ThoughtSpot makes business intelligence simple and AI-powered.
It focuses on helping you explore data through search and AI, no matter your company size. Founded in 2012 by Ajeet Singh and Amit Prakash, the company is based in Mountain View, California.
The current CEO, Sudheesh Nair, has been leading since August 2018. Amit Prakash, the CTO and co-founder, directs the technical side.
In this ThoughtSpot review, I’m going to share how they’ve grown quickly, raising over $663 million and reaching a valuation above $1 billion by 2018’s Series D. They now support several hundred employees and work with major global companies.
Recently, they rolled out the ThoughtSpot Agentic Analytics Platform, which adds generative AI and agent capabilities to analytics. They also redesigned their homepage and navigation to better fit different user roles.
ThoughtSpot pushes to make analytics more accessible, letting business users find insights without needing help from IT.
This means you can get your data questions answered easily, faster, and with less dependence on technical experts.
That’s the kind of self-service analytics advantage ThoughtSpot offers to any team.
| ThoughtSpot – Quick Overview | |
|---|---|
| What It Does | Makes data exploration simple, searchable, and AI-powered for organizations of all sizes. |
| Best For | • Mid-sized to large enterprises • Business users seeking self-service analytics • Analysts and data engineers needing advanced capabilities • Developers embedding analytics into apps |
| Key Products | ThoughtSpot Agentic Analytics Platform • ThoughtSpot Sage (AI search assistant) • ThoughtSpot Everywhere (embeddable analytics) • ThoughtSpot Software (self-managed/on-premise) |
| Pricing | Starts around $95/user/month (billed annually) for business plans • Enterprise plans by quote • Embedded pricing varies by usage • 30-day free trial available |
| Standout Features | • AI-powered natural language search • Agentic analytics with AI-driven insights • Interactive, drillable dashboards (Liveboards) • Automated insights engine (SpotIQ) • Flexible deployment (cloud & on-premise) |
| Integrations | Snowflake, Google BigQuery, Amazon Redshift, Databricks, Salesforce, plus APIs for custom sources |
| Get Started | Start Free Trial → |
ThoughtSpot Solutions
ThoughtSpot offers a suite of analytics products.
The goal is to help you search, analyze, and visualize data. It uses AI, natural language processing, and interactive dashboards to do this.
The company’s offerings fall into a few main categories.
1. ThoughtSpot Agentic Analytics Platform
This is their flagship platform. It integrates AI agents, automated insights, and embedded intelligence to deliver real-time, actionable data.
It suits users at all skill levels, from business users to analysts and data engineers.
2. ThoughtSpot Sage
This is an AI-powered search assistant. You can query data in plain English.
Anyone can ask questions and get instant answers in charts or tables.
3. ThoughtSpot Everywhere
This embeddable solution lets you integrate ThoughtSpot’s analytics into your own applications, portals, or products.
It supports both external and internal reporting.
4. ThoughtSpot Software
This product is designed for self-managed, on-premise deployment.
It’s ideal if you have strict data residency or infrastructure requirements.
Key Capabilities by User Role
Business Users
- Get self-serve access to analytics
- Use a Google-like search experience
- No need to know SQL
Analysts
- Perform deeper, advanced analysis
- Blend data from multiple sources
- Access flexible visualization tools
Data Engineers
- Handle data modeling and transformation
- Manage integration capabilities
Developers
- Use rich APIs
- Embed, customize, and automate analytics workflows
Integrations
ThoughtSpot connects with major cloud data warehouses:
- Snowflake
- Google BigQuery
- Amazon Redshift
- Databricks
It also works with enterprise SaaS apps like Salesforce.
The platform supports APIs for custom data sources and workflow automation.
That makes it very adaptable to help you modern data setup.
ThoughtSpot Features
1. AI-Powered Natural Language Search
You can search and analyze data using everyday language. Just type a question like “What were sales by region last quarter?” and get instant visual answers.
This saves you time and cuts down on relying on SQL experts.
2. Agentic Analytics
AI agents work proactively to deliver insights and automate repetitive analytics tasks.
They help you spot important trends or anomalies without needing to know exactly what to look for.
3. Interactive, Drillable Dashboards (Liveboards)
The visualizations aren’t static. You can drill down or up in real time and slice data by different dimensions.
This makes it super easy for you to explore data on the fly, even if you don’t have technical skills.
4. Automated Insights (SpotIQ)
SpotIQ automatically scans your data for patterns, correlations, and outliers.
It surfaces hidden opportunities or risks you might never notice on your own.
5. Self-Service Data Modeling
Data engineers can prep, model, and join data from multiple sources right inside ThoughtSpot.
This ensures business users have clean, ready-to-explore data whenever they want.
6. Embeddable Analytics (ThoughtSpot Everywhere)
You can embed ThoughtSpot’s interactive analytics into your own products, portals, or workflows.
That way, you bring data-driven experiences directly to where your team works daily.
7. Flexible Deployment Options
ThoughtSpot supports both cloud-native and on-premise deployments.
You can choose between SaaS or self-managed setups based on your IT needs.
8. Security & Governance
It comes with enterprise-grade features like SSO, row and column-level security, audit trails, and role-based permissions.
All these integrate with common identity providers to keep your data safe.
9. Mobile Access & APIs
You can interact with your data anytime from mobile apps or responsive web interfaces.
Plus, comprehensive APIs let you create custom integrations and automate workflows.
What I really like about ThoughtSpot features is how it democratizes data.
Even if you’re not technical, you can answer business questions in seconds.
The inclusion of generative AI and proactive agents means you get faster and more intuitive access to insights than ever before.
ThoughtSpot Pricing Plans
ThoughtSpot pricing isn’t displayed right on their website. Instead, it varies depending on how you want to deploy it, which features you need, and how many users or data connections you plan to use.
I found the pricing splits mainly into three groups: Team or Business plans, Enterprise plans, and Embedded Analytics options. Each caters to different scales and business needs, so you can pick what fits you best.
You can also try ThoughtSpot with a 30-day free trial that gives you full access to most features. Just keep in mind there isn’t a permanent free version available as of 2025.
| Plan | Price & Features |
|---|---|
| Team/Business Plan | Starts around $95 per user per month (billed annually) • Core self-service analytics • AI search capabilities • Basic integrations |
| Enterprise Plan | Quote-based pricing • Advanced features like SpotIQ • Custom branding • Enhanced security and support SLAs |
| Embedded Analytics (ThoughtSpot Everywhere) | Several thousand dollars per month (based on usage) • Usage-based pricing by users or query volume • Designed for embedding analytics into apps • Suitable for SMBs and larger businesses |
For self-managed or hybrid setups, you’ll need to get a custom quote since pricing depends a lot on your infrastructure and support needs.
Prices have gone up a bit with the addition of AI features, which make it a premium BI option compared to others in the mid-market space.
If you’re interested, click here to learn more about ThoughtSpot pricing 
and try it out.
ThoughtSpot Alternatives
Numerous competitors offer business intelligence and analytics platforms.
Here’s how I see ThoughtSpot compared to five direct alternatives.
It tends to excel when you want a search-first experience with AI power.
Competitor Comparison
| Competitor | Their Strengths | ThoughtSpot Advantage |
|---|---|---|
| Tableau | More visual-centric, less search-oriented | Superior AI search with faster ad hoc queries |
| Microsoft Power BI | Strong MS ecosystem, heavier on dashboards | More intuitive search and easier cloud setup |
| Qlik Sense | Focuses on associative modeling, less plain-language search | Better natural language and AI capabilities |
| Looker (Google) | Data modeling-centric, tighter with GCP | Easier for end users |
| Sisense | Strong for embedded analytics, more developer-focused | Simpler and more user-friendly interface |
ThoughtSpot can feel a bit pricier compared to Power BI or Tableau for basic setups.
But it brings powerful search-first and AI-driven workflows that you won’t find easily elsewhere.
If you want to empower people who aren’t technical to self-serve and get answers faster, ThoughtSpot really stands out.
Of course, if your organization leans heavily into Microsoft, Power BI might win on price and integration.
Still, for pure ease of use and AI search capability, ThoughtSpot is worth considering in any ThoughtSpot alternatives list.
Who Should Use ThoughtSpot
ThoughtSpot works well for mid-sized to large enterprises.
It helps spread analytics across diverse teams. This is especially handy when non-technical business users need quick, accurate insights without waiting on specialists.
Industries like retail, finance, healthcare, and tech often find it useful.
1. You want to reduce reliance on data specialists
If your team tires of waiting for basic reports, ThoughtSpot lets non-technical users create them on their own.
This cuts down bottlenecks and frees up your data experts for more complex tasks.
2. Speed to insight matters to you
You’ll get AI-driven recommendations that help you understand data faster.
This means you spend less time digging and more time acting on insights.
3. You need to embed analytics in customer or partner apps
If you want to add analytics directly into apps for external users, ThoughtSpot supports that.
It makes your data even more accessible outside internal teams.
If your budget for analytics is small or you don’t have dedicated data infrastructure, you might find Power BI or Tableau easier on your wallet.
Also, if you need deeply customized workflows or heavy data modeling, tools like Looker or Qlik may be a better fit.
Bottom Line
ThoughtSpot makes analytics easy with its AI search-first approach.
Its interactive, drillable dashboards help business users work with data on their own.
I like that it leads the market in usability for non-technical users by integrating generative AI and automation features.
That said, the pricing feels above average, and some features may be too much if you only need simple reports. New teams might face a learning curve with search-driven BI tools.
Overall, if you want an enterprise-grade BI solution focused on self-service and AI insights, ThoughtSpot is worth checking out.
I hope this ThoughtSpot review has helped you get a clear picture.
You can start a trial of ThoughtSpot to see if it’s a good fit for your needs.
