Tableau vs QuickSight: Which BI Tool Wins in 2025?

The business landscape is getting saturated with data.

If you want to make a difference in your business with such massive, unstructured and complex data, you need to visualize and act well on the data. 

A business intelligence (BI) tool can turn these raw datasets into actionable insights.

You’ll find various data visualization tools available in the market, but the question is, which one should you use? 

And, this is where the Tableau vs Quicksight debate starts. 

• Tableau offers visual analytics and a comprehensive range of data connectors.
• Amazon QuickSight also visualizes complex data, but through a serverless architecture and seamless AWS integration.

So, how do you decide which one is best for your business? 

To help you with that, my team and I conducted thorough research on both tools, and we found many important things.

In this blog, I’ll share everything we found from our study. 

• TL;DR: Tableau vs QuickSight: Table of differences
• What is Tableau?
• What is Amazon QuickSight?
• Tableau vs QuickSight: Pricing models 
• Tableau vs QuickSight: Integration capabilities
• Tableau vs QuickSight: Performance and scalability
• Tableau vs QuickSight: Security and compliance
• Tableau vs QuickSight: Use Cases
• Let’s Find the BI Tool That Delivers Results!
• Tableau vs QuickSight: FAQs

Tableau: If you want detailed visuals, full control over your dashboards, and a powerful tool that can handle complex data from just about anywhere, this is the tool for you.

Quicksight: You can go for Quicksight if your business already runs on AWS and you need a fast, low-maintenance way to gain insights from your data.

For more clarity, let me compare their features for you:

Tableau is a data visualization tool owned by Salesforce, offering a complete suite of products. 

Tableau Dashboard example

With this tool, you can:

• Connect to various data sources 
• Create interactive visualizations and dashboards 
• Share it with other workspaces
  

Top 5 Features of Tableau

Businesses of different industries find the Tableau features and benefits quite impressive, and I am going to discuss the top five features right here:

1. Data Connectivity: You can connect to multiple data sources such as Snowflake, AWS, Azure, Salesforce, and on-premises databases.

2. Interactive Visualizations: Tableau dashboards can be customized by adding filters, drop-down menus, and other elements to make them dynamic.

3. Collaboration and Sharing: The dashboards can be published and shared securely through Tableau Server, Cloud, or Slack integration.

4. AI-Powered Insights: Comes with built-in AI tools for automated insights using natural language queries.

5. Data Preparation: With the Tableau Prep Builder, you can clean, combine, and shape the data for clean and interactive visualization.

Also Read: Our detailed Tableau features comparison, which provides a comprehensive breakdown of its capabilities, helping you make a well-informed choice.

Tableau’s Range of Products

Tableau offers a product ecosystem that caters to individual analysts as well as enterprise teams. 

• Tableau Desktop: Tableau’s flagship tool is used for creating visualizations, dashboards, and analytics models for free.
• Tableau Cloud: A SaaS version of Tableau where you can publish and access dashboards from anywhere.
• Tableau Server: Highly preferred by businesses that need private cloud deployment with full control over user management and accessibility.
• Tableau Prep Builder: You can clean, combine and shape any dataset in this tool before feeding it into Tableau Desktop.
• Tableau Mobile: A mobile app that is optimized for use on smartphones and tablets, and you get real-time access to dashboards.
• Tableau Public: A free platform for creating and sharing dashboards publicly.

Amazon QuickSight is a cloud-based data visualization service from Amazon Web Services (AWS). 

Quicksight Dashboard Example

Here you can create data visualizations and gain insights from the data that is stored in:

• AWS
• Third-party platforms
• On-premises systems

Plus, you won’t have to worry about managing on-premises data infrastructure.

QuickSight leverages the cloud and built-in machine learning capabilities of AWS, making it easy to build dashboards, run large-scale queries, and identify trends with ease. 

Top 5 Features of Amazon QuickSight

Let me discuss the five best features of Amazon QuickSight, so that you can see if it offers what you need:

1. SPICE (Super-fast, Parallel, In-memory Calculation Engine): The in-memory calculation engine of this tool provides fast and scalable performance for data analysis.

2. Ad-hoc Analysis: Explores datasets and performs real-time analysis with filtering, pivoting, and drill-down capabilities.

3. Data Connectivity: Connects with all AWS data sources, as well as external or third-party sources.

4. Machine Learning Insights: Uses built-in ML features to forecast trends, detect anomalies, and generate auto summaries from the visualized data.

5. Scalability: The serverless infrastructure allows it to scale easily and support thousands of users access without performance degradation.

Our Recommendation: If you are still exploring options, start with a data visualization tools comparison based on your business size, data infrastructure, and team expertise. Understand how other platforms work and find the one that best suits your purpose.

The QuickSight vs Tableau pricing comparison is worth a closer look!

Both offer per-user pricing models, but are tailored to meet different business needs. Let’s check them out. 

Tableau Pricing

Tableau provides a per-user pricing structure:

QuickSight Pricing

On the other hand, Amazon Quicksight plans are also user-based but are cost-efficient:

Summary

• Tableau is ideal for consistent, high-volume usage across large teams.
• QuickSight suits occasional users, startups, and businesses native to AWS.

We have been providing data visualization services for the past few years, and during this time, we have observed that businesses prioritize flexibility in integration.

It means your BI tool must connect seamlessly with your existing tech setup.

Tableau Integrations

You’ll get one of the broadest integration ecosystems in Tableau, as it can connect with:

• Cloud data warehouses like Snowflake, Google BigQuery, Amazon Redshift, and Microsoft Azure Synapse
• CRMs and business apps like Salesforce, Google Sheets, and Excel
• Cloud platforms like AWS, Azure, and GCP

QuickSight Integrations

If your company is already using Amazon Web Services, then QuickSight can be the go-to choice for you, as it can integrate with:

• Amazon Redshift, S3, Athena, Aurora, RDS, and CloudWatch
• External databases and services via Athena Federated Query or QuickSight APIs

You need custom connectors or third-party tools to connect with non-AWS services, such as Google BigQuery or Azure. 

Summary

• Tableau is the clear winner for businesses operating in multi-cloud or hybrid setups.
• QuickSight excels for organizations built on AWS. 

As data volumes continue to increase daily, you require a BI tool that excels in terms of performance and scalability.

Tableau

Let’s see what Tableau has on offer in terms of performance and Scalability:

• Offers Hyper, the in-memory data engine for high-speed performance 
• Supports live data connections to major databases, minimizing data latency
• Tableau Server can handle hundreds of users, which is ideal for large teams that require real-time access to shared dashboards and reports

Quicksight

As we discussed, Quicksight has a serverless architecture, which allows it to offer:

• SPICE (Super-fast, Parallel, In-memory Calculation Engine) for high-speed querying across millions of rows
• Automatic scalability with user demand, without any manual infrastructure management
• Real-time scaling in organizations using AWS environments

Summary

• Tableau excels at handling complex, high-volume visualizations with more customization options.
• On the other hand, QuickSight stands out for its seamless scalability and zero-maintenance setup.

In your business, you may be handling sensitive client data that requires secure handling, and both tools take care of that. 

Security in Tableau

The security provided by Tableau is of enterprise level and provides:

• LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) support
• Row-level security
• SAML (Security Assertion Markup Language) based authentication
• Integration with major SSO (Single Sign-On) providers
• The capability to define user access policies across data sources and dashboards
• Compliance with SOC 2, GDPR, and HIPAA

Security in Quicksight

QuickSight is integrated into the AWS security ecosystem and supports:

• IAM (Identity and Access Management)
• KMS (Key Management Service)
• CloudTrail for audit logs
• VPCs (Virtual Private Clouds) for network isolation.
• Compliance with FedRAMP, HIPAA, GDPR, and ISO 27001

Summary

• If your organization requires flexible user access controls and diverse authentication systems, consider Tableau. 
• However, if you prefer AWS-native environments with built-in security and compliance, you can opt for QuickSight.

Both the data visualization tools perform the same task, but are built for different business needs.

Let’s explore some situations where Tableau and QuickSight can be your ideal solutions: 

Choose Tableau If:

• You require complex visualizations with high customization
• Your team is working in multi-cloud environments, using platforms like AWS, Azure, GCP, and on-premise databases
• You need advanced data modeling, calculated fields, and custom dashboards for executives, analysts, and operations
• Your in-house IT team needs to manage infrastructure, performance tuning, and licensing
• You operate in a regulated industry that needs role-based access control and compliance flexibility

Choose QuickSight If:

• Your data infrastructure is built primarily on AWS, and you want native integration
• You need a low-cost and scalable BI tool for large teams with variable usage patterns
• You prefer a serverless solution that scales automatically
• You're looking to generate ML-powered insights, like forecasting or anomaly detection, with minimal setup
• You need to publish or share dashboards quickly into web portals or SaaS apps without heavy developer overhead

When it comes to the Tableau vs QuickSight decision, I would say the ideal BI tool is the one that integrates smoothly into your current setup and workflow.

However, this process may seem complex, and you may struggle with it. In such cases, it is advisable to consult professionals who provide data visualization services.

That’s where we can help. As a data solutions partner with deep expertise in BI implementation, we offer guidance tailored to your specific ecosystem.

Get in touch for a free consultation or data assessment, and let’s map your analytics journey together, with clarity and confidence!

1. Which is better, Tableau or QuickSight?

The choice of the better platform, Tableau and QuickSight, depends on what your priorities are:

• Tableau excels in advanced visualizations and customizations
• QuickSight is ideal for AWS users who want a scalable, cost-effective, and low-maintenance BI solution with built-in machine learning capabilities
  
  

2. Which AWS service is a good option for business analytics dashboards and visualizations?

Amazon’s QuickSight is a good option for business analytics dashboards and visualizations that can:

• Build interactive dashboards
• Connects to diverse data sources
• Generate ML insights
• Integrate with the AWS ecosystem
• Scale automatically based on your usage needs
  
  

3. What is the AWS equivalent of Tableau?

The closest AWS equivalent to Tableau is Amazon QuickSight. It provides:

• Interactive dashboard
• Seamless AWS integration
• Analytics capabilities 
• A Serverless BI solution