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- Business Intelligence (BI) software is any application designed to automate the retrieval, analysis, reporting, and presentation of business performance data, in order to help organizations understand and visualize their key strengths and weaknesses.
- Sisense is an agile business intelligence (BI) solution that provides advanced tools to manage and support business data with analytics, visuals and reporting. The solution allows businesses to analyze big and disparate datasets.
- Business Intelligence Universo Varejo, acompanhe os principais indicadores de desempenho de suas lojas por dia, semana e ms. Find, download, and install iOS apps safely from the App Store.
Find and compare Artificial Intelligence Software for Mac. Free, interactive tool to quickly narrow your choices and contact multiple vendors. SAS Business Intelligence is a cloud-based enterprise analysis tool that helps users monitor metrics and manage interactive reports. Designed for large businesses, the platform’s features include customizable dashboard, marketing reports, forecasting, data source connectors, ad-hoc analysis and more.
These free business intelligence software solutions provide data insights and visualization to take your business to the next level.
One of the best things about business intelligence (BI) software is that its benefits aren’t restricted by the size of the business using it. Whether you’ve got 10 employees or 10,000, you can still find value from what business intelligence software offers (such as dashboards and ad hoc queries).
One problem, though? Most business intelligence tools are expensive. If you’ve avoided investing in a BI tool because of cost, worry no longer.
Free and open source business intelligence software exists and is a great way for your business to start reaping the benefits of data and analytics at no cost.
Let’s take a look at eight top-rated business intelligence software options in Capterra’s directory. Each of the tools below (presented alphabetically) have an above-average overall user rating (4.5 stars or higher) compared to other products in the same category. They also have 10+ user reviews, and three or more top BI tool features (more on our methodology here).
Where are all the open source business intelligence tools? Unfortunately, at the time of this update, none passed our methodology. If you need an open source option, check out a few BI tools (representative of the players in that space) included at the end of this piece.
Jump to:
ActivTrak
ChartMogul
Cluvio
Databox
Kyubit Business Intelligence
QlikView
Tableau
7 best free business intelligence software
1. ActivTrak
ActivTrak from Birch Grove Software is a flexible BI tool for team behavior analytics. The full system can handle teams from five to 1,000 and is designed for business owners, IT and HR managers, and team leaders who want to track their team’s productivity.
This option can be deployed via the cloud, SaaS, and the web, and offers mobile applications for both iOS and Android. Support for ActivTrak is available online and via phone during business hours.
Pros | Cons |
---|---|
Users rate ActivTrak above average for ease-of-use, and it also receives high marks for customer support. | Users wish that ActivTrak had more functionality, and that the data limit was a little higher on the free version. |
Cost to upgrade: $7.20 per user, per month for access to the entire suite of offered features. Custom plans/pricing available upon request.
Highly rated by: Users who work in IT and services or as systems administrators.
ActivTrak’s business intelligence dashboard (Source)
2. ChartMogul
ChartMogul boasts well-known clients such as Typeform and Docker, which speaks to its ability to handle larger user bases. This software is best for businesses who are trying to build or grow a subscription service, as it can measure churn rate and customer lifetime value.
ChartMogul can be deployed via the cloud, SaaS, and the web. Support is available 24/7 through a live representative and online tutorials. Representatives also offer live online training to help businesses get started.
Pros | Cons |
---|---|
According to reviewers, ChartMogul is extremely easy to use. | ChartMogul scores lower than average among reviewers for functionality. Users cited difficulty importing bulk registrations and lackluster training options. |
Cost to upgrade: $100 per month for full functionality.
Highly rated by: Individuals who work in the computer software industry or as product managers, growth engineers, or customer success agents.
ChartMogul’s business intelligence dashboard (Source)
3. Cluvio
Cluvio is for businesses that have a staff member with a bit of data analytics experience. This software allows businesses to run SQL queries against their databases, can process data in R, and turns out some impressive-looking dashboards and data visualizations.
Cluvio can be deployed via the cloud, SaaS, and the web, and support is offered online or phone during business hours. If businesses need help getting started, the vendor offers webinars and live online training, as well as training materials.
Pros | Cons |
---|---|
Cluvio’s customer support ratings are significantly higher than other solutions in the same category. Reviewers say that the software is extremely easy to use. | Some reviewers wish the software had more functionality. |
Cost to upgrade: $99 per month for a license with unlimited users.
Highly rated by: Data analysts and people who work in the telecommunications, financial services, and e-learning industries.
Cluvio’s business intelligence dashboard (Source)
4. Databox
Databox is the powerhouse of free BI software, scoring high with reviewers in ease-of-use, functionality, and customer support.
Databox allows businesses to track and report on their KPIs through a visually pleasing dashboard, can deliver information across multiple devices, and integrates with popular systems such as Adobe Analytics and Salesforce.
Databox can be deployed via the cloud, SaaS, and the web, and offers mobile applications for iOS and Android.
Pros | Cons |
---|---|
Databox users describe the software as visually pleasing and note that it offers a large number of integrations with other software systems that they use. | Users say they would like to see even more integrations with other software. |
Cost to upgrade: $49 per month for a business plan, and $249 per month for a custom plan.
Highly rated by: Individuals who work in the marketing, advertising, and information technology industries, as well as managers and C-class executives.
Databox’s business intelligence dashboard (Source)
5. Kyubit Business Intelligence
Kyubit Business Intelligence by Kyubit Solutions is a flexible BI tool that allows businesses to create dashboards and reports from their OLAP, SQL, and CSV data. Although this tool is easy to use, the setup makes it best-suited for those who already have some data analytics knowledge or business intelligence training.
Kyubit can be deployed via the cloud, SaaS, the web, or as an installed software solution. Support is available online or during business hours. For the non-tech-savvy user, Kyubit offers training documents to guide you through the software.
Pros | Cons |
---|---|
Users say that Kyubit’s customer support is exemplary and that the software is very easy to use. | Users rate Kyubit lower than average on functionality. |
Cost to upgrade: $695 per user, per year.
Highly rated by: Database administrators, IT consultants, and reviewers who work in the pharmaceutical and computer software industries.
Kyubit Business Intelligence’s dashboard (Source)
6. QlikView
QlikView by Qlik is a BI tool offering ETL (extract, transform, load), data storage, and multi-dimensional analysis. as well as a end-user dashboard. This software’s real value is its ability to connect data sources and create data visualizations and dashboards using that data.
QlikView can be deployed via the cloud, SaaS, and the web. The vendor offers phone support during business hours, online support, and provides training through webinars and support documents.
Pros | Cons |
---|---|
Reviewers say that QlikView has great functionality compared to other business intelligence tools. | Users report that QlikView has lower than average customer support and can be a little difficult to use. |
Cost to upgrade: $15 per user, per month.
Highly rated by: BI developers, BI managers, and people who work in the civic and social organization industry.
QlikView’s business intelligence dashboard (Source)
7. Tableau
Tableau business intelligence software is for people who love Excel’s pivot tables. Or, at least, love the concept of pivot tables. Tableau boasts a streamlined user interface that allows drag-and-drop data manipulation, and data visualizations.
This software can be deployed via the cloud, SaaS, and the web, or installed on your desktop. It also offers mobile applications for iOS or Android.
Training is available in-person, online with a representative, through webinars, and with documentation. Support is available online and via phone during business hours.
While the free version doesn’t secure user data, upgrading allows users to gain access to some top-of-the-line data governance and security features.
Pros | Cons |
---|---|
Tableau scores higher than average among Capterra’s reviewers for functionality. | Reviewers say Tableau’s customer support is a little lackluster, and that the product can be difficult to use. |
Cost to upgrade: $70 per user, per year.
Highly rated by: Students, business analysts, and people who work in the education industry.
Tableau’s business intelligence dashboard (Source)
Where’s the open source business intelligence software?
Unfortunately, no open source (OS) business intelligence software passed our rigorous methodology at the time of this update (primarily due to a lack of sufficient reviews). Here’s a list of open source software solutions that represent players in that space. While they don’t have very many reviews yet, they look promising:
- Metabase: In what reviews this system does have, users indicate that this is an open source BI product to watch; it has three of the top features we looked for in free BI software. The bad news? It’s only available for Macs.
- Pentaho Business Analytics: This OS business intelligence software from Hitachi Vantara has all four of the features we looked for in our free BI software, and has a relatively high rating from users on Capterra.
- ReportServer: This OS BI platform doesn’t have many reviews yet, but has all four features required for our free BI software list above, and an impressive list of deployment options. This system is not free; its one-time download fee will cost you $2,000.
Do you need your business intelligence software to do something other than what the tools above offer?
Feature descriptions
Below are descriptions of the software functionality referenced in the product write-ups above:
Ad hoc reports | Generate reports that meet your ever-changing information requirements, as needed. |
---|---|
Dashboard | An assembly of graphs and charts for tracking statistics and metrics. |
Key performance indicators | Critical metrics by which company/employee performance is tracked and evaluated. |
Visual analytics | Interact with data visualization elements (such as charts and graphs) to drill down into your data. |
Methodology
This article was updated on July 11, 2019. Products considered for this article had to:
- Offer a free, stand-alone version of the software (not a trial version of the software where you must purchase a product after a limited amount of time).
Software that met the market definition also needed a minimum of 10 user-submitted reviews published between May 31, 2018 – July 2, 2019, and have an above-average overall user rating compared to other products in the category.
- “Top” free tools had a minimum overall rating of 4.5/5 stars from reviewers on Capterra at the time of publication.
Note: The content in this piece that provides opinions and points of view expressed by users does not represent the views of Capterra.
The applications selected in this article are examples to show a feature in context and are not intended as endorsements or recommendations. They have been obtained from sources believed to be reliable at the time of publication.
Looking for Business Intelligence software? Check out Capterra's list of the best Business Intelligence software solutions.
Need crisp insights to make reliable business decisions? Use these tools and generate reports from years of business data.
“Should we increase the spending on Facebook ads this month?”
Free Business Intelligence Software For Mac Software
“How much stock should we ship to the New York store for this week?”
“Do we need three or five cashiers on Saturday evenings?”
Gone are the days when business decisions like these were made on assumptions. Today, you will invariably want to look at data and insights before answering any of the above questions.
Dashboard software is the go-to tool for visualizing business data and extracting insights from it. It helps monitor and measure performance in real time and get a consolidated, single-pane view of important business metrics.
If apprehensions about heavy investment are keeping you from using dashboard software, we’ve got you covered with this list of top free and open source tools.
To be considered for this list, tools had to support the following functionalities:
- Importing data via manual input, file upload, or integration with different data sources, applications, and platforms.
- Visualizing data into different forms, such as charts, bar graphs, and pie charts.
- Providing a single-panel view of the aggregated data.
What does “top” mean? Each of the four tools included in this article has had a minimum user rating of 4.0 on Capterra’s software directory over the past year.
For more details on how we selected the products, you can read our methodology at the bottom of the article.
4 best free or open-source dashboards
(In alphabetical order)
Cyfe
Databox
Metabase
Zoho Analytics
1. Cyfe
Cyfe is a cloud-based dashboard tool that pulls data from advertising, email marketing, sales, finance, social media, support, and web analytics accounts into one panel.
It connects to over 1,500 third-party applications, including Google Analytics, Salesforce, AdSense, Mailchimp, Facebook, WordPress, and Trello. It can also import internal business data via custom widgets or push APIs.
Marketing dashboard generated in Cyfe (Source)
The tool helps visualize data by different categories (such as department, client, and time period) into charts and graphs. Best graphic design software mac. You can export generated reports in PNG, JPEG, PDF, and CSV formats or share the dashboard with stakeholders via a custom URL.
The free module of the tool provides full functionality but limits to two dashboards and a single user. It also limits the dashboard to a 30-day history, even though the module never expires.
Reviewers of Cyfe on Capterra share the following pros and cons:
Pros | Cons |
---|---|
The dashboard is easy to set up. | The tool accommodates standard reporting views and doesn’t support on-the-fly data modeling. |
The customizability of key performance indicators (KPIs) makes data visualization more relevant. | The metrics included in the tool are mostly quantitative and not qualitative. |
Cost to upgrade | |
Plans start at $29/user/month. | |
Mobile apps | |
Not available. However, the tool is optimized for mobile browsers. |
2. Databox
Databox is a cloud-based business intelligence (BI) tool that imports data from sources such as marketing, sales, social media, search engine optimization (SEO), and project management tools.
The tool connects to over 70 third-party applications, including sources like Google Analytics, Salesforce, HubSpot, Mixpanel, Facebook, and Shopify, via one-click integrations. It also offers over 200 pre-built report templates that can be customized using the do-it-yourself (DIY) Dashboard Designer.
TV screen view of Databox dashboard to display KPIs (Source)
Databox offers a DataBlock library for you to choose data visualizations that can be dragged and dropped into the dashboard. It also incorporates goal tracking to set daily, weekly, monthly, or annual targets for any business metric you’re tracking. You can schedule auto-generated daily, weekly, and monthly snapshots of any dashboard to be sent via email, or create custom URLs to share dashboards with other stakeholders.
The free module of the tool is limited to three data sources, three dashboards, and three users, and only provides one daily refresh (as opposed to real-time or hourly refresh).
Reviewers of Databox on Capterra share the following pros and cons:
Pros | Cons |
---|---|
The user interface is simple and the data visualization is appealing. | Integration via APIs is not smooth. |
The goal-tracking feature helps users remain apprised of business milestones. | Custom queries are limited because of prebuilt report templates. |
Cost to upgrade | |
Plans starting $49/month for up to 10 users. | |
Mobile apps | |
Android and iOS. |
3. Metabase
Metabase is an open source dashboard tool that can be set up without specialized technical know-how. It works with multiple data sources, such as Google BigQuery, Amazon Redshift, Teradata, Snowflake, and Mongo.
The tool helps users summarize and visualize data without any SQL expertise. It offers a quick and easy lookup function to help search and filter through data and visuals.
A business dashboard generated through Metabase (Source)
You can schedule emails to share charts and snapshots from the dashboard or manually share them via Slack. You can also set goals for various metrics, much like possible with Databox.
The free version offers full functionality. Being open source, it needs to be hosted on-premise.
This can require higher upfront investment compared to cloud-based tools but gives complete control over the software, with no predefined storage limits, pricing tiers, or caps on the number of dashboards or users.
The vendor shares new features, interface improvements, and bug fixes for free with all users as well as provides a community space for users to share feedback and fixes for the tool.
Reviewers of Metabase on Capterra share the following pros and cons:
Pros | Cons |
---|---|
The tool is easy to navigate, even for nontechnical users. | Users would like API integrations to more third-party applications and platforms. |
Data sources are easy to connect and data visuals can be created without SQL knowledge. | Loading visual displays can take a while sometimes. |
Cost to upgrade | |
Plans starting $10,000/year for the enterprise edition. | |
Mobile apps | |
Not available. |
4. Zoho Analytics
Free Business Intelligence Software For Mac Pro
Zoho Analytics is a self-service BI tool that helps users create dashboards to measure business metrics. It was previously known as Zoho Reports.
It imports data from multiple sources, including cloud drives (such as Dropbox and Google Drive), relational databases (such as Oracle and Sybase), and cloud databases (such as Microsoft SQL and Amazon Redshift). It also supports manual import of data in a number of file formats, such as CSV, TSV, Excel, HTML, TXT, and JSON.
Report created in Zoho Analytics (Source)
The tool allows visualizing data in charts, widgets, pivot tables, geo-visuals, and tabular views. You can create reports by dragging and dropping components into the dashboard and analyze those reports by applying filters and creating drill-downs.
The free version of the tool provides access to two users for up to 10,000 rows of data, three query tables, and five workspaces. Users can create unlimited reports. However, it limits integrations with third-party applications to QuickBooks, Microsoft Dynamics, Xero, Teamworks, HubSpot, MailChimp, Facebook, Twitter, and Google Analytics.
Reviewers of Zoho Analytics on Capterra share the following pros and cons:
Pros | Cons |
---|---|
Visual representations produced by the tool are clean and easy to understand. | Data can take a few moments to sync when users log in to the tool. |
Even non-technical users can easily generate reports with the tool. | Data filtering can be time-consuming as resetting one filter might require resetting all other filters. |
Cost to upgrade | |
Plans starting $25/month for 2 users. | |
Mobile apps | |
Android and iOS. |
Quick checklist for choosing a dashboard tool
Now that you’ve reviewed the top free and open source dashboard software, it’s time to ask yourself which one might meet the needs of your business. Below is a quick checklist to help you out:
✔ Spend some time on our dashboard software buyers guide to learn what the software does, what are its typical features, and how it can benefit you.
✔ Ascertain the number of users who will be accessing the dashboard and ensure that the tool supports that number of users.
✔ Ensure that the tool gives flexibility in the visual representation of data and insights. It should allow you to choose between various formats of charts and graphs as well as to customize reports.
If you’re still confused about which tool is right for your business, spend some time reading reviews from verified users on Capterra. See which features are working for them and what challenges they are facing, and incorporate those insights into your shortlisting process.
Methodology
To select the products mentioned in this article, we identified the most common product listings for dashboard software searches via Incognito Google search on Mar 4, 2020. Stick figure animation applications. Products that appeared on third-party listings at least twice during this research were shortlisted for further evaluation.
The shortlisted products were evaluated against the definition of dashboard software: Dashboard software is an information management tool that visually tracks, analyzes, and displays key performance indicators (KPIs) to help businesses make informed decisions and improve productivity and the efficiency of their workflows. Dashboards provide a customizable interface that collects real-time data from multiple sources and displays the generated insights in the form of charts, tables, gauges, and timelines.
The tools were further checked for the following criteria:
- Offering a completely standalone free module of the tool, that did not require the user to purchase the tool after a set period of time.
- Not requiring extensive technical know-how or coding languages to set up.
- Overall rating of 4.0 or more on Capterra software directory between Mar 4, 2019 and Mar 4, 2020.
The tools that met all the above criteria were selected for the article.
Disclaimer:
Listed pros and cons are derived from features listed on the product website and product user reviews on Gartner Digital Markets domains (Capterra, GetApp, and Software Advice). They do not represent the views of, nor constitute an endorsement by, Capterra or its affiliates.
The applications selected in this article are examples to show a feature in context and are not intended as endorsements or recommendations. They have been obtained from sources believed to be reliable at the time of publication.
Looking for Business Intelligence software? Check out Capterra's list of the best Business Intelligence software solutions.