Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Grist
Score 9.9 out of 10
N/A
Grist combines the capabilities of spreadsheets, databases and app builders. Using a familiar spreadsheet interface, information can be organized as a relational database, and dashboards built using drag-and-drop. Solving spreadsheet problems Ensures data is well-structured and stored in one place with no duplication, no spreadsheet-wrangling, no merging documents. Collaboration on sensitive data Data is protected…
$8
per month per user
Mode
Score 9.0 out of 10
N/A
Mode, or Mode Analytics, from ThoughtSpot since the June 2023 acquisition, is a business intelligence platform that unifies company analytics by bringing data teams and business teams together, so analysts can provide rapid answers to strategic, ad hoc questions. And, business stakeholder can access relevant data to answer their own questions which can often detract more impactful work.N/A
Tableau Desktop
Score 8.4 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.
$1,380
per year (purchased via a Creator license)
Pricing
GristMode AnalyticsTableau Desktop
Editions & Modules
Pro
$8
per month per user
Enterprise
Contact Sales
No answers on this topic
Tableau Creator License
$115
per month (billed annually) per user
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
GristModeTableau Desktop
Free Trial
YesYesNo
Free/Freemium Version
YesYesYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNoYes
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsAll 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
GristMode AnalyticsTableau Desktop
Considered Multiple Products
Grist

No answer on this topic

Mode
Chose Mode Analytics
  • Tableau is a huge pain to edit or create dashboards, by comparison. It can make better looking visualizations, but in practice, letting users drill down and change dimensions slows the end user experience so much that it's often not worth it.
  • Looker is amazing for data modeling, …
Chose Mode Analytics
In my opinion Mode Analytics has an edge on much of the competition due to the intuitive and powerful custom dashboard creation interface. I can create dashboards for stakeholders that are self explanatory and easy to make conclusions from. In other respects, it's very much at …
Chose Mode Analytics
Mode is the best for the advanced user with advanced use cases. Even creating a simple report will require an SQL query. No drag-and-drop interface for querying data. But it is best for the advanced user already familiar with Python or R and SQL. The other products are more …
Tableau Desktop

No answer on this topic

Features
GristMode AnalyticsTableau Desktop
BI Standard Reporting
Comparison of BI Standard Reporting features of Product A and Product B
Grist
-
Ratings
Mode Analytics
8.5
9 Ratings
4% above category average
Tableau Desktop
8.4
175 Ratings
3% above category average
Pixel Perfect reports00 Ratings9.34 Ratings8.0145 Ratings
Customizable dashboards00 Ratings8.49 Ratings9.1174 Ratings
Report Formatting Templates00 Ratings7.86 Ratings8.1151 Ratings
Ad-hoc Reporting
Comparison of Ad-hoc Reporting features of Product A and Product B
Grist
-
Ratings
Mode Analytics
7.4
9 Ratings
8% below category average
Tableau Desktop
8.3
172 Ratings
3% above category average
Drill-down analysis00 Ratings7.18 Ratings8.5167 Ratings
Formatting capabilities00 Ratings6.79 Ratings8.4170 Ratings
Integration with R or other statistical packages00 Ratings7.39 Ratings8.0126 Ratings
Report sharing and collaboration00 Ratings8.78 Ratings8.5165 Ratings
Report Output and Scheduling
Comparison of Report Output and Scheduling features of Product A and Product B
Grist
-
Ratings
Mode Analytics
7.9
8 Ratings
4% below category average
Tableau Desktop
8.3
166 Ratings
1% above category average
Publish to Web00 Ratings8.15 Ratings8.0155 Ratings
Publish to PDF00 Ratings5.88 Ratings8.0154 Ratings
Report Versioning00 Ratings7.74 Ratings8.3120 Ratings
Report Delivery Scheduling00 Ratings9.68 Ratings8.5128 Ratings
Delivery to Remote Servers00 Ratings8.34 Ratings8.878 Ratings
Data Discovery and Visualization
Comparison of Data Discovery and Visualization features of Product A and Product B
Grist
-
Ratings
Mode Analytics
6.5
9 Ratings
20% below category average
Tableau Desktop
8.3
164 Ratings
4% above category average
Pre-built visualization formats (heatmaps, scatter plots etc.)00 Ratings7.79 Ratings8.5162 Ratings
Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization00 Ratings5.56 Ratings8.5156 Ratings
Predictive Analytics00 Ratings6.46 Ratings8.6131 Ratings
Pattern Recognition and Data Mining00 Ratings00 Ratings7.57 Ratings
Access Control and Security
Comparison of Access Control and Security features of Product A and Product B
Grist
-
Ratings
Mode Analytics
9.5
2 Ratings
11% above category average
Tableau Desktop
9.0
149 Ratings
6% above category average
Multi-User Support (named login)00 Ratings10.02 Ratings9.0145 Ratings
Role-Based Security Model00 Ratings9.02 Ratings9.0125 Ratings
Multiple Access Permission Levels (Create, Read, Delete)00 Ratings9.02 Ratings8.7136 Ratings
Single Sign-On (SSO)00 Ratings9.82 Ratings9.283 Ratings
Report-Level Access Control00 Ratings00 Ratings9.010 Ratings
Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding
Comparison of Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding features of Product A and Product B
Grist
-
Ratings
Mode Analytics
9.0
1 Ratings
15% above category average
Tableau Desktop
7.7
67 Ratings
0% below category average
REST API00 Ratings9.01 Ratings8.259 Ratings
Javascript API00 Ratings00 Ratings7.653 Ratings
iFrames00 Ratings00 Ratings6.751 Ratings
Java API00 Ratings00 Ratings8.148 Ratings
Themeable User Interface (UI)00 Ratings00 Ratings7.254 Ratings
Customizable Platform (Open Source)00 Ratings00 Ratings8.148 Ratings
Mobile Capabilities
Comparison of Mobile Capabilities features of Product A and Product B
Grist
-
Ratings
Mode Analytics
-
Ratings
Tableau Desktop
7.9
141 Ratings
2% above category average
Responsive Design for Web Access00 Ratings00 Ratings8.7130 Ratings
Mobile Application00 Ratings00 Ratings7.4101 Ratings
Dashboard / Report / Visualization Interactivity on Mobile00 Ratings00 Ratings7.4122 Ratings
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User Ratings
GristMode AnalyticsTableau Desktop
Likelihood to Recommend
9.9
(2 ratings)
8.1
(9 ratings)
8.8
(203 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
-
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
7.5
(41 ratings)
Usability
-
(0 ratings)
8.1
(4 ratings)
8.3
(73 ratings)
Availability
-
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(11 ratings)
Performance
-
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
8.0
(10 ratings)
Support Rating
-
(0 ratings)
7.4
(5 ratings)
1.0
(57 ratings)
In-Person Training
-
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
9.4
(4 ratings)
Online Training
-
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
8.0
(5 ratings)
Implementation Rating
-
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
8.0
(34 ratings)
Configurability
-
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
7.0
(3 ratings)
Ease of integration
-
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Product Scalability
-
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(4 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
-
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
-
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
GristMode AnalyticsTableau Desktop
Likelihood to Recommend
Grist Labs
This is well suited to someone (or a team) who are technically minded and have a dataset that they need to be able to use in many ways. It's less appropriate for a team who isn't technically minded and/or don't have the data they need to manipulate. It would be useful for things that you could use a database or spreadsheet for such as CRM, Advertising database, Business tracking, Health tracking etc.
Read full review
ThoughtSpot
Mode is a clear category winner for how it easy it is to go from interactive analysis to professional quality reporting. You can easily do all your SQL and quite a bit of R/Python. If you want to quickly go from your database to simple charts, this is your pick. If you need to do heavier data modeling, scheduling jobs, or ML, you'll need something else, like Databricks. In my opinion, the quality of visualizations and some developer/analyst features make Databricks an unacceptable substitute.
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).
Read full review
Pros
Grist Labs
  • Provides amazing customer service, help, examples, and explains what they are having you do
  • The layout is easy
Read full review
ThoughtSpot
  • It allows me to undertake data visualization tasks by creating really insightful charts and dashboards
  • It allows for easy sharing and work collaboration on data analysis tasks
  • Mode has an easier to use SQL editor as well
  • I love how it organizes all our SQL data tables into easy-to-view data we can draw insights on
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.
Read full review
Cons
Grist Labs
  • Making the user permissions more obvious on how to use them - They are highly adaptable, but hard to understand how to use them
  • Small changes such as auto colouring the choices/toggles options and being able to edit them once set.
  • Being able to copy the formatting from one column to the next
Read full review
ThoughtSpot
  • Date ranges aren't always the most intuitive to set, strangely
  • Faster refresh rates would be ideal
  • Would love more dynamic mobile device integration (alerts, etc)
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
Grist Labs
No answers on this topic
ThoughtSpot
No answers on this topic
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.
Read full review
Usability
Grist Labs
No answers on this topic
ThoughtSpot
For the advanced user already familiar with Python. It is just the same tool, already managed and connected to the data.
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
Grist Labs
No answers on this topic
ThoughtSpot
No answers on this topic
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
Grist Labs
No answers on this topic
ThoughtSpot
No answers on this topic
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
Read full review
Support Rating
Grist Labs
No answers on this topic
ThoughtSpot
Mode has dedicated agents who are online in a chatroom, ready to take on any questions and provide helpful feedback.
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.
Read full review
In-Person Training
Grist Labs
No answers on this topic
ThoughtSpot
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
Grist Labs
No answers on this topic
ThoughtSpot
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
Read full review
Implementation Rating
Grist Labs
No answers on this topic
ThoughtSpot
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.
Read full review
Alternatives Considered
Grist Labs
Grist is easier to use, faster, and loads quicker with heavy data.
Read full review
ThoughtSpot
We used both Qlik and Mode at our organization. The mode was used a quick analysis SQL tool while Qlik was our enterprise BI solution.
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.
Read full review
Scalability
Grist Labs
No answers on this topic
ThoughtSpot
No answers on this topic
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
Grist Labs
  • It's saved a lot of time in both creating an advertising database and managing it week to week effectively. I had previously created in others that haven't worked, and this does, saving me a good 1 hour weekly, and 5 hours or more each time I had problems with the last ones
  • Being able to stay on track with this has meant I'm following up at the right time (advertisers) and keeping a professional manner and not losing business due to missed communication
  • Saving me $ from buying a program like Access (or Airtable monthly) and then the learning curve that that has. This has a much easier learning curve to say the least.
Read full review
ThoughtSpot
  • Extremely positive. It's a key feature in our application.
  • Were it not for the account management bit, Mode would be hands-down our recommendation for anyone looking for cloud BI.
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.
Read full review
ScreenShots

Grist Screenshots

Screenshot of the drag and drop dashboard editor used to build layouts.Screenshot of the custom user permissions that determine who can see what, down to each column and row.Screenshot of dynamic charts and reports that update with the click of a mouse.Screenshot of Grist's formula support for Excel-like functions or Python formulas. Technical users can drill into database structure in code view.