This article will take a look at two of the leading data visualization platforms currently available, Tableau and Looker, to see which one is best suited for data visualization purposes.
What is Tableau?
Tableau is the fastest-growing platform for visual analytics on the market. It allows users to simplify raw data into a format that’s easy to access and understand by those working at any level of an organization. Even non-technical Tableau users can create customized dashboards and worksheets with the help of this versatile tool. It’s relied on by teachers, students, Data Scientists, Analysts, executives, and business owners for their end-to-end analytics needs. This is why Tableau is considered to be the leading analytics platform for business intelligence.
Some of Tableau’s most remarkable features include its capacity for data blending, real-time analysis, and data collaboration. Because Tableau does not require programming skills or technical expertise to operate, users of all backgrounds can easily work with this software. It can be installed directly onto one’s hardware from a web download and be operational in just twenty minutes.
Pros & Cons of Using Tableau for Data Visualization
Most Tableau users have a very positive and productive experience using Tableau. However, with the growing popularity of other data visualization tools, some users cite drawbacks to this particular suite of software.
Pros
- This platform is able to handle large amounts of data.
- Tableau allows users to create “if” scenarios, which provides a means for visualizing hypothetical outcomes. Moreover, dynamic components can be added when analyzing or comparing different scenarios. This allows users to work with real-time data in order to review correlations between various pieces of data.
- Tableau performs well on mobile devices.
- The “Show Me” feature on Tableau is a powerful tool designed to help users quickly create visualizations. It provides options for a variety of chart types and eliminates the need to reformat or realign data based on the type of chart selected.
- Tableau can connect to multiple data sources.
- Those using Tableau’s dashboards are able to access dashboards that were designed by Data Analysts and even customize them to meet their own needs.
- Tableau has only minimal hardware requirements; there is no need for a dedicated server.
- Tableau makes it easy to pull data from various sources. It can be connected to a variety of sources of data, as well as different types of data. It is also able to depict all these types of data in one place by using data visualizations.One of the most important aspects of the data analytics process is reporting on data. Better reporting options allow for better data representations. Tableau provides users with many options for data report customizations so that data can be represented in a way that best suits the needs of customers, clients, or managers. This subsequently leads to more helpful conclusions.
Cons
- Cost/inflexible pricing. Tableau Desktop can cost upwards of $2,000 per year per user, which adds up quickly when dozens or hundreds of employees are using this platform.
- Some users cite security issues when working with tableau.
- There is a lack of post-sale support.
- Tableau has limited BI capabilities.
- It does not provide automatic refreshing of reports.
What is Looker?
Lookeris a browser-based business intelligence platform that operates completely in-database. This tool simplifies the process of choosing, designing, and customizing interactive visualizations, and offers users a variety of charts and graphs to select from for data visualizations. This platform is commonly used by teams operating in organizations that prioritize having a user-friendly tool that is powerful enough to offer valuable insights and to present them visually.
Looker allows users to make their own custom apps that are unique to their business needs. This browser makes it possible to create real-time dashboards so that users can analyze new information. In addition to its other features, those working with Looker can design custom parameters to receive reports, and elect to schedule and automate report distribution.
Pros & Cons to Using Looker for Data Visualization
Those working with Looker for data analytics and visualization find many benefits to using this platform, as well as a few challenges:
Pros
- Most users consider Looker to be intuitive to use.
- Looker can integrate with big databases and data platforms.
- Those using Looker don’t need to extract data and can instead leave it in the database.
- Creating and customizing dashboards is easy with Looker.
- Users can create their own dimensions and measurements in data visualizations.
- The customer service team is responsive and supportive, especially the chat support.
- Looker offers an array of stunning visuals. Its library includes bubble charts, chord diagrams, spider web charts, heatmaps, and bubble charts, among others.
- It’s easy to share reports in Looker; users simply need to forward a link.
- Looker can create and update the data cache within the database.
- Looker performs well on PCs and Macs.
Cons
- Writing data in the cloud can be slow when using Looker.
- Because Looker is a relatively simplistic system, it lacks the flexibility of other visualization software.
- Its API is considered by some to be difficult to use.
- The initial setup of Looker can be time-consuming and challenging.
- More customization for graphs and charts could be provided.
- It can take a long time to load data into Looker, especially large marketing dashboards.
- Some users feel that the mobile version is not as effective as the full version.
Which Comes out Ahead?
Although both Tableau and Looker provide many business intelligence and data visualization options, how do you decide which one is the best option for your company or organization?
Those seeking a fully browser-based experience that doesn’t require desktop client software installation or maintenance may have a better experience with Looker; tasks can be completed in Looker without the need to use multiple desktop tools. In terms of customer service, both Tableau and Looker offer helpful customer service options. However, Looker has a specific department devoted exclusively to customer support, called the Department of Customer Love, which provides live chat options within the platform itself.
Looker comes out ahead of Tableau for its program integration capabilities. Its analytics tools make it possible for users to work with and extract data from a variety of systems. In addition, Looker Blocks feature provides pre-built code that can be easily embedded into external systems, which helps to simplify the integration process.
For data visualization purposes, both Tableau and Looker offer helpful visualization abilities. Looker has a variety of visualizations in its library, as well as options for creating custom visualizations. Tableau tends to be stronger with front end visualization needs. It offers visibility to many kinds of data that would in other contexts be useless. In addition, Tableau provides a plethora of interactive data visualizations using visual query language, a software designed to use both structured and unstructured data to generate visualizations. Tableau also provides storyboarding as well as a Spatial File Connector that can extract geospatial data. These features are why many Data Analysts consider Tableau to be a better overall platform for data visualization than Looker.
Ultimately, when selecting the best data visualization software for your business, it’s important to consider the size of your organization and its infrastructure, your access capabilities, as well as what sorts of storyboards, charts, and graphs would be most helpful to communicate important information to team members and stakeholders.