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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Microsoft Excel

    Score9 out of 10
    N/AMicrosoft Excel is a spreadsheet application available as part of Microsoft 365 (Office 365), or standalone, in cloud-based and on-premise editions.

    $6.99

    per month

    Tableau Cloud

    Score8.1 out of 10
    N/ATableau Cloud (formerly Tableau Online) is a self-service analytics platform that is fully hosted in the cloud. Tableau Cloud enables users to publish dashboards and invite colleagues to explore hidden opportunities with interactive visualizations and accurate data, from any browser or mobile device.

    $15

    per month per user

    Pricing
    Microsoft ExcelTableau Cloud
    Editions & Modules
    Excel with Microsoft 365
    $6.99
    per month
    Excel for 1 PC or Mac
    $139.99
    perpetual license
    Tableau Viewer
    $15
    per month billed annually per user
    Enterprise Viewer
    $35
    per month billed annually per user
    Tableau Explorer
    $42
    per month billed annually per user
    Enterprise Explorer
    $70
    per month billed annually per user
    Tableau Creator
    $75
    per month billed annually per user
    Enterprise Creator
    $115
    per month billed annually per user
    Tableau+
    Contact Sales
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Microsoft ExcelTableau Cloud
    Free Trial
    YesNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    YesNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Microsoft ExcelTableau Cloud
    Considered Both Products
    Microsoft
    No answer on this topic
    Tableau
    Chose Tableau Cloud
    It seems more robust then the other platforms. There is a lot you can do from merging many different data sets together by joining them at like points, to creating visualizations of the data, or by showcasing some important data to any number of people within your organization. …
    Incentivized
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    99%
    Would buy again
    78 Answers
    96%
    Would buy again
    27 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    70 Answers
    92%
    Delivers good value for the price
    22 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    96%
    Happy with the feature set
    76 Answers
    89%
    Happy with the feature set
    25 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    96%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    46 Answers
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    14 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    54 Answers
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    13 Answers
    Features
    Microsoft ExcelTableau Cloud
    BI Standard Reporting
    Comparison of BI Standard Reporting features of Microsoft Excel and Tableau Cloud
    Feature
    Microsoft Excel
    -
    Ratings
    Tableau Cloud
    7.6
    74 Ratings
    7% below category average
    Pixel Perfect reports00 Ratings7.656 Ratings
    Customizable dashboards00 Ratings8.774 Ratings
    Report Formatting Templates00 Ratings6.663 Ratings
    Ad-hoc Reporting
    Comparison of Ad-hoc Reporting features of Microsoft Excel and Tableau Cloud
    Feature
    Microsoft Excel
    -
    Ratings
    Tableau Cloud
    7.6
    74 Ratings
    5% below category average
    Drill-down analysis00 Ratings8.574 Ratings
    Formatting capabilities00 Ratings7.371 Ratings
    Integration with R or other statistical packages00 Ratings6.147 Ratings
    Report sharing and collaboration00 Ratings8.672 Ratings
    Report Output and Scheduling
    Comparison of Report Output and Scheduling features of Microsoft Excel and Tableau Cloud
    Feature
    Microsoft Excel
    -
    Ratings
    Tableau Cloud
    7.8
    72 Ratings
    5% below category average
    Publish to Web00 Ratings8.668 Ratings
    Publish to PDF00 Ratings7.567 Ratings
    Report Versioning00 Ratings7.655 Ratings
    Report Delivery Scheduling00 Ratings8.559 Ratings
    Delivery to Remote Servers00 Ratings6.738 Ratings
    Data Discovery and Visualization
    Comparison of Data Discovery and Visualization features of Microsoft Excel and Tableau Cloud
    Feature
    Microsoft Excel
    -
    Ratings
    Tableau Cloud
    7.9
    70 Ratings
    1% below category average
    Pre-built visualization formats (heatmaps, scatter plots etc.)00 Ratings8.267 Ratings
    Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization00 Ratings8.366 Ratings
    Predictive Analytics00 Ratings7.857 Ratings
    Pattern Recognition and Data Mining00 Ratings7.26 Ratings
    Access Control and Security
    Comparison of Access Control and Security features of Microsoft Excel and Tableau Cloud
    Feature
    Microsoft Excel
    -
    Ratings
    Tableau Cloud
    8.4
    69 Ratings
    1% below category average
    Multi-User Support (named login)00 Ratings8.363 Ratings
    Role-Based Security Model00 Ratings7.756 Ratings
    Multiple Access Permission Levels (Create, Read, Delete)00 Ratings8.659 Ratings
    Report-Level Access Control00 Ratings8.87 Ratings
    Single Sign-On (SSO)00 Ratings8.754 Ratings
    Mobile Capabilities
    Comparison of Mobile Capabilities features of Microsoft Excel and Tableau Cloud
    Feature
    Microsoft Excel
    -
    Ratings
    Tableau Cloud
    7.5
    59 Ratings
    3% below category average
    Responsive Design for Web Access00 Ratings7.457 Ratings
    Mobile Application00 Ratings7.744 Ratings
    Dashboard / Report / Visualization Interactivity on Mobile00 Ratings7.851 Ratings
    Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding
    Comparison of Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding features of Microsoft Excel and Tableau Cloud
    Feature
    Microsoft Excel
    -
    Ratings
    Tableau Cloud
    7.0
    41 Ratings
    10% below category average
    REST API00 Ratings8.136 Ratings
    Javascript API00 Ratings7.534 Ratings
    iFrames00 Ratings6.833 Ratings
    Java API00 Ratings5.729 Ratings
    Themeable User Interface (UI)00 Ratings6.735 Ratings
    Customizable Platform (Open Source)00 Ratings7.232 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Microsoft ExcelTableau Cloud
    Small Businesses
    Stackby
    Score8.8 out of 10
    Cyfe
    Score4 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Google Sheets
    Score8.9 out of 10
    Qlik Cloud Analytics (Qlik Sense)
    Score8.1 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Google Sheets
    Score8.9 out of 10
    Sisense
    Score6.9 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Microsoft ExcelTableau Cloud
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.0
    (78 ratings)
    8.9
    (76 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    9.9
    (7 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Usability
    8.5
    (23 ratings)
    8.6
    (29 ratings)
    Availability
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Performance
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    8.7
    (20 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Configurability
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Data Sharing and Collaboration
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.0
    (49 ratings)
    Data Sources
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.3
    (49 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Microsoft ExcelTableau Cloud
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Microsoft
    I don't really know another program as powerful as Excel. I've used Google Doc programs but do not feel they come close. So far, anytime I've needed a table of some sort for data, whether it's budget oriented or information off a survey, the best system has been Excel. We do web audits on occasion and we create an Excel worksheet featuring every URL of the pages we're auditing, notes, data about the content, information about files attached to the page and other information to help us determine what pages need updating, deleting or otherwise. We also use Excel primarily to export our Google Analytics to in order for us to create reports for clients that need to see specific information about their traffic.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Tableau
    If you're using Tableau as the primary BI tool, then Tableau Cloud is well suited to publish and share the results with a wide(r) audience. It is well suited for various degrees of self-service proficiency, from pure consumers of analytical work to more advanced users who can use web editing for smaller or larger adjustments, and even for desktop power users who will publish their work to Tableau Cloud. It has many good ways to organize the content and make it easily accessible via search, favorites, folders, collections ("playlists for your data"), or history ("recents"). It might not be ideally suited if there are many on-prem sources to be used (even though there are options to connect them) or if you have very special requirements regarding custom server setup, which is limited in a shared cloud environment like Tableau Cloud.
    Incentivized
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    Pros
    Microsoft
    • It is very good at embedded formulas and tying cells to one another
    • It allows me to compare deals terms on a side-by-side basis and talk my clients through it easily.
    • It is very helpful as well in terms of allowing me to filter/sort results in many different ways depending on what specific information I am most interested in prioritizing.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Tableau
    • Tableau Online is completely cloud based and that's why the reports and dashboards are accessible even on the go. One doesn't always need to access the office laptop to access the reports.
    • The visualizations are interactive and one can quickly change the level at which they want to view the information. For example, one person might be more interested in looking at the country level performances rather than client level. This is intuitive and one doesn't need to create multiple reports for the same.
    • The feature to ask questions in plain vanilla English language is great and helpful. For quick adhoc fact checks one can simply type what they are looking for and the Natural Language Programming algorithms under the hood parse the query, interpret it and then fetch the results accordingly in a visual form.
    Incentivized
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    Cons
    Microsoft
    • Excel offers collaboration features that allow multiple users to work on the same spreadsheet, but managing changes made by different users can be challenging. Excel could improve its features by offering more granular control, better tracking of changes, and more robust conflict resolution tools.
    • Itcan be a barrier to productivity when importing and exporting data from other applications or file formats. To improve its features, it should offer better support for standard file formats and more robust error handling and reporting tools.
    • Excel can be challenging for finance students and working professionals, but it can be improved by offering more robust tutorials, better documentation, and more user communities and support forums.
    Incentivized
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    Tableau
    • Can be a steep learning curve for new users
    • Modeling and building algorithms aren't always intuitive and take some testing/retesting to ensure it's working as it should
    • Inability to integrate easily with our HRIS platform. Reports are pulled from HRIS at various intervals and uploaded into Tableau
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Microsoft
    Excel remains the industry standard for spreadsheets and has maintained simple and straight-forward formula writing methods. Although there is a learning curve to do more complex calculations, there are countless help sites and videos on the Internet for almost any need.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Tableau
    No answers on this topic
    Usability
    Microsoft
    I'm giving it a 7 because it is my go to. But the fact other prefer Google Sheets when working with a team does get irritating. I've used the online version of Microsoft Excel that other teams can get into and it still seems behind Google Sheets. It's a little clanky and slow? If that's even a term.
    Incentivized
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    Tableau
    Based on comments from our clients, I awarded it this grade. Non-technical customers frequently compliment us on the ease with which they can utilize Tableau Online. Usability is rarely a source of contention amongst our customers. Few complaints have come from me as a user of our internal products.
    Incentivized
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    Reliability and Availability
    Microsoft
    I have rarely, if ever, had issues with its availability.
    Incentivized
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    Tableau
    No answers on this topic
    Performance
    Microsoft
    Excel load and performs calculations immediately. It integrate well with all Microsoft Office applications and does not slow them down.
    Incentivized
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    Tableau
    No answers on this topic
    Support Rating
    Microsoft
    I have not had to use it often, but it is good.
    Incentivized
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    Tableau
    I have not had any issues that require customer support from Tableau at this time, which speaks well to Tableau. I have taken an online course with Tableau and it was very professional and well done, so based on that I would assume a similar level of quality for their customer service.
    Incentivized
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    Alternatives Considered
    Microsoft
    Out of Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Power BI, IBM SPSS, and Google Sheets, Microsoft Excel is by far the most common tool used for anything data-related across organizations. Accordingly, our organization has also implemented Microsoft Excel as a first-step tool. We recently adopted Microsoft Power BI (the free version), and use it occasionally (mostly for creating dashboards), but it is less commonly understood by stakeholders across our organization and by our clients. Accordingly, Microsoft Excel is more user-friendly and because of its popularity, we can easily look up how to do things in the program online. Google Sheets is a comparable alternative to Microsoft Excel, but because it's cloud-based and we have sensitive data that needs to be protected, we chose against using this software. Finally, a few users (including myself) have access to and utilize IBM's SPSS. For my role, it's a helpful tool to do more rigorous analyses. However, because of its cost and limited functionality as a simple spreadsheet, we only use it for more complex analyses.
    Incentivized
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    Tableau
    In determining whether to go with Tableau Online versus Alteryx, two important factors stood out in determining our go-to solution. First, while Alteryx is an impressive tool for data cleansing, it did not stack up in terms of data visualization capabilities. Tableau, on the other hand, provided us everything we needed in terms of visualizing our data and analytics. The second factor is cost. Well neither solution would be considered cheap, Tableau was the more cost effective solution for our needs.
    Incentivized
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    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    Microsoft
    N/A I was not involved in this process.
    Incentivized
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    Tableau
    No answers on this topic
    Scalability
    Microsoft
    Each user can use it to whatever level of expertise they have. It remains the same so users can contribute to another's work regardless of whether they have more or less expertise
    Incentivized
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    Tableau
    No answers on this topic
    Return on Investment
    Microsoft
    • Excel has positively impacted the business as it has increased our efficiency.
    • It also saves us the time that we would have spent on making the calculations that it does for us.
    • Since it works on all devices and is compatible with both Windows and Mac, we do not have to invest in any other alternative.
    Read full review
    Tableau
    • When we release new products, we are now able to quickly see data and toggle between current periods and previous to see performance
    • Generating new reports requires less IT time to build
    • Data can be shared across many different device types
    • We now have integration where our customers can extract data from our software more easily-this was a big ask from our customers
    Incentivized
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    ScreenShots