Power BI vs Tableau: A Quick Guide

In the modern-day & age for businesses to survive and grow, enterprises have to understand the current state of the market by analyzing large datasets in real-time. There has been a growing focus on and demand for business intelligence and data visualization tools, thanks to the sea of data the world generates every single day.

Now, given the role BI, data visualization, etc. have come to play in driving business success, it ought to come as no surprise that options are abundant when it comes to such tools. And, business Intelligence helps track the performance of teams while helping you analyze requirements and enable working on different projects.

Power BI and Tableau are the most popular market leaders in the BI space. And, to further speed up the research process, it is always a good practice to shortlist BI software that’ll work for precise data needs. Interestingly, a lot of times, the choice eventually comes down to Power BI and Tableau; but where does one go from here? Well, if you too are trying to choose between the two, here is a quick guide to help you choose.

1. Performance: In the context of performance, both Power BI and Tableau fare nearly equally well. Let us start with Power BI: this one is not only easy to use but also exceedingly quick and delivers substantially better performance as long as a limited volume of data is involved. So, remember that dealing with bulk data will likely cause Power BI to lag a bit. Now, on to Tableau: this one can easily and quickly manage extensive volumes of data. Furthermore, Tableau also offers a plethora of features to enable data visualization and does not restrict the number of data points that can be used in any given data visualization.

2. Data sources: When it comes to data sources, Power BI may seem to lack a little; while it offers support for a whole lot of data sources, the fact remains that Tableau offers access to a whole lot more servers, databases, etc. With Tableau, companies gain access to an abundance of data sources including PDF, Amazon Redshift, Google Analytics, Dropbox, Microsoft Excel, JSON, etc.

3. User interface: Power BI offers a UI that is not only decidedly intuitive but also offers the ease of integration with myriad Microsoft offerings. With Power BI Desktop, one gets three views, namely, model view, report view, and data view. Tableau too offers an intelligent UI that is conducive to the development and customization of dashboards based on the organization’s unique requirements. Its workspace area includes a sidebar, toolbar, status bar, sheet tabs, data source page, and various cards and shelves.

4. Cost: The comparison between Power BI and Tableau is quite straightforward: the former is cheaper than the latter. Power BI’s professional iteration costs under $10 per month for each user whereas the Power BI Premium version costs around $4,995 per month. On the other hand, Tableau’s professional version costs over $35 per month for each user. Other options include Tableau Viewer which is available for $12 per month and Tableau Creator which is priced at roughly $70 per month.

There is no denying that business intelligence, analytics, data visualization, etc. have become a critical aspect of running a successful business in this modern, highly digital market. This holds irrelevant of the industry one may be operating a business in. It may also help to remember that ultimately, the choice between Power BI and Tableau or any other BI tool will depend on the unique requirements of your business. So, no matter if you decide to look for a Power BI consulting company or one for Tableau, ensure that you have carefully analyzed each one of these tools against your goals and requirements.