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Lightning Tools Data Viewer vs. Tableau Public

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    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

    Tableau Public

    Score9.9 out of 10
    N/ATableau Public is a free edition of the Desktop product. With this edition, data can only be published to the Tableau public website and does not allow work to be saved or exported locally.

    $0

    per month

    Pricing
    Lightning Tools Data ViewerTableau Public
    Editions & Modules
    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
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Lightning Tools Data ViewerTableau Public
    Free Trial
    YesNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoYes
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    YesNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional DetailsPrices 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
    Features
    Lightning Tools Data ViewerTableau Public
    BI Standard Reporting
    Comparison of BI Standard Reporting features of Lightning Tools Data Viewer and Tableau Public
    Feature
    Lightning Tools Data Viewer
    9.1
    1 Ratings
    12% above category average
    Tableau Public
    9.8
    12 Ratings
    19% above category average
    Customizable dashboards9.11 Ratings10.012 Ratings
    Report Formatting Templates9.11 Ratings9.712 Ratings
    Pixel Perfect reports00 Ratings9.710 Ratings
    Ad-hoc Reporting
    Comparison of Ad-hoc Reporting features of Lightning Tools Data Viewer and Tableau Public
    Feature
    Lightning Tools Data Viewer
    8.2
    1 Ratings
    5% above category average
    Tableau Public
    9.7
    12 Ratings
    21% above category average
    Drill-down analysis6.41 Ratings9.812 Ratings
    Formatting capabilities9.11 Ratings9.712 Ratings
    Report sharing and collaboration9.11 Ratings9.811 Ratings
    Integration with R or other statistical packages00 Ratings9.59 Ratings
    Data Discovery and Visualization
    Comparison of Data Discovery and Visualization features of Lightning Tools Data Viewer and Tableau Public
    Feature
    Lightning Tools Data Viewer
    3.6
    1 Ratings
    73% below category average
    Tableau Public
    9.8
    11 Ratings
    23% above category average
    Pre-built visualization formats (heatmaps, scatter plots etc.)3.61 Ratings9.811 Ratings
    Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization00 Ratings9.811 Ratings
    Predictive Analytics00 Ratings9.79 Ratings
    Report Output and Scheduling
    Comparison of Report Output and Scheduling features of Lightning Tools Data Viewer and Tableau Public
    Feature
    Lightning Tools Data Viewer
    -
    Ratings
    Tableau Public
    9.5
    11 Ratings
    15% above category average
    Publish to Web00 Ratings10.011 Ratings
    Publish to PDF00 Ratings10.09 Ratings
    Report Versioning00 Ratings9.89 Ratings
    Report Delivery Scheduling00 Ratings9.69 Ratings
    Delivery to Remote Servers00 Ratings8.17 Ratings
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    Lightning Tools Data ViewerTableau Public
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    Score8.4 out of 10
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    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Lightning Tools Data ViewerTableau Public
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    8.5
    (14 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.1
    (2 ratings)
    Usability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (5 ratings)
    Support Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.6
    (6 ratings)
    Online Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.1
    (2 ratings)
    Data Sharing and Collaboration
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.2
    (9 ratings)
    Data Sources
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.8
    (9 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Lightning Tools Data ViewerTableau Public
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Lightning Tools
    Lightning Tools Data Viewer is well suited for re-surfacing data and customizing its look and feel.
    Read full review
    Tableau
    Tableau public is the best platform to build dashboards for your personal profile and share with recruiters. It's always good to keep ourselves updated on the latest features, create sample dashboards and save them to a personal profile. Tableau public is free and doesn't need any subscription. anyone can create an account and start building reports.
    Read full review
    Pros
    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
    Tableau
    • Data visualization: lots of different options, including bar, scatter, pie, waterfall charts to explore relationships between variables, and to present findings/trends to different teams
    • Integrates readily with limited, though different data sources: TXT, CSV, TDE, Access
    • Exports reports for review of different dashboards: client-ready/team-ready, with a clean and tidy presentation in PDF format (or hardcopy)
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    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
    Tableau
    • Tableau Public (both Desktop and Server) like their "for a fee" counterparts offer very easy to learn and use tools to transform data into pictures and gain insights into your data. Most organizations report a reduction in development time of 10x vs. other similar tools, due to the intuitive user interface. That said, with Tableau Public, published workbooks are "disconnected" from the underlying data sources and require periodic updates when the data changes. Users are limited to 1 Gb of storage space per user ID and password as well.
    • I would like to see better options for public sharing of visualizations and data from within the "for a fee" products as more and more organizations are moving in the direction of data sharing with partners and their communities.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Lightning Tools
    No answers on this topic
    Tableau
    It's free, right? I'll keep using the free version. So the real question to ask is this? Will I pay $999 for the Personal version or $1,999 for the Professional? Yikes! That is a big stretch. I'm not sure about that. The product comparison chart is at: http://www.tableausoftware.com/public/comparison
    Read full review
    Usability
    Lightning Tools
    No answers on this topic
    Tableau
    Tableau public is a great training tool to understand the basics of Tableau before buying it. A great tool to extend Excel's visualization and to publish data for others. Not useful for anything you need secure. No ability to access databases. Static information only.
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    Lightning Tools
    No answers on this topic
    Tableau
    I have not yet required to contact support as the documentation and help i found online has always worked so far
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Online Training
    Lightning Tools
    No answers on this topic
    Tableau
    I found it sufficient, and fast. I could easily "kick the tires" with Tableau on my data so I got up and running fast.
    Read full review
    Implementation Rating
    Lightning Tools
    No answers on this topic
    Tableau
    Start at the end and work backward. Identify the business case / issue and questions the end users have, then identify the data needed, and where to get it.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Alternatives Considered
    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
    Tableau
    Google Charts/Drive is sufficient for simpler data sets, but it does not integrate with other web platforms and the visualization does not look as professional. I'm not aware of any other competitors that offer the same package as Microsoft.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    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
    Tableau
    • Tableau Public visualizations have helped drive traffic to our content and sites
    • The lack of cost means it's easy to demonstrate our experience to attract paying clients
    Incentivized
    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.