Business intelligence, data analysis, and reporting tools.
13 tools reviewed
Free heatmaps and session recordings from Microsoft
Microsoft Clarity is a completely free tool providing heatmaps, session recordings, and user behaviour insights. No session limits. AI insights surface key friction points. A serious competitor to Hotjar's free tier.
Free data visualisation and reporting
Looker Studio (formerly Google Data Studio) is a free tool for building interactive dashboards from Google Analytics, Sheets, BigQuery, and 800+ data sources. Essential for SMBs wanting professional-looking data reports at zero cost.
See how visitors really use your website
Hotjar records website sessions, creates heatmaps, and collects feedback, showing exactly where users click, scroll, and drop off. Its free plan is genuinely useful. AI summarises session recordings and survey responses.
Privacy-first Google Analytics alternative
Plausible is a lightweight, cookie-free analytics tool that is fully GDPR-compliant without consent banners. Simple dashboard showing traffic, sources, and goals. Self-hosting option available. Popular with privacy-conscious European SMBs.
Business analytics dashboards, all in one place
Databox pulls data from 100+ tools including Google Analytics, HubSpot, Shopify, and Facebook Ads into customisable dashboards and automated reports. Free plan supports 3 data sources. Popular with marketing agencies for client reporting.
Product analytics for growing companies
Mixpanel tracks user actions and events in web and mobile apps, providing powerful funnel analysis, retention reports, and A/B testing. Free plan supports up to 20M events/month. The go-to product analytics tool for SaaS startups.
E-commerce analytics and attribution
Triple Whale is an e-commerce analytics platform built for DTC brands running paid ads, offering pixel-based attribution, profit dashboards, and AI-powered insights. Integrates with Shopify, Facebook Ads, and Google Ads.
Marketing data pipelines for reporting tools
Supermetrics automates the movement of marketing data from 100+ platforms (Google Ads, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.) into Sheets, Looker Studio, Excel, and data warehouses. Saves agencies hours of manual data export.
Digital analytics for product-led growth
Amplitude provides deep product analytics including funnel analysis, user journey mapping, and retention cohorts. Free plan supports up to 10M events/month. The go-to for product-led growth SaaS companies alongside Mixpanel.
Automatically capture every user interaction
Heap auto-captures every click, tap, and form submission on your website or app without needing manual event instrumentation. AI surfaces insights from captured data. Retroactive analysis lets you answer questions using historical data.
KPI dashboards for data-driven SMBs
Klipfolio connects to 100+ data sources and builds real-time KPI dashboards for business metrics. Its PowerMetrics product makes it easy to define and track key business metrics. Popular with agencies for white-label reporting.
Multi-channel marketing reporting for agencies
Whatagraph automates marketing performance reports, pulling data from 40+ channels and producing visual client-ready reports. Primarily used by marketing agencies to save hours of manual reporting weekly.
Business intelligence for data-driven SMBs
Looker is Google's enterprise BI platform with a powerful modelling layer (LookML) for consistent metrics across an organisation. More complex than most SMB tools but worthwhile for data-mature businesses with SQL skills.