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An Alteryx alternative for the monthly file work
Alteryx is a serious analytics platform: hundreds of tools, a hundred-plus connectors, scheduling, spatial and predictive work. Plenty of Alteryx seats are used for something much smaller — read a few Excel files, join them, filter, summarize, write an Excel report, again next month. If that describes yours, this page is for you. If it doesn't, keep Alteryx.
What Alteryx costs now
Alteryx sells Alteryx One in three editions. On its pricing page (checked September 30, 2026):
- Starter: $250 per user per month, billed annually; 1 to 10 seats; cloud only; 50 automation runs included; file-based connectivity (.csv, .xlsx, .json).
- Professional and Enterprise: price on request. These include the desktop application and 100-plus data source connectors.
The desktop application, Alteryx Designer, requires Windows 11; on a Mac it runs only inside a Windows virtual machine.
Map your workflow before you move it
Open one of your recurring workflows and list the tools on the canvas. If the list looks like the left column below, the work carries over. If it contains anything from the second table, it doesn't.
| In your Alteryx workflow | In a TableDI 2 job |
|---|---|
| Input Data (Excel, CSV) | Sources: .xlsx, .xlsm, CSV, TSV, and PDF bank statements with a text layer |
| Select (rename, retype) | Import mapping: which column of the file becomes which column here, date format, encoding |
| Data Cleansing | Clean: trim spaces, pad with leading zeros, one date format, read as a number, drop repeats |
| Join (on a key) | Match: one to one, or one to many added up; rows on one side only become exceptions or results |
| Union | A merge job: several sheets into one, columns matched by name |
| Unique | Clean → drop repeats by chosen columns |
| Formula | Computed columns |
| Summarize | Summary: group by, total, count, smallest, largest, average |
| Output Data (Excel) | Delivery: an Excel report with summary, detail and exceptions sheets, or a CSV, to a folder |
| Doesn't carry over | Why |
|---|---|
| Database and cloud inputs | TableDI 2 reads files only |
| Macros of any kind | A job's steps are fixed and run in a fixed order; there is no scripting |
| Spatial, predictive, text mining | Not in the product |
| Scheduled runs on a server | You run each period yourself; the Jobs screen tells you when this period's files have arrived in the job's folder |
| Sharing workflows with a team | Single user by design |
| Windows | macOS only today; Windows is in progress |
What you get that a canvas doesn't give you
A general workflow tool runs whatever is on the canvas. A job knows it is going to meet next month's files, so it checks them first: the preflight shows which columns match last period's, what was renamed or went missing, duplicate or blank keys, and how the row count moved — before anything runs. Rows the rules can't decide wait on an Exceptions tab, with the file and row they came from, and each one leaves by a recorded route: fix the source, waive it with a reason that goes into the delivery, mark it to do, or (lifetime edition) turn it into a rule or carry it to next period. Changing a rule makes a new version; periods already run keep the version they ran with.
TableDI 2 is a desktop app for file work you redo every period: it keeps your sources, rules and delivery as a job, so next month you drop in the new files and run it again. Everything runs on your own machine.
Other alternatives worth a look
- KNIME Analytics Platform — free and open source, Windows, macOS and Linux. The closest thing to Alteryx's canvas without the license; expect a learning curve.
- EasyMorph — Windows only; a free edition up to 20 actions per project, Professional at $900 a year. Aimed at business users.
- Power Query — already in Excel. On Windows it covers many simple Alteryx workflows; the Mac version has fewer sources.
More on these in data preparation tools compared.
What it costs
Free has no time limit and no account: unlimited one-off tasks, export with no row limit, and one saved job you rerun every period. The lifetime edition is $99 once for one machine (movable) — or $49 for a year or $7.99 for a month, neither of which renews by itself; it adds more jobs, rules made from exceptions, carrying items to the next period, delivery templates and the history of every period.
Questions people ask
How much does Alteryx cost?
Alteryx One Starter is $250 per user per month, billed annually, cloud only, for 1 to 10 seats. Professional and Enterprise are priced on request. Figures from Alteryx's pricing page, checked September 30, 2026.
Does Alteryx run on a Mac?
Alteryx Designer is a Windows application (Windows 11). On a Mac it runs inside a Windows virtual machine. The cloud edition runs in a browser on any computer.
Is there a free alternative to Alteryx?
KNIME Analytics Platform is free and open source and covers most of what Alteryx's canvas does. TableDI 2 is free for one saved monthly job on a Mac — a much narrower tool, for recurring Excel file work.
Can TableDI 2 run my Alteryx workflow as it is?
No — there is no import of Alteryx workflows. You set up the job again from the files: pick the key, the tolerance for amounts and where next month's files will land, or let AI draft the steps with your own key.
Related
Doing this every month?
In TableDI 2 you do it once, then save it as a job. Next month you drop in the new files and run it again.
macOS, Apple silicon and Intel; Windows is in progress (what to do meanwhile). Free is not a trial — no account, no card.
Last reviewed 2026-09-30 by the TableDI team. Something wrong on this page? Tell us — it is one inbox, read by the people who build TableDI.