Tableau Software Reviews

“Flexible analytics that anyone can use”

Pros

Tableau is versatile. The interface is very user friendly and I also appreciate how much you can customize depending on where the data is coming from.

Cons

One area that could be better is the dashboard responsiveness to user input. It would be nice if it reacted a bit faster, more in line with tools like Qlik Sense.

“Dashboards built for analysts”

Pros

It handles just about any data I put into it and turns it into visuals that are actually useful. I mainly use it for customer mapping and for giving our leadership team a fast, clear view of customer data, prospects and web performance through customized dashboards. It has improved a lot since I first started using it back in 2015 and at this point I'd absolutely recommend it to any analyst.

Cons

My biggest complaint is the cost. On top of that there's definitely a learning curve if you want to take full advantage of all its features. A lot of it comes down to trial and error, honestly.

“Flexible visuals with strong dashboards”

Pros

Tableau is a really powerful data visualization tool that can turn all kinds of data into a wide range of charts and graphs. Its biggest advantage is how flexible it is since it can work with almost any type of data and combine them into visual displays together.

Cons

It is not very user friendly and I usually have to look online to figure things out. The problem is that the online documentation is not very thorough so finding clear answers can be difficult.

“Different layouts for different reports”

Pros

The reporting features and visual diagrams are really useful and there are several layout options to choose from depending on what you need.

Cons

It's a great tool overall but the pricing feels a bit high considering there are many other alternatives available on the market.

“best tool for data visuals”

Pros

Tableau gives a really great way to turn complex data into clear visualizations and use them to make informed business decisions.

Cons

Compared with some other tools, it is not as immediate to use and takes a fair amount of training before you can fully explore all of its features.

“Great visuals for telling stories”

Pros

The interface feels fantastic to use and the visualization capabilities are incredibly powerful. It does a really good job of helping turn raw data into clear stories and insights.

Cons

Its biggest strength is definitely data visualization. That said, it is not quite as strong when it comes to more rigorous statistical analysis, at least in my view.

“Flexible analysis with helpful timestamps”

Pros

One thing that really works well in Tableau is the user friendly timestamp feature which automatically breaks dates into month, quarter and day of the week. Grouping and calculated fields also make data manipulation much more convenient and that's a big plus.

Cons

A frustrating part is how hard it can be to give end users access to the live dashboards we build especially when those dashboards are updating in real time.

“Find meaning in your data”

Pros

Tableau does an excellent job of quickly analyzing and organizing large data sets, then turning them into clear charts, tables and reports that are simple to understand.

Cons

One downside is that it can be a bit slow when reloading which makes the experience feel slightly unsteady at times. That delay can interrupt your workflow and end up becoming the bottleneck in your analysis.

“Strong dashboards with clear visuals”

Pros

Right away Tableau stands out for executive and summary reporting. The visualizations look good, the information is presented clearly and there are plenty of ways to display data. It supports many chart types along with useful functions like aliases sorting, filtering and grouping for processing output data. Mobile and tablet support is also strong which makes accessing reports much more convenient. Another big plus is how well Tableau handles data ingestion from different sources, thanks to its large number of built-in and custom connectors.

Cons

It is fairly difficult to use especially for new users who are still learning the platform. On top of that Tableau Online has weak support for role-based access.

“So many ways to build reports”

Pros

One of the best parts of this tool is how it can pull data from multiple sources and turn that into custom reports. There are so many ways to display and explore the data that it really feels like the possibilities are endless.

Cons

Getting around the product could be easier. At times it isn't very user friendly for example I used it for a full year before realizing I had to click inside the report before it would let me download anything beyond a PDF or image. I also have a report right now that's returning incorrect data and I don't have enough knowledge to troubleshoot whether the issue is with the software itself or with how the report was built.

“Create visuals without knowing code”

Pros

Tableau delivers professional quality visualizations for analyzing data. You can use it without any programming knowledge as it just takes time and plenty of practice to get comfortable with it.

Cons

Since it is commercial software, you do have to pay for it although that usually isn't a concern if you're using it through a company or institution. It also tends to require quite a bit more memory than many other applications.

“Good tools for data visualization”

Pros

Handling large volumes of data and multiple datasets in Tableau worked really well for me. The visualizations were very effective and the platform was simple enough to understand once I got into it.

Cons

There wasn't anything specifically wrong with it. At the beginning though, I felt a bit uneasy and had a hard time learning because I wasn't very familiar with coding.

“Hard to use interface limits your work”

Pros

There honestly isn't much that stands out to me in Tableau. The biggest advantage is that it's basically the industry standard so there's some value in the fact that almost everyone uses it.

Cons

Working in it can be frustrating because the interface is very complex and the features and tools often don't behave the way I expect them to. I also struggle to build the graphs I actually want so a lot of the time I end up using it mainly to create tables, export them and then finish the manipulation in Excel to get the charts and visualizations I am really after.

“Easy visuals for beginners”

Pros

Getting started with Tableau felt very approachable especially as someone new to data visualization. I used it to organize data from Excel and turn it into visual formats through different kinds of graphs. That made it much easier to spot patterns, trends and outliers in the data.

Cons

At the same time, it's possible to draw the wrong conclusions if the information entered isn't precise. This is especially true when working with bar charts and labeling the axes from the right perspective. It can also become pretty complex for users who don't have much experience with the software.

“Nice visuals for your data”

Pros

Turning raw data into visuals feels much simpler with this tool than it used to. It makes charts and graphs far more approachable and user friendly overall.

Cons

Getting comfortable with it does take some time but the support is excellent and gives you plenty of chances to learn, practice and improve with the software.

“Good visuals but limited analysis”

Pros

When it comes to data visualization, it does a really good job. It handles charts, graphs, tables and other visual formats very well. You can either upload files or connect straight to data sources on a server which is convenient. Once the data is in the interface is truly drag and drop so building visuals is very easy too.

Cons

Although it works very well for creating visuals, it falls short as a data analysis tool. It does not offer enough capability for analyzing or manipulating data that depends on more complex formulas and calculations.

“Flexible charts with great visuals”

Pros

If you're trying to turn data into visuals, this tool is hard to ignore. As it is user friendly for creating basic charts, mapping tables is easy and there's a chart option for almost any situation. The visual output looks professional and attractive too especially if you browse the examples in their gallery. Another big plus is how many data sources it can connect to and having Tableau Public available for free makes it even more appealing.

Cons

That said, once you move beyond basic dashboards and into more advanced visualizations, it can start to feel overwhelming and much harder to work with. Pricing is another downside since it seems aimed more at larger companies than smaller businesses.

“simple setup with good documentation”

Pros

Getting Tableau up and running is pretty easy. The documentation is helpful to refer to when needed and it also includes a REST API which adds a lot of value.

Cons

Beyond the server license, you still have to pay extra for client licenses in order to actually use the software.

“Easy dashboards that are simple to use”

Pros

One of the biggest strengths of Tableau is how simple and user friendly it feels to work with.

Cons

There are still a few analytics capabilities that could be added to it like a correlation matrix.

“detailed dashboards”

Pros

There's a lot of room to be creative with this product and it feels like the possibilities never really run out. You can build graphs with far more detail than what's possible in Excel. After I finally got the hang of it, it actually became fun to use.

Cons

Learning this program was definitely tough. I took a college class for my job and honestly I don't think I could have figured it out without that course. It was very hard to understand at first and I only really started to grasp how it worked about halfway through the semester, around two and a half months in.