Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Tableau Public VS D3.js

Compare Tableau Public VS D3.js and see what are their differences

Tableau Public logo Tableau Public

Your data has a story. Share it with the world.

D3.js logo D3.js

D3.js is a JavaScript library for manipulating documents based on data. D3 helps you bring data to life using HTML, SVG, and CSS.
  • Tableau Public Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-07
  • D3.js Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-07-11

D3 allows you to bind arbitrary data to a Document Object Model (DOM), and then apply data-driven transformations to the document. For example, you can use D3 to generate an HTML table from an array of numbers. Or, use the same data to create an interactive SVG bar chart with smooth transitions and interaction.

D3 is not a monolithic framework that seeks to provide every conceivable feature. Instead, D3 solves the crux of the problem: efficient manipulation of documents based on data. This avoids proprietary representation and affords extraordinary flexibility, exposing the full capabilities of web standards such as HTML, SVG, and CSS. With minimal overhead, D3 is extremely fast, supporting large datasets and dynamic behaviors for interaction and animation. D3’s functional style allows code reuse through a diverse collection of official and community-developed modules.

Tableau Public features and specs

  • Free to Use
    Tableau Public is available for free, allowing individuals and organizations to create and publish data visualizations without incurring costs.
  • User-Friendly Interface
    The platform provides a drag-and-drop interface that simplifies the process of creating interactive visualizations, making it accessible to users without a technical background.
  • Cloud-Based Sharing
    Visualizations can be published to the cloud, making it easy to share insights and dashboards with others via a URL.
  • Community Support
    A large and active community offers a wealth of publicly available visualizations, tutorials, and forums, providing support and inspiration.
  • Rich Visualization Options
    Tableau Public offers a variety of visualization types, enabling users to create complex and insightful visual stories.

Possible disadvantages of Tableau Public

  • Limited Data Security
    Since visualizations are publicly accessible, sensitive data cannot be used with Tableau Public, limiting its use for confidential business information.
  • Data Source Limitations
    Tableau Public supports fewer data source connections compared to the full version of Tableau, potentially restricting data integration.
  • File Size Restrictions
    There are limits on the size of the data files that can be uploaded, which may be insufficient for large datasets and can constrain analysis.
  • No Offline Access
    Because it is cloud-based, an internet connection is required to access and publish dashboards, potentially causing issues for users with unreliable connectivity.
  • Limited Feature Set
    As a free platform, Tableau Public lacks some advanced features and customization options available in paid versions of Tableau, which may limit analysis capabilities.

D3.js features and specs

  • Powerful Visualization
    D3.js allows for the creation of highly customized and interactive data visualizations, harnessing the full power of web standards like SVG, Canvas, and HTML.
  • Data Binding
    It offers robust support for data-driven transformations and binding, enabling intuitive connections between data sets and DOM elements.
  • Community and Ecosystem
    A large and active community contributes to tutorials, plugins, and tools, which can significantly simplify the development process.
  • Flexibility
    D3.js is highly flexible, providing low-level manipulation capabilities without being tied to any specific chart types or patterns.
  • Performance
    It is highly optimized for performance, allowing for efficient rendering of complex visualizations even with large data sets.

Possible disadvantages of D3.js

  • Steep Learning Curve
    D3.js has a steep learning curve due to its low-level nature and requires a solid understanding of JavaScript, DOM manipulation, and data concepts.
  • Complexity
    Creating complex visualizations can be time-consuming and require a significant amount of custom code, making it less approachable for quick, simple tasks.
  • Browser Compatibility
    Although widely supported, some D3.js features may have inconsistent behavior across different browsers, requiring additional testing and debugging.
  • Documentation
    While extensive, D3.js documentation can be challenging for beginners to navigate and understand, causing misunderstandings and slower development times.
  • Dependency Management
    The library itself is modular, but managing dependencies and integrating D3.js with other JavaScript frameworks or libraries can sometimes be problematic.

Tableau Public videos

Introduction to Tableau Public

More videos:

  • Tutorial - Introduction to Tableau Public | Tableau Public Tutorial | Edureka
  • Review - Tableau Desktop Vs Tableau Public | Tableau Training Videos | Tableau Certification - ExcelR

D3.js videos

Data Visualization with D3.js - Full Tutorial Course

More videos:

  • Review - Let's learn D3.js - D3 for data visualization (full course)

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Tableau Public and D3.js)
Data Dashboard
20 20%
80% 80
Charting Libraries
0 0%
100% 100
Business & Commerce
100 100%
0% 0
Data Visualization
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Tableau Public and D3.js

Tableau Public Reviews

27 dashboards you can easily display on your office screen with Airtame 2
By connecting and visualizing your data in a matter of minutes, Tableau Public can make you forget about the old-school spreadsheets and reports that used to clutter your life.
Source: airtame.com

D3.js Reviews

6 JavaScript Charting Libraries for Powerful Data Visualizations in 2023
Depending on your requirements, the best JavaScript library is D3.js, as it’s by far the most customizable. However, it’s also really complex and difficult to master. Plus, it’s not as compatible with TypeScript as it is with JavaScript, which can be off-putting for some developers. If you’d prefer a less complex library that you can use with TypeScript, ECharts, and...
Source: embeddable.com
15 JavaScript Libraries for Creating Beautiful Charts
When we think of charting today, D3.js is the first name that comes up. Being an open source project, D3.js definitely brings many powerful features that were missing in most of the existing libraries. Features like dynamic properties, Enter and Exit, powerful transitions, and syntax familiarity with jQuery make it one the best JavaScript libraries for charting. Charts in...
Top 20 Javascript Libraries
D3 stands for Data-Driven Documents. With D3, you can apply data-driven transformations to DOM objects. The keyword with D3 is ‘data-driven,’ which means documents are manipulated depending on the data received. Data can be received in any format and bound with DOM objects. D3 is very fast and supports dynamic behavior for animation and interactions. There are plenty of...
Source: hackr.io
20+ JavaScript libraries to draw your own diagrams (2022 edition)
D3.js is a JavaScript library for manipulating documents based on data. Right now, I would say is the most popular library of its kind.
15 data science tools to consider using in 2021
Another open source tool, D3.js is a JavaScript library for creating custom data visualizations in a web browser. Commonly known as D3, which stands for Data-Driven Documents, it uses web standards, such as HTML, Scalable Vector Graphics and CSS, instead of its own graphical vocabulary. D3's developers describe it as a dynamic and flexible tool that requires a minimum amount...

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, D3.js seems to be a lot more popular than Tableau Public. While we know about 167 links to D3.js, we've tracked only 12 mentions of Tableau Public. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Tableau Public mentions (12)

  • Jobs for people who just want to crawl under their desks
    Now, if you do want to play around with data visualizations, you can do that for free with Tableau Public https://public.tableau.com/en-us/s/. Source: almost 3 years ago
  • Data visualization
    Tableau Public - https://public.tableau.com/en-us/s/. Source: about 3 years ago
  • Weekly Entering & Transitioning Thread | 02 Jan 2022 - 09 Jan 2022
    Tableau and PowerBI are generally viewed as industry standard tools. The good news is you have free options for both! Tableau Public and PowerBI Desktop are what you're looking for. Try them out and pick which one you like more. The skills are pretty transferable once you master the basics. As far as python ML tools, ones that pop up pretty frequently are scikit-learn (questionable math notwithstanding), XGBoost,... Source: over 3 years ago
  • Foxhole Statistics
    I played with the idea of doing something similar and putting it all in Google Sheets (https://www.google.com/sheets/about/) so I could visualize it all in Tableau Public (https://public.tableau.com/en-us/s/). Source: over 3 years ago
  • Help on creating a weekly and monthly summary?
    I record everything in a spreadsheet and then built a set of dashboards using Tableau. Took a bit to get set up, but once I had it, I can produce the summary in a few minutes. Here's an example of my weekly summary. If you're interested, happy to send you the Tableau workbook so you can take a look. Source: over 3 years ago
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D3.js mentions (167)

  • IO Devices and Latency
    Do you mean something for data visualization, or tricks condensing large data sets with cursors? https://d3js.org/ Best of luck =3. - Source: Hacker News / 2 months ago
  • 2024 Nuxt3 Annual Ecosystem Summary🚀
    Document address: D3.js Official Document. - Source: dev.to / 5 months ago
  • 100+ Must-Have Web Development Resources
    D3.js: One of the most popular JavaScript visualization libraries. - Source: dev.to / 7 months ago
  • What are npm Peer Dependencies and how to use them?
    A Dependency is an npm package that our code depends on in order to be able to run. Some popular packages that can be added as dependencies are lodash, D3, and chartjs. - Source: dev.to / 7 months ago
  • Introducing RacingBars 📊
    RacingBars is an open-source, light-weight (~45kb gzipped), easy-to-use, and feature-rich javascript library for bar chart race, based on D3.js. - Source: dev.to / 9 months ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Tableau Public and D3.js, you can also consider the following products

KiniMetrix - Our approach blends proprietary metrics and frameworks, smart Business Intelligence software...

Chart.js - Easy, object oriented client side graphs for designers and developers.

LinceBI - ¡La mejor herramienta BI Business Intelligence del mercado! Basada en tecnologías open source: sin coste de licencias ni límite de usuarios.

Plotly - Low-Code Data Apps

BrightGauge - BrightGauge is a business intelligence software for IT service providers.

Highcharts - A charting library written in pure JavaScript, offering an easy way of adding interactive charts to your web site or web application