ComparisonI got this question often: which is the best Data Visualization product? Lets compare some DV platforms such as Spotfire, Qlikview, Tableau Software and the Microsoft BI platform (PowerPivot, Excel 2010, SQL Server with its VertiPaq, SSAS, SSRS and SSIS). 2 key factors for tool selection are

which makes it easy to comprehend the data, price-performance

Because modern datasets are huge (or growing very fast!), they are usually best comprehended using Data Visualization (DV) with an ability to interact with data through visual drill-down capabilities and dashboards. There is NO a single best visualization product.  Each has its place.  For example, Spotfire has best web client and analytical functionality. On the other hand, Qliktech may be the best visualization product for interactive drill-down capabilities.  The Microsoft BI platform provides better price-performance ratio and good as a backend for DV (especially with release of SQL Server 2012) or for people who wish to build own (that will be a mistake) DV. Tableau has the best ability to interact with OLAP cubes etc. We put into a summary table the comparison of 4 Platforms to help you to evaluate DV products, based on your needs.

Criteria Spotfire Qlikview Tableau MS BI Stack CommentBusiness Criteria ======= ======= ======= ======= Speed, Scalability, Price

Implementation Speed Good High Good Average Qlikview is fastest to

implement

Scalability Unlimited Limited by RAM Very Good Good Need the expert in scalable

SaaS

Pricing High Above Average High Average Microsoft is the price

leaderLicensing/support cost High High High Average Smart Client is the best way

to saveEnterprise Readiness Excellent Good for

SMBGood for SMB Excellent Partners are the key to

SMB marketLong-term viability Good 1 product Average Excellent Microsoft are 35+ years in

business

Mindshare Analytics Market

Growing fast

Growing fast

3rd attempt to win BI

Qlikview is a DV Leader, Successful IPO

Technical Criteria ======= ======= ======= ======= Drilldown, Analytics, UI

Clients for End Users

ZFC, Spotfire Silver

RIA, ZFC, Mobile

Windows, ZFC Excel, .NET Free Qlikview Personal

Edition is a big plus

Interactive Visualization Very Good Excellent Very Good As good as

Excel

Most users value Visualization over Modeling

Data Integration Good Good Excellent Good Need for Data Integration expert

Visual Drill-Down Very Good Excellent Good Average Qlikview is fastest thanks to

in-memory databaseDashboard Support Very Good Excellent Good Below

AverageSpotfire and Qlikview are best for Dashboards

Integration with GIS Excellent Good Good Average Spotfire has the best GIS

integrationModeling and Analytics Excellent Weak Excellent

OLAP Good with SSAS

Spotfire is the best, Excel is the most popular

UI & set of Visual Controls Very Good Best Very Good Good Need for UI expert to

integrate DV componentsDevelopment Environment

Rich API, S+

Scripting, Rich API Average Excellent Tableau requires less

consulting than competitors64-bit In-Memory Columnar DB

Very Good ExcellentIn-memory Data Engine

Very Good 64-bit RAM allows huge datasets in memory

Summary – Best for:

Visual Analytics

DV, Drilldown

Visual OLAP

Backend for DV

Good Visualization requires a customization!

We also suggest for you to take a look on other comparisons: Altheon comparing Qlikview, Tableau and Omniscope and others (please ping me if you will find good comparison of DV tools).

Notes.

TIBCO is a vendor of the balanced Spotfire Platform: Spotfire Professional, Server, Enterprise and Web Players, S-Plus, DecisionSite, Metrics, Data Automation and Miner  technologies, combining in-memory database with interactive Data Visualization, advanced analytics (S+), data mining and multi-filtering functionality. Spotfire 3.2.1 provides best web client and supports iPad

Qliktech is a vendor of Qlikview DV Platform: Qlikview Developer, Qlikview Server, Publisher and Access Point tools with a leading in-memory columnar database combined with advanced Visual Drill-Down, Interactive Dashboards and comprehensive set of client software, running even on SmartPhones.

Microsoft is a vendor of the most comprehensive set of BI and DV components, including SQL Server, Analytical, Reporting and Integration Services (SSAS, SSRS, SSIS), Sharepoint, Excel 2010 with PowerPivot add-in (Excel is the most popular BI tool, regardless) and VertiPaq engine. I did not include PerformancePoint Server: it was discontinued in April 2009 and PerformancePoint Services from SharePoint I cannot recommend, because I CAN NOT recommend SharePoint.

DV expert can be a cost-effective customizer of all of the above with the ability to customize DV with development components from leading technological vendors like Dundas, DevExpress etc.

I did not include Oracle, because it does not have own DV tool; however Oracle is an OEM partner with Tableau and resell it as a part of OBIEE toolset.

DV expert can help to select the appropriate DV approach for your specific application. Additional services include the following:

Professional gathering of business requirements, system analysis of workflow and dataflow, and functional specifications;

The custom software development for Extract, Transform and Load (ETL) processing from large Client Databases into in-memory superfast columnar DB and interactive OLAP Cubes;

Design of Custom Data Visualization and dashboards deployed over the Internet through smart client and RIA technologies.

Custom DV applications enable the user to perform visual drill-down, fast searches for outliers in large datasets, easy-to-use root-cause and business logic analysis, interactive data search, and visual and predictive analytics. Some factors and/or features are very important and some I did not mention because they will  be mentioned on other pages and posts of this blog (e,g, see “in-memory” page and DV Tools pages. I perceive that DV area has 4 super-leaders in this area: Qlikview 10, Spotfire 3.3, Tableau 6.1 and PowerPivot, but for completeness (because the real function is to be a “Data Visualizers”), I wish to add Visokio’s Omniscope. I do not include vendors who are 1-2 generation behind: SAP, SAS, IBM, Oracle, Microstrategy and I can add to this list a dozen more of mis-leaders. Many vendors working on some in-memory technology. Tableau 6.X has now in-memory data engine (64-bit).

Additional factors to consider when comparing DV tools (table above overlaps with list below):

- memory optimization [Qlikview is the leader in in-memory columnar database technology];

- load time [I tested all products above and PowerPivot is the fastest];

- memory swapping [Spotfire is only who can use a disk as a virtual memory, while Qlikview limited by RAM only];

- incremental updates [Qlikview probably the best in this area];

- thin clients [Spotfire has the the best thin client, especially with their recent release of Spotfire 3.2 and Spotfire Silver];

- thick clients [Qlikview has the best THICK client, Tableau has free Desktop Reader, Visokio has Java-based Omniscope Desktop Viewer] ,

- access by 3rd party tools [PowerPivot's integration with Excel 2010, SQL Server 2008 R2 Analysis Services and SharePoint 2010 is a big attraction];

- interface with SSAS cubes [PowerPivot has it, Tableau has it, Omniscope will have it very soon, Qlikview and Spotfire do not have it],

- GUI [3-way tie, it is heavily depends on personal preferences, but Qlikview is more easy to use than others];

- advanced analytics [Spotfire 3.2 is the leader here with its integration with S-PLUS and support for IronPython and other add-ons]

- the productivity of developers involved with tools mentioned above. In my experience Qlikview is much more productive tool in this regard.

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