Tableau Vs Power BI

Part 1: Brief story of Tableau and Power BI

Microsoft Power BI, initially released on July 11, 2011, has evolved into a prominent interactive data visualization
and business intelligence (BI) tool. Developed by Microsoft, it is part of the Microsoft Power Platform. Power BI
was conceived by Thierry D'Hers and Amir Netz and initially named Project Crescent. It was bundled with SQL
Server Codename Denali and later rebranded as Power BI for Office 365 in 2013. Its integration with Microsoft
Excel, through add-ins like Power Query and Power Pivot, marked its first release. Over time, Microsoft enhanced it
with features like natural language processing, enterprise-level data connectivity, and security options.
Tableau's story begins at Stanford University, where its founders Christian Chabot, Pat Hanrahan, and Chris Stolte
specialized in visualization techniques for relational databases and data cubes. Tableau was founded in January
2003, evolving from the Polaris project, a data visualization tool developed at Stanford. Tableau has grown
significantly, known for its advanced data visualization and BI capabilities. The software connects to various data
sources, including cloud databases, and offers extensive customization and collaboration features. Tableau was
acquired by Salesforce in 2019, marking a significant milestone in its journey.
Choosing between Power BI and Tableau for a BI developer

Choosing between Power BI and Tableau for a BI developer depends on various factors.
Power BI is often favored for its integration with other Microsoft products, ease of use, and affordability, especially
for organizations already using the Microsoft ecosystem. Tableau is preferred for its advanced data visualization
capabilities and flexibility with large and complex datasets.

POWER BI TABLEAU

The Pro plan is $9.99 per The Creator Tableau plan

Price
month costs $70 per month

Calculating fields engine DAX VisQL

Data Analysis Expression

and M — for data
Programming languages C, C++, Java, and Python
manipulation and modeling;
R — for enterprise users

Used for customized

Intuitive and easy to use,
dashboards and enables
User interface preferred tool by businesses
data experimentation and
opting for simplicity
smart results

Supports multiple data Can connect to a wider

sources but has fewer range of data sources,
Data integration
databases and servers than including cloud-based
Tableau databases and web services

Has a more user-friendly Has more advanced

Data visualization interface for dashboard visualization capabilities and
visualization charting options

Can handle a large amount

Can handle only 10 GB of of data: Tableau Cloud has a
Data capacity
data storage capacity of up to 100
GB

Some limitations in terms of Has more advanced

Customization options
options customization options
 Has more built-in Has more robust
Collaboration features
collaboration features collaboration features

Can handle a huge volume

Can handle a limited volume of data and provide a 360-
Performance
of data degree view of your data
without size restrictions

On Cloud; On-premise; On Cloud; On-premise;

Deployment
Windows Linux, Mac, Windows

User interface, based on

Incorporates natural
Microsoft Office 365, is
Ease of use language capabilities into its
familiar to most end-users,
software
making it easier to use

Small and medium

Suitability Large enterprises
enterprises

Customer support and Microsoft Power BI is a Tableau has a large and

community relatively small community active online community

DAX Vs VisQL

The difference between DAX (Data Analysis Expressions) and VisQL (Visual Query Language) is foundational.
DAX has been created to compute more complex calculations by using data analysis expressions, while VisQL has
been created to aim to get the best visualization experience from a database, without coding.
In terms of efficiency, VisQL is reported to be more efficient, driving better query efficiency and faster visualization
load times compared to DAX. This efficiency difference may make VisQL more suitable for situations requiring
rapid, dynamic visualizations, whereas DAX's strength lies in its robust and detailed data manipulation and
analytical capabilities.

VisQL (Visual Query Language):

VisQL, used in Tableau, is designed for rendering visualizations from data queries. It translates drag-and-drop
actions into data queries, enabling users to create visualizations without needing to write code. VisQL emphasizes
the visual exploration of data, making Tableau highly effective for complex data visualizations.
Tableau's VisQL translates SQL queries, which traditionally return numbers and tables, into visual analysis
effortlessly. As users interact with Tableau's interface, their actions generate queries that VisQL then renders as
visuals.
VisQL supports standard database query languages like SQL and MDX, extending these with visualization creation
capabilities. It's designed for expressiveness and incremental construction, allowing users without prior query
language knowledge to harness data powerfully.

DAX (Data Analysis Expressions):

DAX, used in Power BI, is a formula language for creating custom calculations in Power BI's data models. It
focuses on data manipulation and analysis within the context of the Power BI environment.
DAX is a collection of functions, operators, and constants that can be used in a formula or expression to calculate
and return one or more values.
DAX is known for its more rigid formulas compared to VisQL. It's integral to creating custom calculations and
performing data analysis within Power BI, enabling more complex data manipulation and analysis than is possible
with standard Excel formulas.

Data Capacity Power BI Vs Tableau

AI Group Name AI Feature Name ThoughtSpot Tableau Power BI Qlik MicroStrategy

Augmented Reality ChatBot, Query dataset SearchIQ Ask Data Q&A Insight Advisor Chat Data Whisperer
Augmented Reality Copilot Atlan Copilot Tableau GPT Copilot, DAX - SQL Scribe
Data Analytic Automated Report x (SpotIQ) x (Explain Data) x (Quick Insight) x (Qlik Reporting Service) x (AI Canvas)
Data Analytic Automated Narratives x (SpotIQ) x (Data Story) x (Smart Narratives) x (Insight Advisor) -
Data Science Forecasting x (SpotIQ) x (Einstein Discovery) - (NO AI) x (AutoML) - (NO AI)
Data Science Auto Clustering x (SpotIQ) x x - -
Data Science Correlation Analysis x (SpotIQ) - x (Key Influencer) x (AutoML) x (Insights)
Data Science Anomaly Detection x (SpotIQ) - x - -