The analytics your customers see shouldn't be priced per pair of eyes.
Bold BI is embedded-first business intelligence: one licence covering builders and viewers, deployment on infrastructure you control, and an SDK your engineers can put behind your own login in a sprint — not a procurement cycle.
No credit card required
30 days
Trial, no card
120+
Data connectors
SOC 2
GDPR-aligned
20+ yrs
Syncfusion, since 2001
Syscon
NetWorxc
A4B
DigiQuip
CarNow
Revver
Smartway2
GeniusVets
Talentegy
Four findings that decide most evaluations
Tableau is a strong analyst tool. The questions below are where enterprise buyers consistently find the two platforms diverge.
Licensing is priced per role, and roles keep changing
Creator, Explorer and Viewer are three separate rates, so your bill moves whenever somebody’s job does. Bold BI is one licence covering everyone who builds and everyone who looks.
Embedding is a second purchase, not a default
Putting Tableau inside your own product is licensed apart from the analyst seats. Bold BI ships the SDK, REST API and white-labelling in the same product you already licensed.
Multi-tenant isolation is engineering work
Serving many customer accounts from one platform means per-tenant filters, permissions and provisioning. Bold BI treats that as a first-class case rather than a project.
Hosting choices are product choices
Tableau Cloud and Tableau Server are different SKUs with different operating models. The same Bold BI build runs self-hosted, private cloud, managed or multi-tenant.
Where the two platforms actually differ
Filter by the area your evaluation cares about. Open a row for the detail your architects will ask for.
| Evaluation criterion | Tableau | Bold BI |
|---|---|---|
| Licensing model | Three per-user rates — Creator, Explorer, Viewer | One licence covering builders and viewers alike |
| Embedding into your own product | Supported, licensed separately from analyst seats | Built in — JavaScript SDK and REST API included |
| White-labelling depth | Colour and logo level branding | Restyle almost the entire interface, designer included |
| Hosting topology | Tableau Cloud or self-managed Server, as separate SKUs | Self-hosted, private cloud, managed or multi-tenant — same build |
| Multi-tenant delivery | Achievable with additional engineering per tenant | First-class: tenant isolation and per-tenant filters built in |
| AI-assisted insight | Tableau Pulse, sold as an add-on | Included with the platform |
| Data connectivity | 120+ connectors, plus generic SQL and REST | 120+ connectors, plus generic SQL and REST |
| Exploratory visual analysis | A genuine Tableau strength — deepest exploration on the market | Broad modern chart library for operational dashboards |
| Modelling language | Proprietary calculation and LOD expressions | Standard SQL |
| Compliance posture | SOC 2, GDPR and a longer certification list | SOC 2, GDPR-aligned, SSO/SAML, row-level security |
One product, four ways to run it
Same build, same licence. Choose the topology that satisfies your residency, upgrade-control and isolation requirements — and change it later without changing products.
Self-hosted on your infrastructure
You run it in your own datacentre or cloud account, inside your own network boundary, on your own upgrade calendar.
Data residency
Wherever you deploy
Upgrade control
You schedule it
Operations owner
Your platform team
Tenant isolation
Per-tenant filters and permissions
Licence
Same single licence
Private cloud in your own account
Deployed into your AWS, Azure or GCP subscription so it inherits your networking, key management and monitoring.
Data residency
Your cloud region
Upgrade control
You schedule it
Operations owner
Shared — you host, we support
Tenant isolation
Network plus row-level
Licence
Same single licence
Managed cloud, operated for you
We run the infrastructure, patching and backups; your team stays on dashboards and embedding rather than upkeep.
Data residency
Selected region
Upgrade control
Managed, with notice
Operations owner
Bold BI
Tenant isolation
Logical per-tenant
Licence
Same single licence
Multi-tenant delivery to your customers
One deployment serves many customer accounts, each seeing only its own rows, provisioned through the API as you sign them.
Data residency
Per deployment
Upgrade control
Coordinated
Operations owner
You or Bold BI
Tenant isolation
Enforced at token level
Licence
No per-viewer meter
Embedded is the default, not an upsell
Your authorization server mints a scoped token; the SDK renders the dashboard inside your app with your tenant filters and your permissions already applied.
import { BoldBI } from "@boldbi/embed";
const dashboard = BoldBI.create({
serverUrl: "https://bi.acme-internal.com/bi",
dashboardId: "a5f2c714-...",
embedContainerId: "revenue-panel",
authorizationServer: { url: "/api/bi/authorize" },
environment: BoldBI.Environment.OnPremise,
mode: BoldBI.Mode.View,
height: "760px",
width: "100%"
});
dashboard.loadDashboard();app.post("/api/bi/authorize", async (req, res) => {
const { tenantId, role, email } = await session(req);
res.json(signEmbedToken({
userEmail: email,
filters: [`tenant_id=${tenantId}`],
permissions: role === "admin"
? ["view", "edit", "schedule"]
: ["view"],
expiresIn: "15m"
}));
});POST /bi/api/v5.0/dashboards/{dashboardId}/export
Authorization: Bearer {embed_token}
Content-Type: application/json
{
"format": "pdf",
"filters": { "tenant_id": "acme-eu", "period": "2026-07" },
"deliver": { "email": ["ops@acme.com"] }
}
Your login, your session
Authentication stays in your app; the embed token carries the identity and scope you already resolved.
Row-level security at the token
Tenant and row filters are signed server-side, so a customer cannot widen their own scope.
Themed to your product
Fonts, palettes, chart styling and toolbar composition are configurable, including the designer itself.
Designer embedded too
Give customers a governed build experience inside your product, not just read-only views.
Same API in every deployment
Code written against a self-hosted instance runs unchanged on managed or multi-tenant deployments.
What your customers end up looking at
Your authorization server mints a scoped token; the SDK renders the dashboard inside your app with your tenant filters and your permissions already applied.
Finance dashboards
Revenue, budget variance, cash position and profitability, refreshed against the warehouse rather than a spreadsheet export.
Rendered through the embed SDK inside a customer-facing app, scoped to a single tenant.
Sales dashboards
Pipeline coverage, win rates and forecast accuracy, scoped so each region sees only its own book.
Rendered through the embed SDK inside a customer-facing app, scoped to a single tenant.
Marketing dashboards
Campaign performance, acquisition cost and pipeline contribution, in one place instead of four tool exports.
Rendered through the embed SDK inside a customer-facing app, scoped to a single tenant.
HR dashboards
Headcount, hiring velocity and attrition trends, with sensitive fields governed by row-level rules.
Rendered through the embed SDK inside a customer-facing app, scoped to a single tenant.
What your security review will ask about
The controls that come up in every enterprise questionnaire, and where they are configured.
SOC 2 and GDPR-aligned
Independent audit coverage with a security questionnaire and subprocessor list available on request.
SSO and SAML
SAML 2.0, OpenID Connect and Azure AD, with group-to-role mapping so access follows your directory.
Row-level security
Filters bound to the signed embed token or the directory identity, applied before results leave the server.
Bring your own key (BYOK)
Configure and use your own AI provider API keys directly within Bold BI. Connect OpenAI, Azure OpenAI, or Anthropic using your own credentials, for greater control over AI usage, billing, security, and governance.
AI Credits Management
Monitor and manage AI usage across the organization. Administrators track AI credit consumption, manage AI-powered operations across teams, and gain visibility into AI resource utilization — for predictable costs and responsible adoption.
Synonym support for AI queries
Improve AI query accuracy by letting the AI Assistant recognize alternative business terms and field names. Users query data using familiar terminology, and the AI maps synonymous terms to the right data fields for more relevant answers.
The lines finance asks you to defend
Built from the team you configured above: 250 people — 20 creators, 80 explorers, 150 viewers. Licence figures use Tableau's published list pricing; everything else is the structural difference, not a headline claim.
$157,800
At published list rates for the mix above, before embedding is licensed.
$473,400
Flat headcount assumption — most estates grow, and the bill grows with them.
One licence
Quoted per deployment and unchanged by viewer count. Ask for the written number.
| Cost line | Tableau | Bold BI |
|---|---|---|
| Analyst and viewer licences | Three per-user rates, billed per role, per month | One licence, priced per deployment — quoted in writing |
| Embedding rights | Licensed separately from Creator/Explorer/Viewer seats | Included in the same licence |
| Growth to 2× users | Scales close to linearly with seat count | No change to the licence for additional viewers |
| Infrastructure | Included in Cloud; your own estate for Server | Your cloud account, or included in managed cloud |
| Platform administration | Server upkeep, or Cloud with less control over upgrades | One deployment to operate, or handed off entirely |
| Multi-tenant engineering | Custom engineering per tenant, maintained by you | Configuration — tenant filters and provisioning API |
Score any BI vendor against the same fourteen questions
Tick what you have already confirmed. Take the list into your next vendor call — it is deliberately not written to favour us.
Analytics that wins awards and users.
Recognized by G2, TrustRadius and Visual Studio Magazine for delivering standout performance and value.
I appreciate Bold BI for making it easier to provide reporting for our customers, allowing both our analysts and customers to easily build and publish reports. The ability to build dashboards and modify queries for specific outcomes is very user-friendly. I value the mobile readiness of the app and its integration capabilities with API structures. The addition of AI features is impressive. The economic pricing model and the effective partnership, which includes consistent and helpful support, make it an invaluable tool for our OEM model.
Ravi S.
The support from Bold is unmatched. They do not charge extra for support and it is excellent anyway. All our tickets and questions are quickly answered with authoritative and precise guidance. This is important at the product is complex, powerful and mature. To get the most out of the tool, the level of support they provide is essential.
Murph M.
It was easy to implement data visualizations into our product. The standard widgets allowed us to build professional looking dashboards, and a robust API provided excellent control of the development and runtime process from within our application.
Scott Y.
Users Love Us
Visual Studio Reader's Choice - 2025
Leader - Fall 2025
High Performer - Fall 2025 EMEA
Regional Leader - Fall 2025 AMERICAS
TrustRadius Tech Cares
Capterra - 4.9/5
G2- 4.3/5
GetApp - 4.9/5
Software Advice - 4.4/5
Frequently asked questions
Tableau charges a different rate for each of those three roles, so the bill tracks your org chart. Bold BI is licensed per deployment, covering the people who build dashboards and the people who only look at them — including your own customers.
It is part of the product. The JavaScript SDK, REST API and white-labelling come with the licence you already hold, which is the single biggest structural difference for software vendors.
Yes. The same build runs entirely on infrastructure you control, in your own cloud subscription, on managed cloud, or as a multi-tenant deployment serving your customers — without moving to a different product.
Nothing is lost during the switch. We inventory your workbooks and connections first, rebuild the priority dashboards in parallel, and run both platforms side by side for two reporting cycles until the numbers reconcile.
For a 40-to-60 dashboard estate, five weeks with a parallel run — the plan in section 07. Estates with heavy workbook-embedded logic take longer, because that logic is best re-expressed in SQL rather than transcribed.
If your primary need is open-ended visual exploration by a small team of trained analysts, and embedding, multi-tenancy and per-viewer cost are not concerns, Tableau’s depth is hard to beat. We would rather you knew that before a trial than after.
A 30-day trial with no card, a written quote against your actual seat mix and deployment requirement, a migration estimate with named phases, and a completed security questionnaire.
Get a written number against your own team shape
Send us your seat mix, deployment requirement and dashboard estate. You get a quote, a migration estimate and a named solution engineer — not a callback from a form.
No credit card required.