Some of the best free dashboard tools for visualizing your metrics and KPIs are Datapad, Grafana, Databox, Dasheroo, FineReport, Metabase, Google Data Studio, Matomo, Tableau, and Inetsoft.
In this guide, you will find a detailed review of all the above-mentioned free dashboard tools and know why they’re the best in the market.
A dashboarding tool is a simplified data-management software that collects, monitors, and displays complex data via interactive and customizable dashboards and reports.
In simpler terms, dashboarding tools help you monitor and visualize your business health and accompany you with data-driven insights.
Now the question you might have is whether your business really needs a centralized dashboarding tool. 🤔
We would’ve said NO 🙅♂️ if it had been the 1990s, but as of today, every enterprise, despite the size, is surfing around tons of data - some are visible while most remain hidden.
And so, to easily squeeze, analyze, and monitor data from every place, dashboarding tools are a perfect solution.
Apart from saving your resources, these tools are a great help when it comes to KPI measurements. They hold the capability to present the worst form of data in an easy-to-understand format.
Thereby helping the c-suites make timely and better data-driven decisions.
If you don't want to read whole article, you can watch the video below to find out about the best free dashboard softwares.
Not all dashboard tools qualify for your business needs, here're a few factors to consider for choosing the right free dashboard tool.
A building can't stand tall if the base is weak. In the same way, a dashboarding tool can't function if you can’t set things up quickly and easily.
It becomes crucial for any dashboarding tool to provide ease of setup. Although all the tools boast easy setup, you have to choose what easy setup means for you. Select the tool that lets you set up dashboards in clicks and takes minutes not hours.
Pro Tip: Look if the tool offers free setup resources such as guides, tutorial videos, and reliable customer support.
Now some tools may delay you from accessing your dashboard. That means you can't instantly access your dashboard after setting it up. This might be due to slow loading time or while processing heavy databases.
Look for tools that empower you with data visualization capabilities instantly. Because in business, time is money.
Your dashboard shouldn't be more than a click away from you.
Most of the dashboarding tools make you sit in front of your desktop to access its features. For the time being, it's fine.
But when you’re off work, far from your PC, and something urgent comes up, to prevent last-minute tantrums, ensure the dashboarding tool allows you to access your dashboards from anywhere.
So look for a free dashboard tool with a dedicated mobile app or mobile-optimized dashboards.
Collaboration is a crucial feature to look for in a dashboarding tool. Even if we suppose you have Einstein’s brain and can easily use any tool, many people don't have that. You can look around you for examples.
So, being a good leader and for the comfort of your team, make sure the dashboarding tool you opt for has a lower-learning curve.
Moreover, ensure your team takes minimal time and training to get on board and kick things off.
Lastly, the most tricky part - Pricing.
Most tools out there have a competitive yet complicated pricing policy.
While some might offer a free plan with limited features, others leverage a freemium (free for a period) version to attract you.
Honestly, we at Datapad don't burden you with pricing complications. Our tool is completely free for all without any limitations or restrictions.
But for other tools, we suggest you compare them wisely. And most importantly, don't confuse a completely free tool and a tool that offers a freemium version.
Datapad helps you track all essential metrics from stunning dashboards.
The beauty of Datapad lies in its simplicity and ease of use. With our tool, anyone in your team with zero technical knowledge can start building reports in mere seconds.
As a go-to solution for Agencies, Datapad makes it easy to onboard new customers with 1-click templates and share performance reports with read-only links.
Datapad also makes it easy to collaborate as a team with the ability to drop comments on KPI cards.
The AI insights tool lets anyone detect anomalies in their data and provides actionable to-do items to increase performance.
Creating reports for your business is no easy task. You have to determine a lot, from which metrics to choose to design the right charts.
If you are an agency and want to create the same reports for multiple clients, then this hassle becomes even more burdensome.
Guess what? Datapad lets you do all this with just a few clicks.
With Datapad's templating features, you can:
Tracking KPIs isn't a one-person job when you have a lot of them; you need a team. But not all KPI dashboard tools let you bring your team on board.
Guess what? Datapad lets you do it quickly and easily.
Moreover, you can assign individual team members tasks to handle, goals to achieve, and metrics to measure.
With Datapad's team collaboration feature, you can:
Wouldn't it be great if you could check your business KPIs first thing in the morning, straight from your inbox?
With our dashboard software, you can subscribe to any dashboard and receive daily email updates.
All you have to do is build a dashboard, click the subscribe button, and set your email preferences.
The best part is you can share reports with anyone, even emails outside of your organization or workspace.
With Datapad’s report and scorecard automation, you can:
Datapad has a free tier that includes 1 dashboard. If you want more, you can upgrade to the $30 Standard Plan, which includes 3 dashboards and scales with your usage. Datapad also offers a Business Plan tailored for agencies and includes dedicated customer support.
We are now offering an earlybird discount to all users, so it's a great time to sign up and give Datapad a spin.
✅ Easy access to your dashboards
✅ Keep everything on your phone for instant access
✅ Set up alerts and push notifications to stay on top of your business
✅Completely Free
❌ Not suitable for creating sophisticated dashboards
❌ Not many integrations right now
Grafana is an open-source analytical and dashboarding solution that allows businesses to ingest, query, and display data via interactive visualizations.
The platform allows you to create unified dashboards that combine data from multiple sources to foster a data-driven culture within your team.
Grafana has millions of business users, including many top companies like eBay, PayPal, Intel, and more. It's an excellent data visualization tool for anyone, ranging from startups to large-sized enterprises.
✅ Easily collaborate on dashboards with your teammates
✅ Great community support
✅ Set up custom alerts and notifications
✅ Allows to setup threshold limits on graphs
❌ Limited data visualization options
❌ Higher learning curve (best for coders and developers)
❌ Occasionally laggy (could be a data source issue)
Databox is a leading business analytics dashboard that helps you connect data from any tool and track business performance from anywhere.
Over 20,000+ businesses use Databox to track and visualize their business data and make better data-driven decisions.
Databox is for data-driven marketers, CEOs, analysts, and decision-makers. Being a versatile platform, it’s suitable for small to large businesses.
✅ Has a user-friendly interface
✅ Satisfying number of integrations and pre-built templates
✅ Quick and easy to set up
❌ Limited data source connection and dashboard for free plan (one each)
❌ Can be confusing for beginners
Dasheroo is a cloud-based BI and analytics platform that helps you easily keep track of your messy business data via beautiful dashboards and stunning visualizations.
Dasheroo is a good fit for all, from small businesses to startup teams to enterprise companies.
✅ Simple to use & easy to set up
✅ Great visual appeal and customizations
✅ Admirable collaboration features for teams
❌ Not much of a business intelligence dashboard (popularly a visualization tool)
❌ Limited integrations to popular platforms
FineReport is a business intelligence software developed by Java. It addresses your need for data integration, management, and visualization across the organization.
FineReport holds the top spot in the Chinese BI market. It's best for SI's and ISVs, product managers and owners, CTO, etc. in the healthcare, manufacturing, finance & banking, real estate, and IT sectors.
It's also a popular voice among individual marketers because it's free for personal use.
✅ Intuitive and easy design mode
✅ Open source library (to add more functionalities)
✅ Excellent data connectivity
✅ Dedicated mobile app
❌ Being a product of Java, the tool has a technical touch
Metabase is an open-source BI and data visualization tool that allows you to weave impactful stories from your data.
Its interactive dashboards present data in an easy-to-understand format to business owners and stakeholders, allowing them to make better data-driven decisions.
Metabase best suits small teams, growing businesses, and large enterprises. Or, if you only want to use the free plan, it's best for small teams and startups.
✅ Unlimited charts and dashboards
✅ Access to friendly forums
✅ Easy to set up (just takes 5 mins)
❌ Highly reliant on SQL
❌ No formatting flexibility
Google Data Studio lets you effortlessly collect raw data from everywhere and transform them into interactive, beautiful reports and dashboards. The dashboards built with data studio are fully customizable and easy to share with your teams and stakeholders.
Google Data Studio is for anyone who wants to make better use of their data without incurring any cost or taking the risk of data mishandling.
Related: Google Data Studio Alternatives
✅ Strong integration with Google's ecosystem (eases most of your work)
✅ Granular access control and sharing mechanisms
✅ Completely free
❌ Lacks real-time updates
❌ No support for Excel
❌ Might find it difficult to perform complex visualizations
Matomo is an all-in-one platform that collects data and presents it through easy-to-understand visuals through a unified dashboard.
The best part is that Matomo gives you 100% data ownership, which means you're in control of where your data is stored and what's happening to it.
Over 1 million websites trust Matomo in 190 countries. Its prominent customers include the United Nations, Ahrefs, and NASA. The platform serves all industries ranging from commercial stores to IT and aeronautics.
✅ Frequent updates help to prevent the platform from bugs and glitches
✅ Self-hosting is very simple and comfortable
✅ Offers 100% data control
❌ Poor UI/UX design
❌ Comes with a steep learning curve (best for advanced users)
Tableau Public is offered as a totally free platform to organize, visualize, and publicly share significant data. It comes with an extensive library of data visualization tools; anyone can use them to structure unorganized datasets.
Tableau public is for data professionals, business teams, and even tech teams to make sense of raw data, seek guidance from the open-source community, and contribute valuable data.
✅ Truly free to use and access libraries
✅ Supports all kinds of data sources, including online and locally stored data sets.
✅ A platform with mobile friendliness and ease of use for the layman
❌ Lack of personal security when the data is stored publicly
❌ Only 10 million records per data source and 10 GB of overall content per account.
Inetsoft is a leading analytics and dashboard reporting tool empowering businesses with reliable data insight in the cloud computing & SaaS era.
Inetsoft blends data from multiple platforms and allows you to report, analyze, and visualize complex data in real time.
Inetsoft is best suited for the Information Technology and Services industry. Or, more specifically, best fit for businesses in the computer software industry.
✅ Easy to setup and use
✅ Quality support and assistance
✅ Ease data import and a crystal-clear UI
❌ Involves a certain extent of technical jargon
Datapad is a free dashboard software that sets the bar high in the dashboarding tool category. Its user-friendly and allow you to access your KPIs instantly from anywhere.
Do you remember we talked about how ease of setup is an essential feature for any dashboarding tool? Well, our tool just takes a minute to set up and get you rolling. Here's how to do that:
Step 1: Choose a title for your dashboard
Step 2: Set a goal for your KPI
Step 3: Choose from a gallery of charts and visual components
Sign up now to start tracking your KPIs with your team
Read more: How to Build a KPI Dashboard in Excel?
