10 best business intelligence software tools to consider in 2025

In today’s fast-paced world, data is more than just numbers; it's the key to understanding, adapting, and thriving. To uncover the valuable insights concealed within data, businesses turn to business intelligence (BI) tools. 

BI tools are software applications that collect, analyze, and visualize data from multiple sources, empowering data-driven decision-making. However, they have evolved to include advanced features and functionalities, such as data mining, interactive data visualization, performance management, natural language search, and predictive analytics. BI tools provide advantages like real-time visibility into performance across the company, instant anomaly detection for rapid response to changes, and predictive analysis for sales and performance forecasting.

Table of contents:

Now, let's take a look at the top 10 BI tools in detail so you can find the solution that’s best for your business.

Let's cut to the chase: our entire team and a growing list of world-class customers use ThoughtSpot to find insights and make strategic business decisions with their data. Recognized as a leader in the 2024 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Analytics and BI, ThoughtSpot stands out for its true self-service analytics experience that empowers everyone to find insights on their own and dig deeper—without needing constant support from the data team.

Instead of analyzing data on static business intelligence software, ThoughtSpot offers interactive Liveboards and augmented analytics features that allow you to track KPIs in real-time, identify hidden trends, drill into specific searches, and create engaging data stories. Additionally, you have granular control over data security with a centralized governance system and a human-in-the-loop feedback system that prevents unauthorized access and improves transparency.

Leading companies like HP, Odido, and Chick-fil-A rely on ThoughtSpot to empower everyone—from business teams to data leaders—to access data-driven insights instantly. Its user-friendliness and powerful analytics capabilities make it an essential asset for businesses aiming to become more data-driven.

Core features

1. GenAI-powered self-service analytics

With Spotter, as your dedicated AI Analyst, you can interact with data on your terms. Anyone can simply ask complex business questions in natural language (like “What were our sales last month?”)  and gain instant insights within seconds. This conversational AI experience employs a familiar interface that allows business users to ask follow-up questions, dig into any AI-generated answer, and share insights to drive positive outcomes across teams and departments. 

2. Interactive data visualization

Unlike dashboards with outdated insights, our Liveboards allow you to represent your data in a valuable, contextual, and actionable way.  You can create your own visualizations, apply filters, drill down into data, and see updates instantly—even on the go. Whether it is tracking employee performance or creating an engaging data story for stakeholders, you can leverage Liveboards to always stay on top of your cloud data.

3. Augmented analytics

ThoughtSpot’s AI capabilities go far beyond just finding insights. By leveraging features like SpotIQ, you can dive deeper than surface-level analysis to discover the ‘why’ behind unexpected changes and discover hidden trends and anomalies. Its algorithms even help you suggest the next best steps, such as forecasting sales trends or highlighting anomalies in your data that may indicate problems or opportunities. 

Developed by Microsoft, Power BI is a data visualization and business intelligence tool. It allows you to transform raw data into meaningful insights and interactive dashboards and reports. It is widely used for data visualization, reporting, and analytics. Power BI is commonly adopted within organizations that heavily depend on the Microsoft ecosystem. While it offers an intuitive interface, mastering Power BI's full potential can be challenging, as it requires a strong analytical background.

Core features

• Data visualization: Power BI allows you to create data visualizations, including charts, graphs, maps, and tables using a drag-and-drop interface.

• Data transformation: Power Query, a component of Power BI, enables data cleaning, shaping, and transformation, including joining tables and creating calculated columns.

• Sharing and collaboration: You can share reports and collaborate by leaving comments on data points.

• Integration: With Power BI, you can connect to various Microsoft data sources, such as Excel spreadsheets, databases, and cloud services to consolidate data for analysis.

• Custom Visuals: Users can create and use custom visuals beyond the standard options, tailoring reports to specific needs.Core features:

💡Relevant read: 10 Power BI alternatives and competitors to consider

Tableau is Salesforce’s data visualization and business intelligence software that allows analysts to analyze, visualize, and interact with data to make informed decisions. It is designed to help you transform raw data into comprehendible insights. Tableau’s features and capabilities include data connectivity, drag-and-drop data visualization, advanced analytics, and the ability to create interactive dashboards and reports. 

Core features

• Data connectivity: Tableau can connect to various data sources, such as databases, spreadsheets, cloud services, and more. This helps you to consolidate and visualize data from different places.

• Advanced analytics: The platform allows technical data team members to perform complex calculations, predictive modeling, and statistical analysis on your data.

• Collaboration and sharing: You can share your Tableau visualizations, dashboards, and reports with others.

• Trend lines and predictive analysis: Tableau helps you see trends in your data and predict future outcomes. 

• Tableau prep: The BI software includes tools for data preparation and cleaning, simplifying the process of preparing data for analysis.

💡Relevant read: Top Tableau competitors and alternatives to consider

Looker is one of the best business intelligence tools that is driven by a powerful semantic layer. This semantic layer allows users to create a structured representation of their data, defining relationships between data, metrics, and dimensions. Looker's approach to data modeling simplifies data access and interpretation, making it easier for both technical and business users to explore and analyze data. 

Core features

• Data exploration: You can create custom reports and interactive visualizations to gain insights from their data.

• Embedded analytics: Looker can be embedded into other applications, websites, or workflows.

• Collaborative analytics: It supports collaboration by enabling you to share reports, dashboards, and data models with team members.

• Integration with Google Workspace: Looker connects your data visualizations to Google Workspace tools like Slides and Sheets. 

• LookML: Looker has a proprietary modeling language that allows users to define data relationships and metrics for consistent and reusable reporting.

💡Relevant read: Looker vs Power BI.

SAP BusinessObjects, often referred to as SAP BO or simply BusinessObjects, is a suite of business intelligence software tools and applications developed by SAP. It offers many reporting and data visualization features that help data pros collect, analyze, and explore their business data.

Core features

• Reporting and analysis: You can create reports and analytical dashboards to gain insights from your data.

• Collaboration and sharing: Users can collaborate—by sharing reports and dashboards with your team. 

• Role-based dashboards: You can create role-based BI dashboards that deliver information to decision-makers.

• Real-time analytics: Connect with SAP Business Warehouse and SAP HANA for analytics.

• Dashboard designer: Users can design interactive dashboards with a range of visualization options and customizations.

Sisense's business intelligence reporting tool enables your business to connect to various data sources and create visualizations and dashboards. The tool offers features like data blending, data modeling, and data visualization. Sisense also provides advanced analytics capabilities, allowing you to perform complex calculations and predictive analytics. Data pros can also embed Sisense into their existing applications and web portals, enhancing functionality without disrupting workflows.

Core features

• Data visualization: Using a drag-and-drop interface, you can create dashboards, widgets, and filters for integrating with applications.

• Data modeling: Sisense enables data analysts to merge and model data through a code-first workflow within the platform and offers integration with Jupyter Notebooks.

• Git integration: Their Git integration enables better version control.

• Mobile access: Sisense offers mobile apps for iOS and Android so users can access their data on the go.

• Custom widgets: Users can create and customize widgets for more tailored and interactive dashboards.

Domo is a business intelligence platform that provides tools for collecting, visualizing, and analyzing data from multiple sources. It is used across various industries to support data-driven decision-making and improve operational efficiency. The platform is designed to be accessible to users with different levels of technical expertise, offering a range of features to help organizations manage and interpret their data.

Core features

• Reporting and dashboards: Domo offers a range of reporting capabilities and a drag-and-drop feature for ad-hoc analysis and content creation. 

• Mobile accessibility: Domo is compatible with popular mobile apps for iOS and Android, making it accessible to a broad user base.

• Collaboration: Domo includes features for in-context chat, user profiles, project management, task tracking, and scheduled content.

• Cloud infrastructure: Domo's infrastructure is built using cloud-native architecture, which incorporates dynamic scaling and massively parallel processing (MPP). 

• Data governance: This business intelligence solution comes with tools for managing data quality, security, and compliance, ensuring reliable and secure data usage.

Qlik Sense is a business intelligence and data visualization tool that supports a variety of analytics use cases, including dashboards, custom analytics, and embedded analytics. It is available for deployment both on-premises and in the cloud, offering flexibility to meet different organizational needs. 

Core features

• Data visualizations: Users can create interactive visualizations such as charts, tables, and graphs. Extension libraries such as Vizlib can sit on top of Qlik Sense to add more charting capabilities. 

• Associative data modeling: Qlik Sense is known for its associative data model, which allows users to explore data and discover hidden relationships and insights within it. 

• ML capabilities: Users can run ML experiments in the Qlik Cloud Analytics hub and use the output to build a data model and create charts.

• Interactivity: Users can create and share interactive data stories, combining visualizations with narrative elements.

• Augmented Intelligence: Qlik Sense incorporates AI and machine learning features to enhance data analysis and visualization, offering advanced insights and recommendations.

Yellowfin is a business intelligence and analytics platform that provides data visualization, reporting, and analysis tools. It focuses on combining enterprise reporting and dashboards with collaborative features. Yellowfin is used to create custom visualizations, generate reports, and identify trends and anomalies in data.

Core features

• Data visualization: Yellowfin offers interactive dashboards and visualizations, allowing users to create and share data insights.

• Collaboration: Users can collaborate on data analysis by sharing dashboards, reports, and insights within the platform.

• Automated analysis: This BI reporting tool provides automated insights, highlighting key trends, anomalies, and patterns in the data.

• Data storytelling: Yellowfin includes features for building and sharing data-driven stories, enabling users to present their findings effectively.

• Data integration: Yellowfin can connect to various data sources, allowing users to combine and analyze data from different systems.

Oracle Cloud Analytics is a cloud-based business intelligence platform that integrates with Oracle’s ecosystem. It offers tools for data visualization, reporting, and augmented analytics, allowing users to analyze information from diverse sources. OAC helps organizations gain insights and improve their analytical capabilities.

Core features

• Data preparation: Oracle Analytics Cloud includes tools for cleaning, transforming, and enriching data before analysis.

• Advanced analytics: The platform supports predictive and machine learning models, allowing users to perform in-depth data analysis.

• Data visualization: Users can create interactive dashboards and visualizations to explore data and gain insights.

• Collaboration: The platform allows users to share reports and collaborate on analytics projects across the organization.

• Integration with Oracle ecosystem: Oracle Analytics Cloud integrates seamlessly with other Oracle products, providing a unified experience for users in the Oracle environment.

Choosing the right business intelligence software tool for your organization is crucial. To ensure you make an informed decision, consider the following criteria:

• Scalability: The tool should be able to handle your organization's current data volume and have the capacity to scale as your business grows.

• Ease of use: Look for a BI solution that has a user-friendly interface and intuitive features. This will reduce the learning curve for your team and encourage adoption.

• Integration: Ensure that the tool can seamlessly integrate with your existing data sources, such as databases, CRM systems, and cloud platforms.

• Security: Data security is of utmost importance. The tool should have robust security measures in place to protect your sensitive information.

• Customization: Every organization has unique requirements. Look for a tool that allows customization to meet your specific needs and preferences.

• Support and training: Consider the availability of support and training resources provided by the tool. This will ensure that your team can maximize the BI capabilities.

• Data visualization: Look for a tool that offers compelling and interactive data visualizations. This will make it easier for users to drill down and filter, answer the next questions, and find correlations in the data. 

• AI-driven search capabilities: Incorporating AI-powered, natural language search into business intelligence greatly enhances data discovery and access. 

• Mobile accessibility: In today's mobile-centric world, having access to business intelligence on the go is crucial. Mobile compatibility and multi-experience interfaces are key to user adoption.

By now, it’s clear that AI is more than just a technological advancement—it’s a paradigm shift in data analytics. How you prepare and adapt to this change is key to maximizing the ROI from your AI investments. While we’ve seen many promises of chatbots, auto-generated insights, and natural language search, only a few BI solutions have truly delivered. Amongst them, ThoughtSpot emerges as a true leader.  

With ThoughtSpot as your AI partner, data is not just reserved for data analysts and IT specialists.  Even business users can access decision-ready insights however the way they want, ensuring they’re always making the most of their data.  

Now it's up to you to embrace an AI-driven future–take a product tour today.

What are business intelligence tools?

Business intelligence (BI) tools are software applications designed to collect, analyze, and present business data in a way that helps organizations make informed decisions. These tools enable users to gather data from various sources, perform complex analyses, and create visualizations such as charts, graphs, and dashboards. The goal is to provide actionable insights that support strategic planning, operational efficiency, and data-driven decision-making.

What is business intelligence software used for?

Business intelligence software is used for a variety of purposes, including:

• Performance monitoring: Tracks key performance indicators (KPIs) and other metrics to monitor the health of the business

• Trend analysis: Identifies patterns and trends in historical data to make predictions and forecasts

• Operational efficiency: Analyzes processes and operations to find areas for improvement and optimization

• Decision support: Provides insights and data-driven recommendations to support strategic and tactical decisions

• Market analysis: Examines market trends, customer behavior, and competitive positioning to inform business strategy

• Financial analysis: Helps with budgeting, financial planning, and analysis of financial performance

What is the most popular business intelligence tool?

Among business intelligence tools, ThoughtSpot stands out due to its unique approach to data analysis and visualization. ThoughtSpot is known for its search-driven analytics, which allows you to interact with your data using natural language queries. This feature makes it particularly popular among organizations looking for user-friendly, intuitive BI solutions that empower both technical and non-technical users to explore data and generate insights without requiring deep technical expertise. ThoughtSpot's emphasis on AI-driven search and interactive dashboards has contributed to its strong adoption and popularity in the BI market.