ibi WebFOCUS vs. Tableau Desktop

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
ibi WebFOCUS
Score 7.0 out of 10
N/A
The ibi™ WebFOCUS® product is an enterprise business intelligence and analytics solution equipped with data management, visual discovery, predictive analytics, and visualizations. Combining these capabilities and data science in one unified containerized platform, the WebFOCUS® solution can be used to make data-driven decisions across the enterprise and provide reports, dashboards, and customer-facing applications at scale.N/A
Tableau Desktop
Score 8.3 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.
$70
per month
Pricing
ibi WebFOCUSTableau Desktop
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Tableau Creator
$70.00
Per User / Per Month
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
ibi WebFOCUSTableau Desktop
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoYes
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details—All pricing plans are billed annually.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
ibi WebFOCUSTableau Desktop
Considered Both Products
ibi WebFOCUS
Chose ibi WebFOCUS
Webfocus handles the side of our business that is involved with our catalogs. Our catalogs is a huge revenue driver for us and this tool has been extremely useful with planning feature catalogs. Tableau is used more for marketing and merchandising purchases since we can filter …
Chose ibi WebFOCUS
We've looked at Tableau as an alternative and the visuals are good in Tableau. One way that WebFOCUS beats Tableau is it doesn't have any issues with a set number of columns in a report. When you need to have an Excel output, which happens, WebFOCUS is far superior. The …
Chose ibi WebFOCUS
Above average. Feature wise [Information Builders WebFOCUS] stands out. User friendliness is OK. It can handle the most complex tasks and its extensions with for example R make it extremely versatile. Support is lagging in western Europe, although i am more than happy with …
Chose ibi WebFOCUS
I found WebFOCUS a great tool for reporting purposes as I have used it for a long time. They should compare themselves with new reporting tools like Tableau and Splunk. Tableau's interface is mind blowing. IBI should learn from Tableau and how they have penetrated the big data …
Tableau Desktop
Chose Tableau Desktop
Tableau is a lot easier to visualize data and the dashboards are more robust. We didn’t use WebFOCUS to its greatest extent but getting up to speed on Tableau was easy. Training is also better in Tableau and the user community is very knowledgeable. We selected it as our …
Chose Tableau Desktop
In tableau you can achieve things really quickly and it has the power to show you insight data very easily. Tableau is also economical in comparison to what these tools cost. It's a full value tool.
Top Pros

No answers on this topic

Top Cons

No answers on this topic

Features
ibi WebFOCUSTableau Desktop
BI Standard Reporting
Comparison of BI Standard Reporting features of Product A and Product B
ibi WebFOCUS
7.7
11 Ratings
6% below category average
Tableau Desktop
8.5
167 Ratings
4% above category average
Pixel Perfect reports7.06 Ratings8.5139 Ratings
Customizable dashboards9.011 Ratings8.8166 Ratings
Report Formatting Templates7.011 Ratings8.2145 Ratings
Ad-hoc Reporting
Comparison of Ad-hoc Reporting features of Product A and Product B
ibi WebFOCUS
9.3
13 Ratings
14% above category average
Tableau Desktop
8.8
164 Ratings
8% above category average
Drill-down analysis8.013 Ratings9.0159 Ratings
Formatting capabilities10.013 Ratings9.0162 Ratings
Integration with R or other statistical packages9.08 Ratings8.0122 Ratings
Report sharing and collaboration10.012 Ratings9.3157 Ratings
Report Output and Scheduling
Comparison of Report Output and Scheduling features of Product A and Product B
ibi WebFOCUS
8.2
11 Ratings
2% below category average
Tableau Desktop
8.6
158 Ratings
3% above category average
Publish to Web10.09 Ratings8.7149 Ratings
Publish to PDF8.09 Ratings8.3149 Ratings
Report Versioning6.010 Ratings8.6116 Ratings
Report Delivery Scheduling10.011 Ratings9.1123 Ratings
Delivery to Remote Servers7.03 Ratings8.473 Ratings
Data Discovery and Visualization
Comparison of Data Discovery and Visualization features of Product A and Product B
ibi WebFOCUS
6.3
10 Ratings
25% below category average
Tableau Desktop
8.6
156 Ratings
6% above category average
Pre-built visualization formats (heatmaps, scatter plots etc.)6.08 Ratings8.9154 Ratings
Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization7.09 Ratings8.7149 Ratings
Predictive Analytics6.07 Ratings8.7126 Ratings
Pattern Recognition and Data Mining00 Ratings8.02 Ratings
Access Control and Security
Comparison of Access Control and Security features of Product A and Product B
ibi WebFOCUS
9.0
11 Ratings
5% above category average
Tableau Desktop
8.8
142 Ratings
2% above category average
Multi-User Support (named login)8.011 Ratings8.8139 Ratings
Role-Based Security Model10.011 Ratings8.3119 Ratings
Multiple Access Permission Levels (Create, Read, Delete)10.011 Ratings8.7129 Ratings
Single Sign-On (SSO)8.04 Ratings8.977 Ratings
Report-Level Access Control00 Ratings9.03 Ratings
Mobile Capabilities
Comparison of Mobile Capabilities features of Product A and Product B
ibi WebFOCUS
5.9
11 Ratings
30% below category average
Tableau Desktop
8.4
135 Ratings
5% above category average
Responsive Design for Web Access9.011 Ratings8.5124 Ratings
Mobile Application3.32 Ratings8.197 Ratings
Dashboard / Report / Visualization Interactivity on Mobile8.08 Ratings8.8117 Ratings
Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding
Comparison of Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding features of Product A and Product B
ibi WebFOCUS
8.6
3 Ratings
8% above category average
Tableau Desktop
8.7
64 Ratings
9% above category average
REST API10.01 Ratings8.756 Ratings
Javascript API8.02 Ratings8.551 Ratings
iFrames8.02 Ratings8.949 Ratings
Themeable User Interface (UI)8.03 Ratings8.453 Ratings
Customizable Platform (Open Source)9.01 Ratings8.646 Ratings
Java API00 Ratings9.146 Ratings
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ibi WebFOCUSTableau Desktop
Small Businesses
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Score 8.9 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
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Score 9.9 out of 10
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Score 9.9 out of 10
Enterprises
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Score 9.7 out of 10
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Score 9.7 out of 10
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User Ratings
ibi WebFOCUSTableau Desktop
Likelihood to Recommend
7.0
(16 ratings)
8.9
(194 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
8.6
(5 ratings)
8.9
(39 ratings)
Usability
8.0
(3 ratings)
8.6
(63 ratings)
Availability
9.0
(1 ratings)
8.0
(10 ratings)
Performance
-
(0 ratings)
6.1
(9 ratings)
Support Rating
7.0
(3 ratings)
6.9
(56 ratings)
In-Person Training
-
(0 ratings)
9.4
(4 ratings)
Online Training
6.0
(1 ratings)
8.0
(4 ratings)
Implementation Rating
8.0
(1 ratings)
8.0
(34 ratings)
Configurability
-
(0 ratings)
8.1
(2 ratings)
Ease of integration
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Product Scalability
-
(0 ratings)
7.0
(3 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
ibi WebFOCUSTableau Desktop
Likelihood to Recommend
IBI (Information Builders)
I would less recommend it because it looks like IBI is receding a bit from the European market. I would not be certain for future support. Knowledge in the market in western Europe is limited Functional wise the application suits almost all situations. I would for sure recommend it purely based on its capabilities
Read full review
Tableau
Tableau Desktop is one the finest tool available in the market with such a wide range of capabilities in its suite that makes it easy to generate insights. Further, if optimally designed, then its reports are fairly simple to understand, yet capable enough to make changes at the required levels. One can create a variety of visualizations as required by the business or the clients. The data pipelines in the backend are very robust. The tableau desktop also provides options to develop the reports in developer mode, which is one of the finest features to embed and execute even the most complex possible logic. It's easier to operate, simple to navigate, and fluent to understand by the users.
Read full review
Pros
IBI (Information Builders)
  • One thing that has always been good at WebFOCUS is how they interact with the customer on items. They take suggestions and implement them. In addition technical support is timely and very detailed.
  • I think they keep up with and lead in implementing new technologies in the BI space. One case of this are the ability for user to create their own easy dashboard using the green plus buttons. Also the ability to link d3 into and have the ability to implement new types of graphs is nice.
  • I have been to a spoke at one of their user conferences and they are worth going to. In addition to all of the great seminars the interaction you get with vendors and other users is key in the growth of your knowledge. I've learned so much for my time at these conferences.
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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
IBI (Information Builders)
  • The newest versions of WebFOCUS have an unnecessarily complicated security layout that makes configuration difficult to accomplish without bringing in the vendor for installs.
  • This software tries to cover too many bases allowing you to switch from writing code manually to creating reports using only GUI tools. This sometimes complicates screens and functionality where the two methods don't always work well together. -though its nice to have the choice.
  • The sales force is not as top notch as many software companies
Read full review
Tableau
  • Formatting the data to work correctly in graphical presentations can be time consuming
  • Daily data extracts can run slowly depending on how much data is required and the source of the data
  • The desktop version is required for advanced functionality, editing on [the] Tableau server allows only limited features
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
IBI (Information Builders)
This software is deeply engrained with my organization and has become a tool that would not easily be replaced without spending more money and resources to get the same results. License cost is comparable to other report writing tools and the capabilities are greater than the competition without having to buy multiple apps to do the same thing.
Read full review
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.
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Usability
IBI (Information Builders)
Best BI tool/product I have used. The others don't compare overall. Some can look fancier, but when you actually use them with large data and data from numerous systems/sources that is where most of the competition falls away. I also don't like downtime. I have basically none for a large user base with WebFocus. Even SAP Crystal Reports went down for 4 days once - 4 days because the admin password got locked out due to a glitch and we had zero reports for 4 days. WebFocus has never had more than a few minutes of downtime. It's like a tank that just keeps rolling. There is no other choice for reliable BI.
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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.
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Reliability and Availability
IBI (Information Builders)
Tracking availability formally for almost two years and we are at 99.8%
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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.
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Performance
IBI (Information Builders)
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
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Support Rating
IBI (Information Builders)
They have extremely knowledgeable techs that I have worked with over the years. Some have actually become really good friends of mine. I see them often at local user groups and when we show them how we are using their tools to save millions of dollars throughout the company
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Tableau
I have never really used support much, to be honest. I think the support is not as user-friendly to search and use it. I did have an encounter with them once and it required a bit of going back and forth for licensing before reaching a resolution. They did solve my issue though
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In-Person Training
IBI (Information Builders)
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.
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Online Training
IBI (Information Builders)
It's hit and miss, the last class was overcrowded and people were having trouble connecting which took up much of the time. Instructors vary
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Tableau
The training for new users are quite good because it covers topic wise training and the best part was that it also had video tutorials which are very helpful
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Implementation Rating
IBI (Information Builders)
Plan ahead on what data will be accessible and the type of security required on the database and if you will want to use security that is built into the software. It is worth consulting with the vendor on what your plan is and how they recommend you proceed in order to get results you are happy with.
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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.
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Alternatives Considered
IBI (Information Builders)
Webfocus handles the side of our business that is involved with our catalogs. Our catalogs is a huge revenue driver for us and this tool has been extremely useful with planning feature catalogs. Tableau is used more for marketing and merchandising purchases since we can filter data based on website sales.
Read full review
Tableau
If we do not have legacy tools which have already been set up, I would switch the visualization method to open source software via PyCharm, Atom, and Visual Studio IDE. These IDEs cannot directly help you to visualize the data but you can use many python packages to do so through these IDEs.
Read full review
Scalability
IBI (Information Builders)
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.
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Return on Investment
IBI (Information Builders)
  • We are not yet a success story. Though we've been implementing WebFOCUS for over a year, we have very few products in our Production portal. Of course, this is not all the responsibility of Information Builders, but we were ill-advised by our 'training coordinator' in our training of staff and coming up to speed with the tools has been very slow.
  • Once skilled analysts and professional IT staff achieve a grasp of the products, they are able to very quickly create polished and well-received products.
  • The DW/BI project has helped us to establish standards and protocols of communication that will allow us to more quickly meet knowledge transfer requirements
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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