It’s no secret that businesses are awash in data. 60% of organizations say they use data and analytics to drive process improvement and efficiency. Only 3% of business professionals say they can act on collected customer data.
That’s a big disparity. It may be telling us that organizations think they’re making data-driven decisions but, in reality, they’re not. Part of the reason for this is that it’s often difficult to make sense of all the data that flows into a business daily.
- Customer feedback
- Sales metrics
- Traffic metrics
- Social engagement metrics
- Abandonment rate
- Churn
- Funnel optimization
- Etc.
It’s daunting for the most experienced data analysts – how much more so for someone without formal education in the field? That’s where business dashboard software comes in handy. It’ll help you aggregate, visualize, and analyze your data so you can make better decisions.
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This guide will help you find the best dashboard applications available right now so you can take control of your data.
Table of Contents
What is dashboard software?
Dashboard software are tools used by organizations and individuals to aggregate and visualize data in a way that makes sense for them. The visual representation of their data makes it easier for them to compare multiple datasets, spot trends, and take action on the insights discovered.
Of course, not all dashboard tools are created equally. Later in this guide, you’ll learn what to look for in dashboard software so you can get the most out of your investment. For now, let’s look at some of the best options available.
Best dashboard software
1. Databox
Databox is a custom dashboard application that’s designed for small and medium businesses that usually don’t have the technical expertise to handle complex applications. It has a huge collection of data connections that can be used to create dashboards that analyze data in simple and complex ways.
Customers can, of course, build their dashboards with their imported metrics or choose from the templates provided by Databox. You can track things such as customer cohorts, conversion rates across a funnel, set goals, get notifications when you’re likely to miss or exceed your goals, perform basic calculations, and much more.
Dashboard software is often difficult to use but Databox has taken the time to make its interface as intuitive as possible. Even if you’ve never used dashboard software, you can choose from one of its many templates and get started in just a few minutes.
Pricing
There are three plans which a priced depending on how many dashboards and data connections you need. There is also a free plan.
- Starter – $72+ a month
- Professional $135+ a month
- Performer $231+ a month
2. Klipfolio
I like Klipfolio so much because, not only is it powerful, but it’s also easy on the eyes. The dashboards you can create are a joy to interact with and you can start using them for free.
It’s divided into the client management offering and the standard offering that deals with metrics. Apart from a few differences, they’re mostly similar. It’s serious about having the most data connections out there and adds more options for its customers every week. Tracking sales, marketing partners, or even customer satisfaction should be a breeze.
Of course, you can make custom dashboards to track everything from the number of users that registered to the revenue generated over a certain period. Another area Klipfolio shines in is its filtering functionality. As long as you can import the data, it can help you make the most of it by slicing and dicing it in multiple ways.
Pricing
The pricing plans are divided based on usage limits with the higher plans allowing for more users and data sources.
- Free plan
- Plus – $99/m
- Pro – $299/m
3. Geckoboard
Geckoboard isn’t as popular as some of the other dashboard applications on this list but that doesn’t take away from its utility. The product focuses on helping you track the most important KPIs in your business and the dashboards can be manipulated with the click of a few buttons.
As of this writing, there are over 80 integration sources such as Google Analytics, Mailchimp, Stripe, etc. While it may be behind some of the other tools, it’s actively adding more data sources and already has the major ones covered.
You can share the custom dashboards you’ve created with teammates or even clients by grabbing a link, it can also be shared directly via email, and even displayed on TV. There are multiple pre-built dashboards for popular departments in an organization like sales, marketing, and customer support.
While Geckoboard is a solid tool, there’s nothing that jumps out as its defining feature.
Pricing
It has four pricing plans and no free plan. It does start at a much cheaper price point than most other dashboard tools but it’s limited to one user and one dashboard.
- Starter $39/mo
- Team $125/mo
- Team Plus $219/mo
- Company $479/mo
4. iDashboards
This dashboard software has been around for almost two decades. While iDashboards may not be as sleek as its newer competitors, its staying power alone is evidence that it’s doing something right.
It’s more geared towards the enterprise so you’ll need more technical expertise if you want to take full advantage of the software. With that being said, it has a large collection of data sources for you to plug into the platform.
There are countless options for you to create data visualizations and you can also drill down into your data to find insights that would otherwise be lost. One of the ways it stands out is that the data is nearly real-time. Unlike other platforms that update the data every few hours or once a day, you should have the most up to day information at all times. Unfortunately, you can only get pricing information after talking to a sales rep.
5. Clicdata
Clicdata offers many tools and features that would normally be found in enterprise applications. For example, it fetches data and updates dashboards in real-time instead of a delay of hours.
The dashboard software gives its customers a lot of control over how the dashboards look, what data is being compared, and the sources that can be connected. The drag and drop dashboard interface is easy for most users to master and tons of widgets can be used to visualize data. These include charts, graphics, and even spreadsheets.
Another feature that sets Clicdata apart is the ability to access a data warehouse that you can use to clean your data before creating visualizations. For those with the technical knowledge, you can even host it on your servers.
Pricing
- Personal $73/mo
- Team $247/mo
- Business $481/mo
6. Tableau
Tableau is dashboard software that focuses on visualization and analytics. In many ways, it goes above and beyond the other tools on this list.
It’s an enterprise application that’s designed to crunch large datasets that range from climate change to population trends. Of course, it can help you analyze business data. It has a drag and drop interface to create different visualizations but you’ll need to invest a considerable amount of time getting it set up.
It doesn’t have direct integrations with other software applications like email marketing services and payment processors. Instead, it connects to databases like Amazon Redshift, Google Bigquery, and a few analytics platforms. As you can see, it’ll take a bit of effort to get set up properly. Once you do, it has a large collection of data visualization types, does a great job on the data security front, and takes user permissions seriously.
Pricing
It has multiple pricing plans depending on whether you’re an individual user or an organization. For individuals, it’s $70/m. For organizations, there are multiple pricing plans which are based on the permission level of the user.
- Creator – $70/m
- Explorer – $42/m
- Viewer – $15/m
7. Domo
Domo is a business analytics and dashboard application that seeks the make it easier for everyone in your organization to take advantage of your data. It provides real-time analytics through the dashboards, you can create data stories that allow stakeholders to better understand the impact of the information being presented, and choose from many visualization types.
Of course, all the dashboards are customizable to meet your needs. They can be manipulated in various ways to help you uncover the most important information. One interesting feature is the alerts that can be set up based on changes to the data which allows you to take action quickly. It also has team chat, multiple prebuilt templates and apps, more than 1,000 integrations, and mobile applications.
Unfortunately, pricing isn’t publicly displayed. You’ll have to communicate with the sales team to get a custom quote.
8. Looker
Looker is a BI and data dashboard solution that’s part of Google Cloud. It focuses on helping organizations make sense of their data through business intelligence tools and robust visual dashboards.
You can combine data from various sources but they need to be databases. That means you may have to import data from your various tools into a database before connecting it to Looker. This can be a challenge for small businesses without technical talent on staff or a budget for the additional setup required.
If you can get past that part, you’ll be able to take full control over your data and build out many types of visualizations. These range from funnels, donut graphs, bar graphs, pie charts, and many more. It’s not the easiest tool to work with but if you have the time and energy to invest then you’ll get a lot out of it. Pricing is based on a custom quote.
9. Zoho Analytics
This platform isn’t as pretty as some of the other dashboard tools on this list but it still gets the job done. It’s designed to work well for online businesses that need to import their data and make sense of it.
It has a drag and drop interface that allows you to quickly spin up custom dashboards and there’s a large collection of data visualization options. You can also access calculations to compute your metrics without lifting a finger.
It connects to over 250 data sources including social platforms and databases so you can extract all your data without going through a complex setup process. Data prep is handled within the application so you can start getting insights much faster. You can even tap into the AI to get better insights and uncover opportunities you may have otherwise missed. All things considered, Zoho analytics is a solid dashboard tool.
Pricing
Pricing starts at $25/m up to $495/mo and there’s also a free tier that limits you to 100,000 rows of data and two users.
What to look for in dashboard software
Not all dashboard software is created equally. To make matters worse, there are countless options on the market. Even our list above doesn’t begin to cover all of them. If you’re interested in doing your research, here are some things to look for in dashboard tools.
Ease of use
This is an essential point because even if a platform has all the features you need, it’s useless if you can’t get it to work. Ease of use is heavily dependent on the resources you have available to you. With that being said, there should at least be a visual dashboard builder.
Additionally, the way the application labels options and the navigation should be intuitive for most users. If, after testing it out, you can’t get the gist of the major aspects quickly then it may not be best for you.
You should also consider the amount of technical expertise needed to get it set up. Is everything available through a drag and drop interface or do you have to write a bit of code to maximize its efficacy?
Visualization options
The entire point of dashboard software is to help you make sense of the data you’re already collecting. It should cater to your needs and not the other way around. There are standard visualization options like bar graphs, pie charts, line graphs, etc.
Whatever visualization software you choose should go above and beyond these basic visualizations so that your data can truly shine. At the very least, the options should make sense to you and not add extra complexity to your data.
Data imports and data source integrations
This is a big one. Countless tools help us gather data. Everything from Google Analytics and Mailchimp to Stripe can collect data for your brand. If the dashboard application you choose doesn’t integrate with the tools you use then it’s as good as useless.
Not only should it integrate with your current tech stack, but it should also be actively adding more integrations and data connectors.
Collaboration tools
Beautiful data is meant to be shared. There should be multiple ways for you to collaborate with people on your team or external stakeholders. Can you send out an email with a PDF of select dashboards? Are you able to share a link to an interactive dashboard?
The bottom line is that you should be able to involve others in the data analysis process at the very least. If that’s not possible then you’re better off choosing a different tool.
Conclusion
These reporting and dashboard software are no longer optional. Brands collect too much data from too many sources to leave it up to chance.
This guide has gone through some of the most powerful dashboard apps on the market right now. You should have a solid grasp of what each one brings to the table and whom it’s designed for.
If you’re just getting started with dashboard tools and don’t have much technical experience then Databox or Zoho analytics are good choices. If you’re more sophisticated and can spend time or money getting set up properly then tools like Tableau and Looker may be a great choice.