Google Charts vs. Tableau Desktop

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Google Charts
Score 7.0 out of 10
N/A
Google Charts provides a way to visualize data on your website - for free. From simple line charts to complex hierarchical tree maps, the chart gallery provides a large number of ready-to-use chart types. The most common way to use Google Charts is with simple JavaScript that you embed in your web page.N/A
Tableau Desktop
Score 8.1 out of 10
N/A
Tableau Desktop is a data visualization product from Tableau. It connects to a variety of data sources for combining disparate data sources without coding. It provides tools for discovering patterns and insights, data calculations, forecasts, and statistical summaries and visual storytelling.
$75
per month per user
Pricing
Google ChartsTableau Desktop
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Tableau
$75
per month per user
Tableau Enterprise
$115
per month per user
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Google ChartsTableau Desktop
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
YesNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsAll pricing plans are billed annually.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Google ChartsTableau Desktop
Considered Both Products
Google Charts
Chose Google Charts
In comparison to Microsoft Power BI, Google Charts has more ease of use for businesses who simply need a way to visually display their data from their reports. Although Power BI may be more robust in more complicated data compilation, Google Charts can still be able to do some …
Chose Google Charts
As our company heavily utilizes Google products, when we first looked into the tool to help us to present our data, we were looking if we could find anything that is from Google and can satisfy our basic needs. Google Charts fit in it very well. That does not mean we are not …
Chose Google Charts
Google Charts is free so it was a no brainer for our company to use. There may be other products out there that have more functionality or are easy, but they are not free.
Chose Google Charts
Google Charts is great because it is free. There are not really other options that are out there that offer as much as Google Charts does without the cost, so no other software really stacks up.
Chose Google Charts
I also would like to add Chart.js to the list, although it was not a searchable option. Google Charts is hard to beat, considering how effective it is, and that there's no need for an enterprise subscription. It's got basically any sort of chart or timeline or trend tracker you …
Chose Google Charts
Having used other powerful BI tools, Google is still not upto the mark. But it does a decent job for a free tool.
Chose Google Charts
We have not really tried any other software for this purpose other than Google Charts because it is free and has worked very well for us.
Chose Google Charts
It is a reliable tool and its free version definitely stacks up against a lot of other paid versions of other software. So if you are using anything else, it is definitely worth checking out Google Charts.
Chose Google Charts
Google Charts is one of the better software for data visualization because it is free. You can’t beat that!
Chose Google Charts
Google Charts is better than any other alternative because it is free. It is a bit difficult to customize, so there may be better softwares out there depending on the complexity of what you are trying to do.
Chose Google Charts
Google Charts is one of the best tools out there because it integrates perfectly with Google Drive and Google Sheets, etc.
Chose Google Charts
Google Charts does offer a lot of functionality and it is also free which is why it is a great choice for our team. We are always looking for free solutions that are out there.
Chose Google Charts
Smartsheet integrates better with JIRA out of the box so we primarily use Smartsheet for visualisation of our Sprint breakdown. However, when reporting to higher-ups, we use Google Charts as the flexibility is far greater. We can better make visualisations that suite our …
Chose Google Charts
There are very many other softwares out there that are as intuitive as Google Charts and that is what makes it great.
Chose Google Charts
Our teams were already using Google's G suite and as google charts simply came tagged along with it, they were more than happy to go with google charts given its capabilities. Though we have another BI solution in place but teams mostly work with google charts and export their …
Chose Google Charts
Google Charts stacks up better since it is free and does not have the constant pressure for cost overruns, add-ons, annual maintenance and implementation services. The speed of using Google Charts is quick, saving users potentially weeks in getting up and going. For the …
Chose Google Charts
Chart.js is another javascript alternative to Google Charts. It outputs charts in Canvas elements rather than SVG, so it's a bit easier to manipulate and make responsive.
Chose Google Charts
For both the tools you need a good programming knowledge but this is not the case with Google Charts.
Chose Google Charts
I honestly have no used others. This was my first in my field. But I can say it's been a joy to work with and I don't see myself or my organization using any other platform or program.
Chose Google Charts
Went with Google Charts directly. Integrates with other Google apps that we use seamlessly.
Chose Google Charts
We selected Google Charts because it is a free tool and is a part of the GSuite.
Chose Google Charts
We have not really used any other products, but we do not really need a reason to because this one has worked so well for us.
Chose Google Charts
I've used D3.js and Google Charts, in my opinion, is easier to use and more accessible. But D3.js is much more visually flexible and has a lot of different use cases if we compare it to this service. So I think Google Charts is suitable for dashboards and applications that …
Chose Google Charts
I have not used many other software similar to Google Charts because a lot of the software I have used in the past has integrated reporting available to the customer. However, for instances where our software reporting is not accurate, we are able to use this online source to …
Chose Google Charts
I definitely prefer Google Charts over Piktochart chart because of the way that it integrates with Google Sheets, Google Drive, and Google Docs. The entire G Suite is completely crucial to our operation and having an outside chart program doesn't streamline or make data …
Tableau Desktop
Chose Tableau Desktop
Both power bi and Tableau Desktop has its own pros and cons. Microsoft power bi is best to work with Microsoft products. however for fast connection with diverse range of integration with data sources Tableau Desktop is best. if you are cost sensitive power bi is best option …
Chose Tableau Desktop
Tableau is more flexible than these - I liked Qlikview old version a lot but have not used the Qlik Sense etc new ones. Tableau user logic is harder to understand than Looker Studio. However it's more trust worthy. Connecting internet sources to Tableau Desktop is much harder. …
Chose Tableau Desktop
Tableau Desktop is older and just better overall. It has more capabilities and is more useful to have. I don't think you could have Alteryx as a standalone product like you can with Tableau Desktop. You'd want another bi tool.
Chose Tableau Desktop
We used to use products from the Google family in parallel. After migrating to GA4, we use Tableau much more.
Chose Tableau Desktop
Tableau Desktop has a more easy to use drag and drop interface and is easier to learn. It also allows greater customization of charts than Power BI. However, Tableau Desktop costs more than Power BI which is bundled into our Microsoft contract at no additional charge. Power BI …
Chose Tableau Desktop
The visualizations are far and away more powerful and it is more user friendly than Power BI. It would take 3-4 times as long to create the types of reports in Excel that I can create in Tableau Desktop and there are a slew of ways I can present the data in Tableau Desktop that …
Chose Tableau Desktop
Can handle large amounts of data
Chose Tableau Desktop
It has a better user interface compared to Microsoft Power BI. The Tableau integration process is quite simple and clear with the third-party application whereas Power BI is not easily integrated with other tools and requires a complex process to follow for integration. DAX …
Chose Tableau Desktop
When it comes to pricing, Tableau is kinda expensive but worth it as it has more features, not just features but really useful features that make our work easier especially as a project manager I need to pull up data almost every day in our meetings, and I find Tableau useful …
Chose Tableau Desktop
Tableau can create visually attractive customizable dashboards than can quickly by drag-drop while in power bi we can create simple dashboard. Power bi support lesser data source while in Tableau there is a lot of options
When we talk about data handling tableau is a clear …
Chose Tableau Desktop
Tableau Desktop is clearly one of the best in the business. It has incredible capabilities, and many features are extremely useful. The intuitiveness of the dashboards and the graphical nature of the visualizations are widely used features and super helpful. One of the other …
Chose Tableau Desktop
Tableau Desktop provides some state of the art feature and capabilities that are just awesome. Its support, online blog, and tutorials are better than its competitors. That was the best selling point for me.
Chose Tableau Desktop
With Tableau Desktop, it's easy to create a report in the context quickly. It allows for the seamless management of the data sources, which is convenient for the data users. Because it is simple to use, it is
Chose Tableau Desktop
It does have a lot of potential when using Microsoft other technologies - in integration/Embedded, Visuals and connectivity to data sources. Advanced analytics is also smooth when working on python/r scripts. Automated insights are better in Tableau/Alphaa AI. NLG/NLQ - …
Chose Tableau Desktop
Tableau offers a lot of educational content, and for a limited time, we were able to use paid educational content for free, so we are very satisfied.
Chose Tableau Desktop
For complex data visualization, Tableau Desktop shines. Even though it uses highly granular databases, it has a powerful engine that can process large amounts of data quickly and produce high-quality charts. It has the broadest range of APIs and is extremely simple. The …
Chose Tableau Desktop
We decided to use Tableau Desktop as that's fairly standard in the industry, it is being taught in college, and is widely known. Tableau Desktop is nice, but in my opinion, it is VERY expensive. Unless you are really making money off of decisions, then your ROI is going to be …
Chose Tableau Desktop
Using Tableau Desktop, we have found it the most actionable and user-friendly application ever. It has the broadest range of APIs and is exceptionally user-friendly. It can handle a large amount of data and produce smooth charts quickly. For data geeks, this is the ideal stack.
Chose Tableau Desktop
When compared to Power BI, Tableau has a more flexible deployment. You can install the desktop version without having to install the SQL server. Tableau got you covered end-to-end — from collaboration, analytics, content discovery, data prep & access, down to deployment. …
Chose Tableau Desktop
Tableau Desktop is preferred over other BI software because it allows for more data visualization, storytelling, and dashboards. Microsoft Power BI may be a better option if you need to perform data modeling, however. Tableau Desktop is an excellent tool for nearly all other …
Chose Tableau Desktop
We preferred Tableau over Power BI due to its user-friendly interface and interactive GUI. Since we work with large datasets, we observed that Power BI can deal with only a limited amount of data when compared to Tableau which creates complex visualizations in a time-efficient …
Chose Tableau Desktop
Tableau Desktop is the most user-friendly and actionable application we have used in comparison to others. It has the best API connection potential along with easy start-up. They seem to always be updating the platform to solve newer problems which help keep my company up to …
Chose Tableau Desktop
We also use Power BI for small projects and teams that can't afford to pay for Tableau licenses. Tableau has more features and is more robust compared to Power BI. They also provide better and faster support compared to Microsoft. It is the standard visualization tool, but …
Chose Tableau Desktop
For databases or types of data that have high granularity and details, Tableau Desktop is better to plot and help visualize every detailed behavior with a great performance. It's engine can process a massive amount of data and generate a smooth chart without spending too much …
Features
Google ChartsTableau Desktop
BI Standard Reporting
Comparison of BI Standard Reporting features of Product A and Product B
Google Charts
8.8
Ratings
8% above category average
Tableau Desktop
8.3
Ratings
2% above category average
Pixel Perfect reports8.10 Ratings8.80 Ratings
Customizable dashboards9.50 Ratings8.40 Ratings
Report Formatting Templates8.80 Ratings7.80 Ratings
Ad-hoc Reporting
Comparison of Ad-hoc Reporting features of Product A and Product B
Google Charts
9.3
Ratings
14% above category average
Tableau Desktop
8.7
Ratings
8% above category average
Drill-down analysis8.60 Ratings8.60 Ratings
Formatting capabilities9.50 Ratings9.20 Ratings
Integration with R or other statistical packages9.50 Ratings7.70 Ratings
Report sharing and collaboration9.60 Ratings9.20 Ratings
Report Output and Scheduling
Comparison of Report Output and Scheduling features of Product A and Product B
Google Charts
9.0
Ratings
8% above category average
Tableau Desktop
8.1
Ratings
3% below category average
Publish to Web9.50 Ratings7.30 Ratings
Publish to PDF9.60 Ratings7.90 Ratings
Report Versioning8.60 Ratings8.20 Ratings
Report Delivery Scheduling8.70 Ratings9.20 Ratings
Delivery to Remote Servers8.80 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Data Discovery and Visualization
Comparison of Data Discovery and Visualization features of Product A and Product B
Google Charts
8.8
Ratings
10% above category average
Tableau Desktop
8.4
Ratings
5% above category average
Pre-built visualization formats (heatmaps, scatter plots etc.)8.90 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization8.80 Ratings8.20 Ratings
Predictive Analytics8.80 Ratings8.60 Ratings
Pattern Recognition and Data Mining00 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Access Control and Security
Comparison of Access Control and Security features of Product A and Product B
Google Charts
8.8
Ratings
4% above category average
Tableau Desktop
8.7
Ratings
3% above category average
Multi-User Support (named login)8.80 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Role-Based Security Model8.80 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Multiple Access Permission Levels (Create, Read, Delete)8.80 Ratings8.80 Ratings
Single Sign-On (SSO)8.80 Ratings8.80 Ratings
Report-Level Access Control00 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Mobile Capabilities
Comparison of Mobile Capabilities features of Product A and Product B
Google Charts
9.0
Ratings
14% above category average
Tableau Desktop
8.0
Ratings
2% above category average
Responsive Design for Web Access9.50 Ratings8.20 Ratings
Mobile Application9.60 Ratings7.00 Ratings
Dashboard / Report / Visualization Interactivity on Mobile8.70 Ratings8.80 Ratings
Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding
Comparison of Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding features of Product A and Product B
Google Charts
8.8
Ratings
12% above category average
Tableau Desktop
9.0
Ratings
14% above category average
REST API8.90 Ratings9.20 Ratings
Javascript API8.80 Ratings9.00 Ratings
iFrames8.80 Ratings9.20 Ratings
Java API8.90 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Themeable User Interface (UI)8.80 Ratings8.40 Ratings
Customizable Platform (Open Source)8.80 Ratings8.40 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Google ChartsTableau Desktop
Small Businesses
BrightGauge
BrightGauge
Score 9.1 out of 10
BrightGauge
BrightGauge
Score 9.1 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Reveal
Reveal
Score 10.0 out of 10
Reveal
Reveal
Score 10.0 out of 10
Enterprises
Kyvos Semantic Intelligence Layer
Kyvos Semantic Intelligence Layer
Score 9.9 out of 10
Kyvos Semantic Intelligence Layer
Kyvos Semantic Intelligence Layer
Score 9.9 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Google ChartsTableau Desktop
Likelihood to Recommend
8.9
(0 ratings)
8.7
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
7.3
(0 ratings)
8.9
(0 ratings)
Usability
8.9
(0 ratings)
8.6
(0 ratings)
Availability
10.0
(0 ratings)
8.0
(0 ratings)
Performance
5.0
(0 ratings)
6.1
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
8.3
(0 ratings)
7.0
(0 ratings)
In-Person Training
-
(0 ratings)
9.4
(0 ratings)
Online Training
5.0
(0 ratings)
8.0
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
10.0
(0 ratings)
8.0
(0 ratings)
Configurability
8.0
(0 ratings)
8.1
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
10.0
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
8.0
(0 ratings)
7.0
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
10.0
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
10.0
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Google ChartsTableau Desktop
Likelihood to Recommend
Google Charts is perfectly suited for most presentations that are data oriented. There's not much of a limit on the type of table or chart you can create, and being able to integrate with Google Sheets just makes things even easier if you've already got the data stored somewhere. It works well on desktop browsers, Iphones, and Android phones. The only drawback I've been able to find is for those that prefer to have a desktop application.
Read full review
The best scenario is definitely to collect data from several sources and create dedicated dashboards for specific recipients. However, I miss the possibility of explaining these reports in more detail. Sometimes, we order a report, and after half a year, we don't remember the meaning of some data (I know it's our fault as an organization, but the tool could force better practices).
Read full review
Pros
  • Google Charts is free so a terrific tool for universities and students
  • Provides new users that need charts an inventory and gallery of potential charts and types to visualize data
  • The software is useful to add charts and data for websites with limited effort but with success
Read full review
  • The Visualizations graphics are really good and the color options help in designing attractive charts. They help to convey more information and can be made interactive.
  • You can add filters with offer you to plug and play with values and understand different outcomes.
  • You can drag and drop options while creating charts and dashboards. also it is a very fluid layout.
Read full review
Cons
  • I would like a couple more introductory videos or a live chat option for when you run into an issue. I think this is a Google-wide problem, not only linked to Google Charts.
  • I have run into some issues with the Dynamic Data but also admittedly could potentially dive in deeper and investigate.
  • It would be great if Google Charts made it possible to integrate Google Chat into the platform.
Read full review
  • Formatting the data to work correctly in graphical presentations can be time consuming
  • Daily data extracts can run slowly depending on how much data is required and the source of the data
  • The desktop version is required for advanced functionality, editing on [the] Tableau server allows only limited features
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
Google Charts is a good product. It's widely supported with deep documentation and a large community. But for me, it wasn't customizable enough. When we started with simple charts, it was great, but as we got deeper and more complex, our needs outgrew the library. If I was going forward, I would choose a more barebones library with more freedom and extensibility.
Read full review
Because right now its the best option out there (disclosure: I haven't used Qlikview or some of the other direct competitors of Tableau). The big investment is in Tableau Server not desktop. For the cost of the license of Tableau desktop, its a pretty good deal. You can hook it up to pretty much any data source easily. You can easily share the visualizations with your team/colleagues easily. Tableau Desktop is generally easy to use for business users. But the more advanced stuff is better suited for a analyst or someone with a IT/CS background.
Read full review
Usability
Requires knowledge of Javascript, which can be difficult for a beginner. A business analyst often isn't as technically minded as a developer so collaboration is often required to produce a correct chart for the purpose required. However, the customisation capable due to this creates much better looking charts compared to other tools.
Read full review
Tableau Desktop has proven to be a lifesaver in many situations. Once we've completed the initial setup, it's simple to use. It has all of the features we need to quickly and efficiently synthesize our data. Tableau Desktop has advanced capabilities to improve our company's data structure and enable self-service for our employees.
Read full review
Reliability and Availability
Google charts is always available and provides fast output.
Read full review
When used as a stand-alone tool, Tableau Desktop has unlimited uptime, which is always nice. When used in conjunction with Tableau Server, this tool has as much uptime as your server admins are willing to give it. All in all, I've never had an issue with Tableau's availability.
Read full review
Performance
Connectivity is occasionally very slow.
Read full review
Tableau Desktop's performance is solid. You can really dig into a large dataset in the form of a spreadsheet, and it exhibits similarly good performance when accessing a moderately sized Oracle database. I noticed that with Tableau Desktop 9.3, the performance using a spreadsheet started to slow around 75K rows by about 60 columns. This was easily remedied by creating an extract and pushing it to Tableau Server, where performance went to lightning fast
Read full review
Support Rating
Google Charts has a very good documentation that we can just go in there and find the stuff we need to implement our solutions on Google Charts. Plus, if we get stuck, we can also email the support and they are very responsive. So overall, the support is very satisfying.
Read full review
The Tableau Desktop's support team has been very helpful and tend to response very quickly. After all you have paid very premium price for the product and it goes to the services. This makes using the tool much easier for these who doesn't have such experience to get help quickly.
Read full review
In-Person Training
No answers on this topic
It is admittedly hard to train a group of people with disparate levels of ability coming in, but the software is so easy to use that this is not a huge problem; anyone who can follow simple instructions can catch up pretty quickly.
Read full review
Online Training
The online training was solely done through self training on google's guide to charts.
Read full review
I think the training was good overall, but it was maybe stating the obvious things that a tech savvy young engineer would be able to pick up themselves too. However, the example work books were good and Tableau web community has helped me with many problems
Read full review
Implementation Rating
Easy to implement
Read full review
Time needs to be spent ahead of implementation to make sure data sources are set up and ready. Consultants need to understand the data sources and the goals before setting foot on-site. Installation is easy, learning to use it takes time. The training resources available are great.
Read full review
Alternatives Considered
In comparison to Microsoft Power BI, Google Charts has more ease of use for businesses who simply need a way to visually display their data from their reports. Although Power BI may be more robust in more complicated data compilation, Google Charts can still be able to do some of the basics that Power BI delivers.
Read full review
Tableau Desktop is clearly one of the best in the business. It has incredible capabilities, and many features are extremely useful. The intuitiveness of the dashboards and the graphical nature of the visualizations are widely used features and super helpful. One of the other benefits is that both programmers and non-programmers can equally explore and create their own opportunities, and seamless integration is possible.
Read full review
Scalability
Google Charts is essential for quick, easy, reporting. There are opportunities for advanced features.
Read full review
Tableau Desktop's scaleability is really limited to the scale of your back-end data systems. If you want to pull down an extract and work quickly in-memory, in my application it scaled to a few tens of millions of rows using the in-memory engine. But it's really only limited by your back-end data store if you have or are willing to invest in an optimized SQL store or purpose-built query engine like Veritca or Netezza or something similar.
Read full review
Return on Investment
  • teams were easily able to create charts and find out progress on our learning courses and thus take actionable insights to their managers, professors
  • students could also know their progress on various courses from one single view, same for instructors in terms of imparting education
  • sales team could learn which kind of courses sold more to focus more on those areas
Read full review
  • Easy to share and manage viewer access on a different level to help identify fraud.
  • Faster report generation, increased revenue, better decision-making, and data storytelling.
  • One-click access to business health and the ability to build/maintain more effective and efficient reports.
  • It's easy to share and even manage access to viewers on a different level, and reports are done in a more visual and storytelling manner.
Read full review
ScreenShots