Tableau Software Reviews

“Reporting accuracy you can trust”

Pros

Tableau does a really good job of recording data accurately and that has been very helpful when I am putting together reports.

Cons

I have enjoyed using it and haven't run into any bugs up to this point.

“Rich tooltips with every dashboard”

Pros

One thing that really stands out is how fully customizable the worksheets are and the tooltips are an amazing feature that adds a lot to the experience.

Cons

Creating and customizing dashboards comes with a pretty steep learning curve so it can take some time to get comfortable with it.

“Customizable dashboards for every role”

Pros

Right away the modern design and interface stood out to me. It offers a high level of customization for graphs and charts which makes it possible to tailor visuals exactly the way you want. I also appreciate being able to publish and share dashboards online since that makes presenting results much more convenient.

Cons

There's definitely a fairly steep learning curve especially at the beginning. Some of the concepts can feel confusing for new users and creating animations can get complicated as well.

“Interactive views with occasional lag”

Pros

The visuals are good and the reports and dashboards feel interactive and engaging.

Cons

Handling large volumes of data is where it struggles. Loading takes far too long and at times you end up waiting a day or two before the data is fully finalized.

“Broad analytics for diverse needs”

Pros

There's a wide variety of measurement options available for analytics which gives plenty of flexibility when working with data.

Cons

The large number of options, along with constant changes in the statistical features, means it requires more monitoring and oversight than I expected.

“Dashboards paired with striking graphics”

Pros

The data visualization capabilities are really strong and the dashboards present information in a way that's simple to understand. Connecting it to existing SQL data sources took a little effort at first but once that setup was finished, everything worked reliably.

Cons

Getting it connected to existing data sources especially SQL queries, can be a bit challenging.

“Visual dashboards that command attention”

Pros

Working with Tableau is very user friendly and it turns standard rows and columns into interactive charts and visuals that make the data much clearer to understand. Similar to using pivot tables, there is a lot of flexibility to explore and play around with the data. It also guides users toward the most suitable way to display information. For example, if the dataset includes countries and GDP, it will suggest a map view as the best representation. There are plenty of functions and plotting options available and it makes it simple to adjust the data for the right visualization and ultimately create a KPI dashboard.

Cons

It is a very capable tool for cleaning data and doing exploratory analysis. That said I'd still rank Power BI and Alteryx above it in this area because they also include ETL capabilities while this tool focuses more on the visualization side.

“Self-service analytics for curious teams”

Pros

The platform is built to be flexible and user friendly with a strong focus on self-service.

Cons

It is not really meant for downloading data. It handles image exports and filtered data very well but performance drops when working with large data set downloads.

“Precise evaluations win”

Pros

What I appreciate about the software is how precise and detailed the analyses are.

Cons

Unfortunately, the software is missing a copy function.

“Performance insights that guide action”

Pros

With this software, we can analyze our performance in a very thorough and effective way which helps us stay one step ahead of our client at all times.

Cons

At the beginning getting used to the handling and setting up the configuration takes a bit of adjustment.

“Device-friendly dashboards for remote work”

Pros

Using Tableau across different devices has been really easy and the app seems accessible and easy to work with. Building dashboards for analysis is especially valuable and makes the application very useful.

Cons

When handling large volumes of data, it can start to slow down and tasks like that can often be done more quickly in Microsoft Excel or through Power Platforms.

“Great visuals, support could improve”

Pros

I must say it's a really great tool for data visualization.

Cons

Its customer support is very poor.

“Deep customization for advanced analysts”

Pros

Tableau gives a lot of flexibility when it comes to shaping data the way analysts need it. Features like custom groupings, custom sets, level of detail expressions and others make it possible to build stronger, more tailored analyses. The Tableau Online platform is also one of the parts I enjoy most for sharing dashboards. Its interactivity makes it feel much more engaging and creates more of a two-way conversation with the audience. The learning curve is definitely steep and worth keeping in mind but once you spend some time practicing, it becomes a very capable tool for analysis and visualization.

Cons

One thing that bothers me is the lack of spell check in the software which really feels like a missing basic feature in 2022. I am also not a fan of having to dig through IT user forums whenever I run into problems in the platform. A lot of the error messages are too generic so it can be hard to tell what actually needs to be corrected.

“Make data-driven choices confidently”

Pros

Whenever decision-making depends heavily on data, Tableau really proves its value. It does an excellent job with data visualization and data analysis making it a strong choice for working through information clearly.

Cons

It does come with some complexity and there are areas where the functionality feels a bit more limited than expected.

“Ergonomic design with massive scalability”

Pros

Its simplicity, user friendly design and scalability really stand out.

Cons

None at all, I don't see any weak points in it.

“Features that grow alongside you”

Pros

One thing that really works well is how the software grows along with the company's needs. It also includes features you rarely see in competing tools and even when other platforms can do something similar, they usually take much more time and effort than Tableau.

Cons

Getting started is not very easy especially for people who are new to dashboards or have little experience building them. That said I do think the overall user experience in this area can improve over time.

“Slow dashboards and filters that don't work well”

Pros

The tool does a decent job of working with integrated data and the consistency across different dashboards is something I appreciate.

Cons

Performance is a real problem especially once the data gets more complex. The filtering also has issues so you cannot always rely on what the dashboard is showing.

“integrates really well to databases”

Pros

It integrates well with different databases which makes working with data from multiple sources really convenient.

Cons

One limitation is not being able to access and create your own custom queries directly.

“gets our data ready faster”

Pros

Tableau Prep makes the whole data preparation process much more efficient and cuts down the amount of processing work significantly. Another big plus is that the prepared data can also be reused for other types of analysis outside of Tableau dashboards.

Cons

Choosing features while preparing visual analytics feels pretty confusing to me. That said once I got the hang of how it works, the overall workflow became much more simple.

“Great looking data analysis”

Pros

Working with this software is very easy. It lets me build visualizations and explore my data warehouse without much effort at all. The aggregation functions are really strong and remove a lot of the complexity from my day-to-day work.

Cons

There are times when I want to tailor the visualizations more specifically to fit my needs and that is not always possible or at least not very easy.