Tableau vs ThoughtSpot

by Gralio Mar 07, 2025

Tableau and ThoughtSpot are both robust BI platforms catering to different needs. Tableau prioritizes visual exploration and customization, while ThoughtSpot emphasizes ease of use and speed through AI-powered search. Tableau is better for users who need a wide array of visualization options and a supportive community, while ThoughtSpot is a good fit for those who value quick insights and natural language querying.

At Gralio.ai we help to simplify your decision-making process by offering detailed, side-by-side software comparisons like this one, to help you confidently choose the tool that aligns with your business goals.

This comparison was created by analysing 4613 reviews and 60 websites, saving 1 day, 2 hours, 7 minutes of reading.

Tableau

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ThoughtSpot

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About

Tableau is a popular data analytics platform that helps businesses make sense of their data. It offers powerful, user-friendly tools for visualizing data, creating interactive dashboards, and sharing insights across your organization. Tableau is suitable for companies of all sizes and is known for its intuitive drag-and-drop interface, even for non-technical users. It allows you to connect to various data sources, analyze information visually, and discover trends to make better business decisions.

ThoughtSpot is a business intelligence platform that makes it easier for non-technical users to get insights from company data. Using AI and search functionality, you can ask questions in plain English and quickly visualize results without needing IT support. It connects with your existing data sources and allows you to create reports and dashboards to track key metrics. ThoughtSpot aims to eliminate manual reporting processes and empower employees to make data-driven decisions.

Summary

Main difference

Tableau stands out with its intuitive drag-and-drop interface, extensive visualization options, and broad community support, making it ideal for users seeking a user-friendly yet powerful BI tool. ThoughtSpot excels in its AI-driven search functionality, enabling users to query data using natural language and quickly uncover insights, making it a strong choice for those prioritizing ease of use and speed.

Relative strengths of Tableau (compared to ThoughtSpot)

Superior data visualization capabilities with a wider range of chart types and customization options.
Larger and more active community, offering extensive resources, training, and support.
Drag-and-drop interface known for its ease of use, even for non-technical users.

Relative weaknesses of Tableau (compared to ThoughtSpot)

AI-powered analytics and natural language search are less developed compared to ThoughtSpot.
Pricing can be complex and potentially more expensive, especially for larger deployments.
Limited external sharing capabilities compared to ThoughtSpot's Extended Enterprise Edition.

What companies are using Tableau and ThoughtSpot?

No data

Who should use Tableau VS. ThoughtSpot

Tableau empowers data professionals and business users to analyze and visualize data with its user-friendly interface. Users praise its performance with large datasets and interactive visualization tools, but some find the cost and collaboration features challenging. Ideal for generating insights and making data-driven decisions.

ThoughtSpot empowers business users to analyze data with AI-powered search and interactive dashboards. Users praise its intuitive interface and real-time insights, but some find loading times slow and customization limited. Ideal for medium to large companies needing user-friendly data exploration and visualization.

Best for medium to large businesses seeking robust analytics.
Suitable for various data-heavy industries, including healthcare, finance, and retail.

Best fit for medium to large businesses (101+ employees) seeking data-driven decision-making.
Suitable for Finance, Retail, Manufacturing, Transportation & Logistics, Media & Entertainment, and Marketing & Advertising.

Tableau and ThoughtSpot features

Supported

Partially supported

Not supported

Type in the name of the feature or in your own words tell us what you need

Drag and Drop Interface

Supported

Tableau offers a drag-and-drop interface for creating visualizations and dashboards.

Partially supported

ThoughtSpot supports drag and drop for pivot tables, but primarily uses search-driven analytics.
Community Support

Supported

Tableau offers community support with resources, training, and a forum.

Supported

ThoughtSpot offers community resources, training, and a community forum for collaboration and support.
Market Leader in BI

Supported

Tableau is a recognized leader in the BI market, with a large market share and analyst recognition.

Supported

ThoughtSpot is recognized as a leader in BI by Gartner and has received industry awards.
Interactive charts and graphs

Supported

Tableau allows the creation of interactive charts and graphs, with features like filters, drill-downs, tooltips, and dynamic updates, facilitating data exploration and visualization.

Supported

ThoughtSpot allows creation of interactive charts and graphs. Users can apply filters, drill down into details, and leverage tooltips for deeper data exploration. The platform offers various customizable chart types and supports features like adding labels and adjusting colors.
Data Visualization

Supported

Tableau offers a wide range of charts and graphs, including pareto charts, stacked bar charts, line graphs, area charts, dual-axis combination charts, Gantt charts, and bullet charts, making it easy to visualize data.

Supported

ThoughtSpot allows creating charts and graphs using its Liveboards feature.
Interactive dashboards

Supported

Tableau allows incorporating interactive elements like filters, drop-down menus, and interactive tooltips. Users can drill down into data, use filters, parameters and custom calculations. It supports actions such as filter actions, highlight actions, and URL actions for dynamic interaction.

Supported

ThoughtSpot allows the creation of interactive dashboards with features like drill-downs, filters, tooltips, and real-time data updates, enabling users to engage with data dynamically.

Qualities

Value and Pricing Transparency

-0.85

Strongly negative sentiment

No data
Customer Service

-0.14

Neutral sentiment

No data
Ease of Use

+0.9

Strongly positive sentiment

+0.67

Rather positive sentiment
Reliability and Performance

+0.35

Rather positive sentiment

+0.5

Rather positive sentiment
Ease of Implementation

+0.6

Rather positive sentiment

No data
Scalability

+0.22

Neutral sentiment

No data

Tableau and ThoughtSpot Pricing

Tableau offers software in 3 editions: Tableau, Enterprise, and Tableau+ (available through sales). It is unclear if the listed prices are for Tableau Cloud or Tableau Server. All deployments require at least one Creator license. The software is available through a custom embedded analytics plan as well.

Plans

User sentiment

Strongly negative

-0.85

See full Pricing page

ThoughtSpot offers flexible pricing for different usage needs, with options for annual billing and custom pricing available. They provide a free trial for Essentials, Pro, and Developer plans, while a demo is available for the Enterprise plan. More detailed pricing information is available by contacting the ThoughtSpot sales team.

Plans

See full Pricing page

Tableau and ThoughtSpot review insights

4591 reviews analysed from and

Users love

User interface with exciting visualisation tools.
Works very well as a BI Reporting Tool.
Seamless Data Integration
The best part about Tableau is the performance and speed which enables me to analyze big data without any slowdowns.

Intuitive search functionality is highly praised
Real-time data analysis and insights are valuable
User-friendly interface makes it easy to explore data
AI-powered insights (SpotIQ) help discover hidden trends

Users dislike

Some time is slow and have some visualizations flexibilities issues.
The cost is what comes into my head when I first think of Tableau and the collaborations issues as it isn\'t smooth in the desktop version when cimpared to its competitor Power BI
Tableau can be expensive, especially for small businesses or individual users.
The Tableau trial period is too short, If they release the free version with limited features it would be beneficial for students to get hands-on experience.

Slow loading times are a frequent complaint
Limited customization for visuals and dashboards
Occasional bugs and glitches disrupt the user experience
Data loading and setup can be time-consuming and complex

Tableau and ThoughtSpot Ratings

G2

4.4/5

(2074)
Capterra

4.6/5

(2209)
TrustPilot

1.9/5

(22)
Glassdoor

4.1/5

(18141)

G2

4.4/5

(311)
Glassdoor

3.5/5

(333)

Company health

Employee growth

2% increase in the last year

3% decrease in the last year

Web traffic

7% decrease in the last quarter

28% decrease in the last quarter

Financing

July 2022 - $65M

October 2023 - $664M

How user-friendly is ThoughtSpot's search compared to Tableau's drag-and-drop interface?

ThoughtSpot's search interface is designed for ease of use, allowing users to ask questions in natural language and receive visual results. This contrasts with Tableau's drag-and-drop interface, which, while also considered user-friendly, requires more hands-on interaction with data elements to create visualizations. While both aim for user-friendliness, ThoughtSpot simplifies the initial query process through natural language, while Tableau provides a more visual and interactive method for building dashboards and exploring data.

Which product better supports embedding analytics for external users?

ThoughtSpot explicitly supports embedding analytics for external users through its Extended Enterprise Edition and public APIs, offering controlled access management for external users. While Tableau offers embedded analytics, the provided information doesn't specify access controls for external users in the same detail as ThoughtSpot.

What are the advantages of Tableau?

Tableau is a market leader in BI, recognized for its excellent data visualization capabilities and user-friendly drag-and-drop interface, making it accessible to both technical and non-technical users. It offers a wide range of interactive charts and graphs, pre-built templates, and strong community support. Tableau's pricing is transparent and offers tiered options for different user roles.

What are the disadvantages of Tableau?

Tableau's pricing can be a significant disadvantage, especially for smaller businesses or individuals, as it is generally more expensive than some competitors. Users have also reported occasional slow performance and limited flexibility in visualizations, which can hinder the data analysis process. Additionally, the short trial period may not provide sufficient time for thorough evaluation before committing to a purchase.

Is Tableau cheaper than ThoughtSpot?

No, Tableau is not cheaper than ThoughtSpot. Tableau's listed creator license starts at $75/month while ThoughtSpot's Essentials plan starts at $1250/month. ThoughtSpot's Pro and Enterprise plans require custom quotes, so a direct comparison for those tiers is not possible with the provided information. However, based on the available data, ThoughtSpot's Essentials plan is significantly more expensive than Tableau's Creator licenses.

Alternatives to Tableau and ThoughtSpot

Metabase

Metabase is a business intelligence tool that makes it easy for anyone in your company to analyze data and create reports, even without technical skills. It connects to your existing databases, allowing you to build interactive dashboards and visualize data without writing code. Metabase offers a user-friendly interface with features like a visual query builder and pre-built dashboards. It's available in both free open-source and paid versions, making it suitable for businesses of all sizes. Metabase prioritizes ease of use and accessibility for non-technical users, empowering teams to make data-driven decisions.

Domo

Domo is a cloud-based data platform designed to help businesses of all sizes make better use of their data. It offers tools for data visualization, reporting, and analysis, as well as for building custom data applications. Domo aims to be user-friendly, even for non-technical users, while still providing powerful features for data professionals. The platform emphasizes connecting different data sources and using AI to make data more accessible and actionable.

Microsoft Power BI

Microsoft Power BI is a data visualization and business intelligence tool that lets you create interactive reports and dashboards from various data sources. It helps you analyze and understand complex data through easy-to-read visuals. Power BI offers a range of features, from simple drag-and-drop reporting to advanced data modeling and analytics. Share insights with colleagues online or embed them directly into your applications.

Looker

Looker, a Google Cloud product, is a business intelligence platform that helps you understand your company's data. It organizes your data so you can easily analyze it, create dashboards and reports to visualize the information, and then share these insights with colleagues. Looker aims to provide a user-friendly experience for exploring data without needing technical expertise.

Mode

Mode is a cloud-based business intelligence platform designed for data teams and business users in companies of all sizes. It allows data professionals to analyze data using languages like SQL, Python, and R, and to build interactive dashboards and reports. Mode aims to be a central hub for all data analysis, enabling collaboration and self-service access to insights for everyone in the organization. Mode integrates with a company's existing data infrastructure.

Qlik Sense

Qlik Sense is a visual analytics platform that helps you analyze your company data. It consolidates information from different sources, revealing hidden trends and insights. You can create interactive dashboards and reports to easily understand complex data and share findings across your company. Qlik Sense is suitable for various departments like sales, marketing, and finance, and is designed for mid-size to large companies seeking a powerful, user-friendly analytics solution.

Page co-authored by

Michal Kaczor

CEO at Gralio

Michal has worked at startups for many years and writes about topics relating to software selection and IT management. As a former consultant for Bain, a business advisory company, he also knows how to understand needs of any business and find solutions to its problems.

Tymon Terlikiewicz

CTO at Gralio

Tymon is a seasoned CTO who loves finding the perfect tools for any task. He recently headed up the tech department at Batmaid, a well-known Swiss company, where he managed about 60 software purchases, including CX, HR, Payroll, Marketing automation and various developer tools.

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