Tellius
Tellius is an AI-native analytics platform founded in 2016 and headquartered in Reston, United States, designed to let business users analyze large datasets using natural language queries and automated insights.
Publisher review
Tellius is an AI-native analytics platform founded in 2016 and headquartered in Reston, United States, designed to let business users analyze large datasets using natural language queries and automated insights. It targets mid-market to enterprise teams in pharma, retail, and finance, with notable customers including Novo Nordisk, PepsiCo, and eBay. The platform differentiates by proactively surfacing insights via AI agents rather than requiring users to manually search or build dashboards, aiming to reduce manual data exploration time by up to 75% according to the vendor's comparison materials.
The platform works by connecting to structured data sources like Snowflake, Salesforce, and relational databases, as well as unstructured data such as PDFs and Excel files, using a live query engine that avoids data movement. Key capabilities include natural language search that returns narratives and KPIs, multi-level automated insights that explain why metrics change, granular root-cause analysis, and AutoML for predictive modeling via an intuitive interface. Tellius 6.2, introduced in 2025, adds conversational AI agents that can transform raw data into polished deliverables, and the platform supports data preparation through point-and-click, SQL, Python, or generative AI. It offers a Premium tier for small teams with up to 50 million rows in live mode and 10 GB of storage, and an Enterprise tier with unlimited data scale, SAML integration, and flexible deployment on customer cloud, on-premises, or Tellius Cloud.
In market positioning, Tellius claims to beat ThoughtSpot in 90% of evaluations, citing advantages in automated insight discovery, natural language narratives, and AI-augmented data preparation. It was ranked #1 among 19 vendors in the 2025 Dresner Wisdom of Crowds Agentic AI Report for the Data, AI & Analytics Platforms segment. Competitors include ThoughtSpot, Sisense, Looker, Mozart Data, and Anzo, though Tellius emphasizes its agentic approach as distinct from search-driven tools like ThoughtSpot, which it says requires manual query formulation and lacks AI agents for complex analysis.
Honest trade-offs include a challenging initial setup and implementation process, as noted in user reviews on Gartner Peer Insights, with some users reporting that operational support has gaps. While the platform offers flexible deployment, the Premium tier's 50 million row limit may constrain larger enterprises, and some features could be more customizable. The vendor's focus on agentic AI means users accustomed to traditional dashboard-centric BI tools may face a learning curve, and the platform's reliance on live queries, while performant, may not suit all on-premises data governance requirements.
How it works
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Natural language querying
Users ask business questions in plain language and receive narratives and KPIs without writing code.
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Automated insight discovery
Proactively alerts users to significant data changes and explains why metrics vary, reducing manual exploration.
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Granular root-cause analysis
Identifies top contributors and reasons behind metric changes, enabling precise understanding of data shifts.
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AutoML predictive modeling
Builds predictive models through an intuitive interface, allowing non-experts to perform advanced analytics.
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Conversational AI agents
Automates complex analysis by turning conversations into actionable insights and polished deliverables.
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Multi-method data preparation
Supports visual pipelines, SQL, Python, and generative AI for transforming data from various sources.
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Live query engine
Queries data in place without movement, delivering high performance for up to 50 million rows in Premium tier.
Strengths and trade-offs
Strengths
- Ranked #1 among 19 vendors in the 2025 Dresner Wisdom of Crowds Agentic AI Report for Data, AI & Analytics Platforms.
- Novo Nordisk reported 88% time savings using Tellius agentic analytics for commercial operations efficiencies.
- Reduces manual data exploration time by up to 75% through automated insight discovery compared to manual search-driven approaches.
- Supports connectivity to over 15 major data sources including Snowflake, Salesforce, HubSpot, and unstructured data like PDFs and Excel.
Trade-offs
- Initial setup and implementation can be challenging, with some users reporting a steep learning curve during onboarding.
- Operational support has gaps, according to user reviews on Gartner Peer Insights, with responsiveness varying by issue.
- The Premium tier limits live mode to 50 million rows and 10 GB storage, which may not scale for large enterprise datasets.
- Some features could be more flexible, as noted in user feedback, particularly around customization of automated insights and dashboards.
Pricing context
Tellius offers two tiers: Premium at an undisclosed price for small teams with up to 50 million rows in live mode, 10 GB storage, guided insights, search-driven visualization, Vizpads for sharing, connectivity to cloud data and apps, and fully hosted on Tellius Cloud. Enterprise tier includes automated machine learning, SAML/SSO, APIs, embedding and white labeling, unlimited data scale, and flexible deployment on customer cloud, on-premises, or Tellius Cloud; pricing is custom quote-based.
Getting started with Tellius
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Sign up for Tellius
Visit the Tellius website and choose the Premium tier for small teams or request a custom Enterprise quote. Complete the registration form with your business email and organization details to create your account.
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Connect your data sources
From the Tellius interface, select Add Data Source and choose from supported options like Snowflake, Salesforce, or relational databases. Enter your connection credentials and configure the live query engine to access data without moving it.
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Define key metrics and KPIs
Use the natural language query bar to type business questions, such as 'Show monthly sales by region.' Tellius returns narratives and KPIs. Adjust metric definitions in the settings to align with your business logic.
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Run automated insight analysis
Enable automated insights and anomaly detection from the dashboard. The platform proactively surfaces significant changes in your data. Review the root-cause analysis to understand why key metrics changed, including top contributors.
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Schedule and share Vizpads
Create Vizpads by combining search-driven visualizations and insights. Set up recurring email schedules or share links with your team. For Enterprise, embed Vizpads into your applications using the API and white-label options.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Tellius and how does it work?
Tellius is an AI-native analytics platform founded in 2016 that lets business users analyze large datasets using natural language queries and automated insights. It connects to structured and unstructured data sources, using a live query engine to avoid data movement.
What are the key features of Tellius?
Key features include natural language querying, automated insight discovery, granular root-cause analysis, AutoML predictive modeling, conversational AI agents, multi-method data preparation, and a live query engine. These help users explore data without coding and get proactive insights.
How does Tellius pricing work?
Tellius offers two tiers: Premium for small teams with up to 50 million rows and 10 GB storage, and Enterprise with unlimited data scale, SAML integration, and flexible deployment. Premium pricing is undisclosed, while Enterprise is custom quote-based.
How does Tellius compare to ThoughtSpot?
Tellius claims to beat ThoughtSpot in 90% of evaluations, citing advantages in automated insight discovery, natural language narratives, and AI-augmented data preparation. Tellius emphasizes its agentic approach as distinct from ThoughtSpot's search-driven tool requiring manual query formulation.
What are the weaknesses of Tellius?
Weaknesses include a challenging initial setup and implementation, gaps in operational support per user reviews, a Premium tier limit of 50 million rows, and some features needing more customization. Users accustomed to traditional BI tools may face a learning curve.
Who are Tellius's main competitors?
Main competitors include ThoughtSpot, Sisense, Looker, Mozart Data, and Anzo. Tellius differentiates by its agentic AI approach, which proactively surfaces insights rather than requiring manual search or dashboard building, according to the vendor.
Alternatives
How Tellius compares
Direct head-to-head against 3 competitors. Picked by 7wData.
Tellius
- Pricing
- Tellius offers two tiers: Premium at an undisclosed price for small teams with up to 50 million rows in live mode, 10 GB storage, guided insights, search-driven visualization, Vizpads for sharing, connectivity to cloud data and apps, and fully hosted on Tellius Cloud. Enterprise tier includes automated machine learning, SAML/SSO, APIs, embedding and white labeling, unlimited data scale, and flexible deployment on customer cloud, on-premises, or Tellius Cloud; pricing is custom quote-based.
- Target
- Tellius is an AI-native analytics platform founded in 2016 and headquartered in Reston, United States, designed to let business users analyze large datasets using natural
- Strength
- Ranked #1 among 19 vendors in the 2025 Dresner Wisdom of Crowds Agentic AI Report for Data, AI & Analytics Platforms.
- Watch for
- Initial setup and implementation can be challenging, with some users reporting a steep learning curve during onboarding.
ThoughtSpot
- Pricing
- Convoluted: query-, capacity-, or seat-based options
- Target
- Business users needing search-driven analytics
- Deployment
- Cloud, on-premises
- Strength
- Natural language search for ad hoc querying
- Watch for
- Requires extensive knowledge of data model to search effectively
Microsoft Power BI
- Pricing
- Free, Pro $10/user/month, Premium $20/user/month
- Target
- Organizations in Microsoft ecosystem needing BI
- Deployment
- Cloud, on-premises
- Strength
- integration with Azure, SQL Server, Excel
- Watch for
- Limited automated insights compared to Tellius
Tableau
- Pricing
- Viewer $15/user/month, Explorer $42/user/month, Creator $75/user/month
- Target
- Data analysts needing deep visualization
- Deployment
- Cloud, on-premises
- Strength
- Drag-and-drop interface for complex dashboards
- Watch for
- Higher total cost of ownership at scale
User reviews
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Sources
Reporting on this tool draws on these publicly available sources.