Graphs vs Tableau

Graphs is a free Linux desktop application for plotting and manipulating data, released under the GNU General Public License v3.0 or later. It imports column files such as CSV, DAT, XY, and plain text, plus ODS and XLSX spreadsheets, SQLite databases, Panalytical XRDML, Leybold XRY, and Graphs project files. Equations can generate datasets and remain rendered across the plot canvas. Data operations include translation, multiplication, normalization, centering, smoothing, differentiation, integration, Fourier transformation, combining, shifting, cutting, and custom coordinate transformations. Curve fitting offers linear, quadratic, exponential, power-law, logarithmic, sigmoid logistic, Gaussian, and custom-equation models. Results may include parameter confidence margins, confidence bands, R², RMSE, and residual plots. Users can select or create plot styles controlling colors, fonts, lines, markers, error bars, axes, ticks, and grids. Figures export to PNG, JPEG, WebP, SVG, PDF, PostScript, or Encapsulated PostScript, with underlying data export too. Vector output can be edited in applications such as Inkscape. Flathub describes the app as requesting no permissions.

Tableau is a data analytics platform for dashboards, visualizations, and data apps. It offers hosted cloud and self-hosted server deployments, with hybrid deployment listed. Tableau Creator can connect to any type of data. Users can ask natural-language questions for AI-powered insights, while Tableau Agent provides conversational analytics inside dashboards. A knowledge engine and semantic layer support consistent metrics. Teams can publish, author, share, schedule subscriptions, and send notifications. Tableau Cloud supports secure sharing; row-level security, embedded analytics, and real-time refresh are listed. Viewer includes mobile access. Dashboards and data apps can operate across Slack, Teams, Claude, ChatGPT, CRM, and agent surfaces. Tableau has a free plan and free trial, and Tableau Desktop is free to download. Listed annual-billing prices are $15 a month for Viewer, $42 a month for Explorer, and $75 a month for Creator. Enterprise prices are also listed, while some paid pricing requires contacting sales.