---
title: "Zoho Analytics alternatives for small businesses: rows, users and price (2026)"
url: "https://everynumber.app/resources/zoho-analytics-alternatives"
description: "Zoho Analytics Basic is $24 a month billed yearly for 2 users and 500,000 rows across all tables. Anyone you share with privately counts as a user, and view-only seats have a 25-seat minimum. Data Studio is free for creators and viewers. Power BI Pro is $14 per user a month, paid yearly, and readers need it too."
updated: "2026-10-29"
---

# Zoho Analytics alternatives for small businesses: rows, users and price (2026)

You priced Zoho Analytics because it's cheap to start, and maybe your CRM or books already live in Zoho. Then the details sank in: rows count across every table, anyone you share a dashboard with privately counts as a user, and Basic connects to 2 business apps.

For many small businesses it's still a good deal. But when your order history grows and 6 people need the numbers, the bill grows past the sticker price. This guide prices it for one hypothetical store, then compares 6 alternatives on row limits, readers and cost, from official pages as of October 29, 2026.

## What does Zoho Analytics cost in 2026?

Zoho Analytics prices by users and rows. Here are the plans in US dollars, billed yearly, as of October 29, 2026.

| Plan | Billed yearly | Users | Rows | App connectors |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | $24/mo | 2 | 500,000 | Any 2 |
| Standard | $48/mo | 5 | 1 million | 50+ |
| Premium | $115/mo | 15 | 5 million | 50+ |
| Enterprise | $455/mo | 50 | 50 million | 50+ |

Billed monthly, the same plans cost $30, $60, $145 and $575. The Free plan covers 2 users and 10,000 rows, with no add-ons, and paid plans have a 15-day free trial. The add-ons:

- **Extra users:** $8 per user per month, or $6.40 billed yearly.
- **Viewers:** a minimum of 25 for $80 a month billed yearly, or $100 monthly. Viewers log in to view and explore, but can't create or share reports.
- **Extra rows:** 1 million more rows for $38.41 a month billed yearly, or $48 monthly.

## Why do small businesses look beyond Zoho Analytics?

- **Rows add up.** Zoho counts every row stored in every table and workspace, so customer and product tables count alongside orders.
- **Sharing privately adds users.** Anyone you privately share a workspace, report or dashboard with counts as a user. Make Public shows a report to anyone without a login, but private links, which open without a Zoho account, start on Premium.
- **Basic connects to 2 apps.** Basic includes any 2 business app connectors, such as Zoho CRM, Zoho Books, Shopify or QuickBooks, synced once a day. Standard and up include 50+ and sync up to 8 times a day, or 24 on Enterprise.
- **Uploaded files don't refresh.** Zoho schedules imports from web URLs, FTP servers and cloud drives such as Google Drive, but not from files uploaded from your computer. Each new export is a manual re-import.
- **Reports take some building.** You drag columns onto X-axis, Y-axis and Color shelves and pick Sum, Count or Average. Logic goes into formulas or SQL query tables. Connectors bring 100+ pre-built reports each, and every paid plan lists an AI agent that creates reports from a request.

## When would a growing order export outgrow each plan?

Here's a hypothetical. Say you run an online store where 2 people build reports and 4 managers read them. Your order export has one row per order line: 140,000 rows today, plus 15,000 rows a month. Counting only that table:

- **Free, 10,000 rows:** over the limit on the first import.
- **Basic, 500,000 rows:** full in 24 months, since 140,000 + 24 × 15,000 = 500,000.
- **Standard, 1 million rows:** full in about 57 months, close to 5 years.
- **Premium and Enterprise:** 5 million and 50 million rows, decades away at this pace.

Now add the people, billed yearly. Basic includes 2 users, so sharing privately with 4 managers adds 4 users: $24 + 4 × $6.40 = $49.60 a month. A 25-viewer pack instead brings it to $104. Standard includes 5 users, so the same 6 people need 1 extra: $48 + $6.40 = $54.40 a month. For $4.80 more than Basic, you get twice the rows and 50+ app connectors.

Extra users beat a viewer pack up to 12 readers: 12 × $6.40 is $76.80, against $80. From 13 readers on, the pack costs less. For comparison, the same 6 people would pay $84 a month on Power BI Pro (6 × $14, paid yearly).

Two habits slow the count. Re-import a full export with Delete existing records and add, not Add records at the end, or every earlier row is stored twice, a classic reason [dashboard numbers don't match](/resources/why-dashboard-numbers-dont-match). And if you report only on recent orders, a 24-month window holds steady at 360,000 rows.

## How do the alternatives compare?

Cost to start is the free option or the lowest paid plan, billed yearly where offered, as of October 29, 2026. Power BI's free account can't share, so Pro is shown. Data limit is the cap that matters most for exported files.

| Option | Cost to start | Data limit | Readers | Trace a number |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zoho Analytics | Free; Basic $24/mo | 500,000 rows on Basic | Users or viewer packs | View Underlying Data |
| Data Studio | Free | 100 MB per upload | Free, no account needed | Show underlying data |
| Google Sheets | Any Google Account | 20M cells per file | Link, no sign-in needed | Pivot source data |
| Power BI | Pro $14/user/mo | 1 GB model on Pro | Need Pro too | Show as a table |
| Metabase | Free self-hosted | Your own database | Unlimited users | View these records |
| Geckoboard | Essentials $79/mo | Spreadsheets under 5 MB | Unlimited viewers | Source data, Performance |
| Every Number | Try free; $29/mo planned | Excel or CSV, 10 MB | Read-only share links | A receipt per number |

## Which alternative fits your situation?

### If you work in Google: Data Studio or Google Sheets

Data Studio, renamed back from Looker Studio in April 2026, is available at no charge for creators and report viewers, and viewers don't need a Google Account. It reads Google Sheets, picking up new rows on each query, and takes Excel and CSV uploads of up to 100 MB, with 2 GB of storage. New CSV uploads are appended without removing duplicates, so the same rows uploaded twice count twice. While editing, right-click a chart and choose Show underlying data. Pro is $9 per user per project per month. Our [Looker Studio alternatives](/resources/looker-studio-alternatives) guide covers more.

Anyone with a Google Account can create in Google Sheets, and it opens and edits Excel files. A spreadsheet holds up to 20 million cells or 100 MB; at 20 columns, the cell limit allows 1 million rows. Share it as Viewer with specific people or with anyone who has the link; link viewers don't need to sign in. In a pivot table, double-click a value and Sheets opens its source data in a new sheet.

### If you need a data model: Power BI

Power BI Pro is $14 per user per month, paid yearly, and a free account can't share. Readers need Pro too, unless the content sits in Premium capacity. Pro's model memory size limit is 1 GB. Show data point as a table lists the data behind a value, though not for measures, and Show as a table isn't supported on Card and KPI visuals. Our [Power BI alternatives](/resources/power-bi-alternatives) guide covers Mac support and team costs.

### If your data sits in a database: Metabase

Metabase's open source edition is free with unlimited users if you host it. Starter, hosted by Metabase, is $100 a month on monthly billing, with 5 users included and $6 per extra user; everyone who signs in counts. More data sources or dashboards cost nothing extra. CSV uploads of up to 50 MB go into a database you connect, such as PostgreSQL, or into optional storage where 1 million rows are free and more starts at $2 per million. On query builder questions, click a value and choose View these records; native SQL questions don't support it.

### If you want a team screen: Geckoboard

Geckoboard charges by dashboards and editors, not viewers. Essentials is from $79 a month billed annually ($99 monthly) for 2 dashboards, 1 editor and 1 screen, and viewers are unlimited: sharing links don't need a Geckoboard account. It connects to 90+ data sources plus Google Sheets and Excel, but a spreadsheet file must be below 5 MB. Drilldown and Source data, which show the items behind a metric, start on Performance at $319 a month billed annually.

### When Zoho Analytics is still the right call

Stay if your numbers live in Zoho CRM, Zoho Books or another app Zoho syncs for you, or if you want formulas and SQL next to your charts. Click a chart point and View Underlying Data opens its rows, for people you give that permission. For the store above, Standard at $54.40 a month covers 6 people and nearly 5 years of growth.

## Where does Every Number fit?

Every Number, which publishes this guide, fits a narrower job: small teams whose numbers come from exports and spreadsheets, and who want a shared dashboard where each number opens its rows, without building reports. You upload an Excel or CSV export of up to 10 MB. Fixed rules, not AI, lay out the first screen from your columns, and a database counts every number. Every number opens its receipt: the definition, the rows it used, and the rows it left out. Read-only share links can carry an end date.

Drop a file at [everynumber.app/try](/try) with no account and see the dashboard in seconds. Unless you save it, it's deleted after 24 hours. Teams that sign up are free for 30 days with no card. Planned prices are Solo at $29 a month and Team at $99 a month for up to 5 people, and nothing is billed yet. If you'd rather have it built, the [$99 pilot](/pilot) delivers a dashboard built by a person in 5 business days, and the [export guides](/exports) cover 38 tools.

It is not a fit for joining many sources or for scheduled imports. It has no live connectors, so you upload each new export, and for a long order history you export the period you report on. It's also new, open to everyone since October 25, 2026, with no customers to point to and no certifications such as SOC 2.

## Frequently asked questions

### Does Zoho Analytics have a free plan?

Yes: 2 users (the account administrator and 1 shared user), 10,000 rows and 5 workspaces, with no add-ons. Paid plans have a 15-day free trial with no credit card, and accounts that don't buy a plan drop to Free when it ends.

### Do viewers count as users in Zoho Analytics?

Not if you buy the viewer add-on: a minimum of 25 viewers for $80 a month billed yearly, or $100 monthly, which Zoho's help describes as $4 per viewer per month. Otherwise, anyone you share with privately counts as a user, at $8 a month or $6.40 billed yearly.

### Can you share a Zoho Analytics dashboard without a login?

Yes. Make Public, on every plan, shows a report to anyone without a login. Private links open without a Zoho account but work for anyone who has the URL, and they start on Premium with 15 links, or 100 on Enterprise.

### What's the cheapest Zoho Analytics alternative?

Data Studio is free for creators and viewers, and Metabase's open source edition is free if you host it. Every Number is free to try, with Solo planned at $29 a month.

## Sources

1. [Pricing Plans](https://www.zoho.com/analytics/pricing.html) — Zoho Analytics. Checked October 29, 2026.
2. [Pricing and Payments](https://www.zoho.com/analytics/help/pricing.html) — Zoho Analytics Help. Checked October 29, 2026.
3. [Import Data from Files](https://www.zoho.com/analytics/help/import-data/files-feeds.html) — Zoho Analytics Help. Checked October 29, 2026.
4. [Import Data from Cloud Storage](https://www.zoho.com/analytics/help/import-data/cloud-drive.html) — Zoho Analytics Help. Checked October 29, 2026.
5. [Creating a Chart](https://www.zoho.com/analytics/help/chart/create-new-chart.html) — Zoho Analytics Help. Checked October 29, 2026.
6. [Working with Charts](https://www.zoho.com/analytics/help/chart/working-with-charts.html) — Zoho Analytics Help. Checked October 29, 2026.
7. [Sharing to a User](https://www.zoho.com/analytics/help/sharing/sharing-to-a-user.html) — Zoho Analytics Help. Checked October 29, 2026.
8. [Data Studio: Business Insights Visualizations](https://cloud.google.com/data-studio) — Google Cloud. Checked October 29, 2026.
9. [Data Studio returns as new home for Data Cloud assets](https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/data-analytics/looker-studio-is-data-studio) — Google Cloud Blog, April 11, 2026. Checked October 29, 2026.
10. [What you need to use Data Studio](https://docs.cloud.google.com/data-studio/what-you-need) — Google Cloud. Checked October 29, 2026.
11. [Connect to Google Sheets](https://docs.cloud.google.com/data-studio/connect-to-google-sheets) — Google Cloud. Checked October 29, 2026.
12. [Connect to Microsoft Excel](https://docs.cloud.google.com/data-studio/connect-to-microsoft-excel) — Google Cloud. Checked October 29, 2026.
13. [Upload CSV files to Data Studio](https://docs.cloud.google.com/data-studio/upload-csv-files) — Google Cloud. Checked October 29, 2026.
14. [View underlying data](https://docs.cloud.google.com/data-studio/view-underlying-data) — Google Cloud. Checked October 29, 2026.
15. [Collaborative, AI-powered spreadsheets](https://workspace.google.com/intl/en/products/sheets/) — Google Workspace. Checked October 29, 2026.
16. [Files you can store in Google Drive](https://support.google.com/drive/answer/37603) — Google Drive Help. Checked October 29, 2026.
17. [Share and manage access to files and folders in Google Drive](https://support.google.com/drive/answer/7166529) — Google Drive Help. Checked October 29, 2026.
18. [Create & use pivot tables](https://support.google.com/docs/answer/1272900) — Google Docs Editors Help. Checked October 29, 2026.
19. [Power BI: Pricing Plan](https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/products/power-bi/pricing) — Microsoft. Checked October 29, 2026.
20. [Power BI service features by license type](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/fundamentals/service-features-license-type) — Microsoft Learn. Checked October 29, 2026.
21. [Show the data that was used to create the report visual](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/explore-reports/end-user-show-data) — Microsoft Learn. Checked October 29, 2026.
22. [Metabase Pricing](https://www.metabase.com/pricing) — Metabase. Checked October 29, 2026.
23. [Uploading data](https://www.metabase.com/docs/latest/exploration-and-organization/uploads) — Metabase documentation. Checked October 29, 2026.
24. [Setting up data uploads](https://www.metabase.com/docs/latest/databases/uploads) — Metabase documentation. Checked October 29, 2026.
25. [Drill-through](https://www.metabase.com/docs/latest/questions/visualizations/drill-through) — Metabase documentation. Checked October 29, 2026.
26. [Pricing](https://www.geckoboard.com/pricing/) — Geckoboard. Checked October 29, 2026.
27. [Troubleshoot Spreadsheets issues](https://support.geckoboard.com/en/articles/11096428-troubleshoot-spreadsheets-issues) — Geckoboard Help Center. Checked October 29, 2026.