To grow, your business needs analytics.
You need to understand every piece of data you have and be able to present it in a way that makes sense to every team. And you need to be able to interpret that data in order to make sound business decisions that help you grow.
The answer to your needs is a business intelligence platform — software that takes your data and presents it in a way that can change the way you do business.
You likely already know about Tableau, but is it right for you? Will it give you what you need?
Are there alternatives?
It’s difficult getting objective information about alternatives to Tableau. When you search on Google, you’re bombarded with ads, and competitor’s websites are all biased.
This guide is the answer. We’ll give you an in-depth analysis of the leading Tableau alternatives and everything you need to make an informed decision.
Tableau alternatives we’ll cover:
Introduction to Tableau
What the Vendor Says: “Changing the way you think about data.”
About Tableau
Tableau is a powerful data visualization tool that converts raw data into interactive graphics in the form of dashboards. It consistently ranks as a Leader in the Gartner Quadrant for Analytics and Business Intelligence Platforms.
What’s Offered by Tableau?
The tool provides simple drag-and-drop features that make it easy for even non-technical users to quickly create detailed reports and understand their data.
The insight gained from using data visualization tools like Tableau can be used to inform key decisions across an organization.
Tableau offers three main products:
- Desktop: Desktop has an intuitive interface with drag-and-drop functionality to create interactive dashboards and visualizations — All in just a few clicks.
- Server: Server lets users across an entire organization share, and interact with data visualizations.
- Online: Online is a version of Tableau Server that is fully hosted in the cloud, so there is no need to configure servers or manage software upgrades.
Tableau dashboard at a glance:
How Much Does Tableau Cost?
Tableau follows a subscription-based pricing model with each tier focusing on individual users and their data visualization needs. All product updates and maintenance are included in the subscription price at no extra cost.
- Tableau Creator – Tableau Creator is designed for individual analysts and power users, and costs $75 per user per month (billed annually). It includes access to Tableau Desktop and Tableau Prep, as well as one Creator license to either Tableau Server or Tableau Cloud. Note that the Creator price is the same, regardless if Tableau is deployed in the cloud or on premise.
- Tableau Explorer – Tableau Explorer is designed for users that want to explore governed self-service analytics, for example, exploring available data to answer their own questions, rather than relying on data from others. It costs $42 per user per month (billed annually) for both on-premise and cloud deployments (the on-premise deployment includes one license to Tableau Server and the cloud deployment includes one license to Tableau Cloud).
- Tableau Viewer – Tableau Viewer is designed for users that just want to access, but not have to create, dashboards and visualizations. When deployed on-premise, it costs $15 per user per month (billed annually) regardless of deployment. Tableau Viewer includes one Viewer license of Tableau Server (if deployed on premise) and one Viewer license of Tableau Cloud (if deployed in the cloud). Note that Tableau requires a minimum of 100 Viewers for this plan.
Pros and Cons of Tableau
Pros: Tableau offers robust data visualization capabilities and a user-friendly interface. The tool also supports popular data sources like Salesforce, Oracle and Amazon Web Services.
Cons: Tableau comes at a higher cost compared to other business intelligence tools and has a steep learning curve for users. Learning all of the tool’s functions requires extensive training.
To learn more, check out this comprehensive Tableau review.
Tableau Alternative #1: SAS Visual Analytics
What the Vendor Says: “Now everyone can easily discover and share powerful insights that inspire action.”
Introduction to SAS Visual Analytics
SAS Visual Analytics is a cloud-based data visualization software that makes it easy for users to create interactive dashboards.
What’s Offered by SAS Visual Analytics?
Key features of SAS Visual Analytics include smart visualisations, automated forecasting, predictive analytics, and ETL capabilities. These features allow users to gather valuable insights about their data and make better business decisions.
SAS Visual Analytics offers two modes of operation: A non-distributed mode, which runs on a single machine, and a distributed version mode, which runs in a distributed computing environment.
SAS Visual Analytics dashboard at a glance:
How Much Does SAS Visual Analytics Cost?
SAS does not publicly list pricing information on their website. Those interested in using SAS Visual Analytics will need to contact the company directly and request a quote. Users can try a free trial of the software for up to 14 days.
Pros and Cons of SAS Visual Analytics
Pros: SAS Visual Analytics is easy to use and offers advanced data visualization capabilities without any programming required.
Cons: SAS does come with high license costs and lack of OLAP (Online Analytical Processing) functionality. The tool also does not support hybrid cloud data sources.
To learn more, check out our comprehensive SAS Visual Analytics review.
Tableau Alternative #2: Microsoft Power BI
What the Vendor Says: “Drive better business decisions across your organization with Microsoft Power BI.”
Introduction to Microsoft Power BI
Microsoft Power BI is a business analytics tool by Microsoft. It offers an intuitive interface that allows end users to create interactive visualizations from multiple data sources.
What’s Offered by Microsoft Power BI?
Features include built-in AI capabilities, deep integration with Excel, natural language Q&A and custom data connectors.
Power BI works through two main products: Desktop and Mobile.
Desktop is an on-premise solution that is available as a free download for local computers. The tool connects to different data sources and allows users to build interactive visuals. Mobile offers the same capabilities as Desktop and is accessible to users from their mobile devices. Users can easily share and collaborate on the go.
Microsoft Power BI dashboard at a glance:
How Much Does Microsoft Power BI Cost?
Power BI has three different plans – Desktop, Pro and Premium.
Desktop is a free desktop application for individual users. The Pro plan costs $9.99 per user a month with features like self-service analytics and sharing available. The Premium plan costs $4,995 per user a month with more advanced features like big data analytics and on-premises reporting.
There is also a free trial available.
Here’s a snapshot of Microsoft Power BI’s pricing:
Pros and Cons of Microsoft Power BI
Pros: Easy-to-use interface that offers exceptional visualization capabilities and a wealth of data source connectors.
Cons: Steep learning curve for more advanced reporting features. Costly for organizations with many employees.
To learn more, read our in-depth Microsoft Power BI review.
Tableau Alternative #3: QlikView
What the Vendor Says: “Blaze trails daily – with the only end-to-end data integration and analytics platform built to transform your entire business.”
Introduction to QlikView
QlikView is a self-service data visualization tool by Qlik. Users can use the tool to connect to all their data sources and uncover unique insights.
What’s Offered by QlikView?
The built-in patented software engine allows users to conduct direct and indirect searches anywhere in the application. All data is held in memory and made instantly available for associated search and real-time analysis.
QlikView dashboard at a glance:
How Much Does QlikView Cost?
QlikView offers two editions: Personal and Enterprise.
The Personal edition is downloadable for free as it’s meant for individual use. Pricing details aren’t available for the Enterprise edition. Interested businesses can reach out directly to Qlik for quotes.
There is a free 30-day trial available.
Here’s a snapshot of QlikView’s pricing:
Pros and Cons of QlikView
Pros: The in-memory technology allows end users to access reports quickly. Interacts with most data sources.
Cons: Some users note a steep learning curve compared to other tools. Adding extra modules can lead to higher costs than originally budgeted.
To learn more, read Better Buys’ comprehensive QlikView review.
Tableau Alternative #4: Looker
What the Vendor Says: “Drive better outcomes through smarter data-driven experiences.”
Introduction to Looker
Looker is a data analytics tool that helps companies analyze their data and gather insights in real-time. Users do not need to have any coding or SQL knowledge to create powerful dashboards and visualizations.
What’s Offered by Looker?
Looker is a 100% in-database and 100% browser-based platform. The tool integrates with any SQL database, such as Amazon Athena and Microsoft Azure SQL Data Warehouse.
Looker is accessible on all browsers as well as mobile devices. It can be integrated into third party applications like Google Docs and Microsoft Excel. Another key feature is its proprietary modeling language called LookML, which allows users to develop custom models and gather more insight about their data.
Looker’s dashboard at a glance:
How Much Does Looker Cost?
Google Cloud offers pay-as-you-go pricing for the Standard edition of Looker (Google Cloud core), which costs $5,000 per month. Pricing for the Enterprise and Embed editions are available by quote.
Google Cloud also provides user licenses. A Developer user license costs $125 per user, per month, a Standard user license costs $60 per user, per month and a Viewer user license costs ($30 per user, per month).
Pros and Cons of Looker
Pros: Easy-to-use data analytics platform that allows all users in an organization to create powerful reports.
Cons: Options for customizing reports can become complex. The tool can take a long time to load large data sets.
To learn more, check out Better Buy’s comprehensive Looker review.
Tableau Alternative #5: Sisense
What the Vendor Says: “Empowering developers, data engineers and business analysts to simplify complex data and transform it into powerful analytic apps.”
Introduction to Sisense
Sisense is a business intelligence platform that allows users to analyze volumes of data across different data sources and create insightful visualizations.
What’s Offered by Sisense?
Sisense’s proprietary in-chip engine and in-memory columnar database enable companies to analyze terabytes of data on a single server. Users can quickly create dashboards with the drag-and-drop functionality and share them with multiple users.
Sisense is also highly scalable, allowing companies to accumulate and analyze more data as their needs grow. Sisense can be deployed to the cloud, on-premise or with a hybrid approach.
Sisense dashboard at a glance:
How Much Does Sisense Cost?
Sisense doesn’t publish pricing on its product page, but the company offers annual licensing that is available in three tiers. The first tier (Basic) allows up to 10 users, the second tier (Business) allows up to 50 users, and the third tier (Business+) allows an unlimited number of users.
There is a free trial available.
Pros and Cons of Sisense
Pros: Integrates with many data sources and offers an intuitive interface that allows anyone in an organization to create usable data models. Top-notch customer support team.
Cons: The scope of map-based functionalities are limited. No advanced graphics like 3-D or cube graphics. Configurations can be time-consuming to implement.
To learn more, check out our comprehensive Sisense review.
Tableau Alternative #6: Datapine
What the Vendor Says: “Making sense of your data has never been that easy.”
Introduction to Datapine
Datapine is a SaaS (Software as a Service) platform that lets users build professional dashboards from different data sets.
What’s Offered by Datapine?
Datapine offers self-service analytics with simple drag-and-drop features that users can use to dig into their data. Real-time metrics can be displayed through dynamic dashboards and easily shared to other users.
Through data warehouse automation, users can easily connect to internal and external data sources into one central location. Data transfers are done via SSI and SSH protocols for extra security.
Datapine dashboard at a glance:
How Much Does Datapine Cost?
Datapine offers four pricing plans depending on how many users are needed and what their analytical requirements are. Plans start €219 a month for Basic and go up to €999 a month for Branding & Embedded. They do offer a 14-day trial.
Optional support services are also available with additional training from datapine’s own data science team.
Here’s a snapshot of datapine’s pricing:
Pros and Cons of Datapine
Pros: Intuitive user interface with drag-and-drop functionality and templates makes it easy to create appealing dashboards.
Cons: SQL knowledge is required to use some of the advanced features.
To learn more, check out our comprehensive datapine review.
Tableau Alternative #7: Domo
What the Vendor Says: “The quickest, easiest, and most secure way to drive your business with data.”
Introduction to Domo
Domo is a cloud-based business management platform that allows users to create dynamic visualizations from multiple data sources in real time. It is compatible with Windows and MacOS platforms as well as mobile devices.
What’s Offered by Domo?
Key features of Domo include over 1,000 data connectors, ETL functionality, different visualization options via a drag-and-drop interface and automatic insights. Domo also offers a number of industry-specific apps, such as retail, media, and marketing.
Other features include the Workbench functionality, which lets users import on-premise data via XML, ODBC, Excel, and more. With 1-Click apps, users can connect to a variety of business applications and automatically organize their data based on their objective.
Domo’s dashboard at a glance:
How Much Does Domo Cost?
Domo offers annual subscriptions for its software. The company doesn’t post specific pricing information as it’s based on factors like usage of the platform, volume of data queries and number of users.
There is a demo available.
Pros and Cons of Domo
Pros: Domo offers over 1,000 pre-built data connectors and access to hundreds of pre-built business apps on a single platform.
Cons: May be expensive for small businesses. Some users note difficulty in extracting data and limitations with some functions.
To learn more, check out our comprehensive Domo review.
Tableau Alternative #8: Yellowfin
What the Vendor Says: “A strategic, enterprise suite of BI and analytics products that change the way you discover and share insights so you can make the best decisions and act on changes in your data, faster.”
Introduction to Yellowfin
Yellowfin is the only enterprise analytics suite with automated analysis and data storytelling.
What’s Offered by Yellowfin?
The Yellowfin Suite consists of five components that can be used individually or together for even deeper data analysis:
- Yellowfin Signals: Applies an automated analysis that runs continuously in the background and provides alerts if any anomalies are detected.
- Yellowfin Stories: Users can create data stories and presentations to give their numbers more context.
- Yellowfin Dashboards: Monitors KPIs (key performance indicators) in real-time and delivers powerful dashboards.
- Yellowfin Data Discovery: Users can accelerate their data analysis and share their findings to other workflows.
- Yellowfin Data Prep: Connects to a range of data sources, such as spreadsheets, Web APIs and databases.
Yellowfin’s dashboard at a glance:
How Much Does Yellowfin Cost?
Yellowfin offers packages for Business and Enterprise plans that bundle its product suite together.
There is a free 30-day trial available.
Here’s a snapshot of Yellowfin’s pricing:
Pricing is based per user or per server. Embedded plans are also available, but interested businesses will need to contact Yellowfin directly for quotes.
Pros and Cons of Yellowfin
Pros: Yellowfin offers a data visualization tool that provides automated analysis and combines data reports to tell a story.
Cons: Certain features like financial planning or profit analysis functionality are missing.
To learn more, check out our comprehensive Yellowfin review.
Conclusion
Business intelligence software can help any organization uncover valuable insights about its data. Tableau is a popular data visualization tool that companies around the world use to create interactive dashboards.
However, there are many Tableau alternatives that may be a better fit for your organization, and we have several resources available that can help you make a decision.
Choosing a BI vendor is all about finding the right fit. Our exclusive report will walk you through the process and help you select the perfect solution.