Business Intelligence · alternatives
Alternatives to Hex
22 business intelligence tools sit alongside Hex in this directory. Below is what separates each from Hex on the figures we hold, price, model, tier count and rating, and a direct comparison for every one.
- Alternatives listed
- 22
- With a free tier
- 6
- Cheaper to start
- 4
- Hex starts at
- Free, then $36/month
Why people look past Hex
Only what the record supports. Each point below is a figure on the Hex entry measured against the tools listed beside it.
Cost climbs steeply across the tiers
Hex publishes 4 tiers, from Free up to On request. Teams that outgrow the entry plan can find the next rung a large step, the Hex pricing page breaks each one down.
What each alternative does differently
Ordered by the aggregated rating on each catalogue entry. Differences are drawn from price, pricing model, tier count and rating, the fields the category listing carries. For a feature-level difference, follow the head-to-head link on each card: those pages read both full records.
Modern business intelligence platform by Google
- No free tier, where Hex has one.
Visual analytics platform for business intelligence
- No free tier, where Hex has one.
- Starts $34 a month dearer, at $70/month.
- Sold on a subscription model rather than Seat-based subscription with credit system.
- 3 tiers to Hex's 4.
Unified analytics platform for data engineering and data science
- Starts $36 a month cheaper, at Free.
- Sold on a usage-based model rather than Seat-based subscription with credit system.
- 2 tiers to Hex's 4.
AI notebooks combining SQL, Python and no-code for small data teams
- Starts $3 a month dearer, at $39/month.
- Sold on a Per user per month model rather than Seat-based subscription with credit system.
IBCS-based charting add-ins that replace native visuals in Power BI, Excel and PowerPoint
- Starts $14 a month dearer, at $50/month.
- Sold on a Per year by licensed user count model rather than Seat-based subscription with credit system.
- 5 tiers to Hex's 4.
Cookieless web analytics that also reports the carbon footprint of your website
- Starts $22 a month cheaper, at $14/month.
- Sold on a Per month by pageview volume model rather than Seat-based subscription with credit system.
- 3 tiers to Hex's 4.
Every Hex alternative at a glance
A dash means the catalogue entry carries no figure, not that the answer is nothing.
| Tool | Entry price | Model | Tiers | Head to head |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hex (this page) | Free, then $36/month | Seat-based subscription with credit system | 4 | |
| LookerEnterprise BI platform with more comprehensive governance but less focus on exploratory analysis | On request | - | - | vs Hex |
| TableauEstablished visualization and BI platform but requires separate SQL environments for analysis | $70/month | Subscription | 3 | vs Hex |
| DatabricksUnified analytics workspace but less focused on business user self-serve | Free | Usage-based | 2 | vs Hex |
| Fabi | Free, then $39/month | Per user per month | 4 | vs Hex |
| Zebra BI | Free, then $50/month | Per year by licensed user count | 5 | vs Hex |
| Cabin | Free, then $14/month | Per month by pageview volume | 3 | vs Hex |
| Deepnote | Free, then $39/month | Subscription with free tier | 3 | vs Hex |
| Cube | Free, then $40/developer/month | Per-developer seats with volume pricing | 4 | vs Hex |
| Luzmo | €995/month | Per month by monthly active user count | 3 | vs Hex |
| DashThis | $44/month | Per month by dashboard count | 4 | vs Hex |
| Jedox | On request | Quote | 1 | vs Hex |
| Pigment | On request | Quote | 1 | vs Hex |
| Board International | On request | Quote | 1 | vs Hex |
| Phocas | On request | Quote | 1 | vs Hex |
| Snowplow | On request | Quote | 1 | vs Hex |
| Anaplan | On request | Quote | 1 | vs Hex |
| Rill Data | $20/month | Per user per month plus metered compute | 3 | vs Hex |
| Quid | On request | Quote | 1 | vs Hex |
| Reportz | $9.9/month | Per month by dashboard count | 3 | vs Hex |
| NetBase Quid | On request | Quote | 1 | vs Hex |
| Zenlytic | On request | Quote | 1 | vs Hex |
| Evidence | $2500/month | Flat team pricing with no per-user fees | 2 | vs Hex |
Ratings are aggregated from third-party sources and imported with each catalogue entry; Softwr hosts no reviews of these products. How each figure is used is set out on the Hex badges page.
Cheaper ways to solve the same problem
Cheaper than Hex (4)
Entry price under Hex's $36/month. The record does not say what unit that price is charged in, so confirm per-seat versus flat rate before comparing budgets.
- Databricks , Free
- Cabin , Free, then $14/month
- Rill Data , $20/month
- Reportz , $9.9/month
What you would be giving up
Hex is most often brought in for deep exploratory analysis by data teams on organizational datasets, self-serve analytics for business users without sql knowledge, executive dashboarding and reporting with real-time data, cross-functional data collaboration and insight sharing, ai-assisted analysis reducing manual exploration time. Anything replacing it has to cover the ones you actually depend on, and a cheaper tool that misses one of them is not cheaper.
Two things this page cannot settle. It compares on price, model, tier count and rating, because those are the fields the category listing carries, feature-level differences need both full records, which is what the head-to-head pages load. And the ratings are third-party aggregates imported with each entry rather than reviews written here, so a 0.2 difference between two tools is noise rather than a finding.
If Hex is broadly right and the question is cost, the Hex pricing breakdown covers every tier and what each one adds. If you want the whole field rather than a shortlist, the Business Intelligence category lists everything the directory holds, and best business intelligence tools ranks them.
Hex runs on web, slack. Platform coverage is not carried on the category listing for the alternatives, so it is one more thing to check on each head-to-head page rather than here.
Questions about Hex alternatives
- What are the main alternatives to Hex?
- 22 other business intelligence tools are listed in this directory, led by Looker, Tableau, Databricks, Fabi. They are ordered by the aggregated rating on each catalogue entry, not by any Softwr ranking.
- What is the best free alternative to Hex?
- 6 of the alternatives listed here can be used without paying: Databricks, Fabi, Zebra BI, Cabin, Deepnote.
- Is there a cheaper alternative to Hex?
- Yes. 4 of the alternatives below start under Hex's $36/month: Databricks at Free, Cabin at Free, then $14/month, Rill Data at $20/month, Reportz at $9.9/month.
- Why do people look for an alternative to Hex?
- On the figures on record, one thing stands out: cost climbs steeply across the tiers. Each is set out with the numbers behind it above.
- What would I give up by switching from Hex?
- Hex is most often brought in for deep exploratory analysis by data teams on organizational datasets, self-serve analytics for business users without sql knowledge, executive dashboarding and reporting with real-time data, cross-functional data collaboration and insight sharing, ai-assisted analysis reducing manual exploration time. Anything you replace it with has to cover the ones you actually rely on, the side-by-side comparisons linked from each alternative below put the two feature records against each other.
- Is there an open-source alternative to Hex?
- None of the business intelligence tools listed here are recorded as open source. That is what the licence field on each entry says, and the field is not always filled in, so it is worth checking directly for any tool you are serious about.
- How were these Hex alternatives chosen?
- They are the tools filed in the same category, Business Intelligence, ordered by the aggregated rating on each entry. There is no editorial shortlist, and nothing on this page is paid: no sponsored placement runs on alternatives pages and the order cannot be bought. Softwr has not used these products.
- Where can I compare Hex against one of these directly?
- Every alternative below has a side-by-side page against Hex covering price, platforms, features and what each one is used for. Those pages read the full record for both products rather than the summary shown here.
- Does this list cover every business intelligence tool?
- No. It covers what this directory holds in the Business Intelligence category, 22 tools beside Hex. The category page lists the rest of the catalogue as it grows.