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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Google Sheets

    Score8.9 out of 10
    N/AGoogle Sheets is the spreadsheet app available on Google Workspace, or standalone, with a free plan for personal use and accessible via mobile apps for iOS and Android.N/A

    Lightning Tools Data Viewer

    Score9.1 out of 10
    Mid-Size Companies (51-1,000 employees)
    The Data Viewer provides data visualization in the form of reports or charts that can be created and customized to suit a business's needs. Silos of data exist in most organizations and yet contain valuable insights into how well the organization is performing and where action is needed. Those silos often include Microsoft Excel workbooks, Microsoft SQL Azure databases, On-Premises data sources accessible through OData or Business Connectivity Services and even SharePoint Lists. These data…

    $2,200

    per year per installation

    Pricing
    Google SheetsLightning Tools Data Viewer
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    Data Viewer OnPrem
    $1,000
    per year Per installation, 1 x WFE
    Data Viewer Online
    $2,200
    per year per installation
    Data Viewer OnPrem Enterprise Edition
    POA
    per year Per installation, 4+ WFE
    Data Viewer Online Enterprise Edition
    POA
    per year per installation
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Google SheetsLightning Tools Data Viewer
    Free Trial
    NoYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoYes
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details—Prices stated are minimum per installation for "stock" products. $2.20 per user / year on top of base price. Enterprise editions can be amended to suit business needs if deemed necessary, additional costs incurred and TBD. All packages include free technical support. Free upgrades available to latest versions of tool as they are released. (online version)
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Google SheetsLightning Tools Data Viewer
    Considered Both Products
    Google
    No answer on this topic
    Lightning Tools
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    97%
    Would buy again
    90 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Delivers good value for the price
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    86 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Happy with the feature set
    96%
    Happy with the feature set
    89 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    94%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    49 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation went as expected
    97%
    Implementation went as expected
    60 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Features
    Google SheetsLightning Tools Data Viewer
    BI Standard Reporting
    Comparison of BI Standard Reporting features of Google Sheets and Lightning Tools Data Viewer
    Feature
    Google Sheets
    -
    Ratings
    Lightning Tools Data Viewer
    9.1
    1 Ratings
    12% above category average
    Customizable dashboards00 Ratings9.11 Ratings
    Report Formatting Templates00 Ratings9.11 Ratings
    Ad-hoc Reporting
    Comparison of Ad-hoc Reporting features of Google Sheets and Lightning Tools Data Viewer
    Feature
    Google Sheets
    -
    Ratings
    Lightning Tools Data Viewer
    8.2
    1 Ratings
    5% above category average
    Drill-down analysis00 Ratings6.41 Ratings
    Formatting capabilities00 Ratings9.11 Ratings
    Report sharing and collaboration00 Ratings9.11 Ratings
    Data Discovery and Visualization
    Comparison of Data Discovery and Visualization features of Google Sheets and Lightning Tools Data Viewer
    Feature
    Google Sheets
    -
    Ratings
    Lightning Tools Data Viewer
    3.6
    1 Ratings
    73% below category average
    Pre-built visualization formats (heatmaps, scatter plots etc.)00 Ratings3.61 Ratings
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    Google SheetsLightning Tools Data Viewer
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    Score9 out of 10
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    Score9.5 out of 10
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    Score9 out of 10
    Kibana
    Score8.4 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Google SheetsLightning Tools Data Viewer
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.1
    (93 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    10.0
    (3 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Usability
    8.7
    (55 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Availability
    9.5
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Performance
    9.5
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Configurability
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    9.8
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Google SheetsLightning Tools Data Viewer
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Google
    Google Sheets is well suited in two main areas: is free to use and you don't need to buy a license to use it, comparing to the most direct competitors ; collaboration is in my opinion the best advantage, with multiple people working together and seeing others working in real time. It's less appropriate in low connectivity environments (offline capabilities)
    Read full review
    Lightning Tools
    Lightning Tools Data Viewer is well suited for re-surfacing data and customizing its look and feel.
    Read full review
    Pros
    Google
    • Collaborative planning : In the initial phase of project, Team leads and architects create a permission matrix along with the naming convention simultaneously, seeing who is editing / adding the details in real-time.
    • Cost tracking : We use this tool to track cloud resource usage monthly costs, so that we can analyse it and send out comms for high cost based resources. By storing cost data here, it's easy for use to store data of last couple of years.
    • Flexible documentation : For change logging of different scenarios we would need different / ad-hoc columns to be added on the fly, which makes using this tool much simpler then reputed third party tools.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Lightning Tools
    • Shows Lists created on different sites to be seen and controlled on another site in a Tenant
    • Allows selection of layouts and coloring way beyond what other programs do.
    • Easy to learn and very functional.
    Read full review
    Cons
    Google
    • Ease of use - I collaborate with a lot of folks on these and a lot of them have trouble using it.
    • Would love more live features; for example, being able to have cells react to other inputs (checkboxes, etc) with reactive formatting
    • More cross-usability with other Google products; it's hard to think of drawbacks honestly, this is a pretty seamless software.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Lightning Tools
    • Data Viewer has a graph feature that is old school flat design. We loved the In House real 3D graph Lightning Tools program.
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Google
    I am not involved in the purchase/selection process, but my organization is a Google shop, and Sheets meets most of our spreadsheet needs and works seamlessly with our other tools. I don't anticipate our switching anytime soon.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Lightning Tools
    No answers on this topic
    Usability
    Google
    It can easily handle most uses and functions. It is only for very large datasets or advanced analysis that it either lacks the proper functions or performance begins to slow. Most employees who continue to use competitors' products do so out of preference, familiarity with the user interface, or other surface-level reasons.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Lightning Tools
    No answers on this topic
    Reliability and Availability
    Google
    Like most Google products, Google Sheets rarely has outages or slowness, and when it does, connection is always momentarily restored. I can't recall a time when I've been unable to access Google Sheets but able to access other sites just fine. That said, errors aren't uncommon when handling large data volume. You know what they say about using spreadsheets as databases, but sometimes it's just the most convenient option, especially for smaller or one-off projects, and not being able to store large amounts of data hampers our ability to move quickly with scrappy prototypes or full solutions. It would be great if we could better integrate our data manipulation (Apps Script) with big data in the sheet.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Lightning Tools
    No answers on this topic
    Performance
    Google
    Again, Google Sheets is no exception to Google's general high speed and reliability, but load times can be slow for larger amounts of data. I've used Sheets with Zapier and have used the Python API, and speed has never been an issue.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Lightning Tools
    No answers on this topic
    Support Rating
    Google
    I have never contacted Google Sheets support, but Google Sheets makes it very easy to report an issue or suggest a feature from Sheets itself (Help > Help Sheets improve), and I've had mostly good experiences with support for other Google products.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Lightning Tools
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    Google
    I have found that I can do almost everything I could have done in Microsoft Excel faster and easier in Google Sheets. We recommend Google Sheets in 99.9% of our use cases and feel it meets the needs of our workers very well. I am sure there are other spreadsheet creation programs out there, but because we are already in the Google environment, adopting Google Sheets in very easy.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Lightning Tools
    Lightning Tools Data Viewer is much easier and more powerful than Infowise similar viewer in their lineup. In this case, we use Data Viewer over the one offered by Infowise.
    Read full review
    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    Google
    I'm not involved with the purchase, but I assume everything goes smoothly and that the pricing structure is predictable and reasonable. We do not get surprise fees.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Lightning Tools
    No answers on this topic
    Scalability
    Google
    Google Sheets works very well with multiple users. It's convenient to see in real-time who is collaborating in a sheet, down to the specific cell that they're viewing/editing. Linking Sheets across departments is convenient with the IMPORTRANGE function.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Lightning Tools
    No answers on this topic
    Return on Investment
    Google
    • Don't need to pay for windows 365 license as it is free
    • Has a positive impact since I am not cursing excel for annoying problems(I don't want the new Pivot table format, I want to use Classic and I don't want to expand/collapse arrows. "x$#%")
    • [Haven't] looked at return on investment on work, but has "simplified" for basic and medium spreadsheets.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Lightning Tools
    • It allows us to do things that would take a great deal more time to duplicate in SharePoint
    • It cuts down on ugly looking built in SP list layouts
    • Users find it easy to access, thus this product is more productive
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    Lightning Tools Data Viewer Screenshots

    Screenshot of DISPLAYING EXTERNAL DATA WITHIN SHAREPOINT OR MICROSOFT TEAMS
The Data Viewer Client Side Web Part can be configured by Business Users within a few minutes to display Line of Business Data from Data Sources such as Excel,  SQL Azure, Business Connectivity Services, OData and SharePoint Lists.  Connections to an organizations data such as Customer Relationship Management Systems, Accounting Systems, or Custom Databases can be connected, giving business users a live up-to-date view of business information within the context of their SharePoint Team Sites or Microsoft Teams Tabs.Screenshot of HIGHLIGHTING KEY BUSINESS DATA (NO CODE)
Conditional formatting can be used to highlight key business data. Overdue Tasks, Low Stock, Currency Exchange Rates, Sales Revenue are examples of data to highlight visually allowing for a quick reaction time. Key Financial Indicators and Key Performance Indicators can be configured with a simple dialog and no need to write any code. Choose colours, icons or data bars to highlight key data.Screenshot of SELECTING AND STYLING ICONS
Icons can be chosen as part of the conditional formatting to make data stand out. The Office 365 Fabric icons can be selected and styled and applied to cell values. Pepper pots, Smileys, Envelopes and more icons are available. There are hundreds of options to choose from to highlight data that needs to be acted upon.Screenshot of DATA VIEWER CAN BE A GRID OF DATA OR A CHART IN SHAREPOINT OR MICROSOFT TEAMS
The Data Viewer can be used within Microsoft SharePoint Modern Sites or Microsoft Teams Tabs as a Grid of Data with styling or as a Chart which can be configured. The Charting Feature allows for Pie, Donut, Column, Line, Area, and Scatter Charts which can all be configured and displayed in 2D or 3D.Screenshot of TREEMAPS
summary information can be displayed within a TreeMap next to the detail. Users will be able to see trends, and how the business is performing  using the TreeMap view of data.Screenshot of CHARTS AND GAUGES
The Data Viewer is used to represent data in multiple ways using Gauges, TreeMaps, Multiple Series Charts, and Pie Charts.