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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 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
    Microsoft ExcelTableau Public
    Editions & Modules
    Excel with Microsoft 365
    $6.99
    per month
    Excel for 1 PC or Mac
    $139.99
    perpetual license
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Microsoft ExcelTableau Public
    Free Trial
    YesNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    YesYes
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Microsoft ExcelTableau Public
    Considered Both Products
    Microsoft
    No answer on this topic
    Tableau
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    99%
    Would buy again
    78 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Delivers good value for the price
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    70 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Happy with the feature set
    96%
    Happy with the feature set
    76 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    96%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    46 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation went as expected
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    54 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Features
    Microsoft ExcelTableau Public
    BI Standard Reporting
    Comparison of BI Standard Reporting features of Microsoft Excel and Tableau Public
    Feature
    Microsoft Excel
    -
    Ratings
    Tableau Public
    9.8
    12 Ratings
    19% above category average
    Pixel Perfect reports00 Ratings9.710 Ratings
    Customizable dashboards00 Ratings10.012 Ratings
    Report Formatting Templates00 Ratings9.712 Ratings
    Ad-hoc Reporting
    Comparison of Ad-hoc Reporting features of Microsoft Excel and Tableau Public
    Feature
    Microsoft Excel
    -
    Ratings
    Tableau Public
    9.7
    12 Ratings
    21% above category average
    Drill-down analysis00 Ratings9.812 Ratings
    Formatting capabilities00 Ratings9.712 Ratings
    Integration with R or other statistical packages00 Ratings9.59 Ratings
    Report sharing and collaboration00 Ratings9.811 Ratings
    Report Output and Scheduling
    Comparison of Report Output and Scheduling features of Microsoft Excel and Tableau Public
    Feature
    Microsoft Excel
    -
    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
    Data Discovery and Visualization
    Comparison of Data Discovery and Visualization features of Microsoft Excel and Tableau Public
    Feature
    Microsoft Excel
    -
    Ratings
    Tableau Public
    9.8
    11 Ratings
    23% above category average
    Pre-built visualization formats (heatmaps, scatter plots etc.)00 Ratings9.811 Ratings
    Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization00 Ratings9.811 Ratings
    Predictive Analytics00 Ratings9.79 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Microsoft ExcelTableau Public
    Small Businesses
    Stackby
    Score8.8 out of 10
    Chartio (discontinued)
    Score7.5 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Google Sheets
    Score8.9 out of 10
    Jet Reports
    Score9.5 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Google Sheets
    Score8.9 out of 10
    Kibana
    Score8.4 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Microsoft ExcelTableau Public
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.0
    (78 ratings)
    8.5
    (14 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    9.9
    (7 ratings)
    9.1
    (2 ratings)
    Usability
    8.5
    (23 ratings)
    10.0
    (5 ratings)
    Availability
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Performance
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    9.6
    (6 ratings)
    Online Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    9.1
    (2 ratings)
    Configurability
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Data Sharing and Collaboration
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.2
    (9 ratings)
    Data Sources
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.8
    (9 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 Public
    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
    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
    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
    • 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
    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
    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
    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
    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
    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
    Read full review
    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
    Reliability and Availability
    Microsoft
    I have rarely, if ever, had issues with its availability.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    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
    Read full review
    Tableau
    No answers on this topic
    Support Rating
    Microsoft
    I have not had to use it often, but it is good.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    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
    Microsoft
    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
    Microsoft
    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
    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
    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
    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    Microsoft
    N/A I was not involved in this process.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    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
    Read full review
    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
    • 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