Airtable vs. Tableau Desktop

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Airtable
Score 8.5 out of 10
N/A
Airtable is a project management and collaboration platform designed to enable content pipelines, product management, events planning, user research, and more. It combines spreadsheet,database, calendar, and kanban functionality within one platform.
$10
per month
Tableau Desktop
Score 8.3 out of 10
N/A
Tableau Desktop is a data visualization product from Tableau. It connects to a variety of data sources for combining disparate data sources without coding. It provides tools for discovering patterns and insights, data calculations, forecasts, and statistical summaries and visual storytelling.
$70
per month
Pricing
AirtableTableau Desktop
Editions & Modules
Plus
$10.00
per month (billed annually)
Pro
$20.00
per month (billed annually)
Enterprise
Contact Sales
Tableau Creator
$70.00
Per User / Per Month
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
AirtableTableau Desktop
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
YesNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoYes
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsAll pricing plans are billed annually.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
AirtableTableau Desktop
Considered Both Products
Airtable
Chose Airtable
I don't think there is a comparable product. Nothing I have seen is as intuitive to use and at the same time has such broad-reaching potential. I feel confident to onboard who have never seen Airtable only because it is so easy to use. At the same time, I feel we could spend …
Tableau Desktop

No answer on this topic

Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
AirtableTableau Desktop
Project Management
Comparison of Project Management features of Product A and Product B
Airtable
8.0
221 Ratings
6% above category average
Tableau Desktop
-
Ratings
Task Management8.3185 Ratings00 Ratings
Resource Management9.0181 Ratings00 Ratings
Gantt Charts7.881 Ratings00 Ratings
Scheduling9.2154 Ratings00 Ratings
Workflow Automation8.4131 Ratings00 Ratings
Team Collaboration9.3204 Ratings00 Ratings
Support for Agile Methodology8.6100 Ratings00 Ratings
Support for Waterfall Methodology8.174 Ratings00 Ratings
Document Management8.9158 Ratings00 Ratings
Email integration6.8106 Ratings00 Ratings
Mobile Access3.5180 Ratings00 Ratings
Timesheet Tracking8.188 Ratings00 Ratings
Change request and Case Management8.196 Ratings00 Ratings
Budget and Expense Management8.3117 Ratings00 Ratings
BI Standard Reporting
Comparison of BI Standard Reporting features of Product A and Product B
Airtable
-
Ratings
Tableau Desktop
8.5
166 Ratings
4% above category average
Pixel Perfect reports00 Ratings8.3138 Ratings
Customizable dashboards00 Ratings9.0165 Ratings
Report Formatting Templates00 Ratings8.3144 Ratings
Ad-hoc Reporting
Comparison of Ad-hoc Reporting features of Product A and Product B
Airtable
-
Ratings
Tableau Desktop
9.0
163 Ratings
10% above category average
Drill-down analysis00 Ratings9.2158 Ratings
Formatting capabilities00 Ratings9.0161 Ratings
Integration with R or other statistical packages00 Ratings8.3121 Ratings
Report sharing and collaboration00 Ratings9.3156 Ratings
Report Output and Scheduling
Comparison of Report Output and Scheduling features of Product A and Product B
Airtable
-
Ratings
Tableau Desktop
8.8
157 Ratings
5% above category average
Publish to Web00 Ratings9.3148 Ratings
Publish to PDF00 Ratings8.4148 Ratings
Report Versioning00 Ratings8.7115 Ratings
Report Delivery Scheduling00 Ratings9.2122 Ratings
Delivery to Remote Servers00 Ratings8.572 Ratings
Data Discovery and Visualization
Comparison of Data Discovery and Visualization features of Product A and Product B
Airtable
-
Ratings
Tableau Desktop
8.6
155 Ratings
6% above category average
Pre-built visualization formats (heatmaps, scatter plots etc.)00 Ratings8.9153 Ratings
Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization00 Ratings8.8148 Ratings
Predictive Analytics00 Ratings8.7125 Ratings
Pattern Recognition and Data Mining00 Ratings8.02 Ratings
Access Control and Security
Comparison of Access Control and Security features of Product A and Product B
Airtable
-
Ratings
Tableau Desktop
8.7
141 Ratings
1% above category average
Multi-User Support (named login)00 Ratings8.8138 Ratings
Role-Based Security Model00 Ratings8.4118 Ratings
Multiple Access Permission Levels (Create, Read, Delete)00 Ratings8.7128 Ratings
Report-Level Access Control00 Ratings9.02 Ratings
Single Sign-On (SSO)00 Ratings8.976 Ratings
Mobile Capabilities
Comparison of Mobile Capabilities features of Product A and Product B
Airtable
-
Ratings
Tableau Desktop
8.4
134 Ratings
6% above category average
Responsive Design for Web Access00 Ratings8.6123 Ratings
Mobile Application00 Ratings8.396 Ratings
Dashboard / Report / Visualization Interactivity on Mobile00 Ratings8.7116 Ratings
Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding
Comparison of Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding features of Product A and Product B
Airtable
-
Ratings
Tableau Desktop
8.7
63 Ratings
9% above category average
REST API00 Ratings8.655 Ratings
Javascript API00 Ratings8.350 Ratings
iFrames00 Ratings8.948 Ratings
Java API00 Ratings8.845 Ratings
Themeable User Interface (UI)00 Ratings8.552 Ratings
Customizable Platform (Open Source)00 Ratings8.845 Ratings
Best Alternatives
AirtableTableau Desktop
Small Businesses
FunctionFox
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Score 8.3 out of 10
BrightGauge
BrightGauge
Score 8.9 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Quickbase
Quickbase
Score 9.2 out of 10
Reveal
Reveal
Score 9.9 out of 10
Enterprises
Quickbase
Quickbase
Score 9.2 out of 10
Jaspersoft Community Edition
Jaspersoft Community Edition
Score 9.7 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
AirtableTableau Desktop
Likelihood to Recommend
9.0
(225 ratings)
8.8
(193 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
8.0
(3 ratings)
8.9
(39 ratings)
Usability
9.0
(22 ratings)
8.6
(63 ratings)
Availability
9.0
(1 ratings)
8.0
(10 ratings)
Performance
9.0
(1 ratings)
6.1
(9 ratings)
Support Rating
8.2
(29 ratings)
6.9
(56 ratings)
In-Person Training
8.0
(1 ratings)
9.4
(4 ratings)
Online Training
9.0
(1 ratings)
8.0
(4 ratings)
Implementation Rating
9.0
(2 ratings)
8.0
(34 ratings)
Configurability
9.0
(1 ratings)
8.1
(2 ratings)
Ease of integration
9.0
(1 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Product Scalability
8.0
(1 ratings)
7.0
(3 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
8.0
(1 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
8.0
(1 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
AirtableTableau Desktop
Likelihood to Recommend
Airtable
Airtable is very well suited for a niche environment that finds other project tracking or collaborative tools to be limiting. The ability to build out a single pool of information to best suit each team member's visual or functional needs is amazing. While the setup time can be lengthy, depending on your particular needs, it is really worth it when it's finally ready.
Read full review
Tableau
Tableau Desktop is one the finest tool available in the market with such a wide range of capabilities in its suite that makes it easy to generate insights. Further, if optimally designed, then its reports are fairly simple to understand, yet capable enough to make changes at the required levels. One can create a variety of visualizations as required by the business or the clients. The data pipelines in the backend are very robust. The tableau desktop also provides options to develop the reports in developer mode, which is one of the finest features to embed and execute even the most complex possible logic. It's easier to operate, simple to navigate, and fluent to understand by the users.
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Pros
Airtable
  • I can create tables, create and customize fields
  • Airtable has capabilities commonly found in spreadsheet applications, but also has some of the features found in databases.
  • The ability to filter fields. I set up a filter on the status field, so when a project is marked, complete, on hold, or canceled, that record is hidden from my current projects table view. If it is marked complete, the record is moved to the completed projects table view. In this way I can easily access a record of past projects
  • Being able to duplicate tables and create alternate views
  • Collapse and expand records. When I collapse the rows, I can easily scan current projects, next steps, project status, and due dates. When I expand the row, or field, I can see more detailed information about that field or record very easily. I can also expand or open the entire record. This is is helpful, when I am entering a lot of information to multiple fields in that record.
Read full review
Tableau
  • An excellent tool for data visualization, it presents information in an appealing visual format—an exceptional platform for storing and analyzing data in any size organization.
  • Through interactive parameters, it enables real-time interaction with the user and is easy to learn and get support from the community.
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Cons
Airtable
  • While working on the Airtable I have noticed that it is not open to uploading of the files for large sizes, most of the time files are not uploaded or links may get broken.
  • In addition, they do not talk much about the time tracking tool and how we can calculate our hours, I still do it with just estimation and by the calendar.
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Tableau
  • Formatting the data to work correctly in graphical presentations can be time consuming
  • Daily data extracts can run slowly depending on how much data is required and the source of the data
  • The desktop version is required for advanced functionality, editing on [the] Tableau server allows only limited features
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Likelihood to Renew
Airtable
We will 10/10 renew the use of Airtable because it has brought great value to our team. Not only is Airtable affordable, but it's also user-friendly and helps our team be efficient. We no longer need to rely on Excel spreadsheets being passed from person to person via email. Furthermore, we aren't dealing with corrupt Excel spreadsheets and the need to salvage data when a file is accidentally altered.
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Tableau
Our use of Tableau Desktop is still fairly low, and will continue over time. The only real concern is around cost of the licenses, and I have mentioned this to Tableau and fully expect the development of more sensible models for our industry. This will remove any impediment to expansion of our use.
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Usability
Airtable
Airtable has fantastic usability. I personally am fair when it comes to most technologies off the bat. I can understand a lot after being taught but most take me a little when I am teaching myself. Airtable was EXTREMELY easy to use off the bat. It was easy to understand or quickly figure out answers to my questions if i ever felt confused. Someone who has little technological experience could figure out Airtable quite easily.
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Tableau
Tableau Desktop has proven to be a lifesaver in many situations. Once we've completed the initial setup, it's simple to use. It has all of the features we need to quickly and efficiently synthesize our data. Tableau Desktop has advanced capabilities to improve our company's data structure and enable self-service for our employees.
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Reliability and Availability
Airtable
I have rarely experience downtime, compared to other tools, and given how much time we spend on the tool. Even if there were to be, their updates on it are very timely, and our support team are able to provide any questions regarding
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Tableau
When used as a stand-alone tool, Tableau Desktop has unlimited uptime, which is always nice. When used in conjunction with Tableau Server, this tool has as much uptime as your server admins are willing to give it. All in all, I've never had an issue with Tableau's availability.
Read full review
Performance
Airtable
I never had any issues with load time, even with the integrations that we use today (google sheets) However, I'm curious if adding additional layers of integrations would slow down performance. We do carry quite a bit of data in Airtable, but, again, no impact on overall performance
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Tableau
Tableau Desktop's performance is solid. You can really dig into a large dataset in the form of a spreadsheet, and it exhibits similarly good performance when accessing a moderately sized Oracle database. I noticed that with Tableau Desktop 9.3, the performance using a spreadsheet started to slow around 75K rows by about 60 columns. This was easily remedied by creating an extract and pushing it to Tableau Server, where performance went to lightning fast
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Support Rating
Airtable
I haven't contacted customer support yet, so I wouldn't be able to give a fair response. We also use the free version of the app. They do have document files, which we have looked at to answer key questions. Because it looks like there are a lot of people that use airtable, we've been able to find a lot of resources online.
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Tableau
I have never really used support much, to be honest. I think the support is not as user-friendly to search and use it. I did have an encounter with them once and it required a bit of going back and forth for licensing before reaching a resolution. They did solve my issue though
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In-Person Training
Airtable
This training was done in-house, but the Airtable team provided resources and how to guides to ensure that we covered all components of the system
Read full review
Tableau
It is admittedly hard to train a group of people with disparate levels of ability coming in, but the software is so easy to use that this is not a huge problem; anyone who can follow simple instructions can catch up pretty quickly.
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Online Training
Airtable
Recorded trainings were provided by the Airtable team. Great as an evergreen resources to new team members and for anyone that wants to refresh their Airtable knowledge
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Tableau
The training for new users are quite good because it covers topic wise training and the best part was that it also had video tutorials which are very helpful
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Implementation Rating
Airtable
Training all users was an important part of the implementation, which did take considerable time and effort. At first glance without training, the content calendar can be overwhelming because of the amount of data. The features within Airtable seem to be endless but our team was able to identify the most important to be successful.
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Tableau
Again, training is the key and the company provides a lot of example videos that will help users discover use cases that will greatly assist their creation of original visualizations. As with any new software tool, productivity will decline for a period. In the case of Tableau, the decline period is short and the later gains are well worth it.
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Alternatives Considered
Airtable
Airtable exceeds all competitors I’ve seen. The feature set is full and only growing. The UI is intuitive for non-tech employees. Any competitors that match Airtable are really operating in a different space. Airtable is the industry leader in this category. Period.
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Tableau
If we do not have legacy tools which have already been set up, I would switch the visualization method to open source software via PyCharm, Atom, and Visual Studio IDE. These IDEs cannot directly help you to visualize the data but you can use many python packages to do so through these IDEs.
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Scalability
Airtable
There are TONS of opportunity to scale, but I think it's a matter if you have the time and resources to do so because the initial setup can be fairly time consuming and prioritized dedication
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Tableau
Tableau Desktop's scaleability is really limited to the scale of your back-end data systems. If you want to pull down an extract and work quickly in-memory, in my application it scaled to a few tens of millions of rows using the in-memory engine. But it's really only limited by your back-end data store if you have or are willing to invest in an optimized SQL store or purpose-built query engine like Veritca or Netezza or something similar.
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Return on Investment
Airtable
  • The performance of the platform has been key to generate revenue and compensate for the investment we made at the beginning.
  • Since the results were good, we proceeded to continue using the software, and in this way we obtained a large amount of profits, increasing our ROI to 5.
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Tableau
  • Tableau was acquired years ago, and has provided good value with the content created.
  • Ongoing maintenance costs for the platform, both to maintain desktop and server licensing has made the continuing value questionable when compared to other offerings in the marketplace.
  • Users have largely been satisfied with the content, but not with the overall performance. This is due to a combination of factors including the performance of the Tableau engines as well as development deficiencies.
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ScreenShots

Airtable Screenshots

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