---
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title: Tableau Desktop Public Edition, Free Edition and Professional Edition Feature Comparison
collection: tableau
version: current
locale: en-gb
portal_url: https://docs.salesforce.com/tableau/current/en-gb/pro/desktop/desktop_comparison.md
canonical_url: https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-gb/desktop_comparison.htm
source_site: help.tableau.com
content_type: documentation
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description: Compare Tableau Desktop Public, Free, and Professional editions to choose the right one.
---
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# Tableau Desktop Public Edition, Free Edition and Professional Edition Feature Comparison

This guide provides an overview of the differences between Tableau Desktop Public Edition, Free Edition and Tableau Desktop Professional Edition (activated with a Tableau licence).

> [!TIP]
> 
>  Visit the Tableau [pricing page](https://www.tableau.com/en-gb/pricing) to learn more about pricing options for Tableau licences.

All three editions of Tableau Desktop allow you to explore and visualise your data, but each edition comes with its own characteristics, and the one you choose to use will depend on what you need to do with your data visualisations.

## Who should use Tableau Desktop Public Edition?

> [!IMPORTANT]
> 
> Tableau Desktop Public Edition is not for commercial use.

**Note:** Support is limited to these complimentary resources: the online knowledge base, documentation and community forums. For more information about Support Services, see [Technical Support Programmes](https://www.tableau.com/en-gb/support/services) on the Tableau website.

Tableau Desktop Public Edition allows individuals to:

- Learn how to use Tableau
- Analyse data consisting of up to 15M rows
- Tell data stories using public datasets
- Broadcast public information or embed public visualisation on their own sites

## Who should use Tableau Desktop Free Edition?

**Note:** Support is limited to these complimentary resources: the online knowledge base, documentation and community forums. For more information about Support Services, see [Technical Support Programmes](https://www.tableau.com/en-gb/support/services) on the Tableau website.

Tableau Desktop Free Edition allows individuals or businesses to:

- Work with data and assets that can’t be published publicly or shared with others
- Connect to data sources that aren't supported by Tableau Public
- Analyse data with more than 15M rows
- Work with live data other than Google Drive

## Who should use Tableau Desktop Professional Edition?

Activating Tableau Desktop Professional Edition with a paid Tableau licence allows individuals or businesses to:

- Connect to Tableau Server or Tableau Cloud
- Share and publish data and content

## Comparison guide

<table style="width: 100%;margin-left: 0;margin-right: auto;" class="table--plain"><colgroup><col><col style="width: 23%;"><col style="width: 21%;"><col style="width: 23%;"></colgroup><tbody><tr><td><strong>Features and Capabilities</strong></td><td style="text-align: center;"><strong><span class="mc-variable Variables.TabsProductDesktop variable">Tableau Desktop</span> Public Edition </strong></td><td style="text-align: center;"><strong><span class="mc-variable Variables.TabsProductDesktop variable">Tableau Desktop</span> Free Edition</strong></td><td style="text-align: center;"><strong><span class="mc-variable Variables.TabsProductDesktop variable">Tableau Desktop</span> Professional Edition</strong></td></tr><tr><td>Privacy and security</td><td style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-gb/Img/permissions_allow_icon.png" alt="A tick indicating which features apply to each version of Tableau Desktop"></td><td style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-gb/Img/permissions_allow_icon.png" alt="A tick indicating which features apply to each version of Tableau Desktop"></td><td style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-gb/Img/permissions_allow_icon.png" alt="A tick indicating which features apply to each version of Tableau Desktop"></td></tr><tr><td>Save visualisations locally</td><td style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-gb/Img/permissions_allow_icon.png" alt="A tick indicating which features apply to each version of Tableau Desktop"></td><td style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-gb/Img/permissions_allow_icon.png" alt="A tick indicating which features apply to each version of Tableau Desktop"></td><td style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-gb/Img/permissions_allow_icon.png" alt="A tick indicating which features apply to each version of Tableau Desktop"></td></tr><tr><td>Autorecovery</td><td style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-gb/Img/permissions_allow_icon.png" alt="A tick indicating which features apply to each version of Tableau Desktop"></td><td style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-gb/Img/permissions_allow_icon.png" alt="A tick indicating which features apply to each version of Tableau Desktop"></td><td style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-gb/Img/permissions_allow_icon.png" alt="A tick indicating which features apply to each version of Tableau Desktop"></td></tr><tr><td>Publish or embed visualisations on other public sites</td><td style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-gb/Img/permissions_deny_icon.png" alt="An x icon indicating which features don’t apply to each version of Tableau Desktop"><p>* Embedding options available after publishing to Tableau Public</p></td><td style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-gb/Img/permissions_deny_icon.png" alt="An x icon indicating which features don’t apply to each version of Tableau Desktop"></td><td style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-gb/Img/permissions_allow_icon.png" alt="A tick indicating which features apply to each version of Tableau Desktop"></td></tr><tr><td>Publish visualisations to Tableau Public</td><td style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-gb/Img/permissions_allow_icon.png" alt="A tick indicating which features apply to each version of Tableau Desktop"></td><td style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-gb/Img/permissions_deny_icon.png" alt="An x icon indicating which features don’t apply to each version of Tableau Desktop"></td><td style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-gb/Img/permissions_allow_icon.png" alt="A tick indicating which features apply to each version of Tableau Desktop"></td></tr><tr><td>Publish visualisations to Tableau Cloud or Tableau Server</td><td style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-gb/Img/permissions_deny_icon.png" alt="An x icon indicating which features don’t apply to each version of Tableau Desktop"></td><td style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-gb/Img/permissions_deny_icon.png" alt="An x icon indicating which features don’t apply to each version of Tableau Desktop"></td><td style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-gb/Img/permissions_allow_icon.png" alt="A tick indicating which features apply to each version of Tableau Desktop"></td></tr><tr><td>Share packaged workbooks with other users</td><td style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-gb/Img/permissions_deny_icon.png" alt="An x icon indicating which features don’t apply to each version of Tableau Desktop"></td><td style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-gb/Img/permissions_deny_icon.png" alt="An x icon indicating which features don’t apply to each version of Tableau Desktop"></td><td style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-gb/Img/permissions_allow_icon.png" alt="A tick indicating which features apply to each version of Tableau Desktop"></td></tr><tr><td>Live data refresh</td><td style="text-align: center;">Limited data refresh<p>(Google Drive only. Data is refreshed automatically once every 24 hours)</p></td><td style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-gb/Img/permissions_allow_icon.png" alt="A tick indicating which features apply to each version of Tableau Desktop"></td><td style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-gb/Img/permissions_allow_icon.png" alt="A tick indicating which features apply to each version of Tableau Desktop"></td></tr><tr><td>Data sources</td><td style="text-align: center;">Limited data source options<p>(Google Drive, JSON files, Microsoft Excel 2007 or later, OData, PDF, Spatial files, Statistical files, Text files)</p></td><td style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-gb/Img/permissions_allow_icon.png" alt="A tick indicating which features apply to each version of Tableau Desktop"><p>* Published data sources on Tableau Cloud or Tableau Server are not supported</p></td><td style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-gb/Img/permissions_allow_icon.png" alt="A tick indicating which features apply to each version of Tableau Desktop"><p>(<a href="https://www.tableau.com/en-gb/products/techspecs#desktop">Can connect to all data sources</a>)</p></td></tr><tr><td>Data source rows</td><td style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-gb/Img/permissions_allow_icon.png" alt="A tick indicating which features apply to each version of Tableau Desktop"><p>15M rows</p></td><td style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-gb/Img/permissions_allow_icon.png" alt="A tick indicating which features apply to each version of Tableau Desktop"><p>Unlimited</p></td><td style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-gb/Img/permissions_allow_icon.png" alt="A tick indicating which features apply to each version of Tableau Desktop"><p>Unlimited</p></td></tr><tr><td>Cloud Storage</td><td style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-gb/Img/permissions_allow_icon.png" alt="A tick indicating which features apply to each version of Tableau Desktop"><p>10 GB on Tableau Public</p></td><td style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-gb/Img/permissions_deny_icon.png" alt="An x icon indicating which features don’t apply to each version of Tableau Desktop"></td><td style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-gb/Img/permissions_allow_icon.png" alt="A tick indicating which features apply to each version of Tableau Desktop"><p>Tableau Cloud and Tableau Server if applicable</p></td></tr><tr><td>Local Storage</td><td style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-gb/Img/permissions_allow_icon.png" alt="A tick indicating which features apply to each version of Tableau Desktop"></td><td style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-gb/Img/permissions_allow_icon.png" alt="A tick indicating which features apply to each version of Tableau Desktop"></td><td style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-gb/Img/permissions_allow_icon.png" alt="A tick indicating which features apply to each version of Tableau Desktop"></td></tr></tbody></table>