Top 5 Qlik Competitors and Alternatives We Tested in 2025

Trying to use Qlik for a simple dashboard?

It’s powerful, no doubt.

But unless you’ve got a full data team, it’s more work than it should be.

Qlik is built for deep analytics, which connects complex data, custom dashboards, etc.

Great for enterprises. Not always great for fast-moving teams.

That’s why I tested five real Qlik competitors — built dashboards, embedded them, and compared what actually worked.

What You’ll Find in This Guide

We tested 5 Qlik alternatives — built dashboards, tried embedding, and compared them side by side.

Here’s what you’ll get:

• Tools that are faster and easier to use than Qlik
  
  

• Picks for SaaS teams, analysts, product managers, and execs
  
  

• Honest insights from real testing — not just feature lists

Let’s find the one that fits your team — and doesn’t need a manual.

Why You Might Be Looking for Qlik Alternatives in 2025

Qlik has been a go-to BI tool for years. But if you're reading this, chances are you're hitting some limits — or just curious if there's something better out there.

You're not alone. Many teams in 2025 are starting to rethink their setup.

Here’s why:

Qlik feels like too hard for simple tasks.

Even basic dashboards can take time and help from a data person. If you just want to see numbers fast, it can slow you down.

Read the full user review

Costs go up as your team grows.

It’s hard to know what you’ll pay. And once more people start using it, your bill gets bigger quickly.

Read the full user review 

Not easy for non-data teams.

If you work in product, sales, or support, Qlik can feel confusing. It’s not built for people who just want quick answers.

Doesn’t play well with other tools.

Want to connect Google Sheets or plug a chart into your app? With Qlik, it usually takes extra setup or coding.

Takes time to get started.

You can’t just sign in and build a dashboard. There’s setup, training, and often a long learning curve.

Read the full user review

So, Why Look at Qlik Competitors?

Because the BI market has changed. A lot.

In 2025, there are modern Qlik alternatives that:

• Are easier to use — even if you’re not technical.
  
  

• Offer flexible pricing (some even have free tiers).
  
  

• Focus on embedded analytics, real-time dashboards, and faster setup.
  
  

• Work seamlessly with tools you're already using (like Google Sheets, CRMs, or cloud data warehouses).

Comparing Qlik competitors doesn’t mean Qlik is bad.

It just means you're being smart — making sure you're using the best tool  for how your business runs today.

Ready to see what we tested? Let’s break down the top Qlik alternatives that actually deliver in 2025.

The 5 Qlik Competitors We Tested in 2025

We didn’t just list random tools from the internet.

Over the last few weeks, we actually used these tools — imported sample datasets, built dashboards, tested embedding options, and explored what works and what doesn’t.

Some Qlik competitors looked great on paper but struggled when it came to real usage.

These five stood out — for setup speed, flexibility, ease of use, and pricing that makes sense in 2025.

🔍 Quick Comparison Table: Qlik vs Top 5 Competitors

Now let’s break down each tool and how it compares to Qlik, based on real testing, not just feature lists.

1. Upsolve AI vs Qlik: Best Qlik Competitor for Embedded Dashboards (No Dev Help Needed)

Let’s start with a quick side-by-side comparison:

This was the only tool that made me go — “Wait, that’s it?”

Upsolve AI is a no-code embedded analytics tool that lets you build and share dashboards without developers.

It’s built for fast-moving teams that want real-time, user-facing insights inside their apps.

With Upsolve AI, I signed up, connected a sample SaaS database (users, MRR, churn), built a dashboard, and embedded it into a mock app — all within 30 minutes.

No code. No dev team. No delays.

Try that with Qlik and you’ll be stuck in setup mode for days.

✅ Why We Feel Upsolve AI Is Easier Than Qlik

• Setup takes less than 30 minutes — Qlik took hours
  
  

• Build a live dashboard in under 30 minutes — without touching code
  
  

• No developers needed — I created and embedded it myself
  
  

• Dashboards looked clean and branded out of the box
  

• Real-time updates — no lag, no refresh clicks
  
  

• Flat pricing — no per-user surprises, great for SaaS teams

Read the full review on Product Hunt

🚫 What Qlik Still Does Better

• Not made for deep enterprise-level data modeling
  

• Still growing its advanced backend features, but more than enough for fast-moving teams

But if you’re a growing SaaS team, Qlik often feels like using a forklift when you just need a hand truck.

What Felt Different

With Upsolve, analytics don’t feel like an internal tool.

It feels like part of our product — something users could see, interact with, and get value from.

And it doesn’t require weeks of dev time to pull off.

My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4.8/5)

My Honest Take

If you’re running a SaaS product and want to offer customer-facing analytics dashboards fast, without building a whole BI infrastructure —

Upsolve AI is the most practical and efficient Qlik competitor I’ve used.

It’s perfect for:

• ✅ Startups that move fast
  
  

• ✅ Product teams without full-time data engineers
  
  

• ✅ Anyone who wants analytics that just works

2. Power BI vs Qlik: Best Qlik Competitor for Teams Using Microsoft Tools

Here’s how it compares at a glance:

Power BI is probably the easiest Qlik competitor to pick if your team is already using Excel, Outlook, or Teams.

We tested it by uploading a basic Excel file with sales and lead data. 

Within the hour, we had a working dashboard — with filters, slicers, and auto-refresh — all without needing any training.

Everything felt familiar. It’s basically Excel’s smarter, better-looking cousin.

✅ Where We Feel Power BI Was Easier Than Qlik

• Uploaded an Excel file → dashboard done in 1 hour
  

• Integrated perfectly with Microsoft Teams and OneDrive
  
  

• Easy to share reports — no need for external tools

Read the full user review

• Starts at just $10/user/month — great for small teams

🚫 Where it struggled

• Gets messy with complex, multi-source datasets

Read the full user review

• Lacks advanced scripting and data logic features
  
  

• Embedding needs dev time — not ideal for fast product teams

What Felt Different

With Power BI, we didn’t feel like we were “adopting” a new tool.

It just blended in with how we already worked.

A sales manager built their own BI dashboard and shared it in Teams in under 2 hours.

No BI team involved. That kind of self-service is hard to pull off in Qlik without support.

My rating: Overall Rating⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4.0/5)

My Honest Take

If your team already uses Microsoft tools, Power BI is the most obvious Qlik alternative — no migration headache, no steep learning curve, and much cheaper.

It’s perfect for:

• ✅ Teams who live in Excel and want better visuals
  
  

• ✅ Sales or operations teams who want easy reporting
  
  

• ✅ Anyone looking for a simple, budget-friendly Qlik competitor that just plugs into what they already use
  
  

3. ThoughtSpot vs Qlik: Best for Search-Driven, AI-Powered Insights

Here’s how ThoughtSpot stacks up next to Qlik in our testing:

ThoughtSpot flips the BI experience — instead of building charts, you just ask questions and get instant, AI-powered answers.

With ThoughtSpot, we tested a basic sales dataset and simply typed:

“Top regions by revenue this year”

The chart popped up instantly — no filters, no drag-and-drop, no config.

It’s like having a search engine for your data.

That was the biggest difference from Qlik:

Where Qlik wants you to build reports manually, ThoughtSpot just gives you the answer.

✅ Why ThoughtSpot Was Better Than Qlik (For AI + Simplicity)

• Just typed a question like “top-performing regions” — got instant insights
  
  

• No setup, no drag-and-drop — felt like Google for my data
  
  

• AI suggested trends we hadn’t thought of

Read the full user review

• Great for teams who need quick, self-service analytics

🚫 What Was Missing

• Embedding needed a developer, not as smooth as Upsolve
  
  

• Less visual control — can’t tweak charts as much
  
  

• Pricing is custom and not transparent — tricky to estimate

Read the full user review

What Felt Different

ThoughtSpot flips the BI model.

You don’t build dashboards first.

You ask a question, get the answer, and move on.

It made data feel accessible to everyone, not just the analytics team.

We even had a product manager pull up key churn trends without needing help. That’s a win.

My rating: Overall Rating⭐⭐⭐⭐ (3.8/5)

My Honest Take

If your team’s constantly asking, “Can you check the data for this?”

ThoughtSpot will save you hours.

It’s perfect for:

• ✅ Teams that want fast answers, not complex dashboards
  
  

• ✅ Sales or marketing teams who hate waiting on reports
  
  

• ✅ Companies that want AI-powered insights out of the box
  
  

4. Tableau vs Qlik: Best for Beautiful, Client-Ready Dashboards

Let’s start with the side-by-side:

Tableau is all about beautiful, interactive dashboards — perfect if you care about design, storytelling, and polished visuals.

We tested Tableau with a sample customer journey dataset and created a funnel dashboard.

Within 90 minutes, it looked polished enough to present to a C-suite — no design skills needed.

Qlik could do the same, but it would’ve taken twice as long, and wouldn’t look half as clean.

✅ Why Tableau Worked Better Than Qlik (for Visuals)

• Dashboards looked client-ready with zero design work
  

• Huge selection of interactive charts and filters
  

• Best tool we tested for data storytelling

Read the full user review

• Perfect for presentations, client reports, or internal reviews

🚫 Where Qlik Still Has the Edge

• Learning curve — not beginner-friendly at first

• More expensive than Power BI or Upsolve
  
  

• Qlik still wins on backend flexibility and logic

What Felt Different

Tableau made data feel visual-first.

Even before we added filters or formatting, the dashboards already looked presentable.

There’s something nice about that, especially when your audience isn’t technical.

We sent a marketing performance dashboard to a client during the test — their first comment was, “Wow, this looks great.”

That never happens with Qlik unless you spend time customizing everything.

My rating: Overall Rating⭐⭐⭐⭐ (3.6/5)

My Honest Take

If your dashboards are shared with clients, execs, or investors, and you want them to look clean and impressive without extra design work —

Tableau is a better Qlik competitor for visuals and storytelling.

It’s perfect for:

• ✅ Agencies, marketing teams, or customer-facing reports
  
  

• ✅ Teams that want plug-and-play visuals without code
  
  

• ✅ Anyone who wants dashboards that make data look good right away
  
  

5. Sisense vs Qlik: Best Qlik Competitor for Complex, Scalable Analytics

Let’s look at the side-by-side first:

Sisense gives you full control over data and deployment, built for companies that need serious scale and customization.

Sisense was the most technical tool we tested — but also the most powerful under the hood.

We threw a messy mix of sales logs, user behavior data, and event-level records at it.

Once everything was connected and modeled, Sisense handled it like a champ.

Performance was solid, even with larger datasets.

✅ Where Sisense Stood Out Over Qlik

• Handled huge, messy datasets without slowing down

Read the full user review

• Strong API access — great for our dev team
  
  

• Supports hybrid deployments — flexible for enterprise setups
  
  

• Best fit when you need serious scale and control

🚫 Why it is not for everyone

• Longer setup time — definitely not plug-and-play

Read the full user review

• Needs a technical team to manage and customize
  
  

• Overkill if you just want simple dashboards and a fast setup

What Felt Different

Sisense feels more like a data engine than a BI tool.

It’s not the fastest to set up, and it’s definitely not no-code.

But once it’s running, it’s extremely reliable and scalable.

We had a dev connect multiple sources, create custom logic, and build a role-based dashboard experience.

That level of control just isn’t as smooth in Qlik without a lot of workarounds.

My rating: overall Rating ⭐⭐⭐ (3.2/5)

My Honest Take

If your team is technical and working with huge or messy datasets, Sisense is a strong Qlik alternative — especially when scale and backend flexibility matter.

It’s perfect for:

• ✅ Data teams managing large volumes across multiple systems
  
  

• ✅ Product and engineering teams who want deep API control
  
  

• ✅ Enterprises that need robust infrastructure, not just visual dashboards

How To Choose the Right Qlik Competitor for Your Business

After testing all five tools, one thing was clear:

There’s no one-size-fits-all BI solution.

It depends on your team, your data, and how fast you need to move.

So instead of listing features again, here’s how we’d actually think through the decision, based on what we tested.

🔹 1. Do you need embedded dashboards?

• If you're building a SaaS product or internal tool and want to show data to users inside your app,
  → Go with Upsolve AI — fastest and easiest to embed.
  
  

• If you're embedding dashboards but have a dev team to help,
  → ThoughtSpot or Sisense also work, but the setup is heavier.
  
  

🔹 2. How technical is your team?

• No developers? No problem.
  → Upsolve AI and Power BI are the easiest for non-technical users.
  
  
  

• Got a data engineer or technical team?
  → Sisense gives you full control, but expect a longer setup.
  
  

🔹 3. Do you already use Microsoft tools?

• If your team lives in Excel, Teams, or OneDrive,
  → Power BI is the natural fit. It feels like an extension of what you're already doing.
  
  

🔹 4. Do you want quick insights, not just dashboards?

• If your team constantly asks, "Can someone pull this report?"
  → Try ThoughtSpot — just type a question and it gives you the answer. Like Google, but for your data.
  
  

🔹 5. Do you care about visual polish?

• If you share dashboards with clients, execs, or investors,
  → Tableau gives you the best-looking visuals out of the box.
  
  

Quick Cheat Sheet

Conclusion: Quick Recap of the Best Qlik Competitors

• Qlik is powerful, but it’s not always the simplest
  
  

• If your team needs something faster, easier, or more flexible, there are better options

We tested 5 real Qlik alternatives. Here’s what stood out:

• Upsolve AI – Easiest to use, no code, perfect for SaaS teams
  
  

• ThoughtSpot – Type a question, get instant answers
  
  

• Power BI – Feels like Excel, great for Microsoft users
  
  

• Tableau – Best visuals, great for client or exec reports
  
  

• Sisense – Powerful for large datasets, needs a tech team

If you want to build and embed dashboards quickly — without coding, without waiting on devs —
Upsolve AI is worth a try.

You don’t need to rebuild your BI stack.

Sometimes the better choice is just… simpler.

FAQs

1. Is Qlik still worth it in 2025?

It depends. Qlik is powerful, especially for enterprise teams with complex data setups.

But if you want faster setup, easier dashboards, or cleaner embedded analytics, other tools like Upsolve AI or Power BI might be a better fit.

2. Which Qlik competitor is best for startups or SaaS teams?

From what we tested — Upsolve AI.

It’s no-code, quick to embed, and designed for product teams.

You don’t need a BI team to use it.

3. What’s the easiest tool to switch to from Qlik?

Power BI if you already use Microsoft tools like Excel or Teams.

Upsolve AI if you want something that’s faster to set up and focused on embedded dashboards.

4. Can these tools handle embedded dashboards like Qlik?

Yes — but with different approaches.

• Upsolve AI made embedding incredibly easy — no dev time.
  
  

• Sisense and ThoughtSpot offer embedding too, but need technical setup.
  
  

• Power BI and Tableau support it, but it’s more manual.
  
  

5. What’s the most affordable Qlik alternative?

• Power BI starts at just $10/user/month.
  
  

• Upsolve AI offers flat, predictable pricing without surprise fees — great for growing teams.
  Qlik’s pricing can get expensive fast, especially with usage-based models.