SAP Analytics Cloud vs Tableau comparison

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11,682 views|7,624 comparisons
90% willing to recommend
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26,326 views|22,778 comparisons
89% willing to recommend
Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary
Updated on Mar 15, 2022

We performed a comparison between SAP analytics cloud vs. Tableau based on our users’ reviews in four categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.

  • Ease of Deployment: Both SAP and Tableau users say the deployment and setup are very straightforward. On the downside, Tableau users say that while the server side is easy to use and set up, the upgrades are challenging to install.
  • Features: SAP users say they like the business intelligence and built-in AI and machine learning capabilities. You can create analytic applications. Users value the Android support for mobile and the multiple collaboration features. However, custom visuals need improvement, and connection and integration with other applications are lacking. SAP also needs support for more languages.

     Tableau users say the best feature is the ease of use, which allows anyone to use the platform. The visual capability       helps users explain the data more straightforwardly. On the downside, users say Tableau could improve its data               management and ETL features, especially in the Tableau Prep feature.

  • Pricing: Users of both solutions say the price is on the higher side.
  • Service and Support: According to users, SAP’s support is slow. It takes a lot of time to get help when you open a ticket. Tableau’s support has two tiers, with different results. According to users, the premium support is excellent, but their standard support is very poor.

Comparison Results: SAP Analytics Cloud seems to be a superior solution because of the multiple features. Although the support is slow, it is still better than Tableau’s standard support. Tableau’s upgrades are also challenging to install.

To learn more, read our detailed SAP Analytics Cloud vs. Tableau Report (Updated: March 2024).
768,857 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"The most valuable feature of SAP Analytics Cloud is its integration with SAP.""We mainly use Analytics Cloud because it integrates with other SAP solutions. Our ERP is an SAP product, and our back-end is SAP Business Warehouse, so integration is an essential factor.""There is a seamless integration with SAP S4HANA which is really valuable to our organization and its functions. Since the data is stored in the same ecosystem, it creates a simple process of building dashboards, without making the process cumbersome The Analytics Cloud provides standardized templates and storage options, making it easy to plug into existing structures. We're utilizing custom stories that have already been developed, streamlining the development process. It serves as a convenient starting point and contributes to the overall ease of development. Another advantage is that it doesn't provide the same level of calculation power as Power BI and Tableau. SAP Analytics Cloud emphasizes pushing analytics back into the database, recommending data manipulation and preparation outside of the platform. This approach is seen as an advantage, as it allows for more robust data handling.""Considering the reporting part, I rate the tool a nine out of ten.""One feature I've found most valuable is discovery.""It's so user-friendly.""The reporting, dashboards, KPIs, and visualization are the most valuable.""In the most recent release, the schedule publication was officially updated and it's been added on MS Office 365. I like how we had an EPM for B to C perspective; it's a great enhancement. Also, I believe the B to B connectivity has been improved. Android support for mobile is really good also. Power BI has always had android support in place, so manual support for SAP Analytics Cloud is also a very good feature."

More SAP Analytics Cloud Pros →

"The solution helps users create dashboards and analyze data without relying on IT or product teams.""The most valuable feature is that we can integrate with our own database, and it will displays the KPIs. This is highly required from the business side.""The initial setup is quick and easy and you don't need special outside assistance to set everything up.""The Web Editing capabilities allow us to grant end users enough capabilities for them to do self-serve discovery without the added cost of needing to get everyone desktop licenses.""Tableau has greatly enhanced our organization's data-driven decision-making processes by enabling us to create visually compelling reports and dashboards.""The data blending capabilities is a huge factor for our team.""The solution makes for very productive and really informative decision making. It can lead the whole business and build a strategy across whole working departments.""It is a stable solution."

More Tableau Pros →

Cons
"It still lacks a lot of functionalities as compared to other tools such as Power BI or Tableau. Sorting is not working as well as it works in Tableau. A lot of other things are also not at the same level. Their technical support is not perfect and could be better. It takes a lot of time to have lacking functionalities implemented. Its integration with the BW backend should be better. Both solutions are from the same vendor. They position SAP Analytics Cloud as a reporting tool on top of the BW environment, but the integration between both is not yet 100%. For example, user management is still not synchronized.""The business intelligence features should be improved because there is a lack of functionality regarding that part.""What should be improved in SAP Analytics Cloud is the speed of importing information and data, e.g. from SAP S/4HANA. Gathering the data from the main database takes a bit of time.""Could be more user-friendly; somewhat complicated to use.""The solution should include other scripting languages as well, such as Python.""Custom visuals is another area of improvement. There are also some mobile features that are missing. There are features that aren't available on the mobile.""Its integration or connectivity with non-SAP systems, big data, and social media, such as YouTube, LinkedIn, et cetera, can be improved. This is where SAP has limited features as compared to other solutions.""The integration with other vendors and solutions could be improved."

More SAP Analytics Cloud Cons →

"The pricing is a bit higher than the competition. They'll need to lower it to stay competitive.""The performance could be better.""Tableau has so many functions, so sometimes it's hard to find the right solution quickly. I have to search multiple menu bars to find the right command.""If you wanted to create something without making it an extra column in the data set, you can't just rename it to a more user-friendly short name.""Other tools are more competitively priced.""The only issue with the solution is with its prices at a regional level.""The charts in Tableau are quite limited.""The cost of owning the solutions from Tableau is much higher compared to any other analytical solutions."

More Tableau Cons →

Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "It is a bit expensive, but really worth it, especially if you are already using other SAP tools."
  • "It is not the most expensive one. You have to do the cost-of-ownership analysis and take a lot of things into consideration to come up with the conclusion that it is cheaper or not, but its price is reasonable. It provides value for money."
  • "It's quite expensive and costs a lot to maintain, especially with licensing."
  • "It's not that costly as such for the time being."
  • "Its licensing is on a monthly basis."
  • "Compute and storage features should be sold separately."
  • "Its pricing is okay as compared to its competitors."
  • "Its price is slightly on the higher side."
  • More SAP Analytics Cloud Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "For big business, Tableau could be expensive as having a lot of Tableau server users (entering with a browser to reports) could be a bit expensive."
  • "Best advice on pricing is to anticipate the desire for more licenses once the results of this product are acknowledged in other parts of your company."
  • "Paying for users you never setup or buying expensive desktop licenses for users who can solve their users with web editing on the server are the two biggest expenses."
  • "Buy 50 at a time. Project your use base every three months, and project your requirements forward."
  • "Tableau can be costly (but this can be indefinable, such as user experience vs. cheaper etc.)"
  • "I wish there was more of a subscription model with the pricing when it comes to Tableau, so you can get all the latest version upgrades/features if you pay monthly/annually."
  • "The cost is high."
  • "Deployment of dashboards to viewers and unit supervisors can be prohibitively expensive."
  • More Tableau Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Comparison Review
    Anonymous User
    After a recent presentation, several attendees asked me about the applications of Visual Insights and Tableau. Many companies are investing in both tools and are trying to figure out the right tool for specific applications Tableau has found its sweet-spot as an agile discovery tool that analysts use to create and share insights. It is also the tool of choice for rapid prototyping of dashboards. Tableau is very flexible with its data import. Tableau's data blending capability is very intuitive. This capability is useful when you have data spread across several different sources that has not gone through ETL processes. This is a problem analysts deal with routinely. They are unable to wait for the data warehouse team to develop ETL processes to provide the physical models they need to build an analysis. The Tableau interface is Excel-like and has a low barrier to entry for analysts that are used to working in Excel. Building a dashboard by mashing up visualizations in a Tableau worksheet is extremely simple. Users are able to build good presentation-quality dashboards in a very short amount time. Tableau's annotations capabilities and its time and geographical intelligence are key differentiators. Tableau has overcome limitations in data sharing with the introduction of a Data Server in Tableau 7.0. The Data server allows Data sources and extracts to be shared securely and opens up interesting new possibilities. If your application can take advantage of the above… Read more →
    Answers from the Community
    Mis Exec
    Milan Orendac - PeerSpot reviewerMilan Orendac
    Reseller

    In case you are working for a small accounting firm, Tableau or Power Bi may cover all your needs. It is important, what kind of ERP system do you use. Are you running SAP S4/Hana, stay in SAP word. If you run other product look to other options. Does not make sense to use SAP AC only, far too expensive and will be hard to utilize fully. Solutions like Tableau or Power Bi are easy to use and will give you great result. On the other side it is not so much about the system, but about data quality, this is the key. 

    Kapil Rampal - PeerSpot reviewerKapil Rampal
    Real User

    Tableau is a fantastic product. It works really well and is remarkably easy to use. SAP Analytics Cloud is also a good product. Both are quite inexpensive. Personally, I prefer Tableau for its ease of use and quick results. 

    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer:Tableau is easy to set up and maintain. In about a day it is possible for the entire platform to be deployed for use. This relatively short amount of time can make all the difference for companies… more »
    Top Answer:Considering the reporting part, I rate the tool a nine out of ten.
    Top Answer:I wasn't directly involved in the pricing discussions, but when I joined the organization, they had already purchased the SAP Analytics Cloud solution. The organization faced challenges due to its… more »
    Top Answer:It depends on the Data architecture and the complexity of your requirement Some great tools in the market are Qlik Sense, Power BI, OBIEE, Tableau, etc. I have recently started using Cognos… more »
    Top Answer:Both tools have their positives and negatives. First, I should mention that I am relatively new to Tableau. I have been working on and off Tableau for about a year, but getting to work on it… more »
    Top Answer:The platform's most important feature is predictive analysis.
    Ranking
    Views
    11,682
    Comparisons
    7,624
    Reviews
    24
    Average Words per Review
    500
    Rating
    7.7
    Views
    26,326
    Comparisons
    22,778
    Reviews
    14
    Average Words per Review
    534
    Rating
    8.5
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    SAP BusinessObjects Cloud
    Tableau Desktop, Tableau Server, Tableau Online
    Learn More
    Overview

    SAP Analytics Cloud is an all-in-one Software-as-a-Service business intelligence tool that provides the key functionalities of an analytics tool to SAP business users. This tool is built on HANA Business Intelligence (BI) platform, providing analytics from data collected from multiple sources, such as ERP, Microsoft SQL, and Salesforce, among other solutions.

    You can use SAP Analytics Cloud to compile data and perform ad-hoc reporting and analysis for predictive planning. SAP Analytics Cloud collects and analyzes the raw data from transactional systems into intelligent insights that allow you to make better decisions.

    SAP Analytics Cloud uses machine learning to clean up data, identify errors, and issues, and suggest optimization or filtering options. You can use the modeling feature in Analytics Cloud to create hierarchies and get deeper data insights.

    The three core functions of SAP Analytics Cloud consist of Planning, Predictive Analysis, and Business Intelligence as a holistic SaaS solution that offers real-time analysis to business leaders.

    SAP Analytics Cloud Capabilities

    • Data discovery
    • Machine learning
    • Integrated financial and business planning
    • Predictive analysis
    • Automated data cleansing
    • Custom widgets
    • Mobile extension
    • Role-based customization
    • Data exploration and visualization

    SAP Analytics Cloud Key Features

    • Augmented analytics: SAP Analytics Cloud allows organizations to make the most of AI (Artificial Intelligence)-powered analytics through augmented analytics. It includes a Search to Insight feature that enables users not skilled or experienced in data science to access and use the platform.

      These smart insight tools allow organizations to visualize business data without manual intervention. By combining multiple machine learning algorithms, SAP Analytics Cloud automates predictive analysis so that organizations can have significant insight into secured data.
    • Enterprise planning: As SAP Analytics Cloud is an all-in-one financial planning and analysis solution, organizations can use it to align strategies across all departments. It allows end-to-end, data-driven planning decisions via financial modeling, allocations, smart insights, and automated reporting.

      The Zero-based budgeting feature allows for an effective resources allocation with built-in collaboration tools. The finance team can collaborate easily, create budget templates and make accurate decisions.

    SAP Analytics Cloud Benefits

    • Real-time cloud insights: SAP Analytics Cloud makes it easy for users at every level to generate instant insights and improve data-driven decision-making. With SAP Analytics Cloud, you can have immediate and central access to all figures, diagrams, insights, and evaluations for every employee on every device and updated in real time.

    • Customizable dashboard: You can customize your dashboard according to your requirements. This customization means you can easily access all the relevant data on a single pane of vision tailored to your business.

    • Collaborative planning: As an all-in-one platform, SAP Analytics Cloud integrates the multiple aspects of a business into a single solution, including finance, HR, sales, and supply chain management.

    • Data on any device: You can integrate SAP Analytics Cloud with SAP S/4 HANA and deploy insights to Android and iOS devices. The SAP S/4 HANA integration also enables the rolling out of changes to multiple files and devices from a central location, so you can carry your business operations on the go over a secured cloud network.

    • In-memory technology: Since it is based on SAP HANA in-memory technology, SAP Analytics Cloud can process massive amounts of data in a short time.

    Reviews from Real Users

    Segun O., SAP HANA Developer at SOA PEOPLE, says that "The most valuable features are on the application side, where you can design applications into your analytics on the platform."

    The Head of Finance Enterprise Application at a computer software company adds that "The visualization feature is the most valuable. SAP Analytics Cloud is also very easy to use."

    "Its many features make it the best in the market," sums up a Consultor SAP Business Object, Sap Analytics Cloud at a tech services company.

    Tableau is a tool for data visualization and business intelligence that allows businesses to report insights through easy-to-use, customizable visualizations and dashboards. Tableau makes it exceedingly simple for its customers to organize, manage, visualize, and comprehend data. It enables users to dig deep into the data so that they can see patterns and gain meaningful insights. 

    Make data-driven decisions with confidence thanks to Tableau’s assistance in providing faster answers to queries, solving harder problems more easily, and offering new insights more frequently. Tableau integrates directly to hundreds of data sources, both in the cloud and on premises, making it simpler to begin research. People of various skill levels can quickly find actionable information using Tableau’s natural language queries, interactive dashboards, and drag-and-drop capabilities. By quickly creating strong calculations, adding trend lines to examine statistical summaries, or clustering data to identify relationships, users can ask more in-depth inquiries.

    Tableau has many valuable key features:

    • Tableau dashboards provide a complete view of your data through visualizations, visual objects, text, and more.
    • Tableau provides convenient, real-time options to collaborate with other users and instantly share data in the form of visualizations, sheets, and dashboards. 
    • Tableau ensures connectivity to both live data sources and data extraction from external data sources as in-memory data. This gives users the flexibility to use data from more than one source without any restrictions. 
    • Tableau gives many data source option, ranging from spreadsheets, big data, on-premise files, relational databases, non-relational databases, data warehouses, and big data, to on-cloud data. 
    • Tableau has a lot of pre-installed information on maps, such as cities, postal codes, and administrative boundaries. 
    • Tableau has a foolproof security system based on authentication and permission systems for data connections and user access. Tableau also gives you the freedom to integrate with other security protocols.

    Tableau stands out among its competitors for a number of reasons. Some of these include its fast data access, easy creation of visualizations, and its stability. PeerSpot users take note of the advantages of these features in their reviews:

    Romil S., Deputy General Manager of IT at Nayara Energy, notes, "Its visualizations are good, and its features make the development process a little less time-consuming. It has an in-memory extract feature that allows us to extract data and keep it on the server, and then our users can use it quickly.

    Ariful M., Consulting Practice Partner of Data, Analytics & AI at FH, writes, “Tableau is very flexible and easy to learn. It has drag-and-drop function analytics, and its design is very good.

    Sample Customers
    Live Oak Bank
    Accenture, Adobe, Amazon.com, Bank of America, Charles Schwab Corp, Citigroup, Coca-Cola Company, Cornell University, Dell, Deloitte, Duke University, eBay, Exxon Mobil, Fannie Mae, Ferrari, French Red Cross, Goldman Sachs, Google, Government of Canada, HP, Intel, Johns Hopkins Hospital, Macy's, Merck, The New York Times, PayPal, Pfizer, US Army, US Air Force, Skype, and Walmart.
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Computer Software Company27%
    Financial Services Firm12%
    Manufacturing Company12%
    Retailer8%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Educational Organization20%
    Manufacturing Company12%
    Computer Software Company10%
    Financial Services Firm6%
    REVIEWERS
    Financial Services Firm12%
    Computer Software Company12%
    University7%
    Healthcare Company7%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Educational Organization35%
    Financial Services Firm11%
    Computer Software Company8%
    Manufacturing Company6%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business32%
    Midsize Enterprise21%
    Large Enterprise47%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business16%
    Midsize Enterprise26%
    Large Enterprise57%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business32%
    Midsize Enterprise18%
    Large Enterprise50%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business14%
    Midsize Enterprise39%
    Large Enterprise47%
    Buyer's Guide
    SAP Analytics Cloud vs. Tableau
    March 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about SAP Analytics Cloud vs. Tableau and other solutions. Updated: March 2024.
    768,857 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    SAP Analytics Cloud is ranked 4th in BI (Business Intelligence) Tools with 58 reviews while Tableau is ranked 2nd in BI (Business Intelligence) Tools with 290 reviews. SAP Analytics Cloud is rated 8.0, while Tableau is rated 8.4. The top reviewer of SAP Analytics Cloud writes "Good for reporting but needs to improve its predictive analytics features". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Tableau writes "Provides fast data access with in-memory extracts, makes it easy to create visualizations, and saves time". SAP Analytics Cloud is most compared with SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform, IBM Planning Analytics, Microsoft Power BI, Anaplan and IBM Cognos, whereas Tableau is most compared with Microsoft Power BI, Amazon QuickSight, Domo, SAS Visual Analytics and Qlik Sense. See our SAP Analytics Cloud vs. Tableau report.

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    We monitor all BI (Business Intelligence) Tools reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.