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Extraction Tools

What they are:

Extraction tools like Supermetrics and Fivetran are the cables that pull your data out of platforms like Shopify, Klaviyo, Meta Ads, or Google Analytics, and pipe it into one central place.

Why you need them:

If you want all your numbers in one dashboard (orders, ad spend, email performance), you need a tool that fetches the raw data behind the scenes. These tools automate the grunt work, so you’re not exporting CSVs or begging your agencies for reports.

Examples & Cost Range:

  • Supermetrics: Plug-and-play for marketers. Starts at ~$69/month
  • Fivetran: Stronger for bigger teams or more tools. Starts ~$300/month, scales with volume
  • Also known: Integrate, Funnel, Adverity, Airbyte (open source)

What else to know:

  • Some tools offer free trials or limited free use (Supermetrics with Google Sheets for example).
  • Some tools need a database to connect to, others can go straight into a spreadsheet.
  • You’ll want to match the tool to your data sources, data volume, and your budget.
  • If your data source is not available as a connection, you will have to develop your own data pipeline (it’s called API development).

Databases

What they are:

Think of a database like a digital warehouse. It’s where all your raw data gets stored, cleaned, and turned into something useful before it shows up in your dashboards.

Why you need one:

If you’re growing, reporting from spreadsheets won’t scale. Databases give your team one reliable source of truth for orders, ad spend, revenue, CAC, and LTV, without waiting on slow dashboards or dealing with manual updates.

Examples & Cost Range:

  • BigQuery (Google): Great for startups and direct-to-consumer brands. Free tier available, then pay-per-use: often around $50/month for light reporting setups.
  • Databricks: Perfect for personalized, subscription brands using predictive models such as churn forecast and attribution modeling. Starts ~$300/month for 1-2 data sources. If you’re not using an extraction software but have developers write bespoke data pipelines, this will be your tool of choice. (And you devs probably told you so).
  • Snowflake: Best for larger multi-brand groups or agency models. It’s a bit overhyped as it’s more expensive than Databricks but offers less functionality for single brand companies. Starts at ~$500+/month for active usage.

What else to know:

  • BigQuery integrates natively with Google’s Looker Studio (free dashboards) – easy and fast!
  • Backups and data history (called “versioning”) can be crucial for debugging and modeling
  • Want AI down the line? Choose a database that plays nice with machine learning workflows (Databricks wins here).

Visualization Tools

What they are:

These are your dashboards, the tools you open every day to see ROAS, CAC, revenue, and repeat purchase rate in real time.

Why you need them:

You can’t manage what you don’t measure. Visualization tools make your data understandable and accessible, so you (and your team) can act fast and with confidence.

Examples & Cost Range:

  • Looker Studio (Google): Free. Best value for small teams with small data volume.
  • Tableau: Advanced analytics with more dashboard customizations. Starts ~$70/month per user.
  • Power BI: Microsoft’s answer to Tableau. Only use if your company mandates staying within the Microsoft universe. Even Looker Studio is better.
  • Others: Metabase (open-source), Grow, Looker

What else to know:

  • Choose based on who needs the dashboards (you? your agency? your whole team?).
  • Free tools can get slow at scale, especially without a strong database underneath.

Bonus: One-Stop Shop Tools

What they are:

Platforms like Domo or TripleWhale promise an all-in-one package: data extraction, storage, and dashboards, ready to go out of the box.

Why it's tempting:

Everything’s pre-connected, looks nice, and saves you the trouble of building a full data stack. Domo comes with a full business suite of in-tool chat and share, AI chat, website embeds, app store, etc.

Examples & Cost Range:

  • Domo: Full enterprise platform. ~$3,000/month (entry tier)
  • TripleWhale: Tailored for Shopify brands. ~$100–$300/month
  • Northbeam: Tailored for scaling paid spend. ~$300–$1,000/month depending on ad spend
  • Others: Lifetimely, Polar Analytics, Daasity, Tydo

What else to know:

  • ✅ Fast setup, No engineering team required, Unified interface
  • ❌ Harder to customize, You’re locked into their way of doing things, Data ownership and flexibility can be limited
  • Domo is a BI powerhouse if you don’t mind being locked into one vendor.
  • Tools like TripleWhale are great when you’re just getting started, but if you outgrow their templates or want to mix in custom logic (like churn prediction or campaign attribution), you’ll need a modular setup (extract → store → visualize).