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Best Business Intelligence (BI) Tools166Business Intelligence Tools & Analytics software provides historical, current and predictive views of business operations.iDashboards Enterprise Suite1https://media.trustradius.com/vendor-logos/4R/ob/952VU5D7SXDA-180x180.JPEGSAS Visual Analytics2https://media.trustradius.com/vendor-logos/1R/C2/78WM406O343V-180x180.JPEGTableau Public3https://media.trustradius.com/vendor-logos/ia/m8/6A4SU12SVMB8-180x180.PNGOpenText Magellan4https://media.trustradius.com/product-logos/13/H3/NQB1P9HIQKM9-180x180.JPEGToad Data Point5https://media.trustradius.com/vendor-logos/EG/mg/NJATDQVR2SC3-180x180.JPEGSAS Business Intelligence6https://media.trustradius.com/vendor-logos/1R/C2/78WM406O343V-180x180.JPEGOracle Business Intelligence Cloud Service7https://media.trustradius.com/vendor-logos/e7/6G/F3JK0T3RS775-180x180.PNGJedox8https://media.trustradius.com/product-logos/xf/8K/1C5IC68XJJCP-180x180.PNGReveal9https://media.trustradius.com/product-logos/5P/we/9TJ1QL7T6GGA-180x180.JPEGDatawatch Monarch10https://media.trustradius.com/product-logos/t4/R0/FDCATN1V8X7J-180x180.JPEGIBM Watson Analytics11https://media.trustradius.com/vendor-logos/yf/sf/DNSXTG99HOK3-180x180.JPEGYellowfin12https://media.trustradius.com/vendor-logos/J6/kJ/0JKTULGKTD4W-180x180.PNGJReport13https://media.trustradius.com/product-logos/50/aD/6QKOWINZI36T-180x180.PNGBrightGauge14https://media.trustradius.com/product-logos/45/T5/AATRZ77CVM26-180x180.PNGHighcharts15https://media.trustradius.com/vendor-logos/V7/y1/R6LST9DT12VL-180x180.PNGGeckoboard16https://media.trustradius.com/vendor-logos/eD/OY/0WES0V6CXXLJ-180x180.JPEGJama Analyze (Discontinued)17https://media.trustradius.com/vendor-logos/Jq/3y/OQ1A23DK2KS7-180x180.PNGFactiva18https://media.trustradius.com/product-logos/cC/4O/6AFIU8WRITZT.jpegIBM Cognos Express19https://media.trustradius.com/vendor-logos/yf/sf/DNSXTG99HOK3-180x180.JPEGAmazon QuickSight20https://media.trustradius.com/vendor-logos/LY/YM/1TDXH4LPI5BH-180x180.JPEGJet Reports21https://media.trustradius.com/product-logos/2E/XH/TODPB48HF94N-180x180.JPEGEssbase Cloud22https://media.trustradius.com/vendor-logos/e7/6G/F3JK0T3RS775-180x180.PNGMicroStrategy Mobile23https://media.trustradius.com/product-logos/Zz/SI/FI373XG1X35T-180x180.PNGIBM Cognos Analytics on Cloud24https://media.trustradius.com/vendor-logos/yf/sf/DNSXTG99HOK3-180x180.JPEGKeen25https://media.trustradius.com/vendor-logos/SI/FJ/O7BJ5ZLTSPDU-180x180.JPEG

Business Intelligence (BI) Tools

Best Business Intelligence (BI) Tools

TrustMaps are two-dimensional charts that compare products based on satisfaction ratings and research frequency by prospective buyers. Products must have 50 or more ratings to appear on this TrustMap.

Business Intelligence Tools Overview

What is Business Intelligence (BI)?

Business Intelligence tools are designed to make sense of the huge quantities of data that organizations accumulate over time. BI tools analyze this information and present it as actionable information that can guide decision making.

Business Intelligence software (BI) makes up a large heterogeneous category of software. Not all tools in the category can be meaningfully compared to each other. There are several types of BI tools of which the most substantive are Full-Stack Business Intelligence Tools and Data Visualization Tools.

Business Intelligence Tools Features & Capabilities

  • BI Platform Type
  • Supported Data Sources
  • Standard Reporting
  • Ad-Hoc Reporting
  • Report Output and Scheduling
  • Data Discovery and Visualization
  • Access Control and Security
  • Mobile Capabilities
  • APIs / Embedding

Full-Stack Business Intelligence Tools

Full-stack or traditional products are enterprise-level BI tools designed to solve the specific problem of enterprise data silos. Much crucial business data is stored in a range of different data stores, many attached to business applications like ERP. Full-stack BI tools consolidate all data in a data warehouse which is a relational database designed for data mining instead of transactional processing.

Slices of data from the warehouse—usually summary data for a single department like sales or finance—are stored in a “data mart” for quick access. All of this structured data is normalized by using an ETL process (Extract, Transform and Load) whereby transactional data is combined into a single pool of data and then “transformed” into a more appropriate format for querying and analysis before being written in the data warehouse database.

The Full-Stack Business Intelligence TrustMap shows only those products that belong in this sub-category.

Data Discovery and Visualization Business Intelligence

Data Visualization products have a different purpose. These BI tools are primarily designed to help data analysts discover patterns in large quantities of data and to build compelling visual representations which allow these patterns to be easily understood.

These business intelligence tools often use a technology called in-memory analytics to query data residing on a computer’s RAM rather than on a physical disk. This means that the data does not have to be stored anywhere for subsequent analysis.

Data visualization products often have lower cost of implementation and require less support. This can make them good business intelligence tools for small companies that don’t need a full-stack business intelligence solution.

The Data Visualization TrustMap shows only those tools that belong in this sub-category.

Business Intelligence Software Comparison

When considering different business intelligence tools, consider the following aspects of each product offering.

  1. Ease of Use: Some BI tools offer high complexity and customization, but can be difficult for non-technical users. You should consider the technical ability of the staff that will be using the BI tools as well as if you need more complex features.

  2. Compatibility: Many BI tools are not complete, end-to-end solutions. For some organizations, purchasing BI software from multiple vendors may be necessary. If your business needs BI features that aren’t all covered in a single product, be sure to ask venders about integrations and compatibility with other software.

  3. Scalability: Some BI software doesn’t scale up very well as data needs increase. Consider the breadth of data generated by your organization and decide if that amount will stay the same or increase. If your data needs will increase, be sure to choose a BI solution that can handle your expected growth.

Pricing Information

Business Intelligence software is generally quite expensive. However, it’s worth remembering that it is often money very well-spent in terms of significantly improved decision-making.

One of the impediments to understanding pricing is that vendors base their pricing on a broad range of different variables from number of users to number of CPU cores.

However, as a very rough guide, advanced report authoring can cost $2,000 to $2,500 per seat, while interactive report viewing can be about half that amount. Static report viewing can be as little as $50 per seat.

More Resources

Business Intelligence (BI) Products

Listings (51-75 of 203)

iDashboards Enterprise Suite

14 Ratings

This web-based dashboard software displays data in real-time from databases, data warehouses, spreadsheets, XML and other data sources in a single location. iDashboards' built-in security framework provides role-based user permissions and access control. iDashboards Enterprise Suite is complete with…

SAS Visual Analytics

45 Ratings

SAS Visual Analytics provides a complete platform for analytics visualization, enabling users to identify patterns and relationships in data that weren't initially evident. Interactive, self-service BI and reporting capabilities are combined with out-of-the-box advanced analytics so everyone can dis…

Tableau Public

267 Ratings

Tableau Public is a free edition of the Desktop product. With this edition, data can only be published to the Tableau public website and does not allow work to be saved or exported locally.

OpenText Magellan

18 Ratings

OpenText Magellan Analytics Suite leverages a comprehensive set of data analytics software to identify patterns, relationships and trends through data visualizations and interactive dashboards.

Oracle Business Intelligence Cloud Service

31 Ratings

Oracle Business Intelligence Cloud Service is cloud-based, ad hoc query and analysis tool, allowing users to create new analyses from scratch or modify existing analyses in dashboard pages. Users are insulated from complexity through the metadata layer, which offers a logical view of the data struct…

Jedox

16 Ratings

Jedox is a Business Intelligence and Corporate Performance Management solution. According to the vendor, their solution’s unified planning, analysis and reporting empowers decision makers from finance, sales, purchasing and marketing. Additionally, the vendor says this solution helps business users …

Reveal

7 Ratings

Reveal is an embedded analytics engine or standalone business intelligence tool that gives your developers and users a simple, beautiful user experience. Reveal provides interactive dashboards, drilldowns, collaboration, sharing and true self-service with a drag and drop dashboard creator experienc…

Datawatch Monarch

17 Ratings

Datawatch Monarch works with both relational and multi-structured data including support for a wide range of formats including PDF, XML, HTML, text, spool and ASCII files. The product can access data from invoices, sales reports, balance sheets, customer lists, inventory, logs and more. According …

JReport

10 Ratings

The JReport embedded reporting platform provides developers and users with advanced pixel perfect, operational reporting capabilities for any data source. According to the vendor, JReport delivers insights for hundreds of thousands of users at over 10,000 installations worldwide. The vendor's goal i…

Geckoboard

15 Ratings

Geckoboard enables users to create real time dashboards using data from over 80 cloud services. It integrates with other products such as: AWeber, Basecamp, Campaign Monitor and HubSpot.

Jama Analyze (Discontinued)

8 Ratings

Jama Analyze (formerly called Notion) was a solution for quickly creating shareable, custom dashboards. However, the product is no longer available. Jama Software sunset the Analyze product in 2019. Some of the benefits of Jama Analyze included the ability to:Create custom metrics across all teams w…

Essbase Cloud

7 Ratings

The Essbase Cloud from Oracle is a PaaS and part of the Oracle Analytics Cloud suite of products, supporting enterprise analytics with collaboration, and easy administrative activities.

MicroStrategy Mobile

17 Ratings

MicroStrategy Mobile enables users to bring analytics, transactions, mapping, multimedia, and business workflows to life in custom mobile apps, personalized for any industry or any role. Users can convert any information system or web application into a user-friendly, highly-performant native mobile…

TrustRadius Top Rated for 2019

2019 Top Rated Business Intelligence (BI) Tools

There are plenty of options out there, but here's our shortlist of the best Business Intelligence (BI) Tools. These products won a Top Rated award for having excellent customer satisfaction ratings. The list is based purely on reviews; there is no paid placement, and analyst opinions do not influence the rankings. To qualify, a product must have 10 or more recent reviews and a trScore of 7.5 or higher, indicating above-average satisfaction for business technology. The products with the highest trScores appear first on the list. Read more about the Top Rated criteria.

TIBCO Spotfire

690 ratings

All-New Spotfire X

Domo

136 ratings

Learn More

Sisense

102 ratings

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Tableau Desktop

1532 ratings

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TIBCO Jaspersoft

257 ratings

Learn More

Microsoft Power BI

607 ratings

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Tableau Online

245 ratings

Learn More

Tableau Server

694 ratings

Learn More

Qlik Sense

581 ratings

Free download

SAP Crystal

480 ratings

Buy now

Frequently Asked Questions

What problem does business intelligence solve?

Business intelligence tools help to make sense of the enormous quantities of data business have regarding customers, suppliers, and business partners, and help uncover the insights within that data that are vital to winning in the marketplace. Business intelligence is an umbrella term for various methods of collecting and analyzing this data to help organizations make data-driven decisions.

What are data discovery and visualization products?

Data discovery and visualization products are primarily designed to help data analysts and business users discover patterns and outliers in large quantities of data, and to build compelling visual representations which allow these trends and patterns to be easily understood. Commonly available visualizations include charts, graphs, and maps.

What is embedded business analytics?

Embedded analytics is the integration of BI capabilities directly into a business application or portal. The idea is to provide analytics that are contextual. In other words, analytics tools are available directly within whatever business application is being used at a given moment, whether it be Salesforce, an ERP system, or a marketing automation tool.

What is augmented analytics?

Augmented analytics is a term used to denote the use of machine learning and natural language processing to automate insights into datasets generated by analytics and BI tools. Today, many well-known BI platforms have built-in capabilities to automate data preparation and detect some correlations and anomalies in large data sets. The ultimate goal is for this technology to be capable of analysis and even insight generation and action plan generation.

What is the difference between business intelligence and data science?

Both business intelligence and more recent technologies like data science are predicated on gaining business insight based on data analysis. The primary function of BI tools is to explore past trends in a business’s historical data and compare data across time. Data science tools, on the other hand, use algorithms to understand and predict a business’s future performance. Data scientists build data models to try to answer questions or discover predictive patterns in huge volumes of data.