Short answer: it depends on who’s looking. If you run the business yourself or with a small team and want money, work, audience and inbox side by side without building reports, pick a canvas like Vexlynk. If you have an analyst, pick a BI tool such as Google Data Studio or Power BI. If a team needs one shared screen of KPIs, pick Geckoboard or Databox.
Instead of a dashboard you only look at, Vexlynk is a canvas you work in: you connect the tools you already use, each becomes a live card that refreshes on its own, and a permanent agent reads the whole board so you can act without switching tabs. Below is how that works, followed by a checklist to choose by situation. For the full side-by-side with prices, see the best software to see your whole business in one place.
Why one canvas beats a dozen apps
Most businesses run across ten or twenty tabs — Stripe, Shopify, analytics, Trello, Notion, email. Nothing connects, so the full picture only exists in your head.
A single visual workspace ends that. Everything lives on one board, so you start the day with the whole business in view instead of chasing it app by app.
What “see your whole business” actually includes
With Vexlynk you pick from 23 live sources, and each one you connect becomes a live card:
- Money — Stripe and Shopify: revenue and recent orders. Stripe’s own Dashboard already charts your payments; the board puts those numbers next to everything else.
- Audience — YouTube, Google Analytics, plus Instagram (Plus) and Facebook and TikTok (Pro).
- Work — Trello, ClickUp, Notion, HubSpot, Google Calendar, Calendly.
- Inbox — WhatsApp and Outlook (Gmail is coming soon).
Most sources are read-only; a few (WhatsApp, Trello, ClickUp, Google Calendar) let you act from the card, only when you do it yourself — sending a message, or archiving, completing or deleting something, asks you to confirm first.
Not a dashboard — a workspace
A dashboard is a wall of charts you watch. The best tool to see your whole business is one you can also work in.
On the canvas you drag a card next to a note, connect two ideas, draft a reply, and reorder today’s priorities — data and work on one surface. That’s the difference explored in the hidden tax of app switching.
The agent that ties it together
A permanent agent sits on the board, reads every card plus your live data, and works through plain conversation — building, organizing, and drafting.
It reasons over your real numbers, not the open internet, so answers stay grounded. And it acts only when your own message authorizes it. The Free plan includes 50 AI turns a month; on Plus and Pro you can use the hosted AI or bring your own key (OpenAI, Anthropic, DeepSeek or xAI).
How to choose: a checklist by situation
Start with four questions:
- Which apps do you open every morning to know how things are going?
- Is each one on the tool’s integration list today (not “coming soon”)?
- Who will build and maintain it: you, a teammate, or nobody?
- What does it cost at your size, per user and per source?
Then match your situation:
- Solo creator (YouTube, a store, a calendar): you want channel numbers, revenue and your schedule together, without building a report. A canvas fits; Vexlynk Free covers 5 sources. If YouTube is the only thing you check, YouTube Studio alone may be enough.
- Store owner (Shopify or Stripe plus Google Analytics): a canvas gives you orders, payments and traffic side by side with no setup. If you’d rather build custom charts, Google Data Studio is free, and Databox’s free plan covers 3 data sources.
- Service business (calendar, bookings, CRM, tasks, WhatsApp): pick the tool that lets you act, not only look. On Vexlynk you can reply on WhatsApp, update a Trello card or ClickUp task, or add a Google Calendar event from the card, only when you do it yourself: a WhatsApp reply asks you to confirm before it sends, and edits and new events save when you click Save. Dashboards show these numbers but don’t act on them.
- Team with an analyst: pick a BI tool. Power BI is free to build your own reports and $14 per user/month (paid yearly) to share them; Google Data Studio is free. For an office screen of team KPIs, Geckoboard starts at $79/month billed annually.
Prices are as of September 2026. The full comparison covers Klipfolio, a spreadsheet and more, with what each connects.
Links and prices checked September 27, 2026.
Vexlynk runs on Windows and Mac and as a web workspace. On the desktop app your boards are stored on your machine, with cloud sync as an option on Plus and Pro; the web workspace keeps boards in the cloud (desktop vs web). Plans are Free, Plus and Pro (pricing).
The bottom line
The best tool to see your whole business in one place is a single visual canvas where your live data and your work sit together — not a dozen apps you switch between.
You can see it for yourself at Vexlynk.
How many tabs would you close if your whole business fit on one screen?
Keep exploring
- How Vexlynk works: the canvas, live cards and the assistant
- Every source you can connect as a live card
- Plans and pricing
- More from the Vexlynk blog
Frequently asked questions
Where can I compare all the options with prices?
In the best software to see your whole business in one place: Google Data Studio, Power BI, Databox, Geckoboard, Klipfolio, a spreadsheet and Vexlynk, side by side.
What’s the best tool to see my whole business in one place?
Look for one that reads your existing sources live rather than making you rebuild data, and that reasons across them. That’s the design behind Vexlynk’s canvas.
How is it different from a spreadsheet or BI tool?
No modeling, no queries, no export step — you connect a source and it appears as a live card, and the assistant answers across the board.
Is there a free way to try it?
Yes — there’s a real free plan (not a trap) so you can put a few sources on a board before paying anything.
Vexlynk
Vexlynk Team