Comparison

I 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 not 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 for Self-Serviced 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	Comment
Business 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 leader
Licensing/support cost	High	High	High	Average	Smart Client is the best way to save
Enterprise Readiness	Excellent	Good for SMB	Good for SMB	Excellent	Partners are the key to SMB market
Long-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 database
Dashboard Support	Very Good	Excellent	Good	Below Average	Spotfire and Qlikview are best for Dashboards
Integration with GIS	Excellent	Good	Good	Average	Spotfire has the best GIS integration
Modeling 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 components
Development Environment	Rich API, S+	Scripting, Rich API	Average	Excellent	Tableau requires less consulting than competitors
64-bit In-Memory Columnar DB	Very Good	Excellent	In-memory Data Engine	Very Good	64-bit RAM allows huge datasets in memory
Summary – Best for:	Visual Analytics	DV, Drilldown	Visual OLAP	Self-service BI	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 (to be added later)

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 3.2.1, Tableau 6.0 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. Recently released Tableau 6.0 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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