I am loading data into pivot table. There are 400K rows (in the spice-d dataset) however my Pivot table just has 3 levels and simple sum (no calculated fields, any formatting etc are there). Still this takes close to 15-20 seconds to load. What is the reason for such a horrible performance? Pivot table is one of the most basic grids which needs to be performant but I am not understanding where is the performance degradation and is it just a limitation of quicksight or am I doing something incorrect?
Pivot tables load more slowly than other visuals, particularly with dataset fields in the VALUE field well, calculated fields, or conditional formatting even on SPICE datasets where VALUE field wells increase processing time. Although changes may be limited, the fastest gains come from simplifying the pivot (fewer fields/levels) or splitting into multiple visuals, plus adding initial filters to cut loaded data volume on dashboard open.
Yes this generic help is good but here there is just 1 field in VALUE field well and 3 fields in hierarchy. Whatever help is offered on these links dont apply because they all focus on reducing fields somehow. Any other ideas?
Quick community forum discussions highlight several options to improve pivot table performance. Try these steps:
Simplify by reducing or splitting the pivot table into smaller visuals, and apply filters to limit initial data load on dashboard open.
Check SPICE refresh status and account capacity, as throttling affects large visuals, clear browser cache or use incognito mode to rule out client-side issues.
Disable all row/column totals and grand totals in pivot settings, as they trigger extra aggregation passes.
Just checking back in since we haven’t heard from you in a bit. I wanted to see if the guidance shared earlier helped resolve your question, or if you found a solution in the meantime.
If you still have any additional questions related to your initial post, feel free to share them. Otherwise, any update you’re able to provide within the next 3 business days would be helpful for the community.
Yes, I did perform the steps mentioned above and it did help however it still does not solve the root problem that pivot tables are slow inherently (even compared to other analytical products like Tableau and PowerBI). This is one of the most requested features by end-users since it mimicks a grid with drill-down abilities which end-users are used to using on a regular basis.
Due to these performance reasons, I think I will try to avoid using them. For now, we can close this issue.
