Shiny allows users to create data visualization apps, and is designed to be easy to write with. These apps let users interact with data and analyses with R or Python.
Shiny is very good for developing dashboards or web applications with specific functionalities. But it is not so easy to use to develop from scratch, it is always better to use another tool to have a general idea of what is expected of a dashboard and then develop the most specific functionalities in Shiny. It is much more flexible than other tools and that is why I consider it to be better for most cases, only that it is more complex to develop or has a longer learning curve.
Whilst dashboarding may be comparable with some of the other products we evaluated. Nothing compared to the analytical capabilities on offer with Shiny. An added advantage was that we had colleagues knowledgeable in R which meant bringing in Shiny and getting to grips with it was a lot more seamless and welcomed by the end users.
