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Toolradar Research

Business intelligence software statistics 2026

First-party data on the 201 BI tools Toolradar tracks: 70% paid-only, a $55 median, and a $409 mean. BI is where the sticker and the invoice stop matching.

Louis Corneloup
Louis Corneloup

Founder, Toolradar & Dupple

Published September 17, 2026
4 min read
Next update Dec 17, 2026
As featured inTechCrunchForbesBloombergBusiness InsiderThe Verge

Key findings

What the data shows.

  1. 01

    201 BI tools tracked, holding 37,411 aggregated third-party reviews. (Source: Toolradar directory, September 17, 2026.)

  2. 02

    70% are paid-only. Only 30% offer a free way in. (Source: Toolradar directory, September 17, 2026.)

  3. 03

    The median paid plan starts at $55 a month. The mean is $409. That is the widest mean-to-median gap in this wave. (Source: Toolradar directory, September 17, 2026.)

  4. 04

    Tableau holds 6,579 reviews at 4.50. Power BI holds 3,548 at 4.60. Looker holds 2,229 at 4.00. (Source: Toolradar directory, September 17, 2026.)

  5. 05

    129 rated tools average 4.36, 4.31 weighted. (Source: Toolradar directory, September 17, 2026.)

About the research

How we built this report.

Data source

Toolradar tool database. Editorial review with weekly pricing verification.

Coverage period

2026. Snapshot taken September 17, 2026. Refresh due Dec 17, 2026.

Methodology

Public scoring rubric. See how we rate for the full criteria.

License

Creative Commons BY 4.0. Quote, link, and reuse with attribution.

Business intelligence is a paid-first category with a price spread that makes the median a poor guide. Toolradar tracks 201 BI tools holding 37,411 reviews. 70% are paid-only. The median entry is $55. The mean is $409, more than eight times that, because a few enterprise platforms sit on a short list of cheaper dashboards. Tableau holds 6,579 reviews at 4.50. Microsoft Power BI holds 3,548 at 4.60. Looker holds 2,229 at 4.00. Power BI wins the satisfaction cut among the names everyone already knows.

Every figure below is computed from the Toolradar directory on September 17, 2026. The live dashboard is Business intelligence statistics. The buyer ranking is best business intelligence software.

How large the category is

We track 201 published tools, or 1.9% of the 10,619 tools in the directory. 92% (185 of 201) were added to Toolradar in 2026. "Added" means added to our directory, not founded this year.

A $55 starter is not a $409 rollout. Capacity, viewers, and governed models live above the headline.

How these tools are priced

70% of the 201 tools are paid-only. 30% offer a free tier or freemium plan (61 tools). 3% are fully free.

How business intelligence software are priced

n = 201 tools, September 17, 2026

Paid
69.7%140
Freemium
26.9%54
Free
3.5%7
Source: Toolradar directory, September 17, 2026. Share of published tools in the Business Intelligence category by pricing model.

For the 54 tools that publish a paid tier, the median entry price is $55 a month and the mean is $409.

Entry price distribution

n = 54 tools with a published paid tier

Under $10
2
$10 to $24
14
$25 to $49
10
$50 to $99
8
$100 to $249
5
$250 and up
15
Source: Toolradar directory, September 17, 2026. Entry price = the cheapest positive monthly tier each tool publishes.

The catalog-wide median entry is $20 (software pricing statistics). Read our median against that line, then read the mean as a warning when a few enterprise platforms sit on top.

How these tools are rated

129 of 201 tools carry a rating (64%). Those ratings rest on 37,411 reviews. Unweighted mean 4.36. Review-weighted mean 4.31.

Rating distribution

n = 129 rated tools

Below 4.0
14
4.0 to 4.4
50
4.5 to 4.7
44
4.8 to 5.0
21
Source: Toolradar directory, September 17, 2026. Aggregate rating per tool across G2, Capterra, Trustpilot and other third-party platforms.

The most-reviewed tools on September 17, 2026:

ToolRatingReviews
Tableau4.506,579
Datorama4.104,464
Microsoft Power BI4.603,548
Looker4.002,229

Source: Toolradar directory, September 17, 2026.

This category has a thin review layer for the money it charges. 37,411 reviews across 201 tools is a fraction of sales or payments. BI buyers leave fewer public ratings, and the ones they leave still put Power BI above Looker.

The highest-rated tools with at least 200 aggregated reviews:

#ToolRatingReviews
1Jirav4.80214
2Project444.70691
3Toucan4.70233
4ClearPoint Strategy4.70229
5Microsoft Power BI4.603,548
6Reveal BI4.60652
7Klipfolio4.60449
8Phocas4.60331
9Quantum Metric4.60276
10Visier4.60223

Jirav leads at 4.80.

Review volume by platform:

Review platformTools with a profileAggregated reviewsMean rating
G212228,2844.34
Capterra408,0794.54
SourceForge134964.22
Trustpilot64802.26
TrustRadius4563.94
Peerspot1164.10

Three tools worth comparing are Tableau, Microsoft Power BI, and Looker.

How often pricing moves

Our pricing tracker logged 13 pricing changes for these tools in 2026, 0 of them applied. Recheck the tier you will actually run, not the headline starter.

How this data was measured

Every figure in this report is computed live from the Toolradar directory on September 17, 2026, covering the 201 published tools we categorize under Business intelligence. Pricing model is read from each vendor's official pricing page. The entry price is the cheapest positive monthly tier a tool publishes. Ratings and review counts are aggregated from third-party platforms (G2, Capterra, Trustpilot and others), not from Toolradar's own reviews. The leaderboard floor is 200 aggregated reviews. External statistics are cited inline and link to the exact source page. This is a directory snapshot, not a survey.

Cite this report

Browse the full category on the best business intelligence software page, or explore all of Toolradar Research.

Cite this report

Use the data, credit the source.

Released under Creative Commons BY 4.0. You may quote, link, and reuse the data with attribution.

Toolradar Research (2026). Business intelligence software statistics 2026. Toolradar. https://toolradar.com/reports/business-intelligence-software-statistics