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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

    Tableau Desktop

    Score8.6 out of 10
    N/ATableau 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.

    $1,380

    per year (purchased via a Creator license)

    Pricing
    Google SheetsTableau Desktop
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    Tableau Creator License
    $115
    per month (billed annually) per user
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Google SheetsTableau Desktop
    Free Trial
    NoNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoYes
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoYes
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details—All pricing plans are billed annually. A Creator license includes Tableau Desktop, Tableau Prep Builder, and Tableau Pulse. Discounts sometimes available for volume.
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Google SheetsTableau Desktop
    Considered Both Products
    Google
    No answer on this topic
    Tableau
    Chose Tableau Desktop
    The visualizations are far and away more powerful and it is more user friendly than Power BI. It would take 3-4 times as long to create the types of reports in Excel that I can create in Tableau Desktop and there are a slew of ways I can present the data in Tableau Desktop that …
    Incentivized
    Chose Tableau Desktop
    When it comes to pricing, Tableau is kinda expensive but worth it as it has more features, not just features but really useful features that make our work easier especially as a project manager I need to pull up data almost every day in our meetings, and I find Tableau useful …
    Incentivized
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    97%
    Would buy again
    90 Answers
    93%
    Would buy again
    52 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    86 Answers
    91%
    Delivers good value for the price
    50 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    96%
    Happy with the feature set
    89 Answers
    98%
    Happy with the feature set
    55 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    94%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    49 Answers
    93%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    38 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    97%
    Implementation went as expected
    60 Answers
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    44 Answers
    Features
    Google SheetsTableau Desktop
    BI Standard Reporting
    Comparison of BI Standard Reporting features of Google Sheets and Tableau Desktop
    Feature
    Google Sheets
    -
    Ratings
    Tableau Desktop
    8.5
    175 Ratings
    4% above category average
    Pixel Perfect reports00 Ratings8.0145 Ratings
    Customizable dashboards00 Ratings9.2174 Ratings
    Report Formatting Templates00 Ratings8.1151 Ratings
    Ad-hoc Reporting
    Comparison of Ad-hoc Reporting features of Google Sheets and Tableau Desktop
    Feature
    Google Sheets
    -
    Ratings
    Tableau Desktop
    8.5
    172 Ratings
    6% above category average
    Drill-down analysis00 Ratings8.6167 Ratings
    Formatting capabilities00 Ratings8.6170 Ratings
    Integration with R or other statistical packages00 Ratings8.1126 Ratings
    Report sharing and collaboration00 Ratings8.6165 Ratings
    Report Output and Scheduling
    Comparison of Report Output and Scheduling features of Google Sheets and Tableau Desktop
    Feature
    Google Sheets
    -
    Ratings
    Tableau Desktop
    8.5
    166 Ratings
    3% above category average
    Publish to Web00 Ratings8.1155 Ratings
    Publish to PDF00 Ratings8.2154 Ratings
    Report Versioning00 Ratings8.6120 Ratings
    Report Delivery Scheduling00 Ratings8.6128 Ratings
    Delivery to Remote Servers00 Ratings8.978 Ratings
    Data Discovery and Visualization
    Comparison of Data Discovery and Visualization features of Google Sheets and Tableau Desktop
    Feature
    Google Sheets
    -
    Ratings
    Tableau Desktop
    8.4
    164 Ratings
    5% above category average
    Pre-built visualization formats (heatmaps, scatter plots etc.)00 Ratings8.7162 Ratings
    Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization00 Ratings8.6156 Ratings
    Predictive Analytics00 Ratings8.7131 Ratings
    Pattern Recognition and Data Mining00 Ratings7.87 Ratings
    Access Control and Security
    Comparison of Access Control and Security features of Google Sheets and Tableau Desktop
    Feature
    Google Sheets
    -
    Ratings
    Tableau Desktop
    9.1
    149 Ratings
    7% above category average
    Multi-User Support (named login)00 Ratings9.1145 Ratings
    Role-Based Security Model00 Ratings9.1125 Ratings
    Multiple Access Permission Levels (Create, Read, Delete)00 Ratings8.9136 Ratings
    Report-Level Access Control00 Ratings9.110 Ratings
    Single Sign-On (SSO)00 Ratings9.383 Ratings
    Mobile Capabilities
    Comparison of Mobile Capabilities features of Google Sheets and Tableau Desktop
    Feature
    Google Sheets
    -
    Ratings
    Tableau Desktop
    7.9
    141 Ratings
    2% above category average
    Responsive Design for Web Access00 Ratings8.6130 Ratings
    Mobile Application00 Ratings7.5101 Ratings
    Dashboard / Report / Visualization Interactivity on Mobile00 Ratings7.5122 Ratings
    Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding
    Comparison of Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding features of Google Sheets and Tableau Desktop
    Feature
    Google Sheets
    -
    Ratings
    Tableau Desktop
    7.7
    67 Ratings
    1% below category average
    REST API00 Ratings8.459 Ratings
    Javascript API00 Ratings7.653 Ratings
    iFrames00 Ratings6.751 Ratings
    Java API00 Ratings8.048 Ratings
    Themeable User Interface (UI)00 Ratings7.154 Ratings
    Customizable Platform (Open Source)00 Ratings8.448 Ratings
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    Microsoft Excel
    Score9 out of 10
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    Score8.1 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Microsoft Excel
    Score9 out of 10
    Sisense
    Score6.9 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Google SheetsTableau Desktop
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.1
    (93 ratings)
    9.1
    (204 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    10.0
    (3 ratings)
    7.5
    (41 ratings)
    Usability
    8.7
    (55 ratings)
    8.4
    (73 ratings)
    Availability
    9.5
    (2 ratings)
    10.0
    (11 ratings)
    Performance
    9.5
    (2 ratings)
    8.0
    (10 ratings)
    Support Rating
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    1.0
    (57 ratings)
    In-Person Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.4
    (4 ratings)
    Online Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.0
    (5 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.0
    (34 ratings)
    Configurability
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    7.0
    (3 ratings)
    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Data Sharing and Collaboration
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.4
    (115 ratings)
    Data Sources
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.9
    (115 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    9.8
    (2 ratings)
    9.0
    (4 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Google SheetsTableau Desktop
    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
    Tableau
    The best scenario is definitely to collect data from several sources and create dedicated dashboards for specific recipients. However, I miss the possibility of explaining these reports in more detail. Sometimes, we order a report, and after half a year, we don't remember the meaning of some data (I know it's our fault as an organization, but the tool could force better practices).
    Incentivized
    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
    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.
    Incentivized
    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
    Tableau
    • Pricing should be more user-friendly and usage-driven
    • Making edits to the production reports is fairly tough and has a vast scope of additional capabilities
    • Tableau Desktop should be able to differentiate itself from the Tableau server else there is no major meaning of two different products being offered
    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
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    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
    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.
    Read full review
    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
    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
    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
    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
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    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
    Tableau
    Tableau support has been extremely responsive and willing to help with all of our requests. They have assisted with creating advanced analysis and many different types of custom icons, data formatting, formulas, and actions embedded into graphs. Tableau offers a weekly presentation of features and assists with internal company projects.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    In-Person Training
    Google
    No answers on this topic
    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.
    Read full review
    Online Training
    Google
    No answers on this topic
    Tableau
    I think the training was good overall, but it was maybe stating the obvious things that a tech savvy young engineer would be able to pick up themselves too. However, the example work books were good and Tableau web community has helped me with many problems
    Incentivized
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    Implementation Rating
    Google
    No answers on this topic
    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.
    Incentivized
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    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
    Tableau
    I have used Power BI as well, the pricing is better, and also training costs or certifications are not that high. Since there is python integration in Power BI where I can use data cleaning and visualizing libraries and also some machine learning models. I can import my python scripts and create a visualization on processed data.
    Incentivized
    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
    Tableau
    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
    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.
    Read full review
    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
    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.
    Incentivized
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