Tableau vs NVivo

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Our analysts compared Tableau vs NVivo based on data from our 400+ point analysis of Business Intelligence Tools, user reviews and our own crowdsourced data from our free software selection platform.

NVivo Software Tool

Product Basics

Tableau is a data visualization and analytics solution for enterprises and individuals. A rich library of connectors helps you pull data from files, cloud sources and servers. A separate data management module, Tableau Prep, ensures your data is ready to transform when it comes into the platform.

Its latest features include AI with Tableau Pulse and the Einstein CoPilot.

Software, healthcare, manufacturing, banking and financial services, and retail companies will find it helpful. Whatever your domain, chart, plot and map data will give you a clear picture of business performance.

Besides, you can track daily operations and support line-of-business decisions with hardcore data. At the higher level, it boosts planning by giving senior management the freedom to dig deeper.

A Tableau Creator license costs $70 per user and includes Tableau Desktop and Tableau Cloud. Alternatively, you can deploy it on-premise and connect to the cloud using a bridge. A free trial of Tableau Desktop is available, and Tableau Public is always free to use.

Though it's a user favorite for data visualization, many users find it expensive and slow when handling large datasets.

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NVivo is a qualitative data analysis solution for academic and industrial research. It lets users code and visualize their findings from interviews, surveys, text documents and demographic information. It’s helpful in social sciences, education and healthcare.

It has a friendly interface, powerful searches and advanced graphics. Once set up, the system can perform automatic sentiment analysis. Users can record the coding schemes and use them across the data. Documenting the steps enables future researchers to validate the research.

The vendor offers exclusive modules for collaboration and transcription. Its Collaboration Cloud lets many people work on the same project.

Pros
  • Powerful data management
  • Rich coding and query tools
  • Visualizations and data exploration
  • Team collaboration features
  • Support for various data formats
Cons
  • Steep learning curve
  • Can be expensive for individuals
  • Limited free trial/demo
  • Not ideal for simple projects
  • Occasional bugs and glitches
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$15/User, Monthly
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$99/User, Monthly
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Tailored to your specific needs
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Product Assistance

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Product Insights

  • Include Location Insights: Tableau scored a perfect 100 in our rankings with full support for geographical searches, geocoding and in-and-out zoom actions in maps. It stores the names of cities, countries, airports and zip codes, converting them to latitudes and longitudes. Already a user favorite for visual analysis, it wins the award for Best Geospatial Visualization and Analysis in our BI product directory.
  • Handle Data Queries: According to our analysis, Tableau got a top score of 99 and our best-in-class award for data querying. It allows automatic batch updates, while Power BI must rely on the bulk operations feature to update its underlying data, and Oracle Analytics doesn’t support batch updates at all.
  • Prepare Data: Tableau got a score of 100 in our assessment for its robust Tableau Prep module. It cleans and shapes data, allows forecasting models with R and Python scripts and accepts unstructured content, provided you convert it into a standard format first.
  • Manage Access: The Tableau Blueprint involves assessing if your organization’s data architecture is ready to adopt the platform. As part of this exercise, you can opt for one of three governance models — centralized, delegated or self-governing — with varied access permissions for different roles. Such a level of detail gets Tableau a top score of 100 in our analysis.
  • Visualize Your Metrics: Tableau earns the top score of 100 in our rankings and wins our analyst award for dashboarding and data visualization. It surpasses Power BI with dashboard starters, animations and auto-refresh capabilities. Plus, it can switch to use extracts when live connections aren’t necessary.
  • Track License Usage: View license information in detail, such as the number of active licenses and the last used date/time. Once you’ve configured the registry key on every computer with a Tableau Desktop instance, it’ll start sending usage reports to the Tableau Server.
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  • Boost ROI: Tap into buyer sentiment by noting their needs and preferences and applying them to product development. Push sales by fine-tuning marketing campaigns.
  • Innovate: Launch new products and improve existing offerings. Go beyond numbers and discover what customers think and feel with thematic and sentiment analysis.
  • Act: Save time while searching for information. Organize data from various sources, such as interviews, surveys and social media, in one system.
  • Improve Services: Build stronger customer associations by serving them better. Identify their pain points and improvement areas by analyzing feedback.
  • Save Money: Free resources for more strategic work by automating tasks like transcription — auto-code interviews with NVivo 14.
  • Test Drive: Try it for 14 days free, including the Collaboration Cloud.
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  • Connectors: Combine data from various sources by choosing from a wide range of connectors — no need to spend on expensive third-party data integration tools. Tableau Bridge connects private networks to live data sources via Tableau Cloud.
  • AI: Tableau now offers AI capabilities thanks to Einstein Analytics.
    • Tableau Pulse: Explore data independently and ask questions with AI analytics. Tableau Pulse is available with Tableau Cloud and Embedded Analytics.
    • Explain Data: Understand the displayed insights with natural language explanations of data points.
    • Einstein CoPilot (Beta): Close the gap in understanding data with AI insights. Discover hidden trends by asking follow-up questions without losing context, thanks to generative AI. Einstein CoPilot is available with a Tableau Cloud subscription.
  • Tableau Prep: Clean and transform data of all types, including survey results, feedback data and social media posts. Shape and combine it with Tableau Prep, which is available with the paid edition only.
  • Data Stories: Convey your message with compelling narratives to get stakeholder buy-in. Drag and drop sheets onto the storyboard to show the growth, decline or stability of critical metrics.
  • Animations: Explain how data changes over time with animated charts and customize them to include graphics, labels and colors.
  • Filtering: Focus on the data that matters; it’s as easy as dragging and dropping desired fields to the Filter shelf. Specify a value range, set a condition or choose the top values to display.
  • User-Based Licenses: Explore cost-effective license combinations that work for your team.
    • Creators can build dashboards, permissions, and governance rules, and establish connections to new sources. They’re content authors who transform and analyze data. This license is available at $70 per user monthly, billed annually. However, they can’t control the Tableau Server or Desktop environment.
    • Explorer licenses are suitable for line-of-business users whose role requires independent data exploration. They can author content but within a governed ecosystem. Each Explorer license costs $42 monthly, billed annually. They can’t connect to new sources, modify data, or use the Tableau desktop or custom SQL.
    • Viewers can interact with data, apply filters and follow pre-decided workflows. This license is available for $15 per user monthly, billed annually. Viewers have limited rights and can’t create and edit visualizations and the underlying data.
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  • Data Import: Pull data from mobile apps like Evernote and organize it using folders, sets or file classifications. It supports transcripts, articles, audio/video recordings and social media content.
  • Qualitative Analysis: Uncover hidden insights using powerful search tools. It turns interviews, surveys and documents into charts, word clouds and maps.
  • Thematic Analysis: Understand findings after digging deep into gathered data and spot emerging themes.
  • Integrations: Combine research materials in one place. Allows direct imports from Microsoft Office. Plus, it can use data from SurveyMonkey and social media platforms.
  • Sharing and Publishing: Export results, models and charts to various formats, including Excel, Word, text, rich-text and PDF files. Use the system clipboard to copy and paste graphics into reports and presentations.
  • Transcription: Review and edit transcripts, tag speakers, and add notes, then import transcripts directly into NVivo for analysis. NVivo Transcription auto-transcribes uploaded audio files, with support for 28 languages.
  • Multilingual Options: Analyze data in Chinese, Japanese, English, French, German and Portuguese, among other languages.
  • Collaboration Cloud: Work together to co-author research projects. A user uploads a master project to a secure cloud workspace, enabling others to download and work on it offline and then seamlessly merge their edits back into the main project.
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Product Ranking

#1

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Business Intelligence Tools

#42

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Business Intelligence Tools

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Analyst Rating Summary

84
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95
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100
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Analyst Ratings for Functional Requirements Customize This Data Customize This Data

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Advanced Analytics Augmented Analytics Data Management Data Pre-processing Data Transformation Data Visualization Embedded Analytics Capabilities Geospatial Visualizations And Analysis Mobile Capabilities Platform Capabilities Reporting 95 32 100 95 90 100 93 96 95 96 100 0 25 50 75 100
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Analyst Ratings for Technical Requirements Customize This Data Customize This Data

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User Sentiment Summary

Great User Sentiment 10554 reviews
Great User Sentiment 179 reviews
88%
of users recommend this product

Tableau has a 'great' User Satisfaction Rating of 88% when considering 10554 user reviews from 5 recognized software review sites.

82%
of users recommend this product

NVivo has a 'great' User Satisfaction Rating of 82% when considering 179 user reviews from 2 recognized software review sites.

4.5 (18)
n/a
4.4 (2083)
4.1 (133)
4.5 (2284)
4.1 (46)
4.4 (3909)
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4.2 (2260)
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Awards

SelectHub research analysts have evaluated Tableau and concluded it earns best-in-class honors for Advanced Analytics.

Advanced Analytics Award

we're gathering data

Synopsis of User Ratings and Reviews

Data Visualization: Almost 98% of users who reviewed its visual capabilities praised the platform for its dashboards and the freedom to play around with data and modify charts as desired.
User-Friendly: According to 93% of users who mentioned ease of use, it makes data accessible with its easy user actions and handy tooltips.
Data Connectivity: About 92% of users who discussed data sourcing praised its ability to pull data from disparate systems.
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Data Management: Organize and store various data types (text, audio, video, images) in one secure location.
Flexible Coding: Employ diverse coding approaches (tree, auto and query) to categorize and analyze data based on research questions.
Relationship Exploration: Uncover connections and hierarchies between codes using visual network maps and relationship coding.
Advanced Querying: Search coded data for specific terms, patterns or code combinations to identify key themes and trends.
Visualizations: Generate various visualizations (word clouds and concept maps) to present complex data findings clearly.
Collaboration: Share and collaborate on projects with other researchers using cloud-based options or file exports (depending on the version).
Support & Resources: Benefit from extensive online resources, tutorials, and user communities for troubleshooting and learning best practices.
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Pricing: Around 90% of the users citing cost found it expensive.
Speed: About 71% of the users who discussed performance found it slow when processing large data volumes.
Onboarding Woes: Approximately 67% of the users who reviewed the platform's adoption said there was a steep learning curve.
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Steep Learning Curve: New users often report difficulty in mastering NVivo's features quickly, which impacts their productivity and project timelines.
High Cost: Some users find NVivo's pricing to be prohibitive, particularly those from smaller institutions or independent researchers with limited budgets.
Limited Cross-Platform Support: NVivo's limited compatibility with non-Windows operating systems can be a barrier for Mac or Linux users, who may have to seek alternatives or use virtual machines.
Resource Intensiveness: NVivo can be demanding on computer resources, leading to performance issues on less powerful machines, which can frustrate users when handling large data sets.
Occasional Software Bugs: Users occasionally encounter bugs that can disrupt workflow and require waiting for patches or updates, affecting the software’s dependability.
Rigid Licensing Policy: NVivo's licenses can be inflexible, and transferring a license to another computer can be problematic, causing inconvenience to users who need mobility.
Complex Data Importation: Some users find importing data from various sources into NVivo cumbersome, which could lead to a time-consuming setup process.
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Tableau Desktop is a BI solution for data visualization, dashboarding and location analysis. In online reviews, users said they found its drag-and-drop charting a boon for creating charts and maps. Regarding customization, many users praised the platform for its various labeling and design options.I recently tried the Tableau Desktop 2024.1.3 version. The trial is only for 14 days and is enough for a sneak peek into Tableau’s dashboarding and data storytelling capabilities. For more straightforward use cases, Tableau is incredibly user-friendly and fast. Creating a new sheet gives you a canvas to create a visualization. Once you have the required sheets, combining them into a dashboard view is straightforward — select and add.My dataset included healthcare data, including details of patients, their hospital visits and insurance payer details. One use case was to find the total claim settlement amount. I dragged the Total Claims Cost and Payer fields to the column and row shelves, and Tableau gave me a bar graph. The toolbar had single-click options for sorting data from increasing to decreasing values or the other way around.To view the number of encounters by payer, I dragged the Payer field to the row shelf and used the SUM(ROW_COUNT()) function on the column shelf. The chart popped up with more visualization and layout options.I wanted an interactive filter to view the average claim cost by birthdate. I dragged the Birthdate field to the Filters shelf and right-clicked on it to set the end date as October 22, 1961. Selecting Show Filter added a slider conveniently to the right of my visualization. I could see the data for people born before October 22, 1961, and if required, I could change the end date.Another use case would be viewing the data by the type of hospital visits — how many people were inpatients, outpatients or those who needed emergency care. I dragged and dropped the Total Claims Cost and Payer fields into columns and rows, respectively. Similarly, I dropped Encounterclass into the Filters shelf and clicked on Show Filter to enable a checkbox on the screen. It had all the categories of visits, giving users the option to select the desired views.One-fourth of the users discussing adoption said there was a steep learning curve. Tableau relies on Python and R scripts for statistics in its visualizations. It's where the named licenses can prove to be a blessing, as you can opt to train upcoming Creators and Explorers. We recommend factoring in training if you want to hit the ground running.Some reviewers felt discounted packages for business editions should be available, similar to the free student licenses. At $70 per user, the Creator license can seem costly when compared to Power BI ($9.99 per user) and Qlik Sense ($30 per user).Here's the good news, though. Its built-in user management acts as a permissions layer for your organization - users can only access the relevant content. Plus, an organization will have very few Creators and a greater number of Viewers and Explorers, and the license fee reduces from Creator to Explorer to Viewer.We recommend opting for a wise license combination to get the most out of the product.On the upside, the vendor constantly releases new features, the latest one being Einstein CoPilot in beta.Overall, Tableau is a competitive BI solution, but if the pricing seems inflexible, quite a few other solutions offer live insights and advanced analytics out of the box.

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NVivo is qualitative data analysis software that received positive reviews from users. They appreciate its user-friendly interface, powerful features and ability to handle large datasets.However, some users complained about lax customer support and the occasional bug.NVivo is popular but not as robust as some of the other options. It’s also expensive. However, many users believe that the extra cost is worth it for the additional features and functionality. It has robust coding features to analyze large amounts of data quickly.Overall, NVivo is a user-friendly qualitative data analysis software that can be expensive and complex for individual users but is a handy assistant for teams.

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