Google Data Studio vs. Tableau

Summary

The article compares Google Data Studio with Tableau, evaluating their strengths and weaknesses as business intelligence solutions.

Abstract

The article "Google Data Studio vs. Tableau — a Comparison" delves into the capabilities of two popular business intelligence tools, Google Data Studio and Tableau. It highlights Google Data Studio's evolution into a comprehensive BI tool through updates and connectors, noting its seamless integration with Google services, simplicity, and cost-effectiveness as key benefits. Tableau, owned by Salesforce, is recognized for its versatility across cloud and on-premise environments, advanced statistical and machine learning features, and its suitability for various industries and departments. The conclusion suggests that while Google Data Studio is ideal for users already invested in the Google ecosystem and offers a free solution for basic dashboard and reporting tasks, Tableau provides additional features and independence from cloud platforms, making it suitable for companies with diverse data sources and analysis needs.

Opinions

Google Data Studio is praised for its integration with Gmail and Google Cloud, ease of use, and the fact that it is free.
Tableau is commended for its advanced statistical and machine learning functionality, and its ability to cater to a wide range of industries and departments.
The author suggests that Google Data Studio is a good fit for Google Cloud users and for tasks that do not require the advanced capabilities of Tableau.
It is noted that Tableau's cloud independence makes it an attractive option for companies with data across various clouds or those preferring on-premise analysis.
The article implies that while Google Data Studio is improving its connectivity with other cloud platforms, it still lacks some of the advanced analysis tools and models that Tableau offers.
The author indicates a hybrid approach where Google Data Studio could be used for general purposes while Tableau could be acquired for specialized data analytics tasks.

Which one is the better Business Intelligence Solution?

In times of Big Data, where more and more data is produced and at the same time companies want to become more data-driven with Self Service BI tools, there is an abundance of providers in this area. All of them have their strengths and weaknesses. In this article, I would like to compare the solutions of Google Data Studio and Tableau. Maybe this short overview will help you to decide which one fits more to you and your needs.

Google Data Studio

Google constantly provides its’ Google Cloud and also many analytical services. One of them is Data Studio. Google’s Data Studio is a very simplistic dashboard and reporting tool for analytics but it has been expanded into a comprehensive business intelligence tool through many updates and connectors in the last years and months like:

Example of the Data Studio UI — Image by Author

Google Data Studio is a free and fully SaaS-based tool which is hosted in the cloud and operated via a web interface [1].

Most important Benefits:

It is perfectly integrated into G Mail and Google Cloud.

It’s for free.

Its’ interface and design is very simple and therefore easy to use.

Tableau

Tableau is a business intelligence tool owned by Salesforce software and is available either as on-premise or on a public cloud basis. The company provides customized versions for various industries — for example, for the banking and healthcare sector or the manufacturing industry. The BI tool can support the finance department as well as HR, IT, marketing or the sales department [2][3].

Example of the Tableau UI — Source: Tableau[5]

Similar to my comparison of Data Studio vs. Qlik (read here more about it: Google Data Studio vs. Qlik — a Comparison), the most important benefits of Tableau over Data Studio are the same as about Qlik:

It is suited for all cloud or on-premise environments.

It also provides advanced statistic and ML functionality.

Qlik and Tableau provide advanced analysis tools and models which Data Studio not offer (yet). While Qlik rather focuses on data association, Tableau promotes exploration for users with author permissions [4].

Conclusion

So similar to my comparison of Data Studio vs. Qlik, Google Data Studio convinces with its’ simplicity and yet many features and connectors to other systems and above all, it is for free! Therefore, it could be used in your business as a solution for the masses. Most users would probably be happy with it and it costs you nothing. Here, you have to say that it makes sense if you use other Google systems like Google Analytics or the Google Cloud and services like Google BigQuery as a data source. Identical to Qlik, Tableau on the other hand, is cloud independent and may be interesting for companies that have a lot of data in other clouds or want to analyze it on- premise rather than in the cloud. Tableau is also equipped with additional features that Data Studio does not (yet) offer. What I personally have seen as a good solution for Google Cloud Users is that Google Data Studio is offered for all users to simply do dashboard and reporting tasks and for individual specialisations such as data analytics to acquire a Tableau license. If you’re on another cloud, you’d probably have to opt for another solution here, though I have to say that Data Studio is currently opening up to other cloud platforms as well — read more here: How to connect Data Studio easily with Amazon Redshift and Microsoft SQL

Google Data Studio vs. Tableau — a Comparison

Which one is the better Business Intelligence Solution?