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12 Best Columns Alternatives in 2026, Free Options Included

Explore 12 alternatives to Columns, vetted by our editors with real user reviews, pricing, and feature comparisons.

Best free Columns alternatives: a side-by-side view

Quick answer

If you only check three Columns alternatives, make them OWOX BI, TIBCO Spotfire and Trevor.io. OWOX BI leads with a SpotScore of 9.2 and a 4.9★ rating. See how all 12 compare on score, rating, and price below.

Switching away from Columns is easier when you know which tools actually deliver. These 12 business intelligence software free alternatives earned their spots on SpotScore (verified user satisfaction plus market presence), star ratings, and pricing. Our editors vet each one. The table gives you the quick comparison; the sections below give you the why.

ProductSpotScoreRatingPricingBest for
OWOX BIUnleash the power of your data.9.2★★★★★ 4.9(252)Freefrom $42/moteams of all sizes
TIBCO SpotfireEmpower your business decisions with visual data insights.9.2★★★★★ 4.58(34)Freefrom $20.83/moteams of all sizes
Trevor.ioMeasure your success, every minute.8.6★★★★★ 4.93(7)Freefrom $299/moteams of all sizes
SecodaStreamline data discovery and optimization.8.5★★★★★ 4.62(35)Freefrom $99/moteams of all sizes
KatoMaximize your data potential with Kato.8.1★★★☆☆ 2.5(5)Freefrom $69/momid-size & enterprise teams
JethroUnleash the full potential of Big Data.8★★★★★ 5(1)FreeFree Trial · Quotation Basedteams of all sizes
Microsoft Power BIEmpower your business with real-time data insights9.8★★★★☆ 4.45(151)FreeFree Trial · Subscriptionteams of all sizes
SisenseUnleash the power of your data.9.5★★★★☆ 4.45(449)FreeFree Trial · Quotation Basedteams of all sizes
HightouchReverse ETL platform syncing warehouse data to 200+ business tools9.4★★★★★ 4.7FreeFreemium · Usage-Based · Contact Salesmid-size & enterprise teams
LookerExplore, analyze, and share data with ease.9.4★★★★★ 4.53(647)FreeFree Trial · Quotation Basedteams of all sizes
DOMOData-driven decisions made simple.9.4★★★★☆ 4.39(211)FreeFree Trial · Quotation Basedteams of all sizes
Appflow.aiMaximize Subscription Growth and Insights.—★★★★☆ 4.47(17)Freefrom $3.88/moteams of all sizes

9.2

SpotScore

OWOX BI - Business Intelligence Software

OWOX BI

Unleash the power of your data.

Best for: SMB teams · Mid-market · Enterprise

Start Free Trial

Add to compare

What is OWOX BI?

Owox BI software is a powerful tool that offers the capability to analyze your company data and put results into action. An online analytical platform for business intelligence, financial reporting and performance monitoring, Owox BI enables to answer critical questions in a convenient way: ...

Read more about OWOX BI
Free Trial·

OWOX BI offers custom pricing plan

9.2

SpotScore

TIBCO Spotfire - Business Intelligence Software

TIBCO Spotfire

Empower your business decisions with visual data insights.

Best for: SMB teams · Mid-market · Enterprise

Start Free Trial

Add to compare

What is TIBCO Spotfire?

With TIBCO Spotfire, discover the power of data visualization— turning thousands of rows into visual insights that enable business to make better decisions faster. Spotfire helps user get answers to complex business questions with easy-to-use charts and graphs, dashboards, maps and reports— all ...

Read more about TIBCO Spotfire
Free Trial·

TIBCO Spotfire offers custom pricing plan

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Reach in-market buyersRank above rivals2M+ buyers a year

8.6

SpotScore

Trevor.io - Business Intelligence Software

Trevor.io

Measure your success, every minute.

Best for: SMB teams · Mid-market · Enterprise

Start Free Trial

Add to compare

What is Trevor.io?

Trevor.io is a way to track important statistics and measure how business is doing. Its powerful metrics dashboard let's business know how they doing every week, day, and hour of the year. It's easy to set up and offers a wide range of integration possibilities, letting anyone in thr company ...

Read more about Trevor.io
Free Trial·

Trevor.io offers custom pricing plan

8.5

SpotScore

Secoda - Business Intelligence Software

Secoda

Streamline data discovery and optimization.

Best for: SMB teams · Mid-market · Enterprise

Start Free Trial

Add to compare

What is Secoda?

Secoda is an innovative data discovery tool that enables organisations to quickly access the correct data in real-time, increasing efficiency across numerous data teams at more than 100 companies. Secoda helps teams onboard, enhance data performance, document knowledge, and identify the cause ...

Read more about Secoda
Free Trial·

Secoda offers custom pricing plan

8.1

SpotScore

Kato - Business Intelligence Software

Kato

Maximize your data potential with Kato.

Best for: Mid-market · Enterprise

Start Free Trial

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What is Kato?

Kato business intelligence software delivers on its promise of visualization, focused reporting and actionable insights by combining smart technologies and a natural user experience in a new way. It becomes the digital nervous system of an organization that can learn, adapt and respond to ...

Read more about Kato
Free Trial

8.0

SpotScore

Jethro - Business Intelligence Software

Jethro

Unleash the full potential of Big Data.

Best for: SMB teams · Mid-market · Enterprise

Start Free Trial

Add to compare

What is Jethro?

Jethro is the perfect choice for Business Intelligence users working with Big Data. It allows users to run incredibly fast, up to 100x faster, SQL queries on Hadoop with billions of records and thousands of concurrent users, thanks to its SQL Acceleration Engine. Seamless integration with BI ...

Read more about Jethro
Free Trial·

Jethro offers custom pricing plan

9.8

SpotScore

Microsoft Power BI - Business Intelligence Software

Microsoft Power BI

Empower your business with real-time data insights

Best for: SMB teams · Mid-market · Enterprise

Start Free Trial

Add to compare

What is Microsoft Power BI?

Power BI is a suite of analytics tools that works across a variety of devices. Power BI gives business users access to real-time data from systems, from spreadsheets and databases to SaaS applications. Power BI can live on a desktop, tablet, or even in browser. It can gather data into ...

Read more about Microsoft Power BI
Free Trial·

Starts from $9.99/User/Month

9.5

SpotScore

Sisense - Business Intelligence Software

Sisense

Unleash the power of your data.

Best for: SMB teams · Mid-market · Enterprise

Start Free Trial

Add to compare

What is Sisense?

Sisense offers easy to use Business Intelligence software that provides advanced analytics and real-time reporting dashboards transforming data into meaningful information. Sisense's high performance BI software includes all the business intelligence essentials: multi-dimensional slicing and ...

Read more about Sisense
Free Trial·

Sisense offers custom pricing plan

9.4

SpotScore

Hightouch logo

Hightouch

Reverse ETL platform syncing warehouse data to 200+ business tools

Try for Free

4.7

Add to compare

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What is Hightouch?

Hightouch is the leading Reverse ETL platform that syncs data from warehouses (BigQuery, Snowflake, Redshift, Databricks) into business tools like Salesforce, HubSpot, Marketo, and 200+ destinations. It enables data teams to activate the customer data sitting in their warehouse for marketing ...

Read more about Hightouch

Starts from Freefree, also offers free forever plan

9.4

SpotScore

Looker - Business Intelligence Software

Looker

Explore, analyze, and share data with ease.

Best for: SMB teams · Mid-market · Enterprise

Start Free Trial

Add to compare

What is Looker?

Looker is a business intelligence platform that combines the power of SQL with a new user experience to deliver data that users can interact with, explore and understand. Looker's business analytics software helps companies bring clarity and actionable insights to their data. Through an ...

Read more about Looker
Free Trial·

Looker offers custom pricing plan

9.4

SpotScore

DOMO - Business Intelligence Software

DOMO

Data-driven decisions made simple.

Best for: SMB teams · Mid-market · Enterprise

Start Free Trial

Add to compare

What is DOMO?

DOMO is a business intelligence software solution for organisations that need data in order to make decisions, DOMO gives all the information needed whether looking at sales, service or manufacturing data, DOMO can provide answers and support clear decision-making. By connecting all of the ...

Read more about DOMO
Free Trial·

DOMO offers custom pricing plan

Appflow.ai - Subscription Analytics Software

Appflow.ai

Maximize Subscription Growth and Insights.

Best for: SMB teams · Mid-market · Enterprise

Start Free Trial

Add to compare

What is Appflow.ai?

Appflow.ai is a powerful In-app Subscription Analytics Tool that helps you to manage iOS & Android in-app subscriptions, paywall A/B testing, and push notifications in the same place. Using our innovative platform you can unlock valuable insights by segmenting and comparing subscriber data and ...

Read more about Appflow.ai
Free TrialTry Free →·

Appflow.ai offers custom pricing plan

The main Columns competitors

Columns competes with 12 other business intelligence software tools tracked on Spotsaas. The closest by feature overlap are OWOX BI, TIBCO Spotfire and Trevor.io. Each is compared against Columns on rating, pricing and feature coverage below.

Sites and apps like Columns

Searches for "sites like Columns" and "apps like Columns" land on the same set of options as "Columns alternatives" — the 12 options below cover both, whether you want a like-for-like replacement or something lighter.

What makes each Columns alternative worth considering

OWOX BI9.2Best for teams of all sizes

User-friendly interface and fast, multilanguage support team facilitate ease of use.

Watch for: Newcomers may find the platform's richness of features and customizations complex without adequate support.

TIBCO Spotfire9.2Best for teams of all sizes

Spotfire offers best visualizations for dashboards and it's easy to use.

Watch for: Newcomers may find the richness of features and customizations complex without adequate support.

Trevor.io8.6Best for teams of all sizes

Metrics tracking

Watch for: Limited advanced analytics

Secoda8.5Best for teams of all sizes

Innovative data discovery

Watch for: Limited to data discovery

Kato8.1Best for mid-size & enterprise teams

Smart technology integration

Watch for: May require training

Jethro8Best for teams of all sizes

Fast SQL queries

Watch for: Requires Hadoop knowledge

Microsoft Power BI9.8Best for teams of all sizes

Wide range of pricing models, offering flexibility for different budgets.

Watch for: Desktop version can feel clunky and may have bugs that need addressing.

Sisense9.5Best for teams of all sizes

Great tool for analyzing bigger datasets with a nice UI and good visualizations.

Watch for: Lacking certain visualizations and apps, especially for iOS.

Hightouch9.4Best for mid-size & enterprise teams

Largest destination library in Reverse ETL — 200+ native connectors cover the full martech and sales stack without requiring custom code.

Watch for: Pricing is opaque — Starter and Professional tiers are usage-based without published rates, making total cost difficult to estimate without a sales conversation.

Looker9.4Best for teams of all sizes

User-friendly interface, making data exploration and analysis easy.

Watch for: Loading time can be slow for large datasets, impacting user experience.

DOMO9.4Best for teams of all sizes

Data visualization simplifies complex data for easy insights.

Watch for: Features and customizations may be complex for newcomers without sufficient support.

Appflow.aiBest for teams of all sizes

Appflow.ai automates tasks, saving time and streamlining app development.

Watch for: Pricing can be perceived as high in the industry.

Why teams look for a Columns alternative

A few recurring complaints tend to drive the move off Columns:

  • Limited analytics features
  • May lack advanced project management tools
  • Not suitable for large teams

The buyer's checklist for a Columns alternative

Stacked against each other, the 12 free alternatives compare this way: 12 offer a free tier; paid plans run $3.88–$299, with Appflow.ai the cheapest entry point; and Jethro is the highest rated at 5★ across 1 reviews.

How we sort these tools.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Stuck on something? We're here to help with all the questions and answers in one place.

The top-rated alternatives to Columns are Jethro (5.0★), Trevor.io (4.9★), OWOX BI (4.9★). Compare all 12 alternatives side-by-side above.

When evaluating alternatives to Columns, prioritize: Key Performance Indicators, Data Analysis, transparent pricing, free trial availability, and integrations with your existing tools. Use the filters above to compare by feature, budget, and team size.

Columns starts from $75 /year. Many alternatives offer similar functionality at different price points — some with free tiers, others with more flexible per-seat pricing. Use the filters above to narrow by budget.

Migration difficulty depends on how deeply Columns is integrated into your workflows. Most alternatives offer data export/import tools and dedicated onboarding support. We recommend narrowing to 2–3 options, running a free trial, and checking each vendor's migration guides before committing.

How to find your ideal Columns alternative

  • On a budget / just exploring: start with a free tier — OWOX BI, TIBCO Spotfire and Trevor.io let you evaluate without paying upfront.
  • If real-user ratings matter most: Jethro has the strongest star rating (5★) among the options with verified reviews.
  • Want the safest pick: OWOX BI has the highest Spotsaas Score (9.2) in this list — a strong default if you're unsure.

Moving your team off Columns

Easing off Columns works best when you test before you commit. Export your data, confirm the new tool reads it, and verify your essential features. Pilot the change with a free trial, then roll out fully, keeping Columns as a fallback until migration ends.

Disclaimer: This research has been collated from a variety of authoritative sources. We welcome your feedback at [email protected].