In case you haven’t heard, Tableau has rolled out an additional pricing model that may make it easier for you to bring Tableau Desktop and Tableau Server into your organization. Now, there are two Tableau pricing models available for both Desktop and Server acquisitions: Perpetual pricing (which is the old model) and Subscription pricing (which was just announced).

Here's a quick comparison:

• Higher up-front cost for first-year licensing and maintenance
• May require Capital Budget expenditure
• Software continues to function at last version level even if you elect to stop annual maintenance payments
• Overall better ROI for long-term commitment to the software

• Lower up-front cost for first-year licensing and maintenance
• Typically an Operating Expense
• Flexible for “turn some off, turn others on” environment due to personnel changes, task reassignment, and so forth
• Software stops functioning if you elect not to continue annual subscription payment