Arcwise vs Columns

Arcwise is an AI-powered analyst that integrates directly with Google Sheets, enabling users to perform data analysis and build reports without leaving their spreadsheets. It connects seamlessly to popular data warehouses and business tools like Snowflake, BigQuery, Salesforce, and Hubspot, centralizing data access and ensuring a single source of truth. Users can work with massive datasets, handling millions or even billions of rows, without crashing their sheets. Arcwise automatically generates SQL queries, tables, and reports based on natural language questions, making data exploration accessible to non-technical users.

The platform supports visualization of data responses, helping users quickly identify trends and patterns. It also allows deep dives into data by tracing numbers back to their original sources, correcting errors, and uncovering drivers of change. Arcwise offers scheduling features to automate report updates and send alerts when key metrics fall outside expected ranges, keeping teams informed in real time.

Arcwise’s AI model can be customized: users can bring their own models or have Arcwise fine-tune a large language model based on their data. The system learns from user feedback to improve accuracy and relevance over time. This makes Arcwise suitable for a wide range of professionals, including financial analysts, project managers, and business owners who need fast, reliable insights directly within their spreadsheets.

The tool emphasizes ease of use by embedding AI capabilities into familiar spreadsheet environments, reducing the learning curve and speeding up report generation from hours to minutes. It supports team collaboration by allowing users to share reports and find trusted data sources within their organization. Arcwise is currently available in beta with a focus on helping teams integrate AI into their business processes efficiently.

Columns is a fast and intuitive data visualization platform that helps teams turn raw data into clear, engaging stories. It supports a wide range of data sources including Google Sheets, Notion, Airtable, SQL databases, Excel, CSV files, and HTTP APIs, allowing users to connect once and reuse data easily. The platform uses AI to transform data into visual narratives, providing tools to build professional presentations with features similar to Canva, enhanced by AI-generated titles and summaries. Users can share their insights through links, embedded views, exports, or dynamic dashboards, with options for access control and domain whitelisting to protect sensitive information. Columns also automates data updates with scheduling features, ensuring visualizations stay current without manual effort. Its API capabilities allow replicating graph templates with new data and creating shareable URLs for quick collaboration. The platform targets business analysts, marketers, executives, consultants, bloggers, and business owners who need to communicate data insights effectively and make informed decisions. Columns emphasizes simplicity and efficiency, aiming to replace complex tools like Tableau with a more accessible AI-driven solution. It supports interactive AI chat for natural language queries, enabling users to explore data and generate visualizations without technical expertise. Overall, Columns combines data integration, AI-powered analysis, design, sharing, and automation into a single workflow to streamline data storytelling.