Best Visual Analytics Tools Shortlist
Check out my list of the top 12 visual analytics tools — with a few bonus options added in.
- Geckoboard - Best for using visual analytics to support KPI dashboards
- Infogram - Best for creating engaging infographics and reports in just a few minutes
- Databox - Best for tracking performance from any device anywhere
- GoodData - Best for leveraging cloud BI and artificial intelligence for analytics
- ChartBlocks - Best for controlling every aspect of your data visualization with custom options
- Klipfolio - Best for connecting all your data sources to one visual analytics tool
- Cyfe - Best for creating all-in-one business dashboards
- Exago BI - Best for building reports and dashboards in Excel
- Datawrapper - Best for replacing static reports with interactive presentations
- Grow BI - Best for democratizing data with BI software
- Grapher - Best for use by scientists and engineers
- Easy Insight - Best for two-way reports that strive to improve productivity
When you need to provide your business analytics team with tools specifically designed to help them spot new patterns in your business data, visual analytics tools are the solution — not just dashboards. While dashboards can help provide pre-built and minimally interactive data to present role-specific metrics, visual analytics tools target highly interactive, free-form data analysis that can blend and link data from different sources.
In fact, visual analytics tools like the ones on my list can serve to enhance your analytics processes by circumventing SQL requirements to simplify the manipulation of available data sets through drag-and-drop or point-and-click functionalities. So which tools are the best for your needs? Find out when you explore my breakdown.
What Are Visual Analytics Tools?
Visual analytics tools are a category of software that provide non-technical users with the ability to visualize data. Instead of writing queries in a programming language like SQL, an analytics team can combine data sets with an image-based interface for self-service BI where you can blend data from multiple sources, clean and prep data, and process huge data sets more easily.
Overviews of the 12 Best Visual Analytics Tools
You can start your hunt for a visual analytics tool with an overview of my recommendations that includes a summary, some of the outstanding features from each tool, the most common integrations, a pricing breakdown, and a few pros and cons.
1. Geckoboard - Best for using visual analytics to support KPI dashboards
This analytics platform is designed to help your managers and team leads surface live data for their team and share it across the entire organization. You can build visualizations directly in your dashboard using a drag-and-drop interface to highlight the essentials with bar charts, infographics, and other interactive visualizations.
Why I picked Geckoboard: The platform made my list because of its sharing features, including the ability to share dashboards directly to Slack or to other devices. Automate KPI reports for your remote team that regularly posts to your Slack channels or sends your data to the big screen for in-office updates and meetings.
Geckoboard Standout Features and Integrations
Standout features include customizable dashboards for reporting by team or department, ad hoc analysis that pulls information from a variety of data sources, and visual analytics with charts, graphs, and maps.
Integrations include ActiveCampaign, Asana, Campaign Monitor, Dixa, Freshdesk, Google AdSense, Highrise, Intercom, monday.com, and Pipedrive. Geckoboard has over 80 pre-built integrations.
Pricing One-Liner: From $49/month
Free Trial One-Liner: 14-day free trial available
Pros
- Implementation and launch in just a few minutes
- Huge list of built-in integration options
- Robust tutorials and customer support
Cons
- Cost is higher than other similar platforms
- Limited visualization template options
2. Infogram - Best for creating engaging infographics and reports in just a few minutes
As a web-based infographic creation tool, Infogram focuses on data visualization through interactive dashboards, graphics, reports, and content that strives to drive more traffic to your site. With a lightweight editor, you can customize everything about your data visualizations, including style, color, logos, and display options, as well as royalty-free images, GIFs, and icon usage.
Why I picked Infogram: I like this tool because it’s the solution with the most templates available for easy insertion. Infogram has over 550 maps, 35 charts, and 20 pre-built design templates, images, and icons for drag-and-drop editing. Combine these templates with data from multiple sources, and you can get results directly in the editor through native integrations, cloud services, and spreadsheet uploads.
Infogram Standout Features and Integrations
Standout features include drag-and-drop editing format to simplify interactive chart and graphic creation, live data feeds that update your visualizations in real-time with no manual work needed, and simplified publishing to your website or social media channels through AMP, Medium Stories, or CMS.
Integrations include Brandcast, Dropbox, Genially, Giphy, Google Drive, Google Sheets, JSON feed, Microsoft OneDrive, MySQL, and YouTube.
Pricing One-Liner: From $25/month
Free Trial One-Liner: Free plan available
Pros
- Massive selection of templates
- Customizable themes for any industry or purpose
- Very user-friendly with a short learning curve
Cons
- Not ideal for printed media
- No offline functionality or features
3. Databox - Best for tracking performance from any device anywhere
This cloud-based analytics platform is designed to deliver custom analytics dashboards that incorporate data from a variety of sources that can be viewed on any device. Use Databox to design and build KPI dashboards with a drag-and-drop editor, customize views by adding unique metrics and visualizations, and control user access through permissions and IP addresses.
Why I picked Databox: One of the coolest features from this platform is the custom metrics builder. With this tool, you can get a more granular view of company performance without any data exploration or manipulation. Define the dimensions and filters you care about for more specific reports without any query languages like Javascript.
Databox Standout Features and Integrations
Standout features include dashboard designer for custom visualizations that pulls data from your tech ecosystem, code-free data calculations for conversion rates and ROI, and KPI scorecards that keep your team informed through push notifications, email, and Slack.
Integrations include Ahrefs, Facebook Pages, Google Analytics 4, HubSpot CRM, Mailchimp, Salesforce Sales Cloud, Shopify, Snapchat Ads, TikTok Ads, and YouTube.
Pricing One-Liner: From $59/month
Free Trial One-Liner: Free plan available
Pros
- Friendly and intuitive user interface
- Very easy to set up
- Accessible and knowledgeable customer support
Cons
- Limited analytics capabilities and reporting
- Limited customization for dashboard layout
4. GoodData - Best for leveraging cloud BI and artificial intelligence for analytics
No HTML knowledge needed when using this visual analytics platform. With GoodData, you get cloud-based business intelligence and analytics that provides real-time insights and the ability to deploy custom-built dashboards across private, public, and hybrid cloud environments to ensure more flexibility for client-facing organizations.
Why I picked GoodData: This tool caught my eye because you can augment your analytics to ensure a better user experience through custom ML and AI capabilities, including natural language chatbots or query that uses GoodData’s open-source SDKs to make data more approachable and accessible for everyone.
GoodData Standout Features and Integrations
Standout features include premium data security including HIPAA, SOC 2, GDPR, CCPA, and ISO 27001 and developer features including SDKs, declarative definitions, and integration with CI/CD pipelines.
Integrations include Accesso ShoWare, Clever Maps, Fat Finger, Influitive, PostgreSQL, Salesforce Sales Cloud, Snowflake, Spoke Phone, Totango, and Trakstar Learn.
Pricing One-Liner: From $1,000/month
Free Trial One-Liner: 30-day free trial available
Pros
- No coding needed, but technical features are available
- Easy to navigate and use
- Data refreshes every 15 minutes
Cons
- Pricing may be high for smaller businesses
- Limited tutorials for learning advanced features
5. ChartBlocks - Best for controlling every aspect of your data visualization with custom options
This web-based visual analytics tool is designed to empower your team to easily import data, create customized charts, and share their data visualizations throughout the entire organization. With various import options, including spreadsheets, manual entry, and databases, as well as hundreds of design pre-sets, ChartBlocks helps you quickly visualize your data to tell a story.
Why I picked ChartBlocks: I think this tool deserves a spot on my list because of the plethora of available customizations. With ChartBlocks you can optimize your data and find the best way to visualize it through dozens of graphs and charts and hundreds of single-click pre-sets. Choose from line graphs, scatter plots, heat maps, and histograms to bring your data to life.
ChartBlocks Standout Features and Integrations
Standout features include chart sharing tools through embedding on websites or social media posting, chart exporting as editable vector graphics to optimize them for presentations and printing, and no-code building with point-and-click functionality.
Integrations include Bit.ai, Ceros, Confluence, Facebook, Pinterest, Turtl, and Twitter. ChartBlocks also has an API for additional integrations.
Pricing One-Liner: From $8/month
Free Trial One-Liner: Free plan available
Pros
- Easy to import or upload data
- Editable and reconfigurable charts
- Free version is available
Cons
- Not ideal for big data uploads
- Low export quality for cheaper plans
6. Klipfolio - Best for connecting all your data sources to one visual analytics tool
As a metric-centric BI and analytics platform, Klipfolio prioritizes getting your data centralized in one place through versatile, flexible integrations. Once your data is on Klipfolio, you can use data preparation, cleaning, and visualization tools to develop custom dashboards and reports to keep your team informed and motivated.
Why I picked Klipfolio: This visual analytics tool deserves a spot on my list because of the PowerMetrics feature. This self-serve tool encourages teams to explore and track their business data, instantly segmenting and filtering the information in a way that provides more actionable insights. You can also preserve your historical data for better forecasting and trend spotting.
Klipfolio Standout Features and Integrations
Standout features include custom metric creation for instant calculations, continual data updates using your data feeds, and a metric warehouse for data storage, accessibility, and management.
Integrations include Google Drive, HubSpot CRM, Intercom, Intuitive, Jira, LiveAgent, Mailchimp, Microsoft Excel, Slack, and Trello. Klipfolio has pre-built connectors and REST API integrations, as well as connection for spreadsheets, JSON files, and SQL databases.
Pricing One-Liner: From $125/month
Free Trial One-Liner: Free plan available
Pros
- Very user-friendly interface
- Easy connections and integrations
- Simple to set up and implement
Cons
- Data refresh rates based on tiered pricing
- Free plan has a lot of limitations
7. Cyfe - Best for creating all-in-one business dashboards
This visual analytics tool strives be your comprehensive dashboard app for monitoring and analyzing data from disparate sources in one single location. You can use the various tools from Cyfe to develop dashboards for every purpose, including focusing on clients, web analytics, social media, and marketing.
Why I picked Cyfe: One cool feature from this platform is the Starter Dashboard, where you can get set up in just a few minutes. With this type of dashboard you configure pre-populated widgets that automatically pull data and build your dashboard for you. You can then update and edit the dashboard to better fit your needs.
Cyfe Standout Features and Integrations
Standout features include pre-built widgets that pull data from other popular tech tools, automated report creation and notifications, and historical data management for reliable storage and reference.
Integrations include Facebook, Google Ads, Google Analytics, Mailchimp, PayPal, Salesforce Sales Cloud, Slack, Trello, Twitter, and WordPress.
Pricing One-Liner: From $19/month
Free Trial One-Liner: 14-day free trial available
Pros
- One-click widget creation
- Massive amount of integration options
- Simple and straightforward to use
Cons
- Limited reporting customization options
- No mobile application, desktop only
8. Exago BI - Best for building reports and dashboards in Excel
As a cloud-based business intelligence tool, Exago BI offers a comprehensive platform for data analysis and visualization through ad hoc reporting, interactive visualizations, and dashboard creation. Using this platform, you can design custom reports with embedded maps, charts, graphs, and tables to help you combine operational reporting with dashboards and visualizations.
Why I picked Exago BI: One of the unique features from this platform is the ability to create your dashboards directly in Excel. Analyze your metrics without needing access to the data structure in your ERP. Simply drag the data you want to analyze and create dashboards when you drop it into Excel.
Exago BI Standout Features and Integrations
Standout features include access through mobile devices, on the web, and in Excel, Logi Symphony for embedded analytics in any dashboard, and dashboard building directly in Excel.
Integrations include 24SevenOffice, Accounting CS, Blackbaud, CDK Global, Datatel, Emphasys, HCS, IBM Cognos TM1, JobBOSS, and Mapics.
Pricing One-Liner: Pricing available upon request
Free Trial One-Liner: Free demo available
Pros
- Robust tutorials and guides
- Knowledgeable customer support team
- Massive add-on library for additional tools
Cons
- Pretty intense learning curve
- Visualization-only tool with limited analytics capabilities
9. Datawrapper - Best for replacing static reports with interactive presentations
This visual reporting tool provides you with a way to enrich your reports through interactive, responsive visualizations with single-click functionality. Datawrapper helps you showcase your data using beautiful maps, tables, and charts that improve all web-based reports.
Why I picked Datawrapper: This tool made my list because it provides you with unprecedented control over your branding. Once you integrate your company style and aesthetic into the design of your templated graphics, everyone on your team can create tables and charts that represent your company more cohesively.
Datawrapper Standout Features and Integrations
Standout features include white label brand design for more control over your branding, live data feeds to keep up with your sources, and interactive presentations that allow you to zoom, hover, and highlight.
Integrations include Microsoft Powerpoint, Slack, and Teams. Datawrapper also has an API that’s designed to be used in server-side scripts to integrate with your CMS and programmatically interface with your charts, graphs, and maps.
Pricing One-Liner: from $599/month
Free Trial One-Liner: Free plan available
Pros
- Quick and simple visualization templates
- Responsive designs for mobile, tablet, and desktop
- Robust customizable branding options
Cons
- Limited native connection options
- Some design and editing features are clunky
10. Grow BI - Best for democratizing data with BI software
Grow BI is an analytics and visualization platform that uses full-stack BI to empower everyone on your team to make data-based decisions. This tool combines ETL, visualizations, and data warehousing into one platform that helps your organization connect, explore, and experiment with data to surface new insights that encourage everyone to take action.
Why I picked Grow BI: The unique thing about this tool is its pricing model. Most of the software options on this list limit the number of users that have access based on a user-licensing model. With Grow BI, you have unlimited user licensing that provides access to your entire organization so nobody needs to wait on a data analyst for information.
Grow BI Standout Features and Integrations
Standout features include interactive visualizations for dashboards and reporting, point and click tools that eliminate the need for SQL queries, and automated data pipelines that refresh your data on a schedule.
Integrations include Dropbox, Facebook Ads, Google Analytics, Google Sheets, HubSpot CRM, Instagram, MySQL, QuickBooks Online, Salesforce Sales Cloud, and Stripe. Grow BI offers native integrations for over 40 apps.
Pricing One-Liner: Customized pricing available upon request
Free Trial One-Liner: Free trial available
Pros
- Easy to use features and functionality
- Digestible data bites for dashboards and reports
- Lots of native integration options
Cons
- No storytelling or insight features
- Limited export capabilities
11. Grapher - Best for use by scientists and engineers
As a full-function graphic application, Grapher is designed for use by data scientists and engineers who care deeply about the visual quality of their final charts. With over 80 graph types, you can transform your data with graphs that include titles, labels, legends, magnifiers, and statistical reports where every aspect of your graph is customizable.
Why I picked Grapher: I added this platform to my list because it encourages you to dive deeper into your data insights with statistical tools that allow you to apply confidence intervals, insert custom or pre-defined fit curves, include error bars, display statistical reports, and perform calculations with raw data to help you find new opportunities and trends.
Grapher Standout Features and Integrations
Standout features include 80 different graph types, including 2D and 3D options, statistical tools that provide more insights, and customizable graphs with access to axis parameters, legends, and fit curves.
Integrations include Microsoft Office. Grapher can also natively read multiple file formats, including DBF, ACCDB, and XLSX.
Pricing One-Liner: From $50/user/month
Free Trial One-Liner: 14-day free trial available
Pros
- Easy to learn and use
- Can handle large data sets
- Well-developed user interface
Cons
- Primarily designed for Windows OS
- Limited advanced statistical capabilities
12. Easy Insight - Best for two-way reports that strive to improve productivity
As a visual analytics tool that prioritizes two-way communication, Easy Insight is designed to track key metrics across your entire organization to help drive goals forward. You can connect with a massive range of SaaS applications with just a few clicks and use prebuilt dashboards to help you see your data right away — no coding necessary.
Why I picked Easy Insight: A feature that made me add this tool to my list is the focus on two-way reporting and communication. All of your SaaS data integrates directly into reports in real time so you can filter down tasks throughout multiple projects and pipelines for more accuracy and faster decision-making.
Easy Insight Standout Features and Integrations
Standout features include embedded analytics on custom dashboards, prebuilt dashboard templates, and custom reports with your choice of bars, graphs, maps, and charts.
Integrations include Asana, Basecamp, Cin7, Jira, Katana, Mailchimp, Salesforce Sales Cloud, SurveyMonkey, Trello, and Xero.
Pricing One-Liner: From $49/month
Free Trial One-Liner: 14-day free trial
Pros
- User-friendly interface
- Seamless data integration
- Responsive customer support
Cons
- Number of SaaS connections limited by plan type
- Limited formatting functionality for dashboards
Other Options
While my list is already pretty comprehensive, I couldn’t finish this article without mentioning at least a couple more. Check out a few other visual analytics tools that may be the right fit for you.
- iDashboards - Best for onsite and cloud-based versatility to customize data management
- Panintelligence pi - Best for expanding ARR through embedded analytics designed for SaaS needs
- Tableau Desktop - Best for transparent pricing plans that help you better target the needs of your organization
- Toucan Toco - Best for customer-facing data storytelling that’s readable for inexperienced users
- Visme - Best all-in-one platform for data visualizations, document management, and presentations
- Zoho Analytics - Best for aggregating data from any number of integrations — from the most common to the most obscure
- Spotfire - Best for analyzing data at-rest and in-motion to predict and track trends via embedded analytics
- Qlik - Best visual analytics tool for leveraging traditional and generative AI to get the most out of both
Selection Criteria For Visual Analytics Tools
Here’s a short summary of the main selection and evaluation criteria I used to build my list of the best visual analytics tools for this article:
Core Functionality
The best visual analytics tools, including the ones on my list, must have certain core functionalities to deliver the insights and value you need. As you research the data analytics and Business Intelligence tools that work for you, make sure they can do the following:
- Visual interface that doesn’t require SQL clauses
- Simplified chart and report creation
- Enhanced sharing and collaboration
- Connections that allow for data blending
- Data cleaning, preparation, and management
Key Features
To ensure the functionalities above, you’ll see that many of the tools on my list have the same features, including:
- No-code interface: These platforms will offer drag-and-drop or point-and-click editing gestures for data manipulation.
- Chart template library: You can pull charts, graphs, and maps from a selection of themes for presentations.
- Multi-user licensing: Paying per user will allow many people throughout your organization to see and access visualizations.
- Data cleanup: This tool will automatically normalize fields and remove trailing spaces to prep your data for analysis.
- Data cache in memory: Process data via RAM instead of writing it to disk for faster processing of large data sets.
Usability
Because you already have so many digital tools, adding one more to your tech stack shouldn’t be a hassle. I prioritized tools that had simple (or guided) implementation, a low barrier for entry, and intuitive navigation. Some tools have other standout usability features, like robust online training, outstanding customer support, or an involved and knowledgeable user community.
Software Integrations
I’ve already talked about some of the essential features for your data visualization tools, but I haven’t mentioned integrations. This is a critical aspect of visual analytics tools because you need to pull data from as many sources as possible to ensure accuracy in real time. I’ve listed the most popular integrations for each platform to help you see whether it will work with what you already have.
Pricing
There is a lot of variation in the performance of visual analytics tools, so pricing has quite a range as well. Some tools have user-based subscription pricing, while others offer limitless users for a high monthly fee. You can expect user-based pricing to range between $20 and $200 per month, and unlimited user-based pricing to range between $400 and $1,500 per month.
People Also Ask
Still trying to wrap your head around all the business intelligence platform options? Let’s break it down a little with some answers to the most frequently asked questions.
What are the benefits of visual analytics tools?
Who uses visual analytics tools?
What are the three types of data visualization tools?
Other Revenue Operations Software
Do you still need a few other revenue operations apps to round out your tech stack? Check out these platform breakdowns to find other key tools:
- Sales Analytics Software
- Predictive Analytics Software
- Data Visualization Software
- Cloud BI Tools
- Strategic Planning Software
- Sales Forecasting Software
What’s Next
If you’ve found a few tools on my list that seem like they would integrate well with your workflow, it’s time to test them out with free trials and demos if available. Put these platforms through their paces to see if they can deliver enhanced performance and encourage data-driven decision-making throughout your organization.
And if you’re looking for more revops insights, sign up for our newsletter to get the latest from industry insiders straight to your inbox.