down with larger datasets |
| User-friendly to non-coders | Extra fees for add-ons |
| Highly rated mobile app |
Pricing Plans
| Standard $825 per month |
Premium $2,500 per month |
Enterprise Get a quote |
|---|---|---|
| Up to 20 users | Up to 20 users | Up to 100,000 users |
| AI-augmented analytics | AI-augmented analytics | AI-augmented analytics |
| Scheduled reporting | Scheduled reporting | Scheduled reporting |
| Interactive data visualization | Interactive data visualization | Interactive data visualization |
| Predictive analytics | Predictive analytics | |
| Larger max data sizes | ||
| Personalized customer success plan |
Sisense
Sisense is a software that offers data consolidation, data management, and data visualization. Like Looker, it can connect to any source of data, including XML and CSV downloads.
The platform is renowned for its ease of use and accessibility to a broad range of users. Its drag-and-drop UI lets users unify data silos with minimal coding, which means even users unfamiliar with SQL can manage and visualize data. It also gives coding-literate users the option to customize their dashboards through APIs and plugins.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Directly connects to your database | Poorly rated mobile app |
| User-friendly to non-technical users | No pricing information available online |
Pricing Plans
The Sisense website provides no explicit pricing information. Contact sales to get a quote.
Metabase
Metabase is a decent option if all you need is a simple, lightweight BI tool. It offers a free plan for organizations in need of basic BI features, including internal analytics, queries, charts, dashboards, and static embedding.
The app receives praise for its user interface. The clean, easy-to-navigate AI makes onboarding easy, even for team members who lack data literacy.
However, because the software is free, its capacity and features are limited compared to competitors. Reviews complain that the tool slows down when facing extensive, complex datasets. It also lacks customization options for data visualization, which makes it hard to distinguish between different charts and dashboards.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Free plan available | Limited data visualization options |
| Intuitive and user-friendly | Poorly rated mobile app |
| Dashboards have loading issues |
Pricing Plans
| Open Source Free |
Starter $85 per month and $5 per additional user |
Pro $500 per month and $10 per additional user |
Enterprise Custom pricing, quotes start at $15,000 per year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Self-hosted deployment | Cloud or self-hosted deployment | Cloud or self-hosted deployment | Cloud or self-hosted deployment |
| Internal analytics | Up to 5 free users | Up to 10 free users | Internal analytics |
| Basic dashboard embedding | Internal analytics | Internal analytics | Advanced interactive dashboard embedding |
| Basic dashboard embedding | Interactive dashboard embedding | Automatic upgrades, patches, backups, and monitoring | |
| Automatic upgrades, patches, backups, and monitoring | Automatic upgrades, patches, backups, and monitoring | Data sandboxing | |
| Data sandboxing | Access to additional professional services |
Domo
Domo is a cloud-based BI platform with data visualization, reporting, advanced analytics, and embedding capacities. It’s another decent option if accessibility is a priority. With an easy-to-navigate user interface, Domo makes onboarding easy regardless of your skill in data.
Another strength is that it offers a wide variety of pre-built connectors. This means you can eliminate data silos and combine data from multiple sources. It also allows unlimited users, which makes it great for large teams.
However, compared to its competitors, Domo offers a smaller selection of visualizations and calculations. This limits what you can do with your data.
One major weakness is a lack of pricing transparency. You are required to talk to sales to get a quote for any Domo package. Additionally, support is limited, especially for users in lower-level tiers.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Wide selection of pre-built connectors | Limited support |
| Easy-to-navigate user interface | Lack of pricing transparency |
| Limited visualization options |
Pricing Plans
| Standard Get a quote |
Enterprise Get a quote |
Business Critical Get a quote |
|---|---|---|
| Data visualization | Data visualization | Data visualization |
| Reporting | Reporting | Reporting |
| AI and data science analytics | AI and data science analytics | AI and data science analytics |
| Embedded analytics | Embedded analytics | Embedded analytics |
| Dedicated account team | HIPAA compliance | |
| Maximized data security |
Zoho Analytics
Zoho comes with the typical BI tool features: data preparation, analysis, and visualization, as well as collaboration and sharing options.
One of its main selling points is Zia, a generative AI assistant who provides actionable business insights through conversational prompts. Ask your question in conversational language to prompt visual or textual business analysis. You can also use drag-and-drop tools to customize static or interactive visualizations.
While Zoho’s offerings are similar to other products in the market, it’s a standout choice if your team is well-integrated into the Zoho ecosystem. Natural integrations with Zoho software empower you to work more efficiently by streamlining the process of switching between tools.
It’s also a great option for solo entrepreneurs who don’t mind hosting their own data. It offers a free plan called Zoho Personal, which supports one user and offers all key BI features. However, Zoho Personal is only available for users who are hosting their data on local servers. analytics, and alerts.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Free plan available for on-premise deployment | Limited data alerts |
| Conversational AI assistant | Interface might not be intuitive for users unfamiliar with Zoho |
Pricing Plans
Cloud Deployment
| Basic | Standard | Premium | Enterprise |
|---|---|---|---|
| $24 per month | $48 per month | $115 per month | $455 per month |
| $6.40 per additional user | $6.40 per additional user | $6.40 per additional user | $6.40 per additional user |
| $80 per additional 25 viewers | $80 per additional 25 viewers | $80 per additional 25 viewers | $80 per additional 25 viewers |
| Up to 2 users | Up to 5 users | Up to 15 users | Up to 50 users |
| Data management | Data management | Data management | Data management |
| Data analytics | Data analytics | Data analytics | Data analytics |
| Enhanced data visualization | Enhanced data visualization | Enhanced data visualization | Enhanced data visualization |
| Machine learning studio | Machine learning studio | Machine learning studio | Machine learning studio |
| Conversational analytics | Conversational analytics | Conversational analytics | |
| 10 data alerts | 30 data alerts | 100 data alerts |
On-Premise Deployment
| Personal | Professional (local server or Docker) | Professional (AWS) | Professional (Azure) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $30 per user per month (minimum of 5 users) | $0.25 per hour plus AWS usage fee (minimum of 5 users) | $0.40 per hour plus Azure infrastructure fee (minimum of 5 users) |
| $6.40 per additional user | $6.40 per additional user | $6.40 per additional user | $6.40 per additional user |
| Data management | Data management | Data management | Data management |
| Data analytics | Data analytics | Data analytics | Data analytics |
| Enhanced data visualization | Enhanced data visualization | Enhanced data visualization | Enhanced data visualization |
| Machine learning studio | Machine learning studio | Machine learning studio | Machine learning studio |
| Data alerts | Data alerts | Data alerts |
SAP BusinessObjects
SAP BusinessObjects is a BI tool for data visualization, sharing, and reporting. It remains popular among large companies for its extensive reporting capabilities. It offers a large selection of tools for processing, displaying, and reporting data. This high level of personalization lets users distribute data at the right level and to the right people.
Like with many BI tools, pricing transparency is lacking. SAP explains that an on-premise deployment model asks organizations to pay according to the functionality and number of users they need. Meanwhile, the private cloud edition charges a subscription fee based on the number of users.
Pricing Plans
You must contact sales to get a quote for SAP BusinessObjects. No pricing information is available on the website.
Leverage Modern Data Analytics With Bronson.AI
Bronson.AI can help you maximize your BI tools. Our data analytics consultants teach you to use analytics tools for maximum insight extraction, data visualization for compelling storytelling, and predictive modeling for accurate forecasting and prescriptive insights. Refer to our data analytics page for more information.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the benefits of using BI tools?
BI tools help you monitor business health, track goals, and generate actionable insights. Below are a few benefits of using BI tools.
- Informed decision-making: Data visualizations add clarity to market conditions, customer needs, and business health. Access to accurate and factual information can help you create smarter business strategies.
- Low-risk experimentation: Features like predictive analytics use your historical data to simulate the possible outcomes of future decisions. You can test scenarios and gain a solid picture of future results without putting real resources at risk.
- Increased efficiency: Without BI tools, you’d typically run your data using spreadsheets, which cannot handle complex datasets. BI tools help you store, manage, manipulate, and visualize data with reduced manual load. Some BI tools might even automate workflows like reporting for your convenience.
What are some real-life applications of business intelligence?
Different companies collect different types of data to run or improve their business. Below are a few real-life examples of how businesses use BI tools.
- Distributing revenue and customer acquisition reports to stakeholders
- Monitor leads and customers acquired from advertising campaigns
- Track real-time sales and inventory through data visualization
- Analyze demographics of leads and website visitors
- Predict sales and revenue
What is the most popular BI tool?
Data from HG Market Intelligence reported that Microsoft Power BI was the most popular business intelligence software in 2024, followed by Tableau. Approximately 222,000 companies use Power BI, while 178,000 companies use Tableau.
Will I benefit from using a popular BI tool?
The business intelligence tool you choose depends on your specific business needs. However, using popular software like Power BI and Tableau increases your chances of finding professionals who are already familiar with the tool and can readily leverage their expertise for your organization. They will also have more training resources available online.
Less popular software might lead to longer onboarding downtime, especially if the tool lacks user-friendliness.
Is SQL a BI tool?
SQL, which stands for Structured Query Language, is the programming language used to create and manage databases. While it is not considered a BI tool, it plays a crucial role in managing the databases in which BI tools are built.
Is Excel a BI tool?
Microsoft Excel and other spreadsheet tools offer basic business intelligence features, such as data storage, management through formulas, and visualization. However, it lacks the capacity to handle large datasets. It’s also missing many advanced features modern BI tools offer, such as dashboards, reporting, predictive analytics, and alerts.
