7 best data visualization tools for understanding your data better in 2024

Are you making the most of your data?

In an increasingly data-driven world, having the right tools for data visualization to transform raw data into meaningful insights is more important than ever. Did you know that businesses that adopt a data-first culture are 23 times more likely to acquire customers?

As organizations generate vast amounts of data at every stage of their process, ensuring that every team member—not just top-level executives—can access and use the correct data is crucial for growth. However, for a data-driven approach to truly succeed, the right data visualization tools are essential.

In this article, we'll explore the top seven data visualization tools for 2024, focusing on their functionality, user-friendliness, and overall performance. Whether you’re looking to enhance your decision-making process or simply make sense of your data, these tools are the best on the market.

• What is data visualization?
• Why are data visualizations so effective?
• What are data visualization tools?
• How to choose the right data visualization tool
• 7 best data visualization tools
   
  • Zoho Analytics
  • Tableau
  • Power BI
  • Qlik
  • Sisense
  • Looker
  • Domo
• Quick comparison
• Why are data visualization tools important for business
• Understanding your data better with powerful visualizations

What is data visualization?

Data visualization is the process of presenting data using visual elements, such as charts, graphs, and diagrams. Data visualization allows you to:

• Quickly identify trends, patterns, and outliers in your data
• Gain insights that may not be apparent from raw numbers
• Make more informed decisions based on these insights

Why are data visualizations so effective?

The human brain processes visual information remarkably quickly. In fact, it takes less than half a second for our eyes and brain to grasp the basic visual properties of an image, including color, shape, spatial positioning, and movement.

These elements, known as preattentive visual properties, are the building blocks of data visualizations. By utilizing these properties, data visualizations can communicate complex information rapidly and effectively.

What are data visualization tools?

Data visualization tools are software applications designed to help you transform raw data into visual representations. These tools offer several key benefits:

• Uncover patterns and relationships in your data that might not be apparent from numbers alone.
• Extract meaningful insights from complex datasets.
• Use visual data to inform and guide your decision-making.

Modern data visualization software goes beyond simple chart creation. With these advanced tools, you can:

• Create powerful visualizations like comprehensive reports and interactive dashboards.
• Perform real-time analysis.
• Collaborate with your team by sharing visualizations easily.
• Set up automated data alerts.
• Present data stories by crafting compelling narratives using your visualizations.

In summary, data visualization platforms help your organization become data-first.

How to choose the right data visualization tool

Selecting a data visualization tool for you or your organization depends on your specific requirements. However, we've compiled a list of essential features to consider:

• Integration support: Your organization's data may be stored in various places, like databases and data lakes, or you might use cloud business apps, such as CRM, helpdesk, or payroll systems. You could also have data stored as files and feeds.
  
  The data visualization tool you choose should support easy integration with all your data sources.
• Database connectors: Zoho Analytics integrates seamlessly with a wide range of popular databases, data lakes, and data warehouses. Using the database connectors, you can choose to either import data into Zoho Analytics or establish a live connection to your database, where your data remains stored exclusively within your own database.
• Data preparation options: Raw data from different sources might not be clean, consistent, or analysis-ready. The tool you select should have the capability to clean and prepare data for analysis.
• Self-service: Since the data visualization tool will be used by various teams in your organization, including both IT and non-technical business users, it's crucial that the software is easy to use and has a short learning curve. In short, the tool should be self-service and user-friendly.
• Visualization types: Ensure that the tool you choose supports all the popular visualization types, to ensure you can analyze your data effectively.
• Sharing and collaboration: After creating a report or dashboard, you'll likely want to share it with your team for analysis or discussion. Ensure the tool you select offers advanced sharing and collaboration features.
• Data presentation: You'll often need to present your findings to your team or management. It's important that the tool supports options to embed interactive reports for effective presentation.

The 7 best data visualization tools

1. Zoho Analytics

Zoho Analytics is an AI-powered BI and data analytics platform that enables businesses to create data visualizations and extract actionable insights. You can complete your entire data analytics journey, from data integration to deriving meaningful insights, in one place using this data visualization software.

Designed to cater to all types of users, from seasoned data analysts to nontechnical business users, Zoho Analytics is completely self-service. You and your team can create reports and dashboards quickly and easily.

Key features

• Support for 500+ data sources: Connect hundreds of data sources, including cloud business apps, databases, data lakes, cloud storage drives, files, feeds, and web URLs. Data also syncs automatically at regular intervals.
  
  For cloud business apps, Zoho Analytics automatically creates a set of reports and dashboards upon integration, which allows your team to start analyzing immediately.
  
  You can also choose to generate contextual reports and dashboards automatically with the help of AI.
• Built-in data preparation studio: Use its AI-powered data preparation studio to clean, transform, and enrich unstructured raw data. With over 250 transform functions available, you can be ready for analysis in minutes.
• Drag-and-drop visualization builder: Creating visualizations is as simple as dragging and dropping. Just place the required columns in the respective fields and click the Generate button. Zoho Analytics then automatically creates a visualization based on your data, with the flexibility to change visualization types as needed.
• AI assistant for creating visualizations: Get assistance from Zia, Zoho's AI assistant.
  • Ask Zia: Enter questions and converse in plain language, and Zia will generate reports and KPI widgets.
  • Zia Suggestions: Receive recommendations for visualizations when you're unsure which type to choose.
• Dynamic and interactive dashboards: Create fully interactive dashboards, where you can click charts, graphs, and other visual elements to filter, drill down, and drill through for deeper insights.
• Advanced sharing and collaboration options: Easily share reports and dashboards with your team and collaborate securely. Create custom roles with fine-grained access control. Your team can also comment directly on reports, annotate them, and more.
• Data alerts: Set up automated alerts based on thresholds and anomalies, or schedule daily alerts to your inbox.
• Embed visualizations: Embed visualizations on web portals and intranets for easy access to insights.
• Automated interactive slideshow generation: Quickly create slideshows with interactive reports for presentations. Then add Zia narrative insights to your slideshows for additional context.
• Dedicated mobile apps: Access all your reports and dashboards on the go using your smartphone or tablet with the Zoho Analytics app.

Watch the video below to see visualizations created, using Zoho Analytics, for the IPL 2024 dashboard:

Data visualization examples from Zoho Analytics

Here are some data visualizations created using Zoho Analytics:

Social media performance dashboard

Website performance dashboard

Executive KPI dashboard

Zia AI-created dashboard for Klaviyo

2. Tableau

Tableau is BI software that helps you connect data sources and create reports and dashboards. Tableau is geared toward professionals with a high degree of technical expertise, and it's priced accordingly.

Key features

• Data integration: Tableau offers integration with various data sources, including databases and business applications.
• Advanced analytics: The software provides robust analytics capabilities, allowing users to perform complex calculations and statistical analysis.
• Interactive dashboards: Tableau's interactive dashboards enable users to explore data dynamically.
• Real-time data updates: Tableau supports real-time data connections, ensuring that dashboards and visualizations reflect the most up-to-date information available.

Sample Tableau visualization

Source: Tableau

Compare: Zoho Analytics vs. Tableau

3. Power BI

Power BI is a business intelligence and data visualization tool that enables users to analyze data visually. It's favored by organizations that utilize the Microsoft suite of products, but requires a certain level of technical expertise to leverage its capabilities fully.

Key features

• Seamless integration with Microsoft products: Power BI integrates smoothly with other Microsoft tools, like Excel, Azure, and SQL Server, to import data, conduct analysis, and share insights within the Microsoft ecosystem.
• User-friendly report creation: The drag-and-drop interface makes it easy for users to create reports and dashboards without extensive technical knowledge.
• AI-powered analytics: Power BI harnesses artificial intelligence to enhance data analysis.

Sample Power BI visualization

Source: Power BI

Compare: Zoho Analytics vs. Power BI

4. Qlik

Qlik is data analytics software that enhances data quality and enables businesses to analyze data visually. While it offers powerful capabilities, the initial setup and deployment can be complex and costly, particularly for large enterprises.

Key features

• Associative data model: Qlik’s unique data processing model allows users to explore data in a nonlinear way.
• Self-service analytics: Qlik empowers users to create their own visualizations with minimal IT involvement.
• Scalability: Qlik is capable of handling large and complex datasets.

Sample Qlik visualization

Source: Qlik

Compare: Zoho Analytics vs. Qlik

5. Sisense

Sisense is data analytics software designed for businesses that require highly customizable and embedded analytics solutions. While it excels in customization, it offers fewer out-of-the-box visualization options compared to other tools, and its pricing can be on the high side.

Key features

• Data integration: Sisense provides options for integrating with various databases and cloud services.
• Data preparation: Users can clean, prepare, and model data, define relationships, and create calculated fields.
• Data visualization: Sisense offers basic charts, reports, and dashboards to present insights, though the visualization options are somewhat limited.
• Customizability: With strong API support, Sisense is highly customizable, and businesses can embed analytics into their applications.

Sample Sisense visualization

Source: Sisense

Compare: Zoho Analytics vs. Sisense

6. Looker

Looker is a cloud-based BI tool that focuses on robust data modeling through LookML. It shines in collaborative analytics, however, it offers fewer out-of-the-box visualization options compared to competitors, and customizing visuals may require more technical expertise.

Key features

• Data modeling with LookML: Looker enables the creation of standardized, reusable data models.
• Collaborative analytics: Looker facilitates data exploration and collaboration within teams.
• Customizable dashboards: Looker provides flexible, interactive dashboards that can be tailored to meet specific business needs.

Sample Looker visualization

Source: Looker

Compare: Zoho Analytics vs. Looker

7. Domo

Domo is a cloud-based BI platform that integrates data visualization, business intelligence, and workflow automation, with a strong focus on real-time data access and sharing across the organization. While Domo offers comprehensive features, it can be expensive, lacks advanced analytics capabilities, and provides fewer sophisticated prebuilt visualizations compared to other tools.

Key features

• Real-time dashboards: Domo offers dynamic, real-time data visualizations that automatically update as new data comes in.
• All-in-one platform: Domo seamlessly integrates data visualization with other business functions.
• Mobile accessibility: Users can fully access data visualizations and dashboards on mobile devices, ensuring flexibility and convenience.

Sample Domo visualization

Source: Domo

Compare: Zoho Analytics vs. Domo

Now that was a lot of information! We understand that comparing all the tools listed here can be overwhelming. That’s why we’ve created a quick, compact table to help you easily compare their major features.

Why are data visualization tools important for businesses?

Data visualization tools transform raw data into actionable insights, supporting better business decisions. Here’s why they're crucial for businesses:

• Better understanding of data: Visual representations make complex information easier to grasp quickly and intuitively. Charts, graphs, and other visualizations convey insights more effectively than raw numbers or text.
• Pattern recognition: Visualizations help identify trends, patterns, and outliers that might not be apparent in raw data, leading to valuable insights and informed decision-making.
• Data storytelling: Data storytelling can be powerful for communicating findings and telling compelling stories with data, especially when presenting to stakeholders or clients.
• Faster decision-making: Presenting data in a clear, visually appealing format allows decision-makers to understand key points quickly and make informed choices more efficiently.
• Improved collaboration: Data visualizations enhance communication and collaboration among team members by providing a clear, shared understanding of the data.

Understand your data better with powerful visualizations

Data visualization software is essential for data-driven organizations. However, choosing the right tool depends on factors like budget, technical expertise, and specific business needs. Hopefully, this guide to the top visualization tools helped you make an informed decision about which one is best for you.

If Zoho Analytics seems like the perfect fit for your data visualization needs, you can sign up for a 15-day free trial. Zoho Analytics is trusted by more than 17,000 businesses worldwide. If you need assistance or have specific questions about our capabilities, you can also register for a free personalized demo.

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