Adobe Analytics vs. Microsoft Power BI

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Adobe Analytics
Score 8.2 out of 10
N/A
Adobe acquired Omniture in 2009 and re-branded the platform as SiteCatalyst. It is now part of Adobe Marketing Cloud along with other products such as social marketing, test and targeting, and tag management. SiteCatalyst is one of the leading vendors in the web analytics category and is particularly strong in combining web analytics with other digital marketing capabilities like audience management and data management. Adobe Analytics also includes predictive marketing capabilities that help…N/A
Microsoft Power BI
Score 8.4 out of 10
N/A
Microsoft Power BI is a visualization and data discovery tool from Microsoft. It allows users to convert data into visuals and graphics, visually explore and analyze data, collaborate on interactive dashboards and reports, and scale across their organization with built-in governance and security.
$10
per month per user
Pricing
Adobe AnalyticsMicrosoft Power BI
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Adobe AnalyticsMicrosoft Power BI
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Adobe AnalyticsMicrosoft Power BI
Considered Both Products
Adobe Analytics
Chose Adobe Analytics
There are several business analytics software and all have different capabilities depending on the requirement. BI software today are a key and the face of the organizations e-commerce business - weather it is mobile or online. Selection of Adobe analytics was a joint decision …
Chose Adobe Analytics
Adobe is a massive business - provides some best in class technology best suited for a big business. Adobe is relatively expensive compared to other providers - needs to be a clear ROI that the investment will drive. Support offered by smaller companies is often better - …
Chose Adobe Analytics
I personally feel Adobe currently has the best offering, closely followed by Google Analytics.

Both have pros and cons but I feel Adobe has a little bit more in terms of custom dimensions and workspace that really help it shine; however, I feel Google Analytics is better when it …
Chose Adobe Analytics
The reporting interface is much simpler and intuitive in Adobe Analytics compared to Google Analytics. Much better anomaly detection capabilities and speed to insights. Easy to drill down by dimensions and customize reports. There are limitations in Google Analytics for the …
Chose Adobe Analytics
Adobe Analytics runs a close 3 with Google Analytics and pales in comparison with Webtrends. I inherited management of Adobe, but if I had my choice I'd switch to Webtrends if not for their ease of SQL customization and their ability to easily create bitstream data without …
Microsoft Power BI
Chose Microsoft Power BI
It is so much easier to find data points and build or update reports in Adobe Analytics. I use this for all my secondary order metrics and while there are two reports I use consistently in Power BI I find that it is hard to update those reports, even be able to see the ability …
Chose Microsoft Power BI
Just because we wanted single-party integration environment and a player which can take ownership of Big Data Analysis. Microsoft Power BI is better in these features as compared to other key BI players like Tableau.
Chose Microsoft Power BI
Power BI is usually the cheapest solution and most user-friendly for most people (since we are all used to the Microsoft Suite). However the connectivity to non-Microsoft soft tools (databases and data analysis tools) are somewhat limited, especially when compared to its …
Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
Adobe AnalyticsMicrosoft Power BI
Web Analytics
Comparison of Web Analytics features of Product A and Product B
Adobe Analytics
9.2
5 Ratings
17% above category average
Microsoft Power BI
-
Ratings
Lead Conversion Tracking9.35 Ratings00 Ratings
Bounce Rate Measurement9.35 Ratings00 Ratings
Device and Browser Reporting9.45 Ratings00 Ratings
Pageview Tracking9.15 Ratings00 Ratings
Event Tracking9.35 Ratings00 Ratings
Reporting in real-time8.75 Ratings00 Ratings
Referral Source Tracking9.35 Ratings00 Ratings
Customizable Dashboards9.05 Ratings00 Ratings
BI Standard Reporting
Comparison of BI Standard Reporting features of Product A and Product B
Adobe Analytics
-
Ratings
Microsoft Power BI
7.2
138 Ratings
12% below category average
Pixel Perfect reports00 Ratings6.5118 Ratings
Customizable dashboards00 Ratings8.0138 Ratings
Report Formatting Templates00 Ratings7.2126 Ratings
Ad-hoc Reporting
Comparison of Ad-hoc Reporting features of Product A and Product B
Adobe Analytics
-
Ratings
Microsoft Power BI
7.0
139 Ratings
14% below category average
Drill-down analysis00 Ratings7.2138 Ratings
Formatting capabilities00 Ratings6.4137 Ratings
Integration with R or other statistical packages00 Ratings7.5102 Ratings
Report sharing and collaboration00 Ratings7.0134 Ratings
Report Output and Scheduling
Comparison of Report Output and Scheduling features of Product A and Product B
Adobe Analytics
-
Ratings
Microsoft Power BI
7.8
133 Ratings
7% below category average
Publish to Web00 Ratings8.1128 Ratings
Publish to PDF00 Ratings8.1121 Ratings
Report Versioning00 Ratings7.3101 Ratings
Report Delivery Scheduling00 Ratings8.7103 Ratings
Delivery to Remote Servers00 Ratings6.773 Ratings
Data Discovery and Visualization
Comparison of Data Discovery and Visualization features of Product A and Product B
Adobe Analytics
-
Ratings
Microsoft Power BI
7.5
135 Ratings
7% below category average
Pre-built visualization formats (heatmaps, scatter plots etc.)00 Ratings7.5130 Ratings
Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization00 Ratings7.7121 Ratings
Predictive Analytics00 Ratings7.4101 Ratings
Access Control and Security
Comparison of Access Control and Security features of Product A and Product B
Adobe Analytics
-
Ratings
Microsoft Power BI
8.2
126 Ratings
4% below category average
Multi-User Support (named login)00 Ratings8.2120 Ratings
Role-Based Security Model00 Ratings8.9102 Ratings
Multiple Access Permission Levels (Create, Read, Delete)00 Ratings8.4110 Ratings
Report-Level Access Control00 Ratings7.01 Ratings
Single Sign-On (SSO)00 Ratings8.694 Ratings
Mobile Capabilities
Comparison of Mobile Capabilities features of Product A and Product B
Adobe Analytics
-
Ratings
Microsoft Power BI
7.9
117 Ratings
1% below category average
Responsive Design for Web Access00 Ratings8.0111 Ratings
Mobile Application00 Ratings7.493 Ratings
Dashboard / Report / Visualization Interactivity on Mobile00 Ratings7.4112 Ratings
Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding
Comparison of Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding features of Product A and Product B
Adobe Analytics
-
Ratings
Microsoft Power BI
8.4
80 Ratings
6% above category average
REST API00 Ratings8.172 Ratings
Javascript API00 Ratings9.656 Ratings
iFrames00 Ratings8.055 Ratings
Java API00 Ratings7.946 Ratings
Themeable User Interface (UI)00 Ratings8.263 Ratings
Customizable Platform (Open Source)00 Ratings8.444 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Adobe AnalyticsMicrosoft Power BI
Small Businesses
StatCounter
StatCounter
Score 9.0 out of 10
SAP Crystal
SAP Crystal
Score 8.9 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Siteimprove
Siteimprove
Score 8.8 out of 10
Reveal
Reveal
Score 9.9 out of 10
Enterprises
Contentsquare
Contentsquare
Score 8.6 out of 10
Jaspersoft Community Edition
Jaspersoft Community Edition
Score 9.7 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Adobe AnalyticsMicrosoft Power BI
Likelihood to Recommend
8.4
(179 ratings)
7.9
(140 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
10.0
(42 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Usability
6.7
(33 ratings)
9.0
(56 ratings)
Availability
8.3
(12 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
7.9
(11 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
3.9
(41 ratings)
7.9
(52 ratings)
In-Person Training
1.4
(5 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Online Training
7.0
(5 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
8.0
(10 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
7.3
(6 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
9.9
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Professional Services
7.7
(5 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Adobe AnalyticsMicrosoft Power BI
Likelihood to Recommend
Adobe
Adobe Analytics is better than some other tools as it feels better set up for actual "analysis", rather than simply "reporting". The power of Workspace allows you to drag 'n' drop at ease which makes you are far more in control of your own analysis/discovery/exploration. However, regards the final reports and dashboards' look 'n' feel the Workspace PDF output is lacking visually compared to other products like Google's Looker. To engage with less technical end users sometimes Looker feels the better, more polished option.
Read full review
Microsoft
In operations we use the tool for many different topics, from factory quality systems to high level reviews. We have created kind of an internal "App Store" based on Power BI where you have a lot of different dashboards for different solutions (cost, cash, health and safety, sales, factories, distribution centers...) and you as an user just need to get in that "App Store" and enter in whatever tool can be useful for you. It is open to all the operations employees and can use on demand. Also it has raised the imagination of our colleagues, as they are not only working by themselves creating new reports, but also raising fantastic ideas that can be extended for the usage of all the community.
Read full review
Pros
Adobe
  • They've been really an industry standard tool in analytics for a long, long time. They've got the trusted brand and the reputation, a wonderful community behind it. It is always nice, having that level of support where you can meet other practitioners. It's a great benefit because I can meet other people who have already pushed the tool a lot farther than I have. And it's a great place to get ideas in that way. We came from a world where we were running on a homegrown system that we'd use to do click tracking. You get some advantages on that of the customization, but losing out on community of support was one of the big reasons why we decided to move beyond that and implement Adobe Analytics instead.
Read full review
Microsoft
  • Quickly filter and view granular data sets with easily configurable reporting figures.
  • The ability to quickly switch between tabs allows for historical data comparisons and progress tracking.
  • It's helpful to dive into the data and break it down from high levels to small.
  • Achieve actionable insights faster by using real-time data. It's incredible to have online access to reports.
Read full review
Cons
Adobe
  • Most of the problems that Adobe Analytics as of now is having, it is getting addressed in a newer tool called Web Desk DK from implementation. They are already addressing that issue with the new tool and also the time data with the customer general analytics. So there is something not in workspace analysis and this is what they're addressing in customer general analytics. Which is good.
Read full review
Microsoft
  • The desktop app is great but needs a lot of performance improvements
  • No MacOS Version for the Desktop app, this is a big limitation for business since executives prefer Macs
  • Premium Cloud Version of Power BI is awfully expensive
  • On-Premise Version of the Power BI Reports Server is bundled only with SQL Server Enterprise License and cannot be purchased separately and requires Software Assurance Subscription
  • On-Premise Power BI Report Server doesn't support ADFS, AzureAD or any Claims-Based authentication platform, a sad disadvantage for enterprises
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
Adobe
We've found multiple uses for Adobe Analytics in our organization. Each department analyzes the data they need and creates actionables based off of that data. For E-Commerce, we're constantly using data to analyze user engagement, website performance and evaluate ROI.
Read full review
Microsoft
I find it helpful and easy to use
Read full review
Usability
Adobe
Sometimes the processing times are very long. I have had reports or dashboards time out multiple times during presentations. It could be improved. It is understandable since there is a huge data set that the tool is processing before showing anything, however for a company that large they should invest in optimizing processing times.
Read full review
Microsoft
At this point, I think we all know who has taken the lead in the business intelligence and analytics market worldwide. With fresh new updates every other day on top of an already robustly built product with all features that one can dream of is a no brainer, I feel. Microsoft will invariably be synonymous with quality and professionalism.
Read full review
Reliability and Availability
Adobe
I do not ever recall a time when Adobe Analytics was unavailable to me to use in the 8 or so years I have been an end user of the product. My most-used day-to-day analytics tool Parse.ly however, generally has a multiple hours planned offline maintenance every two to four weeks, and sometimes has issues collecting realtime analytics that last anywhere between 15 minutes to an hour, and happen anywhere between 1 to 5 times a month.
Read full review
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Performance
Adobe
Again, no issues here. Performance within the day updates hourly. other reports are updated overnight and available to access by the next morning. Pages load quickly, the site navigates easily and the UX is quite straightforward to get command over. On this front, I give Adobe kudos for building a great experience to work within
Read full review
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Adobe
I barely see any communication from Adobe Analytics. The content on the web is also not that great or easy to read. I would recommend a better communication about the product and the new addons information to come to its user by a better mean.
Read full review
Microsoft
I can't really speak to the support overall, [but] I will say that in the almost three years I have used the system, I have only needed to contact their support team once. I think the team was helpful, but it did take some time for us to resolve the issues/ request that they had. I guess the good news is that the system is pretty stable, and I personally have rarely needed to contact their technical support team.
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In-Person Training
Adobe
It was a one-day training several years ago that cost the organization several thousand dollars. There were only about 10 people in the training class. Adobe tried to cram so much information into that one-day class that none of our users felt like they really learned anything helpful from the experience. Follow-up training is too expensive
Read full review
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Online Training
Adobe
The online training for Adobe SiteCatalyst consists of short product videos. These are ok, but only go so far. For a while Adobe charged a fee for this, but recently made these available for free. There are many great blog posts that help users learn how to apply the product as well.
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Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
Adobe
One of the benefits and obstacles to successfully using Adobe Analytics is a great / more accurate implementation, make sure your analytics group is intimate with the details of the implementation and that the requirements are driven by the business.
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Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
Adobe
I think Adobe's been around longer as a product but Tealium, from when I did research, it has auto-tagging. So one of my biggest pet peeves is when I'm rolling out new features, and whether it's an app or a website, is that I have to go speak with our metrics team or tagging team and we have to come up with these different strategies. Okay, how are we gonna tag it? What are we going to name it? It just seems like a lot of wasted time in my opinion. I want to track everything. I want to know every single thing these people are doing. We shouldn't have to have this conversation if we tag this, you might not have time to tag this right away for MVP. It's like that to me right now. That shouldn't even be a conversation. I should be able to release a feature, I should be able to just automatically go pull reports on that. And just figure out exactly what they were doing.
Read full review
Microsoft
[Microsoft] Power BI is practical and effective, like a hammer for a nail, it is easy to use and produces very quickly the results that in most cases are urgently required by clients (nice reports to share on the web). To start using [Microsoft] Power BI you need a business email address, with that you create an account in Power BI Service and in less than 1 hour you will have installed Power BI Desktop, a report will have been created and it will have been published on the web .
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Contract Terms and Pricing Model
Adobe
Adobe Analytics is relatively affordable compared to other tools, given it provides a range of flexible variables to use that I have not found in any other tools so far. It is worth investing in if your company is medium or large-sized and brings a steady flow of revenue. For small companies, it can be overpriced.
Read full review
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Scalability
Adobe
My organization uses Adobe Analytics across a multitude of brand portfolios. Each brand has multiple websites, mobile apps and some even have connected TV apps/channels on Roku and similar devices. Adobe can handle the multitude of properties that have simple, small(ish) websites and the larger brand properties that include web, mobile and connected TVs/OTT devices.
Each of those larger brands has multiple categories and channels to keep track of. We can see the data by channel/device or aggregate all the data together. This gives our executive teams the full picture and the departmental teams the view they need to see their own performance.
Read full review
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Professional Services
Adobe
The professional services team is one of the best teams for complex adobe analytics implementations, especially for clients having multiple website and mobile applications. However, the cost of professional services is a bit high which makes few clients opt out of it, but for large scale implementations they are very helpful
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Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
Adobe
  • I like to think it's positive. It's a very steep learning curve, so we do face a lot of challenges with adoption inside of the companies. My team and I evangelize this and also who's in charge of data and advanced analytics, but it's very hard to leverage that with typical business analysis people. These are people who live their life in Excel and SQL and Power BI. They just use this very occasionally and by only looking at that sort of aggregate data, they miss out on behavior and what actually happens in execution. And because it's such a steep learning curve, we do have a challenge pushing it in there.
Read full review
Microsoft
  • It helps us track and achieve company goals.
  • It shows us [our] performance in areas we could not previously track and allows us to see and work on how to improve their performance.
  • Quick easy access for executives to use in helping teams and addressing issues.
Read full review
ScreenShots

Microsoft Power BI Screenshots

Screenshot of Microsoft Power BI - Turns insights into impact for business usersScreenshot of Power BI integrates easily with Microsoft 365Screenshot of Microsoft Power BI - AI-Powered CapabilitiesScreenshot of Microsoft Power BI - Copilot can be used to create reportsScreenshot of Microsoft Power BI - Data HubScreenshot of Microsoft Power BI - Scales as organizational needs grow