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Pros & Cons summary

Buyer's Guide

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Prominent pros & cons

PROS

Microsoft Power BI offers tight integration with Microsoft Office products, making it a seamless addition to existing workflows.
It is celebrated for its capability to handle large datasets efficiently, providing fast data processing and analytics.
The cost-effectiveness and scalability of Microsoft Power BI make it a popular choice among businesses of all sizes.
Users appreciate its strong reporting and dashboard features, enabling data-driven decision-making.
Microsoft Power BI is praised for its comprehensive data integration, allowing connections to various data sources, increasing its versatility.

CONS

Microsoft Power BI's licensing model can be cost-prohibitive for smaller businesses.
Real-time data integration could be improved for more efficient performance.
Microsoft Power BI struggles with handling large datasets, resulting in slow performance.
The integration capabilities with non-Microsoft data sources need enhancement.
Microsoft Power BI requires a high level of technical knowledge for effective use, which can be challenging for non-expert users.
 

Microsoft Power BI Pros review quotes

it_user4524 - PeerSpot reviewer
Founder & Principal Architect at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Feb 28, 2013
Microsoft SSAS is one of the best BI suites on the market.
it_user6414 - PeerSpot reviewer
CEO at a tech company with 51-200 employees
May 6, 2013
Automated reports can be generated using SQL Reporting and Analysis in XML and PDF formats which are easier to read and understand.
it_user117558 - PeerSpot reviewer
BI Junior consultant at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
Jun 5, 2014
Power BI reduced time to develop and deployment projects.
Learn what your peers think about Microsoft Power BI. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2026.
886,468 professionals have used our research since 2012.
it_user171969 - PeerSpot reviewer
Microsoft BI Consultant with 51-200 employees
Dec 14, 2014
I do work on projects to switch clients to MS BI usually due to its attractive pricing and tight integration with MS Office suite.
it_user171975 - PeerSpot reviewer
MSBI Technology Architect/Developer at a pharma/biotech company with 51-200 employees
Dec 22, 2014
With MSBI, we realized automation from data loading, transformation and reporting.
it_user181869 - PeerSpot reviewer
Microsoft BI Architect at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Jan 15, 2015
For example, I recently migrated an application from TeraData to SQL Server and the response times for some functions were cut down from 90 seconds to about less than 1 second!
it_user194682 - PeerSpot reviewer
Database Analyst at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Feb 15, 2015
Very high, as it is a very cost effective application compared to any BI tools in the market.
it_user221220 - PeerSpot reviewer
Analyst in XBRL Projects at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Apr 22, 2015
All the features are valuable.
it_user289488 - PeerSpot reviewer
MSBI Technical Lead at a tech company with 10,001+ employees
Aug 13, 2015
Without this solution, the business can’t think of successful operations.
it_user229761 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Consultant | Architect at DHL
Aug 23, 2016
You should get it and implement it.
 

Microsoft Power BI Cons review quotes

it_user4524 - PeerSpot reviewer
Founder & Principal Architect at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Feb 28, 2013
Price of the SQL Server bundle is potentially cost prohibitive for smaller businesses
it_user6414 - PeerSpot reviewer
CEO at a tech company with 51-200 employees
May 6, 2013
The installation requirements are quite demanding and only computers with relatively high processing power and large primary memory are able to run some SQL Reporting and Analysis tools.
it_user117558 - PeerSpot reviewer
BI Junior consultant at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
Jun 5, 2014
PowerQuery is so long and something exists in SSAS cube but I cannot do the same in tabular.
Learn what your peers think about Microsoft Power BI. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2026.
886,468 professionals have used our research since 2012.
it_user171969 - PeerSpot reviewer
Microsoft BI Consultant with 51-200 employees
Dec 14, 2014
End-user tools such as Excel is not good enough for all business scenarios.
it_user171975 - PeerSpot reviewer
MSBI Technology Architect/Developer at a pharma/biotech company with 51-200 employees
Dec 22, 2014
The aggregate functions in SSRS.
it_user181869 - PeerSpot reviewer
Microsoft BI Architect at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Jan 15, 2015
The SQL Server Reporting Services can certainly use some more help.
it_user194682 - PeerSpot reviewer
Database Analyst at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Feb 15, 2015
The robustness of the stack could be improved as it fails when we import/extract large amounts of data.
it_user221220 - PeerSpot reviewer
Analyst in XBRL Projects at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Apr 22, 2015
Microsoft has poor support for XML.
it_user289488 - PeerSpot reviewer
MSBI Technical Lead at a tech company with 10,001+ employees
Aug 13, 2015
Reporting or SharePoint needs a lot of learning so you can build reports
it_user229761 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Consultant | Architect at DHL
Aug 23, 2016
Well definitely the connectors, which is always a huge space for improvement in configurations, especially the amount of connectors etc.