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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
318
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Oracle OBIEE
Ranking in BI (Business Intelligence) Tools
5th
Ranking in Reporting
3rd
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
157
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2025, in the BI (Business Intelligence) Tools category, the mindshare of Microsoft Power BI is 22.6%, up from 22.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Oracle OBIEE is 3.9%, down from 4.8% 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

Shoury Priyanshu - PeerSpot reviewer
Facilitates seamless data aggregation with some outdated visual elements hindering user appeal
Real-time data integration is an area for improvement. Although I've worked on several solutions involving real-time integration, it's not very user-friendly and often lags, especially with over a million data rows. This makes Power BI difficult to manage as loading times can reach one or two minutes, which is problematic today. There are challenges with scalability, requiring multiple pages in dashboards to manage these issues. Visualization could be improved as it appears outdated. Users, especially newcomers, find it unappealing and not user-friendly.
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

"What's most valuable in this tool is that it gives its users detailed error messages. It's a very stable data analytics tool, and it offers good scalability."
"The initial setup is easy."
"One of the key benefits of Power BI is how easy it is to develop reports."
"The most valuable aspect of Microsoft Power BI in my field is the insights it provides from analyzing data. Sometimes, these insights go beyond what traditional analysis can reveal due to the large volume of data involved. In terms of improving our data analysis process, it starts with identifying data sources, followed by cleaning and filtering out irrelevant data. Then, we categorize and structure the data to achieve the best visualization and insights. Regarding Power BI's integration with other tools, although we haven't implemented it ourselves, it's known that Power BI can integrate with systems like SAP or ERP software, which could enhance our analytics capabilities if needed."
"The solution is easy to use and flexible."
"We are able to collaborate on things and get insightful data visualizations."
"The most valuable feature is definitely the visual aspect and the DAX capabilities to virtually do anything."
"The most valuable feature is shareability, where we can publish work to the cloud and share it with team members."
"I think having the conformed structures makes it a lot easier for end users and pulling reports together."
"It doesn't have many frills and is definitely older technology, but it is undeniably a workhorse."
"Inter Process Communication."
"Oracle OBIEE is a scary and stable product since it is a strong and well-created tool... In short, the solution is stable since it works properly every day."
"The complexity that OBIEE can handle in the form of RPD is unmatched. I haven't found this level of complexity in other reporting tools, especially when dealing with complex calculations that are not readily available in the reporting layer."
"The security is good. For example, we can implement column-level security."
"Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten...The solution's initial setup was straightforward."
"Integration-wise, it's good."
 

Cons

"I would like to see more AI capabilities in future releases. There's a strong interest in AI, including technologies like GPT, which facilitate real-time interactions."
"I would like to see more visualization options."
"here are some limitations with the data models needed to build the report."
"We haven't used it that long and I haven't come across anything that's stood out as needing to be fixed."
"The significant drawback I notice is that Microsoft's size makes it hard to get specific change requests addressed unless they involve a bug."
"Licensing could be improved."
"I think because I'm moving more into RPA, I'd definitely like to see integration across the RPA, Power BI, or Tableau platforms, because that integration could then make automation and mundane reporting much faster."
"One area for improvement in Microsoft Power BI is serviceability. Compared to one of its competitors: Tableau, there are a lot of things which you cannot do in this tool, that can be done in Tableau."
"For a beginner, this is a product that is difficult to learn. You cannot learn it quickly."
"Even though we have a feature to enable the physical query to be seen in the log, in case of any issues, it is challenging to debug and see or identify where is the issue. For example, we designed the OBIEE repository and deployed it into the server, and we are now accessing and creating a report. For some reason, if the report is not working as expected, it is very difficult to identify the issue. We have a feature to see the physical query that is being generated in the central OBIEE server. I feel that this feature should have been available at the repository level so that while designing the repository, we can select the presentation columns and the query it is going to create. This will avoid the additional task of deploying a feature into the server and then testing the report. It will also make the implementation process friendly if, while designing the repository, we can see: How is a feature working? Are any of the presentation columns selected? How is the query being generated? Which query is being generated? Are any joints used? What kind of joints are used? Having this kind of information will make Oracle OBIEE more powerful and developer-friendly."
"Implementation is cumbersome and requires expertise."
"I would like to see enhancements in tracking, debugging, and flexibility."
"Expanding beyond pure data reporting and into analytics, or expanding data science, would be areas for improvement."
"One feature I would definitely like to see is the ability to provide the in-memory data. Oracle might have some plugins but, as of now, that feature isn't available out-of-the-box. You might have to purchase that feature."
"The functionality to customize and modify reports has been removed, and it would be beneficial to reinstall it, as it allows greater customization and flexibility in creating reports."
"It needs a better security management system."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I am satisfied with its price. Its price is very less as compared to Tableau and QlikView."
"The pricing is very reasonable compared to any other tool."
"This product offers good value for the money."
"For my primary use case, i.e. teaching students, the free version of Power BI is adequate."
"The solution's pricing is medium."
"Our license is paid yearly and we have found that we have to be careful not to over-extend our usage in order to avoid upgrading our capacity plan."
"My company needs to make monthly payments towards the licensing costs attached to the product."
"Microsoft BI is not expensive. Compared to the price of other BI products, the price is very fair."
"Be prepared to spend a lot of time and money."
"It is high."
"Simplifying the data integration process would save our clients considerable costs."
"It's comparable to the current technology we're using, Qlik Sense."
"Pricing is an area that could be improved."
"This is a very costly product."
"I think to spread this across an enterprise will be a significant investment."
"Its licensing is yearly."
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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
42%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Computer Software Company
6%
Manufacturing Company
5%
Financial Services Firm
17%
Government
13%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
 

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
 

Learn More

 

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: January 2025.
831,020 professionals have used our research since 2012.