11 Best Business Dashboards Software For Planning And Execution

Businesses of all sizes are using dashboards to manage and leverage data. Instead of being overwhelmed by disparate data, a dashboard allows for data to be carefully curated, combined, and sorted to track specific KPIs or uncover opportunities and trends.

What Is Dashboard Software?

Dashboard software allows businesses to have a centralized app to display and visualize their business data. The data displayed in a business dashboard can come from multiple sources, such as a CRM, accounting software, social media, or other locations.

Generally, business dashboards fall into three main categories although there can be industry and purpose-specific dashboards within these top categories.

a. Operational Dashboards

Operational dashboards are used by businesses to monitor short-term operations within a business. For example, a business may use an operational dashboard to monitor a marketing campaign set to last for six weeks.

The dashboard can give them real-time data on how the campaign is performing and whether or not there are any issues.

b. Strategic Dashboards

Strategic dashboards focus on longer-term goals within an organization. KPIs and other metrics can be followed by executives to ensure that the business is on pace to fulfill its long-term strategic objectives.

These are generally higher-level dashboards used by executives and not by smaller teams within an organization

c. Analytical Dashboards

Analytical dashboards are used by businesses to help them make decisions regarding the future. An analytical dashboard can show if current initiatives are working and whether further investment in that area is warranted.

Organizations use analytical dashboards at the executive level and middle management level when making decisions.

What Can Dashboards Be Used For?

Business dashboards are key components of a business intelligence (BI) strategy. BI can be used by businesses of any size to leverage data to make the business more nimble and reduce wasted efforts.

Many businesses have to deal with an overload of data these days, and a business dashboard helps teams manage that data to ensure it delivers the strategic advantage needed by the business.

What To Look For In A Dashboard Tool For Your Business?

There are a few things to look for to find the right dashboard for your business. Every business is different, so it’s important to use the right criteria that suits your goals.

Easy to use: First and foremost, the dashboard must be intuitive for your team to use. If it’s difficult or unintuitive, your team will find it to be more of a hindrance than a benefit. This means you should fully test a dashboard before committing to it.

Customization: Every department or user won’t need to see the same data visualizations. Customization allows every team to only see the information that’s relevant to their decision-making.

Integrations with your existing data: A dashboard needs to easily import the data your business already has. Integrations with your current software and systems are critical.

Measures KPIs relevant to your goals: Different dashboards can measure different metrics. Determine which KPs and metrics are most important to reach your goals, and then find a dashboard that prioritizes those metrics

Real-time data: Many business goals require real-time monitoring of data. This helps the business react as soon as possible.

Top 11 Dashboard Software in 2024

Below are our top dashboard picks for 2024 to help your business leverage data and implement a solid business intelligence strategy.

1. Tableau

Tableau is a modern BI dashboard tool that is both easy to use and offers some advanced features. Businesses of all sizes can feel comfortable with Tableau’s interface and powerful visualization tools.

Features

• Great visualization features: Tableau offers one of the easiest sets of visualization tools among popular dashboard apps. Many users can jump right in with minimal training and get the reports and data they need.
• Drag & drop interface: A simple drag & drop builder allows users to create deep visualizations with no coding.
• Predictive analytics: Tableau offers built-in predictive stats and analytics without the need for plug-ins or third-party services.
• Tableau Ask Data: This feature allows users to ask data questions in plain language. It is being replaced in 2024 to include features of Large Language Models (LLM) and advanced AI language processing.

Tableau Pros

• Easy to use given how powerful it is
• Can pull data from a large number of sources
• Easily integrates with Salesforce
• Strong mobile support

Tableau Cons

• More advanced users may find the customization options lacking
• It can be expensive to scale for large organizations

Who Is It Best For?

• Tableau is best for smaller organizations that want a dashboard with easy visualization tools and don’t mind if they lack more advanced data manipulation and formatting options.

Pricing

Tableau offers cloud options and an on-premise or self-hosted option. Contact Tableau for custom on-premise pricing.

Creator License: $75 per license (1 creator required per deployment. Includes all features.)

• Tableau Desktop
• Tableau Prep Builder
• One Creator license of Tableau Cloud

Explorer License: $45 per license

• For exploring data

Viewer License: $15 per license

• Allows for viewing and interacting with dashboards

Reviews

• Capterra: 4.6/5 (2.2k+ reviews)
• Software Advice: 4.5/5 (2.2k+ reviews)
• G2: 4.4/5 (1.9k+ reviews)

2. Domo

Domo has leaned heavily into AI recently and has incorporated Open AI’s ChatGTP and Bard into their core feature set. Users can explore their data in a simple question-and-answer format.

However, there are still plenty of powerful data science tools. You can also bring data sets into Python or Jupyter Notebooks for further analysis.

Features

• Easy data modeling using a drag-and-drop interface: Domo has one of the easier data modeling interfaces. New users can be brought on board quickly compared to some other tools.
• Embed your dashboards or reports anywhere: Domo has a solid API for working with datasets and users.
• Real-time dashboards: Schedule dashboards to automatically refresh every 15 minutes. Some federated datasets can refresh faster.

Domo Pros

• Works well for pulling data from disparate sources
• Great visualization tools for business users of all experience levels
• Datasets and data flows have built-in version control
• Dashboards and reports look good when shared on different devices or embedded

Domo Cons

• Some visualization workflows can have quirks specific to Domo, which lengthens the learning curve.
• Simplicity comes at the cost of customization, so be aware of the tradeoff
• More expensive than some other self-service BI tools
• A smaller community of users means fewer resources online when searching for answers

Who Is Domo Best For?

Domo is great for small to medium-sized businesses who want an accessible self-service BI tool. Those looking for strong ETL functionality and connectors along with an easy-to-learn interface will find Domo to be a good choice.

Pricing

Domo has a generous free plan as well as unlimited users for their primary paid plan. Domo users consume credits as they use features, allowing you to budget your usage by only buying the credits you need.

Free Forever Plan: $0/month

• Full features
• Unlimited users
• 300 credits per month

Standard Plan: $300 month

• Full features
• Unlimited users
• 300 credits (add more as needed)
• Tier 1 support
• Free training session

Enterprise and Business Critical Plan: Contact Domo sales

• Assigned account manager
• Discounts on credits
• AWS private link
• HIPAA option

Reviews

• Capterra:2/5 (288 reviews)
• Software Advice:5/5 (282 reviews)
• G2:4/5 (707 reviews)

3. Klipfolio

Klipfolio is an affordable self-service BI dashboard that can be great for small businesses looking for a budget-friendly option. But despite being affordable, Klipfolio still offers strong features found in other more costly dashboards.

Klipfolio also offers over 100 pre-made connectors to further benefit those businesses that may not have the resources to build their own.

Features

• Affordable pricing: Klipfolio is one of the more affordable business dashboards. There is a free version and subscriptions can help lower the risk of using the software.
• Great for a variety of KPIs: Very easy to track KPIs across departments and share results across an organization.
• Strong support: Extensive documentation and resources for those who want to customize.
• White-label option: Agencies and consultations can white-label Klipfolio and offer the service to their clients under their own brand.

Klipfolio Pros

• Extensive built-in connectors
• Strong visualization functions
• Share reports and graphics across sites, devices, and users
• Setting up automation for data tracking is straightforward
• Very affordable and low initial cost for smaller businesses
• Good customer support

Klipfolio Cons

• Large data sets and file sizes can slow the app down
• Some backend customization can be very complicated for those without experience
• Klipfolio uses some of its own terms, which can be confusing for those used to more general data and formula terminology

Who Is Klipfolio Best For?

Klipfolio is best for those who want an affordable self-service business dashboard that still offers powerful features. It can also be a perfect choice for consultants looking to offer a white-label solution to their clients

Pricing

Klipfolio has affordable pricing compared to some other popular BI options. They also offer a generous free plan.

Free Plan: $0/month

• 20 metrics
• 2 users
• Semantic layer integration
• A 30-day trial of advanced features from the paid plans

Standard Plan: $250/month

• Unlimited metrics
• 10 users
• Advances analysis
• Customize dashboard styles
• Downloadable PDF reports
• Published views
• Priority support

Custom Plan: Starts at $800/month

• Everything in the Standard Plan
• Unlimited users
• SSO
• Service level agreement
• Dedicated customer support
• Vendor assessment

Reviews

• Capterra:7/5 (182 reviews)
• Software Advice:5/5 (184 reviews)
• G2:5/5 (252 reviews)

4. Microsoft Power BI

Microsoft already offers a huge ecosystem for business users, and Power BI simply adds to that growth. Power BI is an accessible dashboard that will work perfectly for those businesses already in the Microsoft ecosystem.

Power BI is also leveraging Microsoft’s big investments in AI to improve the capabilities and NLG aspects of its dashboards.

Power BI is an umbrella term and there are several individual products under that banner that businesses can choose from. Some are strictly on-premise, but others are cloud-based SaaS offerings.

Features

• True real-time updating when using Azure: Seamless integration with Azure allows for true real-time updates instead of scheduled updates offered by some other dashboards.
• Beginner-friendly: Despite the pedigree, many Power BI modules are aimed at BI novices so they can quickly get up to speed.
• Generous trial: Power BI has one of the longer trials at 60 days, allowing your team plenty of time to test it.
• Microsoft Data Analysis Expression: A native language within Power BI that also powers other features like SQL server analysis.

Microsoft Power BI Pros

• Immediate integration with other Microsoft business tools
• Good selection of plans and modules to fit your needs and budget
• Competitive pricing considering the Microsoft brand
• Extended trial period

Microsoft Power BI Cons

• Limits on file size and datasets. Larger data sets can cause slow performance
• Limited dashboard and visualization options can lead to bland results
• Advanced reports that combine data require extensive skills

Who Is Microsoft Power BI Best For?

Power BI is best for those already in the Microsoft ecosystem and are looking for dashboard options. It’s also great for those looking for a straightforward BI tool that offers several affordable options.

Pricing

Power BI pricing is relatively straightforward with a free plan that allows you to test most of the features included in the higher tiers.

Free Plan: $0/month

• Included with a free Microsoft Fabric account. Full features but can not share dashboards or reports

Power BI Pro: $10/month per user

• Full features
• Share and publish reports

Power BI Premium: $20/month per user

• Larger model sizes
• More frequent refreshes
• XMLA read/write
• Deployment pipelines

Reviews

• Capterra:6/5 (1.5k+ reviews)
• Software Advice:5/5 (1.5k+ reviews)
• G2:5/5 (1k+ reviews)

5. Databox

Databox tries to simplify the process of creating dashboards and reports. The interface is simple and there are plenty of built-in integrations to get you started regardless of your experience level.

For those who like to drill down into their data, Databox will likely be too restrictive as it aggregates data and then doesn’t let you drill down further.

But for receiving automated reports and tracking KPIs, it’s an easy-to-use solution.

Features

• Plenty of pre-made charts and report templates: Databox offers charts and templates to help you jump-start your dashboard and get it going quickly.
• Scorecards to track KPIs: You can also easily set up alerts and updated scorecards to be sent to your inbox.
• Free version: Databox offers a totally free version, although it is limited. Can be a great option for individuals who have basic needs.
• Create custom metrics: Despite its simplicity and number of templates, you can easily create custom metrics for Databox to track.

Databox Pros

• Easily integrate data from different sources into one report
• Android and iOS apps for viewing and tracking dashboards
• Dashboards are visually appealing and easy to share
• Set automatic alerts for different team members or entire teams

Databox Cons

• Inability to drill down into data
• Limited number of dashboards in the lower-priced tiers
• Updates can sometimes lag behind the actual data, affecting real-time results

Who Is Databox Best For?

Databox is best for those who need to easily combine data from different sources into a single report. Databox lacks the ability to drill down further, but that’s the tradeoff for having easy aggregation.

If you need overviews and snapshots of your metrics and KPIs, then Databox can be the simplest way to go.

Pricing

Databox offers many pricing options, including a free tier.

Free Plan: $0/month

• 3 users
• Data updated daily
• 3 data boards

Starter Plan: $45/month

• 5 users
• Data updated every 4 hours
• Unlimited data boards

Professional Plan: $135/month

• 15 users
• Data updated hourly
• Unlimited data boards
• 300 custom metrics

Growth Plan: $319/month

• Unlimited users
• Data updated hourly
• Unlimited data boards
• 1000 custom metrics

Premium Plan: $799/month

• All features of the above plans plus unlimited custom metrics

Reviews

• Capterra:7/5 (193 reviews)
• Software Advice:7/5 (190 reviews)
• G2:4/5 184 reviews)

6. Zoho Analytics

Zoho Analytics is an approachable BI tool for building sharp-looking charts while still being as user-friendly as possible.

Zoho offers their AI assistant “Zia” which uses NLG and other AI techniques to help you integrate your data sources and set up your dashboards and reports.

Being a Zoho product, it integrates seamlessly with its other business apps, such as its CRM.

Features

• AI Assistant: The Zia AI assistant helps you to set up your integrations and dashboards and can also help you interpret the results.
• Great looking visualization tools: Zoho allows you to build sharp dashboards and there are plenty of customization options to fit your data.
• Easy to use: Many processes like data splitting, cleaning, or margins are made easy with Zoho’s built-in assistants and templates.
• Permission controls: Easily control how users can access different data or dashboards.

Zoho Analytics Pros

• Some complex tasks are relatively easy to complete compared to other BI tools
• Sharp visualization tools and options
• Zia assistant comes in handy and works well for most general tasks
• Adapts well to both basic users and more advanced situations
• Available free plan

Zoho Analytics Cons

• Support can be slow to respond, which is not good for such a complex tool
• The free plan has no integrations
• Limited custom fields when creating dashboards

Who Is Zoho Analytics Best For?

Zoho is best for those already in the Zoho ecosystem or for those looking for an affordable dashboard tool that makes complex data tasks a bit easier.

The free plan is also great for individual users who may find exactly what they need for basic dashboards and KPI tracking.

Pricing

Zoho offers a cloud option and an on-premise option, both with different price structures.

Cloud Basic: $24/month

• 2 users
• .5 million rows

Cloud Standard: $48/month

• 5 users
• 1 million rows

Cloud Premium: $115/month

• 15 users
• 5 million rows

Cloud Enterprise: $455/month

• 50 users
• 50 million rows

On-Premise Free Plan: $0/month

• 1 user
• 10k rows
• 5 workspaces

On-Premise Professional Plan: $30/month

• Add as many users as needed ($8-$10 each)
• Unlimited rows and workspaces

Reviews

• Capterra:4/5 (290 reviews)
• Software Advice:5/5 (287 reviews)
• G2:2/5 (297 reviews)

7. Sisense

People seem to love or hate Sisense, so reviews can be mixed on this analytical tool. Much of the confusion revolves around the size of the business and the growth state of the business where it’s being used.

Sisense works best with newer, high-growth companies. Sisense allows for teams to quickly make changes to their BI strategy and implementation. Other tools designed for more stable companies can take much more time to quickly change directions.

Features

• Embed dashboards and analytics: Sisens puts a high priority on being able to embed their tools in many different ways. Other products offer this, but Sisense puts a priority on this ability.
• Branding Options: Sisense offers robust branding features to make the product feel like your own. Perfect for consultants in fast-moving industries or when working with startups.
• Quickly develop predictive insights: Sisense offers ML and AI tools to quickly create data products. Sisense focuses on speed and the ability to create dashboards and products without getting bogged down.

Sisense Pros

• Works well with high-growth companies
• Strong embedding options
• Branding is a top priority
• Setup is fast without the need for a data model

Sisense Cons

• Enterprise-sized datasets can become laggy
• Inefficient use of server resources
• Lacks some basic visualization formatting options

Who Is Sisense Best For?

Sisense is best for teams that need fast deployment. It’s also great for high-growth companies or startups that need to adapt on the fly as products and delivery change. Established companies looking for insights into their past data may find Sisense to be lacking.

Pricing

Sisense only offers custom pricing and does not disclose its pricing publicly. Contact Sisense via their website for a free quote.

Reviews

• Capterra:5/5 (377 reviews)
• Software Advice:4/5 (375 reviews)
• G2: 4.3/5 (831 reviews)

8. Amazon QuickSight

Coming from Amazon, Quicksite is a newer player in the BI market but it offers some options for a specific niche of user.

Its dashboard features are relatively basic compared to most other tools, but it does handle large data sets more efficiently than almost any other service.

Being an AWS product, it integrates perfectly with other Amazon cloud services or products your team may use.

Features

• Easy embedding: Quickly embed your dashboards almost anywhere, including apps or portals. Often it only requires a few clicks and no coding is required.
• Fast response: AWS architecture helps to make Quicksight extremely efficient with large data sets. When other tools start to lag, QuickSight will still be very responsive.
• Scalable: Due to its ability to handle larger datasets, QuickSights can scale well.
• Integrations: QuickSight has a host of integrations for a large number of data sources.

AWS QuickSight Pros

• Easy to set up
• Integration with other AWS services
• Attractive pricing options
• Current AWS users simply need to sign in

AWS QuickSight Cons

• Visualization tools are very basic
• Menus and users are handled differently than other AWS services
• Support can be very slow
• Only certain analytics can be easily embedded

Who Is AWS QuickSight Best For?

AWS QuickSight is best for businesses already using AWS or for those who are more concerned with high performance with large data sets. Businesses that are looking for a highly customized visualization option will likely not be happy with AWS QuickSight.

Pricing

AWS Quicksight offers a free trial but no free version. Pricing for viewers is based on capacity along with overage charges.

Author: $28/month per user

• Create and explore data utilizing the full feature set

Reader: $.30/session up to $10/month for each Reader

• Read reports and interact with dashboards

Reviews

• Capterra:3/5 (41 reviews)
• Software Advice:5/5 (41 reviews)
• G2:3/5 (342 reviews)

9. Qlik Sense

Qlik Sense specializes in offering more analytical options than some of its competitors. Qlik also looks to set itself apart by offering stronger self-service visualization options so teams can create their own interactive charts and graphs.

Overall, Qlik mostly delivers on these promises. Its price may be prohibitive for larger businesses with many users since other similar options can be found for roughly half the cost. However, for smaller businesses looking for strong analytical tools combined with inviting self-service options, Qlik is worth considering.

Features

• Powerful analytics: Qlik offers advanced analytics so it can adapt to many different industries and custom requirements.
• Interactive dashboards: All dashboards created are immediately interactive.
• Open APIs: You can easily build custom apps and embed solutions just about anywhere you want.
• Conversational search: Qlik offers natural language processing so you can search data via conversational prompts.

Qlik Pros

• Teams without data experience can use its self-service options to start building their own visualizations
• Strong mobile apps for viewing and interacting with graphs and charts
• Set up custom alerts to send emails or messages when certain metrics change
• Powerful search features make working with data easier for different teams across your organization

Qlik Cons

• Complex data sets can tax resources, causing slow performance
• Pricing structure can get expensive depending on add-ons
• Visualization tools are easy to use but don’t look as good as some competitors

Who Is Qlik Best For?

If teams within your organization need an approachable way to start working with their own data, Qlik can be the right choice. It also offers more analytical options and flexibility than several of its competitors.

The pricing is a bit of a sticking point, but if it fits your needs, it’s worth it.

Pricing

Standard Plan: $20/month per user (10 user minimum)

• Includes baseline capabilities
• Interactive data visualizations and dashboards
• Augmented analytics with advanced AI
• Share and collaborate with your team
• 24×7 critical customer support
• Digital onboarding

Premium Plan: $2700/month (includes 10 users)

• Everything in the Standard Plan
• Automated report compilation and delivery
• Connect additional data sources (cloud, SAP, mainframe, & legacy)
• Predictive analytics with automated machine learning
• No-code automation builder triggers dynamic actions across systems
• Enterprise-grade data governance
• Guided customer success onboarding

Enterprise Plan: Contact Qlik for pricing

• Added flexibility to govern data and apps
• Larger max data set (app) sizes
• Enterprise performance and scalability
• Volume discounts available
• Personalized customer success plan & onboarding

Reviews

• Capterra:4/5 (250 reviews)
• Software Advice:5/5 (250 reviews)
• G2:5/5 (662 reviews)

10. Looker

When it comes to data, everyone knows Google. Looker Studio is Google’s visualization and data tool and it offers an easy-to-use interface and free version common with many of Google’s products.

However, the paid licenses can be rather expensive. But smaller teams that need an approachable analytics tool may find Looker Studio to be a great option.

Features

• Integration with Google apps: Looker Studio works perfectly with Google Sheets and their other relevant apps.
• Integrations: Looker has built-in integrations for over 50 data sources already built-in.
• Social media connections: Perfect for marketing metrics as Looker easily plugs into the most popular social media platforms to capture data

Looker Pros

• Generous free plan
• Works well with Google Sheets
• New users just need to log in with their Google account
• Strong self-service visualization tools that are easy to use

Looker Cons

• Paid licenses can get expensive
• Charts and graphs can look boring
• Support can be unresponsive, leaving you to rely on the documentation

Who Is Looker Best For?

For those who want to upgrade from Google Sheets, Looker is an obvious choice. It also offers great self-service features and for businesses on a budget, the free version may be all you need.

Pricing

Looker offers both platform and user-based pricing. For consistency, user-pricing is listed below. Platform pricing starts at $5,000 per month for the standard edition.

Developer: $125/month

• Access to full features of Looker

Standard User: $60/month

• Standard users have access to the following features:
• Folders
• Boards
• Dashboards
• Looks (individual reports & charts)
• Explorer
• SQL Runner and Scheduling Looker interfaces

Viewer User: $30/month

• Folders
• Boards
• Dashboards
• Looks (individual reports & charts) Looker interfaces

Reviews

• Capterra:5/5 (226 reviews)
• Software Advice:5/5 (226 reviews)
• G2:4/5 (411 reviews)

11. Thoughtspot

Thoughtspot really caters to the non-data expert crowd and has been heavily leaning into AI assistants and others to expand on that front.

Non-technical teams can be shown how to start using their data relatively quickly and without a steep learning curve. This makes the self-service options one of the best on this list, especially for teams not usually entrenched in data science.

The only issue is Thoughtspot is somewhat new and users report the occasional bug, which can be annoying.

Features

• Liveboards: Thoughtspot’s liveboards offer enhanced interactivity to create powerful data stories.
• Natural language queries: Thoughtspot is focusing on AI technology to help people interact with their products through natural language. Even drilling down into data can be done with natural language.
• Predictive and advanced analytics: Despite being focused on ease of use, Thoughtspot still offers powerful data tools for predictive and advanced analytics.

Thoughtspot Pros

• Approachable for non-technical teams
• Search-based interfaced for building dashboards
• Real-time visualizations
• AI assistants and search are constantly improving

Thoughtspot Cons

• Can be buggy
• Newer compared to other options and some features are still being fleshed out
• Graphs can lack options
• Searches sometimes take too long

Who Is Thoughtspot Best For?

If other data tools have scared off your team from taking advantage of self-service options, then check out Thoughtspot. It’s very fast to set up and non-technical teams can be brought up to speed quickly and start building their own visualizations.

Just be aware that it is a relatively newer product and there may be some growing pains.

Pricing

Team Plan: $95/month (5 users)

• Up to 5 million rows of data
• 1 permission group
• 1 organization
• Natural language search
• In-app and community-based support

Essentials Plan: $1250/month (20 users)

• Up to 25 million rows of data
• 5 permission groups
• 1 organization
• Natural language search
• Automated Insights
• In-app and community-based support
• Row-level security

*Contact Thoughtspot for custom pricing on Enterprise plans if you require additional or unlimited users.

Reviews

• Capterra:3/5 (3 reviews)
• Software Advice: 3/5 (5 reviews)
• G2: 4/5 (269 reviews)

Tips For Choosing The Best Project Dashboard Software For Your Business And Team

Below are some tips to help you choose the business dashboard that will offer your business the most utility at the lowest cost possible.

a. Define Your Goals

Before your search, clearly define what the goal of the implementation is. Is it to provide insights for executives or do you need individual teams to start working with their own data?

Each goal can mean a different tool may be appropriate for each situation

b. Know Your Metrics

You’ll also want to know exactly which KPIs or other metrics you need to track. Some tools work better with certain KPIs or industries.

c. Choose The Right Dashboard

Earlier we defined the three main categories of dashboards as operational, strategic, and analytical. Depending on your business goals, you will want to choose the dashboard that fits best.

Finally, always take advantage of the free trials or free plans. These are crucial for deciding which software option will work best for you. If possible, try to bring in stakeholders or team members to get their input as well during the decision process.

By following those tips, you should be able to find the right business dashboard that helps your team make faster decisions and be more competitive in the marketplace.