Power BI vs. QlikView vs. Tableau: Comparing the operation aspects and flexibility

This blog is a continuation to the blog on the topic ‘Power BI vs. QlikView vs. Tableau: Which Data Analytics Tool is Best for Your Business?’. In the previous blog we had considered and comparatively evaluated certain functional capabilities of the Power BI, QlikView and Tableau. In this blog we are going to focus on some operational factors like scalability, pricing, security etc.

1. Pricing and Scalability

Power BI: Power BI is very affordable to small and medium scale organization. Power BI Desktop tool which is the development tool is available for free and the minimal licensed of version called Pro is available at $10 per user per month. While the Power BI premium version which is ideal for large scale enterprises are priced variedly according to the capacity provided and enhanced features. This flexibility in pricing makes a Power BI an excellent choice for growing organizations.

QlikView: QlikView’s pricing is often higher than Power BI’s, especially for on-premises setups. Qlik offers a cloud-based option, Qlik Sense, which is more cost-effective for smaller teams, but QlikView itself has traditionally catered to larger, enterprise clients with the budget according to the client requirements.

Tableau: Tableau’s pricing starts at around $70 per user per month for its Creator package, which can be really expensive for the small-scale business users. Tableau could be a desirable choice for large scale organizations who are capable of using its advanced features and scale them to cater their needs, but it could be unthinkable to small scale organizations.

Winner: Power BI is the most affordable choice especially for small and medium scale businesses, which makes it most cost-effective choice.

2. Collaboration and Sharing

Power BI: Power BI offers great collaborative options by using the Microsoft ecosystem. You can use the Power BI Service to share the Power BI reports and Dashboard with other in a very secured manner by setting up permissions and other restrictions. You can even share reports on Microsoft Team and SharePoint in real-time as well.

QlikView: QlikView provides decent collaboration tools, especially in environments where Qlik Sense Enterprise or QlikView Server is deployed. However, its collaboration features are not as streamlined and also required more technical expertise to enable sharing and collaboration.

Tableau: Tableau provided seamless collaboration features using Tableau server and Tableau online. However, the cost of enterprise level collaboration can only be borne by large scale organizations.

Winner: Power BI leads this chart with its seamless integration with Microsoft Ecosystem and cost-effective options for collaboration.

3. Security and Compliance

Power BI: Power BI is highly secure, with certifications for compliance standards like GDPR, HIPAA, and ISO 27001. It also includes robust features like role-based access control, row level security, data encryption etc. to manage the sensitive data.

QlikView: QlikView also has row level security and role-based access control which are tailored for enterprise level security needs. However, the security compliance in the on-premises server requires management from IT Team, although it is compliant with major standards.

Tableau: Tableau also has robust security features like row level security, SSO, and data encryption. Like Power BI, it complies with GDPR and SOC 2, and the on-premises Tableau Server option allows enterprises to have greater control over their data.

Winner: Power BI offers the most comprehensive security features with an easy to manage environment is particularly suited for organizations with that needs strict data governance.

4. Support for Hybrid and Multi-Cloud Environments

Power BI: Power BI is basically a cloud-based offering focused on Microsoft Azure Cloud. However, it also supports hybrid model (On-premises and cloud) using Power BI Report Server. Its integration with Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure Active Directory) makes it more a strong choice for Hybrid setup.

QlikView: QlikView can support cloud and hybrid environments, but it requires more support and configurations especially when integrating with multiple cloud platforms.

Tableau: Tableau also has strong supporting offerings for multi-cloud and hybrid environments. Although managing tableau Server requires more administrative and monitoring efforts its flexible deployment options make it a suitable solution for many businesses.

Winner: Tableau leads this chart with its hybrid hosting options and flexible deployments.

Although Power BI leads the chart in most of the pointers we discussed above, with its user-friendly approach, deciding a winner is never an easy job. Each one has its own strength and weaknesses.

Power BI is a cost-effective and scalable choice making it an easy choice for small and medium businesses. On top of it, its integration with existing Microsoft ecosystem makes it easy for users to use it and gives them a confidence on its deployment and security features. Tableau can be used by large scale enterprise who requires advanced analytics capabilities with a flexible deployment option focusing on multi-cloud or hybrid options. But those offering are slightly expensive as well. QlikView can cater well to enterprise level clients who has specific complex requirements but also has the technical capability to implement it and the resources to afford its cost. So, the best data analytics tool for your business can be decided based on numerous factors such as budget, size, and other operational requirements.

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