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23 Best Data Visualization Tools of 2024 (with Examples)

If you are dissatisfied with what you've been able to achieve with your current data visualization software, and you want to try a different one, you have come to the right place.

Or, if you have never tried a data visualization software and you wish first to understand how it works and what the market offers, you are again in the right place.

Through extensive research, we have compiled a list of the absolute best data visualization tools in the industry, ranging from free solutions to enterprise packages.

Continue reading, and find the JavaScript library, non-programmer-optimized tools, industry and concept-specific, or fully-featured mapping, charting, and dashboard solutions for your needs.

What are Data Visualization Tools?

Data Visualization Tools refer to all forms of software designed to visualize data.

Different tools can contain varying features but, at their most basic, data visualization tools will provide you with the capabilities to input datasets and visually manipulate them.

Helping you showcase raw data in a visually digestible graphical format, data visualization tools can ensure you produce customizable bar, pie, Gantt, column, area, doughnut charts, and more.

When you need to handle datasets that contain up to millions of data points, you will need a program that will help you explore, source, trim, implement and provide insights for the data you work with.

A data visualization tool will enable you to automate these processes, so you can interpret information immediately, whether that is needed for your annual reports, sales and marketing materials, identifying trends and disruptions in your audience's product consumption, investor slide decks, or something else.

After you have collected and studied the trends, outliers, and patterns in data you gathered through the data visualization tools, you can make necessary adjustments in business strategy and propel your team closer to better results.

In addition, the more you can implement the valuable insights gained from the graphs, charts, and maps into your work, the more interested and adept you will become at generating intelligent data visualizations, and this loops back into getting actionable insights from the reports.

Through data visualization tools, you build a constructive feedback loop that keeps your team on the right path.

Comparison of Best Data Visualization Tools

Best data visualization software for creating maps and public-facing visualizations..

Available in a variety of ways, including desktop, server, online, prep, free public option, Tableau provides an enormous collection of data connectors and visualizations.

Establishing connections to your data sources is straightforward, and you can import everything from CSV files, Google Ads and Analytics to Microsoft Excel, JSON, PDF files, and Salesforce data.

A variety of chart formats and a robust mapping capability ensure that the designers can create color-coded maps that show geographically important data in the most visually digestible way.

The tool offers a public version that is free to use for everyone that will help you create interactive visualizations and connect to CSV, text, statistical files, Google sheets, web data connectors, and Excel documents.

Tableau Desktop can help you transform, process, and store huge volumes of data with exceptional analytics and powerful calculations from existing data, drag-and-drop reference lines and forecasts, and statistical summaries.

The Desktop option lets you connect to data on-prem or in the cloud, access and combine disparate data without coding, pivot, split, and manage metadata, and there is no limit to how much data it can store, process, or share.

Whereas Tableau Desktop is more suitable for analysts and BI professionals, Tableau Public is for anyone interested in understanding data and sharing those insights through data visualizations (students, journalists, writers, bloggers).

Data visualization example

You can purchase Tableau Creator for $70 per user per month.

• The tool comes in desktop, cloud, server, prep, online options
• Free public version
• Extensive options for securing data without scripting
• Convert unstructured statistical information into comprehensive logical results
• Fully functional, interactive, and appealing dashboards
• Arrange raw data into catchy diagrams
• Support for connections with many data sources, such as HADOOP, SAP, DB Technologies
• More than 250 app integrations

With a user-friendly design and a substantial collection of data connectors and visualizations, Tableau will help you attain high performance with a thriving community & forum and mobile-friendly capacity.

2. Infogram

Fully-featured data visualization tool for non-designers and designers..

Consisting of more than 550 maps, 35 charts, and 20 predesigned templates, Infogram can enable you to prepare a fully responsive, professional presentation on any device.

You can import data from online or PC sources, and you can download infographics in HD quality, supporting multiple file types (PNG, JPG, PDF, GIF, HTML).

If the majority of your data sources are in Excel XLS, JPG, or HTML files, and you want them imported in Infogram as PDF files, you can do a little search and find the best PDF converters .

The process of creating effective visualizations for marketing reports, infographics, social media posts, and maps is simplified with the drag-and-drop editor, allowing non-designers or people without much technical knowledge to generate slick-looking reports, one-pagers, diagrams.

Interactive visualizations are perfect for embedding into websites and apps, and you can update new data to a chart periodically and automatically for updating dashboards, reports, presentations, live feeds, and articles through Infogram's live options.

The software allows you to upload CSV or XLS files from your Google Drive, Dropbox, or OneDrive accounts easily by connecting with the accounts, making any design changes, publishing, and embedding them.

Outside of the free Basic plan, the Pro subscription is $25 per month.

• 550+ map types and 35+ chart types
• Enhanced interactive charts and maps with tooltips, tabs, clickable legends, linking
• Object animations
• Move your graphics to social media, slide decks like Prezi, and other platforms easily
• Make changes on the fly without wholesale revisions
• View and restore earlier versions of your projects
• Generate 13 different reports on website traffic and automatically update the charts with data
• Facilitate top referring sites, mobile usage, number of pages per session, top keywords, and other reports through Google Analytics
• Publish your content on Facebook Instant Articles, Medium, or through WordPress

With a wide selection of chart types and map types that are easy to implement by anyone and a free plan that allows you to publish your content online, you will find Infogram is an excellent solution for downloading data, sharing it privately, and accessing beautiful templates and images.

3. ChartBlocks

Best data visualization tool for embedding charts on any website..

The cloud-based chart-building tool allows you to customize any charts and sync them with any data source, letting you share charts on social media websites, including Facebook and Twitter.

You can import data from any source using their API, including live feeds, with the chart building wizard helping you select the optimal data for your charts before importing on any device of any screen size.

Control all aspects of your charts with hundreds of customization options, allowing you to configure everything from colors, fonts, and sizes to grids and number ticks on your axes.

CartBlocks ensures responsive HTML5 charts that work on any browser or device and the powerful D3.js tool to render your charts as scalable vector graphics and make them ready to be used on retina screens and for high-quality printed documents.

Grab the embed code and share the charts on your website, Twitter, Facebook, and other social media sites.

The Personal plan is $0 per month, and you can scale up to the Professional subscription for $20.

• HTML5 charts that work on any browser, device, and screen size
• Import data from spreadsheets, databases, and live feeds
• Pick the right data for your chart with the chart building wizard
• Design all elements of your charts with hundreds of customization options
• Embed your charts on websites, articles, and across social media
• Set up scheduled imports in the ChartBlocks app
• Optimize your charts for retina screens and high-quality printed documents through D3.js
• Export charts to PNG images
• Export charts as vector graphics (eps, PDF, SVG)
• Remove branding for $20 per month

Helping you create charts on any device and any screen size along with optimizing the charts for high-quality prints, ChartBlocks can offer up to 50 active charts for free for up to 50K monthly views.

4. Datawrapper

Best data visualization software for adding charts and maps to news stories..

Created specifically for adding charts and maps to news stories, Datawrapper is an open-source tool that supports Windows, Mac, and Linux and enables you to connect your visualization to Google Sheets.

Select one of 19 interactive and responsive chart types ranging from simple bars and lines to the arrow, range, and scatter plots, three map types that allow you to create locator maps, thematic choropleth, symbol maps, and more.

Table capabilities provide you with a range of styling options for the responsive bars, columns & line charts, heatmaps, images, search bars & pagination.

Copy your data from the web, Excel, or Google Sheets, and upload CSV/XLS files or provide links to URLs, Google Sheets for live-updating charts.

Copy the embed code into your CMS or website to access the interactive version, or export the chart as a PNG, SVG, or PDF for printing.

Outside the free plan, you can purchase the Custom for $599 per month, but the free one offers unlimited visualizations.

• 19 interactive and responsive charts and 3 map types
• No limits to charts, maps, and tables you can create in the free plan
• All visualizations are private until you activate the publish capability
• Utilize shared folders, Slack & Team integrations, and admin permissions
• Dustwrapper will design a custom chart theme according to the style guides you send
• Export all visualizations as PNG, SVG, PDF formats
• Update charts and tables automatically without republishing through live updating
• Access print-ready PDFs with defined CMYK colors

Datawrapper will create finished visualizations similar to those in the New York Times, with tons of stylization options and practicality for creating graphics and web maps that you can easily copy and share.

JavaScript Library for Manipulating Documents through Data with Reusable Charts.

D3.js is a JavaScript library for manipulating documents based on data, helping you activate data through HTML, SVG, and CSS.

The tool is extremely fast and it supports large datasets and dynamic behaviors for interaction and animation, enabling you to generate an HTML table from an array of numbers or use the same data to create an interactive SVG bar chart with smooth transitions and interaction.

While the platform requires some JavaScript knowledge, there are apps like NVD3 that allow non-programmers to utilize the library, providing reusable charts and chart components without taking away the power of D3.js.

Other similar apps include Plotly's Chart Studio that enables you to import data, compose interactive charts, publish static, printed versions or share interactively.

Ember Charts lets you extend and modify the time series, bar, pie, and scatter charts within the D3.js frameworks.

D3.js is free.

• Free, open-source, customizable
• Extremely fast and supportive of large datasets
• Generate HTML tables from numbers
• Create interactive SVG bar charts with smooth transitions and interaction
• Non-programmers can create complex visualizations
• A diverse collection of official and community-developed modules allows code reuse
• Utilize NVD3, Plotly's Chart Studio, and Ember Charts to get the most out of D3.js's library without coding

Emphasizing web standards, D3.js will help you create high-quality visualizations quickly and share them on the web without anyone having to install any software to view your work.

Best Data Visualization Software for Companies with BI Experience.

Domo is a cloud platform that has a powerful BI tool with a lot of data connectors and a robust data visualization capability that helps you conduct analysis and generate interactive visualizations.

The app helps you simplify administration data and examine important data using graphs and pie charts, and the engine allows you to manipulate ETL operations and conduct data cleansing in the engine after the load with no limits to how much data you can store.

With more than 450 available connectors, some of which are accessible by default and others after requesting URLs from the support team, Domo is highly flexible, and they allow you to load the locally stored CSV files easily.

Explore data in the interactive format through the data warehouse functionality, and conduct data prep, data joining, and ETL tasks.

Access more than 85 different visualizations, create and customize cards and pages, handling everything from text editing and single-data points to creating the apps for the app store.

You need to contact Domo's sales team for a personalized quote.

• Limitless data storage and an extensive range of connectors
• Create advanced charts and maps with filters and drill-downs
• Guide people through analysis with interactive data stories by combining cards, text, and images
• Ensure the teams can self-service while governing access to data
• Refine data with data points, calculated fields, and filters
• Annotate chart data for further commentary
• Define how cards on a dashboard interact with custom links and filters
• Dashboards with KPIs for retail, marketing, data science through different apps
• Encrypt your data with the Workbench tool or use an on-premise VM with Domo querying engine behind your firewall

Domo's powerful BI tool with a lot of data connectors isn't suited for newcomers and is best-suited for businesses that have BI experience that will benefit from the tool's excellent sharing features, limitless data storage, and terrific collaboration capabilities.

7. Google Charts

Best data visualization tool for creating simple line charts and complex hierarchical trees..

The powerful and free data visualization tool Google Charts is specifically designed for creating interactive charts that communicate data and points of emphasis clearly.

The charts are embeddable online, and you can select the most fitting ones from a rich interactive gallery and configure them according to your taste.

Supporting the HTML5 and SVG outputs, Google Charts work in browsers without the use of additional plugins, extracting the data from Google Spreadsheets and Google Fusion Tables, Salesforce, and other SQL databases.

Visualize data through pictographs, pie charts, histograms, maps, scatter charts, column and bar charts, area charts, treemaps, timelines, gauges, and many more.

Google Charts is free.

• Rich interactive chart gallery
• Cross-browser compatibility
• Dynamic data support
• Combo, calendar, candlestick, diff, gauge, Gantt, histograms, intervals, org, scattered, stepped area charts
• Animate modifications made to a chart
• Draw multiple charts on one web page
• Compatible with Android and iOS platforms

Google Charts is a free data visualization platform that supports dynamic data, provides you with a rich gallery of interactive charts to choose from, and allows you to configure them however you want.

8. FusionCharts

Best data visualization tool for building beautiful web and mobile dashboards..

FusionCharts is a JavaScript-based solution for creating web and mobile dashboards that can integrate with popular JS frameworks like React, jQuery, Ember, and Angular and server-side programming languages like PHP, Java, Django, and Ruby on Rails.

The tool equips you with 100+ interactive chart types and 2,000+ data-driven maps, including popular options like the bar, column, line, area, and pie, or domain-specific charts like treemaps, heatmaps, Gantt charts, Marimekko charts, gauges, spider charts, and waterfall charts.

In addition to these, FusionCharts provides 2K+ choropleth maps that cover countries and even cities, and the powerful engine supports millions of data points in your browser with no glitches.

Generate charts on the server-side, export the dashboards as PDFs, send reports via email, and FusionCharts will have you covered.

The Basic plan is $499 per year.

• Integrates with popular JS frameworks and server-side programming languages
• 100+ interactive chart types and 2K+ data-driven choropleth maps
• Construct complex charts through dashboards easily with consistent API
• Plot your crucial business data by regions with over 2,000 choropleth maps
• Common charts are supported on older browsers
• Comprehensive documentation for each library or programming language
• Ready-to-use chart examples, industry-specific dashboards and data stories with source codes

With extensive documentation, cross-browser support, and a huge number of chart and map format options, FusionCharts will allow you to build beautiful dashboards for your web and mobile projects while keeping even the most complex charts performing on a high level with consistent API.

9. Chart.js

Simple and flexible data visualization software for including animated, interactive graphs on your website..

Chart.js is a simple and flexible JavaScript charting library that provides eight chart types in total and allows animation and interaction.

Using the HTML5 Canvas for output, Chart.js renders charts across all modern browsers effectively.

You can mix and match bar and line charts to provide a clear visual distinction between datasets, plot complex, sparse datasets on date time, logarithmic, and fully custom scales.

Animate anything with out-of-the-box stunning transitions for data changes.

Chart.js is free.

• The learning curve is almost non-existent
• Compatible with all screen sizes
• Modernized, eye-catching, and pleasing graphs
• Open-source and free
• Visualize your data through 8 different animated, customizable chart types
• Continuous rendering performance across all modern browsers through HTML5 Canvas
• Mix and match bar and line charts for a clear visual distinction between datasets
• Plot complex, sparse datasets on date time, logarithmic, and entirely custom scales
• Redraw charts on window resize

Not only are the Chart.js graphs easy to digest and eye-catching, but the tool allows you to combine different graph forms to translate data into a more tangible output and add numerical JSON data into the Canvas for free.

10. Sisense

#1 data visualization tool for simplifying complex data from multiple sources..

Crunch large datasets and visualize them with beautiful pictures, graphs, charts, maps, and more from a single dashboard.

One of the best data visualization tools that can help you transform data into actionable, applicable components or visualizations, Sisense lets you simplify data analysis by unlocking data from the cloud and on-prem and embed analytics anywhere with a customizable feature.

Create custom experiences and automated multi-step actions to accelerate workflows and integrate AI-powered analytics into workflows, processes, applications, and products.

Before selecting your data sources, you can preview and mash up a couple of data sources before adding them to your schema.

Instead of valuing visualizations for the number of designs and formats it offers, Sisense places the emphasis on the depth of insights the charts expose, providing multidimensional widgets that render interactive visualizations and generate a ton of insights by scrolling the mouse over them or clicking on different sections.

With no subscription plans displayed publicly, you will need to request a quote.

• Assemble and share dashboards
• Crunch large datasets and visualize them through graphs, charts, maps, and pictures
• Transform raw data into actionable, applicable components for visualizations
• Preview and mash up multiple data sources before adding them to your schema
• Enable self-service analytics for your customers code-free
• Advanced predictive intelligence and natural language querying
• Leverage robust embedding capabilities from iFrames to APIs and SDKs
• Pull in data from eBay, Facebook, Quickbooks, PayPal
• Leverage cached data for minimized query costs
• Resolve bottlenecks with in-chip processing

Appealing to seasoned BI users with its comprehensive features, Sisense will help you mash up data and create an analytics app, deploy your work on the cloud, recover your data and safeguard against errors, and help you export data to Excel, CSV, PDF.

11. Workday Adaptive Planning

#1 data visualization tool with the best planning, budgeting, and forecasting capabilities..

Workday's Adaptive Planning data visualization tool is designed to boost your business by helping you make more lucrative decisions, allowing you to plan, budget, and forecast while evaluating multiple scenarios across large datasets.

Collaborate through the web, mobile, or Excel and deliver stunning reports in minutes while quickly optimizing sales resources, increasing rep performances, and improving predictability.

Create dashboards that integrate your actuals and plans, easily manage models and forecasts across integrated data sources, and always extract real-time data.

Automated data consolidation from all sources and use flexible modeling that lets you build on the fly, adjusting the dimensions if needed.

Making the right decisions based on the insights gathered through a comprehensive budgeting and forecasting tool like Workday Adaptive Planning will be more effective when implemented hand in hand with Net Present Value calculation for fostering a more budget-optimized workspace and better investment decisions.

Before starting your free trial and receiving a quote, you will need to write a request to the support team.

• Create dashboards that integrate your actuals and plans
• Drag-and-drop report building features
• Create rep capacity plans to meet topline bookings targets
• Deploy the right quotas and set up balanced territories
• Collaborate on what-if scenarios
• Access audit trails to see what changed, where, and who did it
• Export operational data from GL, payroll, purchasing

When the active planning process is collaborative, comprehensive, and continuous as with Adaptive Planning, the tools and information for building complex dashboards quickly that the software provides are easy to deploy.

12. Grafana

Open-source data visualization tool for integrating with all data sources and using the smoothest graphs..

In Grafana , you can package and present information through a variety of chart types, and if you want to make dynamic dashboards, there are not a lot of visualization tools that make the process simpler than Grafana.

Grafana's open-source data visualization software allows you to create dynamic dashboards and other visualizations.

You can query, visualize, alert on, and understand your metrics no matter where they are stored, and deploy data source permissions, reporting, and usage insights.

Extract data from mixed data sources, apply annotations and customizable alert functions, and extend the software's capabilities via hundreds of available plugins.

Share snapshots of dashboards and invite other users to collaborate through the export functions.

Outside of the Free plan, you can purchase the Pro subscription for $49 per month + usage.

• Creating dynamic dashboards is easy
• Variety of chart types and data sources
• Support for mixed data feeds
• Access for up to 3 members in the Free plan
• Query, visualize, alert on, and understand your metrics
• Data source permissions
• Usage insights
• Apply annotations
• Hundreds of plugins
• Share snapshots of the dashboard

One of the best software for monitoring and alerting, Grafana allows you to write the query to create graphs and alerts, integrate with almost all cloud platforms, and invite other users to collaborate for free.

Best Data Visualization Software to Motivate and Engage Your Employees to Perform Better through Dashboards.

By visualizing performance indicators openly and engagingly, Plecto helps keep your team's morale at a high level and motivates your employees to keep improving.

Plecto allows you to integrate with an unlimited number of data sources, and you can even import data from different sources and filter these across sources.

Visualize your most important KPIs on real-time dashboards and engage your team with the addicting gamification features, sales contests, leaderboards, and instant notifications.

Add data through Excel, SQL, Zapier, or Plecto's REST-based API, display your Plecto account on a TV and access your dashboard on the go through mobile apps for Android, iPhone, and Apple Watch.

The Medium subscription starts at $250 per month when billed monthly.

• Provide data-driven, actionable knowledge about the business, departments, and individuals' performances
• Motivate your team to keep improving through gamification
• Integrate with an unlimited number of data sources
• Import data from different sources and apply filters
• Engage your team through sales contests, leaderboards, and instant notifications
• Add data through Excel, SQL, Zapier, or the software's REST-based API
• Access your Plecto account via TV or through the Android, iPhone, and Apple Watch apps

Plecto will allow the teams and individuals to keep progressing and provide teams with actionable, data-driven knowledge delivered through encouraging gamification practices while connecting them with one of 50+ pre-built integrations or public API.

14. Whatagraph

Best data visualization tool for monitoring and comparing performances of multiple campaigns..

The Whatagraph application allows you to transfer custom data from Google Sheets and API.

Commonly used by marketing professionals for visualizing data and building tailored cross-channel reports, Whatagraph is the best tool for performance monitoring and reporting.

Blend data from different sources and create cross-channel reports so you can compare how the same campaign is performing across different channels.

Create custom reports or utilize the pre-made widgets, with ready-made report templates for different marketing channels like SEO, PPC, social media, and share links with your colleagues so they can access them at all times.

Choose from 30+ integrations that include Facebook Ads, Google Analytics, HubSpot, and more.

The Professional plan will cost you $119 per month.

• Monitor and compare performances of multiple channels and campaigns
• Customize the reports with brand colors, logos, custom domains
• Add custom data with Google Sheets and Public API integrations
• Blend data from different sources and create cross-channel reports
• Ready-made templates for different marketing channels
• Google Analytics, Google Ads, Facebook Ads, Instagram, Twitter, Linkedin, Simplifi, and more integrations
• Automatically deliver reports to clients

Whatagraph allows you to style your reports according to your preferences, monitor and compare performances across multiple campaigns and channels, and blend data from different sources for cross-channel reports.

Best-in-Class Data Visualization Software for Running SQL Queries.

Cluvio will enable you to utilize SQL and R to analyze your data and create appealing, interactive dashboards in a few minutes better than any other tool on the market.

Translate your raw data into numerous professional charts and graphs, and share your dashboard with clients and colleagues without a mandatory log-in.

Scheduled dashboard and report sharing via email (image, PDF, Excel, CSV) are functionalities Cluvio provides to urge the users to view the information, get a regular snapshot, or trigger conversations.

Cluvio's customer service team is definitely worth mentioning as it has gained praise for being fast, informative, accurate, and helpful for a large portion of Cluvio's audience.

Outside of the Free plan, Cluvio's Pro plan is $249 per month.

• Change aggregation, select a specific time range, and filter dashboards by any individual attributes
• Code completion, syntax highlighting, and parameterized queries in the SQL editor
• Turn your codes into reusable snippets
• Monitor data in real-time with SQL alerts
• Automatic suggestions for best data visualization practices
• Run custom R scripts
• Invite an unlimited number of employees in the Pro and Business plans

Not only does Cluvio offer a free plan with three dashboards and 1,000 query executions, but the software comes with complete monitoring and sharing capabilities while allowing you to dig deeper into your statistical analysis and extract more value through SQL and R queries.

16. RAWGraphs

Best data visualization tool for simplifying complicated data through striking visual representation..

RAWGraphs will enable you to generate beautiful data visualizations uploaded as XLSX or CSV files quickly, as well as URL uploads and spreadsheet copies.

The software offers mapping and export visualizations as SVG or PNG images that can be customized by inputting additional parameters.

You can work with delimiter-separated values (CSV. and TSV. files), as well as copy-paste texts from other applications (TextEdit, Excel) and CORS-enabled endpoints (APIs).

Data here is processed only by the web browser, and the charts are available in conventional and unconventional layouts.

The pricing is not provided by the vendor, which is why you will have to contact them to get your quote.

• Work with CSV, TSV files, copy-paste texts from other applications, and APIs
• Receive visual feedback after mapping dataset dimensions
• Export visualizations as SVG and PNG images and embed them on your web page
• No server-side operations or storages are performed so no one can see or copy your data
• Unconventional charts that are hard to produce with other tools
• Simple pie and column charts
• Map the dimensions of your datasets with the visual variables of the selected layouts
• Open the visualizations in your favorite vector graphics editor and improve them

Designed as a tool to provide the missing link between spreadsheet applications (Microsoft Excel, Apple Numbers, OpenRefine) and vector graphics editors (Adobe Illustrator, Inkscape, Sketch), RAWGraphs will help you simplify complex data through powerful visualizations.

17. Visually

Fast and affordable data visualization solution for infographics and interactive websites..

Visually is a data visualization and infographics platform that will help you turn your data into a compelling story, allowing you to convert your numbers into image-based visualizations and streamline the product design processes.

To create your memorable data visualizations, Visually's team will handpick from a selection of 1,000 of the best data journalists, designers, and developers to deliver your designs in record time.

Collaborate with world-class designers to create infographics that stand out, with the software keeping you in direct contact with your creative team and assigning you a dedicated rep to be at your disposal during the streamlining of the production.

Create presentations and slideshows that leave long-lasting impressions with a normal delivery time of 19 days.

Data personalization example

You will need to submit a request to get your quote.

• Create world-class presentations and slideshows and attention-grabbing infographics
• Usual delivery time of 16 days for infographics and 19 days for slideshows and presentations
• Corporate reports, sales decks, and slideshares for startups, Fortune 50 companies
• Share content on social media channels
• Collaboration with premium data journalists, designers, and developers
• Convert your numbers into image-based visualizations
• Keep direct contact with the creative team during the infographics, presentation production process

Visually creates beautiful content that grabs the attention of large crowds on social media, conveys the intended message in a captivating way, and connects you with the world's biggest experts while allowing you to keep direct contact during their work in the production stages, which guarantees satisfactory infographics and presentations.

#1 Data Visualization Tool for Converting Data into Useful Diagrams.

Looker will help you develop and streamline accurate data models and visualize your codes in interactive diagrams.

Equipping you with a dashboard through which you can explore and analyze your data deeply, Looker lets you select funnel, maps, timelines, donut multiples, snakey, treemap, combined charts, or gauge multiple visualizations.

You can configure your specific visualization, and the software will add it to your Looker workflow, helping you maximize your impact and tell a compelling story.

Without proper organization, any data you pull for visualizations will give subpar results, which is why you need to properly manage, update, and track data by choosing one of the best database software that will help you generate realistic and productive projections in your visualizations.

Set up filters for individuals or groups dynamically, separating one dashboard for sales reps, one for customer success managers, and another for external viewers.

Develop robust and accurate data models and reduce errors while understanding the relationships, behaviors, and extensions of different LookML objects.

As with many other vendors, you will need to send a request to receive your quote.

• Visualize your codes in interactive diagrams
• Explore and analyze your data deeply
• Choose from a variety of chart types, multiple chart and map frameworks, or configure your own
• Build effective, action-oriented dashboards and presentations
• Easy to detect changes and irregularities in your data
• The software adds your tailored visualizations to your Looker workflows
• Set up dynamic filters for groups and individuals and separate the dashboards for sales reps and external viewers
• Visualize data with subtotal in tables

Providing a modern API to integrate your workflows, Looker allows you to explore your data to intrinsic detail and bring your stories to life through compelling visualizations while compartmentalizing the dashboards for different uses.

19. Chartist.js

Best data visualization tool for smaller teams in need of simple, responsive charts..

Chartist.js is an open-source charting JavaScript library that has a lightweight interface that is flexible for integrations.

Create responsive, scalable, and great-looking charts while availing of the simple handling, great flexibility while using clear separation of concerns (styling with CSS and controlling with JS), SVG for illustration, and more.

The app is fully responsive and DPI independent, which results in GUI being displayed at a consistent size regardless of the resolution of the screen.

Chartist.js ensures responsive configuration with media queries, allowing compatibility with a wide variety of devices and screen sizes.

Specifying the style of your chart in the CSS will enable you to use the amazing CSS animations and transitions and apply them to your SVG elements.

Chartist's SVG animation API ensures almost limitless animation possibilities, and you can style your charts with CSS in @media queries.

The configuration override mechanism based on media queries helps you conditionally control the behavior of your charts when necessary.

Lastly, you should know that the app is fully built and customizable with SaaS.

Chartist.js is free.

• Create responsive, scalable, great-looking charts
• A lightweight interface that's flexible for integrations
• Implement your style through the DOM hooks
• Rich, responsive support for multiple screen sizes
• Comprehensive grid, color, label layout options
• Advanced SSL animations
• Multi-line labels
• SVG animations with SMIL
• Control the behavior of your charts with the configuration override mechanism

Offering great response configuration to media queries and high flexibility for use in the separation of concerns, Chartist.js is here to help you create highly customized, responsive charts and allow you to utilize SVG for illustrations.

20. Sigma.js

Single-purpose data visualization tool for creating network graphs..

Sigma.js allows you to create embeddable, interactive, and responsive graphs, helping you customize your drawing and allowing you to publish the final result on any website.

To make the networks' manipulation on web pages as smooth and as fast as possible, Sigma.js will equip you with features such as Canvas and WebGL renderers, as well as mouse & touch support.

You can add your functions directly to your scripts and render the nodes and edges how you want them to be.

Through the Public API, you can modify data, move the camera, refresh the rendering, listen to events, and more.

Sigma.js can allow you to create JSON and GEXF-encoded graphs with the related plugin covering loading and parsing of the files.

Sigma.js is a free, open-source tool.

• WebGL and Canvas rendering
• Rescale when the container's size changes
• Render nodes and edges according to your liking
• Move the camera, refresh the rendering, listen to events, and modify your data through the Public API
• Display simple interactive publications of network and rich web applications
• Update data and refresh the drawing when you want
• Use plugins for animating the graphs or applying force-directed layouts to your graphs

Sigma.js is a dedicated graph drawing service that will help you embed graphs in websites and apps easily while allowing you to make changes and refresh the graphs anytime you want.

Best Data Visualization Software for Building Complex Data Models Quickly through its Associative Engine.

Innovatively providing data visualization services, Qlik will help you attain data from various sources quickly while automatically maintaining data association and supporting numerous forms of data presentation.

Capture large volumes of data and generate reports quickly and automatically while extracting valuable insights from transparent reporting functionalities and identify trends and information to help you make best-practice decisions.

Get an understanding of the information quickly through powerful global search and selections with interactive dashboards.

Combine, load, visualize, and explore your data, and activate the assistance from the insight advisor for chart creation, association recommendation, and data preparation.

Qlik Sense Business plan will cost you $30 per user per month.

• Build complex data models and dashboards quickly
• Simplifies data load and data modeling
• Aggregate structured data from different sources and build simple data models through snowflake or star schemas
• Simplified operation querying
• Generate reports quickly and automatically
• Identify trends to make best-practice decisions
• An attentive, knowledgeable support team that is receptive to feedback
• Get assistance on chart creation, association recommendation, and data preparation with the insight advisor

Allowing you to discover important insights through conversational analytics and insight advisor, rapidly develop custom apps, new visualizations, or extensions, and embed fully interactive analytics within the apps and processes, Qlik will let you visualize with clear intent and context through the most engaging graphs.

22. Polymaps

Dedicated javascript library for mapping and complete data visualization..

Designed specifically for mapping, Polymaps is a free, open-source JavaScript library for creating interactive, dynamic maps, using CSS to design and SVG to display your data through numerous types of visual presentation styles.

You can use the CSS mechanism to customize the visuals of your maps, after which you can easily embed them onto any website or apps.

The software supports large-scale and rich data overlays on interactive maps and SVR-rendered vector files, along with powerful graphical operations like compositing, geometric transformations, and image processing.

Apply styling via CSS operations, and utilize the CSS3 animations and transitions.

The software provides a factory method for constructing the required objects internally which results in shorter code and faster execution when compared to the traditional JS constructors.

Polymaps is 100% free.

• Large-scale data overlays
• CSS3 animations and transitions
• Private members can hide the internal state
• Refine the geometry to display greater details when zooming in
• Compositing, geometric transformations, and image processing
• Shorter code and faster execution
• Compatible and robust API

Polymaps is known for its speed when loading large amounts of data in full range, allowing it to run compositing, image processing, and geometric transforms, as well as supporting and processing of rich data on dynamic maps.

23. Microsoft Power BI

Best data visualization tool for fostering a data-driven culture with business intelligence for all..

Microsoft's Power BI is a data visualization and business intelligence tool combined into one that allows you to convert data from various data sources into interactive, engaging, and story-presenting dashboards and reports.

Providing reliable connections to your data sources on-prem and in the cloud, Power BI is ready to equip you with data exploration through natural language querying and real-time updates on the dashboard.

Save time and make data prep easier with modeling tools, and reclaim hours in a day using the self-service power query, ingestion, transforming, and integration tools.

Dig deeper into data and find patterns that lead to actionable insights, and use features like quick measures, grouping, forecasting, and clustering.

Activate the powerful DAX formula language and give advanced users full control over their models.

Power BI Pro is $9.99 per user per month.

• Access data from Dynamics 365, Salesforce, Azure SQL DB, Excel, SharePoint, and hundreds of other supported sources
• Pre-built and custom data connectors
• Natural language querying
• Real-time dashboard updates
• Design your reports with theming, formatting, and layout tools
• Quick measures, grouping, forecasting, and clustering
• Assign full control over models to advanced users through the DAX formula language
• Sensitivity labeling, end-to-end encryption, and real-time access monitoring

In Power BI, you can handle everything from managing reports using SaaS solutions to engaging in data exploration using the natural language query while accessing reliable data sources, which you can easily convert into interactive dashboards and reports that you can share across the whole organization.

Types of Data Visualization Methods

Starting with the most familiar one, column charts are a time-efficient method of showing comparisons among different sets of data.

A column chart will contain data labels along the horizontal axis with measured metrics or values presented on the vertical axis.

With column charts, you can track monthly sales figures, revenue per landing page, and similar information, while you can use the pie charts to demonstrate components or proportions between the elements of one whole.

You can find many more chart types like the Mekko, bar, line, scatter plot, area, waterfall, and many more.

Plots are data visualization methods used to distribute two or more datasets over a 2D or 3D space to represent the relationship between these sets and the parameters on the plot.

Scatter and bubble plots are some of the most commonly used data visualization methods, while the more complex box plots are more frequently utilized for visualizing relationships between large volumes of data.

A bubble plot is an extension of the scatter plot used to look at the relationships between three numeric variables.

Box plot is a data visualization method used for expanatory data analysis, visually displaying the distribution of numerical data and distortion through displaying the data quartiles and averages.

Maps allow you to locate elements on relevant objects and areas, which is where we can start to divide them into geographical maps, building plans, website layouts, and the most popular map visualization types include heat maps, distribution maps, and cartograms.

Heat maps are graphical representations of data where values are depicted by different colors.

Distribution maps are data visualization arrangements used to indicate the distribution of a particular feature in an area, and they can be qualitative that explore qualities or characteristics, quantitative where the value of data is shown in the form of counts and numbers.

The distribution of continuous variables like temperature, pressure, rainfall are represented by lines of equal value.

4. Diagrams and Matrices

Diagrams are used to illustrate complex data relationships and links, and they include various types of data in one visualization.

They can be hierarchical, network, flowchart, Venn, multidimensional, tree-like, etc.

Matrix is one of the advanced data visualization techniques that help determine and process the correlation between multiple continuously updating datasets.

What to Look for In Data Visualization Software Tools

Before getting into the specific functionalities, let's establish the fundamentals required when purchasing a data visualization tool.

1. Ease of Use

Any data visualization software you choose must have easy-to-use features and a user-friendly interface for the less technically skilled employees.

While there are code-heavy data visualization tools packed with advanced features, these tools need to be well balanced if your team consists of both seasoned IT users and less-experienced workers.

Tableau has a steeper learning curve than other platforms on this list, for example, but this is balanced out with an extremely user-friendly design and a l arge community of users.

That's not to say Tableau doesn't require substantial training, but the completeness of the tool in all aspects makes the training process worth the effort.

Similarly, Sisense will appeal to seasoned BI users while potentially causing frustration with the newcomers.

Apart from the natural language query in the third-party apps, Sisense's UI doesn't match the level of user-friendliness needed to satisfy less-knowledgeable users.

Online training systems with well-organized support teams have helped battle this significantly.

Most importantly, Sisense provides phenomenal data visualization service and equips their target intermediate and highly-skilled business analysts with transparency, and lifts most of their burden without having to buy additional tools.

2. Data Connectivity

Quality data visualization software will equip you with the capability to connect with or extract important information from external sources when you encounter data absence problems.

If you want to import data from both online and PC sources while being able to download infographics in HD quality and connect with numerous file types like PNG, JPG, PDF, GIF, HTML, and more, Infogram could be the comprehensive data connectivity solution you need.

What if you want good data connectivity for free?

Thanks to D3.js , this is possible as well, with the tool being the perfect JavaScript library for manipulating documents based on data, letting you access data through HTML, SVG, and CSS.

All this flexibility comes with additional benefits of the tool being extremely fast, supporting large datasets and dynamic behaviors for interaction and animation.

Adding on the themes in the previous paragraphs, D3.js accommodates this robust data connectivity with apps like NVD3 that non-programmers can use to still get good results in the library.

When you search for a tool that supports the SVG and HTML5 outputs, yet enables you to work in browsers without additional plugins, it's hard to rival Google Charts as it allows you to extract data from Google Spreadsheets, Google Fusion Tables, Salesforce (and Salesforce alternatives ), and other SQL databases.

3. Employee Skill Level

Now that you have determined the fundamentals you look for in the tool, you should turn inward and see what your team can offer to the tool.

Not only will you avoid sudden training costs during the learning process, but knowing the limitations of your employees will help you select a data visualization tool to get you the results you strive for and challenge the employees to develop faster.

4. Let's Talk Refinements

• Data visualization – Analyze data in visual form, such as patterns, charts, graphs, maps, trends, correlations, and so on.
• Role-based access management – Regulate access levels for individuals, including data and administration.
• Historical snapshots – Create snapshots of your data samples and workspace and access them as records later in the process.
• Template creation – Save previously used color schemes and combinations as templates and reuse them again in future projects.
• Visual analytics – Analyze enormous amounts of data through powerful and interactive reporting capabilities.
• Visual discovery – Find patterns, sequences, and outliers in datasets through visual analysis without necessarily creating data models.
• Data cleansing – Filter through the redundant and inaccurate residual information from various formats, and keep your database pure.
• In-place filtering – Filter off specific data by value, type, category, or other criteria with dropdowns, checkboxes, radio buttons, sliders, and more.
• Email reporting – Receive constant information and visual statistical reports about your data through scheduled emails.
• Mobile user support – Access your data and monitor ongoing operations outside of the working environment.

Which Data Visualization Tool Should I Choose?

Do you want a tool that will give you access to an enormous collection of data connectors and visualizations, allow you to create maps and public-facing visualizations that stand out, generating the most accurate forecasts and statistical summaries?

Of course, you do.

Everyone looking for a data visualization solution wants those things, and there is no better tool today to help you master self-service business intelligence like Tableau .

Maybee empowering your employees to perform better is at the top of your priorities, and you would like to engage your employees in an alternative way.

Plecto is a tool that will let you add data from all SQL databases, including Zapier and REST-based API, and allow you to integrate with an unlimited number of them while proactively motivating your team to improve through gamification and other unique features.

If you want to construct complex data models but you want to do it quickly with a tool that will help you attain data from various sources and even advise you on the best practices for chart creation, association recommendation, and data preparation, look no further than Qlik .

Just like Jumpeau, with Sisense , you know you are getting the cream of the crop from picture, graph, chart, and map visualizations and high-volume dataset management, reaching the depth of insights through the actionable visualizations that is unrivaled.

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Martin luenendonk.

Martin loves entrepreneurship and has helped dozens of entrepreneurs by validating the business idea, finding scalable customer acquisition channels, and building a data-driven organization. During his time working in investment banking, tech startups, and industry-leading companies he gained extensive knowledge in using different software tools to optimize business processes.

This insights and his love for researching SaaS products enables him to provide in-depth, fact-based software reviews to enable software buyers make better decisions.

The 19 Best Data Visualization Tools and Software for 2024

• Best Practices ,

Solutions Review’s listing of the best data visualization tools is an annual mashup of products that best represent current market conditions, according to the crowd. Our editors selected the best data visualization tools based on each solution’s Authority Score; a meta-analysis of real user sentiment through the web’s most trusted business software review sites and our own proprietary five-point inclusion criteria.

The editors at Solutions Review have developed this resource to assist buyers in search of the bedata visualization tools to fit the needs of their organization. Choosing the right vendor and solution can be a complicated process — one that requires in-depth research and often comes down to more than just the solution and its technical capabilities. To make your search a little easier, we’ve profiled the best data visualization tools providers all in one place. We’ve also included platform and product line names and introductory software tutorials straight from the source so you can see each solution in action.

Note: The best data visualization tools are listed in alphabetical order.

The Best Data Visualization Tools

• ChartBlocks

Platform: ChartBlocks

Description: ChartBlocks offers an online chart-building tool that lets you import your data, design a chart, and then share it with ease. No coding is required to enable users to build charts via a simple designer. You can also choose from dozens of different chart types and pull data from almost any source. ChartBlocks supports creating charts that pull data from multiple sources as well. The tool touts a data import wizard that takes you through the entire process step-by-step.

Platform: Cyfe

Description:  Cyfe offers a business dashboard creator that lets you monitor and visualize important data (social media, analytics, marketing, sales, support) in one place. The product features a number of pre-built dashboard templates that can be modified to meet specific needs. Users can also pull data from popular sources, and Cyfe touts more than 100 integrations and 250 metrics out-of-the-box. There are automated reports and widget alerts as well, which can be downloaded or scheduled.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61ZdbB92vRM

Platform: Databox

Description: Databox offers a business analytics platform for KPI dashboards that pulls organizational data into one place so users can track performance and discover insights in real-time. The product lets you mix and match metrics from different sources into one dashboard. Databox features a DIY Dashboard Designer that enables users to pull the metrics they need, visualize KPIs in a number of ways, and build dashboards without the need for special coding or design skills.

Datawrapper

Platform: Datawrapper

Description: Datawrapper provides a web tool for creating a variety of interactive charts and maps. No code or design skills are required, and charts can be embedded in your website. Users can simply copy data from Excel or Google Sheets or upload CSV files or link to a URL for live updating. The basic (free) version allows for 1 user, 1 locator map, and 10,000 chart views per month. There are also several paid offerings that include access for additional users and more advanced capabilities.

• Easy Insight

Platform: Easy Insight

Description: Easy Insight offers a cloud business intelligence tool that enables you to create reports and dashboards and visualize data through charts and tables. The product also enables the combination of different services in databases so users can create a single view of customers across multiple apps. Easy Insight also touts the ability to create and update data right from your reports, as well as drill from charts into detailed data and click right back to the source.

Platform: Exago BI

Description: Exago BI is completely web-based and a prime embedded solution for software companies looking to provide ad hoc reporting, dashboards, and business analysis to their clients. Integration with web-based SaaS and or on-prem applications allows non-technical users to create reports and dashboards with no IT intervention. Exago BI offers a wide variety of advanced features including interactive data visualizations, geo-maps, drill-downs, user-defined formulas, and data merging into predefined templates.

• Golden Software

Platform: Grapher

Description: Golden Software’s Grapher is a full-function graphing application for scientists, engineers, and business professionals. The product touts more than 80 unique and customizable 2D and 3D graph styles. Graphs can be enhanced with legends, titles and labels, summation plots, graph magnifiers, and statistical reports. Grapher also includes extensive analysis charts, tools, and statistical features to identify trends, find new insights and provide a holistic view of data.

Platform: Geckoboard

Description: Geckoboard offers a data dashboard product that makes it easy for you to share important data, metrics and KPIs clearly. The tool helps to streamline data from spreadsheets, databases and other tools for presentation purposes. Real-time metrics and more than 60 integrations make it easy to create live dashboards. Geckoboard also touts an unmissable summary of key performance indicators. Users can easily share dashboards with team members through email, chat, documents, or bookmark them for quick access.

Learn more and compare products with the Solutions Review Buyer’s Guide for Analytics and Business Intelligence Platforms .

Platform: Grow

Description: Grow offers a no-code, full-stack business intelligence and data visualization tool. The product features data integration capabilities that enable users to connect, store, and blend data from hundreds of data sources. Grow then provides the ability to marry and transform disparate data sources so you can filter, slice, and explore different visualizations. The built-in data explorer defines how you want to navigate data via charts and graphs which are displayed in metrics and dashboards.

Platform: GoodData

Description: The GoodData platform provides creation, delivery, and automated management of analytics at scale that allows organizations to deliver insights to customers, partners, and other users. GoodData is designed to support any analytical product roadmap and enables customers to offer their partners any data source, visualization, interaction pattern, or integration they need. The tool offers analytics and expertise to operationalize intelligent decisions within business applications and business processes.

• iDashboards

Platform: iDashboards

Description: iDashboards offers a data visualization platform for customers in a wide array of vertical industries. The product features customizable and flexible dashboard tools that integrate with popular data sources. iDashboards lets users quickly view and analyze critical performance metrics as well. Dashboards can be created on any device while the solution touts hundreds of chart options for data visualizations of any kind. Users can share dashboards internally or publicly to keep the back-end secure. Role-based permissions and other integrations are also available.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCuYKd7hWnk

Platform: Infogram

Description: Infogram offers an intuitive data visualization tool for users of varying skill levels. The product features ready-to-use templates and custom templates with your brand, colors, fonts, and logo. Infogram also touts interactive content via object animations like setting objects to zoom, bounce, flip and fade, as well as enhanced interactivity through tooltips, tabs, clickable legends, and linking. Teams can be organized into groups and permissions can be set by role.

Platform: Klipfolio

Description: Klipfolio offers a custom dashboard and reporting tool that combines formulas, functions, and data modeling to help users build actionable reports. Customers can choose from pre-built visualizations in the Klip gallery or incorporate proprietary branding with custom themes. Klipfolio enables the sharing of dashboards and reports via view-only links, PDFs, scheduled emails, or Slack messages. The solution provider offers free add-on products like PowerMetrics (lightweight data analytics) and MetricHQ (online dictionary of metrics and KPIs) as well.

Platform: Power BI

Related products: Power BI Desktop, Power BI Report Server

Description: Microsoft is a major players in enterprise BI and analytics. The company’s flagship platform, Power BI, is cloud-based and delivered on the Azure Cloud. On-prem capabilities also exist for individual users or when power users are authoring complex data mashups using in-house data sources. Power BI is unique because it enables users to do data preparation, data discovery, and dashboards with the same design tool. The platform integrates with Excel and Office 365, and has a very active user community that extends the tool’s capabilities.

• Panintelligence

Platform: pi

Description: pi is a three-in-one solution that combines business intelligence with simple reporting and predictive analytic capabilities via self-service dashboards. Users can white label the software and embed it into existing SaaS products or hook it up to cloud data warehousing and ETL tools for a more seamless experience. pi also centralizes various sources of data and uses AI analytics and automation to make insights readily available while dashboards can be completely customized for each client without the need to write code.

• Tableau Software

Platform: Tableau Desktop

Related products:  Tableau Prep, Tableau Server, Tableau Online, Tableau Data Management

Description: Tableau offers an expansive visual BI and analytics platform, and is widely regarded as the major player in the marketplace. The company’s analytic software portfolio is available through three main channels: Tableau Desktop, Tableau Server, and Tableau Online. Tableau connects to hundreds of data sources and is available on-prem or in the cloud. The vendor also offers embedded analytics capabilities, and users can visualize and share data with Tableau Public.

Platform:  Toucan Toco

Description: Toucan offers a data storytelling platform designed for the non-technical decision-maker. The product lets users communicate actionable insights via a built-in no-code framework. Toucan Toco adapts to usage habits by deploying apps to all devices quickly without additional work, installation, or post-deployment maintenance. Included collaboration capabilities can be utilized via native integrations with Teams and Slack. The tool also touts an adaptive design and the ability to embed charts to websites or other platforms.

Platform: Visme

Description:  Visme is an all-in-one visual communication tool that lets users create presentations, infographics, reports, social graphics, and more. The tool features more than 40 different chart and diagram types bar graph, pie chart, flowcharts, diagrams, line graphs, histograms), as well as live data integration and an easy-to-use graph maker. Graphs can be easily shared, downloaded, or embedded as well. Visme touts a free library of chart templates, millions of stock photos and icons, the ability to customize brand fonts and colors, and a drag-and-drop interface.

Platform: Zoho Analytics

Description: Zoho Analytics is a self-service BI and data analytics tool that lets you incorporate data from a wide range of sources, blend it together, and create cross-functional reports and dashboards. The product features a drag-and-drop designer, as well as different visualization tools to drill down to specifics. A “smart” assistant called Zia can answer questions in the form of reports and KPI widgets via AI, machine learning and natural language processing. Users can share and publish reports and smart data alerts ping you when outliers or anomalies happen.

This article was written by Tim King on October 9, 2023

• Best Data Visualization Software
• Best Data Visualization Tools
• Data Visualization
• Toucan Toco
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Executive Editor

Tim is Solutions Review's Executive Editor and leads coverage on data management and analytics. A 2017 and 2018 Most Influential Business Journalist and 2021 "Who's Who" in Data Management, Tim is a recognized industry thought leader and changemaker. Story? Reach him via email at tking@solutionsreview dot com.

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Your Guide to the Top 11 Data Visualization Tools

If you clicked on this article, you’re probably in the following situation: you have a critical dataset to analyze, but you don’t know any good data visualization tools.

Thankfully, you’ve come to the right place.

In this article, we’ll teach you everything you need to know about data visualization tools, including what they are, why you should use them, and 11 potential tools we recommend trying.

Ready? Let’s start!

What Is Data Visualization?

Data visualization is the process of creating a visual representation of a data set’s trends, patterns, and critical insights. A data visualization tool is software that helps you create a visualization.

Though you may not work with data every day, you’ve likely used many different types of data visualizations before. Some of the most popular visualizations include:

• Pie charts , which show percentage breakdowns
• Tables , which show data that’s too complicated for text
• Timelines , which offer a sequence of events over time
• Histograms , which show the distribution of a dataset made up of continuous or discrete data
• Gantt charts , which show the timeline of a project
• Box-and-whisker plots , which offer a dataset’s five-number summary (which includes the minimum, first quartile, median, third quartile, and maximum figures)
• Scatter plots , which show a relationship between two sets of data (like height vs. weight)
• Bar charts , which show the distribution of data in two categories (like the results of A/B tests )

There’s no “one” way to create a data visualization, though the general process of creating one looks like this:

• Step 1:  Gather your dataset
• Step 2: “Clean” your data to ensure it’s consistent and error-free
• Step 3:  Export your dataset into your data visualization software
• Step 4:  Use the software to generate visualizations
• Step 5:  Assess the reliability and validity of your visualization and use the chart as you please

When discussing data, it’s important to note that “reliability” and “validity” are separate things. “Reliability” refers to how well your data and the methodology behind it measures the thing you’re evaluating, while “validity” refers to how accurate your data itself is.

Why Data Visualization Is Important

Data visualizations are very useful, as they can help you:

• Discover BI Insights: Business Intelligence (BI) insights are vital pieces of information that inform your decisions.

For example, if you analyzed your email open rate , it’d be a BI insight to say that your click-through rate (CTR) was higher on emails sent through MailChimp instead of GetResponse. The insight will likely influence which platform you use.

• Convey Complicated Or Detailed Results To Others: Visualizations can help you explain what your data says to your boss, investors, coworkers, or the media — as they reduce complex data into easily digestible graphics.

For example, if you were doing A/B testing on your WordPress site, you could use data visualization to display results for both the “A” and “B” outcomes so that they are easy to understand.

• Analyze And Understand Hidden Trends In Your Business Data: While some trends are obvious by looking at a dataset, many datasets are too large to interpret without visualizations.

For example, if you were analyzing your ad retargeting results from a whole year, a data visualization would show you seasonal spikes that you likely couldn’t notice by looking at week-on-week results.

• Compare Figures In Big Data Sets   Quickly: You don’t have to own a big business to generate a lot of data.

Many businesses track data like their website conversion figures . These datasets contain results from hundreds of visitors, so analyzing the data manually would be extremely time-consuming.

Common Features of Data Visualization Tools

Although every data visualization tool is different, most tools share some common (and very helpful) features. This section will briefly describe these features and why they are essential when selecting your ideal tool.

Data Importing API

Many tools include an Application Programming Interface (API) that allows you to import data from your data collection tool to your visualization tool. APIs speed up the visualization process, as you’d need to download your data, upload it to your tool, and format it manually without an API.

Chart Templates

Chart templates are pre-set designs that you can use to create an attractive visualization quickly. These are perfect if you aren’t a graphic designer or a data analyst, as you simply insert your data into the chart.

Most chart templates will also let you customize your chart’s colors, fonts, and headers.

Interactive Charts

Interactive charts react when you interact with them, meaning you can highlight key figures, trends, or variables without creating different visualizations for each analytic.

Version History

Version history allows you to view and restore old versions of your data visualizations — meaning you can undo a mistake without losing your data.

Mobile Optimization

As the name suggests, mobile optimization allows you to alter the presentation of your visualizations to suit mobile devices.

Top 11 Data Visualization Tools

If you search for “data visualization software,” you’ll find hundreds of different options. That’s a lot of options to choose from, so to help you narrow it down, we’ve compiled a list of our top 11 tools in this section.

1. Microsoft Excel

Microsoft Excel is the oldest (and likely best known) program on this list. Launched by Microsoft in 1987, Excel allows you to create tables, charts, and roughly 20  other visualizations.

Top Features

• Power Pivot: An add-in that you can use to create data models and perform analysis on large data sets
• Inbuilt formulas
• Autofilter:  A program that can sort your data automatically
• Available in Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS devices
• You can customize your visualization’s font, color, and features
• It comes with many Microsoft packages (so you may already have it on your computer)
• Allows you to import and export data quickly and in many file types
• Includes version history
• Can be expensive
• Difficult to use on large datasets if you aren’t a data scientist
• Not designed for teams

One license for Microsoft Excel costs $159.99 per year  or $6.99 a month if purchased with Office 365.

What It Looks Like In Practice

2. Microsoft Power BI

Microsoft Power BI is Excel’s younger and brighter cousin. Power BI allows you to create data visualizations individually or within reports.

• Microsoft AI:  An artificial intelligence (AI) program that can prepare and analyze data automatically
• Fully customizable dashboards
• Real-time visualizations
• Includes many chart templates and pre-set reports
• Has Machine Learning capabilities
• Can analyze data from Dynamics 365, Excel, SharePoint, Salesforce, and Azure SQL DB (among other sources)
• Great for teams
• Can create an interactive data visualization
• Very cyber secure
• Available on desktop and mobile devices
• Best suited for people who have analyzed data before or who use Excel frequently
• Can only handle up to 2 GB of data at a time (so not suited to extensive data sets)

It costs $13.70 per user per month for Power BI Pro or $27.50 per user per month for Power BI Premium. Power BI also offers “per capacity” plans for large organizations.

3. Google Charts

Google Charts is a web-based tool that can create simple visualizations from small and large datasets. You can build visualizations to publish onto your website with Google Charts.

• Cross-browser compatibility:  Your visualizations will work on other (non-Microsoft) browsers like Safari, Mozilla Firefox, and Google Chrome
• Interactive charts
• You can use it to create many different types of visualizations
• Beginner-friendly
• You can use it to analyze data from any SQL database
• You can customize your visualizations with CSS editing
• You’ll need a basic understanding of JavaScript to publish your visualization onto your website

Google Charts is currently entirely free to use.

Tableau is a powerful and well-known data visualization tool that allows you to analyze data from multiple sources at once. Salesforce owns Tableau.

• Ask Data:  A tool that can answer basic questions about your data
• Explain Data:  An AI tool that explains why your dataset has outliers (outliers are data points that are abnormally different from other data points)
• Tableau Prep: A self-service data preparation tool that can create visualizations according to your instructions
• Includes a wide range of chart templates
• Can handle large volumes of data
• Can import data from a wide range of places
• It may take some time to learn to use
• Tableau Public makes your data visible to other users

The public version of Tableau is currently free. However, Tableau also offers Viewer, Creator, and Explorer plans that start from $12, $35, and $70, respectively. It also provides enterprise plans.

5. Zoho Analytics

Zoho Analytics is a data visualization tool loved by over 2 million users — including employees at big brands like HP, Hyundai, and Suzuki.

• Multi-user collaboration: You can grant other users permission to view and edit your visualizations
• Mobile BI app: Available on Android and iOS devices
• Automatic reports
• Includes a wide range of pre-set templates
• You can embed Zoho visualizations into your website with little or no code
• Integrates with over 500 apps (including Google Ads, Salesforce, and many social media platforms)
• It’s easy to learn Zoho Analytics as Zoho has produced video tutorials, webinars, and a product tour for users
• Zoho Analytics is best suited to people with a basic understanding of analytics and data analysis (or with the time to learn)

Zoho Analytics offers Basic, Standard, Premium, and Enterprise plans ranging from $24–$455  a month.

6. Datawrapper

Datawrapper is an easy-to-use tool perfect for creating charts, tables, and maps for websites. Initially, Datawrapper developers built the tool for news websites, but many organizations now use it.

• Built-in color blindness checker: Makes your visualizations color-blind friendly
• Mobile-friendly
• You can create an unlimited number of visualizations on the free account
• Easy to learn to use as Datawrapper has produced over 100 “how-to” articles
• You can only import data from a few sources
• Datawrapper’s premium plans are more expensive than competing tools

Datawrapper offers a free plan, a custom plan for $5,990 a year , and enterprise plans.

7. Qlik Sense

Qlik Sense is a data visualization tool designed for large businesses and people who want to use augmented analytics to analyze data. Qlik Sense is the successor to “QlikView” — a similar (but smaller) visual analytics tool.

• Visual and Advanced Data Prep:  Can clean and sort your data automatically
• Insight Advisor:  An AI program that can help you analyze your data and understand any BI insights you find
• Works online and offline on mobile devices
• Perfect for teams
• Scalable for large businesses
• Best suited to people with experience in data analytics

Qlik Sense offers Qlik Sense Business for $30 per user per month  and enterprise plans.

8. FusionCharts

FusionCharts is a popular Google Charts alternative. FusionCharts allows you to create visualizations to embed into web pages. Over 28,000 businesses worldwide currently use it — including tech giants like Google, Apple, and IBM.

• Integrations:  Works with JavaScript frameworks like Angular , Ember, React, and jQuery
• Compatibility:  Works with server-side programming languages Java, PHP , Ruby on Rails , and Django
• Live data dashboard
• Offers over 100 different types of charts and over 2,000 choropleth maps
• Great user interface (UI)
• You can export charts quickly and easily
• Handles large data sets
• More expensive than many other data visualization software options
• Not available on iOS or Android devices

FusionCharts offers the Basic package from $499 annually , the Pro package from $1,299 annually, and the Enterprise package from $2,499 annually.

This image shows what a visualization created with FusionCharts looks like.

Domo is a BI tool geared toward businesses with complicated or large datasets. Organizations like eBay, ESPN, Cisco, and Emerson all use Domo.

• Real-time analytics
• Buzz: Domo’s built-in chat app that allows you to communicate with your team
• App Dev Studio:  An built-in program that allows you to build visualizations with HTML, Javascript, and CSS
• Extensive library of report and chart templates
• Domo has a natural language query function that can answer basic questions about your data
• Domo can analyze data from 1,000+ data sources
• Domo offers alerts that will go off when you hit a predetermined goal
• Not beginner-friendly

Domo’s pricing is organization-specific — so you’ll need to contact the sales department for a quote.

10. Google Analytics

Google Analytics is a tried-and-true BI tool that’s perfect for small, medium, and large businesses looking to analyze their website activity. Google Analytics can track critical figures like bounce rate, average session duration, and pages per session.

• Integrations:  Works with Google Ads, Google Search Console, and WordPress
• Real-time report: Shows you your website’s current activity
• Interactive dashboard
• Easy to set up
• Google Analytics collects and analyzes data on your audience, conversions, audience acquisition, and their behavior automatically
• You can export your data into other programs for further analysis
• Only suitable for analyzing web traffic data
• Only offers a few pre-set visualizations

Google Analytics is currently free. However, Google also offers Google Analytics 360, which is organization-specific.

Visme is an intuitive program that can create data visualizations and infographics. Visme is perfect for anyone looking to make simple charts with sleek and aesthetically pleasing designs.

• Graph maker
• Data widget library
• Microsoft Office integration
• Visme offers many chart and infographic templates
• You can download your charts as multiple file types
• Works offline and online
• Allows you to customize your chart’s fonts, colors, backgrounds, and design
• Visme is best suited for businesses with small and medium-sized datasets
• All projects are public on VIsme’s Basic plan
• Visme is not available on Android or iOS devices

Visme offers the Basic plan for free , the Personal plan for $15 a month, the Business plan for $29 per user per month, and enterprise plans. Visme also offers discounts for students, teachers, and non-profit organizations.

Decision-Making: What to Look For When Choosing a Tool

While we covered 11 potential data visualization tools you could use in the previous section, everyone’s ideal tool will look different. So how do you choose the right one for you?

When selecting a data visualization solution for your business, check:

How Well It Meets Your Needs

As every business uses different data, you need to check if the tool meets your needs specifically. To do this, ask yourself:

• Does the tool work with the type of data we need visualizations for?
• Does it integrate with our data collection software or Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system?
• Does it fit our skill set (i.e., if you are a beginner data analyst, is it beginner-friendly?)?
• Will it work on our devices and website?

Price is a huge factor to consider when investing in new software. Before you click “sign up,” ask yourself:

• Can we afford the tool?
• Is the tool a good value for us?
• Is there a cheaper tool that can provide the same value?

Future-Compatibility

While the tool may meet your business needs today, will it still be helpful to you one year from now? As many tools use subscription-based pricing, you may lock yourself into a contract you’ll regret if you sign up for a tool that doesn’t scale with your business.

To assess the future compatibility of your tool, ask yourself:

• Can the tool handle a higher volume of data?
• Can we use the tool to track our key performance indicator (KPI) results?
• Will we still use the tool one year from now?
• Can it measure all of our website marketing strategies ?

Data Before Visualization: Tips for Maximizing Your Data

Ultimately, your data visualization tool is just that — a tool. If the reliability and validity of your data are low, your visualizations won’t turn out well (no matter what tool you use).

So how do you ensure your data is high-quality? We recommend you:

• Identify and delete duplicate records before creating data visualizations
• Define your data formats clearly, so you don’t have data in multiple formats (like “10/2/2010” and “October 2, 2021”)
• Collect data over a long period (as collecting very short-sighted data could give you an inaccurate picture of your data)
• Identify outliers and account for them so that they don’t alter your visualizations
• Clearly define your data metrics (for example, “we define daily conversion rate as the percentage of leads that become customers from midnight day one to midnight day two”)
• Store your data in a secure, cloud-based location
• Identify data gaps and incorrect data, and fix them before creating your visualizations
• Collect data with high-quality tools

Data visualization tools are a game-changer, as they help you create high-quality visualizations quickly. Creating data visualizations has many advantages, as they allow you to:

• Generate BI insights
• Explain data to others in an engaging manner
• Spot trends in datasets that span a long period
• Easily understand complicated or large datasets

While your perfect tool will depend on your price and needs, we believe the top tools include Power BI, Tableau, and Google Charts.

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The 12 Best Data Visualization Tools for Professionals

The world is overflowing with data, but it can be hard for many to see the story in that torrent. That’s where the  artistry of data visualization can come in.

While you can use different  coding languages , there are a host of dedicated data visualization tools available. These tools can translate  hard data into  shareable and easy-to-understand reports, dashboards and interactive live charts. 

What Is Data Visualization?

Data visualization is the process of converting data into graphics that can be easily understood. It’s used to present ideas from complex data, communicate strategies and inform business decisions. Common graphics include pie charts, line charts, heat maps, histograms and scatter plots. 

While data analysts and data scientists rely on data visualization tools, professionals across a range of disciplines may find these tools helpful for explaining data-based findings.  

What Are Data Visualization Tools? 

Data visualization tools are software that generate graphic representations of data. They process data inputs, converting them into visuals that users can tailor to fit their needs.   

Users can ensure the effectiveness of a data visualization tool by considering the expertise of their audience and the simplicity of their graphics. The right tool for the right situation provides accessible visuals that display information in a format familiar to the audience.      

Here are some data visualization tools that are useful for professionals, including several that come recommended by  data science and  business intelligence experts.

12 Best Data-Visualization Tools, According to Experts

Datawrapper, ibm cognos analytics , microsoft power bi, sisense fusion analytics, fusioncharts, zoho analytics.

More on Data Visualization 6 Ways to Make Data Visualization Literacy Part of Company Culture

Best Tools for Data Visualization

While many  data visualization tools are actually platforms with various tools that can be purchased separately,  Domo is different, according to Michael Wilson, senior data and analytics manager at  Stream , a company that provides application software.

“It is a data extraction tool, data storage,  data modeling , analysis and visualization tool,” Wilson said. “It enables your [organization] to integrate all of your systems into one cohesive ecosystem.”

Wilson’s team can accomplish all of their data needs, including visualization, with one product. The visualization features are also easy to use and collaborative, he noted.

“Our team uses  Domo across the organization, from C-level dashboards to product tracking, support tickets, marketing progress and sales team scoreboards,” he said.

Here are some advantages of working with Domo:

• Interactive dashboards for sharing and collaboration.
• Automatic alerts users can set to notify them about relevant data changes or when numbers cross a certain threshold.
• Access to more than 150 charts and 7,000 maps for customizable visualizations.

Qlik is an analytics and data integration platform that includes visualization features. The company’s Qlik Cloud comes with Qlik Sense, which allows users to create interactive data dashboards to share graphs, maps and other visual elements with their teams

The platform uses artificial intelligence to automatically generate  analyses and insights that support  data scientists in “delivering interactive predictive calculations that are easily accessible by decision makers.” It also allows users to set alerts that help them monitor business data and enable automation for routine tasks.

Qlik Sense can be accessed on any device, as the company offers iOS and Android apps in addition to its desktop format. Samsung, DocuSign, Lenovo and Volvo have been among some of the customers to make use of  Qlik ’s data analytics and visualization features.

Here are some of the perks of using Qlik for data visualization:

• Charts, tables and other visual elements designed to be interactive.
• Scheduling reports to be delivered on a routine basis.
• Generating reports in formats like Microsoft Office and PDFs.
• Natural language processing helps the platform understand user intent.

Datawrapper is an online platform for creating interactive charts and maps, as well as responsive data tables. Users can sign up for a free account or upgrade to a paid one for more customization features. Organizations like The New York Times , Axios and the Associated Press have used Datawrapper to create visualizations. It can be used to visualize election results, for example, updating in real time as new numbers are announced, or to create illustrative line and bar graphs with annotations that explain what people are looking at.

Users don’t need to know any coding to take advantage of Datawrapper’s capabilities. They can simply copy and paste their data into the website, upload CSV/XLS files or link to the data to begin creating an unlimited number of visualizations, regardless of whether they have a free or paid account.

Datawrapper also has a library of resources available for users to learn about how to get the most out of its tools. That includes more than 100 articles on how to use Datawrapper, workshop slides and exercises, a blog full of best practices and visualization examples. 

These are some of the capabilities data wrapper gives users:

• Responsive visualizations for desktop computers, tablets and smartphones.
• Integration with Slack and Microsoft teams for collaboration.
• Live updating when the visualization is linked to a changing data set.

Further Reading Is VR the Next Frontier in Data Visualization?

With the integration of Looker and Google Data Studio , the Looker suite allows users to take a more holistic approach toward data analysis. Users can now transfer data from Looker to Google Data Studio , creating convenient graphics with the help of both tools. 

Even before this pairing, Looker has always boasted an ease of use that characterizes many low- or no-code data viz tools .  But it isn’t just for the non-technical user, according to Kevin Mattice, chief product officer at real estate data platform  Cherre .

“We leverage Looker at Cherre because it gives our wide range of users the best tool to create the visualizations they need on top of their whole world of connected data,” he said. “Our engineering teams can create highly customized visualizations across many data sets because Looker makes it easy to implement custom code.”

He explained that Looker’s language, LookML , allows both his team and Cherre’s clients to write code to customize visualizations “without changing the underlying data pipeline.”

Mattice called Looker his favorite data visualization tool because of its flexibility and “great combination of out-of-the-box features.” 

And Looker’s capabilities have only increased with the addition of Google Data Studio. Here are some of Looker’s top features:

• Exporting to PDF, Excel or various image files.
• Setting custom visualization logo and color scheme combinations.
• Scheduling report generation based on data updates.
• Developing dashboards and reports in Google Data Studio.

IBM Cognos Analytics inputs data from various sources, cleans it and then generates data visualizations for team members to view. The platform stands out with its artificial intelligence capabilities, automatically integrating data from different sources and organizing it into the appropriate format. Users can easily build dashboards that adapt to mobile devices and gather insights by asking the platform’s AI assistant verbal questions. 

Another advantage of IBM Cognos Analytics is that it plays well with a diverse range of data sources. Besides spreadsheets and CSV files, IBM ’s analytics platform collaborates with Redshift, Amazon, Google BigQuery and other SQL databases. As a result, teams can easily combine data from varying sources and arrange them into compelling reports.  

Here are some of the platform’s main features to remember: 

• Integrates with a diverse range of sources like Google BigQuery and Redshift. 
• Features an AI assistant that can glean insights after receiving verbal commands. 
• Makes it easy to create dashboards and reports that can be viewed on mobile devices.

Infogram is a website where people can use templates to design infographics, reports and other visuals. Users can access metrics that give them insight into how well their visualizations are performing and which elements viewers interact with most. The company says its visualization tools have applications for a range of industries from media and marketing to government and education .

Users can sign up for a free basic account that lets them create 10 projects using more than 37 types of interactive charts, but Infogram also offers a range of pricing plans for organizations looking to use more customization and collaboration features.

Here are some of Infogram’s popular capabilities:

• A library of templates that includes slide shows and designs sized for platforms like Youtube and Facebook.
• Version history that allows users to look back at past changes to a visualization.
• Setting permissions for different roles within a team.
• Custom links to provide analytics that track how a particular client shares or interacts with a visualization.

A big-name data visualization tool,  Power BI by  Microsoft is a platform composed of several individual products: Power BI Desktop, Power BI Pro, Power BI Mobile and more. These products integrate with each other and other Microsoft products. This connectivity, plus the ability to pull data from dozens of different data sources, can make Power BI very useful.

Katie Dootson, a former data analyst at  Blue Prism , a robotic process automation software company, said she was attracted to Power BI’s low cost and high flexibility.

Power BI’s similarity to other Microsoft products like Excel makes it exceptionally user-friendly, she added. 

“Power BI is  low-code so anyone can work in their system and create powerful insights,” Dootson said. “For the more advanced users, they can do some powerful modeling and calculations in the power query section and data analysis expressions (DAX) calculations.”

Here are some of the advantages Microsoft Power BI offers:

• Equipped with a library of hundreds of data visualizations.
• Weekly and monthly updates to improve the platform’s features and capabilities based on feedback from users.

Aimee Leidich, senior director and head of operations at  Hint Health , uses  Sisense Fusion Analytics , which maintains code-first options — unique compared to most other data visualization tools that are low- or no-code.

“An analyst with no engineering background could hard code in SQL to create data tables for analyses and run all visualizations,” she said. Having code-first abilities means the small analyst team can address their unique data table structure directly with SQL without difficulty. 

Leidrich pointed out that a code-first approach might not work for every team, or even hers as it grows. This makes the  Sisense Fusion Analytics’ range of code-first to no-code tools adaptable to users’ needs.

Here are some of the advantages of working with Sisense Fusion Analytics:

• Natural language narratives make data analyses accessible and understandable.
• More than 100 data connectors available.

With  FusionCharts , organizations can build visualizations out of more than 100 different interactive charts and 2,000 choropleth maps that can be used for web and mobile projects. The company says there’s a low learning curve for understanding how to use its tools along with live chat support.

Users have the ability to incorporate annotations, which could offer additional details about a specific data point on a graph or merge custom images into the visualization that are relevant to the data. In addition to traditional graph and chart formats, there are widgets that help illustrate data with speedometers, thermometers, the fill level on a cylinder and more.

These are some of the pros of using FusionCharts:

• Customizing visualizations with brand colors and logos.
• Exporting charts as an image or PDF or turning the underlying data into a spreadsheet.
• Writing your own messages that display as visualization loads.
• Formatting for dollar amounts that allows users to switch between denominations for different countries.

Read More The Designers Behind ‘Data Sketches’ on Their Eccentric Vision for Data Viz

Dundas BI is a  business intelligence platform that provides mid-to-large enterprises and software vendors with dashboards, reports and visual data analytics created from raw data. The company says its customers don’t need highly technical expertise to use the platform because of its “intuitive, user-friendly functionality.”

The platform’s dashboards are optimized for web and mobile display and users can save customized styles and dashboard templates for uniformity across their visualizations.  Dundas BI also has a notes feature that allows team members to post feedback, such as comments or questions, in direct response to particular data points.

These are some of Dundas BI’s popular features:

• Drag-and-drop design tools.
• Notes that can be organized into comment threads along with permissions to control who sees them and email alerts for replies.
• Scheduling reports to be sent regularly.

Of all the data visualization tools available,  Tableau is among the most widely used. It is a data analytics and visualization platform owned by Salesforce. It offers a number of different products, including Tableau Desktop, Tableau Server, Tableau Cloud and more. It integrates natively with a wide range of data sources, including Excel, Google Sheets, SQL Server, Google BigQuery, Amazon Redshift and Salesforce.

“It can connect to anything, pull data from anywhere and create powerful visualizations quickly and easily,” said Camden Daily, vice president of data at coding bootcamp  General Assembly . Daily has also found Tableau to be great for exploratory analysis — namely, finding patterns in the data — as well as for explaining what the data says through robust visualizations.

Tableau is also known for its versatility. “If you can dream it up, you can execute it within Tableau,” Levi Dantzinger, former analytics manager at data-driven life insurance company  Bestow , said. “The sophisticated propensity for complex visualization and analysis within Tableau is hard to beat.”

While Tableau is a paid product, there is also a free version: Tableau Public. This version offers a lot of the visualization tools of other Tableau products but visualizations published in it are available online publicly. 

Marcin Bartoszek, head of business intelligence at  Spacelift.io , an infrastructure-as-code management platform, said he is a fan of the various Tableau products, including Public, in part because of how easy they are to learn.

“The shallow learning curve that allows everyone to learn using Tableau has to be one of the main competitive advantages of the tool,” he said. “The ease of use that lets you create rich visualizations in just a few seconds is a strong reason why one should pay attention to Tableau.”

Here are some of the pros of working with Tableau:

• Integrates with a range of data sources.
• A library of resources available, including video tutorials and webinars, to learn about the platform’s capabilities.

Simplicity is a major selling point for  Zoho Analytics . The business intelligence and analytics platform is self-service and allows users to connect and blend their data from a variety of different sources, prepare it for analysis, analyze it and develop a wide range of visualizations from it.

Trevor Larson, CEO and founder of employee recognition software company  Nectar , named Zoho Analytics his favorite data visualization tool because “it strikes a good balance between customization and user friendliness that makes it really easy to use, even for complex data sets.”

This balance stems from the robust customization options and an intuitive user interface Zoho Analytics offers, according to Larson. One detail he especially likes about the user interface is that it is responsive, adjusting to the size of any screen.

“I think Zoho has realized that users need to be able to customize their work environment to match their specific needs and preferences, but they also don’t want users to have to spend a lot of time customizing the software in order to use it,” Larson said.

These are some of the pros of Zoho Analytics:

• Comes with an AI-powered analytical assistant called Zia.
• Interface has a drag-and-drop feature to simplify building reports.
• Comment threads allow teams to collaborate and offer feedback.

Great Companies Need Great People. That's Where We Come In.

Best data visualization tool of 2024

Communicate business insights more easily to stakeholders with the best data visualization tools

Best overall

Best basic option, best for flowcharts, best for dashboards, best for features.

• How we test

The best data visualization tools make it simple and easy to communicate business insights from raw data to stakeholders.

1. Best overall 2. Best basic option 3. Best for flowcharts 4. Best for dashboards 5. Best for features 6. FAQs 7. How we test

Data visualization can be used in the form of anything from presentations to workflows, each of which can benefit from better charts and diagrams to provide information visually.

Ultimately, data visualizations will provide clear indicators of trends from existing data, or present otherwise important information such as core tasks or assignments in management processes. Graphic representation of key data helps you to get the point across quickly, in a way that others will find easy to understand.

The key to visualization is simplicity in the presentation, no matter how it is applied, and irrespective of industry-specific applications of visualization.

Below we list what we think are the best data visualization tools and apps currently available.

We've also featured the best data recovery software .

The best data visualization tools of 2024 in full:

Why you can trust TechRadar We spend hours testing every product or service we review, so you can be sure you’re buying the best. Find out more about how we test.

Reasons to buy

Reasons to avoid.

Tableau comes in strong as a market leader when it comes to showing how visualization can help with general productivity management. It's a flexible and powerful solution that provides for business intelligence , and it's with large data sets that Tableau really comes into its own.

Tableau offers a range of different software tools for data visualization, starting with Tableau Creator which allows for both a desktop and online version for individuals, to allow for the processing of data to output visualized analytics. This service costs around $70 / £60 / AU$105 per user per month when billed annually.

There are also versions for teams and organizations, either as a standalone to provide data mining with visualization and interactive dashboards, while there's also a version for live analytics processing with existing software apps.

Altogether, Tableau is a powerful analytics tool for producing all manner of useful charts and graphs, all of which make it easier to communicate insights and answers to questions with different levels of stakeholders. 

• ^ Back to the top

Quire allows you to manage and visualize projects that don’t require advanced functionality.

Quire works by letting you map out tasks and thoughts in a simple to-do list format that can easily be rearranged and assigned to team members. Once tasks have been defined in the app, you can visually organize and assign these tasks using a Kanban board built into the system. The software makes it easy to flip between task lists and the Kanban board as needed.

The beauty of Quire is that it also offers a number of visual representations of your task list that you can choose from, including pie charts, project summaries, and graphs. All the basic visual data representations are there except for Gantt charts , the one strike against this platform. 

Overall, though, Quire delivers a streamlined interface that works very well for exploring workflows and improving project management . It strikes a good balance between simplicity and power, earning it a place among the best data visualization tools available right now.

Quire's starting Professional plan costs around $9 / £8 / AU$12 per user per month, but if you want more storage and functions you need to buy the Premium or Enterprise plans.

There are many ways in which you can visually organize your project. If your preferred style is flowchart-based organization, you’re going to love Casual.

Instead of Kanban boards or Gantt charts, Casual is built exclusively around a single flowchart interface where you organize projects by drawing lines between tasks, and assign team members to each step in the flowchart. Each team member gets a task list based on the flowchart, but essentially project managers that use Casual track progress through the single-pane flowchart.

In terms of price plans, all tiers share the same features. The only differentiating feature is the number of users. For example, the personal tier supports two users while the enterprise tier supports fifty or more. There is currently a free 14-day trial on all tiers, so you can see if it's for you before committing to an ongoing subscription.

Casual is easily the best data visualization tool if you prefer to work with flowcharts and have a project that can be represented in that format. If you want a range of charts and other ways to organize or manage a large team, however, Casual is not for you.

Our expert review:

If Gantt charts and dashboards are your thing, Wrike should be on your data visualization tool shortlist.

Wrike makes it easy to create tasks and workflows, and then manage these tasks visually in a Gantt chart or calendar format. One feature that’s great about Wrike is that you can visually create custom workflows for your project.

Data visualization is also a strong point for Wrike, which lets you set up custom dashboard items that visually show the progress of key project metrics. In one quick view, you can see the status of each area of the project.

The free tier supports up to 5 team members and an unlimited number of collaborators. A series of paid tiers unlock additional team members and premium features, with bespoke options available for large organizations.

Furthermore, Wrike is highly scalable, with many integrations to other platforms and support for large teams.

Read our full Wrike review .

5. Targetprocess

If you want all-in-one project management software that includes a host of data representation options, Targetprocess is for you.

Taking a dashboard approach but also working in Kanban and Gantt chart formats, Targetprocess basically gives your project the full suite of features. Complex task lists can be configured and rearranged, and it comes with a multitude of data representation views that can be added to the dashboard for quick progress assessment.

Targetprocess is geared towards agile software development projects, and it can be overwhelming in its feature set and clunky in its interface, but this solution visually represents data in more ways than rivals, and does everything a software project manager could want.

In summary, a comprehensive feature set makes this one of the best data visualization tools available for users who aren't intimidated by the wealth of options.

We've also featured the best mind map software.

Data visualization tool FAQs

What are data visualization tools.

The best data visualization tools transform raw data from spreadsheets, databases, and other sources into easy-to-read graphs, charts, and other graphic assets.

Why would you want to do that? These visualizations help bring data to life, making it easy to see performance over time, trends, and other vital metrics. As well as being an excellent addition to reports and presentations, data visualizations can help you analyze your data in new ways, drawing out details you may have otherwise overlooked.

How to choose the best data visualization tools for you

The best data visualization tool for you will depend entirely on your business needs. If you simply want to look at your data in new ways, a standalone data visualization solution could be the best option.

However, if you want to connect data from various sources or monitor metrics in real-time, a cloud-based solution with advanced features would be more appropriate. There are also software packages that offer a complete project management suite, alongside data visualization tools. This would be a solid choice for companies that want one program to do it all.

How we tested the best data visualization tools

Where possible, we register for and use every program in our best data visualization tools guide. We use the software, recreating real-world use cases to assess ease of use and functionality. Where there are features beyond the scope of data visualization, we test these too to give you a full overview.

We also look at ongoing technical support and the price tiers, investigating free versions where available. If we can't physically test a piece of software, we consider information displayed on the company's website, peer reviews, and testimonials from existing customers.

Read more on how we test, rate, and review products on TechRadar .

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Top Data Visualization Tools for Business Professionals

• 12 Jan 2021

Data is a powerful tool. It empowers businesses to recognize trends, conduct analyses , make informed decisions , and set realistic goals. And yet, a company can have all of the data it needs to be successful and still fail if no one knows how to understand or leverage it.

Datasets can seem like an alien language to many in an organization outside of the analytics team. This is where data visualization comes into play. Using data visualization, professionals can take raw data and turn it into something easy to interpret.

Below is an overview of what data visualization is and why it’s important, along with a list of some of the top data visualization tools available to business professionals.

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What Is Data Visualization?

Data visualization is the process of creating a visual representation of the information within a dataset.

While there are hundreds of ways to visualize data, some of the most common data visualization techniques include:

• Gantt charts
• Box-and-whisker plots
• Waterfall charts
• Area charts
• Scatter plots
• Infographics

Why Is Data Visualization Important?

Visually depicting data often makes it easier to understand and draw insights from. As such, data visualization is an effective means of making data more accessible across an organization. This, in turn, can empower employees to back their actions using concrete information instead of relying on assumptions—resulting in more data-driven organizational processes.

Data visualization can also play an important role in communication with parties outside of a business, such as the media, investors, regulatory agents, and other stakeholders.

Data visualization has become so important to modern business that many organizations are now specifically hiring individuals proficient in it, among other data science skills .

What Are Data Visualization Tools?

A data visualization tool is a form of software that’s designed to visualize data. Each tool's capabilities vary but, at their most basic, they allow you to input a dataset and visually manipulate it. Most, but not all, come with built-in templates you can use to generate basic visualizations.

Data Visualization Tools for Business

1. microsoft excel (and power bi).

In the strictest sense, Microsoft Excel is a spreadsheet software, not a data visualization tool. Even so, it has useful data visualization capabilities. Given that Microsoft products are widely used at the enterprise level, you may already have access to it.

According to Microsoft’s documentation, you can use Excel to design at least 20 types of charts using data in spreadsheets. These include common options, such as bar charts, pie charts, and scatter plots, to more advanced ones like radar charts, histograms, and treemaps.

There are limitations to what you can create in Excel. If your organization is looking for a more powerful data visualization tool but wants to stay within the Microsoft ecosystem, Power BI is an excellent alternative. Built specifically as a data analytics and visualization tool, Power BI can import data from various sources and output visualizations in a range of formats.

2. Google Charts

For professionals interested in creating interactive data visualizations destined to live on the internet, Google Charts is a popular free option.

The tool can pull data from various sources—including Salesforce, SQL databases, and Google Sheets—and uses HTML5/SVG technology to generate charts, which makes them incredibly accessible. It offers 18 types of charts , including bar charts, pie charts, histograms, geo charts, and area charts.

Members of the Google community occasionally generate new charts and share them with other users, which are arranged in a gallery on Google's website . These charts tend to be more advanced but may not be HTML5-compliant.

Tableau is one of the most popular data visualization tools on the market for two main reasons: It’s relatively easy to use and incredibly powerful. The software can integrate with hundreds of sources to import data and output dozens of visualization types—from charts to maps and more. Owned by Salesforce, Tableau boasts millions of users and community members, and it’s widely used at the enterprise level.

Tableau offers several products, including desktop, server, and web-hosted versions of its analytics platform, along with customer relationship management (CRM) software.

A free option, called Tableau Public , is also available. It’s important to note, however, that any visualizations created on the free version are available for anyone to see. This makes it a good option to learn the software's basics, but it’s not ideal for any proprietary or sensitive data.

4. Zoho Analytics

Zoho Analytics is a data visualization tool specifically designed for professionals looking to visualize business intelligence. As such, it’s most commonly used to visualize information related to sales, marketing, profit, revenues, costs, and pipelines with user-friendly dashboards. More than 500,000 businesses and two million users currently leverage the software.

Zoho Analytics has several paid options, depending on your needs. There’s also a free version that allows you to build a limited number of reports, which can be helpful if you’re testing the waters to determine which tool is best for your business.

There are many other tools that work similarly to Zoho Analytics and are tailored to sales and marketing professionals. HubSpot and Databox are two examples, both of which include powerful data visualization capabilities.

5. Datawrapper

Datawrapper is a tool that, like Google Charts, is used to generate charts, maps, and other graphics for use online. The tool’s original intended audience was reporters working on news stories, but any professional responsible for managing a website can find value in it.

While Datawrapper is easy to use, it’s somewhat limited, especially compared to others on this list. One of the primary limitations is that it doesn’t integrate with data sources. Instead, you must manually copy and paste data into the tool, which can be time-consuming and liable to error if you aren’t careful.

Some common outputs include scatterplots, line charts, stacked bar charts, pie charts, range plots, and a variety of maps and tables. Free and paid options are available, depending on how you intend to use the tool.

6. Infogram

Infogram is another popular option that can be used to generate charts, reports, and maps.

What sets Infogram apart from the other tools on this list is that you can use it to create infographics (where its name comes from), making it especially popular among creative professionals. Additionally, the tool includes a drag-and-drop editor, which can be helpful for beginners.

Visualizations can be saved as image files and GIFs to be embedded in reports and documents, or in HTML to be used online. Like most of the other tools on this list, Infogram has tiered pricing, ranging from a free to enterprise-level version.

Visualizations Are Only as Good as the Data Behind Them

Data visualization is an effective way to communicate with data, and there are several tools you can use to create compelling graphics.

It’s important to note that visualizations are only as good as the data you leverage to create them. When data is incorrect or faulty, it can lead to misleading visualizations or, worse, misleading insights. This, in turn, can have serious business and legal implications.

That’s why you should gain a basic understanding of data science if you’re interested in data visualization. Doing so can enable you to identify bad or faulty data and avoid the negative consequences of poor data visualization. An online analytics course , completed in as little as four weeks, can help develop this knowledge.

Are you interested in furthering your data literacy? Download our Beginner’s Guide to Data & Analytics to learn how you can leverage the power of data for professional and organizational success.

About the Author

Tips for evaluating data visualization tools

With numerous data visualization tools to choose from, selecting the right one might seem daunting, but it’s really not. Being successful just means following a few basic guidelines.

First, determine your needs and goals

It’s the job of your organization’s business intelligence (BI) tool to distill vast amounts of data down into understandable, actionable insights including KPIs, metrics, and other critical points. From there, it’s up to your data visualization tool to transform these insights into a compelling visual presentation.

One of the fundamental truths of data visualization is that nice design and beautiful graphics alone aren’t what matters. Rather, it’s the clarity of the message they convey. If a simple pie chart or bar graph communicates more clearly than a beautiful infographic, it could be argued the boring image is more effective. But when both criteria are met—when striking visuals meet clear messaging—that’s when data visualization becomes invaluable. Keep this in mind as you evaluate different tools.

Start by outlining what you hope to achieve:

• Begin with a clear goal of what you’re trying to convey and what your needs are. List the different data points you have to work with and prioritize them so you know which are the most important to get across.
• Next, document what you want the data to communicate by summarizing it in as simple a sentence as possible.
• Then let that phrase serve as a reference point you can continually refer to as you evaluate different data visualization software options.

Next, decide on the features you need

The best data visualization tools and software will generate a variety of different charts, graphs, and map types via a simple, intuitive dashboard interface. But it’s important to choose a tool that has the flexibility and features needed to address the ongoing needs of your organization.

While you’re probably starting your search based on one particular project or specific need, try to remember the big picture and consider how the solution you choose can continue to be valuable in the months and years ahead.

With that in mind, make sure you select a tool that lets you change visualizations on the fly. Verify it allows for BI and analytics flexibility and be certain it includes ERP capabilities. Also, most tools no longer require database expertise, but it’s a good idea to make sure that’s the case.

Finally, don’t forget about security and compliance. Because your data visualization tool will have access to all your company’s data, look for a solution that supports things like industry-standard authentication methods, site roles, and user permissions. Also verify that it complies with SOX, SOC, and ISAE standards.

To optimize long-term value, choose a tool that:

• Has analytics flexibility.
• Includes ERP capabilities.
• Doesn’t require database expertise.
• Has security features and enables compliance and governance.

Remember to consider where your data will come from

Every organization uses its visualization tools to query data from different places, so ensure the options you’re evaluating allow for a wide range of input sources. Those should include basic formats like SQL and NoSQL as well as third-party data sources. It’s also important to be able to access information from email marketing systems and customer relationship management (CRM) applications in addition to other business platforms your company uses.

Choosing a visualization tool for big data is also becoming more and more important. So if that’s something your organization needs, support for Hadoop, an open-source, big data framework that processes massive amounts of data on server clusters, is a must-have.

Think about how complex your visualization will be

While all visualization tools allow you to create data-filled images, the quality, complexity, and artistic value of the end product can vary greatly. Most use basic templates which, at the very least, will allow you to create simple graphics. These might be sufficient. But other solutions may use templates that function as a springboard to creating more complex, custom infographics, or interactive visualizations, which could have greater impact with your audience.

Keep these options in mind as you evaluate the different choices available. The more you consider the kinds of data visualizations you’ll be creating, the more satisfied you’ll be with the tool you choose.

Evaluate visualization complexity by asking:

• Is a basic template sufficient?
• Do you need a custom infographic or interactive image?
• What will have the desired impact on your audience?

Collaboration is key

The ability to collaborate with different people on your team and across your organization is one of the powerful features of a data visualization tool.

So look for one that works with the suite of tools your teams are already using while providing cloud-based dashboards that update in real time and are accessible from any browser. Then you can be certain no matter where you—or others—are working, or what device you’re using, you’ll be able to collaborate via the same dashboard to achieve the end result you need.

Make sure your final product can be published the way you need it

Once you’ve finished creating your presentation, make sure the visualizations you’ve made can be published and integrated into the right kind of messaging channels.

For example, if you’re posting to a webpage, team website or app, be certain that the tool you choose allows you to export code snippets that can easily be copied and pasted into the site or integrated via open APIs. Or, if you’re publishing to an online news article or slide deck, you’ll want to make sure it supports popular, flat graphic file formats like JPG, SVG, and PDF. Similarly, it’s also important to look for a solution that allows your visuals to be embedded into apps, portals, and documents.

For users with temporary or situational disabilities, as well as permanent ones, the ability to publish in a format that takes them into consideration is important. So be sure to look for a data visualization tool that also allows you to address their needs.

To publish successfully, choose a tool that:

• Supports exporting of code snippets for inclusion in websites.
• Can create flat graphic file formats like JPG, SVG, and PDF.
• Allows visuals to be embedded into apps, portals, and documents.
• Provides accessibility for all users.

Start by evaluating a robust data visualization tool

Put your newfound evaluation skills to the test by learning about Microsoft Power BI. Make informed decisions quickly. Connect, model, and explore your data with stunning visual reports. Power BI enables you to do all that—and it easily integrates with other tools like Microsoft Excel.

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Present Your Data Like a Pro

• Joel Schwartzberg

Demystify the numbers. Your audience will thank you.

While a good presentation has data, data alone doesn’t guarantee a good presentation. It’s all about how that data is presented. The quickest way to confuse your audience is by sharing too many details at once. The only data points you should share are those that significantly support your point — and ideally, one point per chart. To avoid the debacle of sheepishly translating hard-to-see numbers and labels, rehearse your presentation with colleagues sitting as far away as the actual audience would. While you’ve been working with the same chart for weeks or months, your audience will be exposed to it for mere seconds. Give them the best chance of comprehending your data by using simple, clear, and complete language to identify X and Y axes, pie pieces, bars, and other diagrammatic elements. Try to avoid abbreviations that aren’t obvious, and don’t assume labeled components on one slide will be remembered on subsequent slides. Every valuable chart or pie graph has an “Aha!” zone — a number or range of data that reveals something crucial to your point. Make sure you visually highlight the “Aha!” zone, reinforcing the moment by explaining it to your audience.

With so many ways to spin and distort information these days, a presentation needs to do more than simply share great ideas — it needs to support those ideas with credible data. That’s true whether you’re an executive pitching new business clients, a vendor selling her services, or a CEO making a case for change.

• JS Joel Schwartzberg oversees executive communications for a major national nonprofit, is a professional presentation coach, and is the author of Get to the Point! Sharpen Your Message and Make Your Words Matter and The Language of Leadership: How to Engage and Inspire Your Team . You can find him on LinkedIn and X. TheJoelTruth

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The 11 Best Data Analytics Tools for Data Analysts in 2024

As the field of data analytics evolves, the range of available data analysis tools grows with it. If you’re considering a career in the field, you’ll want to know: Which data analysis tools do I need to learn?

In this post, we’ll highlight some of the key data analytics tools you need to know and why. From open-source tools to commercial software, you’ll get a quick overview of each, including its applications, pros, and cons. What’s even better, a good few of those on this list contain AI data analytics tools , so you’re at the forefront of the field as 2024 comes around.

We’ll start our list with the must-haves, then we’ll move onto some of the more popular tools and platforms used by organizations large and small. Whether you’re preparing for an interview, or are deciding which tool to learn next, by the end of this post you’ll have an idea how to progress.

If you’re only starting out, then CareerFoundry’s free data analytics short course will help you take your first steps.

Here are the data analysis tools we’ll cover:

• Microsoft Excel
• Jupyter Notebook
• Apache Spark
• Google Cloud AutoML
• Microsoft Power BI

How to choose a data analysis tool

Data analysis tools faq.

So, let’s get into the list then!

1.  Microsoft Excel

Excel at a glance:

• Type of tool: Spreadsheet software.
• Availability : Commercial.
• Mostly used for: Data wrangling and reporting.
• Pros: Widely-used, with lots of useful functions and plug-ins.
• Cons: Cost, calculation errors, poor at handling big data.

Excel: the world’s best-known spreadsheet software. What’s more, it features calculations and graphing functions that are ideal for data analysis.

Whatever your specialism, and no matter what other software you might need, Excel is a staple in the field. Its invaluable built-in features include pivot tables (for sorting or totaling data) and form creation tools.

It also has a variety of other functions that streamline data manipulation. For instance, the CONCATENATE function allows you to combine text, numbers, and dates into a single cell. SUMIF lets you create value totals based on variable criteria, and Excel’s search function makes it easy to isolate specific data.

It has limitations though. For instance, it runs very slowly with big datasets and tends to approximate large numbers, leading to inaccuracies. Nevertheless, it’s an important and powerful data analysis tool, and with many plug-ins available, you can easily bypass Excel’s shortcomings. Get started with these ten Excel formulas that all data analysts should know .

Python at a glance:

• Type of tool: Programming language.
• Availability: Open-source, with thousands of free libraries.
• Used for: Everything from data scraping to analysis and reporting.
• Pros: Easy to learn, highly versatile, widely-used.
• Cons: Memory intensive—doesn’t execute as fast as some other languages.

  A programming language with a wide range of uses, Python is a must-have for any data analyst. Unlike more complex languages, it focuses on readability, and its general popularity in the tech field means many programmers are already familiar with it.

Python is also extremely versatile; it has a huge range of resource libraries suited to a variety of different data analytics tasks. For example, the NumPy and pandas libraries are great for streamlining highly computational tasks, as well as supporting general data manipulation.

Libraries like Beautiful Soup and Scrapy are used to scrape data from the web, while Matplotlib is excellent for data visualization and reporting. Python’s main drawback is its speed—it is memory intensive and slower than many languages. In general though, if you’re building software from scratch, Python’s benefits far outweigh its drawbacks. You can learn more about Python in our full guide .

R at a glance:

• Availability: Open-source.
• Mostly used for: Statistical analysis and data mining.
• Pros: Platform independent, highly compatible, lots of packages.
• Cons: Slower, less secure, and more complex to learn than Python.

R, like Python, is a popular open-source programming language. It is commonly used to create statistical/data analysis software.

R’s syntax is more complex than Python and the learning curve is steeper. However, it was built specifically to deal with heavy statistical computing tasks and is very popular for data visualization. A bit like Python, R also has a network of freely available code, called CRAN (the Comprehensive R Archive Network), which offers 10,000+ packages.

It integrates well with other languages and systems (including big data software) and can call on code from languages like C, C++, and FORTRAN. On the downside, it has poor memory management, and while there is a good community of users to call on for help, R has no dedicated support team. But there is an excellent R-specific integrated development environment (IDE) called RStudio , which is always a bonus!

4.  Jupyter Notebook

Jupyter Notebook at a glance:

• Type of tool: Interactive authoring software.
• Mostly used for: Sharing code, creating tutorials, presenting work.
• Pros: Great for showcasing, language-independent.
• Cons: Not self-contained, nor great for collaboration.

Jupyter Notebook is an open-source web application that allows you to create interactive documents. These combine live code, equations, visualizations, and narrative text.

Imagine something a bit like a Microsoft word document, only far more interactive, and designed specifically for data analytics! As a data analytics tool, it’s great for showcasing work: Jupyter Notebook runs in the browser and supports over 40 languages, including Python and R. It also integrates with big data analysis tools, like Apache Spark (see below) and offers various outputs from HTML to images, videos, and more.

But as with every tool, it has its limitations. Jupyter Notebook documents have poor version control, and tracking changes is not intuitive. This means it’s not the best place for development and analytics work (you should use a dedicated IDE for these) and it isn’t well suited to collaboration.

Since it isn’t self-contained, this also means you have to provide any extra assets (e.g. libraries or runtime systems) to anybody you’re sharing the document with. But for presentation and tutorial purposes, it remains an invaluable data science and data analytics tool.

5.  Apache Spark

Apache Spark at a glance:

• Type of tool: Data processing framework
• Availability: Open-source
• Mostly used for: Big data processing, machine learning
• Pros: Fast, dynamic, easy to use
• Cons: No file management system, rigid user interface

Apache Spark is a software framework that allows data analysts and data scientists to quickly process vast data sets. It was first developed in 2012, it’s designed to analyze unstructured big data, Spark distributes computationally heavy analytics tasks across many computers.

While other similar frameworks exist (for example, Apache Hadoop ) Spark is exceptionally fast. By using RAM rather than local memory, it is around 100x faster than Hadoop. That’s why it’s often used for the development of data-heavy machine learning models .

It even has a library of machine learning algorithms, MLlib , including classification, regression, and clustering algorithms, to name a few. On the downside, consuming so much memory means Spark is computationally expensive. It also lacks a file management system, so it usually needs integration with other software, i.e. Hadoop.

6. Google Cloud AutoML

Google Cloud AutoML at a glance:

• Type of tool: Machine learning platform
• Availability:  Cloud-based, commercial
• Mostly used for:  Automating machine learning tasks
• Pros: Allows analysts with limited coding experience to build and deploy ML models , skipping lots of steps
• Cons:  Can be pricey for large-scale projects, lacks some flexibility

A serious proposition for data analysts and scientists in 2024 is Google Cloud’s AutoML tool. With the hype around generative AI in 2023 set to roll over into the next year, tools like AutoML but the capability to create machine learning models into your own hands.

Google Cloud AutoML contains a suite of tools across categories from structured data to language translation, image and video classification. As more and more organizations adopt machine learning, there will be a growing demand for data analysts who can use AutoML tools to automate their work easily.

SAS at a glance:

• Type of tool: Statistical software suite
• Availability: Commercial
• Mostly used for: Business intelligence, multivariate, and predictive analysis
• Pros: Easily accessible, business-focused, good user support
• Cons: High cost, poor graphical representation

SAS (which stands for Statistical Analysis System) is a popular commercial suite of business intelligence and data analysis tools. It was developed by the SAS Institute in the 1960s and has evolved ever since. Its main use today is for profiling customers, reporting, data mining, and predictive modeling. Created for an enterprise market, the software is generally more robust, versatile, and easier for large organizations to use. This is because they tend to have varying levels of in-house programming expertise.

But as a commercial product, SAS comes with a hefty price tag. Nevertheless, with cost comes benefits; it regularly has new modules added, based on customer demand. Although it has fewer of these than say, Python libraries, they are highly focused. For instance, it offers modules for specific uses such as anti-money laundering and analytics for the Internet of Things.

8. Microsoft Power BI

Power BI at a glance:

• Type of tool: Business analytics suite.
• Availability: Commercial software (with a free version available).
• Mostly used for: Everything from data visualization to predictive analytics.  
• Pros: Great data connectivity, regular updates, good visualizations.
• Cons: Clunky user interface, rigid formulas, data limits (in the free version).

At less than a decade old, Power BI is a relative newcomer to the market of data analytics tools. It began life as an Excel plug-in but was redeveloped in the early 2010s as a standalone suite of business data analysis tools. Power BI allows users to create interactive visual reports and dashboards , with a minimal learning curve. Its main selling point is its great data connectivity—it operates seamlessly with Excel (as you’d expect, being a Microsoft product) but also text files, SQL server, and cloud sources, like Google and Facebook analytics.

It also offers strong data visualization but has room for improvement in other areas. For example, it has quite a bulky user interface, rigid formulas, and the proprietary language (Data Analytics Expressions, or ‘DAX’) is not that user-friendly. It does offer several subscriptions though, including a free one. This is great if you want to get to grips with the tool, although the free version does have drawbacks—the main limitation being the low data limit (around 2GB).

Tableau at a glance:

• Type of tool: Data visualization tool.
• Availability: Commercial.
• Mostly used for: Creating data dashboards and worksheets.
• Pros: Great visualizations, speed, interactivity, mobile support.
• Cons: Poor version control, no data pre-processing.

If you’re looking to create interactive visualizations and dashboards without extensive coding expertise, Tableau is one of the best commercial data analysis tools available. The suite handles large amounts of data better than many other BI tools, and it is very simple to use. It has a visual drag and drop interface (another definite advantage over many other data analysis tools). However, because it has no scripting layer, there’s a limit to what Tableau can do. For instance, it’s not great for pre-processing data or building more complex calculations.

While it does contain functions for manipulating data, these aren’t great. As a rule, you’ll need to carry out scripting functions using Python or R before importing your data into Tableau. But its visualization is pretty top-notch, making it very popular despite its drawbacks. Furthermore, it’s mobile-ready. As a data analyst , mobility might not be your priority, but it’s nice to have if you want to dabble on the move! You can learn more about Tableau in this post .

KNIME at a glance:

• Type of tool: Data integration platform.
• Mostly used for: Data mining and machine learning.
• Pros: Open-source platform that is great for visually-driven programming.
• Cons: Lacks scalability, and technical expertise is needed for some functions.

Last on our list is KNIME (Konstanz Information Miner), an open-source, cloud-based, data integration platform. It was developed in 2004 by software engineers at Konstanz University in Germany. Although first created for the pharmaceutical industry, KNIME’s strength in accruing data from numerous sources into a single system has driven its application in other areas. These include customer analysis, business intelligence, and machine learning.

Its main draw (besides being free) is its usability. A drag-and-drop graphical user interface (GUI) makes it ideal for visual programming. This means users don’t need a lot of technical expertise to create data workflows. While it claims to support the full range of data analytics tasks, in reality, its strength lies in data mining. Though it offers in-depth statistical analysis too, users will benefit from some knowledge of Python and R. Being open-source, KNIME is very flexible and customizable to an organization’s needs—without heavy costs. This makes it popular with smaller businesses, who have limited budgets.

Now that we’ve checked out all of the data analysis tools, let’s see how to choose the right one for your business needs.

11. Streamlit

• Type of tool:  Python library for building web applications
• Availability:  Open-source
• Mostly used for:  Creating interactive data visualizations and dashboards
• Pros: Easy to use, can create a wide range of graphs, charts, and maps, can be deployed as web apps
• Cons: Not as powerful as Power BI or Tableau, requires a Python installation

Sure we mentioned Python itself as a tool earlier and introduced a few of its libraries, but Streamlit is definitely one data analytics tool to watch in 2024, and to consider for your own toolkit.

Essentially, Streamlit is an open-source Python library for building interactive and shareable web apps for data science and machine learning projects. It’s a pretty new tool on the block, but is already one which is getting attention from data professionals looking to create visualizations easily!

Alright, so you’ve got your data ready to go, and you’re looking for the perfect tool to analyze it with. How do you find the one that’s right for your organization?

First, consider that there’s no one singular data analytics tool that will address all the data analytics issues you may have. When looking at this list, you may look at one tool for most of your needs, but require the use of a secondary tool for smaller processes.

Second, consider the business needs of your organization and figure out exactly who will need to make use of the data analysis tools. Will they be used primarily by fellow data analysts or scientists, non-technical users who require an interactive and intuitive interface—or both? Many tools on this list will cater to both types of user.

Third, consider the tool’s data modeling capabilities. Does the tool have these capabilities, or will you need to use SQL or another tool to perform data modeling prior to analysis?

Fourth—and finally!—consider the practical aspect of price and licensing. Some of the options are totally free or have some free-to-use features (but will require licensing for the full product). Some data analysis tools will be offered on a subscription or licencing basis. In this case, you may need to consider the number of users required or—if you’re looking on solely a project-to-project basis—the potential length of the subscription.

In this post, we’ve explored some of the most popular data analysis tools currently in use. The key thing to takeaway is that there’s no one tool that does it all. A good data analyst has wide-ranging knowledge of different languages and software.

CareerFoundry’s own data expert, Tom Gadsby, explains which data analytics tools are best for specific processes in the following short video:

If you found a tool on this list that you didn’t know about, why not research more? Play around with the open-source data analysis tools (they’re free, after all!) and read up on the rest.

At the very least, it helps to know which data analytics tools organizations are using. To learn more about the field, start our free 5-day data analytics short course .

For more industry insights, check out the following:

• The 7 most useful data analysis methods and techniques
• How to build a data analytics portfolio
• Get started with SQL: A cheatsheet

What are data analytics tools?

Data analytics tools are software and apps that help data analysts collect, clean, analyze, and visualize data. These tools are used to extract insights from data that can be used to make informed business decisions.

What is the most used tool by data analysts?

Microsoft Excel continues to be the most widely used tool by data analysts for data wrangling and reporting. Big reasons are that it provides a user-friendly interface for data manipulation, calculations, and data viz.

Is SQL a data analysis tool?

Yes. SQL is a specialized programming language for managing and querying data in relational databases. Data analysts use SQL to extract and analyze data from databases, which can then be used to generate insights and reports.

Which tool is best to analyse data?

It depends on what you want to do with the data and the context. Some of the most popular and versatile tools are included in this article, namely Python, SQL, MS Excel, and Tableau.

The best presentation software in 2024

These powerpoint alternatives go beyond the basics..

The latest presentation apps have made it easier than ever to format slides and create professional-looking slideshows without giving off a "this is a template" vibe. Even standard PowerPoint alternatives have updated key features to make it easier than ever to collaborate and create presentations quickly, so you can spend more time prepping for your actual presentation.

If, like me, you've used Google Slides unquestioningly for years, it's a whole new world out there. The newest crop of online presentation tools go way beyond the classic slideshow experience, with new features to keep your audience's attention, streamline the creation process with AI, and turn slide decks into videos and interactive conversations.

I've been testing these apps for the past few years, and this time, I spent several days tinkering with 25 of the top presentation software solutions out there to bring you the best of the best.

The best presentation software

Beautiful.ai for AI-powered design

Prezi for non-linear, conversational presentations

Powtoon for video presentations

Pitch for collaborating with your team on presentations

Gamma for conversational AI features

Mentimeter for audience engagement

Tome for generative AI features

What makes the best presentation app?

How we evaluate and test apps.

Our best apps roundups are written by humans who've spent much of their careers using, testing, and writing about software. Unless explicitly stated, we spend dozens of hours researching and testing apps, using each app as it's intended to be used and evaluating it against the criteria we set for the category. We're never paid for placement in our articles from any app or for links to any site—we value the trust readers put in us to offer authentic evaluations of the categories and apps we review. For more details on our process, read the full rundown of how we select apps to feature on the Zapier blog .

When looking for the best presentation apps, I wanted utility players. After all, slideshows are used for just about everything, from pitch decks and product launches to class lectures and church sermons. With that in mind, here's what I was looking for:

Pre-built templates. The best presentation tools should have attractive, professional-looking templates to build presentations in a hurry.

Sharing and collaboration options. Whether you plan to share your webinar slides later, or you just want to collaborate with a coworker on a presentation, it should be easy to share files and collaborate in real-time.

Flexibility and customization options. Templates are great, but top presentation apps should enable you to customize just about everything—giving you the flexibility to build exactly what you need.

Affordability. Creating compelling presentations is important, but you shouldn't have to bust your budget to make it happen. With capable free tools on the market, affordability is a top consideration.

Standalone functionality. There's no reason to use multiple tools when one can do it all, so I didn't test any apps that require and work on top of another presentation app like PowerPoint or Google Slides.

Familiar, deck-based interface. For our purposes here, I only tested software that uses slides, with the familiar deck-based editor you expect from a "presentation" tool (versus, for example, a video creation app).

While most apps now offer AI features in one way or another, it isn't a universal feature yet—and some apps' AI features leave a lot to be desired. For that reason, I opted not to make AI features a strict must-have for this year (though it probably will be a requirement next time I update the article). That means I've still included some apps that don't offer AI—if you opt for one of those, you can still easily get AI-generated images and text from a separate tool and copy them into your presentation app of choice.

Beyond that, I also looked for presentation apps that brought something unique to the table—features above and beyond what you can get for free from a legacy solution like PowerPoint or Google Slides.

Here's what my testing workflow looked like:

I went through any onboarding or guided tutorials.

I created a new deck, scanning through all available templates, noting how well-designed they were (and which were free versus paid).

I added new slides, deleted slides, edited text and images, and played around with other content types.

I changed presentation design settings, like color schemes and background images.

I reviewed and tested the sharing and collaboration options.

I tested out presenter view (when available).

After my first round of testing, I went back into the top performers to test any unique or niche features, like AI, brand settings, and interactive content. With that, these are the best presentation apps I found—each one really brings something different or radically easy to the table.

The best presentation software at a glance

The best free presentation software, canva (web, windows, mac, android, ios).

Canva pros:

Excellent free plan

Tons of amazing templates for all use cases

Feature-rich

Canva cons:

The AI tools aren't groundbreakingly useful

Canva offers one of the most robust free plans of all the presentation apps I tested. The app delays account creation until after you've created your first design, so you can get started building your presentation in seconds. Choose from an almost overwhelming number of beautiful templates (nearly all available for free), including those designed specifically for education or business use cases.

Anyone who's accidentally scrolled too far and been bumped to the next slide will appreciate Canva's editor interface, which eliminates that problem altogether with a smooth scroll that doesn't jump around. Choose from a handful of preset animations to add life to your presentations, or browse the library of audio and video files available to add. And Canva also has a number of options for sharing your presentation, including adding collaborators to your team, sharing directly to social media, and even via QR code.

Present directly from Canva, and let audience members submit their questions via Canva Live. Once you share a link to invite audience members to your presentation, they can send questions for you to answer. As the presenter, you'll see them pop up in your presenter view window, so you can keep the audience engaged and your presentation clear. Alternatively, record a presentation with a talking head bubble—you can even use an AI presenter here—to share remotely.

Canva has added a number of AI-powered tools , but I wasn't super impressed by them yet. The Magic Design tool, for example, isn't much more useful than the many pre-designed templates already available, while Magic Write is basically just white-labeled ChatGPT. These features will likely improve in time, but for now, you're better off starting from one of Canva's many great templates.

Canva pricing: Free plan available; paid plans start at $120/year for 1 user and include additional features like Brand Kit, premium templates and stock assets, and additional AI-powered design tools.

If you're looking for a capable free presentation tool with a more affordable upgrade, Zoho Show is worth a look. It's completely free for most features, offers a clean, intuitive editor, and includes a number of great templates. Plus, you can automate Zoho Show by connecting it with Zapier .

The best presentation app for AI-powered design

Beautiful.ai (web, mac, windows).

Beautiful.ai pros:

True AI design

No fussing around with alignment

Still allows for customization

Beautiful.ai cons:

No free plan

If you're like me, editing granular spacing issues is the absolute worst part of building a presentation. Beautiful.ai uses artificial intelligence to take a lot of the hassle and granular design requirements out of the presentation process, so you can focus on the content of a presentation without sacrificing professional design. If I needed to make presentations on a regular basis, this is the app I'd use.

Many apps have recently added AI design features, but Beautiful.ai has been doing it for years—and they've perfected the experience of AI design, ensuring the tool's reign as the most streamlined and user-friendly option for AI design.

The editor is a little different from most presentation apps, but it's still intuitive—and you'll start off with a quick two-minute tutorial. When creating a new slide, scroll through "inspiration slides" to find a layout you like; once you choose, the app will pull the layout and automatically adapt it to match the design of the rest of your presentation.

With 10 themes, several templated slides, over 40 fully-designed templates, and more than 20 different color palettes to choose from, Beautiful.ai strikes a perfect balance between automation and customization.

While Beautiful.ai doesn't offer a free plan, paid plans are reasonably priced and offer sharing and collaboration options that rival collab-focused apps like Google Slides. And speaking of Google, you can connect Beautiful.ai with Google Drive to save all your presentations there.

Note: I re-tested the generative AI feature (called DesignerBot) this year. It's great for adding individual slides to an existing presentation—automatically choosing the best layout and matching the design to the rest of the deck—but as with most other apps, it struggled to pull in relevant images.

Beautiful.ai pricing: Plans start at $12/month for unlimited slides, AI content generation, viewer analytics, and more. Upgrade to a Team plan for $40/user/month to get extra collaboration and workspace features and custom brand controls.

If you're a founder looking for an AI presentation tool for your pitch deck, Slidebean is a great Beautiful.ai alternative for startups. The app offers a number of templates; a unique, content-first outline editor; and a generative AI tool that builds a whole pitch deck based on your website. I didn't include it on the list mainly because of the price: the free plan is quite limited, and the paid all-access plan can only be billed annually.

The best presentation app for conversational presentations

Prezi (web, mac, windows, ios, android).

Prezi pros:

Doesn't restrict you to standard presentation structure

Lots of customization options

Prezi Video lets you display a presentation right over your webcam video

Prezi cons:

Steep learning curve

Struggling to squeeze information into a basic, linear presentation? Give Prezi a try. Unlike nearly all other presentation apps on the market, Prezi Present doesn't restrict the structure of your presentation to a straight line. The editor focuses on topics and subtopics and allows you to arrange them any way you want, so you can create a more conversational flow of information.

With the structural flexibility, you still get all the same customization features you expect from top presentation software, including fully-editable templates. There's a learning curve if you're unfamiliar with non-linear presentations, but templates offer a great jumping-off point, and Prezi's editor does a good job of making the process more approachable.

Plus, Prezi comes with two other apps: Prezi Design and Prezi Video. Prezi Video helps you take remote presentations to a new level. You can record a video where the presentation elements are displayed right over your webcam feed. Record and save the video to share later, or connect with your video conferencing tool of choice (including Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet) to present live.

Prezi's generative AI feature works ok, but it's more useful as a wireframe. When I asked it to create a presentation about the Stanley Cup Playoffs, for example, the resulting content read a lot like a student writing a term paper in the broadest strokes possible to avoid doing any actual research.

Prezi pricing: Free 14-day trial and a free plan that includes up to 5 visual projects; paid plans start at $7/month and include additional features like private presentations and Prezi Present.

The best presentation app for video presentations

Powtoon (web, ios, android).

Powtoon pros:

Timing automatically changes based on the content on the slide

Can toggle between slideshow and video

Can orient presentation as horizontal, vertical, or square

Powtoon cons:

Limited free plan

Powtoon makes it easy to create engaging videos by orienting the editor around a slide deck. Editing a Powtoon feels just like editing a presentation, but by the time you finish, you have a professional video. 

You can edit your slides at any time, and when you hit play, a video plays through your deck—the feel is almost like an animated explainer video. Each slide includes the animations you choose and takes up as much time as is needed based on the content on the slide. Powtoon figures the timing automatically, and you can see in the bottom-right of the editor how much time is used on your current slide versus the total presentation. If you ever want to present as a slide deck, just toggle between Slideshow and Movie.

You'll likely need to subscribe to a paid plan to get the most out of Powtoon—like creating videos longer than three minutes, downloading them as MP4 files, and white-labeling your presentations—but doing so won't break the bank. Plus, you'll unlock tons of templates complete with animations and soundtracks.

One of my favorite Powtoon features is the ability to orient your video: you can choose horizontal orientation (like a normal presentation) or opt for vertical (for mobile) or square (for social media). When your presentation is ready, you can publish straight to YouTube, Wistia, Facebook Ads, and any number of other locations.

Powtoon pricing: Limited free plan available; paid plans start at $15/month and include white-labeling, priority support, additional storage, and more.

The best presentation app for collaborating with your team

Pitch (web, mac, windows, ios, android).

Pitch pros:

Google levels of collaboration

Assign slides to specific team members

Excellent generative AI feature

Pitch cons:

User interface is a little different than you're used to

Need to collaborate on presentations with your team? Pitch is a Google Slides alternative that gets the job done. As far as decks go, Pitch includes all the beautifully-designed templates, customizability, and ease of use you expect from a top-notch presentation tool. But the app really shines when you add your team.

The right-hand sidebar is all about project management and collaboration: you can set and update the status of your deck, assign entire presentations or individual slides to team members, plus comment or add notes. Save custom templates to make future presentations even easier and faster.

You can also invite collaborators from outside your company to work with you on individual decks. And if you opt for a paid plan, Pitch introduces workspace roles, shared private folders, and version history.

Pitch also offers one of the most impressive generative AI features on this list. It still struggles to pull in relevant images, but I found the AI-generated written content and design to be top-notch.

Pitch pricing: Free plan offers unlimited presentations, custom templates, and live video collaboration; paid plans start at $22/month for 2 users with additional workspace features, presentation analytics, and more.

The best presentation app for conversational AI

Gamma (web).

Gamma pros:

Creates fully fleshed-out presentations from a prompt

Conversational chatbot-like experience

Can still manually edit the presentation

Gamma cons:

Not as much granular customization

I tested a lot of apps claiming to use AI to up your presentation game, and Gamma's conversational AI features were head and shoulders above the crowd.

Simply give the app a topic—or upload an outline, notes, or any other document or article—approve the outline, and pick a theme. The app will take it from there and create a fully fleshed-out presentation. It's far from perfect, but Gamma produces a very useful jumping-off point. (Last year, it was by far the best, but this year, other apps are catching up.)

Here's the key: Gamma is much more geared toward the iterative, chatbot experience familiar to ChatGPT users. Click on the Edit with AI button at the top of the right-hand menu to open the chat, and you'll see suggested prompts—or you can type in your own requests for how Gamma should alter the presentation.

Once you've done all you can with prompts, simply close the chat box to manually add the finishing touches. While you do sacrifice some granular customizability in exchange for the AI features, you can still choose your visual theme, change slide layouts, format text, and add any images, videos, or even app and web content.

Gamma pricing: Free plan includes unlimited users, 400 AI deck credits, and basic view analytics; upgrade to the Plus plan for $8/user/month to get unlimited AI credits, remove Gamma branding, and more.

The best presentation app for audience engagement

Mentimeter (web).

Mentimeter pros:

Tons of audience engagement features

Simple for participants to interact

Mentimeter cons:

Less granular customizability

Bit of a learning curve

If you need to engage with an audience during your presentation, Mentimeter makes that easy. The app is designed around interactive elements like quizzes, surveys, Q&As, sliders, and more (even a Miro whiteboard!).

Each of these is included in a number of different, professional-looking templates, so you can build a fully interactive presentation super quickly.

When it's time to present, your audience members can scan the QR code with their phone cameras or type in the URL and access code to participate. There's one code per presentation (so they won't have to do this on every slide), which gives access to each slide as you move through the presentation.

There are two main drawbacks to this one, though. First, there's a bit of a learning curve and less familiar editing interface (but I found it pretty easy to learn with some practice). The other drawback is that you can't get as granular with the visual customization as you can with many other presentation tools.

Mentimeter pricing: Free plan includes 50 participants per month and 34 different slide types; upgrade to the Basic plan for $11.99/presenter/month to get unlimited participants and slide types, private presentations, and more.

The best presentation app for generative AI

Top-tier generative AI features

Simple, customizable templates

Intuitive doc-style editor

There's definitely a learning curve

Tome is one of the new additions to this list that I'm most excited about. If you're looking for generative AI that just genuinely works , it's definitely worth a look. The editor is a bit more stripped down than most presentation apps but intuitive nonetheless—it's almost a cross between your standard deck editor and a Notion-style doc.

To generate an AI deck, click Generate with AI in the top right, and either write your own prompt or choose from the example prompts that cover a handful of common use cases, like sales enablement and company pitches. Edit or approve the suggested outline, then generate the full presentation.

From there, you can edit each slide as a doc via the right-hand menu—without limits on how much information you can include. During the presentation, you simply size down any slides that take up more than the standard amount of space. It's super simple but somehow feels revolutionary in a presentation app.

Tome pricing: Free plan available for manual editing without AI; upgrade to the Professional plan for $16/user/month to use the generative AI and design tools, plus engagement analytics, branding tools, and more.

What about the old standbys?

You might notice a few major presentation players aren't on this list, including OGs Microsoft PowerPoint, Apple Keynote, and Google Slides. These apps are perfectly adequate for creating basic presentations, and they're free if you have a Windows or Mac device or a Google account.

I didn't include them on the list because the presentation space has really developed in the last several years, and after testing them out, I found these behemoths haven't kept pace. If they weren't made by Microsoft/Apple/Google, I might not even be mentioning them. They're pretty basic tools, they're behind the curve when it comes to templates (both quantity and design), and they don't offer any uniquely valuable features like robust team collaboration, branding controls, video, and so on.

Some of these companies (think: Microsoft and Google) are openly working on some pretty impressive-sounding AI features, but they haven't really been focused on their respective presentation solutions just yet. Rest assured, I'm watching this space, and the next time we update this article, I'll re-test tools like Copilot for PowerPoint and Gemini for Google Slides to see what new features may be available.

In any case, if you're reading this, you're probably looking for an alternative that allows you to move away from one of the big 3, and as the presentation platforms featured above show, there's a ton to gain—in terms of features, usability, and more—when you do.

What about PowerPoint and Google Slides add-ons?

While I focused my testing on tools with full feature-sets—those that can serve as your sole presentation tool—there are a ton of add-on tools you can use atop big name tools like PowerPoint and Google Slides.

If you're looking to expand what you can do with PowerPoint or Google Slides, apps like Marq (formerly Lucidpress), Plus AI , Slidesgo , and Simplified can help you do things like access additional templates, save branded assets, and generate AI presentations from the app you're already using.

Related reading:

Canva AI tools to improve your design workflow

The best online whiteboards for collaboration

How to share a presentation on Zoom without sharing your browser tabs and address bar

This post was originally published in October 2014 and has since been updated with contributions from Danny Schreiber, Matthew Guay, Andrew Kunesh, and Krystina Martinez. The most recent update was in April 2024.

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Kiera Abbamonte

Kiera’s a content writer who helps SaaS and eCommerce companies connect with customers and reach new audiences. Located in Boston, MA, she loves cinnamon coffee and a good baseball game. Catch up with her on Twitter @Kieraabbamonte.

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7 Best AI Tools for Presentations in 2024

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Summary: Struggling with creating presentations? Why not harness the power of artificial intelligence? Let’s discover the best AI tools for presentations that can generate captivating slides and take your PPT to the next level.

Presentations are a great way to share your views, information and ideas with employees, students, and even friends. However, it is no secret that making a presentation takes a lot of time and it’s definitely not easy to build a new one from scratch.

Fortunately, AI has changed the way people create engaging and professional presentations. With the help of AI tools for presentations, you can build a new one and create deck slides within minutes. But which tool should you pick, as there are multiple options out there.

In this blog, we will be sharing what an AI presentation tool is, how it works, and some of the best AI tools for presentations available right now.

What is an AI Presentation Tool and How Does it Work?

As the name suggests, AI presentation tools are software for creating ppt that uses artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms to build beautiful and engaging presentations.

They simply work by analyzing the content or main key points, identify trends and turn them into presentation slides and flow. This helps users to create a complete report / demonstration with the help of AI using the text, without doing it manually. We will also explore some of the best AI tools for presentations in this blog.

What to Look for in AI Presentation Tools?

When you are on the hunt for the best AI presentation generator, you will be looking for tools that have a user-friendly interface, fit your budget, and have good reviews and ratings. Below are some of the points to consider when looking for an AI to create PowerPoint presentation:

• Ease of Use

If you are looking to make PPT using AI, then you must consider a software option that is easy to handle and use. After all, you don’t like wasting hours of your time just to understand how that tool works. So, make sure to consider the ease of use before selecting any software.

• Integration

People from the education and business industry know that the most used software for PPT is Microsoft PowerPoint and Google Slides. What if the software you considered doesn’t integrate with your favorite presentation tool? That’s why check if the AI tools for presentations integrate with your preferred presentation maker before buying it.

• Collaboration

A seamless collaboration can become a really handy feature especially if you are working on a project with a team. So, consider whether the AI presentation tool supports eollaboration features or not. Moreover, look for other options like real-time editing, version control, commenting etc. This will streamline the collaboration and enhance teamwork.

• Customization

A good AI slides generator for PPT should allow you to personalize your presentations according to your brand guidelines, preferences, and the specific needs of your audience. Look for options to customize templates, fonts, colors, and layouts.

• Tutorials and Support

Check if the AI presentation tool provides adequate tutorials and support resources. A strong support system with documentation, video tutorials, and responsive customer support can be crucial to learn the ins and outs of the tool. Further, it will help you to troubleshoot issues you might face while using the tool.

List of 7 Top AI Tools for Presentation in 2024: With Free Trial

Beautiful AI

Presentations AI

I have researched multiple AI presentation tools and made a list of the best options for you. Below are some of the best AI tools for presentations.

With Beautiful AI ‘s user-friendly interface, the platform offers intelligent design suggestions for presentation and simplifies the creation process. Users concentrate on content as Beautiful.ai handles all the aesthetics.

It provides customizable templates, intelligent charts for data representation, and analytics to gauge audience engagement with each slide.

Features of Beautiful AI (AI PowerPoint Presentation Creator)

• Customizable templates
• AI image and narration generator
• Summarize and expand your text
• Easy integration

Pricing: Beautiful.ai offers 3 types of paid plans- Pro. Team and Enterprise.

• Pro: Starts at $12/month
• Team: Starts at $50/month
• Enterprise: Available on request

Pros and Cons of Beautiful AI

• Create presentation with a single click
• Generate contents using AI
• Multiple templates for various industries
• Custom template is not available in Pro plan

Designs.ai is an advanced AI presentation maker that can create visually striking presentations easily. This all-in-one platform offers powerful features, including AI writing aid, a logo maker, a video presentation creator, and even natural-sounding AI voiceovers.

This toolkit serves as your go-to resource for designing compelling and impactful content. It is one of the best AI to make PowerPoint presentations.

Features of Designs.ai

• AI design element handling
• Built-in content enhancement
• Speechmaker for voiceovers

Pricing: Designs.ai offers 3 types of plans these are:

• Basic: Starts at $29/month
• Pro: Starts at $69/month
• Enterprise: Starts at $199/month

Pros and Cons of Designs AI

• Create logos, designs and more using Designs.ai
• The AI voiceover sounds natural and real
• Create appealing presentation in simple clicks
• You have limitation on using premium images for each month
• Seems a bit costly compared to its peers

Gamma AI is a cutting-edge presentation tool tailored for businesses, educators, and professionals. It is an efficient and innovative solution to streamline the presentation process.

This makes it the ideal choice for those seeking cutting-edge presentation tools with useful features. If you want to create an AI generated presentation, this tool is definitely worth considering.

Features of Gamma

• Single click presentation maker
• Send or present a live webpage within your presentation
• Add Gifs, Images, links and charts to your slides
• In-built analytics option

Pricing: Gamma offers a credit-based pricing model. The plans are:

• Free: Total 400 credits
• Plus: Starts at $10/month/user with 400 credits monthly
• Pro: Starts at $20/user/month with unlimited credits

Pros and Cons of Gamma

• Export files in multiple formats like PDF, PPT, etc.
• Access to the change history
• Easily create a presentation, document or even a webpage
• Free version has a Gamma branding

Kroma.ai is one of the best AI tools for presentations and is great for making pitch decks if you’re a startup looking for money. It helps you create a convincing presentation quickly.

You can organize your info with charts and graphs, and there are lots of cool images and videos to use. You can even put your logo and customize the slides according to your brand to make them look more professional.

Features of Kroma AI

• Robust data visualization tools
• High-resolution media library
• Offline editing
• Seamless team collaboration

Pricing: Kroma AI offer three types of plans, and these are:

• Explorer: Free plan
• Premium: Starts at $49.99/month/user
• Enterprise: Starts at $1699/month/5 users

Pros and Cons of Kroma AI

• Offers prebuilt visuals for your presentations
• New template addition on a regular basis
• Offline access
• With its free plan, you can only download one presentation
• Premium support is available with enterprise plan only

Presentations.AI is like a ChatGPT for PPT that makes slides and decks instantly. It has a smart design feature that makes your slides look great and consistent.

You can use different templates and easily customize them. Plus, it has other features like voiceover, automatic slides, and collaboration tools for working together on your presentation.

Features of Presentation AI (Top AI Tools for Presentations)

• Premium templates for nearly every industry
• Offers marketing campaign planning
• Type a prompt and make presentations with a single click
• Seamless collaboration for remote workers and team members

Pricing: The pricing plans for Presentation AI are as follows:

• Starter: Free to use plan
• Pro: Starts at $396/year/10 users

Pros and Cons of Presentation AI

• Custom fonts and colors for your branding
• Easy sharing option
• Vast selection of templates
• Limited credits in free version

Simplified is a text to presentation maker AI. It is one of the easiest tools to make presentations, you have to simply visit its website, select “Create AI Presentation” and explain your topics and ideas, and that’s it.

Simplified will automatically create a beautiful and engaging PPT in seconds. You can use that presentation as it is or modify it according to your requirements.

Features of Simplified

• AI design assistant for easy ppt creation
• AI writer, image generator, resizer
• Prebuilt templates
• Collaboration options for teamwork

Pricing: Simplified offers three types of plans with a 14-day free trial. These are:

• Free: Free Forever
• Pro: Starts at $9/month/user
• Business: Starts at $15/month/5 seats

Pros and Cons of Simplified

• Wide range of AI-based tools
• Rich media library for images, designs, etc.
• Multiple export formats like JPEG, PNG, PDF, etc.
• Its animation feature is basic
• Limited data visualization options

Another AI presentation tool on our list is Slidebean , as it is a perfect choice for creating pitch decks. They even have a special “Arrange with AI” feature that gives you different design options.

Whether you’re pitching your idea or trying to sell something, Slidebean makes it easy and increases your chances of success at each stage of your business.

Features of Slidebean

• Automated content and design feature
• Analytics feature to track activities
• Seamless collaboration

Pricing: Slidebean offers two types of plans, these are:

• Slidebean All-Access: Starts at $149/year
• Slidebean Incorporation: Starts at $649/year

Pros and Cons of Slidebean

• All in one pitch deck software
• Investor tracker option
• Built-in startup lessons and instructions
• A bit costly compared to its alternatives
• No free trial

Best AI Tools for Presentations: Price Chart

In the end, the best AI to make presentations offers a diverse range of options for various needs. For example, Beautiful AI stands out for its intuitive design suggestions, while Design AI excels with its comprehensive content creation features. On the other hand, Presentation AI provides an instant, ChatGPT-like solution.

The choice ultimately depends on individual preferences, requirements, and budget considerations. Based on our research and user reviews, these tools can elevate your presentations and leave a lasting impression.

FAQs Related to AI Presentation Tool

Is there any ai for powerpoint.

Yes, softwares like Presentation AI, Design AI, etc. are some of the popular AI for PowerPoint.

Which AI is best for presentation?

The best AI for presentation depends on individual preferences and needs. Tools like Beautiful AI, Presentation AI, and Slidebean are popular choices when it comes to the AI that makes presentations.

Can I make PPT using AI?

Yes, you can easily create PPT using AI. AI presentation tools like Simplified, Beautiful AI, Kroma AI and more allow users to create PowerPoint presentations quickly and efficiently.

How do I create a presentation in ChatGPT?

ChatGPT itself is not a presentation tool, but you can use it to generate a PPT outline. Simply visit the ChatGPT dashboard, enter your prompt or the PPT idea, and it will come out with a proper PPT outline.

Shubham Roy is an experienced writer with a strong Technical and Business background. With over three years of experience as a content writer, he has honed his skills in various domains, including technical writing, business, software, Travel, Food and finance. His passion for creating engaging and informative content... Read more

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Background Hematoma expansion is an independent predictor of poor neurological outcome after spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), and a promising quantifiable and modifiable therapeutic target. Practical tools to identify patients at risk of hematoma expansion are lacking, limiting early preventative intervention. We hypothesized that three-dimensional transport-based morphometry (3D-TBM), could automatically predict future hematoma expansion from non-contrast computed tomography (NCCT) images at the time of hospital presentation. Methods One hundred and seventy spontaneous ICH patients enrolled in the multi-center international Virtual International Trials of Stroke Archive (VISTA-ICH), were separated into training (60%) and testing (40%) cohorts for model derivation and validation, respectively. A unique transport-based representation was produced from each presentation NCCT hematoma image for statistical analysis. The 3D-TBM model was interrogated to visualize the physical hematoma characteristics predictive of future expansion. Results 3D-TBM outperformed each of the existing clinician-based BAT, Brain, Heavn, NAG and 10-point NCCT hematoma expansion prediction scores in the testing dataset. 3D-TBM adjusted for location and clinical information predicted hematoma expansion in the testing dataset with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) of 0.698 (95% CI 0.695-0.702), while the AUROC for the best performing clinician method, the Heavn score, was 0.663 (95% CI 0.660–0.666). The predominant hematoma characteristics predicting future expansion were larger size, textural heterogeneity, shape irregularity and peripheral intensity distribution. Discussion We present a quantitative method that outperformed clinicians and permitted visualization of the morphometric features for predicting hematoma expansion from NCCT in ICH patients. Our study contributes insight into the underlying mechanisms driving hematoma expansion and suggests that it can be identified at a reversible stage.

Competing Interest Statement

The authors have declared no competing interest.

Funding Statement

No external funding was received

Author Declarations

I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained.

The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below:

Not applicable. This study uses data that were not collected specifically for this study and no one on our study team had access to the subject identifiers linked to the specimens or data. Therefore, this study is not considered human subjects research. Because it is not considered human subjects research, an IRB exemption was not required to conduct this study. T

I confirm that all necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived, and that any patient/participant/sample identifiers included were not known to anyone (e.g., hospital staff, patients or participants themselves) outside the research group so cannot be used to identify individuals.

I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance).

I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines, such as any relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material, if applicable.

Data Availability

Data used for his manuscript is available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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