The Best Visualization Tool: Power BI vs Tableau vs Qlik Sense

Over the last decade, there has been an increasingly reliance on data to make informed business decisions. In this big data era, data is the new currency. Businesses that are able to extract valuable insights from data analysis often gain competitive advantages.

For example, Amazon is able to suggest relevant items to their shoppers before they even realize what they need; Netflix is able to predict which movie is going to sell well with their viewers before investing in the copyright; 

In fact, almost all major corporates invest in big data implementation one way or another. The most relevant tool that most of us will have a chance to use is the data visualization tool. It is designed to convey complex data with simple graphic representations so that non-technical people can easily digest information to make better business decisions.

The top 3 tools used in the data analysis industry are Microsoft Power BI, Tableau and Qlik Sense. A comparison to identify the best tool for you and your big data business problem is presented as follows.

This is Microsoft’s very own Business Intelligence tool and it works amazingly well with other Microsoft office tools such as office365 and Excel. It also works well with Microsoft’s cloud platform, Azure. This means that if your company is already using lots of Microsoft products, adding their data visualization tool in your system is a very straightforward decision to make. This is especially true since there are cost advantages for native Microsoft users. 

Besides cost efficiency,Power BI also allow integration with other location-based data programs such as SQL Server Geospatial, BING and Esri ArcGIS.

Finally, Power BI also has a Quick Insights feature that utilizes AI (artificial intelligence) to automatically identify patterns and information that may be of interest to user. 

Data analysis is made easy with machine learning. 

Tableau is arguably the world leader when it comes to big data visualization software. It has amazing User Interface (UI) and its “drag-and-drop” feature is easy to learn and pick up by everyday users to model and visualize data patterns.

It doesn’t require extensive technical or programming knowledge for user to create dashboards, graphs and other visualizations models. 

Qlik Sense is a visualization tool where we can potentially work with unlimited data sources. These data sources don’t need to be pre-processed. It uses an in-memory engine to discover trends that might not be otherwise observable with SQL queries. 

Besides that, it also comes with a Social Media Analytics function that extracts social media data from sites such as FourSquare, Disqus and Twitter. It promises insights as users interact with their data.

Qlik Sense claims these insights are at the “speed of thought” which basically means that these insights appear as you run your queries or aggregations. So there is minimal waiting time.

This will be done based on 7 main criteria.

All three reporting tools are able to connect to various data sources. It can range from anything as simple as excel spreadsheet to a complex network of computers such as a Hadoop structure. 

Power BI is however known for its simplicity in analysis and reporting.

Power BI comes with drag-and-drop feature and over 85 different visualization templates. It’s a solid choice which ensures users have a simple, good and friendly experience. 

In addition to providing visualization templates, Qlik Sense also has the ability to customise views. It is able to  perform advanced data analysis that isn’t possible with SQL queries alone.

Tableau stands out in this segment. Besides having a good User Interface which makes it very intuitive to use, Tableau also provide real-time analytics and various ways to customize the presentation.

This doesn’t prevent it from doing more complex stuff like clustering and segmentation. 

Power BI provides an experience quite similar to Excel, which is not surprising since both software are created by Microsoft. This makes it easy for Excel users to learn, and hence reduces training time and cost.

Tableau has complex tools such as data prep, data discovery and interactive dashboards for companies that want to perform more advanced analytics. This can be seen in their streamlined interfaces, mobile exploration and data federation.

Qlik Sense is great with social media and location-based data with QlikMaps. When comparing Qlik Sense against Tableau and Microsoft Power BI, Qlik Sense has the best analytic features. Qlik Sense boasts a flexible analytics platform that allows businesses to customize applications based on their requirements.

There is no major difference here as all three software provides Online Analytical Processing at the same level. They all share OLAP compatibility.

All three can be used to export reports as PDF, spreadsheets, and other formats. Power BI’s reports can be exported into Microsoft Office formats. However, Tableau and Qlik Sense support version control while Power BI does not. This puts them ahead despite Power BI’s ability to export to Microsoft Office format.

When comparing Power BI with Tableau or Qlik Sense with regards to their ability to provide extra services to help with decision making, the partner companies of Microsoft Power BI place the program’s decision services above the others. Power BI partners will give an extensive source of expertise that is simply unmatched by any of its competitors.

Power BI starts at $9.99/user/month, which is a price point lower than Tableau and Qlik Sense. However, its premium version is priced the highest at $4995 for dedicated cloud compute and storage resource.

Whereas, Tableau offers a tiered system, distinguishing among three main plans. The price is fairly reasonable yet still higher than Power BI. Besides, professional edition is also available but there will be a minimum requirement on the number of users.

Last but not least, Qlik Sense has a quote-based pricing model where the users need to purchase a license for access. Depending on the user types, Qlik Sense is priced based on a tiered or capacity system.

Big Data Integration

Slight edge due to ease of operation

Slight edge due to ease of operation

Slight edge due to ease of operation

Data Visualization

Best due to its intuitive UI

Good option

Good option

Analytics

Good option

Good option especially if you have excel experience

Best due to customizable analytical applications

Analytics

Good option with not much of an advantage to be found.

Good option with not much of an advantage to be found.

Good option with not much of an advantage to be found.

Document Management

Supports version control and exporting data to different formats.

Doesn’t support version control but reports can be exported in Microsoft Office format.

Supports version control and exporting data to different formats.

Decision Services

Very solid option.

Best due to partners that give extensive source of expertise

Very solid option.

Pricing Mode

Annually/Quote-based

Monthly-based

Quote-based

Price

-Tableau Creator ($70/user/month)
-14-day free trial
-Tableau Explorer ($35/user/month, min. 5 explorers)
-Tableau Viewer ($12/user/month, min. 100 viewers)

– Power BI Pro ($9.99/user/month)
– 60- day free trial
– Power BI Premium ($4995/dedicated cloud compute and storage resource/month)

– Qlik Sense® Business ($30/user/month)
– 30-day free trial
– Qlik Sense® Enterprise (Professional: $70/user/month)
– Qlik Sense® Enterprise (Analyzer: $40/user/month)

On the whole, all tools are great for data analysis and any choice made will serve you well. They are the leaders in the field for a reason. The real difference to be found among all of them is the ability to use it as a skill that will serve you best in your usage.

So, are you currently using Tableau, Power BI or Qlik Sense maximally and efficiently? Check out TED Learning Malaysia for Power BI course, Qlik Sense Training and Tableau Training Courses today! This will not only allow you to make the best of your Business Intelligence tool but also the best of your data.