---
title: "Best Data Preparation Software - 2026 Reviews & Pricing"
description: "Find the best Data Preparation Software for your organization. Compare top Data Preparation Software systems with customer reviews, pricing, and free demos."
source_url: "https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/data-preparation-comparison/"
page_type: "subcategory"
language: "en"
---

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Data Preparation Software

Software Advice offers objective insights based on verified user reviews and independent product and market research. When our advisors match you to a software provider, we may earn a referral fee.

# Best Data Preparation Software of 2026

Updated September 8, 2026

On this page

1.  Popular Comparisons
2.  Buyers Guide
3.  Related Software

Filter products

114 results

### Compare Products

Showing 1 - 25 of 114 products

#### Company Size

-   Self-Employed
    
-   2-10
    
-   11-50
    
-   51-200
    
-   201-500
    
-   501-1000
    
-   1000+
    

#### Pricing Options

-   $$$$$
    
-   $$$$$
    
-   $$$$$
    
-   $$$$$
    
-   $$$$$
    

### Compare Products

Sort by

**Recommendations**: Sorts listings by the number of recommendations our advisors have made over the past 30 days. Our advisors assess buyers’ needs for free and only recommend products that meet buyers’ needs. Vendors pay Software Advice for these referrals.  
  
**Reviews**: Sorts listings by the number of user reviews we have published, greatest to least.  
  
**Average Rating**: Sorts listings by overall star rating based on user reviews, highest to lowest.  
  
**Alphabetically (A-Z)**: Sorts listings by product name from A to Z.

### Product: SAS Viya

[SAS Viya](https://www.softwareadvice.com/data-catalog/sas-viya-profile/)

4.42

[(12)](https://www.softwareadvice.com/data-catalog/sas-viya-profile/)

### Pricing availability

Free trial: Available

Free version: Not available

Software Advice Summary

SAS Viya is a cloud-native platform designed for data analytics, machine learning and data management. It supports organizations in industries such as banking, insurance, healthcare, manufacturing and telecommunications. The platform covers the entire analytics lifecycle, from data integration to model deployment and operational decision-making. It provides comprehensive data management with access to various data sources and platforms, along with built-in governance, lineage tracking and auditability. The platform includes tools for data mining, machine learning and statistical modeling, accessible through visual and code-based interfaces. Features include automated machine learning, computer vision, forecasting and optimization. SAS Viya Copilot offers AI-powered assistance for data and AI-related tasks. The platform includes AI governance tools for fairness testing, bias detection, model explainability and compliance with regulatory requirements. It supports real-time event detection and integrates intelligence into workflows using business rules and decision governance. SAS Viya operates on cloud environments such as AWS, Azure and Google Cloud Platform, as well as on-premises setups. It is designed to enable collaboration among IT teams, data scientists and business users within a unified environment.... [Read more](https://www.softwareadvice.com/data-catalog/sas-viya-profile/)

### Best rated features:

Workflow Management

5.0

Self-service Analytics

5.0

Modeling & Simulation

5.0

Configurable Workflow

5.0

### Worst rated features:

Real-Time Analytics

2.0

Data Connectors

2.0

Visual Discovery

2.0

Data Extraction

3.0

[See all features](https://www.softwareadvice.com/data-catalog/sas-viya-profile/#key-features)

### Basic

Custom

Pricing available upon request

[See full pricing details](https://www.softwareadvice.com/data-catalog/sas-viya-profile/#pricing-and-plans)

### Product: Stratum

[Stratum](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/stratum-profile/)

4.19

[(48)](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/stratum-profile/reviews/)

### Pricing availability

Free trial: Available

Free version: Not available

Software Advice Summary

Stratum by Silvon is a robust business intelligence solution that was designed to meet the unique needs of business professionals working for manufacturing and distribution companies. Stratum offers a full suite of integrated analytic applications and a number of options for distributing business intelligence data via dashboards, scorecards, scheduled reports, alerts and other methods. With built-in analytics package and forecasting capabilities, Stratum gives intelligent insight and visibility into company’s sales, inventory, financials, customer service, and vendor performance. The solution extracts data from multiple locations and compiles it into one central place so that users across departments are able to analyze the same information in real-time. The reporting metrics allows businesses to compare KPIs, recognize trends, and plan for performance improvement. Stratum can be deployed on-premise or over the web. Their web-based version is compatible with mobile devices including iPads and Android tablets, giving users access in and out of the office.... [Read more](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/stratum-profile/)

### Basic

$50,000.00one time

[See full pricing details](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/stratum-profile/#pricing-and-plans)

### Product: BroadPeak

[BroadPeak](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/k3-profile/)

4.95

[(39)](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/k3-profile/reviews/)

### Pricing availability

Free trial: Available

Free version: Not available

Software Advice Summary

BroadPeak Partners (BroadPeak) is the post trade foundation for trading, risk, and compliance teams at energy and commodity trading firms. With certified connectivity to more than 100 global exchanges and brokers, BroadPeak pulls trade data into a single platform, where teams capture, reconcile, allocate, calculate positions, monitor, and report on every trade. BroadPeak connects to E/CTRMs, trading platforms, general ledgers, order management systems, operations systems, and legacy software, using a library of pre-built adapters. Where a connector does not already exist, adapter templates let teams build and test new connections directly, configured through a graphical interface with no coding required. Reliability and security are built in. Real time alerts flag access issues, failed transfers, or configuration errors as they happen. Data is encrypted, and every user action is recorded in a complete audit trail. Every function runs from the same trade record, so trading, risk, and compliance teams work from consistent, validated numbers rather than reconciling differences between separate systems. Reconciliation, surveillance, and position limits draw on that same record to catch discrepancies, monitor for risk, and calculate exposure accurately. BroadPeak extends your E/CTRM rather than replacing it, capturing, reconciling, allocating, calculating positions, monitoring, and reporting on every trade from one platform built for energy and commodity trading firms across North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific.... [Read more](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/k3-profile/)

### Best rated features:

Dashboard

5.0

Metadata Management

5.0

Data Management

5.0

ETL

5.0

[See all features](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/k3-profile/#key-features)

### Basic

Custom

Pricing available upon request

[See full pricing details](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/k3-profile/#pricing-and-plans)

### Product: Alteryx Designer

[Alteryx Designer](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/alteryx-profile/)

4.77

[(102)](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/alteryx-profile/reviews/)

Best for:Features

### Pricing availability

Free trial: Available

Free version: Not available

Software Advice Summary

Alteryx Designer is a desktop-based self-service data profiling, preparation, blending, and analytics product used to create visual workflows or analytic processes through an intuitive drag-and-drop interface. In addition to dramatically reducing the time and resources required, Alteryx Designer delivers more accurate, transparent, and sophisticated results. You can use Alteryx Designer to connect to your data, profile it, prepare and blend it, run advanced analytics, create visualizations, package and output your work for others, and create analytic applications to enable others to self-serve. Visit Alteryx.com for more information, and to start your free trial.... [Read more](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/alteryx-profile/)

### Best rated features:

Query Builder

5.0

Storytelling

5.0

Modeling & Simulation

5.0

Profitability Analysis

5.0

### Worst rated features:

Visual Analytics

3.0

Data Visualization

3.5

Statistical Process Control

4.0

Self-service Analytics

4.0

[See all features](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/alteryx-profile/#key-features)

### Basic

Custom

Pricing available upon request

[See full pricing details](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/alteryx-profile/#pricing-and-plans)

### Product: Hevo

[Hevo](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/hevo-profile/)

4.69

[(110)](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/hevo-profile/reviews/)

Best for:Ease of use

### Pricing availability

Free trial: Available

Free version: Available

Software Advice Summary

Hevo is a no-code, bi-directional data pipeline platform specially built for modern ETL, ELT, and Reverse ETL Needs. It helps data teams streamline and automate org-wide data flows that result in a saving of ~10 hours of engineering time/week and 10x faster reporting, analytics, and decision making. The platform supports 100+ ready-to-use integrations across Databases, SaaS Applications, Cloud Storage, SDKs, and Streaming Services. Over 500 data-driven companies spread across 35+ countries trust Hevo for their data integration needs. Try Hevo today and get your fully managed data pipelines up and running in just a few minutes.... [Read more](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/hevo-profile/)

### Best rated features:

Customer Database

5.0

Data Analysis Tools

5.0

Automatic Backup

5.0

Real-Time Reporting

5.0

[See all features](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/hevo-profile/#key-features)

### Free

Custom

Pricing available upon request

For data teams that want to get started with analytics. Includes 1 million free events.

### Starter

$299.00/month

For data teams that want to scale up their analytics. Get 5 million events for this starter plan and scale up as per your needs. Save upto 20% when billed yearly.... [Read more](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/hevo-profile/#pricing-and-plans)

### Business

Custom

Pricing available upon request

For large data teams with many data sources and high data volume.

[See full pricing details](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/hevo-profile/#pricing-and-plans)

### Product: Phocas

[Phocas](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/phocas-profile/)

4.73

[(136)](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/phocas-profile/reviews/)

Best for:Value for money

### Pricing availability

Free trial: Not available

Free version: Not available

Software Advice Summary

Phocas is a SaaS platform designed to help mid-market businesses in manufacturing, wholesale distribution, and retail make data-driven decisions. Combining business intelligence (BI) and financial planning and analysis (FP&A) in one integrated solution, it simplifies the way businesses access, analyze, and plan their data. It connects teams with the insights they need to understand their business better and drive growth. Phocas integrates with ERP systems including Epicor, Sage, and Oracle NetSuite, extending their capabilities by centralizing data from ERP, CRM, spreadsheets, and other systems into one intuitive platform. This unified view enables cross-functional teams to make more informed decisions with real-time insights. Key features include intuitive dashboards, ad hoc reporting, financial statements, budgeting, forecasting, and automated rebate management. Phocas is designed for self-service, empowering users at all levels of the business to access and analyze data. By automating manual processes including consolidating financial and operational data, it helps users focus on strategic activities. It assists with preparing monthly reports, analyzing trends, managing cash flow, or optimizing rebates. Phocas centralizes data from ERP and other systems into one platform. With drill-down capabilities, AI-powered queries, and customizable pivot tables, users can explore everything from high-level overviews to granular transaction details. Ad hoc reporting tools let users create custom reports and dashboards, while KPI alerts ensure teams stay on top of performance and act to drive improvements across sales, products, and customers. Phocas transforms ERP data into up-to-date profit and loss, balance sheet, and cash flow statements. By automating financial reporting, integrating prebuilt formulas and ratios, and offering drill-down capabilities, it helps finance teams identify and resolve performance issues quickly. With customizable statements and secure access controls, teams can share actionable financial data with stakeholders across the business. Phocas provides a tool for connected business planning. It consolidates financial budgets, sales forecasts, headcount, and demand planning into one platform, enabling collaboration through workflows, user permissions, and audit logs. Live actuals and driver-based functionality allow businesses to track performance, compare plans to results, and adjust forecasts. The self-serve tool supports growing businesses with the ability to manage budgeting, helping users make informed decisions. Phocas Rebates automates rebate calculations and ensures accuracy. Built on a BI foundation, it helps businesses identify trends, spot near misses, and assess rebate performance. With real-time updates, users can optimize product offers, pricing, and purchasing decisions to capitalize on emerging opportunities and maximize profitability while strengthening trading relationships. Phocas CRM brings sales, finance, and customer data together in one platform, offering real-time insights for sales analysis and account management. By providing accurate sales reporting and streamlining the customer relationship process, it bridges the gap between finance and sales, empowering businesses to make informed decisions.... [Read more](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/phocas-profile/)

### Best rated features:

Real-Time Analytics

5.0

ETL

5.0

Key Performance Indicators

5.0

Data Management

5.0

### Worst rated features:

Data Cleansing

3.0

Collaboration Tools

3.5

[See all features](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/phocas-profile/#key-features)

### Product: datapine

[datapine](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/datapine-profile/)

4.85

[(27)](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/datapine-profile/reviews/)

### Pricing availability

Free trial: Available

Free version: Not available

Software Advice Summary

datapine is a business intelligence software designed to empower companies in exploring, visualizing, analyzing, and sharing their company data all in one centralized analytics platform. Businesses can unlock the potential of their data and gain valuable insights to drive informed decision-making. Its intuitive drag-and-drop interface makes it accessible even to non-technical users. With the Analyzer, users can dive deep into their data through a drag-and-drop interface. datapine offers different chart types for visualizing data, enabling users to present insights in a meaningful and actionable way. Whether it's analyzing sales trends, customer behavior, or operational performance, datapine equips businesses with the tools they need to extract valuable insights. The dashboards, reports, and alarms sections of datapine allow users to create interactive business dashboards tailored to their specific needs. These dashboards can be customized with intelligent data alerts, ensuring that important changes are highlighted and brought to the attention of key stakeholders. Additionally, automated reports can be set up with just a few clicks, making it easy to keep the team informed and up to date. datapine also offers Insights, which leverages advanced analytics and machine learning algorithms to uncover hidden patterns, trends, and correlations within the data, enabling businesses to gain deeper insights and unlock new opportunities for growth and optimization.... [Read more](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/datapine-profile/)

### Best rated features:

Scheduled/Automated Reports

5.0

Trend/Problem Indicators

5.0

Benchmarking

5.0

Strategic Planning

5.0

### Worst rated features:

Scorecards

4.0

[See all features](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/datapine-profile/#key-features)

### Basic

$249.00/month

Add-ons for extra cost are available.

### Professional

$449.00/month

Add-ons for extra cost are available.

### Premium

$799.00/month

Add-ons for extra cost are available.

[See full pricing details](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/datapine-profile/#pricing-and-plans)

### Product: ActiveBatch

[ActiveBatch](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/activebatch-profile/)

4.70

[(56)](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/activebatch-profile/reviews/)

### Pricing availability

Free trial: Available

Free version: Not available

Software Advice Summary

ActiveBatch is a cloud-based and on-premise workflow management solution designed on helping businesses implement low-code IT workflow automation. The time it takes to manage workflow and business processes is cut in half with event automation and job scheduling, resource optimization, security and audit management, analytics, and customizable alerts. With its modular design, ActiveBatch allows businesses to manage all systems and integrations from one point of control and customize their own ActiveBatch implementation for their organizational needs. Users are able to build and automate workflows with workflow management drag-and-drop functionality for easy implementation. Workflows can also automatically be created when certain events are triggered such as task emails, queue messages, database modifications and many more. For job management, users can assign parameters for different queues to manage different active variables(AV)/data sources for the entire job lifecycle. ActiveBatch also allows users to schedule jobs, utilizing time scheduling functionality, for any time of the year, creating a more streamlined workflow process. ActiveBatch can be accessed on the go with ActiveBatch Mobile Ops available for android and iOS devices. This solution also offers multi-factor authentication(MFA) for all of ActiveBatch's user interfaces and works with most authenticator apps.... [Read more](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/activebatch-profile/)

### Best rated features:

Mobile Access

5.0

Third-Party Integrations

5.0

Monitoring

5.0

Graphical Workflow Editor

5.0

[See all features](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/activebatch-profile/#key-features)

### Basic

$10,000.00one time

[See full pricing details](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/activebatch-profile/#pricing-and-plans)

### Product: Rivery

[Rivery](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/rivery-profile/)

5.0

[(12)](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/rivery-profile/)

### Pricing availability

Free trial: Available

Free version: Not available

Software Advice Summary

Rivery is a cloud-based solution that provides small to large enterprises with business intelligence tools to manage and automate data pipelines. It comes with a centralized dashboard, which enables users to gain insights into business operations, review organizational performance and generate activity reports using key performance indicators (KPI). Rivery allows enterprises to automatically add multiple client accounts in the system by combining and extracting data from various sources. It lets users streamline data flows and manage processes related to data extraction, transformation and loading (ETL). Additionally, organizations can utilize data orchestration capabilities to automate the entire data lifecycle, from preparing data to implementing decisions across operations. Rivery facilitates integration with various third-party applications such as Amplitude, Avantlink, Google AdWords, Hubspot, MailChimp, Instagram and more. Pricing is available on request and support is extended via phone, email and other online measures.... [Read more](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/rivery-profile/)

### Best rated features:

Reporting & Statistics

5.0

Third-Party Integrations

5.0

Data Synchronization

5.0

Activity Dashboard

5.0

### Worst rated features:

Multiple Data Sources

4.0

[See all features](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/rivery-profile/#key-features)

### Basic

$1.00/month

[See full pricing details](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/rivery-profile/#pricing-and-plans)

### Product: ClicData

[ClicData](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/clicdata-profile/)

4.62

[(145)](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/clicdata-profile/reviews/)

Best for:Customer support

### Pricing availability

Free trial: Available

Free version: Not available

Software Advice Summary

ClicData is a modern data platform providing data teams a complete set of tools: data integration, built-in data lakehouse, data cleaning and processing, analytics & machine learning, data streaming, visualizations and trigger-based automation. Whether you're looking for a BI solution for your organization or customers, to build a data exchange hub between systems, develop your predictive models, or simply publish real-time KPIs–ClicData is the cost-effective solution to achieve it. ClicData includes features such as: - Connectors to over 500+ data sources, cloud-based or on-premise - Scalable Data Lakehouse up to 8 TB of storage - Visual, drag-and-drop data pipeline builder with over 35 processing nodes - Python & SQL environment for advanced data processing or ML development - Dashboards & multi-page PDF reports builder - Powerful Scheduler for task, data updates, publication automation - Integrated AI to build, analyze, enrich and read your data.... [Read more](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/clicdata-profile/)

### Best rated features:

Self Service Data Preparation

5.0

Conversion Tracking

5.0

Customizable Branding

5.0

Mobile Dashboards

5.0

### Worst rated features:

Data Quality Control

4.0

OLAP

4.0

[See all features](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/clicdata-profile/#key-features)

### Basic

$265.00/month

Ideal for small teams with strong data needs

### Team

$475.00/month

Bigger needs, more storage, more connectors

### Enterprise

$760.00/month

Everything you will ever need

[See full pricing details](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/clicdata-profile/#pricing-and-plans)

### Product: CleverMaps

[CleverMaps](https://www.softwareadvice.com/location-intelligence/clevermaps-profile/)

4.72

[(25)](https://www.softwareadvice.com/location-intelligence/clevermaps-profile/)

### Pricing availability

Free trial: Available

Free version: Available

Software Advice Summary

Location Insights you can trust. CleverMaps is a map-based analytics platform transforming how the world is using data to solve location-related problems. CleverMaps empowers people and organizations to make data-driven decisions based on the insights visualized in our intuitive and interactive analytical map. Some of the use cases we can help with - Location Planning, Catchment Area Analysis, Branch Network Optimization, Planning of OOH campaigns, Post-COVID Retail recovery, Delivery Service... [Read more](https://www.softwareadvice.com/location-intelligence/clevermaps-profile/)

### Best rated features:

Publishing/Sharing

5.0

Scorecards

5.0

Data Connectors

5.0

Benchmarking

5.0

### Worst rated features:

Customizable Dashboard

4.0

[See all features](https://www.softwareadvice.com/location-intelligence/clevermaps-profile/#key-features)

### Discover

€0.00

Free trial

[See full pricing details](https://www.softwareadvice.com/location-intelligence/clevermaps-profile/#pricing-and-plans)

### Product: SplashBI

[SplashBI](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/spashbi-profile/)

4.79

[(14)](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/spashbi-profile/reviews/)

### Pricing availability

Free trial: Available

Free version: Not available

Software Advice Summary

SplashBI is a cloud-based business analytics platform that provides pre-built insights to help businesses make data-driven decisions. The platform offers a wide range of analytics solutions, including people analytics, sales analytics, archived data, Oracle solutions, UKG, and SQL Connect. With SplashBI, businesses can gain deep insights into their data and use that information to optimize their operations, improve customer satisfaction, and drive growth. The platform's pre-built insights provide a quick and easy way to get started with analytics, while its advanced analytics tools allow businesses to dig deeper into their data and uncover new insights.... [Read more](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/spashbi-profile/)

### Best rated features:

Key Performance Indicators

5.0

Data Connectors

5.0

Customizable Dashboard

5.0

Scheduled/Automated Reports

5.0

[See all features](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/spashbi-profile/#key-features)

### Basic

$9.99/month

[See full pricing details](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/spashbi-profile/#pricing-and-plans)

### Product: Composable DataOps Platform

[Composable DataOps Platform](https://www.softwareadvice.com/machine-learning/composable-profile/)

4.90

[(10)](https://www.softwareadvice.com/machine-learning/composable-profile/)

### Pricing availability

Free trial: Available

Free version: Not available

Software Advice Summary

Composable is an on-premise and cloud-based business intelligence (BI) solution that enables enterprises to streamline decision-making processes using machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. The DataOps-enabled platform lets administrators utilize Optical Character Recognition (OCR) and text analytics capabilities to extract relevant hidden information from files and images. Composable helps businesses collect and manage data from multiple sources, create dashboards to visualize information and configure analytical workflows to identify or filter data according to organizational requirements. Supervisors can set up access permissions for specific users, maintaining confidentiality of sensitive data. Additionally, it lets enterprises utilize the Data Portals functionality to define data models on spreadsheet templates. Composable facilitates integration with various third-party systems such as Mailchimp, Microsoft Azure, HubSpot, and more. Pricing is available on request and support is extended via phone, documentation and other online measures.... [Read more](https://www.softwareadvice.com/machine-learning/composable-profile/)

### Best rated features:

Reporting/Analytics

5.0

Metadata Management

5.0

Dashboard

5.0

Self Service Data Preparation

5.0

[See all features](https://www.softwareadvice.com/machine-learning/composable-profile/#key-features)

### Basic

$8.00

[See full pricing details](https://www.softwareadvice.com/machine-learning/composable-profile/#pricing-and-plans)

### Product: Funnel

[Funnel](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/funnel-dashboards-reports-profile/)

4.74

[(19)](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/funnel-dashboards-reports-profile/reviews/)

### Pricing availability

Free trial: Available

Free version: Available

Software Advice Summary

Funnel is a marketing intelligence platform designed to aggregate data from various marketing channels and provide tools for reporting, measurement, and data export. It is used by digital marketers, data analysts, business intelligence teams, IT departments, and marketing agencies across industries such as e-commerce, retail, B2B, B2C, travel, hospitality, and finance. The platform helps organizations centralize marketing data to improve visibility into campaign performance. The platform includes a library of data connectors that link to marketing platforms, analytics tools, and advertising channels. It offers automated reporting features that generate real-time reports without requiring manual spreadsheet work. AI-based tools, such as marketing mix modeling and multi-touch attribution, are available to analyze campaign impact beyond last-click attribution. A conversational AI feature, Data Chat, allows users to query marketing data and receive instant summaries. No-code workflows enable users to unify marketing, analytics, and sales data and export it to destinations such as data warehouses or business intelligence tools without ongoing ETL maintenance. Funnel adheres to enterprise-grade security standards, including GDPR, CCPA, SOC 2, and ISO 27001 compliance. It processes large volumes of digital advertising data and supports active data sources. The platform handles data cleaning and unification to create analysis-ready datasets and eliminate reporting gaps. Reports can be personalized to align with brand requirements and scaled across multiple clients or business units.... [Read more](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/funnel-dashboards-reports-profile/)

### Best rated features:

API

5.0

Website Analytics

5.0

Data Import/Export

4.0

Ad hoc Reporting

4.0

### Worst rated features:

Job Scheduling

1.0

Data Analysis Tools

3.0

Dashboard Creation

3.0

Keyword Tracking

3.0

[See all features](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/funnel-dashboards-reports-profile/#key-features)

### Starter

$120.00

Begin your journey to data-driven marketing with Funnel's Free plan.

### Business

$750.00/month

Experience rock-solid business intelligence and powerful connectivity.

### Enterprise

Custom

Pricing available upon request

Designed for organizations operating at scale with personalized, advanced onboarding.

[See full pricing details](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/funnel-dashboards-reports-profile/#pricing-and-plans)

### Product: Nexla

[Nexla](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/nexla-profile/)

4.89

[(9)](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/nexla-profile/)

### Pricing availability

Free trial: Available

Free version: Not available

Software Advice Summary

Nexla is a hybrid business intelligence (BI) solution that helps analysts, business users and data engineers across various sectors to integrate, automate and monitor their incoming and outgoing data flows. Features include high volume processing, no-code sandbox, flex API technology and more. Nexla helps data professionals to detect schemas from data sources and integrate with complex, non-standard data APIs. The solution can connect to multiple formats such as CSV, XML, JSON, EDI and handle various data integrations that include API to Snowflake, API to Redshift, S3 to Bigquery, FTP to S3 and more. Additionally, Nexla enables users to create inter-organization data feeds that help them to receive data or send it to their partners. Users can also transform data to formats such as hashes, location specificity, mathematical operations, user agent conversions and string operations. Nexla can either be deployed on-premise or hosted in the cloud. Support is offered via email.... [Read more](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/nexla-profile/)

### Best rated features:

Access Controls/Permissions

5.0

Job Scheduling

5.0

ETL

4.5

Alerts/Escalation

4.0

### Worst rated features:

Metadata Management

2.0

Real-Time Monitoring

3.0

Data Connectors

4.0

Third-Party Integrations

4.0

[See all features](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/nexla-profile/#key-features)

### Contact us

Custom

Pricing available upon request

Contact Nexla for detailed pricing information.

[See full pricing details](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/nexla-profile/#pricing-and-plans)

### Product: GivingDNA

[GivingDNA](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/causemo-insights-profile/)

4.89

[(9)](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/causemo-insights-profile/)

### Pricing availability

Free trial: Available

Free version: Not available

Software Advice Summary

GivingDNA is a cloud-based data analytics and wealth screening solution designed to help nonprofits in creating highly precise donor segments. With GivingDNA, fundraisers and nonprofit marketers gain invaluable insights to profile and segment their donors efficiently, enabling them to enhance the personalized donor experience.... [Read more](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/causemo-insights-profile/)

### Best rated features:

Performance Metrics

5.0

Predictive Analytics

5.0

For Nonprofits

5.0

Fundraising Management

5.0

[See all features](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/causemo-insights-profile/#key-features)

### Basic

$500.00/month

[See full pricing details](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/causemo-insights-profile/#pricing-and-plans)

### Product: NGS-IQ

[NGS-IQ](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/ngs-iq-profile/)

4.89

[(9)](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/ngs-iq-profile/)

### Pricing availability

Free trial: Available

Free version: Not available

Software Advice Summary

NGS-IQ is a query, report writing and online analytical processing (OLAP) solution exclusively for IBM i, iSeries, System i and AS/400 customers. It works with IBM Db2 on i to enable technical and non-technical users to join, extract, manipulate, format, output and share files, reports and visualizations without requiring a separate server or middleware. NGS-IQ allows developers to use the point-click, drag and drop interface to construct ad-hoc queries and production reports that include conditional calculation logic, date formatting, date arithmetic, run-time prompts for calculations and variable selection criteria, summaries, rankings, running totals, running percentages of totals standard deviation and absolute value. Authorized users can run NGS-IQ queries to refresh Excel sheets, including charts and pivot tables, from desktop shortcuts and hyperlinks. Customers may also provide run-time links to queries from intranet, portal and IBM i applications. Output formats include Microsoft Office (Excel, Access, Word), HTML, NGS's own SmartView OLAP module, Adobe PDF, CSV, TXT, XML and print. The application supports email output distribution, self-service Web reporting and interfaces to IBM and third-party job scheduling software. Optional security and remote data access modules are available.... [Read more](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/ngs-iq-profile/)

### Basic

$1,250.00/year

[See full pricing details](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/ngs-iq-profile/#pricing-and-plans)

### Product: DigitalRoute

[DigitalRoute](https://www.softwareadvice.com/data-management-platforms/digitalroute-profile/)

4.77

[(13)](https://www.softwareadvice.com/data-management-platforms/digitalroute-profile/reviews/)

### Pricing availability

Free trial: Available

Free version: Not available

Software Advice Summary

DigitalRoute is a data management platform that helps businesses integrate the platform with any system within a company's IT infrastructure to gather, process, enhance, and distribute substantial volumes of usage data to billing and other quote-to-cash applications. It empowers businesses to deliver timely invoices while driving billing enhancements through data-driven insights. The software supports revenue assurance, revenue leakage, and entitlement enforcement in real-time and with extreme precision and is aligned with the customers' software deployment preferences.... [Read more](https://www.softwareadvice.com/data-management-platforms/digitalroute-profile/)

### Best rated features:

Invoice History

5.0

Data Extraction

5.0

Online Invoicing

5.0

Workflow Management

5.0

### Worst rated features:

Reporting/Analytics

3.8

[See all features](https://www.softwareadvice.com/data-management-platforms/digitalroute-profile/#key-features)

### Basic

Custom

Pricing available upon request

[See full pricing details](https://www.softwareadvice.com/data-management-platforms/digitalroute-profile/#pricing-and-plans)

### Product: Inzata

[Inzata](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/inzata-profile/)

4.73

[(15)](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/inzata-profile/)

### Pricing availability

Free trial: Available

Free version: Available

Software Advice Summary

Inzata is a cloud-based business intelligence platform that helps automate and manage processes of data collection, preparation, cleansing and modeling. Designed for health care, insurance and IT industries, the AI-based platform provides tools to visualize data and gain actionable insights driving business growth. Features of Inzata include data modeling, real-time analytics, drag-and-drop functionality, 360&deg; data visualizations and monetization. It allows businesses to enrich and present data with metrics such as demographics, traffic, geo-location, socio-economic, weather and more. Additionally, analysts can create custom data pipelines/workflows and share insights within the organization. Inzata enables real-time integration with Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) or on-premise systems allowing businesses to connect, load and pull data from any application or streaming without the need for coding or ETL (Extract, Transform and Load). Pricing is available on monthly subscriptions.... [Read more](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/inzata-profile/)

### Best rated features:

Data Import/Export

5.0

Data Connectors

5.0

Data Blending

5.0

Reporting/Analytics

4.8

[See all features](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/inzata-profile/#key-features)

### Basic

$30,000.00

[See full pricing details](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/inzata-profile/#pricing-and-plans)

### Product: 9Spokes

[9Spokes](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/9-spokes-profile/)

4.80

[(10)](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/9-spokes-profile/)

### Pricing availability

Free trial: Not available

Free version: Not available

Software Advice Summary

9Spokes is a data platform that aggregates meaningful data inputs across your business. Think of 9Spokes as a virtual advisor, here to motivate and guide businesses so they not only survive, but grow and thrive! We deliver meaningful, personalized, and shareable insights to businesses that help inform their next move and steer them towards their goals. We connect businesses. We bring together their teams, partners, and banks (anytime, anywhere), so they can share information and collaborate to figure out the best way forward – whether it's a simple admin task or the basis for a strategic decision. Connect your business apps — think the accounting software you use, POS, marketing, HR, and more — to power your business dashboard. At the heart of 9Spokes, driving everything we do, are businesses – owners, entrepreneurs, and their teams. They are the driving force of the modern economy. They are those who take on high-growth, high-risk innovations (entrepreneurs) and those who oversee an established business with an established product and customer base (SMBs).... [Read more](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/9-spokes-profile/)

### Best rated features:

Data Visualization

5.0

[See all features](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/9-spokes-profile/#key-features)

### Product: Bold BI

[Bold BI](https://www.softwareadvice.com/data-collection/bold-bi-profile/)

4.86

[(7)](https://www.softwareadvice.com/data-collection/bold-bi-profile/)

### Pricing availability

Free trial: Available

Free version: Available

Software Advice Summary

Bold BI is an on-premise and cloud-based software that enables businesses in construction, education, energy, healthcare, insurance and other industries to process, combine and analyze collected data on a unified platform. With its business intelligence (BI) tools, managers can create custom dashboards using a drag-and-drop interface and share them with relevant team members or stakeholders. Bold BI provides mobile applications for iOS and Android devices, enabling users to gain insights into key information via actionable analytics. It allows enterprises to secure confidential data through multi-factor authentication and single sign-on (SSO) capabilities. Additionally, administrators can export data in PDF or Excel format and visualize them in the form of display widgets. Bold BI offers an API, which enables businesses to integrate and collect data from various third-party applications. Pricing is available on monthly subscriptions and on a one-time license basis. Support is extended via live chat, phone and an inquiry form.... [Read more](https://www.softwareadvice.com/data-collection/bold-bi-profile/)

### Best rated features:

Customizable Dashboard

5.0

Data Connectors

5.0

Reporting/Analytics

5.0

Data Visualization

5.0

### Worst rated features:

Dashboard Creation

4.0

Data Management

4.0

[See all features](https://www.softwareadvice.com/data-collection/bold-bi-profile/#key-features)

### Community License (Free)

Custom

Pricing available upon request

Bold BI offers a free Community License designed for individual developers and small teams, providing full access to core features without cost for as long as the Individuals or Companies meet the eligibility requirements.... [Read more](https://www.softwareadvice.com/data-collection/bold-bi-profile/#pricing-and-plans)

### Bold BI Cloud Edition

Custom

Pricing available upon request

Run Bold BI in a fully managed cloud environment with no infrastructure to maintain. Deploy fast and adapt easily without IT effort.... [Read more](https://www.softwareadvice.com/data-collection/bold-bi-profile/#pricing-and-plans)

### Bold BI On-Premises Edition

Custom

Pricing available upon request

Deploy Bold BI on your own infrastructure to retain complete control over data, security, and compliance requirements.... [Read more](https://www.softwareadvice.com/data-collection/bold-bi-profile/#pricing-and-plans)

[See full pricing details](https://www.softwareadvice.com/data-collection/bold-bi-profile/#pricing-and-plans)

### Product: Reeport

[Reeport](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/reeport-profile/)

4.86

[(7)](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/reeport-profile/)

### Pricing availability

Free trial: Available

Free version: Available

Software Advice Summary

Reeport is a cloud-based data analytics platform, which helps businesses of all sizes automate the collection of data from multiple sources, visualize performance through graphical representations and gain insights by generating reports. Features include data standardization, multi-format support, design personalization, access control, alerts and custom filters and user segments. The application allows professionals to centralize and reconcile segregated data and transform it into actionable information by using normalization and cleaning techniques. Members can use Reeport's collaboration capabilities to share templates and data visualization components with teams. Additionally, administrators can monitor the usage of dashboards or reports and track data distribution across departments. Reeport offers integration with various third-party platforms such as Google Analytics, Facebook, Google Ads, HubSpot, LinkedIn, Twitter, Marketo, Adobe Campaign and more. It is available on annual subscriptions and support is provided via phone and email.... [Read more](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/reeport-profile/)

### Basic

€35.00/month

[See full pricing details](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/reeport-profile/#pricing-and-plans)

### Product: Tableau

[Tableau](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/tableau-profile/)

4.56

[(2360)](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/tableau-profile/reviews/)

Best for:Small businesses

### Pricing availability

Free trial: Available

Free version: Available

Software Advice Summary

Tableau is a visual analytics platform that helps organizations of all sizes — from non-profits to global enterprises — across industries including healthcare, financial services, sales, marketing, and IT management see and understand their data. The platform can be deployed as a fully managed cloud-based service (Tableau Cloud), a self-managed on-premises or private cloud installation (Tableau Server), or as a desktop application (Tableau Desktop), with browser-based authoring available on both cloud and server options. Core features include drag-and-drop data authoring and visualization, data cleaning and preparation tools, pre-built customizable dashboards, KPI monitoring delivered in Slack, Microsoft Teams, and email, and an AI assistant that turns natural language prompts into visualizations and dashboard summaries. A semantic layer centralizes governed business logic, while data lineage and quality tools support compliance and data governance needs. Embedded analytics and capacity-based licensing allow broad access without per-user costs. Tableau serves data analysts, business users, executives, IT professionals, and Salesforce CRM customers through role-based licensing tiers. Support is available through a knowledge base, online resources, and community forums, with additional options depending on the subscription plan.... [Read more](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/tableau-profile/)

### What users love

-   Powerful and flexible visualizations
-   Robust data integration capabilities
-   Customizable interactive dashboards

### To take in mind

-   Complex interface and navigation
-   Expensive licensing and subscriptions
-   Steep learning curve for users

### Best rated features:

Heatmaps

5.0

Time Series Analysis

5.0

Integration into Third Party Applications

5.0

Data Migration

5.0

### Worst rated features:

Generative AI

2.0

Behavioral Analytics

3.5

Geographic Maps

3.7

Real-Time Data

3.7

[See all features](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/tableau-profile/#key-features)

### Tableau Viewer

$15.00/month

### Tableau Explorer

$42.00/month

### Tableau Creator

$75.00/month

[See full pricing details](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/tableau-profile/#pricing-and-plans)

### Product: Pyplan

[Pyplan](https://www.softwareadvice.com/accounting/pyplan-profile/)

4.83

[(6)](https://www.softwareadvice.com/accounting/pyplan-profile/)

### Pricing availability

Free trial: Available

Free version: Available

Software Advice Summary

Pyplan, as an advanced Planning and Analysis platform, possesses the adaptability to cater to personalized planning methodologies while also exhibiting the capability to effectively govern an entire organization. By seamlessly merging Sales, Operations, HR, and Finance into a cohesive environment, it fosters a comprehensive perspective and streamlines decision-making processes, thereby saving valuable time. Seamlessly establish connections with and automate a wide range of data sources, enabling real-time data processing, scenario planning, and simulation. Additionally, effortlessly generate and distribute interactive applications for enhanced collaboration and sharing.... [Read more](https://www.softwareadvice.com/accounting/pyplan-profile/)

### Best rated features:

Business Process Automation

5.0

Business Process Control

5.0

Access Controls/Permissions

4.8

Reporting/Analytics

4.8

### Worst rated features:

Process Modeling & Designing

4.0

[See all features](https://www.softwareadvice.com/accounting/pyplan-profile/#key-features)

### Basic

$75.00/year

[See full pricing details](https://www.softwareadvice.com/accounting/pyplan-profile/#pricing-and-plans)

### Product: Yellowfin

[Yellowfin](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/yellowfin-profile/)

4.60

[(20)](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/yellowfin-profile/reviews/)

### Pricing availability

Free trial: Available

Free version: Available

Software Advice Summary

Yellowfin is the only enterprise and embedded analytics platform that combines action based dashboards, automated analysis and data storytelling. Yellowfin is recognized as an innovator by the world's leading analyst firms. More than 29,000 organizations and over 3 million end-users across 75 countries use Yellowfin every day. Yellowfin supports the builders, the designers, developers, data scientists and devops, who assemble and embed data solutions into business applications and workflows. The platform delivers multi-experience analytics that allows decision makers to see, understand and do more with their data.... [Read more](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/yellowfin-profile/)

### Best rated features:

Reporting & Statistics

5.0

Data Import/Export

5.0

Dashboard Creation

5.0

Reporting/Analytics

5.0

### Worst rated features:

Self Service Data Preparation

3.0

Visual Analytics

4.0

Dashboard

4.0

Data Connectors

4.0

[See all features](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/yellowfin-profile/#key-features)

### Consumer

$19.00/month

[See full pricing details](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/yellowfin-profile/#pricing-and-plans)

1

[2](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/data-preparation-comparison/?__ai_markdown=true&page=2)[3](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/data-preparation-comparison/?__ai_markdown=true&page=3)[4](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/data-preparation-comparison/?__ai_markdown=true&page=4)[5](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/data-preparation-comparison/?__ai_markdown=true&page=5)

## Popular Comparisons

[

Domo vs Tableau

](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/domo-profile/vs/tableau/)[

Logi Symphony vs Alteryx Designer

](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/alteryx-profile/vs/logi-symphony/)[

JMP vs Spotfire

](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/jmp-profile/vs/tibco-spotfire/)

As a business, you need to trust that your data is complete, formatted, and up-to-date so you can make accurate business decisions. It can be disastrous if the data you're using for analysis or decision-making is inaccurate, and that's why data preparation is key to business success.

Data preparation allows businesses to simplify and automate various manual processes that are associated with collecting and cleaning data. Data preparation tools enhance operational efficiency and accuracy.

However, selecting one data preparation tool from among the hundreds on the market can be overwhelming. That's why we've created this buyers guide to detail everything you need to know before making the final purchase decision.

Here's what we'll cover:

-   [What is data preparation software?](#Whatisdatapreparationsoftware)
    
-   [Common features of data preparation software](#Commonfeaturesofdatapreparationsoftware)
    
-   [What type of buyer are you?](#Whattypeofbuyerareyou)
    
-   [Benefits of data preparation software](#Benefitsofdatapreparationsoftware)
    
-   [Key considerations](#Keyconsiderations)
    

## What is data preparation software?

Data preparation software is a tool that allows businesses to explore, gather, and manipulate data into a form that is ready for analysis. The software cleans and consolidates data into a single table, file, or curated dataset for data visualization or other operational processes.

Data preparation software is useful when you need to:

-   Combine data from multiple sources
    
-   Manually enter data into spreadsheets
    
-   Deal with unstructured data (e.g., PDF files or web pages)
    

Clean data for analysis in [Tableau's](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/tableau-profile/) Prep Builder ([Source](https://www.tableau.com/products/prep)

## Common features of data preparation software

Different vendors offer different features in their data preparation software. Selecting the best data preparation software for your business is easier when you know what the common features are and what they do.

<table data-testid="blogTableComponent" class="mb-6 w-full bg-white  border border-solid border-grey-15  sm:[&amp;_*]:break-normal"><tbody><tr class="border border-solid border-grey-15"><td class="min-w-[100px] p-3 [&amp;_p]:mb-0 [&amp;_p]:break-normal"><p class=" mb-4 text-base text-grey-91 first:mt-0 sm:mb-6 sm:text-lg [&amp;_em]:text-grey-60" data-testid="buyers-guide-paragraph"><b>Data access</b></p></td><td class="min-w-[100px] p-3 [&amp;_p]:mb-0 [&amp;_p]:break-normal"><p class=" mb-4 text-base text-grey-91 first:mt-0 sm:mb-6 sm:text-lg [&amp;_em]:text-grey-60" data-testid="buyers-guide-paragraph">Access and import structured or semi-structured data from multiple sources.</p></td></tr><tr class="border border-solid border-grey-15"><td class="min-w-[100px] p-3 [&amp;_p]:mb-0 [&amp;_p]:break-normal"><p class=" mb-4 text-base text-grey-91 first:mt-0 sm:mb-6 sm:text-lg [&amp;_em]:text-grey-60" data-testid="buyers-guide-paragraph"><b>Data mashup/data blending</b></p></td><td class="min-w-[100px] p-3 [&amp;_p]:mb-0 [&amp;_p]:break-normal"><p class=" mb-4 text-base text-grey-91 first:mt-0 sm:mb-6 sm:text-lg [&amp;_em]:text-grey-60" data-testid="buyers-guide-paragraph">Blend multiple types of data sources, or normalize multiple data sources into common formats for integrated data analyses.</p></td></tr><tr class="border border-solid border-grey-15"><td class="min-w-[100px] p-3 [&amp;_p]:mb-0 [&amp;_p]:break-normal"><p class=" mb-4 text-base text-grey-91 first:mt-0 sm:mb-6 sm:text-lg [&amp;_em]:text-grey-60" data-testid="buyers-guide-paragraph"><b>Data transformation</b></p></td><td class="min-w-[100px] p-3 [&amp;_p]:mb-0 [&amp;_p]:break-normal"><p class=" mb-4 text-base text-grey-91 first:mt-0 sm:mb-6 sm:text-lg [&amp;_em]:text-grey-60" data-testid="buyers-guide-paragraph">Transform raw data into usable data by correcting typos, standardizing data, and converting and normalizing numeric values into standard forms.</p></td></tr><tr class="border border-solid border-grey-15"><td class="min-w-[100px] p-3 [&amp;_p]:mb-0 [&amp;_p]:break-normal"><p class=" mb-4 text-base text-grey-91 first:mt-0 sm:mb-6 sm:text-lg [&amp;_em]:text-grey-60" data-testid="buyers-guide-paragraph"><b>Data modeling</b></p></td><td class="min-w-[100px] p-3 [&amp;_p]:mb-0 [&amp;_p]:break-normal"><p class=" mb-4 text-base text-grey-91 first:mt-0 sm:mb-6 sm:text-lg [&amp;_em]:text-grey-60" data-testid="buyers-guide-paragraph">Specify data types and their relationships with each other.</p></td></tr><tr class="border border-solid border-grey-15"><td class="min-w-[100px] p-3 [&amp;_p]:mb-0 [&amp;_p]:break-normal"><p class=" mb-4 text-base text-grey-91 first:mt-0 sm:mb-6 sm:text-lg [&amp;_em]:text-grey-60" data-testid="buyers-guide-paragraph"><b>Interactive user interface (UI)</b></p></td><td class="min-w-[100px] p-3 [&amp;_p]:mb-0 [&amp;_p]:break-normal"><p class=" mb-4 text-base text-grey-91 first:mt-0 sm:mb-6 sm:text-lg [&amp;_em]:text-grey-60" data-testid="buyers-guide-paragraph">Combine multiple data sources through an intuitive, visually oriented UI.</p></td></tr><tr class="border border-solid border-grey-15"><td class="min-w-[100px] p-3 [&amp;_p]:mb-0 [&amp;_p]:break-normal"><p class=" mb-4 text-base text-grey-91 first:mt-0 sm:mb-6 sm:text-lg [&amp;_em]:text-grey-60" data-testid="buyers-guide-paragraph"><b>Collaboration</b></p></td><td class="min-w-[100px] p-3 [&amp;_p]:mb-0 [&amp;_p]:break-normal"><p class=" mb-4 text-base text-grey-91 first:mt-0 sm:mb-6 sm:text-lg [&amp;_em]:text-grey-60" data-testid="buyers-guide-paragraph">Share, comment on, and promote datasets.</p></td></tr><tr class="border border-solid border-grey-15"><td class="min-w-[100px] p-3 [&amp;_p]:mb-0 [&amp;_p]:break-normal"><p class=" mb-4 text-base text-grey-91 first:mt-0 sm:mb-6 sm:text-lg [&amp;_em]:text-grey-60" data-testid="buyers-guide-paragraph"><b>Data governance</b></p></td><td class="min-w-[100px] p-3 [&amp;_p]:mb-0 [&amp;_p]:break-normal"><p class=" mb-4 text-base text-grey-91 first:mt-0 sm:mb-6 sm:text-lg [&amp;_em]:text-grey-60" data-testid="buyers-guide-paragraph">Leverage security features such as data encryption, user permission, authentication, and security filtering at user/group/role levels.</p></td></tr></tbody></table>

To further understand these features and learn about data preparation software vendors, call our advisors at 855-998-8505 for free, no-obligation help. They'll help you narrow down your options by listening to your requirements and recommending the best-suited solutions for your business.

## What type of buyer are you?

Before you start evaluating data preparation software options, you'll need to know what buyer category you belong to. We believe most buyers will fall into one of the below categories:

-   **Business owners and analyst teams:** Business owners often use the tool themselves or hire business analyst teams to do the job. These teams are found in every business that is involved in any form of data analysis. Business analyst workgroups use data preparation tools to collate data from different sources, avoid manual data entry, and transform unstructured data. They usually don't need complex dashboard capabilities or governance features, but would require functionalities such as data access, data blending, and data transformation.
    
-   **IT departments:** Even though data preparation tools are designed for business users (owners and analysts), IT departments also use these tools in many organizations. In addition to data cleaning features, IT departments prefer tools with data modeling capabilities, since they'll have to support data modeling for the whole organization rather than just a small analyst workgroup. They'll need a tool that offers data governance to protect sensitive data from users who don't need to access it as part of their roles.
    

## Benefits of data preparation software

While some of the benefits of data preparation software may be clear from our discussion above, we've called out the most notable ones below:

-   **Accurate business decisions:** Cleaner data results in better data analyses and reporting, which eventually leads businesses to make more accurate business decisions.
    
-   **Reduced data errors:** Data preparation tools minimize manual intervention in processes such as collation and consolidation, thus reducing errors.
    

## Key considerations

Here are some important aspects to consider before you purchase data preparation software:

-   **Scalability:** Ask your shortlisted vendors about the scalability of their tools. You'll need a solution that supports your business as it grows and is able to handle your expanding needs. For instance, if you plan to go from being a single-location business to a multi-location one, the software must be able to gather data from all the new locations and handle the higher volume.
    
-   **Customer support:** Find out if the vendor offers support 24/7, only during business hours, or not at all. Also, ask about available support options, such as email, phone, or live chat.
    

_Note: The applications selected in this article are examples to show a feature in context and are not intended as endorsements or recommendations. They have been obtained from sources believed to be reliable at the time of publication._

### Related Data Preparation Software

-   [Big Data Software](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/big-data-comparison/)
-   [Data Analysis Software](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/data-analysis-comparison/)
-   [Data Collection Software](https://www.softwareadvice.com/data-collection/)
-   [Data Discovery Software](https://www.softwareadvice.com/bi/data-discovery-tools-comparison/)
-   [Data Management Software](https://www.softwareadvice.com/data-management/)