Grow vs Tableau In Brief
Grow BI is an ideal BI solution for small to medium size businesses whose analysis needs are quite straightforward (no requirement for advanced analytics for example). Tableau is better suited to medium to large businesses with needs that range from simple to moderately complex. In considering Grow vs Tableau it is all a matter of considering the levels of sophistication that must be supported.
In many respects Grow BI provides a packaged solution to analysis needs (it provides many pre-built reports) with some tailoring capabilities. Grow is also a cloud-only solution, whereas Tableau can be implemented in-cloud or on-premises. Recent developments make Tableau a more sophisticated offering than Grow (the Hyper database, Empirical automated analysis, sophisticated data preparation tools, and excellent support for python and R languages).
Grow
Grow is positioned to appeal to business users with straightforward analysis needs. Small to medium size businesses will find it does most of what they need, provided the requirements are not too demanding, and it distinguishes itself by supporting unlimited users regardless of subscription level. The simplicity of the platform and the large number of data integrations means most businesses will be up and running very quickly. This is aided by the fact that Grow also provides a large number of pre-built reports. Particular support is provided for sales and marketing functions, but others are also catered for. Greater sophistication can be gained through coding in SQL. The large number of data integrations (over 150) include all popular web services, files, databases, and Excel data. Users can use a time window to scroll back in time and view historical performance, and data updates can be scheduled for any time period down to 5 minutes. A large number of pre-built reports support a variety of business functions, including finance, operations, sales and marketing. Reports can be distributed as PDF documents, and this process can be automated as desired. All the security and management tools that are needed in an environment of this nature are provided. Modest pricing starting at $199 per month for unlimited users and 15 metrics.
Tableau
The range and sophistication of visualizations provided by Tableau places it near the top end of the visual analytics tools market. The recently acquired Hyper database addresses many performance issues, and the acquisition of Empirical promises automated analytics, saving time and effort. While Tableau does not come with any kind of scripting language, it does provide excellent support for R and python, for those with more advanced needs. Product pricing has recently been changed and is now based on a subscription model. This was a price reduction in reality, and Tableau is now competitive with most other offerings. Tableau Desktop is the environment where charts and dashboards can be created, and where data sets can be created for analysis. Tableau Creator is a package for individuals and contains all the components needed for a complete Tableau environment. Tableau Prep is a major upgrade to Tableau capability providing a data preparation environment addressing the combination, transformation and cleaning of data. Since data preparation is usually the larger part of any data analysis task, so the efficiency of the effort can be significantly enhanced through a decent data preparation tool.