Easy to Use Data Visualization Software
February 24, 2025

Easy to Use Data Visualization Software

Liz Brandon | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with Tableau Desktop

We use Tableau Desktop to build dashboards for several of our internal and syndicated data sources. It is used by members of out sales, marketing, and finance teams to give them self service tools to better understand sales trends, distribution, promotion, and pricing. It also allows us to easily access and visualize very large datasets.

Pros

  • Easy to use drag and drop interface
  • Data source can be customized or joined with other data tables right in Tableau Desktop.
  • Level of detail calculations increase flexibility of data analysis
  • Fast refresh rate

Cons

  • Large datasets sometimes lag when refreshing
  • More expensive than other data visualization software options
  • Difficult to create some popular chart types including waterfalls.
  • Tableau Desktop has sped up the monthly reporting process for us by automating tasks that were manually done.
  • Easy to use dashboards now make large amount of data available to all levels of the organization.
  • We are easily able to join data sets ourselves rather than relying on IT to build something o the back end.
Tableau Desktop is very easy to use compared to other data visualization software. Anyone can learn how to visualize data using their simple drag and drop functionality. They also have many online resources to aid in learning the different functionality of the tool. Their knowledge base is quite extensive and I have found it extremely helpful.
Tableau Desktop has a more easy to use drag and drop interface and is easier to learn. It also allows greater customization of charts than Power BI. However, Tableau Desktop costs more than Power BI which is bundled into our Microsoft contract at no additional charge. Power BI also has standard chart templates including waterfalls which Tableau Desktop doesn't have. Power BI has an online store with additional 3rd part chart types you can purchase as well.

Do you think Tableau Desktop delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Tableau Desktop's feature set?

Yes

Did Tableau Desktop live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Tableau Desktop go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Tableau Desktop again?

Yes

Tableau Desktop is an easy to use software for visualizing large data sets. It has a wide range of functions and chart types allowing the user the ability to create just about anything they can imagine. It is easy to connect to just about any type of data source and join multiple data sources as well. Easy to schedule automatic data refreshes as well.

Tableau Desktop Feature Ratings

BI Platform ()
Not Rated
Supported Data Sources ()
Not Rated
9.0
Customizable dashboards
9
Not Rated
Drill-down analysis
Not Rated
Formatting capabilities
Not Rated
Integration with R or other statistical packages
Not Rated
Report sharing and collaboration
Not Rated
Not Rated
Publish to Web
Not Rated
Publish to PDF
Not Rated
Report Versioning
Not Rated
Report Delivery Scheduling
Not Rated
Delivery to Remote Servers
Not Rated
Not Rated
Pre-built visualization formats (heatmaps, scatter plots etc.)
Not Rated
Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization
Not Rated
Predictive Analytics
Not Rated
Pattern Recognition and Data Mining
Not Rated
Not Rated
Multi-User Support (named login)
Not Rated
Role-Based Security Model
Not Rated
Multiple Access Permission Levels (Create, Read, Delete)
Not Rated
Report-Level Access Control
Not Rated
Single Sign-On (SSO)
Not Rated
Not Rated
Responsive Design for Web Access
Not Rated
Mobile Application
Not Rated
Dashboard / Report / Visualization Interactivity on Mobile
Not Rated
Not Rated
REST API
Not Rated
Javascript API
Not Rated
iFrames
Not Rated
Java API
Not Rated
Themeable User Interface (UI)
Not Rated
Customizable Platform (Open Source)
Not Rated

Using Tableau Desktop

200 - Sales, Marketing, Finance
10 - IT developers to build dashboards, data engineers to build datasets, Tableau server support
  • Monitoring Sales Trends
  • automating monthly reporting
  • exploring raw data
  • We have used it to visualize sales opportunities and make product assortment recommendations
  • Sales forecasting
My company is switching to Power BI because it is bundled in our Microsoft contract.

Evaluating Tableau Desktop and Competitors

  • Cloud Solutions
  • Integration with Other Systems
  • Ease of Use
We wanted an easy to use software that could be utilized by business users to visualize data on their own. We didn't want teams to have to rely on a developer in IT to build dashboards.
I don't think I would change anything. Tableau offers a 30 day full functioning trial which was very helpful to us in evaluating whether it would work well with our data and meet our visualization requirements.

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