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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Tableau Prep

    Score6.5 out of 10
    N/ATableau Prep enables users to get to the analysis phase faster by helping them quickly combine, shape, and clean their data. According to the vendor, a direct and visual experience helps provide users with a deeper understanding of their data, smart features make data preparation simple, and integration with the Tableau analytical workflow allows for faster speed to insight. Tableau Prep allows users to connect to data on-premises or in the cloud, whether it’s a database or a…

    $15

    per month billed annually per user

    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
    Tableau PrepTableau Server
    Editions & Modules
    Viewer
    $15
    per month billed annually per user
    Explorer
    $42
    per month billed annually per user
    Creator
    $70
    per month billed annually per user
    Viewer
    $12.00
    Per User Per Month
    Explorer
    $35.00
    Per User Per Month
    Creator
    $70.00
    Per User Per Month
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Tableau PrepTableau Server
    Free Trial
    NoYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoYes
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Tableau PrepTableau Server
    Considered Both Products
    Tableau
    Chose Tableau Prep
    We use both Tableau Prep and Alteryx and, although Tableau Prep integrates better with Tableau Desktop, I find that more often then not I open up Alteryx to do most of my data prep prior to bringing my data into analysis as it is just so much more robust. Not that this makes Tab…
    Incentivized
    Tableau
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    100%
    Would buy again
    6 Answers
    75%
    Would buy again
    6 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    83%
    Delivers good value for the price
    5 Answers
    75%
    Delivers good value for the price
    6 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    6 Answers
    88%
    Happy with the feature set
    7 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation went as expected
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    5 Answers
    71%
    Implementation went as expected
    5 Answers
    Features
    Tableau PrepTableau Server
    BI Standard Reporting
    Comparison of BI Standard Reporting features of Tableau Prep and Tableau Server
    Feature
    Tableau Prep
    -
    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 Tableau Prep and Tableau Server
    Feature
    Tableau Prep
    -
    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 Tableau Prep and Tableau Server
    Feature
    Tableau Prep
    -
    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 Tableau Prep and Tableau Server
    Feature
    Tableau Prep
    -
    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 Tableau Prep and Tableau Server
    Feature
    Tableau Prep
    -
    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 Tableau Prep and Tableau Server
    Feature
    Tableau Prep
    -
    Ratings
    Tableau Server
    8.1
    79 Ratings
    4% 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 Tableau Prep and Tableau Server
    Feature
    Tableau Prep
    -
    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
    Tableau PrepTableau Server
    Small Businesses
    No answers on this topic
    Cyfe
    Score4 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Toad Data Point
    Score8.4 out of 10
    Qlik Cloud Analytics (Qlik Sense)
    Score8.1 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Datameer
    Score8.4 out of 10
    Sisense
    Score6.9 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Tableau PrepTableau Server
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.0
    (7 ratings)
    8.0
    (111 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    10.0
    (20 ratings)
    Usability
    7.0
    (1 ratings)
    8.0
    (17 ratings)
    Availability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (9 ratings)
    Performance
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.1
    (8 ratings)
    Support Rating
    5.3
    (3 ratings)
    3.0
    (18 ratings)
    In-Person Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.0
    (4 ratings)
    Online Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (9 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    6.0
    (1 ratings)
    9.1
    (13 ratings)
    Configurability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    Data Sharing and Collaboration
    -
    (0 ratings)
    5.1
    (79 ratings)
    Data Sources
    -
    (0 ratings)
    6.6
    (82 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Tableau PrepTableau Server
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Tableau
    If your data sets are coming in without much stewardship then Tableau Prep can help to clean the data before you start trying to create visualizations for your end users. You will save a lot of time this way - rather than seeing problems once you are creating dashboards. If you don't have large data sets or your data is relatively simple, then Tableau Prep may not be needed.
    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
    Tableau
    • Display the raw data coming in from the data warehouse
    • Point out situations that might be erroneous
    • Show the distribution of raw data figures
    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
    Tableau
    • Use of Macros within Workflow (and more types of automation)
    • Join Editor also giving a SQL Update Query
    • More types of visuals
    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
    Tableau
    It is a valuable tool for generating and cleaning files for multiple purposes.
    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
    Tableau
    It works well and is user friendly for the basics but needs more options for bring in data (using SQL queries for example) and export format options.
    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
    Tableau
    No answers on this topic
    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
    Tableau
    No answers on this topic
    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
    Tableau
    I have not really had to reach out for any kind of customer support for Tableau Prep, so I can't really say. However, the support that Tableau has given for their other products has been great, so I would assume it would be the same here. They are also constantly adding new features and providing software updates, and that is always a plus.
    Incentivized
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    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
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    In-Person Training
    Tableau
    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
    Tableau
    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
    Tableau
    Live connections to cloud services (Google Sheets for example) and cloud hosted databases (cloud hosted SIS for example) for scheduled flows are not supported
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    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
    Tableau
    Before Prep, we had to do all the data joining and connecting in a Tableau Workbook. Not only did this cause workbooks connected with live data to run frustratingly slowly, a new connection and set-up had to be established every time a new workbook as created, even if you were working with the same data. The extracts produced by Prep allow several workbooks to be working from the same data set-up without any additional work, saving time and stress.
    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
    Return on Investment
    Tableau
    • Quicker data sets for online reports
    • More efficient data cleaning Ad Hoc reports
    • Costly if using data management to schedule data pull and cleaning (priced per viewer accounts not creator accounts)
    Incentivized
    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.