6 Best Automated Reporting Tools: Features, Pros & Cons (2025)

You’re here because:

• You waste 20 minutes every morning logging into seven different platforms.
• You've been apologizing for "slightly outdated" data in client meetings.
• You've done the math and realized hiring another analyst for every five new clients is not exactly feasible.

This problem of wasted time on data reporting isn’t new…

In 2015, Matt Umbro wrote about the "25% rule"—if you're burning more than 25% of your billable monthly hours on just reporting processes—you’re hemorrhaging productivity.

Fast-forward to 2025, marketers are still spending 4.1 hours analyzing data and creating reports every week—plus, 2.2 hours on data entry and cleansing.

For you, that ends right here.

Source: Reddit

We talked to agencies, small businesses, and large in-house teams about what they really want from an automated reporting tool:

✅ Ease of use: A user-friendly platform that anyone can master quickly.

✅ Automated reporting workflows: Schedule and send recurring reports to reduce manual reporting and cut down on errors.

✅ Customizable reports and dashboards: Repurpose any report for a new client—update the branding and adjust the KPIs to perfectly match their business goals.

✅ Data blending: Merge data from various data sources (e.g., Google Ads, Facebook, CRM) to see how everything fits together for better data-driven decisions in real time.

✅ Multi-client management: Essential for agencies handling 5+ clients—compartmentalize data and easily switch between accounts.

In just nine minutes, you’ll know which automated reporting tool is the right choice for you.

6 Best Automated Reporting Tools in 2025

Here's a snapshot of our top 6 choices for automated reporting software:

1. DashThis: Perfect for straightforward dashboards, but limited in advanced customization.
2. Databox: Real-time champion, but sub-account management can be tricky.
3. Tableau: Fantastic data visuals, but can be overkill for smaller agencies (and pricey).
4. Looker Studio: Solid (and free) for Google-centric data, but less robust for multi-client setups.
5. AgencyAnalytics: White-label dashboards for agencies, though with basic data-blending.
6. Whatagraph: A balanced blend of easy setup, powerful customization, and multi-client focus.

Let's get into each of them.

1. DashThis

Best for: Teams or consultants who need bare-bones dashboards.

DashThis is a light, user-friendly data reporting tool that focuses on delivering easy-to-read dashboards for marketing campaigns—particularly paid ads and social media channels. Think of it as Power BI's free desktop version, but laser-focused on the metrics marketers actually care about.

Key features:

• Pre-built templates: Quickly create dashboards for Google Analytics, Facebook Ads, etc.
• Scheduling and email reports: Automate PDF or email sends to clients.
• Basic integrations: Connects with many popular ad networks, though some data might require manual importing.
• Simplicity first: A minimalistic approach to design.

DashThis pros:

• Quick setup: DashThis’s streamlined interface and templates help new users build a dashboard within minutes. No coding or advanced customization required.
• Time-saving automation: Once you’ve configured your basic metrics, you can schedule automated reports—saving hours on manual tasks.
• User-friendly: Beginners or smaller agencies often find DashThis less intimidating than more complex platforms.

DashThis cons:

• Limited data manipulation: If you need granular analysis—like eCommerce funnels, custom attribution, or in-depth PPC analytics—DashThis might feel restrictive—forcing you back into tedious manual reporting.
• Report customization restrictions: While report templates exist, teams with highly specific brand guidelines or advanced design needs may find DashThis’s template customization less flexible. This can be a pain if you’re dealing with blended data from Google Sheets or specialized PPC segmenting.
• Learning curve for complex reports: Building highly detailed or custom reports poses a learning curve. Balancing DashThis’s interface, plan limits, and your data complexity can take time.

DashThis pricing:

DashThis’s pricing depends on how many dashboards you need. For example, their “Individual” and “Professional” plans offer just 3 and 10 dashboards, respectively.

That might work for freelancers or small businesses, but if you’re an agency handling 5+ clients, you could run out of dashboards quickly—or face higher costs upgrading to bigger plans.

What do real users say about DashThis?

Most praise DashThis’s user-friendly interface for quick data visualization across multiple sources.

But many find the pricing steep for smaller teams, and advanced features can require a bit more know-how—like Mohammed S. on G2:

“One downside is the pricing; it can be a bit steep for smaller teams. Also, some of the advanced features are a little tricky to set up without prior knowledge.”

2. Databox

Best for: Teams that need real-time dashboards for quick snapshots.

Databox is designed to deliver live data updates via a drag-and-drop interface, making it appealing for basic reporting. But based on feedback from agencies, many users are still spending 15–30 hours a month on reporting tasks.

The culprit is Databox’s dashboards—they often don’t offer the flexibility needed for advanced data exploration, forcing teams to create separate slide decks with screenshots and custom graphs. No bueno.
Key features:

• Live data updates: Near real-time refreshes across integrated channels.
• Pre-built dashboards and templates: Quick to launch but locked into a “slide-deck” style format.
• Textbox widget: A full-featured text editor that allows for embedding metrics, but its fixed landscape mode limits display options.

Databox pros:

• Real-time insights: Offers quick, live snapshots of key performance indicators.
• User-friendly interface: The drag-and-drop functionality makes it easy for teams to set up basic dashboards without heavy technical know-how.
• Quick deployment: Pre-built templates allow you to start monitoring essential metrics almost immediately.

Databox cons:

• Customization constraints: Limited flexibility means you might need to create additional slide decks or custom graphs outside of the platform to fully tailor reports.
• Inefficient workflow for complex reporting: For teams that need deep analysis, the process often becomes duplicative and time-consuming.
• Learning curve for advanced setups: Configuring more intricate reporting structures (like filtering top-level metrics or applying date range changes across clients) can be challenging.
• Performance issues: Some users note that the platform can feel “overwhelmed” when handling large or complex data sets, resulting in slower load times and a less interactive experience.

Side note: At Whatagraph, we make sure we're “always on” for you. Over the past six months, we've clocked an impressive 99.95% uptime—and we’re not about to let that slip.

If anything does go wrong, an emergency alert pings our product engineers (yes, even at 3 a.m.), so they can jump in and tackle the issue—pronto.

What does that mean for you?

• A stable platform with minimal data hiccups or delays.
• Faster bug fixes, handled in-house—no waiting around for a third party.
• Lightning-fast report loads, no matter when, where, or how you log in.
• Any downtime (which is rare) is quickly resolved by our on-call engineers, 24/7.

Databox pricing:

Here’s a quick rundown of Databox’s monthly pricing tiers, based on their website as of March 2025:

• Free Forever ($0): 3 data sources, 3 dashboards, 3 users, 1 seat.
• Starter ($59): 10 data sources, 10 dashboards, 10 users, 3 seats.
• Professional ($199): 30 data sources, 30 dashboards, 20 users, 5 seats.
• Growth ($399): 50 data sources, 50 dashboards, 50 users, 10 seats.
• Premium ($999): 100 data sources, 100 dashboards, 100 users, 20 seats.

As your needs grow, watch out for potential overages—more data sources or dashboards than your plan allows may push you to the next tier.

What do real users say about Databox?

Reviewers rave about Databox's ability to easily combine multiple data sources, and business users find it very user-friendly.

But some also mention missing key features—particularly around distinguishing traffic sources and time points—suggesting the interface could be more intuitive for deeper analysis.

“....it’s hard to discern between traffic sources and points in time as well as different dates because of it being too white of a interface…”

3. Tableau

Best for: Data-savvy teams or larger organizations that need deep analytics and enterprise-level data visualization.

Tableau is often regarded as the gold standard for business intelligence (BI) and data analytics, allowing you to blend multiple data sources, create interactive reports and dashboards, and drill down into granular insights.

But its robust feature set comes with a steep learning curve. And it isn’t particularly designed for agencies managing multiple clients who need quick, templated reports.

Key features:

• Advanced data visualization: Interactive, highly customizable dashboards.
• Deep analytics and calculations: Write complex formulas, combine multiple data sets, and use forecasting tools to predict future trends.
• Scalability: Handles large volumes of data with enterprise-level security.
• Live data connections: Real-time or near real-time updates, if configured properly.

Tableau pros:

• Powerful advanced analytics: Excellent for in-depth exploration, predictive modeling, and custom calculations.
• Highly customizable dashboards: Offers rich visualization options, from heat maps to advanced geospatial analytics.
• Broad and seamless integration: Connects to a wide range of data sources, from SQL databases to cloud services.

Tableau cons:

• Steep learning curve: Non-technical users often need training to use Tableau to its full potential.
• Costly for smaller teams: Licensing fees can add up quickly, especially if multiple team members need access.
• Not agency-focused: While it excels at enterprise analytics, it lacks built-in tools for multi-client management or easy white-labeling.
• Resource-heavy: Large data sets and advanced calculations may require robust hardware or cloud resources.

Tableau pricing:

A single Tableau Creator license runs about $75/month (or $900/year).

Additional roles—like Explorer or Viewer—cost less per seat but have limited functionality. As you add more users or expand into enterprise features, costs can climb significantly, making Tableau a heavier investment for smaller agencies or teams.

What do real users say about Tableau?

A lot of users—like Srinivasa Reddy B.—praise Tableau’s advanced features like LOD calculations and interactive dashboards.

But they note slow performance and “odd” behavior when connecting live data, resulting in longer load times for the server.

“1. It performs odd when we connect a live data

2. Takes so much time to send data to server.”

4. Looker Studio

Best for: Teams heavily invested in Google-centric data that can handle manual data blending for non-Google sources.

Looker Studio (formerly Google Data Studio) allows you to create dashboards and reports from Google’s native platforms, mostly for free. However, many agencies find themselves manually blending data in Sheets or relying on third-party connectors like Supermetrics—especially when managing multiple channels (Facebook, TikTok, Pinterest, etc.).

Free can quickly become expensive, too. Frequent complaints center around slow loading times, limited advanced features, and lack of multi-client management tools.

Key features:

• Free for basic use: Create and share reports without a subscription (enterprise tiers available).
• Native Google integrations: Pull data from Google Ads, Analytics, YouTube, and more.
• Simple dashboards: Beginner-friendly for straightforward metrics and visuals.

Looker Studio pros:

• Easy to start: Ideal if your reporting is primarily Google-based and you want a no-cost entry point.
• Basic templates: You can quickly spin up standard reports for top-level KPIs.
• Wide user community: Plenty of how-to guides and community templates to jumpstart your setup.

Looker Studio cons:

• Limited data blending: You’ll often need manual merges in Sheets or paid connectors to handle multi-channel data.
• Slow and unreliable for big data sets: Agencies note frequent loading delays and breaks, which can hamper productivity.
• Minimal multi-client features: Not designed for large agencies juggling dozens of client dashboards; no built-in white-labeling.
• Lack of automated insights: No built-in AI-driven recommendations or automated creative performance reporting—teams must manually build these insights.
• No customer support: Users must learn its features, connectors, and design elements on their own. In theory, there’s an email address for developer assistance, but according to both our experience and G2 reviews, responses can be slow or unhelpful.

BTW, every Whatagraph plan comes with its very own dedicated Customer Success Manager—and our live chat support replies in just 4 minutes.

This is how you know you’ve outgrown Looker Studio.

Looker Studio pricing:

Looker Studio (Google Cloud core) currently offers three platform editions—but doesn’t list public pricing; you’ll need to contact sales for a quote. Here’s a quick rundown:

• Standard: Suited for small teams (<50 users). Includes 1 production instance, 10 standard users, 2 developer users, and up to 1,000 query-based API calls/month.
• Enterprise: Adds advanced security features and higher limits for larger organizations.
• Embed: Built for external analytics at scale, supporting up to 500,000 query-based API calls/month.

What do real users say about Looker Studio?

Many find it ideal for quickly building a dashboard and connecting with multiple data tools—like BigQuery, Snowflake, or even Google Drive.

But once you start blending larger or more complex data sets, some reviewers like Raul C. mention that performance can become an issue.

“Despite having improved significantly since the incorporation of Looker technology into the old Data Studio, if you build combined data sources (something essential if you want to perform some calculations) you will see that the loading time is heavily burdened.”

5. AgencyAnalytics

Best for: Smaller agencies looking for a simple, white-labeled reporting platform.

AgencyAnalytics offers a white-labeled dashboard experience covering SEO, PPC, and social metrics. It’s easy to set up, which is great at first. But many agencies quickly find it limiting because they need real-time data, deeper insights, and more automation—things AgencyAnalytics struggles with.

Key features:

• White-labeling: Reports, login, and admin areas can remove the AgencyAnalytics branding entirely.
• Basic integrations: Pull data from Google Ads, Facebook Ads, TikTok, and more (though refresh rates vary).
• Code-based dashboard creation: Developers can programmatically create new dashboards from templates, but maintaining or editing them still requires manual work.
• Scheduled reporting: Automate PDF or email-based reports, albeit with limited template and date range flexibility.

AgencyAnalytics pros:

• Simple to start: Quick setup for basic SEO/PPC reports, minimal learning curve.
• Full white-label: Clients see your brand from login to final report—AgencyAnalytics stays invisible.
• Affordable for smaller teams: The entry-level pricing can be attractive if you’re not dealing with large data volumes or real-time demands.

AgencyAnalytics cons:

• Slow data refresh: Reports can lag 2–3 days, which isn’t ideal for daily or near real-time reporting needs.
• Limited customization and automation: Scheduled reports often stick to the same template; advanced changes require manual adjustments every month.
• Inconsistent integrations: Detailed ad-level data may work in TikTok but not on Facebook, leading to gaps and blame-shifting between platforms.
• Overwhelming manual effort: Some users pull multiple reports daily, double-checking each against the original platform—undermining the promise of automation.
• Unresponsive support: Feature requests and bug fixes can languish indefinitely, with the vendor passing the blame to ad platforms rather than taking ownership.

AgencyAnalytics pricing:

AgencyAnalytics offers a 14-day free trial and flexible monthly or annual billing options. Here’s a quick look at their main plans as of March 2025:

• Launch ($79/month): Includes 5 clients, ideal for freelancers or small agencies.
• Grow ($239/month): Covers up to 20 clients, perfect for growing shops.
• Perform ($479/month): Handles 50 clients, aimed at mid-sized agencies.

Each plan supports unlimited reports and dashboards, though you’ll pay an extra fee per additional client ($2.17–$1.59/client).

What do real users say about AgencyAnalytics?

A lot of users like Elizabeth R. appreciate how easily AgencyAnalytics gathers data from multiple platforms, but they’re frustrated by its limited options for customizing reports and lack of advanced, AI-powered insights.

“Not that customizable. If I wanted to create a report on behaviors only, with some machine learning and AI insights, it doesn’t appear to help there.”

Before moving on, let's take stock. We've seen tools that are cheap but limited. Powerful but hard to use. Pretty but slow.

Whatagraph, meanwhile, has been quietly perfecting the art of 'yes, and.'

Yes, you can have beautiful dashboards AND real-time data.

Yes, you can handle five clients today AND 50 tomorrow.

Yes, your reports will load instantly AND stay accurate when it matters most.

Let’s see how exactly.

6. Whatagraph

Best for: Growing marketing agencies with 10+ employees

Whatagraph is a marketing intelligence platform that effortlessly connects, standardizes, and compiles multi-source marketing data into one smart hub—delivering spot-on insights and fully customizable reports that grow with you.

Here's how it works:

• Connect: In just a few clicks, hook up all your data sources and channels. Watch your data flow in automatically.
• Organize: Forget messy spreadsheets. Effortlessly blend data, create custom metrics, and define dimensions—all without writing a single line of code.
• Visualize: Use drag-and-drop widgets or pre-built templates to craft white-labeled reports that look like they were designed by your dream team.
• Analyze: Break down your data by client, campaign, or account manager. Spot trends, compare performance, and get actionable insights. Plus, our AI chatbot cuts through the KPI clutter to deliver smart, bite-sized summaries.
• Share: Send reports as live links, PDFs, Excel files, or automated emails. Need to integrate with BigQuery or Looker Studio? No problem, Whatagraph’s got you covered.

But does it check all the boxes you’re looking for? Let’s take a look.

Feature #1: Ease of use

Whatagraph’s incredibly simple and easy to use—because we made it that way. Whether you’re an Account Manager or an intern, everyone can log in and start building reports in minutes.

But how exactly is it easy to use?

First of all, to create a report on Whatagraph, you don’t need a data science background or build widgets from scratch. You can simply drag-and-drop our pre-made widgets (like single-metric widgets, donut charts, and multi-source breakdown tables) onto a blank canvas.

Sure, you might say, "Drag and drop widgets? That’s nothing new."

But on a tool like DashThis for example, you’ll still need to configure each widget on a different screen, go back into your report, and add that widget to it. This isn’t necessarily bad, but it definitely takes up more of your cognitive load than being able to drag and drop widgets straight in your report.

If you don’t want to work with widgets or you just need some inspiration, you can start from one of our report templates (we’ve got about 89 of them). All the widgets will already be there—just swap out the data sources and you’re good to go.

Another reason why we’re “easy to use” is because you can create data blends and custom metrics and dimensions right in the report. Here’s what we mean.

Want to see the “Total Ad Spend” across all your PPC channels? You can simply open the menu bar on the right and create a blended source group like so:

Again, this means you don’t need to overload your brain by going in and out of your reports every time you need to do something—like connect your data source, create a blend, or create new widgets. You can do them ALL inside of your report as you go.

Users LOVE this about us. Here’s what one of them said:

Feature #2: Data blending

We touched on this above, but we’re going to repeat it again because organizing your data before visualizing it is so important to keep your reports neat and tidy.

On Whatagraph, you can easily:

• Unify dimension names (e.g. gender, age, and device across Facebook Ads and Google Ads)
• Standardize campaign names (e.g. grouping all “Retargeting” campaigns into one)
• Grouping different countries into tiers (e.g. Tier 1 – United States, United Kingdom, Australia)
• Match metrics names (e.g. “Total ad spend” for all channels)

All of this means:

✅ Your reports show accurate metrics across all your channels—not bloated or underreported ones.

✅ Your reports are neat and tidy—not all over the place.

✅ Your reports are easy to understand for clients—they don’t need to mine through different data points, they can see the key insights right away.

And if you need to factor in something like a 7% agency markup for PPC, a custom formula automatically adjusts your ad spend and cost metrics to deliver client-ready numbers.

Basically, Whatagraph’s easy data blending not only simplifies the process—it transforms raw data into a coherent, actionable story.

Feature #3: Customizable reports and dashboards

As sleek and interactive as Whatagraph’s reports are, wouldn’t it be even better if they looked exactly like you (or your client) wanted? You asked, we answered.

With Whatagraph, customization is king.

You can transform the default design into a fully white-labeled, client-facing masterpiece:

• Remove Whatagraph’s logo: Make it yours (or your client’s)—not ours.
• Choose a color scheme: Align every detail with your or your client’s brand identity.
• Specify the company name: Replace generic text with your own or your client’s name.
• Enter a new domain name: Keep your brand front and center with custom URLs.
• Customize the reply-to address: Make sure every communication feels personal.
• Assign team roles: Specify who’s responsible for the report to streamline project management.

Customization is great, but what if you wanted to add performance summaries to your reports so your clients know what the key insights are right away?

On Whatagraph, you can get AI to write it out, BUT also fully customize what it writes. You can choose from:

1. Summary
2. Wins
3. Recommendations
4. Issues

And, you can also choose whether you want a long format or a short format.

If that’s not enough, once the AI has written the summary, you can still go in and edit it to your heart’s content. This makes sure you’re still adding that human touch to your reports.

Feature #4: Automated reporting workflows

What if your reporting practically ran itself? With Whatagraph, it does—while you still call the shots.

On Whatagraph, you can put report sharing on auto-pilot with scheduled emails. Simply:

1. Customize the email: Choose color themes, upload logos, write header and body texts, and even host the email on your own domain.
2. Choose the frequency and time: Select when you want these reports to go out and on which day the report would be sent (e.g. every Friday). You can also choose whether you want to review the report before sending or have it sent automatically without one.
3. Enter the report recipient's email address: Put in the email of who will receive the reports, and you’re good to go!

Apart from automated emails, you can also share reports via live links (always updated with fresh data), static PDFs, or Excel spreadsheets (only recommended for raw data and tables).

Feature #5: Multi-client management

Whatagraph is designed to help you manage dozens of clients with ease.

When we onboard you, the first thing we do is help you create folders for each client to store your reports.

If you have a client which has different branches or franchises, you'll love our linked template feature. Basically, you can just create one “Master” template with the structure, metrics, and widgets you want to see and duplicate that template to create a report for a different franchise.

This already saves you massive time, but let's go even deeper. If you need to edit the reports, instead of having to do it one by one, you can just edit the Master template and the changes will automatically be applied to all the linked reports.

This is the exact strategy that helped Peak Seven digital marketing agency save 63 hours a month on reporting. Read the full story here.

Whatagraph pros:

• Intuitive: Exceptionally easy to use—anyone on your team can jump right in.
• Comprehensive: An all-in-one solution for marketing performance monitoring and reporting.
• Fast insights: Provides lightning-fast campaign insights to keep you ahead of the game with informed decisions.
• Visually stunning: Delivers dashboards and reports that make your data pop and are easy to interpret.
• Supportive: Offers excellent live chat customer support.
• Reliable: Boasts rock-solid uptime with 99.95% reliability.

Whatagraph cons:

• No freemium plan: Doesn’t offer a freemium plan for budget-conscious users.
• Pricey for some: Can be expensive for small agencies (under 10 employees) and freelancers.

Whatagraph pricing:

Whatagraph offers three pricing plans built around “source credits” and advanced customization features. These credits let you connect data sources, push data to a warehouse, and seamlessly blend cross-channel insights.

Need a tailored option? Just reach out for a custom pricing plan designed for you.

What do real users say about Whatagraph?

Whatagraph may be “simple”—but it’s not “basic.”

• “To me, Whatagraph is like the Tesla or Mercedes of digital analytics tools, their clean and simple way to present complex marketing data. I highly recommend it to anyone working with marketing analytics who values efficiency and clarity in their reporting.” (Source)
• “I love the tool's simplicity, continuous enhancements, brand customization, and its ability to integrate multiple platforms, streamlining data analysis.” (Source)
• “Customer support is exceptionally fast and knowledgeable—every question is answered professionally within minutes.” (Source)

Talk to us to get started.