Power BI vs Tableau: Complete Comparison

In this article we will discuss the comparison between Power BI and Tableau. We will also cover the features and different products of both Power BI and Tableau.

With new competitors entering the market, the new world of data visualization is rapidly evolving. Any business team requires the use of business intelligence technologies. They make it simple for end-users to acquire, store and visualize many types of data. Power BI and Tableau are the two most popular Business Intelligence solutions.

They are currently the market leaders in the field of business intelligence. In this blog, we will be comparing two of the most popular BI and visual analytics platforms in various aspects.

• Overview of Power BI
• Overview of Tableau
• Major Differences between Power BI and Tableau
  • Cost
  • Data visualization
  • Complex Data Handling Capacity
  • Functionality
  • Integration
  • Programming Tools Support
  • User Interface
  • Customer Support
• Features of Power BI and Tableau
• Products of Power BI and Tableau

Overview of Power BI

Power BI is a business intelligence application that allows users to retrieve and modify data from a variety of sources, including Excel files, images, Test/CSV files, and other types of data, and turn it into informative reports and interactive Power BI dashboards. Power BI is used to clean and integrate complex data, as well as to detect underlying trends and patterns so that ad-hoc queries may be executed. It has several software services, over 100 connectors, and a drag-and-drop feature to make it more user-friendly. The dashboards that are created are useful and simple to comprehend.

Must Check: power bi Online Courses & Certifications

Overview of Tableau

Tableau is a prominent business intelligence and data visualization solution for reporting and analyzing large amounts of data. It allows users to build various charts, graphs, maps, dashboards, and stories to visualize and analyze the data to aid in business choices. Because of its intelligible forms, the data provided by Tableau is simple to comprehend for businesspeople of all levels. To design a custom dashboard with Tableau, you don’t need any advanced technical knowledge.

Must Check: What is Tableau?

Must Check: Tableau Online Courses & Certifications

Major Differences between Power BI and Tableau

Every company has its own set of objectives and aims for increasing revenue and accelerating growth. Let us now discuss the difference between Tableau and Power BI in some important areas where there is a major contrast.

Cost

Power BI	Tableau
When compared to Tableau, Power BI is less expensive. The cost of a yearly subscription to Power BI Pro will be roughly $100. Due to financial limits, startups frequently choose Power BI over Tableau and then move to Tableau when needed	Tableau is more expensive than Power BI. Per user cost of Tableau Creator is $70. A yearly subscription to Tableau Pro costs more than USD 1000.

Data Visualization

Power BI	Tableau
Power BI provides simple drag-and-drop features for creating appealing visualizations within reports and dashboards.	In the field of data visualization, Tableau is unrivaled. It allows users to design customized dashboards that are compatible with a variety of devices.

Complex Data Handling Capacity

Power BI	Tableau
When dealing with large amounts of data, Power BI has a propensity to slow. Performance suffers when there is a large data repository.	Tableau is better at handling huge datasets than Power BI. When there is a lot of data, Tableau shines. As a result, Tableau is recommended when the use case involves a large data source.

Functionality

Power BI	Tableau
When compared to Tableau, Power BI doesn’t have as much capability.	When it comes to answering queries about data, Tableau outperforms Power BI. This means that Tableau has a considerably greater depth of data with which to operate.

Integration

Power BI	Tableau
Power BI connects well with Google Analytics, Azure, and Salesforce. Hadoop databases are not compatible with it.	Tableau has a tiny advantage over Power BI when it comes to somewhat divergent integration. It connects to a variety of databases, including Hadoop databases. Tableau also automatically recognizes the resource.

Programming Tools Support

Power BI	Tableau
Power BI blends with most languages. The R integration with Power BI isn’t the best. To connect to R, you’ll need to use an additional application called Microsoft Revolution Analytics, which is only available to enterprise-level customers.	Tableau works well with a wide range of programming languages. Tableau works considerably better with R.

User Interface

Power BI	Tableau
Power BI is much simpler to learn and has a more intuitive interface than Tableau. Because of its ease of use and simplicity, organizations choose Power BI for Tableau.	Tableau is most commonly used to build customized dashboards with clean designs and a user-friendly interface. Both programs have an intuitive user interface that makes them simple to use.

Customer Support

Power BI	Tableau
Microsoft Power BI is a newer product on the market than Tableau, hence it has a smaller user base.	Tableau has more than 160,000 active users in over 500 global user groups, as well as over 150,000 active customers in the Tableau online community.

Features of Power BI and Tableau

There is a wide range of features that Power BI and Tableau provide us. Let us go through them.

Power BI’s features-

Customizable dashboards: In Power BI, a typical dashboard contains numerous tiles and visualizations. A tile is a single graphic or visual that has been made after data has been analyzed. One or more of these Power BI dashboards are combined to create a Power BI report.

Power BI Service: It allows users to share reports or dashboards with other users on both cloud and on-premise servers. With Power BI Service, we can add more connectors, build workspaces where our partners can collaborate on any reports and dashboards, and enable AI tools like Power Query for a smooth data flow, making Power BI projects easier for users.

Data Analysis Expressions (DAX) functions: These are a set of preset codes in Power BI that are used to execute actions on data. The Power BI function library now has over 200 DAX functions that may be utilized to improve the efficiency of business data analysis.

Question box in natural language: Power Q&A is without a doubt one of Power BI’s most useful tools. By asking questions in natural language, Power Q&A allows users to search for data, alter it, and generate graphics. Users must double-click on the dashboard, write down the variable they wish to add, and then select the desired graph or chart name. Power Q&A will then construct the graphic.

Tableau’s features-

Dashboards: Tableau dashboards can exhibit data in the form of stories and offer a range of filters, styles, and formats. They let users apply a custom filter and copy it or its elements from one report to the next.

Data Sources: Tableau has several data sourcing methods for retrieving data from a range of sources, including relational and non-relational databases, data warehouses, on-premises, and on-cloud data, big data, and so on. We may develop graphically interactive reports by establishing a secure link with data sources and obtaining a combined picture of the data.

Data Connectors: Tableau supports a variety of data connectors, including SQL Server, Salesforce, Google Sheets, Presto, Hadoop, Amazon Athena, Cloudera, Dropbox, and many others.

Advanced visuals: Tableau offers several visualizations that users may utilize to customize reports. Basic pie or bar charts to advanced tree maps, boxplots, histograms, motion charts, Gantt charts, bullet charts, donut charts, advanced charts, and more are all available in Tableau.

Products of Power BI and Tableau

Let us check out the amazing range of products that both the tools offer us.

Power BI Products

Power BI Desktop: It is the main tool for creating and publishing Power BI reports. It’s used by developers to create new models and reports.

Power BI Service: It is an online Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) that hosts Power BI reports, data models, dashboards, and other data visualizations.

Power BI Data Gateway: As the name implies, it acts as a link between the Power BI Service and on-premise data sources such as Direct Query, Live Query, and so on.

Power BI Report Server: This Power BI product can host paginated reports, Power BI Desktop Reports, and mobile reports, among other things. Users can edit Power BI Reports created by the development team with this tool.

Power BI Mobile Apps: These are available for Android, iOS, and Windows. This app gives you access to the Power BI Service Report Server’s reports and dashboards

Tableau Products

Tableau Desktop: It has a wide range of functionality, including the ability to code and create reports. Dashboards and workbooks can be shared privately or publicly.

Tableau Desktop Personal: This is a version of Tableau Desktop for individuals. Workbooks generated here can’t be shared online; they can only be shared offline or through Tableau Public.

Tableau Desktop Professional: This is a version of Tableau Desktop that is identical to Tableau Desktop. There is complete access to all types of data.

Tableau Public: This was created with cost in mind. The files in Tableau Public can be viewed or accessed by anybody. There is no such thing as privacy in it.

Tableau Server: It is a server that allows organizations to share visualizations and spreadsheets created with Tableau Desktop. Only licensed users will have access to the files or work that has been uploaded to the Server.

Tableau Online: It’s Tableau’s internet sharing tool, with similar features to Tableau Server. Tableau manages cloud platforms where the data is kept.

Tableau Reader: This is a free tool that allows you to view workbooks and visualizations created by Tableau Desktop or Tableau Public.

Power BI or Tableau: Which is the better option?

We learnt and understood both tools in great detail. So, now let us try to understand which of the two can be better and why.

Both tools have their own unique characteristics. To choose between the two, consider factors such as who will use the tool (stakeholders or data analysts), what their needs are, the size of the company that will utilize the tool, the volume of data that will be used, and so on.

Because Power BI has intuitive features, it is simple to learn. As a result, it can be utilized by stakeholders who don’t have a lot of experience with data analysis but nevertheless want to perform it. In the case of Tableau, the user interface is not very intuitive, making it difficult to learn. As a result, data analysts who are familiar with data science and visualizations can use it.

So, Power BI is great for its simplicity, whereas Tableau is better for its speed and additional features.

Top Trending Articles:

Introduction To Tableau |Products Of Tableau |Data Types In Tableau |Change Data Type In Tableau |File Type In Tableau |Data Aggregation |Connecting Data In Tableau |Dimension And Measure |Tableau Show Me |Joins In Tableau |Union In Tableau |Operators In Tableau |Number Functions In Tableau |String Functions In Tableau |Filter In Tableau |Context Filter In Tableau |Filters In Tableau |Types Of Charts In Tableau |Bar And Line Chart In Tableau |Pareto Chart In Tableau |Gantt Chart In Tableau |Box And Whisker Chart In Tableau |Waterfall Chart In Tableau |Donut Chart In Tableau |Funnel Chart In Tableau |Dual Axis Chart In Tableau |Sort Data In Tableau |Tableau Sets |Groups In Tableau |Tableau Hierarchy |Tableau Forecasting |Highlighting In Tableau |Word Cloud In Tableau |Cohort Analysis In Tableau