Categories   >   Self-Service BI Tools
Last Reviewed: November 18th, 2024

Best Self-Service BI Tools Of 2024

What are Self-Service BI Tools?

Imagine a world where you don't need a data scientist to answer your business questions. That's the power of self-service BI tools. These are dashboards and applications designed for business users, not just tech wizards. They tackle the challenge of slow, IT-dependent reporting by empowering everyone to explore data on their own. The benefits are numerous: faster decision-making, increased data literacy across the organization, and more user-driven insights. These tools offer drag-and-drop functionality, pre-built dashboards, and visual filters for intuitive data exploration. Emerging features include natural language processing to ask questions in plain English and AI-powered recommendations for relevant data points. Self-service BI benefits users in all departments, from marketing and sales to finance and operations, and works well across various industries. A key limitation is data security – democratizing data access requires careful governance. Overall, self-service BI tools put the power of data analysis in the hands of the business, fostering a data-driven culture and accelerating success.

What Are The Key Benefits of Self-Service BI Tools?

  • Faster Answers to Questions
  • Increased Data Democratization
  • Improved Decision Making
  • Drive User-Owned Insights
  • Boost Data Literacy
  • Simplify Data Exploration
  • Reduced Reliance on IT
  • Self-Service Analytics
  • Enhanced Business Agility
Read more

Overall

Based on the latest available data collected by SelectHub for 137 solutions, we determined the following solutions are the best Self-Service BI Tools overall:

Tableau
Tableau
Start Price
$15
Per User, Monthly
Company Size
Small Medium Large
Deployment
Cloud On-Premise
Platform
Mac Windows Linux Chromebook Android
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Why We Picked Tableau

Tableau Desktop is a BI solution for data visualization, dashboarding and location analysis. In online reviews, users said they found its drag-and-drop charting a boon for creating charts and maps. Regarding customization, many users praised the platform for its various labeling and design options.

I recently tried the Tableau Desktop 2024.1.3 version. The trial is only for 14 days and is enough for a sneak peek into Tableau’s dashboarding and data storytelling capabilities. For more straightforward use cases, Tableau is incredibly user-friendly and fast. Creating a new sheet gives you a canvas to create a visualization. Once you have the required sheets, combining them into a dashboard view is straightforward — select and add.

My dataset included healthcare data, including details of patients, their hospital visits and insurance payer details. One use case was to find the total claim settlement amount. I dragged the Total Claims Cost and Payer fields to the column and row shelves, and Tableau gave me a bar graph. The toolbar had single-click options for sorting data from increasing to decreasing values or the other way around.

To view the number of encounters by payer, I dragged the Payer field to the row shelf and used the SUM(ROW_COUNT()) function on the column shelf. The chart popped up with more visualization and layout options.

I wanted an interactive filter to view the average claim cost by birthdate. I dragged the Birthdate field to the Filters shelf and right-clicked on it to set the end date as October 22, 1961. Selecting Show Filter added a slider conveniently to the right of my visualization. I could see the data for people born before October 22, 1961, and if required, I could change the end date.

Another use case would be viewing the data by the type of hospital visits — how many people were inpatients, outpatients or those who needed emergency care. I dragged and dropped the Total Claims Cost and Payer fields into columns and rows, respectively. Similarly, I dropped Encounterclass into the Filters shelf and clicked on Show Filter to enable a checkbox on the screen. It had all the categories of visits, giving users the option to select the desired views.

One-fourth of the users discussing adoption said there was a steep learning curve. Tableau relies on Python and R scripts for statistics in its visualizations. It's where the named licenses can prove to be a blessing, as you can opt to train upcoming Creators and Explorers. We recommend factoring in training if you want to hit the ground running.

Some reviewers felt discounted packages for business editions should be available, similar to the free student licenses. At $70 per user, the Creator license can seem costly when compared to Power BI ($9.99 per user) and Qlik Sense ($30 per user).

Here's the good news, though. Its built-in user management acts as a permissions layer for your organization - users can only access the relevant content. Plus, an organization will have very few Creators and a greater number of Viewers and Explorers, and the license fee reduces from Creator to Explorer to Viewer.

We recommend opting for a wise license combination to get the most out of the product.

On the upside, the vendor constantly releases new features, the latest one being Einstein CoPilot in beta.

Overall, Tableau is a competitive BI solution, but if the pricing seems inflexible, quite a few other solutions offer live insights and advanced analytics out of the box.

Pros & Cons

  • Data Visualization: Almost 98% of users who reviewed its visual capabilities praised the platform for its dashboards and the freedom to play around with data and modify charts as desired.
  • User-Friendly: According to 93% of users who mentioned ease of use, it makes data accessible with its easy user actions and handy tooltips.
  • Data Connectivity: About 92% of users who discussed data sourcing praised its ability to pull data from disparate systems.
  • Pricing: Around 90% of the users citing cost found it expensive.
  • Speed: About 71% of the users who discussed performance found it slow when processing large data volumes.
  • Onboarding Woes: Approximately 67% of the users who reviewed the platform's adoption said there was a steep learning curve.

Key Features

  • Connectors: Combine data from various sources by choosing from a wide range of connectors — no need to spend on expensive third-party data integration tools. Tableau Bridge connects private networks to live data sources via Tableau Cloud.
  • AI: Tableau now offers AI capabilities thanks to Einstein Analytics.
    • Tableau Pulse: Explore data independently and ask questions with AI analytics. Tableau Pulse is available with Tableau Cloud and Embedded Analytics.
    • Explain Data: Understand the displayed insights with natural language explanations of data points.
    • Einstein CoPilot (Beta): Close the gap in understanding data with AI insights. Discover hidden trends by asking follow-up questions without losing context, thanks to generative AI. Einstein CoPilot is available with a Tableau Cloud subscription.
  • Tableau Prep: Clean and transform data of all types, including survey results, feedback data and social media posts. Shape and combine it with Tableau Prep, which is available with the paid edition only.
  • Data Stories: Convey your message with compelling narratives to get stakeholder buy-in. Drag and drop sheets onto the storyboard to show the growth, decline or stability of critical metrics.
  • Animations: Explain how data changes over time with animated charts and customize them to include graphics, labels and colors.
  • Filtering: Focus on the data that matters; it’s as easy as dragging and dropping desired fields to the Filter shelf. Specify a value range, set a condition or choose the top values to display.
  • User-Based Licenses: Explore cost-effective license combinations that work for your team.
    • Creators can build dashboards, permissions, and governance rules, and establish connections to new sources. They’re content authors who transform and analyze data. This license is available at $70 per user monthly, billed annually. However, they can’t control the Tableau Server or Desktop environment.
    • Explorer licenses are suitable for line-of-business users whose role requires independent data exploration. They can author content but within a governed ecosystem. Each Explorer license costs $42 monthly, billed annually. They can’t connect to new sources, modify data, or use the Tableau desktop or custom SQL.
    • Viewers can interact with data, apply filters and follow pre-decided workflows. This license is available for $15 per user monthly, billed annually. Viewers have limited rights and can’t create and edit visualizations and the underlying data.
Power BI
Power BI
Start Price
$10
Per User, Monthly
Company Size
Small Medium Large
Deployment
Cloud On-Premise
Platform
Mac Windows Linux Chromebook Android
Request Pricing Request Demo

Why We Picked Power BI

Our researchers ranked products on a whole bunch of features. They include data management, querying and visualization, advanced and embedded analytics, mobile BI, and IoT and location analytics.

In our rankings, Power BI scores 87 for connectivity, leaving behind Tableau, Oracle Analytics and Dundas BI. Robust Microsoft technology is one reason, for sure. Besides, intelligent techniques like DirectQuery and easy data modeling make it popular among users.

In product reviews, some users mentioned a lag when sharing reports from the desktop to the cloud. For me, the platform was a tad slow to start, but otherwise, it stayed performant for my average-sized dataset.

When dealing with sales data, total sales, the top-performing products, seasonality and period trends are common queries. Creating a sales KPI report in Power BI was an excellent way for me to answer them. My CSV files included sales, calendar, products and store data.

Connecting to sources is straightforward with Get Data on the home screen and toolbar. Once I had pulled in the data, I clicked on Transform Data and opened the Power Query editor. It automatically detects the data type for strings and numbers but can get confused with dates and currency, which it marks as text. It involved some manual wrangling, but I had it sorted in no time. Read my article on KPI Reports to learn how I did it.

But I wouldn’t call it a deal-breaker as it’s not a tedious task. I had the same experience with Qlik Sense, but Tableau was way better as it recognizes seven data types — string, number, date, date and time, boolean, geographic and cluster values.

Tracking sales over periods required a greater level of detail, so I added new columns to the calendar data — start of month and start of week. Column statistics were immensely helpful in identifying unique, distinct and null values and correcting incomplete records. Clicking on the number of products selling at a particular price allowed me to see which toys sold at that price.

Creating a relational data model by defining primary keys is a manual process and seems dated once you’ve used Qlik Sense. Adding calculated measures is where DAX shows its magic. For data workers well-versed with SQL, DAX is a ready-to-go tool they’ll be glad to have in their corner.

Creating visualizations wasn’t as intuitive as Tableau as it involved drag-and-drop onto the canvas, and frankly, I felt like I was flying blind. I didn’t feel that way with Tableau, and it’s slicker.

Power BI offers a paintbrush tool that lets you define the layout, the card arrangement and the maximum number of cards. You can define the canvas settings, background and headers and determine the filter pane settings. It took me longer to create a dashboard from scratch than it took in Tableau.

Some users found the pricing structure too complex. While using Azure data in Power BI for basic queries is free, costs can add up when you go for text and sentiment analysis. With Microsoft Fabric, the pricing complexity is set to rise. Though Power BI is available separately too, you’ll need to rely on Fabric to manage users, licenses and other administrative tasks.

About 31% of the users mentioning cost complained about onboarding difficulties, possibly because DAX introduces the complexity of learning syntax. It can daunt non-technical users initially, but guided formulas can make the task easier. That said, I agree with the majority of user reviews that training will speed up onboarding and help your team maximize the investment.

Overall, Power BI has many powerful features and will give you value for your money. If you’re not a Microsoft user yet, it’s worth checking out for the baked-in vendor technologies like Azure and SSAS. If you are an MS user, Power BI might be a no-brainer, though be prepared to shell out a little extra for advanced functionality and additional modules.

Pros & Cons

  • Integrations: Around 95% of users who mentioned data sources said they were satisfied with its flexibility in connecting to sources.
  • Data Visualization: About 93% of the users who discussed visual analysis said they relied on it for daily reporting.
  • Functionality: Over 75% of the users reviewing features said they were impressed with its live queries, DAX calculations and data modeling.
  • Ease of Use: Approximately 72% of the users who mentioned its UI said it was straightforward to use.
  • Speed: About 95% of recent reviews citing performance said the platform lagged when dealing with large data volumes.
  • Adoption: Around 81.5% of the reviewers mentioning adoption said the learning curve was steep.
  • Cost: Approximately 71% of users discussing pricing complained about the platform being expensive.

Key Features

  • Dataflows: Save time with reusable workflows that lock the logic in. While shared datasets are open to interpretation, dataflows will take your users in one direction only, ensuring consistent results. It’s like a written recipe, just follow the steps to get the taste right.
  • Analyze in Excel: Focus on the end game. Give your teams the freedom to analyze their data in Excel and move the results back to Power BI.
  • DAX: Empower your people to go beyond raw data. Derive calculated columns and measures with Data Analysis Expressions. Watch them update as you apply filters and slicers and interact with data in other ways.
  • Data Alerts: Act in time to keep things running smoothly. Stay informed of changes with alerts. Subscribe to receive notifications via email or the Power BI notification center (available only with Power BI Service). Among visualizations, KPI cards, cards and gauges have the alert option. 
  • Data Refreshes: Stay ahead of trends with the latest insight. Update data on demand in Power BI or schedule refreshes with Power Automate. Power BI Pro and Premium allow up to eight and 48 refreshes daily, respectively.
  • Key Influencers Visual: Decide the next steps by spotting the factors affecting a critical metric. As a transporter, does only the terrain impact how consistently your trucks deliver, or is the average age of the fleet vehicles also a factor?
  • Decomposition Tree: Identify which product category or region contributed most to sales increase or decrease. For instance, you can analyze sales trends by channel with the decomposition tree.

Pricing

License/Subscription Cost
  • Based on the number of users for Power BI Pro and capacity-based pricing for Power BI Premium
Maintenance Cost
  • Included in the subscription cost
Installation/Implementation Cost
  • Included in the subscription cost. Additional charges may apply for data migration during implementation of Power BI, maintaining on-premise data sources and building dashboards and reports
Customization Cost
  • Dependent on functional requirements and specific needs of the organization
Data Migration Cost/Change Management/Upfront Switching Cost
  • Dependent on your current software, amount of data to be migrated, availability of migration tools, complexity of data and gaps between the existing system and the new system.
Recurring/Renewal Costs
  • Renewal cost is included in the fees paid monthly or annually
Mathematica
Mathematica
Start Price
$1,800
Annually
Company Size
Small Medium Large
Deployment
Cloud On-Premise
Platform
Mac Windows Linux Chromebook Android
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Why We Picked Mathematica

Let's crunch some numbers and see what users have to say about Mathematica!

Mathematica has garnered a reputation as a powerful computational tool, particularly in academic and research settings. Users frequently praise its symbolic computation capabilities, allowing them to manipulate and solve complex mathematical expressions and equations with ease. This strength sets Mathematica apart from competitors like MATLAB, which primarily focuses on numerical computation. Mathematica's notebook interface also receives positive feedback for its ability to combine code, visualizations, and text in a single document, facilitating reproducible research and clear communication of findings. However, Mathematica's steep learning curve and high price point are often cited as drawbacks. Users transitioning from other programming languages may find Mathematica's syntax and functional programming paradigm challenging to grasp initially. Additionally, the cost of a Mathematica license can be prohibitive for individual users or small businesses.

Overall, Mathematica is best suited for researchers, scientists, and engineers who require a comprehensive tool for symbolic and numerical computation, data analysis, and visualization. Its extensive functionality and ability to handle complex mathematical problems make it an invaluable asset in these fields. However, individuals or organizations with limited budgets or those seeking a more user-friendly option may want to explore alternative software solutions. Keep in mind that software is constantly evolving, so it's always a good idea to check for the latest updates and user reviews to make an informed decision.

Pros & Cons

  • Symbolic Computation: Mathematica excels at handling and manipulating symbolic expressions, making it ideal for tasks that involve algebra, calculus, and other forms of mathematical analysis. This can be particularly useful for financial modeling, risk analysis, and other business intelligence applications that require complex calculations.
  • Visualization Capabilities: Mathematica offers a wide range of visualization tools that can be used to create high-quality charts, graphs, and other visual representations of data. These visualizations can be interactive, allowing users to explore data from different perspectives and gain deeper insights. This is essential for effectively communicating complex data to stakeholders in a business setting.
  • Automation and Scripting: Mathematica allows users to automate tasks and create scripts, which can save time and improve efficiency. This can be particularly useful for repetitive tasks, such as data cleaning and analysis. Automating these tasks can free up time for business intelligence professionals to focus on more strategic initiatives.
  • Machine Learning and AI: Mathematica includes a wide range of machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) tools that can be used for tasks such as predictive modeling, classification, and anomaly detection. These capabilities are becoming increasingly important for business intelligence, as they can help organizations to identify trends, make better decisions, and gain a competitive advantage.
  • Price: Mathematica comes with a hefty price tag, especially for commercial use, which can be a significant barrier for individuals or small businesses.
  • Learning Curve: The software has a steep learning curve due to its vast functionality and unique syntax, requiring a significant time investment to master.
  • Closed Ecosystem: Mathematica operates within a closed ecosystem, making it challenging to integrate with other data analysis tools or programming languages commonly used in business intelligence.
  • Limited Collaboration: Collaboration features are not as robust as those found in other business intelligence platforms, hindering teamwork and knowledge sharing.
  • Visualization Capabilities: While Mathematica offers visualization tools, they may not be as intuitive or user-friendly as dedicated data visualization software, potentially limiting the ability to create compelling and insightful dashboards.

Key Features

  • Wolfram Language: Wolfram’s proprietary computational language allows developers to code with a language that allows both computers and humans to communicate with each other through almost 6,000 built-in functions. Built on a philosophy of knowledge-based programming, it aims to help users automate as much as possible and maximize coherence of design while being universally deployable in any environment.
  • Connect to Everything: Through symbolic expressions, interactions and external connections, the Wolfram Language conveniently connects to a broad spectrum of platforms, languages, databases, protocols, APIs, applications, file formats and devices.
  • Notebook Interface: With structured documents that store text, runnable code, dynamic graphics and more, Wolfram Notebooks provide an environment for technical workflows that supports interactive computation. They empower user literacy in a high-level programming interface through interactive coding, natural language queries and expansive documentation that make the platform accessible to users without coding experience.
  • AlgorithmBase: Not just through industrial-strength algorithms but also meta-algorithms and super functions, which automatically select the optimal algorithms to use in a given situation, users can define their goals or concepts and let the system take over to automatically achieve them, enabling discoveries and experimentation with algorithms. With its robust library of scalable and accurate algorithms, the AlgorithmBase serves as a trustworthy resource for programmers to use to ensure high-quality computations.
  • Data Visualization: Through algorithms, Mathematica can create visually compelling representations of data in the form of 2D and 3D plots, graphs, histograms, word clouds, geographic visualizations and more.
  • Machine Learning: Through highly automated functions that work on many types of data, the platform can carry out a wide range of tasks, including classifying data in categories, predicting values, learning from examples and performing automated time series analysis. 
  • Mathematica Online: Powered by the Wolfram Cloud, users can harness the computational system from directly within their web browsers, with no installation required. Everything automatically saves and stays in the cloud, and users can control who can access their documents through instant sharing, URL links and permissions controls. Seamlessly integrated with the desktop version, it allows users to upload or download notebooks and access the cloud from a computer.
  • Wolfram Knowledgebase: Mathematica and the Wolfram Language has access to the world’s largest and broadest trusted source of computable knowledge, curated by experts and derived from primary sources, including not just the data but also the methods that compute results.
  • Mobile App: The Wolfram Cloud free app for iOS and Android mobile devices allows users to edit, run and deploy programs and access Wolfram notebooks and instant apps through its home-screen-like experience.
QlikView
QlikView
Start Price
$2,500
Per User, Annual
Company Size
Small Medium Large
Deployment
Cloud On-Premise
Platform
Mac Windows Linux Chromebook Android
Request Pricing Request Demo

Why We Picked QlikView

QlikView is one of the foremost BI solutions in the market today, mainly due to the power of its associative query engine to link data from multiple sources that drives its visually impressive dashboards. With its strong data visualization capabilities, users can perform search and filter through data on-the-fly and conduct deep-dives to glean insights that matter to them. With a fast setup, users can have their first data model up and running in very little time. The software resides in-memory and houses data in RAM for quicker retrieval. With multi-tier access permissions for in-organization users, it enables users to view executive summaries at a glance, while allowing them to drill-down into data to find out more.
Sadly, Qlik is now scaling back on improvements and updates for QlikView and focusing on promoting QlikSense instead, a possible reason why its filter and search functions, ad-hoc reporting and graphics are lagging in terms of quality, as mentioned in many user reviews. Also, this platform can prove to be resource-heavy for databases housed on local machines, especially when performing batch update jobs. In addition to inflexible pricing plans and the cost of licensing, quite a few necessary add-ons are paid.
In summary, QlikView is one of the leading in-memory BI tools available in the market today and rates excellently with users in terms of data aggregation and visualization capabilities; however, buyers should factor in its pricing plans and other limitations when searching for the perfect BI solution for their enterprise.

Pros & Cons

  • Data Visualization: Approximately 80% of users who review its data visualization capabilities are satisfied with its intuitive drag-and-drop feature, rich libraries and its range of aesthetically appealing data representation options.
  • Data Preparation: Of users who mention data processing, 83% appreciate the platform’s seemingly limitless data transformation capabilities that help them deep-dive into all possible data relationships to glean actionable insights.
  • Functionality: Among users who share their views on this platform, around 68% say that they are satisfied with the power of its associative query engine that enables faster on-the-fly calculations and analytics aggregation at the speed of thought.
  • Sharing and Collaboration: About 83% of users who comment on sharing capabilities appreciate its multi-tier permissions capabilities and easy sharing of reports with clients via external sharing options.
  • Setup: Around 66% of users who mention ease of setup say that QlikView has a fast implementation cycle.
  • Cost: Pricing plans are inflexible and can be cost-prohibitive for small organizations and startups, though large organizations may find that it offers high value, as stated by 93% of users who mention its cost.
  • Performance: Approximately 42% of users say that performance-wise, this platform is resource-hungry and liable to slow down when crunching large amounts of data on local machines.
  • User Interface and Graphics: Of users who mention user interface, around 44% say that it needs improvement in deep-dive capabilities, as well as its quality of graphics.
  • Reporting: Of users who mention reporting, approximately 46% say that it lacks ad-hoc reporting and built-in reporting capabilities, requiring paid plugins to enhance the graphics quality of reports.

Key Features

  • Direct Data Source Connection: Connect to almost any data source, including cloud, big data, file-based and on-premise data. Pull information from many services (Salesforce, Hive, Teradata) and combine intel seamlessly into unique and intuitive dashboards.
  • Intelligent Visualization: Offer interactive displays and represent data in multiple ways for better data analysis. Flexible visualizations allow users to change and adjust graphics according to screen size.
  • Enterprise Collaboration: Facilitate collaboration for users to share the same dashboard, look at the same view or track one another as they navigate the application.
  • Strong Associations: Leverage the strength of the platform’s built-in association engine to conduct direct and indirect searches across data or within a single field. Identify data that is related and not associated.
  • Self-Service App Building: Build apps and files via the drag-and-drop function. Create individual lists with their visualization while managing and sharing across organizations.
  • Associative Indexing: Combine, transform and ingest data from multiple sources. Gathers data and indexes it to find logical associations. Explore and search big data repositories freely while keeping data intact.
  • Interactive Dashboards: Provide visualization capabilities and improve interaction using tooltip, lasso selection, filtering and drill-down functions. Encourage viewers to explore data by creating smart dashboards and distributing them using interactive elements.
  • In-Memory Application: House the software in memory, so conversions, queries and searches happen quicker and more efficiently. Eliminate problems that traditionally plague slow, on-disk applications. Locate all data in RAM.
  • Web Connectors: Extract data from multiple social networking sites and web-based sources using web APIs. Built-in connectors easily connect to any URL and fetch data.
  • Robust Data Controls: Enable meaningful data manipulation within the application by leveraging unique dashboards, reports and filter views.
  • Data Alerts: Spot anomalies and outliers by requesting context-aware alerts. Monitor and manage data without limitations.

Pricing

License/Subscription Cost Based on a combination of server, user, document and application-based licensing
Maintenance Cost
  • For On-Premise solution, maintenance cost is over and above the upfront fee
  • Standard support services are charged at 20% of the license cost
  • Premium (24X7) support services are charged at 23% of the license cost
    		•
    Installation/Implementation Cost Implementation services are provided by QlikView Consulting or through an implementation partner at an additional cost
    Customization Cost Will vary depending on the functional requirements or services chosen
    Data Migration Cost/Change Management/Upfront Switching Cost Dependent on your current software, amount of data to be migrated, availability of migration tools, complexity of data and gaps between the existing system and the new system.
    Training Cost
    • E-learning or self-learn modules are available free of cost on QlikView.com
    • All other trainings are charged based on volume. Live classroom training or online (virtual classroom) training is charged at $700 per person per day or $3,500 for a dedicated course (1 company) for up to 10 people
    Recurring/Renewal Costs Renewal costs includes software update license and support cost
    Spark
    Spark
    Company Size
    Small Medium Large
    Deployment
    Cloud On-Premise
    Platform
    Mac Windows Linux Chromebook Android
    Request Pricing Request Demo

    Key Features

    • Standalone Mode: Standalone mode is a web-based cluster manager for creating and distributing clusters on local machines, without using YARN or Apache Mesos. It can be used for local data processing or testing on a smaller scale. 
    • GraphX: A series of API that enable graph-parallel computation and graph generation within the system. It can accomplish ETL, iterative graphing and exploratory analysis. 
    • Machine Learning: The MLlib library enables machine learning at a big data level. It works with Python, R and Scala, and features machine learning pipeline construction and a community-supported set of algorithms. 
    • Distributed Datasets: Datasets are partitioned into smaller segments for distributed processing, called Resilient Distributed Datasets. RDDs are created by parallelizing a set or referencing an external one. 
    • Data Streaming: Spark Streaming is an extension that allows for a continuous data flow, enabling real-time analytics. It receives live data in a stream that it partitions into batches before sending it to the Spark Engine for processing through high-level abstraction called discretized stream.  
    • Integrations: Because it is open source, a vast community is constantly adding extensions and API to the core software. Spark can connect to virtually every mainstream data source, big data solution, warehouse/lake or visualization program. If the connector does not already exist, it could likely be developed. 
    Looker
    Looker
    Start Price
    $2,900
    Monthly
    Company Size
    Small Medium Large
    Deployment
    Cloud On-Premise
    Platform
    Mac Windows Linux Chromebook Android
    Request Pricing Request Demo

    Why We Picked Looker

    Looker is a forerunner in the business intelligence field for a reason; it generates reports that include easy sharing via link, automatic scheduling and a level of granular detail that allows for deeper analysis below the surface. It excels in its filter and drill-down features and creates unique URLs when users make changes to data, leading to enhanced sharing. However, one of its biggest strengths could also be considered one of its biggest weaknesses: its proprietary programming language, LookML which is used to construct SQL queries in the platform. While a flexible and powerful data querying language, of course, LookML isn’t the most accessible to non-technical users, which means that Looker requires an IT or data team to access its full capabilities and has a steep learning curve. Users also note that its data visualizations, while simple and easy to understand, are quite basic and lacking in customization options, particularly in comparison to competitors. Some users say that it may be more appropriate for internal reporting than presentation to shareholders and end-users because of its bare-bones visualization options. However, Looker truly shines when used by enterprises, with its scalability and data accessibility making it a stellar solution that can align departments and provide thousands of users access to data insights. Its price point reflects this, with its pricing being prohibitive to startups as about 88% of users who comment on its cost remark. Overall, Looker is a solid pick for larger businesses that have a team of power users who can maximize its functionality and set it up to deliver to employees across an entire organization.

    Pros & Cons

    • Reporting: Looker features strong reporting features that offer a degree of granularity and scheduling that 100% of users who mention reporting evaluate as a strong benefit.
    • Support: Of the users who say they’ve contacted customer support, 95% say the team’s quick and informative responses are a plus.
    • Data Accessibility: All users who mention accessibility to data say Looker does this well, distributing insights to employees across departments and teams with ease, with 100% of users mentioning this feature believing it is a benefit.
    • Learning Curve: About 74% of users who touch on the platform’s ease of use say that the confusing documentation, lack of training opportunities and difficulty of using programming language make Looker a tough tool to pick up as a beginner.
    • Setup: Of the users who mention implementation, 81% say that setting up the platform is difficult, with integrations not being as plug-and-play as competitors and assistance from IT necessary to the setup process.
    • Speed: Approximately 87% of users who comment on the platform’s speed say that it is slow to render certain queries and often takes a while to load.
    • Functionality: About 78% of users who talk about Looker’s features say that they are left wanting many functions and find the ones that it does have limited in customization or too complex to use easily.

    Key Features

    • Automated Modeling: Connects to relational databases and automatically generates models from the database schema.
    • Intuitive Visualizations: Generates visualizations in real time directly from the specified data source. Choose from an expansive library of visualization options like bar graphs, pie charts, Sankey diagrams, spider web charts, sunburst graphs, chord diagrams, heatmaps, funnels, treemaps and many more.
    • Time Zone Handling: Incorporates data seamlessly into the visualization, regardless of what time zone it is coming from.
    • LookML Data Modeling Language: Create scalable, reusable data models through the proprietary SQL-based data modeling language LookML.
    • Pre-Built Analytics Code: Use its Blocks feature as a starting point for building data analytics models with customizable code blocks. Includes optimized SQL patterns, custom visualization options, pre-built data models and more.
    Qlik Sense
    Qlik Sense
    Start Price
    $30
    Monthly, Quote-based
    Company Size
    Small Medium Large
    Deployment
    Cloud On-Premise
    Platform
    Mac Windows Linux Chromebook Android
    Request Pricing Request Demo

    Why We Picked Qlik Sense

    Qlik Sense focuses on independent data analysis for enterprises with advanced tools that include AI, natural language processing and automation. User reviews praise it for its associative engine, interactive visualizations and sophisticated analytics.

    Its dataset-linking functionality gets my vote as the most significant differentiator since it makes data modeling seamless and saves time. In comparison, manually linking tables in Tableau and Power BI feels like a huge task.

    It supports fewer features out of the box (69%) compared to Tableau (72%) and Power BI (74%), but this could be intentional. Qlik has ready-to-go modules for analytics, automation and printing, so keeping it lean is a smart vendor move. Users should be aware that additional modules will cost extra, though.

    Qlik Sense SaaS is multi-cloud, so unless the admin assigns separate workspaces, your users won’t be able to create personal dashboards — everything is shared otherwise. Some users said the platform slowed when processing large workloads, which is a common issue with many other platforms. Assess your need for speed before committing to a purchase.

    If upgrading from QlikView, you’ll need to create new objects initially, as both platforms have different architectures. However, the vendor assists in seamless migration with the Qlik Analytics Modernization program.

    Overall, Qlik Sense is an efficient platform that offers many analysis capabilities worth considering. We recommend checking it out if you’re looking for an alternative to Power BI, entrenched in Microsoft technology, or Tableau, with its emphasis on visualization.

    Pros & Cons

    • Integrations: Approximately 86% of users reviewing data sources were satisfied with its wide connectivity.
    • Ease of Use: About 84% of users who cited usability praised the platform for self-service BI.
    • Functionality: Around 80% of the reviews that mentioned features praised it for ETL and data visualization.
    • Data Visualization: About 66% of the users discussing dashboards were satisfied with its interactive displays that allowed them to dig deep.
    • Cost: About 87% of users who mentioned pricing found the tool expensive.
    • Performance: Around 86% of users citing speed said it lagged when processing large and complex datasets.
    • Training: Approximately 69% of users who discussed adoption said there was a significant learning curve.
    • Customization: Around 65% of users who mentioned the freedom to design dashboards said the tool offered limited options.

    Key Features

    • AI Integration: Ask and answer questions in natural language and automate processes using OpenAI and H2O.ai. Feed massive datasets to the LLM and watch as it summarizes the insight for you. Move beyond traditional analysis by working with the IBM Watson API for natural language.
    • Qlik Sense Management Console: Develop apps, manage tasks and connections, and track performance. With QMC, create content and consume data insights.
    • Reporting Service: Keep partners and clients on the same page by sending reports to everyone involved, even non-Qlik users. Download reports, subscribe to charts and sheets, or automate report delivery with its Reporting Service, available with Qlik Sense Enterprise SaaS.
    • Apps: Create interactive dashboards and visualizations for separate tasks within Qlik Sense. An organization can use hundreds of Qlik Sense apps in its tech stack. 
    • Associative Recommendations: Save time defining how data tables relate with its intelligent suggestions, something Tableau and Power BI lack. Bubbles represent data tables and color-coded rings — green, orange and red — inside them indicate the possibility of links between the tables.

    Pricing

    License/Subscription Cost
    On-Premise:
    • License fees include an upfront fee to own the software, plus IP for a fixed term, installation, customization and integration costs
    • Enterprise Edition is offered on-premise and is based on a token system
    • Based on a combination of server, user, document and application-based licensing
    Cloud-Based/SaaS:
    • Based on recurring subscription-based model: $X per user, per month
    Cost may vary depending on the Qlik Sense Pricing plan selected:
    • Cloud Basic, Cloud Business, Desktop, Enterprise Edition or Personal Edition
    Maintenance Cost
    On-Premise: Maintenance cost is over and above the upfront fee
    Cloud-Based/SaaS: Maintenance cost is included in the service fees charged at the time of purchase
    Installation/Implementation Cost
    On-Premise: Included in the upfront cost/subscription cost
    Cloud-Based/SaaS: None
    Customization Cost
    For both on-premise and cloud-based/SaaS, customization costs vary depending on the product and pricing tier chosen, and the level of customization requiredCosts will vary depending on the package selected
    Recurring/Renewal Costs
    On-Premise: Annual recurring fees to be paid over and above the upfront cost include annual renewal, upgrades and ongoing support
    Cloud-Based/SaaS: A recurring monthly fee is charged, which typically includes maintenance, monitoring, upgrades, training and support
    Cognos Analytics
    Cognos Analytics
    Start Price
    $50
    Per User, Monthly
    Company Size
    Small Medium Large
    Deployment
    Cloud On-Premise
    Platform
    Mac Windows Linux Chromebook Android
    Request Pricing Request Demo

    Why We Picked Cognos Analytics

    IBM Cognos Analytics is an excellent BI tool and rates very highly with users on all major counts. Users are unanimous in their praise of its data management and data analysis capabilities to provide a single source of truth. Having ventured into AI-powered tools with the 11.1.3 version in 2018, IBM is making bold strides to incorporate augmented intelligence into the platform. IBM has astutely combined this solution with the capabilities of one of its other offerings, Watson Analytics, for natural language processing - a game-changer for empowering non-technical users to create a vast range of dashboards. With AI-enabled exploration, users can review key drivers of metrics and identify gaps in data, though some users feel that more tools are needed for content store exploration through its relational database. It also rates excellently with users for its data integration and ad-hoc reporting capabilities, efficient metadata management and extensive data modeling features.

    Several strong features of this platform, as noted by reviewers, include Jupyter notebooks, regular updates to the platform and enhancements to data modules, though when it comes to integrating with Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) data sources and IBM Planning Analytics in particular, it comes up short. Version 11 of the platform comes with over-the-top installs for upgrades, which reduces time to set up; though some users feel that integrations built with the current SDK solution can be tedious to implement and maintain. Being part of the IBM software suite, it connects seamlessly to other IBM products under the same umbrella. However, integration with MS-Sharepoint is not supported; this can be managed with workarounds, but only for on-premise setups, not cloud-based deployments. The platform has a rich reporting repertoire with report burst capabilities, pivots and Cognos Event Studio for event-driven reports. However, many users feel that Report Studio should provide the write back capability, which is crucial for business. As for the cost, a majority of users feel that its licensing models are restrictive, especially when compared to other BI solutions; though the vendor seems to address pricing and ease of use with version 11.1.3.

    In summary, Cognos Analytics is among the best BI solutions in the market today and IBM, with its ear to the ground, is delivering enhanced data analysis and reporting capabilities at scale.

    Pros & Cons

    • Data Analysis and Visualization: All users who mention data analysis and presentation unanimously agree that this solution covers the full spectrum of BI analytics capabilities.
    • Data management: All users who mention data preparation praise its data integrations and effective metadata management, which ensure data consistency and accuracy across multiple reporting systems.
    • Functionality: Of users who mentioned this platform’s features, around 90% were satisfied with regular updates and enhancements which allow them to create faster, more responsive dashboards.
    • Reporting: Around 89% of users who mention reporting are satisfied, appreciating its ad-hoc reporting and report-sharing capabilities.
    • Setup: Excellent vendor support coupled with the ease of establishing data connectivity with data sources make installation of this solution a breeze, as approximately 87% of users have mentioned.
    • Cost: Around 87% of users who mention cost feel that its licensing model is expensive when compared to other BI solutions.
    • Training: Approximately 45% of users who reviewed training say that the learning curve can be quite steep and though self-service training is available, they would prefer a formal learning program.

    Key Features

    • Components: Boost the feature set of the core platform with components that enhance data modeling, visualization and analytics capabilities. 
    • Powerful Reporting: Create detailed charts, graphs, maps, voiceovers and repeat functions with the robust, professional reporting suite. Simplify reporting for non-technical users with express mode. 
    • Web-based Interface: Access the platform on any hardware via the web.
    • Natural Language-powered AI: Interrogate data and receive natural, consistent responses with a built-in AI, powered by NLP. 
    • Automated Modeling: Verify and combine data via automated modeling, and assess relationships between separate data points. 

    Pricing

    License/Subscription Cost
    • Dependent on the type of license – workgroup, standard or enterprise (refer pricing section for more details)
    Maintenance Cost
    • Subscription & Support costs are based on a percentage of the license cost (25% of initial license cost)
    • Software Accelerated Value Programs are an incremental charge calculated on a per-case basis, dependent on the specific service that the customer requires. Customers can't purchase Software Accelerated Value Programs without paying standard Subscription & Support cost
    Installation/Implementation Cost
    • Included in license/subscription cost
    Customization Cost
    • Will vary depending on the functional requirements such as configurable dashboards, complexity of workflows, forms to collect additional data, UI changes, etc.
    Data Migration Cost/Change Management/Upfront Switching Cost
    • Dependent on your current software, amount of data to be migrated, availability of migration tools, complexity of data and gaps between the existing system and the new system.
    Training Cost
    • Self-service support is available online
    • Native language support consists of live support and unlimited access for all certified IT technical staff within an organization
    Recurring/Renewal Costs
    • Renewal fee includes license cost and maintenance fee for the new or next year
    MicroStrategy
    MicroStrategy
    Start Price
    $25
    Per User, Monthly
    Company Size
    Small Medium Large
    Deployment
    Cloud On-Premise
    Platform
    Mac Windows Linux Chromebook Android
    Request Pricing Request Demo

    Why We Picked MicroStrategy

    MicroStrategy is a patchwork quilt of products on the web, desktop and mobile. There’s MicroStrategy Library where you can access published content and Auto Express for dashboarding and bot creation. Anyone with basic data skills can feed information to a bot and gain insights in seconds.

    You don’t need a credit card to sign up for the free trial, but you won’t be able to publish content to the server without a paid upgrade. As for choosing which edition to use, there’s the web and the desktop instance. Which one will suit you? Maybe both?

    MicroStrategy Workstation is for developers and data analysts and is more robust for manipulating data. It provides administrative control, even when offline, and helps prototype content before it goes live. Combining multiple visualizations on a single page provided me with more context for the same data.

    On the other hand, the Workstation version lacks the same level of natural language processing as the web version.

    MicroStrategy Web is for delivering content to your clients. Being online, it’s open to seamless upgrades and customization, and identity management and collaboration are built in. If you have a small organization, the web version might suffice, but you might want to consider going for both if you deal with large data volumes.

    Metadata mapping was immensely useful to me when designing a bot using MicroStrategy Auto Express. All I needed to do was feed it the data, and it generated a slew of questions I might want to ask.

    With a semantic layer, Microstrategy is among the BI tools that work best with large data warehouses. If you’ve just started in business or haven’t got large data volumes yet, you might want to consider a simpler tool.

    An oft-repeated sentiment in user reviews was that this motley crew of products — web, desktop and mobile — didn’t always sync. The vendor positions MicroStrategy One as a unified solution that’ll, hopefully, eliminate these annoyances.

    On the flip side, quite a few users said it could be clunky for inexperienced users. Also, some reviewers said it slowed on occasion. Most people said the solution was expensive and found its learning curve quite steep.

    In summary, MicroStrategy is worth considering, especially if you’re a medium or large-sized company looking for a web reporting tool with a user-friendly interface.

    Pros & Cons

    • Data Visualization: Users were satisfied with its powerful dashboards and personalization options for self-service analytics.
    • Functionality: Reviewers praised the platform for delivering on capabilities and scaling with their data needs.
    • Ease of Use: User reviews appreciated its reusable objects and semantic layer for automating data wrangling and visualization workflows.
    • Cost: A majority of the users found the platform to be expensive.
    • Adoption: Most reviews said the platform had a steep learning curve.

    Key Features

    • HyperIntelligence: Learn about departments or employees by hovering over their names. To get ready information, add the HyperIntelligence extension to your Chrome instance and configure it to your MicroStrategy environment.
    • Auto Express: Shift the heavy lifting to AI bots — have them analyze your dashboards and suggest deep-dive questions, many of which you might not have thought of. Pull data from Amazon Redshift, Azure SQL Database, Databricks, Google BigQuery and Snowflake, among others.
    • Action Triggers: Update data in Salesforce CRM, trigger email campaigns in Marketo, or approve expenses in Workday from a MicroStrategy dashboard. Triggering workflows from dashboards is available in MicroStrategy One and Auto Express.
    • Intelligent Cubes Technology: Drive targeted marketing campaigns by digging deep into buyer demographics, purchase histories and engagement levels. Create an Intelligent Cube to store data in memory and reuse it for as many reports as desired.
    • Metadata Management: Organize data using a handy index that points to where everything is. It also gives contextual names to datasets so everyone uses the same terminology. Metadata management establishes data lineage by narrating its entire journey — where it started, how it was changed and which tasks use it now.
    • Role-Based Displays: Remember skimming through your course book a day before an important test? You read the important parts while you skipped the rest. If that’s what you feel when decisions are at stake, role-based views are what you need. CEOs can choose high-level overviews, while middle management might want detailed reports.
    • Free-form Subscriptions: This is a new feature that allows users to view updates as PDF or Excel files without signing in to MicroStrategy. It’s a great functionality for those who are away from their desks and for their teams in the field.

    Pricing

    License/Subscription Cost
    • On-Premise: It includes an upfront fee for the server software installation.
    • Cloud-based: It includes user-based pricing for the web and mobile-based platforms.
    • CPU-based payment models are also available.
    Installation/Implementation Cost
    • On-Premise: Included in the upfront license cost.
    • Cloud-based: Included in the subscription cost.
    Customization Cost
    • Dependent on the functional requirements and specific needs of the organization.
    Change Management
    • Dependent on the current software, data complexity and volume, availability of migration tools and the gaps between the existing system and the new system.
    Training Cost
    • Online training and video tutorials are available free of cost.
    • Enterprises can choose from in-center training, live online lectures, on-demand learning, and private on-site engagements to meet their training requirements. Each day of training costs $700 and most courses are two days in length.
    Recurring/Renewal Costs (including maintenance costs)
    • On-Premise: Includes cost for updates, maintenance, upgrades, and patches.
    • Cloud-based/SaaS: Renewal cost is equivalent to the fees paid monthly or annually. The vendor manages upgrades and add-ons at no extra cost.
    Oracle Analytics Cloud
    Oracle Analytics Cloud
    Start Price
    $16
    Per User, Monthly
    Company Size
    Small Medium Large
    Deployment
    Cloud On-Premise
    Platform
    Mac Windows Linux Chromebook Android
    Request Pricing Request Demo

    Why We Picked Oracle Analytics Cloud

    Oracle Analytics Cloud is among the vendor’s many data services, including a business intelligence suite and a data intelligence platform. Besides, Oracle offers bespoke solutions for HCM, supply chain and customer experience. What differentiates Oracle Analytics is that extra dash of augmented capabilities.

    Embedded BI is where it truly shines, giving you natural language insights with a single click. This feature extends to its mobile app, and it outperforms many leading platforms with natural language queries and podcasts on mobile.

    According to our researchers, Oracle Analytics Cloud has fewer out-of-the-box features than its competitors, such as Power BI and Qlik Sense. Plus, licensing becomes complex when combining the database, middleware and analytics applications.

    It’s common for large vendors to offer specialized platforms, but the downside is that they can be out of reach of small organizations. But there’s a silver lining. Many vendors offer customized solutions, so we advise reaching out to the vendor for quotes.

    Users appreciate its regular updates, but some report initial bugs due to its relative newness. Despite a positive user experience, the learning curve can be steep. Some users found technical support slow and inadequate, as did I. They took two business days to get back to me when I needed assistance with my account.

    Oracle Analytics, though a robust platform, is suitable for mid- and large organizations. If you seek a powerful, scalable platform, consider opting for a trial, but be prepared for sticker shock, especially if you’re new to the Oracle ecosystem.

    Pros & Cons

    • User-Friendly: Citing its interface, about 91% of users agreed that a drag-and-drop UI makes it easy to use.
    • Machine Learning: Around 86% of users who discussed augmented analytics were impressed with its ML capabilities.
    • Integrations: Approximately 84% of users who mentioned connectivity said the platform worked well with other systems, especially Oracle products.
    • Functionality: According to 83% of users who reviewed capabilities, it has all the required features to support data tasks.
    • Data Visualization: Around 73% of users who mentioned visualization praised the platform for its storytelling features.
    • Price: About 88% of reviews citing pricing said that it’s too expensive.
    • Adoption: Approximately 87% of users who discussed onboarding said there’s a significant learning curve.

    Key Features

    • Deployment: Install and run anywhere, including as a hybrid solution. Scale the instance depending on your workload — deploy OCPUs in multiples of two, extending up to 52. Or pause it when idle. Though identity management is available, there is the option to use one’s own SSO provider. Admins can set user, group and role-based permissions.
    • Connectivity: Make decisions based on data; connect to social media feeds, data lakes and IoT sources. Store and process data at scale, irrespective of its volume, velocity and variety. Get started as soon as you log in with over 40 readymade connectors.
    • Direct Query: Oracle Analytics Cloud uses live queries and data caching to fetch responses. Each has its downside. Live connections are heavier on the system, and you might have to compromise on data freshness with data caching. A combination of both might be best. Consider live queries for critical KPIs and data caching for less frequent queries.
    • Data Preparation: Enrich data from the interface — get data quality insights as you work. Remove the grunt work — create reusable flows for transforming data you can test, share and schedule. Add custom calculations or write regular expressions in the dataset editor.
    • Semantic Data Modeling: Engage business, dev and data teams in meaningful discussions. Give them data views with a presentation layer that simplifies metrics. Hide the physical data structure with a logical one that speaks the business language. Give stakeholders the power to explore data independently.
    • AI/ML: Boost productivity with embedded machine learning and natural language insights every step of the way. Display quick forecasts, trend lines and clusters from a popup menu with one click. View the basic facts, key drivers and anomalies with the Explain option. Hit the ground running with recommendations on dimensions, measures and attributes to use when you don’t know where to start.
    • Oracle Analytics Publisher: Generate reports from any dataset or semantic model. Create formatted documents unique to your business, be it shipping labels, checks, letters or PDF forms.
    • Data Visualizations: Put your best foot forward with suitable charts and graphs that convey your message effectively. Modify them to answer users’ questions better. Choose from over 45 visualization types, or build your own using extensions from its vast library.
    • Embedded AI On Mobile: Get real-time alerts and intelligent recommendations on mobile. The Oracle Analytics mobile app captures your preferences and location. Upload datasets just like on the desktop or create a workbook from existing data. Powerful searches enable access to your favorite worksheets; add them to your home screen for a quick view. Use voice-enabled searches and listen to the results as a podcast.

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    Tableau
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    All Self-Service BI Tools (137 found)

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    Dundas BI

    by Dundas Data Visualization
    Dundas BI
    Dundas BI is a self-service analytics solution with a keen focus on embeddability. With an eye on the end-user experience, the vendor provides options to design and embed dashboards into applications. Ranked five on our leaderboard, Dundas BI is a user favorite. The platform supports standard file formats and connects to cloud storage and enterprise systems.Report templates and interactive visualizations make data accessible to all users. Some available graphics include bar and line graphs, scattergrams, pie charts, scorecards and maps. The system also suggests visualizations that fit the analyzed data.Besides a long list of connectors, the platform has built-in ETL. You can switch from a data warehouse to live sources with the click of a button and write back to the warehouse from the interface.The vendor, insightsoftware, offers it under the Logi Symphony umbrella, but Dundas BI remains a distinct product, and support is available. It supports multi-tenancy, and you can manage multiple clients with assured data security.Roles include developers, power users and report consumers. The vendor provides shared concurrent licenses to keep pricing within reach. Unlimited data refreshes at no extra cost make it an attractive option.Reviews praise its visual capabilities and ease of use, though most users say there’s a steep learning curve and performance can lag sometimes. Pricing starts from $2,500 monthly.
    User Sentiment User satisfaction level icon: great
    Cost Breakdown
    $1,000 or more
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    Infor Birst

    by Infor, Inc.
    Infor Birst
    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.To explore other popular solutions that Infor offers, visit our Infor company page.
    User Sentiment User satisfaction level icon: great
    Cost Breakdown
    $1,000 or more
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    Zoho Analytics

    by Zoho Corporation
    Zoho Analytics
    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.
    User Sentiment User satisfaction level icon: great
    Cost Breakdown
    $10 - $100
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    BIRT

    by Eclipse Foundation
    BIRT
    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.
    User Sentiment User satisfaction level icon: great
    Cost Breakdown
    $10 or less
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    GoodData

    by GoodData Corporation
    GoodData
    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.
    User Sentiment User satisfaction level icon: great
    Cost Breakdown
    $10 - $100
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    ibi

    by Information Builders Inc
    ibi
    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.
    User Sentiment User satisfaction level icon: great
    Cost Breakdown
    $1,000 or more
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    Mac Windows Linux Chromebook Android
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    Jaspersoft

    by TIBCO Software Inc.
    Jaspersoft
    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.
    User Sentiment User satisfaction level icon: great
    Cost Breakdown
    $100 - $500
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    SAS Visual Analytics

    by SAS Institute
    SAS Visual Analytics
    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.
    User Sentiment User satisfaction level icon: great
    Cost Breakdown
    $1,000 or more
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    Pyramid Analytics

    by Pyramid Analytics BV
    Pyramid Analytics
    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.
    User Sentiment User satisfaction level icon: great
    Cost Breakdown
    $10 or less
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    JReport

    by Jinfonet Software, Inc.
    JReport
    JReport by Logi Analytics (now discontinued) empowered companies to perform data analysis and generate reports directly from other business applications. It was scalable, customizable, fault-tolerant and worked seamlessly within other web interfaces. It integrated with any architecture and supported a range of embedding methods from the front and back ends.
    User Sentiment User satisfaction level icon: excellent
    Cost Breakdown
    $1,000 or more
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    Mac Windows Linux Chromebook Android
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    Izenda

    by Izenda
    Izenda
    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.
    User Sentiment User satisfaction level icon: great
    Cost Breakdown
    $100 - $500
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    Exago

    by insightsoftware
    Exago
    Exago BI is embeddable, flexible and scalable. It’s available as a standalone solution and as part of Logi Analytics, a data suite from insightsoftware. It’s 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 and report formatting templates.
    User Sentiment User satisfaction level icon: excellent
    Cost Breakdown
    $10 or less
    Company Size
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    Mac Windows Linux Chromebook Android
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    WebFOCUS

    by Information Builders Inc
    WebFOCUS
    WebFOCUS is a comprehensive data management and analytics platform that enables organizations to access, transform, visualize, and distribute data across multiple platforms. It's particularly well-suited for enterprises with large, complex datasets and a need for robust reporting and analytics capabilities. Key benefits include its ability to unify disparate data sources, create interactive dashboards and visualizations, and automate data-driven workflows. Popular features include its drag-and-drop report builder, self-service data exploration tools, and integration with various business intelligence applications. User experiences generally praise its ease of use, scalability, and ability to handle diverse data types. Pricing is typically based on the number of users, data sources, and required features, with options for both on-premise and cloud-based deployments. Pros Easy to use interface Handles large datasets Diverse data source integration Customizable reports and dashboards Scalable for enterprise needs Cons Occasional performance issues Limited out-of-the-box visualizations Upgrades can be complex UI may feel outdated to some Learning curve for advanced features
    User Sentiment User satisfaction level icon: great
    Cost Breakdown
    $10 - $100
    Company Size
    Small Medium Large
    Deployment
    Cloud On-Premise
    Platform
    Mac Windows Linux Chromebook Android
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    ClearStory Data

    by Alteryx
    ClearStory Data
    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.
    User Sentiment User satisfaction level icon: great
    Cost Breakdown
    $1,000 or more
    Company Size
    Small Medium Large
    Deployment
    Cloud On-Premise
    Platform
    Mac Windows Linux Chromebook Android
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    Datorama

    by Salesforce.com
    Datorama
    Datorama, a Salesforce business intelligence platform, helps businesses manage and analyze their data. It provides a unified view of data from various sources, including on-premises, cloud-based, and third-party platforms. Datorama is ideal for businesses seeking to enhance their data management and analytics capabilities, particularly those interested in leveraging predictive analytics for improved decision-making. Key benefits include a comprehensive view of data sources, user-friendly dashboards and reports, predictive analytics functionalities, and integration with other business applications. Datorama's pricing is based on a per-user model, with annual costs starting at $1,000. User experiences suggest that Datorama offers robust data management and analytics capabilities, but some users have noted a steeper learning curve compared to similar products. ***Disclaimer: Pricing and features may change over time. Please refer to the official Salesforce website or other reliable sources for the most up-to-date information.***
    User Sentiment User satisfaction level icon: great
    Cost Breakdown
    $1,000 or more
    Company Size
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    Deployment
    Cloud On-Premise
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    Mac Windows Linux Chromebook Android
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    Stata

    by StataCorp
    Stata
    Designed for data scientists, Stata is statistical software that helps users find insights through data exploration, visualization, modeling and analysis. It gives users a wide range of both standard and advanced statistical analyses that can help them make inferences and decisions based on data. With both a graphical user interface and command line structure, it’s accessible to users with or without coding knowledge. Users can choose between four offerings according to their needs: MP which is the fastest and largest version, SE for large datasets, IC for mid-sized data sets and Numerics for embedded. Suitable for companies of all sizes, it is available via on-premises installation on Windows, Mac and Linux/Unix devices, or via the SaaS model. Pricing varies based on the number and type of licenses requested, as well as the length of the subscription. It can be purchased for business, government, nonprofit, educational or student use and the vendor offers price quotes upon request.
    User Sentiment User satisfaction level icon: great
    Cost Breakdown
    $10 - $100
    Company Size
    Small Medium Large
    Deployment
    Cloud On-Premise
    Platform
    Mac Windows Linux Chromebook Android
    Request with no obligation:
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    icCube

    by icCube
    icCube
    icCube is a Swiss embeddable analytics solution designed for B2B SaaS product and development teams to deeply embed analytic capabilities inside their applications. Its analytical dashboards blend into the end solution's UI and UX experience. An analytical engine lets users consume complex data models needing sophisticated security.It's a single Java process with definition files, allowing integration with any architecture. Companies can also package/containerize and deploy anywhere. Its dev2dev approach acknowledges each company's highly specific needs. icCube's dev team accompanies clients to successfully and quickly get into production.
    User Sentiment User satisfaction level icon: excellent
    Cost Breakdown
    $10 or less
    Company Size
    Small Medium Large
    Deployment
    Cloud On-Premise
    Platform
    Mac Windows Linux Chromebook Android
    Request with no obligation:
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    Fivetran

    by Fivetran
    Fivetran
    Fivetran is a cloud-native data extraction tool that simplifies and streamlines the data analysis process with a zero-maintenance pipeline that ensures expedient, transparent delivery of data from source to warehouse. Built to empower analysts, it allows users to accelerate analytics and achieve faster time-to-insights without the need for complex engineering, promoting more efficient data-driven decision-making for users of all technical skill levels. Suitable for small to large companies, it is a public-cloud hosted SaaS available through annual subscriptions, paid via invoice. Pricing is volume based with three tiers of plans, in ascending order of offerings and cost: Starter, Standard and Enterprise. Pros Easy to use interface Connects to many data sources Fast and reliable data pipelines Centralized data management Scalable for large data volumes Cons Limited customizability Can be expensive for complex needs Not ideal for real-time data Limited support for data transformations Learning curve for advanced features
    User Sentiment User satisfaction level icon: excellent
    Cost Breakdown
    $10 - $100
    Company Size
    Small Medium Large
    Deployment
    Cloud On-Premise
    Platform
    Mac Windows Linux Chromebook Android
    Request with no obligation:
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    Informatica PowerCenter

    by Informatica Corporation
    Informatica PowerCenter
    Informatica PowerCenter is data integration software for enterprises of all sizes with connectors and metadata. It relies on robust business logic to deliver data on demand.For cloud users, the vendor offers connectivity to Amazon S3, Microsoft Azure Blob Storage and Google Cloud Storage. It also reads data residing on mainframe systems using PowerCenterExchange and connects to big data platforms like Hadoop and HDFS.The vendor enables businesses to move PowerCenter loads to the cloud. What's more, AI and automation can drive 95% of cloud upgrades if businesses opt for them. It scales to validate data quality, perform fuzzy matches and identify data anomalies in the cloud.ProsUser-friendlyWide range of connectorsScalable and reliableRobust security featuresIntegrates with Informatica suiteConsSteeper learning curveCan be expensivePerformance issues with large datasetsLimited cloud app supportComplex to manage
    User Sentiment User satisfaction level icon: great
    Cost Breakdown
    $1,000 or more
    Company Size
    Small Medium Large
    Deployment
    Cloud On-Premise
    Platform
    Mac Windows Linux Chromebook Android
    Request with no obligation:
    Demo Pricing

    SAP Lumira

    by SAP, Inc.
    SAP Lumira
    SAP Lumira is a data visualization solution that offers users the ability to gain insights on demand. Through a simplified design and editing process, users can build analytics reports and interactive dashboards that are tailored to their specific needs. It offers three editions: discovery, designer and server, which each have varying degrees of functionality. It integrates with the larger BusinessObjects suite, which offers a wide range of scalability options.
    User Sentiment User satisfaction level icon: excellent
    Cost Breakdown
    $10 or less
    Company Size
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    Cloud On-Premise
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    Mac Windows Linux Chromebook Android
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    Buyer's Guide

    Self-Service BI Software Is All About Answering Data Questions Without Dependence on IT

    By Payal Tikait, Technical Content Writer at SelectHub

    Self-Service BI Tools BG Intro Header

    Self-service BI tools allow you to answer data questions without relying on IT teams for ad hoc reporting. They let you sort, filter, analyze and visualize data to derive actionable insights.

    The primary goal of self-service business intelligence is to drive informed decision-making that results in business profitability, efficiency and customer satisfaction.

    Executive Summary

    • Self-service BI tools allow you to access, analyze and explore datasets to unearth trends, patterns and points of interest.
    • They offer robust features such as drag-and-drop interfaces, interactive reports and data visualization.
    • They have two kinds of pricing models – perpetual licensing and subscription hosting.
    • Preparing a list of questions to ask yourself and the vendors can help narrow down the search for a BI solution.

    What This Guide Covers:

    What Is Self-Service Business Intelligence Software?

    Self-service BI software allows you to access, explore, filter, sort, analyze and visualize data to gauge hidden trends and patterns to make data-driven decisions. The primary objective of a BI solution is to drive informed decisions without relying on IT teams to generate reports.

    Primary Benefits

    The primary benefits of self-service BI tools are as follows:

    Benefits of Self-Service BI Tools

    Single Version of Truth

    Self-service BI tools offer a centralized and updated version of data to everyone in the organization. To maintain a consistent data view, they pull data from multiple sources, including ERP, CRM, HRMS and more.

    Self-Service BI Tools Categories

    Create ad hoc reports and prioritize extracting insights rather than spending time accumulating and transforming data. Collaborate on insights to make valuable decisions that impact business outcomes while optimizing products and services to boost customer satisfaction. Eliminate the detrimental effects of disparate data silos while ensuring consistency and transparency.

    Reduced Dependence on IT

    IT teams can focus on tasks that require technical expertise, like creating complex queries and maintaining data governance to ensure access to high-quality, consistent data sources.

    Cut Costs

    With increasing BI adoption rates, self-service platforms can scale quickly and accommodate additional servers without compromising data access capabilities. A significant advantage that self-service BI tools provide is eliminating the need to invest in data warehouses, related infrastructure and licensing costs.

    Fosters Decision-Making

    Self-service BI tools allow you to take charge of data, conduct robust analysis and make profitable decisions while accelerating business processes and driving growth.

    Key Features & Functionality

    Drag-and-Drop Interface

    Intuitive drag-and-drop interfaces help you connect to different data sources, join tables, perform transformations and create robust visualizations. Select variables and data fields from source tables to gauge patterns, trends and outliers.
    Data Connectors

    Facilitate integration with third-party systems, including CRM, ERP, finance, marketing automation tools and more. Perform advanced analysis to extract valuable insights.
    Interactive Reports

    Gain an overview of the existing data from multiple perspectives. Drill down and slice and dice information to unearth trends and patterns. Apply moving averages, time series and regression analysis techniques to make accurate forecasts.
    Data Visualization and Dashboards

    Monitor and visualize real-time data with robust dashboards. Track KPIs, metrics and data points and deliver them to executives to make intelligent decisions.

    Software Comparison Strategy

    When selecting a BI tool, keep the following points in mind:

    Access to Data Sources

    Your BI solution should provide access to on-premise and cloud-based data sources to facilitate in-depth analysis. The supported data sources should include contextual data over relational data models.

    Data Visualization

    It’s crucial to ensure that your solution supports different visualization types. It should be customizable and flexible to attain business objectives.

    Collaboration

    Self-service BI tools should let you share reports and dashboards with team members to facilitate collaboration. Add comments to highlight points of interest.

    User-Interface

    A solution should possess an intuitive interface to access different features without external intervention. The mobile environment should offer a responsive touch interface for a seamless user experience.

    Scalability

    Look for a vendor that provides a scalable platform based on your needs. A scalable solution caters to dynamic business objectives and delivers optimal performance.

    Cost & Pricing Considerations

    BI vendors offer two kinds of pricing models: perpetual licensing (on-premise) and subscription hosting plans (cloud):

    Perpetual Licensing

    If you prefer to host your data and are concerned about data security, opt for a perpetual license that lasts for the software’s lifespan. On-premise deployment requires the purchase of hardware, servers and other infrastructure alongside in-house IT resources to facilitate hosting, operations and maintenance.

    Perpetual licenses are feasible options for large-scale businesses that require complex systems and robust data protection. Even if you pay for licenses and infrastructure upfront, you eventually have to deal with product upgrades and maintenance costs. Also, consider IT labor costs, vendor support and system breakdowns in your pricing.

    Subscription Hosting

    If you don’t have the time or resources to host the solution, you can deploy it on the cloud. You only have to pay monthly or yearly subscription costs.

    Subscription costs usually include features, type and number of users, support and maintenance. Cloud-based deployment is a viable option for small-scale businesses as it is less expensive up front than on-premise solutions.

    The Most Popular Self-Service BI Software

    Our analyst team put together a list of some of the most popular self-service BI systems:

    Tableau

    Tableau allows you to build intuitive dashboards and customize them to highlight specific data points. Share dashboards and reports with teammates to facilitate collaboration. Explore trends, correlations, anomalies and outliers within datasets to make robust business decisions.

    Ask questions in natural language to get quick responses as visualizations. Convert location data into maps for geographical analysis.

    Self-Service BI Tools Tableau

    A comprehensive Tableau dashboard for Google vs. Facebook ads.

    Power BI

    Power BI is an analytics solution that assists in data visualization, reporting and data mining to provide valuable business insights. Create intuitive visualizations in charts, graphs, maps and more to depict complex data in a digestible format.

    Accumulate data from cloud-based and on-premise sources to prepare it for advanced analysis. Explore data through conversational language to find meaningful insights.

    Self-Service BI Tools PowerBI

    Drive valuable insights from a travel dashboard created in PowerBI.

    Spark

    Apache Spark is an open-source platform designed to process massive datasets across diverse workloads. Its unified analytics engine integrates data engineering, data science and machine learning tasks into a single framework, eliminating the need for complex pipelines and separate tools. Key features include distributed datasets, machine learning, graphX and standalone mode.

    Spark

    The job dashboard contains information about running, succeeded and failed jobs. Source

     

     

    Questions to Ask

    Self-Service BI Tools Key Questions To Ask

    • What visualization types do we need often? Do they meet the requirements of different functional groups in the organization?
    • Do we need a standalone or integrated solution?
    • What kind of training do we need, on-premises, video-based or live?

    About Software

    • Does the solution offer customization capabilities to support business objectives and flexibility?
    • How intuitive is the interface?
    • How much time does it take to deploy the software?

    About Provider

    • What type of training do you offer for novices and advanced technical users?
    • What is the pricing model? Does it need yearly or quarterly subscriptions apart from the upfront costs?
    • Do you offer to scale the solution with a flexible pricing model?
    • What do the support services include?
    • What is the total cost of the solution (TCO), including implementation, training and other expenses?

    In Conclusion

    Adopting self-service business intelligence software is a good idea if you strive to instill a data-driven culture in your organization. Be sure you discuss your internal requirements before settling on your system of choice.

    About The Contributors

    The following expert team members are responsible for creating, reviewing, and fact checking the accuracy of this content.

    Ritinder
    By Ritinder Kaur
    Technical Content Writer
    Ritinder Kaur is a Senior Technical Content Writer at SelectHub and has eight years of experience writing about B2B software and quality assurance. She has a Masters degree in English language and literature and writes about Business Intelligence and Data Science. Her articles on software testing have been published on Stickyminds.
    See Full Bio
    Sagardeep
    Technical Research By Sagardeep Roy
    Senior Analyst
    Sagardeep is a Senior Research Analyst at SelectHub, specializing in diverse technical categories. His expertise spans Business Intelligence, Analytics, Big Data, ETL, Cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and machine learning, with additional proficiency in EHR and Medical Billing. Holding a Master of Technology in Data Science from Amity University, Noida, and a Bachelor of Technology in Computer Science from West Bengal University of Technology, his experience across technology, healthcare, and market research extends back to 2016. As a certified Data Science and Business Analytics professional, he approaches complex projects with a results-oriented mindset, prioritizing individual excellence and collaborative success.
    See Full Bio
    Manan
    Technical Review By Manan Roy
    Principal Analyst
    Manan is a native of Tezpur, Assam (India), who currently lives in Kolkata, West Bengal (India). At SelectHub, he works on categories like CRM, HR, PPM, BI, and EHR. He has a Bachelor of Technology in CSE from The Gandhi Institute of Engineering and Technology, a Master of Technology from The Institute of Engineering and Management IT, and an MBA in Finance from St. Xavier's College. He's published two research papers, one in a conference and the other in a journal, during his Master of Technology.
    See Full Bio
    Hunter
    Edited By Hunter Lowe
    Content Editor
    Hunter Lowe is a Content Editor, Writer and Market Analyst at SelectHub. His team covers categories that range from ERP and business intelligence to transportation and supply chain management. Hunter is an avid reader and Dungeons and Dragons addict who studied English and Creative Writing through college. In his free time, you'll likely find him devising new dungeons for his players to explore, checking out the latest video games, writing his next horror story or running around with his daughter.
    See Full Bio