Comparing Business Intelligence Tools: Tableau vs. Power BI vs. Qlik vs. Domo

Business intelligence tools are not created equal. They have different features and capabilities. Tableau, Power BI, Qlik, and Domo are the four most prominent business intelligence platforms, and each has its pros and cons. In this blog, find out which Business Intelligence tool is best for your needs.

Business Intelligence (BI) tools consolidate data from multiple data sources to develop useful decision-making insights by presenting the data in the form of graphs, charts, maps, and reports. 

Various departments can use the BI dashboards to create analytics exclusive to the department and communicate insights effectively. Even though data is universal, every business department needs different types of reports from the same data set and the BI tool can help with that.

In this in-depth comparison you’ll learn:

• How to choose the right business intelligence tool for your business?
• Tableau vs. Power BI vs. Qlik vs. Domo: Feature List
  • Tableau
  • Power BI
  • Qlik
  • Domo
• A Complete Comparison: Tableau vs. Power BI vs. Qlik vs. Domo

So if you’re ready to go “all in” with business intelligence, this blog is for you.

Let’s dive right in.

1. Identify the problem to be solved

The purpose of BI tool is to create analytics for business problem solving, enabling multiple departments to communicate effectively. You have to identify what type of business problem you want to address and choose a BI tool customized for that purpose. 

2. Identify users of BI tools

The BI tools are useful in multiple departments, but knowing who will use the tool will help you choose the right tool with the required features. BI tools with drag and drop features enable business-users to quickly arrive at analytics using data visualization options. Tools developed for data science usage are analyst-focused, providing extreme customization options to use coding languages to fetch data. You have to choose a BI tool based on what type of users are going to use it.

3. Finalize Data transformation needs

Some BI tools offer intuitive interfaces that require clean data. Other BI tools take raw data, clean them, and make them usable across multiple departments. The BI tool you choose should be able to gather the data, add supplementary and complementary data and transform it into critical information to develop analytics.

4. Make sure the tool works with all data locations

The BI tool your enterprise needs should deal with your data sources. You may have data in the cloud or on-premise warehouses. The tool chosen should integrate with all data sources to create meaningful insights.

1. Tableau

Tableau is popular because of its easy and free visualizations. It can pull data from multiple sources and create customized visualizations of data using drag and drop. No complex coding is involved, which makes it popular among business users. 

Some of its prominent features include:

• Collaboration and sharing of dashboards, spreadsheets, and visualizations
• Connect to external data sources and live data sources
• Support for multiple data connectors such as Presto, Google Analytics, MemSQL, Google Sheets, Hadoop, Cloudera, Amazon Athena, SQL Server, Salesforce, Dropbox, etc.
• Advanced visualization in the form of different types of charts
• Multiple different types of maps
• Foolproof data security
• Support for mobile phones
• Ask data helps business users to use natural language queries to fetch critical data.
• Predictive analysis using Trend lines and time series 

2. Power BI

Launched by Microsoft, Power BI is a strong contender in the field of business intelligence tools as it is a comprehensive suite of software services, data connectors, and apps. It is a cloud-based platform that consolidates data from multiple sources into a single data set. Data visualization, evaluation, and analysis in the form of reports, dashboards, and apps are some of the important features of Power BI. Check out our blog “What Is Power BI and How Can it Benefit Your Business?” to learn more.

Its main features are:

• The myriad range of visualizations
• Get data feature pulls data from data sources ranging from on-premise to cloud-based
• Filtration of datasets for using the same dataset in multiple ways
• Customizable and shareable dashboards
• Tile-based organization of dashboard
• Easy navigation using the navigation pane
• Detailed reporting
• Natural language search using Q&A box
• Data Analysis Expressions (DAX) functions with more than 200 functions in the library
• Launch Office 365 directly
• Collective elements in content packs

3. Qlik

Qlikview was the first generation BI tool designed to create interactive dashboards and analytics. Qlik Sense is the latest generation of BI tools supporting a full range of analytics. Associative exploration is one of the key features of Qlik. 

Some of its other features are: 

• Associative model to show related and unrelated data using visualization
• Advanced visualization with Qlik GeoAnalytics
• Self-service app creation enables users to create applications without coding experience
• Unified and centralized data sharing and collaboration
• Data reporting and data storytelling
• Support for mobile devices
• Customized applications with embedded analytics and extension support
• Easy data preparation and integration with Qlik connectors and Qlik DataMarket
• Qlik Indexing Engine (QIX) indexes and compresses data to create logical interference

Data Sources

Tableau can connect to standard and widely-used data sources such as Excel, CSV, Oracle, DB2, SQL Server, Google Big Query, Windows Azure and other sources using ODBC. It can also connect to real-time data using the Connect Live feature. The in-Memory feature allows data to be stored in the cache so that Tableau can process data even if there is no connection to the data source. Data blending is unique to Tableau, where you can connect to multiple data sources simultaneously.

Power BI supports a huge range of data sources. The Get Data feature lists all available data connections immediately. It supports connection to flat files, SQL databases, and Azure cloud. It can also connect to online services such as Facebook, Salesforce Objects, and Google Analytics. It uses an ODBC connection to connect to other data sources.

Qlik connects to hundreds of data sources ranging from apps and databases to cloud services. The built-in Associative Engine connects to on-premise apps or cloud services. It also provides a dynamic view to access the source directly. Any other data source can be connected using Restful API, ODBC, or web connector.

Domo can connect to any data source for easy data access. It can break down huge data silos to create new insights. The scaling cloud infrastructure allows you to add unlimited data and users as the demand increases. With more than 1000 pre-built connectors, integration of the cloud system is easier. It supports data transformation using inline and ETL visual approaches without the need for coding experience. The unified governance approach of Domo allows easy data transformation and movement of data across various systems. 

Pricing

Tableau offers multiple pricing plans to suit the needs of different business users. The tableau creator plan costs $70 per month that comes with a complete set of Tableau Desktop, Tableau Prep Builder, and Tableau online creator licenses. The Tableau Explorer plan, costing $42 per month, gives full self-service analytics features with a Tableau Online explorer license. Tableau Viewer plan costs $15 per month for one viewer license of Tableau online, where users can view and interact with visualizations and dashboards.

Power BI has a free trial of Power BI Pro for 60 days. Power BI Pro for individual users costs $13.70 per month with features such as self-service analytics, live dashboards, reporting and sharing. Power BI Premium per user costs $27.50 per month, and it provides access to advanced AI insights, data prep for big data, and access for enterprise-wide use. Power BI Premium per capacity provides a license to the organization at $6,858.10 per month with the autoscale of Azure to premium capacity.

Qlik Sense comes with a free trial for 30 days where you can test the software features free of cost. Qlik Sense Business costs $30 per month with all the analytics and visualization features. Qlik Sense Enterprise SaaS comes with enterprise data governance, and it is priced based on the size of your enterprise.

Domo also provides a free trial of its features for 30 days. Up to 5 users in the organization can use the same instance of the Domo trial.

Visualization Capabilities

Tableau visualizations are easy to create and comprehend. Data blending and real-time analysis are significant features of Tableau. Both dynamic and static visualizations are available on the platform.

Power BI provides an array of visualizations in terms of tree charts, bar charts, doughnut charts, decomposition charts, etc. KPI visual, Q&A visual, and R Script visuals all help view the data analytics in an easy-to-understand manner. Power BI enables drilling up and down the visuals to create unique data analytics.

Qlik Sense provides interactive visualizations with AI support. The associative data engine is unique to Qlik as it allows you to explore data without visualization.

Domo also provides multiple visualization options enabling easier data exploration. Interactive dashboards can be shared along with other enterprise users. Users can be notified proactively when the threshold or relevant data changes. Live visualizations are constructed in minutes with more than 150 chart types and 7000 custom maps. Digital storytelling is one of the unique features of Qlik.

Data Analytics Capabilities

Tableau uses patented VizQL that converts drag and drop actions into data queries. With unhindered analytics, Tableau allows you to identify unknown data connections. Collective insights are one of the exciting features of Tableau as it brings join recommendations based on other Tableau users within the enterprise.

Power BI has multiple tools to help analysts to connect, prepare, and data modeling. Interactive visualizations help in uncovering previously unknown insights. With mobile support, analysts can always access analytic engines wherever they go.

Qlik launches active intelligence with end to end real-time data integration and a cloud platform with analytics support. The AI-driven analytics are actionable and collaborative. Augmented analytics and embedded analytics interact with the cloud platform to provide real-time insights into various business strategies.

Domo has built-in data science software that helps various departments with their goals. It reduces employee churn and customer churn. It provides insight into customer lifetime value. It helps the finance department improve its cash position.  

Dashboard Features

Tableau dashboard helps you to create interactive visualizations. It enables easy handling of large amounts of data. It is very easy to handle multiple visualizations to gather detailed insights with a mobile-friendly interface and the ability to use a scripting language.

Power BI has a comprehensive dashboard with Power Query, Power Pivot, Power View, Power Map, and Power Q&A features. All these components of the Power BI desktop can be used together or individually to achieve business results.

Qlik dashboard improves total visibility and results in increased productivity. Multiple dashboard options are available so that business users can create a dashboard for the audience accordingly. With the right type of charts and data analytics strategy, the dashboard can tell a digital story.

Domo platform is useful in creating app-led workflows for any business challenge. It supports diversified tech infrastructure to connect lakes, clouds, and warehouses. It can scale data usage between multiple departments. The dashboard can be customized according to the user to ensure that the user gets the exact information they need.

Integration and deployment

Tableau supports integration with existing data pipeline infrastructure using AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, Snowflake, SAP, Alation, and much more. It has extensible integration capability, allowing you to integrate other applications into its dashboard.

Power BI is useful for organizations that use Azure platform and Azure DevOps. It has a deployment application to deploy Power BI items to any stage in the pipeline.

Qlik Sense Enterprise on Windows can be deployed on-premises and it can be extended to Qlick Sense SaaS on the cloud. Users on the cloud can access apps developed on-Premise in a Windows environment.

Domo quickly connects to enterprise applications using API like connectors. It enables rapid deployment as the API resembling connectors respond dynamically to the source-side schema changes. The multi-cloud data fabric of Domo has an integration studio with more than 1000 connectors.

Conclusion

The objective of comparing these tools is not to determine the best tool since the tools can be customized according to business needs. The purpose of the comparison is to understand the features in a better way to determine which tool can be used for greater business success. 

Our business intelligence experts can advise you on choosing the right BI dashboards and business intelligence trends. Contact the experts at Zuci to understand what will be best for your business needs! 

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