Tableau vs. Canva: Which One Should Small Businesses Use?

Photo Credits: Megan Aguilera

When it comes to running and growing a business, how you present your information can make all the difference. Sometimes you need a quick and easy infographic to share on Instagram. Other times you need to dig deep into your data to understand sales, marketing ROI, or customer behavior. That is where tools like Canva and Tableau come in, and here at Elevate with MGM, we use both for very specific reasons.

Canva: Simple, Stylish, and Quick

Canva is perfect for creating professional-looking graphics efficiently, even if you are not a designer. With drag and drop templates, you can build infographics, flyers, social media posts, and business cards in minutes.

We rely on Canva to design visuals that are attractive, clear, and aligned with our brand. For example, we create infographics like “5 Ways Your Business Can Improve Engagement This Month,” simple step-by-step guides such as “The Sales Funnel Explained in 4 Steps.” Canva makes it easy for us to turn complex information into visuals that clients and audiences can understand at a glance.

Tableau: Power, Depth, and Data Accuracy

Tableau is a data powerhouse. Instead of creating static visuals, it helps you connect directly to your data sources like Google Analytics, sales spreadsheets, or ad platforms and build interactive dashboards that update in real time. You can click around, filter the numbers, and instantly spot trends that help you make better moves for your business.

We use Tableau to find meaningful patterns in the data. We analyze which marketing campaigns are driving the best ROI, monitor client sales funnels from awareness to purchase, and track engagement trends over time to guide future strategy. Instead of guessing what is working, Tableau allows us to see our live dashboards and filter them by product, time period, or platform.

Photo Credit: Megan Aguilera

Why Both Matter for Small Businesses

Data and design are both essential to a business’s success. Tableau gives us the clarity to see what is really happening in the business and where efforts are paying off, while Canva gives us the ability to communicate those insights in a way that is simple, visually engaging, and easy for any audience to understand.

One tool works on the inside by helping us make smarter and more informed decisions. The other works on the outside by helping us tell the story of those decisions to the world. At Elevate with MGM, we never treat Canva and Tableau as either or. We treat them as partners in the same growth process.

So, the real question is not which tool to use, but how to use them together to grow your business.