List of BI tools 2024: select the best Business Intelligence software for your requirements

Author: Daan van Beek
Industry Analyst & BI Tools expert

Table of Contents

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Compare Business Intelligence software objectively

As a driven manager, director or controller you not only want to have good steering information, but also work with the best Business Intelligence tools. You are looking for a solution that is both effective and efficient. At the same time you want the software to be as accurate as possible to the wishes and needs of the users and the IT standards. We carefully researched all the major BI tools on the market and reveal all the (secret) details. Download our BI & Analytics Guide 2024 for more information about our 100% independent research on Business Intelligence software and Business Analytic tools. Take a look at our independent list of BI tools. The information is updated each quarter so you can be sure the information is accurate.

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List of BI Tools for Data Analytics

Click on one of the names to learn more about the BI tools you want to know more about. Or consult the Business Intelligence & Analytics Guide™ 2024 for an objective comparison of all these parties to quickly decide on the best BI tool for your organization. The list of tools is sorted alphabetically. Passionned Group is 100% independent, and therefore in no way affiliated with the vendors of the tools.

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1. Alteryx

Alteryx is widely known for its products Alteryx Designer, Alteryx Server, Alteryx Analytics, Alteryx Connect, and Alteryx Intelligence Suite. The company is 100% specialized in BI & Analytics. Take a look at the images below. The Business Intelligence tools from Alteryx are strong in the following areas, among others:

analytics
generative AI
machine learning
cloud platform
data science
authentication
analysis
text mining
Windows
data preparation

Figure 1: Alteryx Designer

Figure 2: Alteryx Server

Figure 3: Alteryx Analytics

dossier Alteryx

2. DataRobot

DataRobot is widely known for its products DataRobot Artificial Intelligence, DataRobot Core, DataRobot MLOps, DataRobot platform, and DataRobot AutoML. The company is 100% specialized in BI & Analytics. Take a look at the images below. The Business Intelligence tools from DataRobot are strong in the following areas, among others:

generative AI
artificial intelligence
data science
automated machine learning
Python
machine learning models
time series
reporting
analytics

Figure 4: DataRobot Artificial Intelligence

Figure 5: DataRobot Core

Figure 6: DataRobot MLOps

dossier DataRobot

3. Domo

The most well-known products in the area of BI & Analytics of the company Domo are Domo Platform, Domo Data Science, Domo Business Intelligence, Domo Data Visualization, and Domo Mobile. We analyzed and evaluated these BI & Analytics products in depth and meticulously. The Business Intelligence tools from Domo can be characterized by good support on the following topics:

data science
business intelligence
analytics
data visualization
machine learning
dashboards
reporting
real-time data
analysis

Figure 7: Domo Platform

Figure 8: Domo Data Science

Figure 9: Domo Business Intelligence

dossier Domo

4. Dundas

The most well-known products in the area of BI & Analytics of the company Dundas are Dundas Data Visualization, Dundas Dashboard, and Dundas BI Data Flow. We analyzed and evaluated these BI & Analytics products in depth and meticulously. The Business Intelligence tools from Dundas can be characterized by good support on the following topics:

data visualization
dashboards
reporting
analytics platform
analysis
embedded analytics
interactive dashboards
business intelligence platform

Figure 10: Dundas BI

Figure 11: Dundas Data Visualization

Figure 12: Dundas Dashboard

dossier Dundas

5. GoodData

As far as we have been able to ascertain, GoodData currently has only one primary product: GoodData Platform. Take a look at the screen shots below. The Business Intelligence tools from GoodData are strong in the following areas, among others:

dashboards
Slack
data visualization
java
SDK
scalability
CSV
analytics platform
caching

Figure 13: GoodData Platform

Figure 14: GoodData Platform

Figure 15: GoodData Platform

dossier GoodData

6. IBM BI & Analytics

IBM is widely known for its products Cognos Analytics, IBM SPSS, IBM Watson, IBM Infosphere, and Netezza. Take a look at the images below. The Business Intelligence tools from IBM are strong in the following areas, among others:

analytics
analysis
real-time
text analytics
OLAP
natural language processing
business intelligence
predictive analytics
reporting

Figure 16: Cognos Analytics

Figure 17: IBM SPSS

Figure 18: IBM Watson

dossier IBM BI & Analytics

7. Incorta

The most well-known products in the area of BI & Analytics of the company Incorta are Incorta Analytics, and Incorta analyzer. We analyzed and evaluated these BI & Analytics products in depth and meticulously. The Business Intelligence tools from Incorta can be characterized by good support on the following topics:

analytics platform
reporting
dashboards
analysis
data science
data hub
real-time analytics
SDK

Figure 19: Incorta Analytics

Figure 20: Incorta Analytics

Figure 21: Incorta Analytics

dossier Incorta

8. InetSoft

InetSoft is widely known for its products InetSoft Style Intelligence, InetSoft Business Intelligence, InetSoft Data Intelligence, InetSoft Style Studio, and InetSoft Data Cleansing. The company is 100% specialized in BI & Analytics. Take a look at the images below. The Business Intelligence tools from InetSoft are strong in the following areas, among others:

business intelligence
reporting
analytics
dashboards
data visualization
data modeling
analysis
data discovery
big data
cloud computing

Figure 22: InetSoft Style Intelligence

Figure 23: InetSoft Business Intelligence

Figure 24: InetSoft Data Intelligence

dossier InetSoft

9. Infor BI & Analytics

Infor is widely known for its products Infor Birst, Infor BI, Infor Landmark, and Infor Coleman AI. Take a look at the images below. The Business Intelligence tools from Infor are strong in the following areas, among others:

analytics
business intelligence
reporting
dashboards
performance management
IoT
sales analytics
machine learning
analysis
artificial intelligence

Figure 25: Infor Birst

Figure 26: Infor BI

Figure 27: Infor Coleman

dossier Infor BI & Analytics

10. insightssoftware BI & Analytics

The most well-known products in the area of BI & Analytics of the company insightssoftware are Logi Info, Logi Composer, Logi Report Server, Logi Predict, and Logi Report Designer. We analyzed and evaluated these BI & Analytics products in depth and meticulously. The Business Intelligence tools from insightssoftware can be characterized by good support on the following topics:

reporting
predictive analytics
embedded analytics
analytics platform
dashboards
performance management
java
Windows
business intelligence

Figure 28: Logi Info

Figure 29: Logi Composer

Figure 30: Logi Report Server

dossier insightssoftware BI & Analytics

11. Looker

Looker is widely known for its products Looker Studio, Looker API, LookML Dashboards, and Looker Blocks. The company is 100% specialized in BI & Analytics. Take a look at the images below. The Business Intelligence tools from Looker are strong in the following areas, among others:

analytics
dashboards
embedded analytics
business intelligence
web analytics
SQL
Google Analytics
data modeling
analysis
real-time

Figure 31: Looker Studio

Figure 32: LookML

Figure 33: Looker API

dossier Looker

12. Microsoft BI & Analytics

The Business Intelligence tools from the BI & Analytics vendor Microsoft focus on the support of the following functionalities:

SQL
analytics
machine learning
IoT
R
reporting
data mining
threat analytics
analysis
stream analytics

Microsoft serves the market with the following products, among others: Power BI, Microsoft Azure, Microsoft SQL Server, Azure Synapse Analytics, and Azure Stream Analytics (see the images below). We took a closer look at them.

Figure 34: Power BI

Figure 35: Microsoft Azure

Figure 36: Microsoft SQL Server

dossier Microsoft BI & Analytics

13. MicroStrategy

MicroStrategy is widely known for its products MicroStrategy Web, MicroStrategy Intelligence Server, MicroStrategy Analytics, Hyperintelligence, and MicroStrategy Desktop. The company is 100% specialized in BI & Analytics. Take a look at the images below. The Business Intelligence tools from MicroStrategy are strong in the following areas, among others:

analytics
business intelligence
Hadoop Gateway
R integration
dashboards
data mining
embedded analytics
in-memory
analysis

Figure 37: MicroStrategy Web

Figure 38: MicroStrategy Intelligence Server

Figure 39: MicroStrategy Analytics

dossier MicroStrategy

14. Oracle BI & Analytics

The most well-known products in the area of BI & Analytics of the company Oracle are Oracle Database, Oracle Analytics, OBIEE, Oracle Big Data, and Oracle Data Integrator. We analyzed and evaluated these BI & Analytics products in depth and meticulously. The Business Intelligence tools from Oracle can be characterized by good support on the following topics:

analytics
business intelligence
SQL
data quality
R
data mining
analysis
data management
big data appliance

Figure 40: Oracle Database

Figure 41: Oracle Analytics

Figure 42: OBIEE

dossier Oracle BI & Analytics

15. Pyramid Analytics

Pyramid Analytics is widely known for its products Pyramid Analytics, Pyramid Decision Intelligence Platform, Pyramid Data Science Workbench, and Pyramid Smart Insights. The company is 100% specialized in BI & Analytics. Take a look at the images below. The Business Intelligence tools from Pyramid Analytics are strong in the following areas, among others:

analytics
decision intelligence
business intelligence
data science
forecasting
data preparation
Python
data discovery
analysis
repository

Figure 43: Pyramid Analytics

Figure 44: Pyramid Decision Intelligence Platform

Figure 45: Pyramid Data Science Workbench

dossier Pyramid Analytics

16. Qlik

Qlik is widely known for its products QlikView, Qlik Sense Enterprise, Qlik Replicate, and Qlik NPrinting. The company is 100% specialized in BI & Analytics. Take a look at the images below. The Business Intelligence tools from Qlik are strong in the following areas, among others:

analytics
geoanalytics
Windows
reporting
data integration platform
big data
real-time
analysis
SaaS

Figure 46: Qlik Sense

Figure 47: QlikView

Figure 48: Qlik Sense Enterprise

dossier Qlik

17. SAP BI & Analytics

The Business Intelligence tools from the BI & Analytics vendor SAP focus on the support of the following functionalities:

analytics
business intelligence
analysis
dashboards
data management
predictive analytics
reporting
data quality
SQL
machine learning

SAP serves the market with the following products, among others: SAP HANA, SAP BusinessObjects, SAP Analytics Cloud, and SAP BW (see the images below). We took a closer look at them.

Figure 49: SAP HANA

Figure 50: SAP BusinessObjects

Figure 51: SAP Analytics Cloud

dossier SAP BI & Analytics

18. SAS

SAS is widely known for its products SAS Viya, SAS Visual Analytics, Dataflux, SAS/ACCESS, and SAS Enterprise Guide. The company is 100% specialized in BI & Analytics. Take a look at the images below. The Business Intelligence tools from SAS are strong in the following areas, among others:

analytics
visual analytics
data management
forecasting
analysis
data integration
machine learning
data quality
OLAP
customer intelligence

Figure 52: SAS Viya

Figure 53: SAS Visual Analytics

Figure 54: Dataflux

dossier SAS

19. Sisense

Sisense is widely known for its products Elasticube Manager, Sisense Analytics, Sisense ElastiCube, and Sisense Blox. The company is 100% specialized in BI & Analytics. Take a look at the images below. The Business Intelligence tools from Sisense are strong in the following areas, among others:

dashboards
business intelligence
embedded analytics
analytics platform
forecasting
complex data
data mining
machine learning
usage analytics

Figure 55: Elasticube

Figure 56: Elasticube Manager

Figure 57: Sisense Analytics

dossier Sisense

20. Tableau

The most well-known products in the area of BI & Analytics of the company Tableau are Tableau Server, Tableau Desktop, Tableau Online, Tableau Public, and Tableau Cloud. We analyzed and evaluated these BI & Analytics products in depth and meticulously. The Business Intelligence tools from Tableau can be characterized by good support on the following topics:

analytics
data management
analysis
dashboards
embedded analytics
business intelligence
advanced analytics
Salesforce
predictive analytics
Python

Figure 58: Tableau Server

Figure 59: Tableau Desktop

Figure 60: Tableau Online

dossier Tableau

21. ThoughtSpot

ThoughtSpot is widely known for its products SpotIQ, ThoughtSpot Embrace, ThoughtSpot DataFlow, ThoughtSpot mobile, and ThoughtSpot Business Intelligence. The company is 100% specialized in BI & Analytics. Take a look at the images below. The Business Intelligence tools from ThoughtSpot are strong in the following areas, among others:

analysis
business intelligence
analytics platform
natural language
artificial intelligence
in-memory
Android
iOS
cloud data warehouse

Figure 61: SpotIQ

Figure 62: ThoughtSpot Embrace

Figure 63: ThoughtSpot DataFlow

dossier ThoughtSpot

22. TIBCO

TIBCO is widely known for its products TIBCO Spotfire, TIBCO Data Science, TIBCO Data Virtualization, Jasperreports, and TIBCO Analytics. The company is 100% specialized in BI & Analytics. Take a look at the images below. The Business Intelligence tools from TIBCO are strong in the following areas, among others:

analytics
streaming
real-time
data science
data virtualization
analysis
reporting
operations analytics
IoT
MDM

Figure 64: TIBCO Spotfire

Figure 65: TIBCO Data Science

Figure 66: TIBCO Data Virtualization

dossier TIBCO

23. Wyn Enterprise

As far as we have been able to ascertain, Wyn Enterprise currently has only one primary product: Wyn Enterprise Business Intelligence. Take a look at the screen shots below. The Business Intelligence tools from Wyn Enterprise are strong in the following areas, among others:

dashboards
reporting
analytics
enterprise business intelligence
embedded business intelligence
interactive dashboards
analysis
self-service BI
business intelligence platform

Figure 67: Wyn Enterprise Business Intelligence

Figure 68: Wyn Enterprise Business Intelligence

Figure 69: Wyn Enterprise Business Intelligence

dossier Wyn Enterprise

24. Yellowfin

The most well-known products in the area of BI & Analytics of the company Yellowfin are Yellowfin Signals, Yellowfin Suite, Yellowfin Dashboards, Yellowfin SAML Bridge, and Yellowfin Data Discovery. We analyzed and evaluated these BI & Analytics products in depth and meticulously. The Business Intelligence tools from Yellowfin can be characterized by good support on the following topics:

dashboards
business intelligence
analysis
data discovery
reporting
analytics platform
data preparation
data storytelling
data science

Figure 70: Yellowfin Signals

Figure 71: Yellowfin Suite

Figure 72: Yellowfin Dashboards

dossier Yellowfin

25. Zoho BI & Analytics

The most well-known products in the area of BI & Analytics of the company Zoho are Zia, Zoho Databridge, Zoho DataPrep, and Zoho Analytics Server. We analyzed and evaluated these BI & Analytics products in depth and meticulously. The Business Intelligence tools from Zoho can be characterized by good support on the following topics:

analytics
dashboards
data preparation
CRM
Windows
self-service data preparation
self-service BI
business intelligence
analysis
reporting

Figure 73: Zoho Analytics

Figure 74: Zia

Figure 75: Zoho Databridge

dossier Zoho BI & Analytics

What can you expect from Business Intelligence tools?

Business intelligence tools provide organizations with reliable management information and refined insights to improve decision-making and collaboration. These tools provide the means for efficient reporting, in-depth analysis of (large amounts of) data, statistics, analysis and dashboards of the relevant KPIs.

The 7 benefits of Business Intelligence tools:

Provides clear insight into all your business data, external data and big data analytics
Ensures clear visualization and availability of management information
Provides insight into how processes run or go wrong
Empowers users to improve their business processes
When used, improves the overall performance of the organization
Offers perfect support for performance management/decision making
Easy monitoring and clear reporting thanks to intelligent dashboards

Wide range of tools for Business Analytics

In Europe and the US alone, there are more than 20 different BI tools available. They were once developed by mega brands such as Microsoft, Cognos or SAP Business Objects. In addition, there are numerous smaller software developers worldwide who have also built very good business intelligence tools that are suitable for specific industries or different types of BI applications. Not for nothing is the adage: “different tools for different purposes”. Think of parties like Qlik or Tableau Software. Despite the wide choice, finding and selecting the right Business Intelligence tool is often a laborious task. It is quite a job.

The BI & Analytics Guide™ 2024

If you need help choosing the right BI or data science tool for you, the BI & Analytics Guide can help you to quickly arrive at a shortlist and make a final selection. Our BI & Analytics Guide gives you many comparison functionalities. See which vendor excels in which area and compare vendors in just a few clicks.Open the BI & Analytics Guide™

Excel is known as “the most abused BI tool.”

Selecting the wrong tool can have considerable impact on your organization. Companies that are not successful often have a problem with their information infrastructure. The BI tools they are using are not efficiently extracting the desired management information. Excel is the most obvious example and is not known as the most abused BI tool for nothing.

How do you make a good choice that fits your organization?

Define the most important BI tool selection criteria: IT needs and user requirements.
With this list you contact the vendors for the answers (RFI)
Analyze all data from the different Business Intelligence vendors
Start a proof of concept and choose the solution that best fits your requirements

You can skip steps 1 through 3 completely when you purchase our independent BI research. We take care of all the difficult and time consuming preliminary work. You save a lot of valuable time.

Let us help you with your BI tool choice

We know from experience that selecting the right software is a labor-intensive process. We have been helping organizations through this process for more than 15 years, including our powerful assessment tool: the Business Intelligence & Analytics Guide and independent BI consulting.

Select the right BI tool in 7 steps

The 250+ functionalities of Business Intelligence software

Business Intelligence tools come in many different shapes and flavors. Some have excellent reporting functionality and others are great for dashboarding. Others run only on the Windows platform. In our research we compare all these tools on 250+ criteria that are important for achieving the best results with business analytics. So then you don’t need to do this research.

BI tools linked to the decision making process

The Business Intelligence architecture will not be able to produce good results if we cannot link tools to it. This blog provides an overview of the most important Business Intelligence tools (BI Tools) in relation to the decision-making cycle. It also describes the purposes, the features and the workings of these tools.

The decision making process

Each Business Intelligence tool plays a supporting role in one or more phases of the decision-making cycle. The decision-making cycle comprises of the following phases, which can be supported by the following tools (see figure below):

Figure 1: Phases in the decision-making process

1. Collecting information using dashboards and reports

The decision-making cycle starts with gathering the right information: ‘scanning’ the environment (or the internal organization) in order to see if a problem exists. Mainly dashboards and reports are used for this purpose. This first phase should be seen as a ‘wake-up’ moment during which any current or potential deviation from the desired situation is a decision problem. In order to qualify or trace something as a problem, the first phase should – in principle – include (or be preceded by) a process in which we identify our organizational objectives.

2. Designing and analyzing using interactive analysis and data mining

Once a problem is discovered, we know where the issue resides but we do not yet know its exact location or its whys and wherefores. For example: the customer satisfaction indicator on the dashboard flashes. Subsequently, we will want to find out what causes this. We may, for example, use interactive analysis ‘on-the-fly’ to split out customer satisfaction per region, per account manager and, if necessary, per product group.

OLAP

We might also use interactive analysis (OLAP) in order to easily compare the number of complaints with the customer satisfaction in the same region and period. By doing this, we gain insight into the reasons why customers are less satisfied – a recently launched product exhibiting start-up problems, to name a random example. We use data mining – discovering ‘hidden’ relationships – to gain insight into characteristics that are a determining factor for more complex issues such as fraud. In such cases, interactive analysis is not sufficient because we generally lack the required detail data. In addition, the complexity associated with discovering such (causal) relationships is simply a bridge too far for interactive analysis.

Very crucial for strategic decision making

This phase in the decision-making process seems to be crucial for strategic decision-making, because it is during this phase that we determine our entire course in terms of decision-making.

(Mintzberg, 2004)

It is thus important to apply these tools well and to adjust the organization accordingly. This also means that an effective working relationship should arise between managers and analysts so that the intuition and the authority of the managers can go together with the analytical brain of the analyst and with the methods and functionalities available to him (or her).

3. Selecting and implementing using ad hoc query, what-if and forecasting

Once we have established the cause of a problem and we have mapped the (causal) relationships, we can take action – in consultation with managers and stakeholders. Ad hoc query (‘ad hoc’ querying of data sets) can support this. We may for example use ad hoc query to create a detailed set of customers who did not place any orders in the last month, based on the results of the interactive analysis. Subsequently, we can write a letter to the selected customers in which we emphasize the benefits of doing business with us and include some interesting offers. We use ‘what-if’ and forecasting in order to calculate actions in advance. In this way, we gain insight into the impact of our actions before we actually implement them.

4. Evaluating using dashboards and reports

Once we addressed a certain problem by taking action, we use either a dashboard or reports in order to assess whether the problem has indeed been resolved. It may be that the problem reflects a key success factor of the organization, which we did not know about yet. If this is the case, we can place the key success factor – including the associated KPI – on the dashboard or in the report to permanently evaluate it. In this way, it becomes an integral part of the organization’s management model.

Separate components that are hardly related

Relatively many organizations still appear to regard the above-mentioned tools as separate components that are hardly related. For Business Intelligence to be effective, it is however, of the utmost importance that the tools can work together very closely, creating a solid and smoothly operating entity. Users should ideally be able to both use and apply the tools more or less unwittingly in their daily activities. Metadata, web technology and a proper architecture play an important role in achieving this.

Increase the coherence between the BI tools

Additionally, the suppliers of BI tools undertake actions – based on the integral needs expressed by users – to increase the coherence between different tools. Portals are a typical example of this development. However, we cannot start celebrating yet: practice shows that when it comes to integration of different tools within the portal, there is still a lot to be desired. Unfortunately, it also still happens that certain functionalities are present in the desktop version , but have not yet been implemented in the web version.

Need help choosing the right business intelligence tool?

If you need help in the process of selecting the right Business Analytics tool for your company, please feel free to contact us for an appointment or more information.

About Passionned Group

Passionned Group is the specialist in designing and implementing Business Intelligence tools and Data Science. Our passionate BI consultants help large and small organizations transform into an intelligent organization. Every other year we organize the Dutch BI & Data Science Award©, the election of the smartest organization in the Netherlands.