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Microsoft Power BI vs Oracle OBIEE comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 12, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Power BI
Ranking in BI (Business Intelligence) Tools
1st
Ranking in Reporting
1st
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
319
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Oracle OBIEE
Ranking in BI (Business Intelligence) Tools
4th
Ranking in Reporting
3rd
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
157
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2025, in the BI (Business Intelligence) Tools category, the mindshare of Microsoft Power BI is 21.8%, down from 22.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Oracle OBIEE is 3.8%, down from 4.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
BI (Business Intelligence) Tools
 

Q&A Highlights

NC
Nov 08, 2021
 

Featured Reviews

James Balbach - PeerSpot reviewer
Robust system consistently elevates data visualization and seamlessly updates with user-driven advancements
Power BI is a general-use visualization system. I can express the performance of our network through high-level key performance indicators. It allows me to show detailed improvements in quality and safety and patient experience. I create improvement dashboards for task forces and work teams. I have built analytic dashboards that guide analytics, enabling research and dataset manipulation.
VishnuReddy - PeerSpot reviewer
Handles large datasets and easy to interact with and handle but performance could be better
Oracle's technical support usually recommends to upgrade when you contact them for support. They don't focus on fixing the issue at hand or providing guidance on how to do it. If you are in a lower environment, like one version down, they will blindly suggest upgrading. Additional patches are given for other Oracle products like WebLogic, databases, and apps. They fix issues and create patches based on client needs. But from an OBIEE point of view, they mostly provide bundle patches of around 5 to 6 GB that need to be applied and tested end-to-end. It's not an easy way to get small patches, and if issues arise after applying the patches, you have to contact Oracle again.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"It is easy to work with and very chic."
"Power BI pricing is generally considered more affordable than Tableau."
"It's a great tool for visualization data, and it's free for engineers."
"We have plans to use the AI mechanisms and algorithms that Power BI uses to publish more easy-to-understand reports for our customers."
"Microsoft BI's most valuable feature is flexibility."
"There is a lot of help and documentation on the Internet, so no special training is needed to use the source code."
"There is also a chart store where we can download charts, which is extremely useful."
"The solution's most valuable feature is the graphic representation."
"It can be used with any type of data models, such as relational lines and dimensional lines."
"The solution has great reporting and forecasting capabilities."
"Easy to create ad hoc reporting for different solutions."
"The most valuable feature is the visualization."
"They are introducing AI. There are good forecasting features and machine learning."
"The primary reason for using OBIEE is connectivity with Oracle E-Business Suite. It makes it easy to connect with our Oracle E-Business Suite. There are the standard dashboards available, which we sometimes use, and now we are looking for customized dashboards."
"The centralized metadata model component is most valuable."
"Some of the dashboard capabilities are good. The dashboard capabilities that tell you what kind of reports are available and provide you a summary of the reports are valuable. It is easy to navigate and easy to download reports into Excel to utilize them."
 

Cons

"The limitations within Microsoft Power BI include the volume of data it can handle, as there's a cap on the number of rows you can keep. When you pull your data and build your models, you're restricted by this row limit. Additionally, certain SSRS features are deprecated, which can be a drawback for users who rely on those capabilities."
"I am taking a course to be able to use the solution better. Some aspects of the solution are not straightforward."
"I have found using Microsoft BI is not easy. For example, trying to use the auto-refresh feature is not simple."
"BI is scalable, but there are some problems with limited online storage."
"The on-premises version lacks some technical features that are available with the Cloud version."
"Its price could be better. Its licensing cost is very high."
"I would like to see some AI incorporated into this solution in the future."
"Lacks the ability to copy data from BI into PowerPoint."
"One of the things that have been difficult with OBIEE during all the time that I've known it is that when something goes wrong, many times, the error messages are not specific, and you've got to spend a lot of time digging and digging and digging before you say, "Oh, okay. I figured out what it was." There should be more detailed error messages or troubleshooting messages."
"I find I prefer Oracle OAC over OBIEE. It's more advanced, has artificial intelligence, and there's more that we can do with it in general. OBIEE is lacking features."
"We needed some technical expertise during setup."
"There's a lot of redundancy, especially in relation to creating the code."
"It could be more user-friendly. For example, the RPD layer could be more straightforward. From a user's point of view, the visualization, especially the graphs, are not as attractive when compared to other tools like QlikView and Qlik Sense."
"OBIEE doesn't have audit logs."
"Oracle OBIEE could improve by having better integration and compatibility with other vendors."
"It is not a good product for data visualization."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"In the beginning, the solution cost approximately $1,000 per month, we have a Microsoft startup subscription. There is a subscription pack for startups company which we are able to have for one year."
"Power BI is cost-effective compared to other reporting tools."
"The solution is priced well for what they offer. However, the premium version is very expensive."
"Globally, we evaluated a number of products, including Salesforce's product, Microsoft won on the ground of simple functionally and cost."
"Its pricing is reasonable for the desktop stuff, but for enterprise-level, it is a little expensive."
"The pricing is reasonable."
"My company needs to make monthly payments towards the licensing costs attached to the product."
"Microsoft BI is not expensive."
"A person only needs to pay towards the subscription costs since it is a cloud-based solution. I use the free version of Oracle OBIEE."
"It's comparable to the current technology we're using, Qlik Sense."
"It is high."
"The price of Oracle OBIEE is expensive, it is difficult for a small business to afford."
"All products from Oracle are very pricey."
"The cost of this solution is a little bit high compared with other products like Zoho, so reducing it would make OBIEE more competitive."
"Oracle products are extremely expensive."
"It is reasonable, but it depends on how you're going to use it. There are no costs in addition to the standard licensing fees."
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Comparison Review

it_user79932 - PeerSpot reviewer
Feb 4, 2015
Comparison of SAP BO, Tableau, QlikView, Cognos, Microsoft, OBIEE and Pentaho
1. SAP BO/BI Enterprise scalability Security Ease of use Semantic layer 2. Tableau Visualization Data discovery Turnaround time 3. IBM Cognos Enterprise scalability Security In-memory feature 4. MS BI - Flexibility 5. Pentaho - Open source but still enterprise grade 6. QlikView Data…
 

Answers from the Community

NC
Nov 8, 2021
Nov 8, 2021
Oracle OBIEE is great in allowing design and creativity per the individual needs of the organization. Dashboards are fully customizable and very user-friendly. This solution is very stable. Oracle OBIEE offers user security, data security, and many other security options. OBIEE also has a machine learning option, which is very good. OBIEE works best for very large organizations. Microsoft BI is...
See 2 answers
Oct 24, 2021
Oracle OBIEE is great in allowing design and creativity per the individual needs of the organization. Dashboards are fully customizable and very user-friendly. This solution is very stable. Oracle OBIEE offers user security, data security, and many other security options. OBIEE also has a machine learning option, which is very good. OBIEE works best for very large organizations. Microsoft BI is easy to learn, very user-friendly and stable, and integrates well with everything in the Microsoft ecosystem. This solution offers many different licensing options and the technical support is very good. It is a very good solution for teaching and training and works great integrating with Excel. Oracle OBIEE implementation and deployment can be confusing, requiring technical expertise and experience to manage. The pricing model is expensive and it is not a cost-effective solution for smaller enterprises. There also seems to be a lot of redundancy with regard to creating the necessary code to make things run smoothly. This solution should be more intuitive and less complex. Scalability could also be easier. With Microsoft BI, design and visualization seems a bit limited. They should offer better licensing options with more flexibility for various unique client needs, especially with smaller enterprises. Moving to the cloud makes licensing needs even more challenging to figure out and to choose the best option. Support could be better in explaining how issues were resolved and what steps were taken to resolve them. Conclusion Oracle OBIEE is very user-friendly and offers customizable dashboards. The visualization is very good and they offer AI with good forecasting options and machine learning. This is a great solution for large-scale enterprises. Microsoft BI is a good option for smaller-scale enterprises and, of course, works great with everything within the Microsoft ecosystem. It is a great option for the less tech-savvy user.
MR
Nov 8, 2021
When comparing Power BI with OBIEE, it is evident that OBIEE emerges as the winner in the data management aspect, while Power BI scores drastically above OBIEE in the self-service and data visualization aspects.  Power BI and OBIEE make a strong pair in the Analytics landscape by complementing the weaknesses of one with the strengths of the other! Therefore, it is good to leverage the best of both OBIEE and Power BI, by connecting them seamlessly and securely through BI Connector.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
43%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Computer Software Company
6%
Government
5%
Financial Services Firm
19%
Government
13%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

Seeking lightweight open source BI software
There are many...It would rather depend what System BI architecture or Enterprise legacy you have at your end...I would recommend as follows: 1) If you have legacies of SAP, Oracle - look for SAP...
Is Power BI a complete platform or only a visualization tool?
Power BI is an advanced visualization tool oriented to big data with a very complete set of widgets to visualize information, control users accessing information, the configuration of governance po...
How does Oracle OBIEE compare with Microsoft BI?
Oracle OBIEE is great in allowing design and creativity per the individual needs of the organization. Dashboards are fully customizable and very user-friendly. This solution is very stable. Oracle ...
Which Oracle product is better - OBIEE or Analytics Cloud?
Oracle OBIEE is designed to be relatively easy to set up and has a helpful customer support staff at the ready to assist customers. These are two attributes that make this system quite valuable. OB...
What do you like most about Oracle OBIEE?
The most valuable feature of Oracle OBIEE is its ability to handle large volumes of data and provide traditional BI functionalities that developers can easily understand.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Oracle OBIEE?
All products from Oracle are very pricey. Microsoft always works out to be a cheaper tool. If you have anything that you do with Microsoft, then price-wise, it is very competitive. Microsoft Power ...
 

Also Known As

SSRS, SSAS, MSBI, MS Reporting Services, Microsoft BI Tools, Microsoft Big Data, Power BI Pro, MS BI
OBIEE, Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition, Oracle BI, Oracle BI EE 11g
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Accenture Adidas Aetna AIG Airbus Alibaba Allstate Amazon American Express Aon AT&T Audi Bank of America BASF Bayer Berkshire Hathaway Boeing Coca-Cola Comcast Cisco Coca-Cola Dell Disney Emirates Equinix FedEx Ford GE Google H&M Home Depot Honda IBM Intel JPMorgan Chase Kellogg's Kroger L'Oréal McDonald's Merck MetLife Microsoft Nike Oracle P&G PepsiCo Procter & Gamble Prudential Financial SAP Siemens Snapchat Spotify Starbucks Target Toyota T-Mobile Unilever Visa Walmart WeWork World Bank Xerox
Banca Transilvania, BeckmanCoulter, Hong Kong Housing Society, HealthShare, Ivanhoe Cambridge Unifies, and Home Credit, and Finance Bank.
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Power BI vs. Oracle OBIEE and other solutions. Updated: February 2025.
842,161 professionals have used our research since 2012.