TrustRadius: an HG Insights company

Save this comparison

Save this comparison

Add Product

Recommended Comparisons

    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 Server

    Score7.5 out of 10
    N/ATableau Server allows Tableau Desktop users to publish dashboards to a central server to be shared across their organizations. The product is designed to facilitate collaboration across the organization. It can be deployed on a server in the data center, or it can be deployed on a public cloud.

    $12

    Per User Per Month

    Pricing
    Microsoft ExcelTableau Server
    Editions & Modules
    Excel with Microsoft 365
    $6.99
    per month
    Excel for 1 PC or Mac
    $139.99
    perpetual license
    Viewer
    $12.00
    Per User Per Month
    Explorer
    $35.00
    Per User Per Month
    Creator
    $70.00
    Per User Per Month
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Microsoft ExcelTableau Server
    Free Trial
    YesYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    YesNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoYes
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Microsoft ExcelTableau Server
    Considered Both Products
    Microsoft
    No answer on this topic
    Tableau
    Chose Tableau Server
    Tableau Server can handle a large datasets without any lagging the data or slow updating the data, easily can use all the functions and formulas by using data up-to thousands of entry and easily can present in table, charts and dashboards formats and main thing to store and …
    Incentivized
    Chose Tableau Server
    Tableau server has among the best visualization compared to other similar products. It is in some cases much easier to use when the data is nicely arranged in the required format. It also has a good drill down capability which helps us expand and look for variances and other …
    Incentivized
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    99%
    Would buy again
    78 Answers
    75%
    Would buy again
    6 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    70 Answers
    75%
    Delivers good value for the price
    6 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    96%
    Happy with the feature set
    76 Answers
    88%
    Happy with the feature set
    7 Answers
    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
    71%
    Implementation went as expected
    5 Answers
    Features
    Microsoft ExcelTableau Server
    BI Standard Reporting
    Comparison of BI Standard Reporting features of Microsoft Excel and Tableau Server
    Feature
    Microsoft Excel
    -
    Ratings
    Tableau Server
    8.4
    95 Ratings
    3% above category average
    Pixel Perfect reports00 Ratings9.129 Ratings
    Customizable dashboards00 Ratings7.094 Ratings
    Report Formatting Templates00 Ratings9.081 Ratings
    Ad-hoc Reporting
    Comparison of Ad-hoc Reporting features of Microsoft Excel and Tableau Server
    Feature
    Microsoft Excel
    -
    Ratings
    Tableau Server
    7.8
    95 Ratings
    3% below category average
    Drill-down analysis00 Ratings8.095 Ratings
    Formatting capabilities00 Ratings8.093 Ratings
    Integration with R or other statistical packages00 Ratings8.059 Ratings
    Report sharing and collaboration00 Ratings7.089 Ratings
    Report Output and Scheduling
    Comparison of Report Output and Scheduling features of Microsoft Excel and Tableau Server
    Feature
    Microsoft Excel
    -
    Ratings
    Tableau Server
    7.2
    91 Ratings
    13% below category average
    Publish to Web00 Ratings8.085 Ratings
    Publish to PDF00 Ratings7.084 Ratings
    Report Versioning00 Ratings8.070 Ratings
    Report Delivery Scheduling00 Ratings8.077 Ratings
    Delivery to Remote Servers00 Ratings5.19 Ratings
    Data Discovery and Visualization
    Comparison of Data Discovery and Visualization features of Microsoft Excel and Tableau Server
    Feature
    Microsoft Excel
    -
    Ratings
    Tableau Server
    8.3
    90 Ratings
    4% above category average
    Pre-built visualization formats (heatmaps, scatter plots etc.)00 Ratings9.086 Ratings
    Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization00 Ratings8.085 Ratings
    Predictive Analytics00 Ratings8.064 Ratings
    Pattern Recognition and Data Mining00 Ratings8.01 Ratings
    Access Control and Security
    Comparison of Access Control and Security features of Microsoft Excel and Tableau Server
    Feature
    Microsoft Excel
    -
    Ratings
    Tableau Server
    10.0
    95 Ratings
    16% above category average
    Multi-User Support (named login)00 Ratings10.093 Ratings
    Role-Based Security Model00 Ratings10.090 Ratings
    Multiple Access Permission Levels (Create, Read, Delete)00 Ratings10.092 Ratings
    Report-Level Access Control00 Ratings10.01 Ratings
    Single Sign-On (SSO)00 Ratings10.062 Ratings
    Mobile Capabilities
    Comparison of Mobile Capabilities features of Microsoft Excel and Tableau Server
    Feature
    Microsoft Excel
    -
    Ratings
    Tableau Server
    8.1
    79 Ratings
    5% above category average
    Responsive Design for Web Access00 Ratings10.077 Ratings
    Mobile Application00 Ratings7.061 Ratings
    Dashboard / Report / Visualization Interactivity on Mobile00 Ratings7.068 Ratings
    Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding
    Comparison of Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding features of Microsoft Excel and Tableau Server
    Feature
    Microsoft Excel
    -
    Ratings
    Tableau Server
    6.4
    46 Ratings
    19% below category average
    REST API00 Ratings8.040 Ratings
    Javascript API00 Ratings8.037 Ratings
    iFrames00 Ratings6.040 Ratings
    Java API00 Ratings5.57 Ratings
    Themeable User Interface (UI)00 Ratings6.19 Ratings
    Customizable Platform (Open Source)00 Ratings4.67 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Microsoft ExcelTableau Server
    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 Server
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.0
    (78 ratings)
    8.0
    (111 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    9.9
    (7 ratings)
    10.0
    (20 ratings)
    Usability
    8.5
    (23 ratings)
    8.0
    (17 ratings)
    Availability
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    9.0
    (9 ratings)
    Performance
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    8.1
    (8 ratings)
    Support Rating
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    3.0
    (18 ratings)
    In-Person Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.0
    (4 ratings)
    Online Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (9 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    9.1
    (13 ratings)
    Configurability
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    Data Sharing and Collaboration
    -
    (0 ratings)
    5.1
    (79 ratings)
    Data Sources
    -
    (0 ratings)
    6.6
    (82 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 Server
    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
    Whole funnel and specific channel performance from upper to lower funnel metrics. The ability to view full channel performance for some time, such as weekly, monthly, or quarterly, has truly been monumental in how my team optimizes specific channels and campaigns. Daily performance tracking is a bit overwhelming, with load times and having to refresh specific live views over time. It can be challenging to do so at times, as extensive dashboards take much longer to load.
    Incentivized
    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
    • It's good at doing what it is designed for: accessing visualizations without having to download and open a workbook in Tableau Desktop. The latter would be a very inefficient method for sharing our metrics, so I am glad that we have Tableau Server to serve this function.
    • Publishing to Tableau Server is quick and easy. Just a few clicks from Tableau Desktop and a few seconds of publishing through an average speed network, and the new visualizations are live!
    • Seeing details on who has viewed the visualization and when. This is something particularly useful to me for trying to drive adoption of some new pages, so I really appreciate the granularity provided in Tableau Server
    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 Server has had some issue handling some of our larger data sets. Our extract refreshes fail intermittently with no obvious error that we can fix
    • Tableau Server has been hard to work with before they launched their new Rest API, which is also a little tricky to work with
    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 simply is used all the time by more and more people. Migrating to something else would involve lots of work and lots of training. The renewal fee being fair, it simply isn't worth migrating to a different tool for now.
    Incentivized
    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 Server takes training and experience in order to unlock the application's full potential. This is best handled by a qualified data scientist or data analytics manager. Tableau user interface layout, nomenclature, and command structure take time and training to become proficient with. Integration and connectivity require proper IT developer support.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Reliability and Availability
    Microsoft
    I have rarely, if ever, had issues with its availability.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Tableau
    Our instance of Tableau Server was hosted on premises (I believe all instances are) so if there were any outages it was normally due to scheduled maintenance on our end. If the Tableau server ever went down, a quick restart solved most issues
    Read full review
    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
    While there are definitely cases where a user can do things that will make a particular worksheet or dashboard run slowly, overall the performance is extremely fast. The user experience of exploratory analysis particularly shines, there's nothing out there with the polish of Tableau.
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    Microsoft
    I have not had to use it often, but it is good.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Tableau
    We have consistently had highly satisfactory results every time we've reached out for help. Our contractor, used for Tableau server maintenance and dashboard development is very technically skilled. When he hits a roadblock on how to do something with Tableau, the support staff have provided timely and useful guidance. He frequently compares it to Cognos and says that while Cognos has capabilities Tableau doesn't, the bottom line value for us is a no-brainer
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    In-Person Training
    Microsoft
    No answers on this topic
    Tableau
    In our case, they hired a private third party consultant to train our dept. It was extremely boring and felt like it dragged on. Everything I learned was self taught so I was not really paying attention. But I do think that you can easily spend a week on the tool and go over every nook and cranny. We only had the consultant in for a day or two.
    Read full review
    Online Training
    Microsoft
    No answers on this topic
    Tableau
    The Tableau website is full of videos that you can follow at your own pace. As a very small company with a Tableau install, access to these free resources was incredibly useful to allowing me to implement Tableau to its potential in a reasonable and proportionate manner.
    Read full review
    Implementation Rating
    Microsoft
    No answers on this topic
    Tableau
    Implementation was over the phone with the vendor, and did not go particularly well. Again, think this was our fault as our integration and IT oversight was poor, and we made errors. Would they have happened had a vendor been onsite? Not sure, probably not, but we probably wouldn't have paid for that either
    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
    Today, if my shop is largely Microsoft-centric, I would be hard pressed to choose a product other than Power BI. Tableau was the visualization leader for years, but Microsoft has caught up with them in many areas, and surpassed them in some. Its ability to source, transform, and model data is superior to Tableau. Tableau still has the lead in some visualizations, but Power BI's rise is evidenced by its ever-increasing position in the leadership section of the Gartner Magic Quadrant.
    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 does take dedicated FTE to create and analyze the data. It's too complex (and powerful) a product not to have someone dedicated to developing with it.
    • There are some significant setup for the server product.
    • Once sever setup is complete, it's largely "fire and forget" until an update is necessary. The server update process is cumbersome.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    Tableau Server Screenshots

    Screenshot of Tableau Server interface and administration view 1.Screenshot of Tableau Server interface and administration view 2.Screenshot of Tableau Server permissions view.Screenshot of Tableau Services Manager (TSM) view 1.Screenshot of Tableau Services Manager (TSM) view 2.