Microsoft Power BI vs Plotly comparison

Microsoft and Plotly are both solutions in the Reporting category. Microsoft is ranked #1 with an average rating of 7.9, while Plotly is ranked #18 with an average rating of 7.7. Microsoft holds a 26.9% mindshare in RT, compared to Plotly’s 1.1% mindshare. Additionally, 93% of Microsoft users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Plotly users who would recommend it.

Microsoft Power BI

Read 319 Microsoft Power BI reviews

15,963 Views
12,670 Comparison Views

93% willing to recommend

Plotly

Read 3 Plotly reviews

714 Views
652 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Microsoft Power BI

Plotly

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Microsoft Power BI and Plotly based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Reporting solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed Microsoft Power BI vs. Plotly Report (Updated: January 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Power BI vs. Plotly

January 2025

Download the complete report

Helped 837,501 peers since 2012

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 Reporting

1st

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

319

Ranking in other categories

BI (Business Intelligence) Tools (1st)

Plotly

Ranking in Reporting

18th

Average Rating

7.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2025, in the Reporting category, the mindshare of Microsoft Power BI is 26.9%, up from 25.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Plotly is 1.1%, down from 1.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Reporting

Featured Reviews

James Balbach

Executive Director, Decision Support at Community Health Network

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.

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CharlesBrewer

Managing Director at NaMax Limited

Helps to visually present datasets

In my experience, I primarily work with R when using Plotly. However, I understand that the integration of Plotly with Python is also excellent. I'm working with a sales and marketing consultancy that has operated for 20-30 years. They are transitioning to incorporating machine learning, AI, and statistical analysis into their traditional methods. The consultancy primarily works with B2B companies, recognizing that B2B firms with a limited pool of potential customers tend to be less engaged in social media than B2C companies. The focus is on platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram while acknowledging that TikTok is not considered valuable for their analysis. The consultancy actively uses large language models to analyze various aspects, such as social media engagement, and assess how companies present themselves. In statistical and analytical terms, we aim to create impactful analyses for our clients. The approach involves comparing the target company with four to six similar companies, keeping the identity of these competitors confidential. Our goal is to assist clients in understanding their position in the market and provide tailored insights using modern tools. The focus is on identifying areas of weakness and highlighting strengths to refine sales and marketing efforts. To make this process effective, we utilize Plotly, as they offer impactful presentations. Building databases of company data and conducting analyses on various aspects like websites, social media, and other marketing presentations, we present comparative analyses of how a particular company stacks up against its competitors. I rate the overall product a seven out of ten.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The interface is very fluid."

"In the process of using data there is the Extract, Transform and Load (ETL). For extracting we are using another software, for transforming we are using our own coding in C#, and then we use Microsoft BI for loading the information. Microsoft BI displays information very well."

"I like the fact that Power BI lets me use Excel data. At least 90% of my state data is in Excel spreadsheets. Having the ability to just attach a spreadsheet as a data source is very, very important. It's also good for training and teaching. Sometimes you don't always have access to a live production database, so having a spreadsheet with sample data is always nice."

"The solution is not that difficult to install, although this will vary with the experience of the person responsible for its installation."

"The way data is presented is very valuable. The amount of information that we can get at a glance is also valuable. You can then drill-down and see data from many different angles in the same chart by selecting certain things. Based on the selection, everything changes automatically. If we have four parameters in a particular item, when you select a parameter, the remaining charts on that page automatically change for that particular parameter."

"Power BI allows me to show detailed improvements in quality and safety and patient experience."

"Its data visualization provides the user the ability to quickly look at data and focus on relevant information, allowing them to make an immediate decision."

"The solution is quite scalable."

More Microsoft Power BI pros

"The level of interactivity that the product provides is valuable to me."

"It is a scalable solution. Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a nine to ten out of ten."

"When reviewing and interpreting data, I typically examine it in a tabular form to understand its structure. However, when explaining or presenting the findings to others, I often use visualization tools such as Plotly. These tools allow me to create visual representations of datasets."

Cons

"There is no column-level security in Microsoft BI, and this is a feature that most of our customers are looking for. That is something that should be implemented."

"Microsoft BI could improve by having better collaboration between developers working on the same dashboard. The developer platform is all done on a single laptop and it's difficult to have the same project files work. Two developers have to go back and forth. You have to have the project file on one developer's laptop making it difficult to co-develop."

"In the future, Microsoft BI can be better by increasing user-friendliness"

"Most clients have MacBooks. Therefore, they use Tableau as Power BI Desktop is not available for the MacBook right now."

"It should have more report outputs. They should expand the report outputs. Its documentation should also be better."

"I'm looking for something that can make it much easier to incorporate Power BI visuals or dashboards into, let's say, Power Apps – custom Power Apps or anything like that. The most important thing would be to seamlessly embed reports in applications. For example, to have buttons that can be navigated through multiple solutions – from Power Apps to Power BI to SharePoint – via links or something like that."

"They can provide a user-friendly and easy way to use this tool for people who don't know about programming or technical things. It will be quite good if they can improve the look and feel and make it simpler to operate. They can make it easier to create some of the reports. They can also include predefined templates that you can directly use."

"I would like to see a more user-friendly interface with Microsoft BI."

More Microsoft Power BI cons

"The solution cannot be deployed on the website and shared with others through its own platform."

"I believe that the prices of the tool's paid services could be on the premium side, so the pricing model can be considered for improvement."

"The tool needs to improve its pie charts. Regarding Plotly, I find the online documentation somewhat challenging to navigate, especially when dealing with many parameters. Searching through thousands of parameters can be a tedious and less straightforward process. While the documentation is available online and serves its purpose, I often encounter difficulties in finding the information."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is priced well for what they offer. However, the premium version is very expensive."

"Its price is very low. It is like $10 per user, per month. The clients pay for their own licenses. It is not on us. There are no costs in addition to the standard licensing fees. That's the beauty. With other systems, you need to spend a couple of thousand dollars just to get started, and then you need to spend $500 per year for the license, which becomes much more costly. You have a system here where for $120 to $140 a year, you can start with two people and start developing and deploying. You can see why the cost difference is huge, especially when you are on a low scale, like us, and you're not building something very huge."

"There is a license for this solution and we purchase them annually."

"Paid for itself in the first month."

"The price of Microsoft BI is reasonable. Other solutions such as SAP Cloud are more expensive."

"The price of Microsoft BI is expensive. We found the price of Tableau to be less expensive."

"This solution came free, it was offered by Microsoft with our E3 license."

"Downloading Power BI Desktop is free."

More Microsoft Power BI pricing and cost advice

"I only use the free tier of the product."

"It is an open-source tool. My company hasn't explored Plotly's premium services yet, but I believe the prices could be on the premium side."

See which vendors are best for you

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Comparison Review

it_user79932

Senior Manager - BI Head at NVidia

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…

Read full review

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

43%

Financial Services Firm

Computer Software Company

Government

Financial Services Firm

19%

Manufacturing Company

12%

University

Computer Software Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

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...

See all answers

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...

See all answers

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 ...

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What do you like most about Plotly?

It is a scalable solution. Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a nine to ten out of ten.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Plotly?

It is an open-source tool. My company hasn't explored Plotly's premium services yet, but I believe the prices are on the premium side. I rate the product price as five or six on a scale of one to t...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Plotly?

I believe that the price of the tool's paid services is on the premium side, so the pricing model can be considered for improvement.

See all answers

Comparisons

Tableau vs Microsoft Power BI

Compared 15% of the time

Amazon QuickSight vs Microsoft Power BI

Compared 8% of the time

Domo vs Microsoft Power BI

Compared 8% of the time

Databricks vs Microsoft Power BI

Compared 7% of the time

KNIME vs Microsoft Power BI

Compared 6% of the time

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Tableau vs Plotly

Compared 42% of the time

TIBCO Spotfire vs Plotly

Compared 15% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Power BI

February 2025

Download Microsoft Power BI product report

Buyer's Guide

Reporting

January 2025

Download Plotly product report

Also Known As

SSRS, SSAS, MSBI, MS Reporting Services, Microsoft BI Tools, Microsoft Big Data, Power BI Pro, MS BI

No data available

Overview

Microsoft Power BI is a powerful tool for data analysis and visualization. This tool stands out for its ability to merge and analyze data from various sources. Widely adopted across different industries and departments, Power BI is instrumental in creating visually appealing dashboards and generating insightful business intelligence reports. Its intuitive interface, robust visualization capabilities, and seamless integration with other Microsoft applications empower users to easily create interactive reports and gain valuable insights.

Microsoft

Plotly creates leading open source tools for composing, editing, and sharing interactive data visualization via the Web.

Our collaboration servers (available in cloud or on premises) allow data scientists to showcase their work, make graphs without coding, and collaborate with business analysts, designers, executives, and clients.

Plotly

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

Google, Goji, VIT, Smpl Bio, U.S. Air Force, C12 Energy, New York University

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Power BI vs. Plotly

January 2025

Free Report: Microsoft Power BI vs. Plotly

Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Power BI vs. Plotly and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.

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