Analytics & BI · by Salesforce (Tableau)
Tableau
Tableau connects to many data sources and lets analysts build interactive dashboards that others explore. Tableau Cloud is sold per user by role: Creators build content and get Tableau Desktop and Prep Builder; Explorers edit and analyse published data; Viewers consume dashboards. Every deployment needs at least one Creator, and all editions require an annual contract. Tableau Public is a free version where everything you publish is public.
- Paid plans from
- $15/seat/mo
- Free plan
- Yes
- Data portability
- hard
- Last reviewed
- Oct 13, 2026
Plans & pricing
All paid editions require an annual contract billed annually. Capacity-based pricing (broad Viewer access) is available through sales. Tableau Server (self-hosted) and Tableau Next are also sold via sales.
| Plan | Price (USD) | Highlights | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tableau Public | $0/mo |
| Verified· Oct 13, 2026Source |
| Standard – Creator | $75/seat/mo billed annually · Billed annually. Every deployment requires at least one Creator. |
| Verified· Oct 13, 2026Source |
| Standard – Explorer | $42/seat/mo billed annually · Billed annually. |
| Verified· Oct 13, 2026Source |
| Standard – Viewer | $15/seat/mo billed annually · Billed annually. |
| Verified· Oct 13, 2026Source |
| Enterprise – Creator | $115/seat/mo billed annually · Billed annually. |
| Verified· Oct 13, 2026Source |
| Enterprise – Explorer | $70/seat/mo billed annually · Billed annually. |
| Verified· Oct 13, 2026Source |
| Enterprise – Viewer | $35/seat/mo billed annually · Billed annually. |
| Verified· Oct 13, 2026Source |
| Tableau+ | Not listed Contact sales. |
| Verified· Oct 13, 2026Source |
What Tableau does
4 capabilities mapped. Click one to compare every tool that does it.
| Capability | Fit | Quality | Ease | Precision | Team | Plans | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Build dashboards from spreadsheets and data | Core feature | All plans | Building good dashboards needs trained analysts · Tableau Public dashboards are always public | ||||
| Analyse data and spreadsheets | Core feature | All plans | Creator licence needed for most data preparation and authoring | ||||
| Sales and CRM reporting | Strong | All plans | Overkill for small teams whose CRM already has built-in reports | ||||
| General-purpose AI assistant | Workaround | — | — | Tableau+ | Only for analytics questions about connected data · Plan inclusion not fully verified |
Fit and scores (1–5) are editorial judgements. How we score
Why people pay for it
- High-quality interactive visualisations and dashboards
- Connects to a wide range of databases and warehouses
- Governance, permissions and certified data sources for large organisations
- Tableau Desktop and Prep Builder included with Creator licences
- Strong analyst community and hiring pool
Reasons to keep paying
The honest case for Tableau. If these matter to you, don't switch.
- Mature dashboards with complex calculations and LOD expressions are slow to rebuild
- Analyst skills and training are Tableau-specific
- Governed data sources and permissions used across a whole organisation
Risks to know about
- highvendor lock in
Workbooks and calculated fields do not convert to other BI tools.
- highmigration complexity
Rebuilding a dashboard library and retraining analysts is a major project.
- mediumsensitive data
Tableau Public publishes all data openly; never use it for private data.
- data portability: hard
Underlying data stays in your sources and can be exported as CSV, but workbooks, calculations and dashboard layouts are proprietary and must be rebuilt in another BI tool.
Overlaps with
Tools that share capabilities with this one — the first place to look for duplicate spend.
Sources & freshness
- Tableau Cloud pricing — accessed Oct 13, 2026 · Per-role prices listed in the page's pricing FAQ.
- Tableau pricing for teams and organizations — accessed Oct 13, 2026
- Tableau Public — accessed Oct 13, 2026