Key Takeaways


  • Qrvey: Best for SaaS companies needing embedded analytics with multi-tenant capabilities and no-code dashboard building
  • Amazon QuickSight: Ideal for organizations already using AWS services seeking cost-effective cloud-native Business Intelligence with machine learning insights
  • Sisense: Perfect for mid-to-large enterprises requiring embedded analytics in customer-facing applications with strong data warehouse integration

Juggling high costs, license chaos and slow dashboards while trying not to tear your dev team apart? Tableau alternatives exist and they offer smarter routes. 

We’ve tested four tools that deliver data reports, self-service insights, and real-time data analysis right inside your SaaS product. Tools built for customer-facing analytics, not just internal reporting. 

You’ll learn which suits your team’s needs, how they price, and where each wins or falls short. We spotlight Qrvey, packed with client-ready embeds and secure multi-tenant design, to show how your app can deliver polished, on-brand analytics in record time.

ToolBest ForStandout FeatureStarting Price
QrveySaaS companies needing embedded analyticsMulti-tenant data lake with no-code workflowsContact for quote
Amazon QuickSightAWS ecosystem usersMachine learning insights with serverless architecture$3/user/month (licensing cost not included)
SisenseEnterprise embedded analyticsElastiCube in-memory processingCustom pricing
ThoughtSpotNatural language data analyticsAI-powered search-based queries$25/user/month (licensing cost not included)

Qrvey

Custom reporting requests from customers piling up? Perhaps that’s because your current BI tools weren’t built for that kind of load, especially in SaaS environments where every tenant has different needs. Qrvey ends that cycle. 

It’s a full-stack embedded analytics platform designed for SaaS teams. Qrvey doesn’t just visualize data but takes care of the entire pipeline, from ingestion to dashboard delivery. All while supporting multi-tenant data governance and self-service features your users will love.

For your dev team, that means fewer custom builds, no more juggling ETL scripts, and complete freedom to focus on core product features. As Qrvey’s CTO, David Abramson, notes:

“One of the beauties of working with tools like Qrvey is the fact that you don’t have to pick one and then that’s your only option for handling your multi-tenant data.”

Qrvey meets your product where it is, letting you scale your analytics without rearchitecting your data strategy. You build analytics around your product, not the other way around.

Key Features

  • Multi-Tenant Data Lake: Qrvey’s cloud-native architecture includes a built-in data lake specifically designed for multi-tenant environments

This means you can safely mix and match data sources from different customers without worrying about data leakage or security breaches. The platform automatically handles tenant isolation while allowing for shared analytics components.

The architecture supports both isolated and commingled data models, giving you flexibility as your business grows. Need completely separate data per tenant or want to aggregate insights across customers? Qrvey’s multi-tenant analytics adapts to your requirements.

  • No-Code Dashboard Builder: Your customers can create their own custom dashboards using Qrvey’s drag-and-drop interface. No SQL knowledge required. 

The no-code approach means business users can build everything from simple data reports to complex interactive visualizations without bothering your support team. 

Qrvey’s pre-built templates make onboarding faster. New customers start with proven dashboard designs and customize them to match their specific needs. This reduces time-to-value and increases adoption rates across your customer base.

  • White-Label Embedding: Unlike tools that force you to display their branding, Qrvey disappears into your application. 

The embedded analytics components match your user interface perfectly, maintaining a seamless user experience. Your customers never know they’re using a third-party analytics solution.

The JavaScript widgets integrate directly into your application without iframes, giving you full control over styling and user interactions. This approach ensures your personalized analytics dashboard feels native to your product.

  • Workflow Automation: Beyond visualization, Qrvey includes a workflow builder that lets your customers automate actions based on data insights. They can set up alerts, trigger notifications, or even execute business processes when certain conditions are met. 

This transforms analytics from a passive reporting tool into an active business driver.

Pricing

Qrvey pricing model focuses on value delivered rather than seats used, which aligns with how SaaS companies actually generate revenue from their analytics features.

PlanFeaturesPrice
Qrvey ProSelf-service embedded analytics, pixel-perfect reporting, AI-driven insights, no-code workflow automation, semantic layer, multi-tenant securityContact for quote
Qrvey UltraEverything in Pro plus data transformation layer and built-in data engine for full-stack analyticsContact for quote

Where Qrvey Shines

  • Speed to Market: Unlike building analytics in-house, Qrvey can be deployed in weeks rather than months. You get pre-built data connectors, visualization components, and user management features that would take your team significant time to develop. 

This approach can be “10x faster than building an analytics layer in house.”

  • Customer Satisfaction: When your customers can build their own dashboards and reports, support tickets drop dramatically. 

“We can’t speak highly enough of the stellar team at Qrvey. Within months of deploying Qrvey, JobNimbus achieved 70% adoption among large enterprise users,” says Ryan Quackenbush, Senior PM at JobNimbus.  

  • Developer Experience: The platform offers JavaScript widgets instead of iframes, giving your team more control over the user experience. 

API integration is straightforward, and the webhook system ensures real-time data synchronization. The embedded cloud-native analytics platform is built specifically for modern development workflows.

Where Qrvey Falls Short

  • Learning Curve: While the no-code interface is intuitive, power users who are comfortable with SQL might find the abstraction limiting for complex data transformations. 

Customer Reviews

“Qrvey allowed Impexium to go to market quickly and get analytics into the hands of our customers.” – Dadou Jahanbani, Chief Technology Officer, Impexium

“Adding Qrvey to our business was like turning on a light switch.” – Herman Haynes, Chief Information Officer, Global K9 Protection Group

Who Qrvey Is Best For

  • SaaS Product Managers: Teams tired of endless feature requests for better analytics who want to give customers self-service capabilities
  • Engineering Leaders: Organizations that need embedded analytics but don’t want to build and maintain data pipeline infrastructure

Building analytics in-house can turn analytics into a cost center – Explore Qrvey’s interactive demos to transform your product experience in minutes

Amazon QuickSight

Amazon QuickSight offers a cloud-native Business Intelligence platform that leverages AWS’s infrastructure to provide serverless analytics with machine learning capabilities built-in.

QuickSight excels when your organization already uses AWS services. The platform connects seamlessly to S3, Redshift, and Athena, eliminating the need for complex data integration processes. Its SPICE in-memory engine delivers fast query performance, while the Q feature provides AI-powered natural language querying.

Key Features

  • AWS Integration: Native connections to AWS data sources mean you can start analyzing data stored in S3 buckets or Redshift warehouses without additional ETL processes.
  • Machine Learning Insights: Built-in ML algorithms automatically detect anomalies, forecast trends, and suggest insights without requiring data science expertise.
  • Pay-Per-Session Model: Unlike traditional BI tools with fixed licensing, QuickSight charges based on actual usage, making it cost-effective for organizations with variable analytics needs.

Pricing

PlanFeaturesPrice (licensing cost not included)
ReaderView dashboards and reports$3/user/month
AuthorCreate dashboards, data prep$24/user/month
Reader ProEnhanced self-service capabilities$20/user/month

Where QuickSight Shines

  • Cost Efficiency: The pay-per-session model can significantly reduce costs for organizations with mixed user bases where not everyone needs daily analytics access.
  • Scalability: Serverless architecture means you don’t need to manage infrastructure or worry about performance during peak usage periods.

Where QuickSight Falls Short

  • Limited Customization: Compared to Qrvey, QuickSight offers fewer visualization options and formatting capabilities.
  • Learning Curve: Non-technical users often struggle with the interface, which assumes familiarity with AWS concepts and data modeling.

Customer Reviews

“Implementation is straightforward if you’re already using AWS, but not as beginner-friendly for those outside that environment. I’ve found customer support to be decent but not always quick with technical queries.” – G2 verified user

Who QuickSight Is Best For

  • AWS-Heavy Organizations: Companies already invested in AWS infrastructure looking for integrated analytics

Sisense

Sisense positions itself as an AI-powered embedded analytics platform that combines data modeling flexibility with customer-facing dashboard integration. The platform’s ElastiCube technology allows for both in-memory processing and live connections to cloud data warehouses.

The platform provides APIs and SDKs that let you integrate dashboards directly into your product, though with a different approach to data management than Qrvey’s solution.

Key Features

  • ElastiCube Technology: In-memory data processing combined with live query capabilities provides flexible performance optimization based on your data size and query patterns.
  • Data Warehouse Integration: Native connections to Snowflake, BigQuery, and other cloud data warehouses with optimized query performance.

Pricing

Sisense uses custom pricing based on data volume, user count, and integration requirements. The platform typically targets mid-to-large enterprises with significant analytics needs.

PlanFeaturesPrice
CustomEmbedded dashboards, API access, data modelingContact for pricing

Where Sisense Shines

  • Embedded Excellence: Strong API capabilities and SDK support make it easier to integrate analytics into customer-facing applications compared to traditional BI tools.
  • Data Modeling: Flexible approach to data preparation allows teams to optimize for both performance and user experience.

Where Sisense Falls Short

  • JavaScript Complexity: Advanced customizations require significant JavaScript knowledge, making it challenging for teams without frontend development expertise.
  • Hidden Costs: Additional fees for plugins, data connectors, and AI features can quickly increase the total cost of ownership.

Customer Reviews

“Since moving to the cloud most of the features that were a problem on-prem are no longer a problem.” – G2 verified user

Who Sisense Is Best For

  • Enterprise SaaS Companies: Organizations with embedded analytics requirements and technical resources to handle customization
  • Data-Heavy Applications: Businesses needing flexible data modeling with both real-time and batch processing capabilities

ThoughtSpot

Rather than relying on static dashboards, ThoughtSpot lets users explore data by asking plain-language questions. Its AI assistant, Spotter, automates much of the analysis, surfacing insights in real time. 

This approach makes ThoughtSpot especially useful for teams that want flexibility and speed without the complexity of building and maintaining dashboards.

Key Features

  • Search-Based Analytics: Natural language processing allows business users to query data without learning SQL or dashboard design principles.
  • AI Agents: Spotter and other AI assistants can automatically identify trends, anomalies, and insights without human intervention.

Pricing

PlanFeaturesPrice (licensing cost not included)
EssentialsBasic search and visualization$25/user/month 
ProAdvanced analytics and collaboration$50/user/month
EnterpriseAI agents and embedded capabilitiesCustom pricing

Where ThoughtSpot Shines

  • User Accessibility: The natural language interface democratizes data access for non-technical business users who struggle with traditional BI interfaces.
  • Speed to Insight: Users can get answers immediately without waiting for dashboard development or report creation.

Where ThoughtSpot Falls Short

  • Advanced Analytics: Complex statistical analysis and machine learning workflows require additional setup and expertise.
  • Transition Challenges: Teams used to Tableau-style dashboard design might find the search-based approach limiting for certain use cases.

Customer Reviews

“ThoughtSpot has significantly improved its mobile experience by bringing in real-time updates and campaign tracking while I’m away from desk.” – G2 verified user

Who ThoughtSpot Is Best For

  • Question-Driven Culture: Companies where ad-hoc data exploration is more valuable than fixed dashboard reporting

Reasons to Consider an Alternative to Tableau

What’s the real cost of sticking with Tableau? There’s the time your devs spend on workarounds and the opportunities lost from poor user adoption. With leaner teams and faster release cycles, SaaS companies can’t afford a tool that slows them down. 

Here’s why many are actively exploring better-suited Tableau alternatives.

Complex Licensing Creates User Barriers

Tableau’s licensing model requires individual licenses for dashboard viewers, creating friction in user adoption. When your customers hit a paywall just to view their own data, it damages the customer experience and creates support headaches.

Qrvey’s approach embeds analytics directly into your application with unlimited viewer access built into the platform cost, removing the licensing friction that hurts customer satisfaction.

Limited Embedding Capabilities

Tableau’s embedded options often feel disconnected from your application’s user interface. The iframes and security requirements create a jarring experience that breaks the flow of your product.

Qrvey solves this with white-label embedding that matches your application’s design system perfectly. 

The JavaScript widgets integrate seamlessly, and your customers never realize they’re using a third-party analytics solution.

Development Resource Drain

Building analytics features in-house requires specialized data engineering expertise that most product teams lack. Some users note that Tableau embedding still requires significant development work to create a cohesive user experience.

Following the principle that you should “start with best practices but sit down and ask yourself why it is a best practice,” many teams discover that building analytics isn’t their core competency. 

Qrvey provides pre-built components and APIs that reduce development time by months.

Poor Multi-Tenant Architecture

Tableau wasn’t designed for multi-tenant SaaS environments where you need to isolate data between different customers while maintaining performance and security. Managing tenant permissions and data access becomes a complex engineering challenge.

As Jonathan Crawford notes: “The more data you’re flaming around and manipulating, the more you’d better be sensitive to performance.” 

Qrvey’s multi-tenant data lake handles tenant isolation automatically while providing the flexibility to share analytics components and templates across customers safely.

But these architectural challenges are just the tip of the iceberg. Most SaaS teams make critical mistakes early in their analytics journey that cost months of development time and thousands in rework. The most expensive being choosing the wrong embedding approach and having to rebuild everything six months later.

Download our free guide to learn the proven strategies successful SaaS companies use to avoid the pitfalls that derail analytics projects.

Choose Qrvey as Your Tableau Alternative For Reporting

Analytics has evolved beyond traditional BI tools that require extensive training and expensive licensing.  And Qrvey represents this future of SaaS analytics where customers build their own dashboards and your support team handles fewer tickets.

Demo Qrvey today to start driving customer satisfaction and revenue growth with embedded analytics

Want to build a business case for embedded analytics? While most teams focus on the technical benefits, the financial impact is often the deciding factor for leadership. 

Download our FREE Embedded Analytics ROI guide to access the complete financial analysis of how analytics transforms from cost center to profit driver.

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