Microsoft Power BI Reviews, Competitors and Pricing

reviewer1551786

Project Consultant at a financial services firm with 501-1,000 employees

Apr 15, 2021

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A stable solution with a great dashboard

Pros and Cons

"Microsoft BI is very easy to set up and use."

"Integration with products that are not Microsoft could be more improved."

What is our primary use case?

Around 50% of our customers use this solution. We plan to extend our usage of this solution.

What is most valuable?

Our customers really like the dashboard. They can click on whatever they want for an in-depth view. Microsoft BI is very easy to set up and use.

What needs improvement?

In general, all the Microsoft programs are integrated quite well, but it could be improved. Also, integration with products that are not Microsoft could be more improved.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Microsoft BI on and off for the past two years.

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What do I think about the stability of the solution?

If implemented correctly, Microsoft BI is quite stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It's quite scalable.

How are customer service and support?

I have never contacted customer support.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I don't know much about the licensing because our customers pay for it.

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend this solution. Overall, on a scale from one to ten, I would give Microsoft BI a rating of nine.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

Mahmoud Umar

Founder/CEO at Data.tac Nigeria Limited

Apr 12, 2021

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Allows us to compile and transform data into visual representations

Pros and Cons

"Microsoft BI allows us to connect to any database or any dataset."

"Compared to other applications, like Tableau, Microsoft BI doesn't have as many functions that allow you to do more in-depth analysis and represent the findings."

What is our primary use case?

We get a lot of chunks of data, especially production data and data based on education — performance-related data. We use BI to analyze the data so we can give feedback to our clients. If they're experiencing problems, we help them find trends, etc.

Within our organization, there are roughly six or seven people using this solution.

What is most valuable?

Microsoft BI allows us to connect to any database or any dataset. It automatically renders some of the information which makes things a lot easier for us.

What needs improvement?

Compared to other applications, like Tableau, Microsoft BI doesn't have as many functions that allow you to do a more in-depth analysis and represent the findings. I think they have a standard that they keep to.

As the UI experience is always changing, the interface and security can always be improved.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution for roughly four years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Stability is quite good. It's reliable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We haven't had to expand because usually we just wait for the data. However, we do have plans to expand.

How are customer service and technical support?

On a scale from one to five, I would give their technical support a rating of four.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was very straightforward.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I believe we pay on a monthly basis. Compared to what's available on the market, I think we pay a fair price.

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend Microsoft BI to others. On a scale from one to ten, I would give this solution a rating of seven.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Power BI

November 2024

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Learn what your peers think about Microsoft Power BI. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: November 2024.

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Enrique Pacheco

Managing Director at IDMdev Tech Solutions®

Feb 3, 2021

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It is stable and provides a quick view of the most important indicators, but its setup and support should be better

Pros and Cons

"The use of graphics to show and view the data indicators is the most valuable feature. It is also very stable."

"Its setup and support should be improved. We would like to see more material for developers that provides clear explanations about how we can do data mining by using Microsoft BI. It would also be good if we can connect a feature to other customized machine learning solutions."

What is our primary use case?

We have integrated this solution into the software that we created for a client specifically for reports and data consumption. It is a hybrid infrastructure project with hybrid integration. It has a lot of reports executed or created from the cloud.

How has it helped my organization?

It has helped us to have a really quick view of the most important indicators of the operational issues of our platform. It has enabled collaboration between different operational levels in the company.

What is most valuable?

The use of graphics to show and view the data indicators is the most valuable feature. It is also very stable.

What needs improvement?

Its setup and support should be improved. We would like to see more material for developers that provides clear explanations about how we can do data mining by using Microsoft BI. It would also be good if we can connect a feature to other customized machine learning solutions.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It has good stability.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We haven't used it a lot, but it seems good so far. We have only three users. We may include two or three more users to the platform.

How are customer service and technical support?

Their technical support is bad. I didn't like the technical support of Microsoft.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We also use Oracle and Tableau.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was not complex, but we would like a more agile process. The initial deployment took about two months. The platform that we created was very robust.

What about the implementation team?

We are a reseller of the solution. We did the deployment.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We were thinking of integrating Tableau instead of Microsoft BI, but the client chose Microsoft BI.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate Microsoft BI a seven out of ten.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

Bart Witteveen

ERP Consultant MS Dynamics Nav at Witteveen Logistics & IT

Jan 23, 2019

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Better insights, flexibility, and performance

What is our primary use case?

My primary use case is for the performance, compared to MS Dynamics NAV, and flexibility in data and dashboard building.

How has it helped my organization?

Better insights, flexibility, and performance.

What is most valuable?

Great performance.

What needs improvement?

Sharing reports with non-Power BI users
Use of ISO weeks (European) in relative date options.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

CTOINBI874

Principal at a tech services company with 1-10 employees

Apr 18, 2018

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It allows individuals to do the analysis themselves

Pros and Cons

"It allows individuals to do the analysis themselves."

"Drill-down in dashboards needs to improved. The capability only works in Power BI Desktop today. We need to have an alternative approach today."

What is our primary use case?

Consolidating data from multiple sources and providing dashboards to a broad set of users: Finance, Human Resources, Operations, and Leadership.

How has it helped my organization?

It allows individuals to do the analysis themselves. We are getting adoption beyond original expectations.

What is most valuable?

Most importantly, the dashboards. Recently, we are exploring vendor provided analysis/visuals and the use of R.

What needs improvement?

Drill-down in dashboards needs to improved. The capability only works in Power BI Desktop today. We need to have an alternative approach today.

For how long have I used the solution?

Three to five years.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

it_user654243

Business Intelligence Developer at a financial services firm with 5,001-10,000 employees

Apr 16, 2018

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Self-service allows end-users to source information, but email-based subscription is needed

How has it helped my organization?

It cuts away the time spent to source some of this information. It saves a lot of time, and a lot of things have been automated. Things that used to take close to a week, now, in one day, we are done with it.

What is most valuable?

It's actually the self-service of Power BI, because we're on a lean structure here, the technical side. So we wanted them to push some of those things back to end-users.

What needs improvement?

For our reporting services, it would be good to have the capability for email-based subscriptions. I want to be able to change the sender dynamically, without having to rely on running through an exercise passage.

I know for a fact that SAP can do this, dynamic sending for subscriptions. Also IBM Cognos can do it. Why Microsoft refused to do that, that you have to rely on add-on to be able to do that...

Overall, it has performed to our expectation. It's okay for what we want to use it for. But because they keep changing, every now and then, there's a major shift in versions, so we are trying to catch up.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I've used the IBM suite, and I've used SAP, and Microsoft is fairly stable for me. And because there is a large community for issues that arise, for every bug that you encounter, you have a solution, just Google it, without having to go for special training like with SAS.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

From what I understand, it requires some level of expertise to even understand what it can do, how it can be used in a huge enterprise. That is not so easy for deployment. But for a medium sized organization, yes, it's scalable.

How was the initial setup?

It was straightforward. Very straightforward.

You can just go to YouTube, somebody has done it before. Because it has GUI, just click, click, click, next, next, and you're done. And YouTube helped a lot in deploying projects: SSAS Projects, SSIS projects, and SSRS projects.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

IBM Analytics. But the learning curve for IBM, that's what actually led us to pause on the implementation of the Cognos 10. Everything was pretty much difficult to do. Things that you could do in two clicks in Microsoft, you would be doing in five, ten clicks in IBM.

What other advice do I have?

When selecting a vendor, the most important criteria are affordability - because of the exchange in my country - and ease of use.

I would rate this solution a seven out of 10, because you can actually go from the common tools that you use, from your Excel, from your SharePoint... You can pretty much do everything with it. The little things that you can't do, you can customize it to do by writing code.

I would say that, you should look away from the limitations. Focus on the positives of it, because it's cheaper to acquire than most of the big five. It's cheaper to acquire and easy to use.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

it_user7656

BI Expert with 51-200 employees

Jul 14, 2013

We’ve Got The Power: “Power BI”, New Microsoft BI Suite Announced

Power BI: a new suite of Business Intelligence tools

Over the past few months, teams at Microsoft have made several new Business Intelligence tools available for preview; some only privately and some to the public. The entire suite will soon be available for either public preview or release under the new name: “Power BI”. All of the components of Power BI are listed below but the big news is a new hosted offering called “Power BI for Office 365” and “Power BI Sites”. The announcement was made at the Worldwide Partner Conference this week. Users can sign-up to be notified when the new offerings are available for general availability, apparently in the very near future. I’ve had an opportunity to work with early, pre-released versions and it has been interesting to see the gaps being filled a little at a time. On the heals of the new suite, some of the names of existing products are also being changed. It’s hard to have a conversation about the collection of Microsoft’s “Power”/”Pivot”/”Point”…named tools and not get tongue twisted but these changes bring more consistency.

Bottom line: this is good news and a promising step forward – especially for smaller businesses. Larger, enterprise customers should know that this move is consistent with Microsoft’s “cloud first” philosophy and these capabilities are being introduced through Office365/Azure platform with required connectivity. Read the commentary on community leaders’ sites below. I have no doubt that there will be a lot of discussion on this in the weeks to come with more announcements from Microsoft in the near future.

Power BI for Office 365 and Power BI Sites

When Power View was released with SQL Server 2012 Enterprise and Business Intelligence Editions, it was available only when integrated with SharePoint 2010 Enterprise Edition. This is a good solution for enterprise customers but it was complex and expensive for some to get started. Power View was also offered only as a Silverlight application that wouldn’t work on many mobile devices and web browsers. For this reason, Power View has really been viewed as a “Microsoft only” tool and only for big companies with deep pockets and very capable IT support groups. Even the new Power View add-in for Excel 2013 ProPlus Edition requires Silverlight which is not a show-stopper for most folks but a hindrance for multi-platform and tablet users. This all changes with this new offering as the Power View visualization tool in the hosted product come in 3 new flavors: native Windows 8 app (runs on desktop, Surface RT & Pro), native iOS (targeting the iPad) and HTML5 (works on practically any newer device). This means that when you open a Power View report on your Surface or iPad, it can run as an installed app with all the cool pinch-zoom and gestures you’ve come to expect on a tablet device. For now, this is good news for the cloud user as no on-premises option is currently available. An interesting new edition will be the introduction of a semantic translation engine for natural language queries, initially for English.

Power Query

Formerly known as “Data Explorer”, this add-in for Excel 2013 allows you to discover and integrate data into Excel. Think of it as intelligent, personal ETL with specialized tools to pivot, transform and cleanse data obtained from web-based HTML tables and data feeds.

Power Map

This Excel 2013 ProPlus add-in, which was previously known as “GeoFlow”, uses advanced 3-D imaging to plot data points on a global rendering of Bing Maps. Each data point can be visualized as a column, stacked column or heat map point positioned using latitude & longitude, named map location or address just like you would in a Bing Maps search. You can plot literally thousands of points and then tour the map with the keyboard, mouse or touch gestures to zoom and navigate the globe. A tour can be created, recorded and then played back. Aside from the immediate cool factor of this imagery, this tool has many practical applications.

Power Pivot

The be reveal is that “PowerPivot” shall now be known as “Power Pivot”. Note, the space added so that the name is consistent with the other applications. We all know and love this tool, an add-in for Excel 2010 and Excel 2013 ProPlus (two different versions with some different features) that allow large volumes of related, multi-table data sources to be imported into an in-memory semantic model with sophisticated calculations. On a well-equipped computer, this means that a model could contain tens of millions of rows that get neatly compressed into memory and can be scanned, queried and aggregated very quickly. Power Pivot models (stored as an Excel .xlsx file) can be uploaded to a SharePoint where they become a server-managed resource. A Power Pivot model can also be promoted to a server-hosted SSAS Tabular model where data is not only managed and queried on an enterprise server but also takes on many of the features and capabilities of classic SSAS multidimensional database. Whether a Power Pivot model is published to a SharePoint library or promoted to a full-fledged SSAS Tabular model, the data can be queried by any client tool as if it were an Analysis Services cube.

Power View

For now, Power View in Excel 2013 ProPlus and Power View in SharePoint 2010 Enterprise and SharePoint 2013 Enterprise remain the same – the Silverlight-based drag-and-drop visual analytic tool. With the addition of SQL Server 2012 CU4, Power View in SharePoint can be used with SharePoint published Power Pivot models, SSAS Tabular models and SSAS Multidimensional “cube” models. There has been no news yet about a non-Silverlight replacement for the on-premise version of Power View. The Microsoft teams and leadership have heard the requests and feedback, loud-and-clear, from the community and we can only guess that there is more is in-the-works but I make no forecast or assumptions about the eventual availability of an on-premise offering similar to Power BI for Office 365.

Here’s a demonstration that Amir Netz did of the new Power BI features at the World Wide Partner Conference this week

Additional thoughts and information from the community can be found at:

Chris Webb: Some Thoughts About Power BI

Andrew Brust: Microsoft Announces Power BI for Office 365

SQL Server Blog: Introducing Power BI for Office 365

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

it_user1068Tech Support Staff at a tech company with 51-200 employees

Report as inappropriate

Jul 28, 2013

Entrepreneurs who run small businesses have another reason to smile or keep smiling. However, doesn't it seem like other clients will be locked out from using this great product in the making? My reasons entail the fact that the Power BI is designed for compatibility with Azure or Office 365 platforms? There are many businesses across the globe that utilize other platforms other than these two. Does it mean they will be locked out due to compatibility issues? If so, then the platform the Power BI will support will limit its use to some extent, making this a con.

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it_user7656

BI Expert with 51-200 employees

Jul 14, 2013

Taking the Tabular Journey

A Getting-Started and Survival Guide for planning, designing and building Tabular Semantic Models with Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Analysis Services.

by Paul Turley

This post will be unique in that it will be a living document that will be updated and expanded over time. I will also post-as-I-go on the site about other things but this particular post will live for a while. I have a lot of good intentions – I know that about myself and I also know that the best way to get something done is to get it started – especially if I’m too busy with work and projects. If it’s important, the “completing” part can happen later. In the case of this post, I’ll take care of building it as I go, topic by topic. Heck, maybe it will never be “finished” but then are we ever really done with IT business solutions? I have been intending to get started on this topic for quite some time but in my very busy project schedule lately, didn’t have a concise message for a post – but I do have a lot to say about creating and using tabular models.

I’ve added some place-holder topic headers for some things that are on my mind. This list is inspired by a lot of the questions my consulting customers, students, IT staff members and business users have asked me on a regular basis. This will motivate me to come back and finish them and for you to come back and read them. I hope that you will post comments about your burning questions, issues and ideas for related topics to cover in this living post about tabular model design practices and recommendations.

Why Tabular?

SQL Server Analysis Services is a solid and mature platform that now serves as the foundation for two different implementations. Multidimensional models are especially suited for large volumes of dimensionally-structured data that have additive measure values that sum-up along related dimensional attributes & hierarchies.

By design, tabular architecture is more flexible than multidimensional in a number of scenarios. Tabular also works well with dimensional data structures but also works well in cases where the structure of the data doesn’t resemble a traditional star or snowflake of fact and dimension tables. When I started using PowerPivot and tabular SSAS projects, I insisted on transforming data into star schemas like I’ve always done before building a cube. In many cases, I still do because it’s easier to design a predictable model that performs well and is easy for users to navigate. A dimensional model has order and disciple however, the data is not always shaped this way and it can take a lot of effort to force it into that structure.

Tabular is fast for not only additive, hierarchal structured data but in many cases, it works well with normalized and flattened data as long as all the data fits into memory and the model is designed to support simple relationships and calculations that take advantage of the function engine and VertiPaq compression and query engine. It’s actually pretty easy to make tabular do silly, inefficient things but it’s also not very hard to make it work really well, either.

James Serra has done a nice job of summarizing the differences between the two choices and highlighted the strengths and comparative weaknesses of each in his April 4 blog post titled SQL Server 2012: Multidimensional vs Tabular. James points out that tabular models can be faster and easier to design and deploy, and that they concisely perform well without giving them a lot of extra attention for tuning and optimization. Honestly, there isn’t that much to maintain and a lot of the tricks we use to make cubes perform better (like measure group partitioning, aggregation design, strategic aggregation storage, usage-base optimization, proactive caching and cache-warming queries) are simply unnecessary. Most of these options don’t really exist in the tabular world. We do have partitions in tabular models but they’re really just for ease of design.

What About Multidimensional – Will Tabular Replace It?

The fact is the multidimensional databases (which most casual SSAS users refer to as “cubes”) will be supported for years to come. The base architecture for SSAS OLAP/UDM/Multidimensional is about 13 years old since Microsoft originally acquired a product code base from Panorama and then went on to enhance and then rewrite the engine over the years as it has matured. In the view of many industry professionals, this is still the more complete and feature-rich product.

Both multi and tabular have some strengths and weaknesses today and one is not clearly superior to the other. In many cases, tabular performs better and models are more simple to design and use but the platform is lacking equivalent commands and advanced capabilities. In the near future, the tabular product may inherit all of the features of its predecessor and the choice may become more clear; or, perhaps a hybrid product will emerge.

Isn’t a Tabular Model Just Another Name for a Cube?

No. …um, Yes. …well, sort of. Here’s the thing: The term “cube” has become a defacto term used by many to describe the general concept of a semantic model. Technically, the term “cube” defines a multidimensional structure that stores data in hierarchies of multi-level attributes and pre-calculated aggregate measure values at the intersect points between all those dimensions and at strategic points between many of the level members in-between. It’s a cool concept and an an even cooler technology but most people who aren’t close to this product don’t understand all that. Users just know that it works somehow but they’re often confused by some of the fine points… like the difference between hierarchies and levels. One has an All member and one doesn’t but they both have all the other members. It makes sense when you understand the architecture but it’s just weird behavior for those who don’t.

Since the tabular semantic model is actually Analysis Services with a single definition of object metadata, certain client tools will continue to treat the model as a cube, even though it technically isn’t. A tabular Analysis Services database contains some tables that serve the same purpose as measure groups in multidimensional semantic models. The rest of the tables are exposed as dimensions in the same way that cube dimensions exists in multidimensional. If a table in a tabular model includes both measures and attribute fields, in certain client tools like Excel, it will show up twice in the model; once as a measure group table and once as a dimension table.

(more to come)

Preparing Data for a Tabular Model

Data Modeling 101 for Tabular Models

Are There Rules for Tabular Model Design?

Tabular Model Design Checklist

What’s the Difference Between Calculated Columns & Measures?

What are the Naming Conventions for Tabular Model Objects?

What’s the Difference Between PowerPivot and Tabular Models?

How to Promote a Business-created PowerPivot Model to an IT-managed SSAS Tabular Model

Getting Started with DAX Calculations

DAX: Essential Concepts

DAX: Some of the Most Useful Functions

DAX: Some of the Most Interesting Functions

Using DAX to Solve real-World Business Scenarios

Do I Write MDX or DAX Queries to Report on Tabular Data?

Can I Use Reporting Services with Tabular & PowerPivot Models?

Do We Need to Have SharePoint to Use Tabular Models?

What Do You Teach Non-technical Business Users About PowerPivot and Tabular Models?

What’s the Best IT Tool for Reporting on Tabular Models?

What’s the Best Business User Tool for Browsing & Analyzing Business Data with Tabular Models?

Survival Tips for Using the Tabular Model Design Environment

How Do You Design a Tabular Model for a Large Volume of Data?

How Do You Secure a Tabular Model?

How to Deploy and Manage a Tabular Model SSAS Database

Tabular Model Common Errors and Remedies

Tabular Model, Workspace and Database Recovery Techniques

Scripting Tabular Model Measures

Simplifying and Automating Tabular Model Design Tasks

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.