Tableau is a business intelligence (BI) and data visualization platform that analyzes data using an interactive, user-friendly dashboard.
This article reviews BI and data visualization software solutions comparable to Tableau — except these options may be a better solution for your company. Effective solutions can identify trends and patterns and provide in-depth insight for improved decision-making.
Here is a list of our top Tableau alternatives:
First, let’s talk about Tableau.
Tableau’s intuitive interface allows non-technical and technical users to create reports and dashboards easily. Users can seamlessly combine datasets in different structures or formats. Additionally, Tableau’s active community provides a resource for users, shortening the learning curve for first-time users.
The Tableau Enterprise ecosystem provides three types of creator licenses:
- Enterprise Viewer: $35 a month; allows business users to interact with data visualizations created by peers.
- Enterprise Explorer: $70 monthly; intended for business users who create dashboards and visualizations.
- Enterprise Creator: $115 a month; reserved for data engineers and analysts.
Data connectivity and management:
- Connects to various data sources
- Metadata management contains information about data sources and formats
- Data blending from multiple sources
Visualization and dashboards:
- Interactive dashboards
- Customizable dashboards
- Advanced visualization options
- Business performance monitoring
User collaboration:
- Mobile communication
- Intuitive interface
- Easy sharing and collaboration
- Large support community
- Tableau education resources
Advanced features:
- AI integration and machine learning (ML)
Pros
- Powerful visualization features
- User-friendly interface
- Data integration
- Mobile friendly
- Large and active community
- Interactivity and collaboration
Cons
- Steep learning curve
- High cost
- Limited advanced analytics
- Rigid pricing
- IT support is required for proper implementation and maintenance
- Problems with large datasets
Despite some of Tableau’s pain points, like the high cost, many companies still choose Tableau. The user-friendly interface, customizable options, enhanced data blending and manipulation, reliable support community, and real-time data updates contribute to its popularity.
Companies like Tableau emphasize data-based decision-making features, visual storytelling features, user-friendliness, and the ability to handle data from multiple sources that require integration before analysis.
Power BI: Best for Microsoft ecosystem integration
Power BI is a free download with limited functionalities. For example, companies will need the MS 365 E5 version and a Power BI Pro license to collaborate with MS 365. However, Power BI is a leading software solution for any business using MS 365, provided it meets a company’s BI and data visualization requirements.
- Power BI: Free
- Power Bi Pro: $10 a month
- Power Bi Premium: $20 a month
- Power BI Embedded: Contact the sales team
Core features:
- Data connectivity
- Dashboards and reports
- Interactive visualizations
- Data transformation and modeling (Power Query and Data Analysis Expressions (DAX)
- Collaboration and sharing
- Mobile friendly
Advanced features:
- AI integrated
- Power Map, a 3D data visualization resource to map and plot data
- Customized dashboards and reports
- Data flows used to prepare and transform data in the cloud
- Power BI premium offers advanced features for processing large data sets
Pros
- Seamless integration
- User-friendly interface
- Affordable
- Routine updates
- Data visualization
- Custom visualizations
- Excel integration
Cons
- Steep learning curve
- Data preparation complexity
- Limited customization options
- Pricing and licensing
- Cluttered user interface
- No real-time collaboration for reporting and editing
- Limited data sharing for those without a Power BI pro license
The Microsoft ecosystem allows Power BI to work efficiently with existing Microsoft products, outweighing the noted cons. The ecosystem integration, data source compatibility, advanced analytics features using DAX for complex calculations, scalability and performance, and intuitive visual interface are why some companies prefer Power BI despite the cons.
Power BI lacks the robust predictive analysis and visualization features that Tableau and Qlik Sense offer, along with their advanced features on data exploration and storytelling. However, Power BI does very well at data transformation.
Qlik Sense: Best for self-service analytics and data exploration
Qlik Sense is unique with its associative data engine, which lets all users explore data. The engine allows non-technical users to discover unexplored data and hidden insights with minimal IT experience and no assistance from IT support personnel. It does not depend on predefined hierarchies.
Qlik Sense offers a free and limited trial plan that interested companies can use to explore the benefits of using the associative engine. Qlik sense has three features that are priced:
- Data Integration and Quality: Contact sales for prices
- Analytics
- Standard: $825 a month
- Premium: $2,500 a month
- Enterprise: Request a quote
- Associative data modeling
- QIX engine is designed for associative analytics and data exploration
- Intuitive visualization and exploration
- Data integration
- AI-powered insights
- Embedded analytics
- Data storytelling
- Centralized sharing and collaboration
- Extensions and custom applications
Pros
- Associative engine
- Self-service analytics
- Intuitive data prep
- Augmented intelligence
- Mobile friendly
- Scalability
- Excellent security
- Collaboration
Cons
- Complex pricing
- Costlier than other BI alternatives
- Steep learning curve
- Limited integration resources
- Inflexible data extraction options
- Limited visualization options
- Issues with large data sets
Qlik Sense’s associative engine, self-service analytics, and excellent security are attractive options. However, its cost and complex pricing model may steer businesses away.
Any company interested in this product must do live testing to ensure the cons don’t impact the productivity that the associative engine can generate. The uniqueness of the associate engine makes it worth testing Qlik, so don’t dismiss it because of the cons.
Sisense: Best for embedded analytics and large data handling
Sisense is another BI and data analytics platform in the top tier of BI solutions.
It contains all the expected features of a BI solution. This product offers additional features like low-code and no-code capabilities, software development kits (SDK) to build custom analytical applications, and alert notifications when a condition is met, which are not highlighted features in most BI solutions.
Despite being committed to transparency, Sisense does not publish its prices. Instead, it prefers to work directly with interested customers using a transparent pricing model. However, it does include a free trial.
Basic features:
- Data integration
- Data modeling
- Data exploration
- Data visualization
- Reporting
Advanced features:
- Alerting and notifications
- Mobile accessibility
- Real-time processing
- Machine learning
- Collaboration
Pros
- Free trial
- User-friendly interface
- Large data handling
- Self-service BI
- Scalability and flexibility
- Data visualization
- Embedded Analytics
- In-chip analytics that allows for faster query processing and insights
- Data connectivity
Cons
- Steep learning curve
- Natural language limitations
- Difficult setup
- Dashboard limitations
- Limited Extract, Transform, and Load (ETL) capabilities
- Customizing through scripting is unreliable
Sisense offers a 30-day free trial containing all the features of a purchased subscription. Therefore, interested companies can test the pros and cons to see if it impacts Sisense’s unique features. Sisense’s 30-day free trial period can be enough time to test this BI solution and see if the cons can be negated.
In-chip analytics, embedded analytics, extensive data handling, robust data integration and analytics, and self-service BI are pros that outweigh the cons.
Looker: Best for data governance and modeling
Looker differs from Power BI and Tableau because they focus on data modeling and governance.
Looker’s code-first perspective leverages its Looker Modeling Language (LookML) to create semantic data models, allowing companies to describe their data in business terms. The platform is designed for large enterprise organizations requiring advanced features and enterprise-level support.
Looker offers companies a free 30-day trial period with all the standard features. Its BI platform is for analysts and data professionals. Looker also offers a free trial for Looker Studio, which offers data visualization tools for creating dashboards and reports. It is for typical business users and non-technical staff.
Looker’s three platforms are Standard, Enterprise, and Embed, which can be purchased with three different user licenses: Developer, Standard, and Viewer.
Companies must contact sales to obtain pricing for their platforms and licenses.
Data modeling and semantic layer:
- LookML
- Semantic layer architecture
- Data discovery
Data visualization and dashboards:
- Customizable dashboards
- Real-time data exploration
- Drag and drop interface
- Multiple visualization choices
- Data security and governance
Integration and collaboration:
- Integrates with Google Cloud Platform (GCP)
- Looker Action Hub allows users to take action on data
- Looker Studio Pro integration
- Looker Blocks are pre-built models for familiar data sources
- Data source blending
Pros
- Embedded analytics
- Powerful data modeling
- Consistently applied data analysis
- Fast and secure
- Scalable
Cons
- Steep learning curve
- Complexity of LookML
- Expensive
- Limited out-of-the-box visualization resources
- Limited data source connectivity
- Occasional performance issues
Large businesses that require always-updated data, use real-time data analysis, and promote security should consider Looker.
Looker’s powerful engine consistently performs data analysis across the entire enterprise. Its focus on data accuracy and security ensures that data governance is constantly updated. If this is a priority for an organization, Looker is the product to select. The learning curve is steep, but it’s only a temporary setback until Looker is learned.
Domo: Best for custom business applications and collaboration
Domo is another reliable BI and data analytics platform that competes with the best BI solutions.
It provides all the features of a good BI solution, including its enhanced social collaboration features. These enhanced features allow Domo to collect data sets from multiple sources and share visualization dashboards throughout the organization. Domo can connect to over 1,000 data sources using its built-in drag-and-drop ETL tool.
Domo allows you to scale your BI resources with its credit-based pricing, which gives companies more control over cost. Domo offers a free 30-day trial, including a free self-serve education platform and one free training session. The free trial provides unlimited users and offers the features expected when purchasing a Domo BI solution.
Domo’s packages:
- Free trial
- Standard
- Enterprise
- Business Critical
The prices are not listed, so you must talk to sales
Data Experience Platform:
- Data integration
- ELT capabilities
- Data governance
- The data foundation is a secure and scalable location for managing and accessing data
- Data slicing allows an analyst to create guided analysis paths of data as standard views for analysis
BI and analytics:
- Interactive dashboards
- Self-service reporting
- AI and data science
- BI and analytics
App creation and business apps:
- App creation
- Business Apps
- Mobile-first design
- Collaboration features
- Embedded analytics
Pros
- Data visualization
- Real-time data access
- Data integration
- Business Apps
- AI and data science features
- ETL tools
- Self-service analytics
- Scalability
- Collaboration
Cons
- Sluggish performance
- high cost
- Complexity of the user interface
- Limited flexibility
- Lack of data modeling
- Integration challenges
Domo may stand out for some companies because it can build customer business applications with its code blocks apps and code engine. These two Domo features allow users to create, test, and distribute customized functions using Python or JavaScript. Domo’s pre-built packages and services library can be integrated into other applications and services.
Domo is a unique BI solution that can meet a company’s business needs with its programming and pre-built packages. Domo’s cons are no worse than those of the evaluated BI solutions. So, can the programming and pre-built packages make a business more competitive without having the cons affect the uniqueness of Domo programming features?
Business intelligence and data visualization: comparison chart
| Feature | Tableau | Power BI | Qlik Sense | Sisense | Looker | Domo |
| Data transformation and visualization | 5 | 4.5 | 5 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 5 |
| Self-service capabilities | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| Predictive analysis | 5 | 4.5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| Real-time monitoring and analysis | 5 | 5 | 4.5 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| Data connectivity and integration | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| Collaboration tools | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 5 |
| AI-powered tools | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| Totals: | 35 | 34 | 34.5 | 34 | 34 | 35 |
Methodology
The methodology used to grade the BI software solutions involved a feature-by-feature comparison in the chart. Business intelligence features rated 5 were considered the standard.
If a BI solution’s feature was slightly less robust than one or two of the 5-rated features, it received a half-point deduction. This was often the case with solutions prioritizing programming, security, or data governance, but they still delivered that feature at an above-average level.
That said, the evaluated BI and data visualization software solutions are all considered A+ products in the business intelligence field.
The evaluated software solutions can perform the same functions, but in some cases, one product will have a feature that does something slightly different or better than the other products. The slight difference can be a deciding factor for your business.
