If you’re like most business owners, you’re constantly looking for ways to make data-driven decisions that will help your company grow. The problem is, many business owners don’t have the time or resources to invest in expensive BI tools.
Luckily, there are a number of free BI tools out there that can help you make sense of your data and find the insights you need to make smart business decisions. In this article, we’ll share six of the best free BI tools for data analysis and reporting.
Review of the Best Free BI Tools
Microsoft Power BI
Best Free BI Tools for Interactive Data Visualization
The best thing about Power BI is that it is free to use. That means no licensing fees or subscription costs are associated with using the tool.
In addition, Power BI offers a wide range of features and capabilities, making it a very versatile tool for businesses of all sizes. Whether you’re looking to create simple reports or complex data models, Power BI has the functionality you need.
Features
- Power BI includes a wide range of built-in data visualizations, making it easy to create informative reports.
- It comes with custom SQL queries and data modelling making it a powerful tool for data analysis.
- It integrates with a range of Microsoft products and services, including Excel, Outlook, SharePoint, and more, allowing you to access and analyze your data from various sources easily.
- It supports real-time data analytics, allowing you to get insights into your business operations as they happen.
Pros
- It offers comprehensive data security and privacy features
- It is scalable and can be used by businesses of all sizes
- It offers world-class customer support
- It is constantly being updated with new features and enhancements
- It has a large and active user community.
Cons
- The tool’s query editor is complex and challenging to use, especially for new users.
Pricing
It offers a 60-days free trial and one payment plan
- Power BI Pro: $9.99 user/month
BIRT
Best Free BI Tool to Analyze Historical Data
BIRT is an open-source tool that can create various reports, including interactive web-based reports. It has a wide range of features and supports multiple data sources, making it a versatile tool for businesses of all sizes.
One of the best things about BIRT is that it’s relatively easy to use, even for those with no prior experience with BI tools. And because it’s open-source, it’s constantly being improved by the community.
Features
- It has a vast knowledge base and active community support forums
- It has data visualization, reporting, and OLAP analysis, allowing you to create dynamic and interactive reports
- It integrates with programming languages like Java, making it easy to use for developers
- BIRT offers extensive help for multiple data sources, ensuring that you always have access to the data you need
- It has an intuitive drag-and-drop interface making it easy for even first-time users to create reports.
Pros
- It offers a wide variety of export options so that you can share your reports and data.
- It can be used to create complex reports and dashboards
- It is very user-friendly and can be used by anyone
- It provides excellent documentation and tutorials that make learning how to use the tool easy.
Cons
- BIRT is not as widely used as Microsoft Power BI
- It can be challenging to contact support if you encounter any problems.
Pricing
It offers an unlimited free trial and has a custom payment plan starting at about
$30 per month
Tableau Public
Best Tool for Data Charts
Tableau Public is a free data visualization tool that allows users to create interactive, drag-and-drop charts and graphs. It’s one of the most popular BI tools available, and it’s used by businesses of all sizes, from small startups to large enterprises.
Tableau Public is easy to use and can create complex visualizations with just a few clicks. One of the best things about Tableau Public is that it’s constantly being updated with new features and improvements. For example, the latest version includes support for maps and GIS data.
Features
- Tableau Public allows users to create custom themes for their visualizations, making them more personal and unique.
- It allows users to export their visualizations in various formats, making it easy to share them with others.
- Tableau Public is based on interactive visualization, making exploring data and finding patterns easy.
Pros
- It has a wide range of features, making it a versatile tool for data analysis.
- It comes with powerful analysis tools.
Cons
- Users are limited to the default visualization options
- It can be expensive to upgrade to the paid version of Tableau Public.
Pricing
It offers a free trial and three payment plans which include:
- For Teams & Organizations: It contains the Tableau Creator starting at about $70/user per month which is billed annually, Tableau Explorer starting at $42 per/user per month which is billed annually, and the Tableau Viewer starting at $15/user per month which is billed annually
- For Individuals: It contains the Tableau Creator $70/user per month which is billed annually
- Embedded Analytics: Contact sales to get a custom quote
Heap Analytics
Best Free BI Tools With Better Insights
Heap Analytics is a powerful business intelligence tool that provides users with valuable insights into their data. The tool offers several features that make it an attractive option for businesses of all sizes, including a user-friendly interface, support for multiple data sources, and the ability to share data with other users.
Heap Analytics also provides a knowledge base that can be used to answer questions about the data and the tool itself. In addition, the tool offers niche reports that offer specific insights into particular industries or sectors.
Features
- Its support for custom events and tracking makes it possible to track any metric or event that is important to your business.
- Heap analytics captures all user activity on your product or website, no engineering is needed.
- Heap’s data science capabilities alert you to key moments of friction and opportunity in your digital experience.
- Session replay gives you full context on every user action, so you can understand why they do what they do.
Pros
- The software is compatible with all major operating systems, so you can use it on your computer, tablet, or smartphone.
- It’s affordable.
Cons
- Session replay can be time-consuming and confusing if not used correctly.
Pricing
It offers a free trial and four payment plans with different customizable features,which include:
- Growth
- Pro
- Premier
Contact support to get a pricing quote
QlikView
Best Free BI Tools With Modern Analytics
QlikView is an amazing free BI tool that lets users explore data freely on any scheme. Its international search and selections, wise visualizations, and far of it creates groundbreaking experience. With QlikView, you can gather all of your information and unlock its full capability.
Additionally, its engine delivers nearly limitless mixtures of knowledge from any supply. This makes diving into the problem easy and helps you understand it better than with query-based tools. Also, its machine intelligence with increased analytics capabilities will increase the information skill of your entire personnel.
Features
- It offers a freeform associative exploration feature that allows you to quickly and easily explore your data.
- It’s built on an open API platform and integrates well with other systems.
- It helps to quickly create reports and dashboards that help you understand your data better.
- It offers a powerful business intelligence tool to get insights from your data.
Pros
- It comes in on-premise and cloud-based versions.
- The software offers a free trial period, so users can try it before they commit to using it long-term.
Cons
- It can be expensive for larger organizations
- It requires technical expertise.
Pricing
It offers a free 30-day trial and two payment plans
- Business: starting plan goes for $30 per user per month
- Enterprise Plan: Unavailable pricing details; contact sales to get quotes
Domo
Most Flexible Free BI Tool
Domo is the most flexible free BI tool out there. It makes it easy to create interactive, custom dashboards with ease. This makes it a great tool for business users who need to get up to speed on data quickly.
The self-service analytics feature also makes data accessible to all, freeing up analysts’ time. The data sharing and embedded analytics features are also great, making it easy to securely share analytics with individuals and associates.
Features
- Domo offers data integration which helps businesses easily connect to and analyze data from various sources. This provides a complete view of the business and helps teams make better decisions.
- It provides visualization technology which makes it easy to see patterns and trends in data.
- It also offers an app framework that helps build custom apps that solve specific business problems.
- Domo cloud makes it easy for businesses to start with Domo quickly and without investing in hardware or software.
- It has security features that help businesses keep their data safe and secure.
- Domo governance features help businesses centralize data governance within Domo, which provides a single point of control for data management and promotes collaboration between teams.
Cons
- Domo is not the cheapest BI tool on the market, and the cost may be prohibitive for small businesses.
- Its cloud-based platform can sometimes be slow and may not be suitable for companies with high-volume data needs.
Pricing
It offers a free 30-Day Trial and some payment plans. You will need to contact sales to get a custom quote.
Frequently Asked Questions on Free BI Tools
When looking for BI tools, you should consider the features that are important to you. Some of the features to consider include:
1. The ability to connect to your data sources
2. The ability to create reports and dashboards
3. The ability to analyze data
4. The ability to collaborate with others
5. The ability to deploy and use in a variety of environments.
There is no easy answer when it comes to data analysis software. Different software packages offer different features and can be more or less user-friendly depending on your experience level. However, many people find QlikView relatively easy to use for data analysis.
No, SQL is not a BI tool. While it is used for data analysis in some cases, it is not specifically designed for this purpose. Instead, SQL is a database management system that allows you to manipulate and query data.
Free BI tools can make your work easier in several ways. They can help you to connect to your data sources, create reports and dashboards, analyze data, and collaborate with others.
Before using free BI tools, you should understand data terminology and how to work with data in a spreadsheet.
Additionally, you may find it helpful to have some experience with SQL or other database management systems.
Final Thoughts
Business intelligence (BI) tools are essential for data analysis and reporting. Free business intelligence tools are very easy to use, however they usually have restricted practicality and quantifiability compared to paid tools.
A paid tool is certainly the whole package – you get access to full practicality, information governance and security, a lot of integration choices, extended collaboration options, dedicated support and coaching.
Whichever tool you choose to go with, make sure it fits into your business needs and processes.
