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Microsoft Power BI vs SAP Analytics Cloud 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
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
319
Ranking in other categories
Reporting (1st)
SAP Analytics Cloud
Ranking in BI (Business Intelligence) Tools
5th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
69
Ranking in other categories
Predictive Analytics (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2025, in the BI (Business Intelligence) Tools category, the mindshare of Microsoft Power BI is 21.4%, down from 22.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP Analytics Cloud is 4.8%, down from 5.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
BI (Business Intelligence) Tools
 

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.
RamasamyTelungupalayam - PeerSpot reviewer
Seamless integration, collaborative features, and enhances data exploration
There are several areas for improvement in SAP Analytics Cloud. Firstly, features available in SAP Lumira are missing in SAP Analytics Cloud. Secondly, the predictive analytics functions, although promising, are currently only suitable for Proof of Concepts (POCs) and not for industrial-scale use. Lastly, the pricing model for the planning functionality is quite high and presents an entry barrier.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The sharing features are vital, especially the ability to share and test different shared dashboards."
"It offers a lot of information and is very flexible and interactive."
"The solution's most valuable feature is the graphic representation."
"If you are not very technical this tool could be very useful."
"The most valuable features of Microsoft BI are the variety of possibilities to connect to various data sources. The visualizations are easily done, have useful rollover functions, and there are continuous updates being made to the system. You can benefit from the various improvements."
"They should add mobile access."
"The DAX coding language is good for creating formulae."
"The initial setup is simple to do."
"If 85-90% of your data comes from SAP, then it's the best solution."
"SAP Analytics Cloud allows you to quickly perform various tasks in terms of virtualization. CyberArk itself requires some enhancements to better connect with other technologies. While it's easy to connect with SAP, using analytics tools may sometimes necessitate sourcing information from different platforms. You might need data from SAP or other technologies/platforms to access specific information not available within SAP. SAP is effective for managing storage and enhancing virtualization capabilities."
"The most valuable feature of SAP Analytics Cloud is its integration with SAP."
"The Smart Predict, Smart Insights, and Smart Discovery predictive analysis features are quite good."
"The ease of use of the solution is its most valuable feature. We haven't tried all of the features yet. The graphing and the ease of using the analytics tools have been great. It's all drag and drop; you don't need to code anything."
"Technical support is helpful."
"SAP Analytics Cloud is easy to create charts with, and is a stable business intelligence platform. Easy to set up solution."
"SAP Analytics Cloud is very easy to use, and you don't require much technology. It has a very good library and analytics. It is easy to configure and offers good visualization."
 

Cons

"I found data cleaning in the solution to be quite difficult. If I could add a feature, I'd include Excel's Flash Fill function. This allows you to set a formula for one row and column and automatically apply it to thousands of rows, making data sorting much easier."
"Anything they can do to improve enterprise collaboration is going to help people get set up and utilize the solution."
"The initial installation is difficult."
"I would prefer that the solution not be shared. I'm concerned that if we make a mistake we could reveal information to people who shouldn't see it. I would like to have my own on-prem server, to buy my own server and have my own infrastructure for Microsoft BI, with only with my data."
"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."
"It is too slow. I hope in future it will be a comparable big data tool, such as, for example, Data Lake."
"I find the solution to be 70 percent stable."
"Power BI's drillthrough feature could be improved. I didn't like drillthrough and those options much, but I did like it in MicroStrategy."
"The customizations need to be better."
"It's lacking a bit in maturity and we find we can't run our business off it until it's improved."
"The budget management could be better."
"All the features are there, maybe except for the one-gauge visualization."
"There is no direct connector from SAP to Redshift, so we are required to use a third-party product that was recommended by SAP."
"Figuring out how to navigate all of the products around Data Warehouse Cloud and SAP Analytics Cloud and BW for HANA is quite difficult."
"Its integration or connectivity with non-SAP systems, big data, and social media, such as YouTube, LinkedIn, et cetera, can be improved. This is where SAP has limited features as compared to other solutions."
"An area for improvement in SAP Analytics Cloud is its planning feature because it's not that efficient when compared to BPC. Another area for improvement in the solution is the difficulty in building reports or dashboards, particularly if you don't have proper knowledge of the BI system. SAP Analytics Cloud technical support also needs improvement."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"They have a free Power BI Desktop version, but it has limitations."
"Power BI is cost-effective compared to other reporting tools."
"The solution is affordable."
"The premium capacity is very costly in respect of the market in Egypt, amounting to $5,000 monthly."
"Power BI is cheaper than Tableau and Cognos."
"We have a professional license for Microsoft BI and the price is fair."
"Once the trial period for the BI service is over, the cost is approximately $10 USD per user, per month, so it's quite reasonable."
"I have never worked on licensing, but I have heard that it is reasonable."
"Compute and storage features should be sold separately."
"SAP pricing tends to be premium, so it is slightly higher."
"SAP Analytics Cloud can be quite expensive."
"The pricing is based on an annual license and is rated a four out of ten."
"It Wasn't directly involved in the pricing discussions, but when I joined the organization, they had already purchased the SAP Analytics Cloud solution. The organization faced challenges due to its perceived expense, leading to restrictions on granting access to many users."
"SAP Analytics Cloud is expensive. The price is a big issue if you compare it with other solutions from different vendors."
"It is a bit expensive, but really worth it, especially if you are already using other SAP tools."
"Its price is slightly on the higher side."
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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…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
44%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Computer Software Company
6%
Government
5%
Educational Organization
26%
Manufacturing Company
14%
Computer Software Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
6%
 

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 would you choose - Tableau or SAP Analytics Cloud?
Tableau is easy to set up and maintain. In about a day it is possible for the entire platform to be deployed for use. This relatively short amount of time can make all the difference for companies ...
What do you like most about SAP Analytics Cloud?
In the data warehouse, you're free to make changes. You can make everything text, meaning it's always a string. Even numbers appear as text, giving you the flexibility to work with all columns.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SAP Analytics Cloud?
The pricing model for SAP Analytics Cloud is quite competitive, but the cost for the planning functionality is high and can be a barrier to entry. The overall cost can be managed with better billin...
 

Also Known As

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

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
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Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Power BI vs. SAP Analytics Cloud and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.
838,533 professionals have used our research since 2012.