Bricks (thebricks.com) alternatives for AI dashboards (2026)

Bricks says it turns a CSV or Excel file into a dashboard in about 30 to 60 seconds, with charts, KPI cards and written insights. The person who reads that dashboard on Monday didn't watch it being built. When they ask where a number came from, the answer depends on what the tool lets them open.

If you're comparing Bricks (thebricks.com) with other AI tools that build dashboards or reports from spreadsheets, 3 questions decide it: what each one works from, what it costs, and how a reader checks a number the AI produced. This guide compares Bricks with 5 alternatives, using only official pages as of October 30, 2026.

What does Bricks do, and what does it cost?

Bricks calls itself an AI data analyst for dashboards and reports. You upload a file, optionally say what to focus on, and its AI builds a dashboard with charts, KPI cards, tables and written insights. It also works as an AI spreadsheet: it writes Excel-style formulas and cleans data from a prompt, and you accept or reject each change.

It imports CSV and Excel files at no AI cost, PDFs at 1 AI credit per page, and PNG or JPG images at 1 credit each. Files must be under 25 MB and up to 100,000 rows, and one dashboard can combine up to 5 files. Its site also lists connectors such as Google Sheets, PostgreSQL, Stripe, QuickBooks and HubSpot, with Salesforce, Snowflake and BigQuery marked as coming up.

As of October 30, 2026, Free includes 20 AI messages a month. Premium is $25 per user a month, or $17.50 on an annual plan, with 200 AI messages and PDF, PPTX, XLSX and HTML export. Pro is $100 per user a month, or $70 on an annual plan, with unlimited AI messages, up to 10 team members and advanced connectors. Enterprise is custom. Each prompt counts as one message, and when you run out, AI features pause until your messages reset or you upgrade.

How do you check a number on an AI-built dashboard?

An AI that lays out a dashboard or writes a formula saves real time. Checking is a separate job. You can open 3 things behind a number: the rule (a formula, a chart's settings or a query), the summary (the grouped table a chart draws from), and the rows (the records that were counted). The rule and the summary tell you how a number was made. Only the rows tell you what went into it.

A worked example

Here's a hypothetical. You upload an export of 1,947 invoice rows, and the dashboard opens with a KPI card: Q3 revenue, $386,420. Its rule, whether a formula or a chart setting, sums the amount column for invoices dated July 1 through September 30. The rule is valid, and the summary table agrees with the card.

The rows say more. In that date range, 12 invoices have the status void, worth $8,940, and 7 are drafts that were never sent, worth $5,315. Your finance team counts only sent and paid invoices, so its Q3 revenue is $372,165: $386,420 minus $8,940 minus $5,315. The card isn't broken. It uses a different definition than finance does, and only a list of rows shows the difference. If the dashboard reaches your manager as a PDF, the rows stay behind with you. Why dashboard numbers don't match covers more causes.

What Bricks shows behind a number

In Bricks, click Edit on a chart to open Chart Composer. It shows the columns on each axis, the grouping, the data range and the aggregate function, such as a sum. Each dashboard also gets its own Dashboard Data grid, locked by default, that holds the aggregate and summary tables its charts and KPI cards are built from. Your source rows stay in Grids, Bricks' spreadsheet pages, where AI-written formulas are Excel-style and readable in the cell.

Bricks' product page mentions filtering and drill-down, but none of the docs we read describes a list of the rows behind one KPI card. To find the 19 invoices above, you'd filter the source grid by status. When source data changes, charts and tables update on their own, and the AI-written summaries update when you run Refresh Insights.

How do the alternatives compare?

Prices are from official pages as of October 30, 2026, in US dollars; Bricks, Workspace and Microsoft prices are per user per month on yearly terms. "Check a number" is what the docs say you can open.

Which alternative fits your team?

Gemini in Google Sheets: if your team works in Sheets

Gemini in Sheets creates tables, formulas, charts, pivot tables and analysis from a prompt. Since April 2026, it can also build a whole spreadsheet from one prompt after you approve its plan (US, English only). It comes with Google Workspace Business Standard ($14 per user per month with a 1-year commitment) and higher plans, not Business Starter, and with Google AI Pro and Ultra. It works best with native Sheets files, so save an Excel file as Google Sheets first.

Formulas land in cells, and the Analysis steps and Show code buttons reveal how Gemini reached an analysis or chart. An inserted chart goes on a new tab with its underlying data and doesn't follow later changes to the original, except from BigQuery Connected Sheets. In a pivot table Gemini builds, click Edit, then double-click a value to get a new sheet of that cell's source rows.

Copilot in Excel: if your team works in Excel

Copilot in Excel builds and edits workbooks from a prompt: formulas, charts and PivotTables with editable links to source data, and dashboards from scratch. Plan mode shows its step-by-step plan before it changes anything. Microsoft lists 4 ways to get it: Microsoft 365 Personal or Family with an AI credits plan, Microsoft 365 Premium, a commercial Copilot subscription, or a Copilot Chat-eligible business or enterprise plan. Microsoft 365 Business Standard with Copilot is $23.50 per user per month, paid yearly.

Copilot explains the formulas it adds and can explain any other formula in the workbook. Ask "What changes has Copilot made to this workbook?" or open Show Changes, which tracks supported edits for up to 365 days. In a PivotTable, double-click a value and Excel puts the detail rows on a new worksheet. Microsoft's FAQ asks you to review and verify anything Copilot creates before relying on it, good advice for any tool.

Basedash: if your data lives in a database

Basedash answers plain-English questions by running SQL against your data: databases and warehouses such as PostgreSQL, MySQL, BigQuery and Snowflake, or 750+ SaaS sources synced through Fivetran. Files work through a Google Sheets, Google Drive, Dropbox or OneDrive connection. Startup is $1,000 a month plus AI usage for up to 25 users, with $1,000 a month in AI credits and a 14-day trial with no card.

Its Sources list shows every query behind an answer, with the data source, the row count, a preview and the full SQL. Click a bar, point or slice, including on a number chart, and Records lists the rows behind that value. Our Basedash alternatives guide goes deeper.

Data Studio: if you don't need AI to lay out the page

Data Studio, called Looker Studio until April 2026, is free for creators and report viewers, and Pro is $9 per user per project per month. It connects to 1,400+ data sources, including Google Sheets and CSV uploads. Gemini in Data Studio features, such as writing a calculated field from a description, are in Preview and need Pro.

In edit mode, right-click a chart and choose Show underlying data to see the dimensions and metrics behind it, 25 rows per page, without drill-down dimensions. Our Looker Studio alternatives guide has more.

Where does Every Number fit?

Every Number, which publishes this guide, starts from the other end: the AI never writes a number. You upload an export, Excel or CSV up to 10 MB. Fixed rules, not AI, lay out the first screen from your columns, and a database counts every number. The AI only suggests metrics, from your column names, column types and goal, never your rows.

Every number opens its receipt: the definition, the rows it used, and the rows it left out. In the example above, a definition that leaves out void and draft invoices would show $372,165, with those 19 rows on its left-out list. Try it at everynumber.app/try with your own file and no account; it's deleted after 24 hours unless you save it. Teams that sign up are free for 30 days with no card. Planned prices are Solo $29 a month and Team $99 for up to 5 people, and nothing is billed yet. The $99 pilot delivers a dashboard built by a person in 5 business days.

It's the wrong choice if you need live connections or data pulled on a schedule; you upload a fresh export instead. It's also new (open to everyone since October 25, 2026), with no customers to point to and no certifications such as SOC 2. The export guides show where to download files from 38 tools.