Product Comparison
Atheon Analytics advises clients on how to use visual analytics tools and techniques to address business opportunities and problems. Our analytics techniques have evolved in line with our experience, expertise and capability in a select range of visualization software applications which enable the creation and deployment of a wide range of solutions.
Many people have asked us to provide a comparison of the interactive visualization tools we use - Omniscope vs QlikView vs Tableau; this is best served through discussion, so that we can understand your specific needs, but the table below provides a very high-level comparison. Please bear in mind that in order to make a comparison we have had to simplify the specific capabilities of each tool; each approaches the data visualization problem from a different angle, so each vendor could argue that our simplistic answers are unfair.
If you are contemplating introducing one of these tools to your organisation, please contact us so that we can talk you through the pros and cons relevant to your specific needs.
| Area | Feature | Tableau | Omniscope | QlikView |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Data Access | Local data files (text, spreadsheet etc.) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Relational databases (SQLServer, Oracle etc.) | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| OLAP cubes (MSAS, Essbase etc.) | Yes | Limited | No | |
| Online data sources | Limited | Yes | Yes | |
| Multi-source access | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Multi-table access | Yes | Limited | Yes | |
| Extracted data storage | Optional (proprietary) | Proprietary | Proprietary | |
| Maximum capacity | Unlimited | Millions of rows | Billions of rows | |
| In-memory engine | Desktop or Server | Desktop | Desktop or Server | |
| Development approach | Data access model | Menu-based | Menu-based | Scripting (with wizards) |
| Extract, Transform, Load features | No | Yes | Scripting | |
| Calculations | IDE | IDE | Scripting | |
| Data aggregation control | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Table calculations | Yes | No | Yes | |
| Data subsetting | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Applications built by | Analyst | Analyst | Developer | |
| User Interface design | Drag-and-drop | Partial | Partial | Yes |
| Free-form filter placement | Limited | No | Yes | |
| Standard visualizations (table, bar, line, plot, crosstab) | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Advanced visualizations | Bullet | Tile (treeview), network, Venn, dial | Dial, sparkline, radar | |
| Statistical analysis | Medium | Light | Medium | |
| Embed images and text | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Geographic mapping | Yes | Yes | Limited | |
| Embed web browser | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Usage | Ad hoc analysis | Yes | Yes | Limited |
| Custom applications | Limited | Limited | Yes | |
| Recurrent reporting | Yes | Limited | Yes | |
| Dashboards | Yes | Limited | Yes | |
| Paper-based reporting | Yes | No | Yes | |
| Operation | Run from desktop | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Automated desktop build from server | Yes | Limited | Yes | |
| Run from server | Yes | No | Yes | |
| User/Group security | Yes | No | Yes | |
| Automated publish to users | Yes | Limited | Yes | |
| Automated publish to static format (PDF etc.) | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Publish to Flash | No | Yes | No | |
| Free viewer | Yes | Yes | No | |
| Platform apps | iPhone/iPad | No | iPhone/iPad, Android | |
| Zero-footprint browser version | Yes | No | Yes | |
| Licensing | Licence basis | Perpetual | Annual | Perpetual |
| Technical support and upgrades | 20% per year | Included in annual licence fee | 20% per year | |
| Single-user desktop edition | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Named-user server licensing | Yes | n/a | Yes | |
| Session/document server licensing | Yes | n/a | Yes | |
| Server publishing licence | Yes | Yes | Yes |