HISTORICAL TRAJECTORY

12 months of data-tool demand history

See whether selected BI, integration, and data-movement tools persisted, broadened, or narrowed across monthly posting periods from Sep 25 through Sep 26.

This is a historical trajectory, not a recommendation backtest. The export contains 12 monthly cohorts. It does not contain 12 independently frozen market snapshots, and the public recommendation archive does not yet have a later observation window.

Observed monthly share

Each bar is the tool's share of detected tool mentions in that month. Bar heights are scaled within each tool, so use the printed percentages to compare tools. A zero can mean no qualifying detection in the export, not that no employer used or requested the tool.

Power BI

12 of 13 months detected

+1.16 pp recent 3 months vs prior 3

0.0%

Sep 25

2.0%

Oct 25

7.8%

Nov 25

3.3%

Dec 25

5.2%

Jan 26

4.0%

Feb 26

8.7%

Mar 26

8.0%

Apr 26

7.8%

May 26

8.4%

Jun 26

9.2%

Jul 26

9.5%

Aug 26

9.0%

Sep 26

Tableau

13 of 13 months detected

-0.04 pp recent 3 months vs prior 3

8.8%

Sep 25

17.0%

Oct 25

9.9%

Nov 25

11.6%

Dec 25

13.9%

Jan 26

22.7%

Feb 26

8.8%

Mar 26

7.2%

Apr 26

6.2%

May 26

6.5%

Jun 26

6.7%

Jul 26

6.8%

Aug 26

6.2%

Sep 26

Looker

9 of 13 months detected

+0.16 pp recent 3 months vs prior 3

0.0%

Sep 25

0.0%

Oct 25

0.0%

Nov 25

0.3%

Dec 25

0.0%

Jan 26

1.0%

Feb 26

1.5%

Mar 26

1.3%

Apr 26

1.5%

May 26

1.5%

Jun 26

1.6%

Jul 26

1.4%

Aug 26

1.8%

Sep 26

MuleSoft

9 of 13 months detected

-0.09 pp recent 3 months vs prior 3

0.0%

Sep 25

0.0%

Oct 25

0.0%

Nov 25

0.0%

Dec 25

0.3%

Jan 26

0.4%

Feb 26

0.9%

Mar 26

0.6%

Apr 26

0.7%

May 26

0.8%

Jun 26

0.7%

Jul 26

0.5%

Aug 26

0.6%

Sep 26

n8n

9 of 13 months detected

-0.02 pp recent 3 months vs prior 3

0.0%

Sep 25

0.5%

Oct 25

0.0%

Nov 25

0.0%

Dec 25

0.0%

Jan 26

0.1%

Feb 26

0.3%

Mar 26

0.3%

Apr 26

0.4%

May 26

0.4%

Jun 26

0.4%

Jul 26

0.4%

Aug 26

0.2%

Sep 26

Fivetran

8 of 13 months detected

-0.03 pp recent 3 months vs prior 3

0.0%

Sep 25

0.0%

Oct 25

0.0%

Nov 25

0.0%

Dec 25

0.0%

Jan 26

0.1%

Feb 26

0.2%

Mar 26

0.2%

Apr 26

0.3%

May 26

0.2%

Jun 26

0.3%

Jul 26

0.2%

Aug 26

0.1%

Sep 26

Census

7 of 13 months detected

+0.03 pp recent 3 months vs prior 3

0.0%

Sep 25

0.0%

Oct 25

0.0%

Nov 25

0.0%

Dec 25

0.0%

Jan 26

0.0%

Feb 26

0.1%

Mar 26

0.1%

Apr 26

0.1%

May 26

0.1%

Jun 26

0.1%

Jul 26

0.1%

Aug 26

0.1%

Sep 26

Metabase

7 of 13 months detected

-0.01 pp recent 3 months vs prior 3

0.0%

Sep 25

0.0%

Oct 25

0.0%

Nov 25

0.0%

Dec 25

0.0%

Jan 26

0.0%

Feb 26

0.0%

Mar 26

0.1%

Apr 26

0.1%

May 26

0.1%

Jun 26

0.1%

Jul 26

0.1%

Aug 26

0.1%

Sep 26

Hightouch

7 of 13 months detected

+0.02 pp recent 3 months vs prior 3

0.0%

Sep 25

0.0%

Oct 25

0.0%

Nov 25

0.0%

Dec 25

0.0%

Jan 26

0.0%

Feb 26

0.1%

Mar 26

0.0%

Apr 26

0.0%

May 26

0.0%

Jun 26

0.1%

Jul 26

0.0%

Aug 26

0.0%

Sep 26

Airbyte

8 of 13 months detected

-0.01 pp recent 3 months vs prior 3

0.0%

Sep 25

0.0%

Oct 25

0.0%

Nov 25

0.0%

Dec 25

0.0%

Jan 26

0.3%

Feb 26

0.1%

Mar 26

0.1%

Apr 26

0.0%

May 26

0.0%

Jun 26

0.0%

Jul 26

0.0%

Aug 26

0.0%

Sep 26

Monthly coverage denominator

The number of detected mentions changed substantially across the period. This can reflect source coverage, ingestion, taxonomy, and actual posting activity. It is why this report shows normalized share and the denominator instead of treating raw count growth as market growth.

Sep 25 68 detected mentions

Oct 25 406 detected mentions

Nov 25 294 detected mentions

Dec 25 790 detected mentions

Jan 26 1,460 detected mentions

Feb 26 2,513 detected mentions

Mar 26 43,573 detected mentions

Apr 26 82,988 detected mentions

May 26 86,254 detected mentions

Jun 26 50,796 detected mentions

Jul 26 68,554 detected mentions

Aug 26 76,594 detected mentions

Sep 26 30,620 detected mentions

What we can and cannot backtest yet

Available now

Historical persistence

We can show how often a tool appeared, its monthly share, and whether its observed footprint broadened or narrowed inside the committed 12-month window.

Needs future observations

Recommendation performance

A true backtest must freeze a dated recommendation, its evidence, and its decision rule, then evaluate it only against later data. The current public issues begin in June 2026, the same month the committed trend export ends.

Frozen, awaiting later data

Analyst & BI

2026-08-26

Research Power BI first when choosing between Power BI and Tableau for broad BI-role coverage, then check the tools against your target role, industry, and geography.

Power BI held a larger share of detected tool mentions than Tableau in each of the final three monthly cohorts in the committed export.

Evidence window: 2026-04 through 2026-06
Evaluation window: First three available monthly cohorts after June 2026
Persistence rule: Power BI's normalized share remains above Tableau's in at least two of three months

The recommendation and rule are now frozen. No performance verdict will be added until the required later observations exist.

Methodology and limitations

The source export groups detected tool mentions by the posting's month and includes terms with at least two detections in a month. The denominator shown here is detected tool mentions, not unique listings, companies, active jobs, or software licenses.

Tool detection and source coverage changed during the period. Monthly shares help control for overall volume, but they do not remove taxonomy or collection changes. Use these trajectories as research signals. Read the full methodology.

About the Author

Rome Thorndike has spent over a decade working with B2B data and sales technology. He led sales at Datajoy, an analytics infrastructure company acquired by Databricks, sold Dynamics and Azure AI/ML at Microsoft, and covered the Salesforce stack including Analytics, MuleSoft, and Machine Learning. He founded DataStackGuide to help data practitioners compare employer demand, related skills, and tool trade-offs without relying only on vendor claims.