As a software engineer, I have been in a tricky situation a couple times when my boss asked me to build out data visualization features in our internal admin dashboards--including generic visualization of arbitrary data in our SQL database.
Of course, the correct answer is, "We have better things to use our time on, we should buy something for this". But the boss is never happy to hear that:
* These services start at around $1000/month, even for very small-scale data.
* There are additional charges per-user.
* There are additional charges (hundreds per month) for more data sources (e.g. if you have a second SQL database, or dump some data to Redshift)
What's more, it is next to impossible to find pricing information on these service's web sites. Instead you resort to Quora[0] and hope the information is accurate.
I have used both Periscope and Looker, and loved them. But according to the Quicksight pricing page[1], my company could get everything it needs from Quicksight for under $50/month.
After I hit submit I am planning to run to my boss and tell him I finally found the one. (Of course, we'll see how the demo goes first ;)
[0] https://www.quora.com/Can-anyone-share-their-experience-and-...