What is the Difference Between Tableau Online and Tableau Server

The main difference between Tableau Online and Tableau Server is that the Tableau Online is similar to tableau server hosted on a cloud platform while the Tableau Server is a central repository for users, data sources and visualizations.

Tableau is a data visualization and business intelligence tool. It is easier for IT professionals and analysts to perform data analytics easily. There are multiple advantages of using Tableau products.  They connect data very fast and allow sharing them quickly. The drag and drop interface helps to visualize any data and check different views and combine multiple databases easily. It does not require much programming skills. There are different versions of Tableau. Two of them are Tableau online and Tableau Server. Both support various data sources.  

Key Areas Covered

1. What is Tableau Online
      – Definition, Functionality
2. What is Tableau Server
     – Definition, Functionality
3. What is the Difference Between Tableau Online and Tableau Server
     – Comparison of Key Differences

Key Terms

Tableau, Tableau Online, Tableau Server

What is Tableau Online

Tableau online a sharing tool that is hosted in SasS (Software as a Service) cloud version. It is maintained outside the system firewall. It supports SQL based sources hosted on a cloud platform as well as live data connections to Amazon Redshift, Google BigQuery, etc.

The user can purchase and maintain many sites, configure users and permissions. Tableau online allows to schedule refreshes for published data. The user can schedule refresh tasks directly to extract data from cloud-based data sources. It provides authenticating the users through Tableau ID. So, there is no access to unauthorized users. The user should be authenticated to access views and dashboards published to Tableau online. On the other hand, the editing of workbooks, visualization and dashboards are limited to the number of rows. Moreover, it requires a server data connection.

What is Tableau Server

Tableau Server is a sharing tool that helps to share and create visualizations that require secure data. It is available for browsers and mobile-based insights. Tableau server makes it easier to share the created dashboard throughout the company. It allows creating and maintaining multiple sites at no additional cost, configuring users and permissions.

Tableau server supports live connections to local data sources and to Google BigQuery and Amazon Redshift.  It can be configured for local authentication using active directory integration or single sign-on using SAML or Kerberos. It is also possible for the users to schedule refresh tasks for published extracts. The user can select a pre-configured schedule or create a custom schedule. Core licensing option can be used to provide access to the other users. On the other hand, the user should create the dashboards using Tableau Desktop and then use the Tableau server to share the data.

Difference Between Tableau Online and Tableau Server

Definition

Tableau Online is the sharing tool which is used as high-performance data repositories. Tableau Server is a sharing tool which is used to share and create visualizations for organizations with full security. This explains the basic difference between Tableau Online and Tableau Server.

Features

Furthermore, Tableau online has features for data management, cloud connections, reliable service and automatic updates. Whereas, Tableau Server has a flexible architecture and automatic updates. It also provides scalability and security.

Usage

Tableau Online is a hosted version of Tableau server that helps to make business intelligence decisions faster and easier. On the other hand, Tableau server is more enterprise level. It handles databases faster through live connections. Hence, the differences in usage is another important difference between Tableau Online and Tableau Server.

Cost

The Tableau online version costs around $500. The cost of the Tableau server depends on core licensing.

Conclusion

Tableau online and server are two versions of Tableau software products. The difference between Tableau Online and Tableau Server is that Tableau Online is similar to Tableau Server hosted on a cloud platform while Tableau Server is a central repository for users, data sources and visualizations.

Reference:

1. “Tableau Online.” Tableau Software, Available here.
2. “Tableau Server.” Tableau Software, Available here.

Image Courtesy:

1. “924781” (CC0) via Pixabay