Why embed BI reports and how to compare embedded BI
Embedded capabilities of BI tools are an effective way to establish a data-driven culture in your company. Technically this means embedding reports and data visualizations into existing web-based business software used in the company - like intranet portal, CRM, ERP, etc. The main benefits of this approach are:
- usability: users don't need to switch to separate BI applications to get reports/insights.
- relevancy: canned reports are placed in the right locations (steps of business processes) which leads to better BI adoption.
- security: guarantee that users will see only data that they are permitted to access.
- lower BI costs: usually embedded BI pricing don't rely on per-user basis, and less efforts is required on reports integration/modification/upgrades.
This comparison takes into account BI tools features that are important for embedding purposes:
| Feature | Importance | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Application embeds are secure | Critical | Means that embeds cannot be accessed outside your app. All necessary security context (like user's ID) used in report's query is passed in a secure way and cannot be modified by the end user (signed/encrypted). |
| PDF/Excel/CSV exports | Critical | Exports are very important for end users. PDF export should be identical to the report's web view (layout/formatting/colors). Many BI tools don't have Excel export that preserves pivot table's layout, or don't support conditional formatting (cells colors, links). Only few BI tools support export to Excel PivotTable. |
| Live (direct) connections to data sources / filters are applied in-query | Critical | When reports are embedded it is important to display actual data to end users. This is possible only when BI tool works directly with a database (= dataset is not imported and doesn't need to be refreshed). Also this allows to utilize DW (if present) and its OLAP capabilities. Live connection also supposes query-driven filters, when you have some control over DB query generation. |
| Fixed price for unlimited users | Critical | If pricing works only per-user this can make embedded reports very expensive. Most embedded BI solutions offer fixed prices and allow any number of viewers (of embedded visuals). |
| White-labeling / CSS-theming | Critical | When you embed reports / dashboards into your app they should look like a part of your app, not like a foreign thing. CSS-theming means that you may adopt embedded visuals appearance by adding own CSS rules to match your app style. Most likely, you don't want to see BI tool's logo/brand in embeds (this is called white-labeling). |
| On-premise (self-hosted) installation | Important | Embedded visuals are parts of your app, and if they are hosted outside you cannot control their availability. For sensitive data it might be a requirement to keep it in-house, and the only way to satisfy this is usage of on-premise BI tool version that is hosted on your server and managed by your admins. |
| Version control / deployment strategy | Important | Most likely you want to use a standard development flow for embedded reports - like for other (coded) parts of your app. This means that reports are created/changed in a dev environment, then tested on staging/QA env, and then go to production env as a part of app's release. It is a big plus if data models/reports have human-readable text representation and maybe stored under the version control (git), so all changes may are tracked and may be reviewed. |
| Parameters can be hidden in embeds | Important | In this way your app can control what report parameters are available for end users. |
| Advanced pivot tables | Nice to have | Many BI tools offer only basic pivot tables; advanced capabilities usually include an ability to expand/collapse groups, pagination (if the matrix has many rows/columns), table calculations like percentages/diffs/running totals and other things. |
Embedded BI Products Comparison Matrix
| Product | Price | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apache Superset | (free) |
Open source, highly customizable. | Secure embedding via guest user tokens, not simple and obvious as it should be. Many must-have embedding capabilities are not well supported (securing parameters depending on the viewer, SaaS tenants isolation, etc). |
| Looker Studio (former Google Data Studio) |
(free) |
Easy to use with Google data sources (BigQuery, Analytics, Ads, Sheets), interactive features. | Cloud-only. Embedded reports always contain the Google Data Studio watermark (which cannot be removed for any $$$). Viewers needs to have Google Account (and be logged-in) for secure embedding. No Excel exports. No custom visuals. |
| Redash |
(free)
|
Open source, easy to use, SQL-based reports | Redash is simply the wrong tool for embedded analytics. Many must-have capabilities are not supported: no secure embeds, no UI for non-SQL users, no control over filters in embeds, no row-level security. |
| SeekTable |
$
Embedded: starts from $233/mo
|
All must-have features are present, suitable for SaaS apps. Supports 'app view' embedding (a report builder that can be used by end-users in a self-service manner). Advanced web-based pivot tables with exceptionally good Excel/PDF exports (layout/colors/charts) + export to Excel PivotTable (detached snapshot).
Custom visuals (HTML/JS) are supported in dashboards. Supports versioning/automated deployments via XML+JSON backup/restore. |
IT-centric dashboards are configured via HTML template. Only basic chart types, no built-in maps (maps are possible only as custom visuals in dashboards, examples are present). Direct-query (ROLAP) mode only (DW/pre-aggregations may be needed for large datasets). |
| Bold BI |
$$
Starts from $495/mo
|
Developers-oriented BI product, excellent UI widgets that reduces development time and complexity, reasonable price. | Complex to use, more integration efforts in comparing to iFrame-based embedded BI. |
| Metabase |
$$
Embedded starts from $500/mo + $10/user/mo
|
Most must-have features for embedding are present. Both cloud and self-hosted offerings are present. | No PDF exports. No Excel export for pivot tables. No support for code versioning. Reports builder cannot be embedded. Embedding requires "Pro" (per-user pricing) or "Enterprise" plan (starts from $15,000/year). |
| PowerBI Embedded |
$$+
Azure deployments start from $736/mo
|
This is a BI market leader. Huge gallery of visual types. Powerful data models. Enterprise-grade product. | Minimal node (A1) is suitable only for small datasets, so actual spending easily can go to $3k/mo and more. On-prem deployment is rather expensive (PBI Premium = $4990/month). Direct-query mode is not supported for many data sources (like MySql). No colors formatting in Excel exports. Matrixes (pivot tables) have some limitations. No text-based configuration (XML or JSON) that can be stored under version control (PBIX is binary format). |
| Holistics.io |
$$
Entry plan starts from $800/mo
|
Most must-have features for embedding dashboards/reports are present. IT-centric AML data model (model as a code approach). | Cloud-only (no self-hosted version). Custom visuals only via Vega-lite / internal Holistics syntax, custom HTML/JS is not possible. Reports builder cannot be embedded. Pivot tables are basic (no expand/collapse). |
|
Luzmo
former Cumul.io |
$$$
Embedded starts from $1950/mo
|
Easy to use drag-n-drop dashboards builder that also can be embedded for end-users. | Cloud service (no self-hosted version). Lack of data exploration capabilities. |
| Explo |
$$$
Pro with white labeling starts from $2195/mo
|
Dashboards building tool. (???) | Cloud service (no self-hosted version). Lack of data exploration capabilities. |
|
Sigma Computing
Embedded analytics |
$$$
No open pricing, unoffcial info $30k+/year
|
Spreadsheet like interface. It is easy to set up reports, charts and graphs. | Closed pricing. Pivot tables missed many advanced capabilities. |
| icCube embedded analytics |
$$$$
|
MDX-compatible in-memory OLAP engine. Supports incremental data loading. Built-in ETL capabilities. Multidimensional data model can be accessed through Excel. Drag-n-drop dashboards builder with customizable layout. | Approximate indivative pricing: about $4000/month. No direct-query (ROLAP) mode. Web pivot tables widgets doesn't support server-side pagination. Excel exports don't preserve conditional colors formatting. To benefit from the full power of icCube you need MDX knowledge. |
| Sisense |
$$$$
|
All must-have features for embedding are present. Supports both iFRAME and JS SDK embeds. | Rather expensive (no open pricing, 'contact us'. Unofficial sources indicate that it starts from $40k/year). Custom CSS styling is not allowed. |
| Wyn Enterprise |
$$$$
|
Developers-oriented BI product. | Rather expensive (no open pricing, 'contact us'). Can't retrieve data from OLAP servers. |
| Mode |
(??)
|
Most must-have features for embedding are present. | No open pricing. No exports to Excel at all. Pivot tables are rather basic. |
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