8 Best Data Visualization Tools and Libraries to Learn in 2024
Tableau, Power BI, QlikView, QlikSense, or Microsoft Excel? These are the best data visualization tools a Data Analyst or Data Scientists can learn in 2024
Hello guys, If you are learning Data Visualization and looking for the best tools and libraries for the job then you have come to the right place. Earlier, I have shared the best Data Science course, libraries, books, and essential Algorithms, and today, I am going to share the best Data Visualization tools for Data Analysts and Data Scientists to learn.
Data Visualization is one of the most in-demand skills in today’s data-centric world. More and more companies are tapping on their data to find opportunities and this is increasing demand for Data Analysts who can tell the story from their data.
Data visualization is the process of taking any raw data no matter that data belong to any industry and transform it into a representation of graphs shapes for better understanding your data and getting insights and better decision making for your business.
In order to work effectively with data, you must know important tools and in this article, I am going to share with you 5 essential Data Visualization tools and 3 Data visualization libraries, every Data Scientist and Data Analyst should know.
These are the tools that are popular in the industry and having these tools on your resume also boosts your CV. Good knowledge of data visualization tools like Tableau, Microsoft Power BI, Qlik View, Qlik sense also provides you a competitive edge over the next candidates.
There is no doubt that Data Visualization skill is on-demand in the job market and also in many fields such as data analyst, machine learning engineer, data scientists, Business analyst, Data manager and many more fields that ask you to have these skills on your resume with a salary between $51k and $112k annually in some countries.
If you are planning to be a machine learning engineer, Data Analysts, Business analyst, or learning business in your college you should definitely learn these skills for better decision making and better understanding your data and you will see in this article many data visualization tools to make that easy for you.
8 Best Data Visualization Tools and Libraries for Data Science and Data Analysis
Here is a list of the best tools you can learn for Data Visualisations and creating stories from Data. The list includes essentials tools like Tableau, Microsoft Power BI, Qlik View, Qlik Sense, and Microsoft Excel.
It also includes libraries like Matpltolib, ggplot2, and D3.js which can also be used for creating charts, graphs, and other data visualization artifacts.
1. Tableau
If you never heard about this fabulous tool then you are probably very new to data visualization. Tableau is a data visualization tool founded in 2003 that focuses entirely on visual analysis with the ability to analyze any kind of data and transforming it into hundred of representation graphs and maps allowing you to get better insights into your data.
Tableau comes with many products to suit your needs such as tableau desktop if you want to install it on your machine and working offline with the ability to share your data across your teamwork or you could use tableau public the free version and share your work online with your peers.
If you want to learn Tableau and looking for recommendations, I highly recommend you to check out Tableau 2024 A-Z: Hands-On Tableau Training For Data Science course by Kirill Eremenko and his SuperDataScience team.
It’s a comprehensive, hands-on, and most up-to-date online course to learn about Tableau now.
2. Microsoft Power BI
The second tool that I highly recommend learning is Microsoft Power BI with the ability to use the free version and get your hands dirty with this software although it has some limits and it comes with no cost.
Microsoft Power BI doesn’t have that variety of graphs and visualizations compared to Tableau or other tools that you will later in this article and it is more than sufficient for what you are looking for.
The Microsoft Power BI is recommended if you have a small or medium size of data to work with but if you have more then you need to look for another tool.
If you already like Microsoft Power BI and looking for useful resources to learn Power BI then I also suggest you check out Microsoft Power BI — Up and Running with Power BI Desktop course by Chris Dutton and Aaron Parry of Maven Analytics.
3. QlikView
The next data visualization tool that we will be looking for is called QlikView and think most of you didn’t hear about and this tool is considered Tableau's main competitor with more than 50 thousand customers.
Many big companies in this world such as Ford and Paypal uses QlikView to analyze their data because it is a good software for both big and small data visualization.
They offer the option to download the free version with limited options or you can extend the functionality by using the paid version.
If you want to learn QlikView and need a good course to start with then I suggest you join The Complete QlikView Bootcamp course by Paul Scothford on Udemy. It’s one of the best courses to learn QlikView online without spending too much money.
4. QlikSense
This modern data visualization platform helps you extract insight from your data by transforming it into visualized graphs for simplifying your work and better decision-making of your business.
The tools combine two things to do powerful interactive data visualization which are artificial intelligence and human intuition by simply drag and drop to create a beautiful data visualization.
It’s touted as the next generation of QlikView and the tool is getting quick adoption by the industry. There is also an increase in demand for professions with QlikSense skills which makes learning this tool even more sense.
And, if you want to learn QlikSense this year, I suggest you start with the Certificate in Qlik Sense Analytics Development course on Udemy. It’s a great course from a knowledgeable instructor and probably the best in Udemy.
5. Excel
The last tool in this article and I think all of you have heard about it which is Microsoft Excel. This tool is considered the basic tool in our suggestions and it is easy to use and set up either on your windows machine or macOS.
If you are a beginner in data visualization, you can use Excel to get familiar with it before jumping into more advanced software and it is good for small data. Although it is limited to just visualization it still has a lot of options especially for small companies that want to create simple reports.
While Excel is not just a data visualization tool and you should already know this omnipresent tool, learning it from Data Visualization can make a lot of sense and if you are keen, I suggest you join Chris Dutton’s Microsoft Excel — Data Visualization, Charts, and Graphs course to learn more about Excel’s powerful Data Visualization capabilities.
6. Matplotlib
Matplotlib is one of the most popular Data Visualization libraries a Data Analyst or Data Science can learn. It's a cross-platform, data visualization and graphical plotting library for Python and its numerical extension NumPy.
You can use Matplotlib for creating static, animated, and interactive visualizations in Python. As they say, Matplotlib makes easy things easier and hard things possible.
Matplotlib also comes with several add-on toolkits, including 3D plotting with, axes helpers in axes_grid1 and axis helpers in axisartist. If you want to learn Matplotlib and need a resource, I highly recommend you to join Applied Plotting, Charting & Data Representation in Python course on Coursera. It’s a great course to learn about the different functionalities and features of the MatpltoLib library and how to use them.
This course is part of Applied Data Science with Python Specialization, which is one of the most popular Data Science certifications in Coursera for Python developers.
If you need a certification, you can either join this course directly for $39 per month or get the Coursera plus subscription for $399/month which provides unlimited certifications and specialization access.
7. ggplot2
ggplot2 is an open-source data visualization package for the statistical programming language R. This is the most popular data visualization library for R programmers and Data scientists who have chosen R.
It’s part of the Tidyverse toolset and makes it really easy to visualize your data.
In simple words, just provide the data, tell ggplot2 how to map variables to aesthetics, what graphical primitives to use, and it will take care of the details.
ggplot2 is also a mature library. It is now over 10 years old and is used by hundreds of thousands of people to make millions of plots.
If you want to learn ggplot2 and need a resource, I highly recommend checking Data Visualization in R with the ggplot2 course on Coursera. This course will teach you how to use ggplot2 to make a variety of visualizations.
This course is offered by the Johns Hopkins University of the USA and it's also part of the Data Visualization & Dashboarding with R Specialization. If you want a certification in Data Science and R, you can join this certification plan.
8. D3.js
If you are a JavaScript developer then there is no better tool and library than D3.js for Data Visualization.
D3.js stands for Data-Driven Documents. It’s a JavaScript library for manipulating documents based on data. D3 helps you bring data to life using HTML, SVG, and CSS.
D3 allows you to bind arbitrary data to a Document Object Model (DOM), and then apply data-driven transformations to the document.
For example, you can use D3 to generate an HTML table from an array of numbers. Or, use the same data to create an interactive SVG bar chart with smooth transitions and interaction.
If you want to learn D3.js in-depth, I highly recommend you to join Introduction to Visualization Using D3.js course on Educative. This is a text-based, interactive course to learn and practice Data Visualization right on your browser.
In this course, you will learn the fundamentals of D3.js like DOM (Document Object Model) manipulation, method chaining, data binding, and data loading.
It also covers key Data Visualization concepts and dives deep into SVG which is used to draw different geometrical shapes. After that, you’ll work with various maps and graphs in order to display your data.
You can join this course individually or if you like the Educative platform and the interactive learning then you can join the Educative subscription for just $14.9 per month to get access to their 250+ courses.
What is the best way to Learn Data Visualization?
After exploring some data visualization tools you may now want to learn some of them and I will suggest this Data Storytelling and Data Visualization 2024 course on Udemy for you because it will teach you how to use many tools such as Tableau Microsoft Power BI and Microsoft Excel.
You will start by the importance of speaking the language of data and why it is so important to take advantage of it and how to turn them into advanced data visualization dashboards using different tools as well as how to properly format your graphs.
You will learn in this course:
- How to use different tools for visualization.
- How to use different programming languages for visualization.
- Learn the importance of data in this modern world.
That’s all about the best Data Visualization tool every Data Analyst should learn in 2024. Data visualization is not just a method of turning data into graphs and shapes to look beautiful on the dashboard it is a way of communication getting insight from your data and for that developer has made tools to facilitate this process.
Other Programming Articles and Resources you may like:
- Top 8 Python Libraries for Data Science and Machine Learning
- 5 Data Science degrees you can earn online
- Top 10 TensorFlow courses for Data Scientist
- Top 5 Free Courses to Learn Machine Learning
- 10 Machine Learning and Deep Learning Courses for Programmers
- 10 Reasons to Learn Python in Depth in 2024
- Top 5 Courses to learn Power BI in 2024
- 10 Courses to Learn Data Science for Beginners
- 7 Best Artificial Intelligence Courses for beginners
- Top 5 Courses to learn QlikView and Qlik Sense
- Top 5 Courses to Learn Python 3 in 2024
- Top 5 Essential Machine Learning Algorithms
- Top 5 Courses to Learn Tableau for Data Science
- 10 Free Courses to Learn Python for Beginners
- 5 Books to learn Python for Data Science
- Top 5 Courses to Learn Advance Data Science
- Top 5 Courses to Learn TensorFlow for Beginners
Thanks for reading this article so far. If you like these Data Visualization Tools and courses then please share them with your friends and colleagues. If you have any questions or feedback, then please drop a note.
P. S. — If you are interested in learning more about Data Visualization and looking for free online courses to start your Data Visualization journey then you can also check out the Modern Data Visualization with Oracle Analytics Cloud course on Udemy. It’s completely free and you just need a free Udemy account to join this course.
