Alteryx Platform vs. Microsoft Power BI vs. Microsoft Visual Studio Code

I would 100% recommend Alteryx to a friend, for me its friendly interface is the best, it has all the tools I need without the headache that programming is. It can be used for simple or complex analysis, so honestly, I don’t see a scenario where it wouldn’t suit. I’ve used Alteryx to make simple things I could do in Excel, for example, but it was less complex and faster to do in Alteryx, so why not? Its a very versatile tool.

Incentivized

Has significantly improved collation of data and visualisation especially with business across Europe. Has given me the ability to see the Site availability at the click of a button to see which Site is in the "money" and seize opportunities based on Market data

Incentivized

As a general workhorse IDE, Microsoft Visual Studio Codee is unmatched. Building on the early success of applications such as Atom, it has long been the standard for electron based IDEs. It can be outshone using IDEs that are dedicated to particular platforms, such as Microsoft Visual Studio Code for .net and the Jetbrains IDEs for Java, Python and others. For remote collaborative development, something like Zed is ahead of VSCode live share, which can be quite flakey.

Incentivized

• Pulling data from multiple disparate data sources.
• Allows users to see the data at every step of the workflow to be able to cleanse, analyze, and optimize the data.
• Provides an analytics platform that is easy for users of all levels to thrive in whether they are just starting out in their analytics journey or they have a master's degree in Data Science.

• Options for data source connections are immense. Not just which sources, but your options for *how* the data is brought in.
• Constant updates (this is both good and bad at times).
• User friendliness. I can get the data connections set up and draft some quick visuals, then release to the target audience and let them expand on it how they want to.

Incentivized

• Integrate with the git repository very well.
• Integrated copilot chat is very helpful to write code snippets and helps beginners to start with coding and development.
• Great library of available extensions is one of the best features in Microsoft Visual Studio Code.
• Dedicated Testing option to configure pytest and others are quite handy to use.

Incentivized

• Steeper Learning Curve: Alteryx can have a steep learning curve for users who are new to the platform or have limited experience with data analytics. Enhancements to the user interface and user onboarding resources could help make the learning process more intuitive and accessible to a wider range of users.
• Enhanced Data Visualization Capabilities: Alteryx offers basic data visualization capabilities, but there is room for improvement in terms of advanced visualizations and interactive dashboarding features. Adding more sophisticated chart types, interactive widgets, and customization options would enhance the data visualization capabilities within the platform.
• Improved Error Handling and Debugging: Alteryx provides error handling mechanisms, but enhancing the error reporting and debugging capabilities would be beneficial. Improved error messages, better visibility into data flow, and debugging tools could help users troubleshoot and resolve issues more efficiently.

Incentivized

• It would be easier for users could Microsoft Power BI and Excel used the same programming languages.
• Would like to see the online version of Microsoft Power BI be as powerful as the desktop version.
• Publishing a Microsoft Power BI file online and then having to save the file is somewhat redundant.
• Would like to export each page or chart as an image.

Incentivized

• The customization of key combinations should be more accessible and easier to change
• The auxiliary panels could be minimized or as floating tabs which are displayed when you click on them
• A monitoring panel of resources used by Microsoft Visual Studio Code or plugins and extensions would help a lot to be able to detect any malfunction of these

Incentivized

We've developed a working partnership with Alteryx. As an enablement suite, we're continuing to innovate and deliver great products with use of Alteryx in our solutions. Alteryx use expands to our global product development teams and is in use in multiple parts of our organization. Alteryx also delivers Experian demographic content to other clients in their product offering. We're highly likely to renew, but that decision is way above my pay grade.

Microsoft Power BI is an excellent and scalable tool. It has a learning curve, but once you get past that, the sky is the limit and you can build from the most simple to the most complex dashboards. I have built everything from simple reports with only a few data points to complex reports with many pages and advanced filtering.

Solid tool that provides everything you need to develop most types of applications. The only reason not a 10 is that if you are doing large distributed teams on Enterprise level, Professional does provide more tools to support that and would be worth the cost.

Incentivized

I've found that while some things might take a little longer to create, the flexibility of Alteryx allows you to perform any function needed. I haven't found a use that was not available in Alteryx yet. APIs and XMLs can be created to perform certain functions. In addition, CMD line commands can be sent using Alteryx to perform certain functions as well.

Incentivized

Automating reporting has reduced manual data processing by 50-70%, freeing up analysts for higher-value tasks. A finance team that previously spent 20+ hours per week on Excel-based reports now does it in minutes with Microsoft Power BI's automated Real-time dashboards have shortened decision cycles by 30-40%, enabling leadership to react quickly to sales trends, operational bottlenecks, and customer behavior.

Incentivized

Microsoft Visual Studio Code earns a 10 for its exceptional balance of power and simplicity. Its intuitive interface, robust extension ecosystem, and integrated terminal streamline development. With seamless Git integration and highly customizable settings, it adapts perfectly to any workflow, making complex coding tasks feel effortless for beginners and experts alike.

Incentivized

I use many programs and compared to others, Alteryx virtually never goes down, freezes up or gives an application error. Over a 4 year time period that I have used this program, any of these may have happened 3 times. It is an incredibly stable program that I feel completely confident in.

Overall, Microsoft Visual Studio Code is pretty reliable. Every so often, though, the app will experience an unexplained crash. Since it is a stand-alone app, connectivity or service issues don't occur in my experience. Restarting the app seems to always get around the problem, but I do make sure to save and backup current work.

Incentivized

I already gave the example of journal entries created in less than a second. What else can I tell you about.... I can tell you those 2 journal entries have historically had to be split into separate accounting systems so the outputs had to be very different (D365 vs Intacct) such that they are exactly ready for uploading. I can tell you I used to have some tire and battery queries hitting a line item detail table and they took hours to run UNTIL I asked IT for a view in SQL and now they're ready in about 5 minutes total. I guess I'd say if anything does take a long time - do some research with others and figure out what would speed them up

Incentivized

Microsoft Visual Studio Code is pretty snappy in performance terms. It launches quickly, and tasks are performed quickly. I don't have a lot of integrations other than CoPilot, but I suspect that if the integration partner is provisioned appropriately that any performance impact would be pretty minimal. It doesn't have a lot of bells and whistles (unless you start adding plugins left and right).

Incentivized

Stellar, bar-none. Some of the best support folks of any vendor. The Alteryx Community is the most responsive and supportive. On the rare occasion of a release issue or bug, we've been able to get quick help to solve the core problem. Alteryx does not play the blame game. They genuinely help the users solve their issues or respond to questions

Incentivized

It is a fantastic tool, you can do almost everything related with data and reports, it is a perfect substitutive of Power Point and Excel with a high evolution and flexibility, and also it is very friendly and easy to share. I think all companies should have Power BI (or other BI tool) in their software package and if they are in the MS Suite, for sure Power BI should be the one due to all the benefits of the MS ecosystem.

Incentivized

Active development means filing a bug on the GitHub repo typically gets you a response within 4 days. There are plugins for almost everything you need, whether it be linting, Vim emulation, even language servers (which I use to code in Scala). There is well-maintained official documentation. The only thing missing is forums. The closest thing is GitHub issues, which typically has the answers but is hard to sift through -- there are currently 78k issues.

Incentivized

1st level of trainings which I've attended in Paris was easy and I was already knowing %90, that learning could have been an e-learning instead of in-person

Incentivized

Very good, detailed online trainings which you can take at your own pace, and strong certifications exists, certifications are extremely detailed and hard...

Incentivized

There is really not much to it (the installation, that is). Once you get it installed, along with any of the add-ons (demographics, R, etc.), you are up and running almost immediately. There is really no additional setup. You can immediately begin blending data, running demographics, performing spatial queries, running predictive analysis, etc. And for many of these functions, the learning curve is quite easy.

It was integrated with our erp easily and was accessible on cloud.

Incentivized

Alteryx is MUCH more user friendly. both provide the ability to code within them, but Alteryx has much nicer interface. The formula tools have a more simple language that is easier to learn than formulae in SSIS. Alteryx is easy to read with multi colored tools identifying what each one does. It also allows for macros. You can build your own tool to process records of data or batch records together.

Incentivized

Microsoft Power BI is free. If I didn't want to create a custom platform (i.e. my organization insisted on an existing platform that I *had* to use), I'd use Microsoft Power BI. For any start-up or SMB, I'd just use Claude & Grok to build it quickly, also for free. Would not pay for Tableau or Sigma anymore. Not worth it at all.

Incentivized

Visual Studio Code stacks up nicely against Visual Studio because of the price and because it can be installed without admin rights. We don't exclusively use Visual Studio Code, but rather use Visual Studio and Visual Studio code depending on the project and which version of source control the given project is wired up to.

Incentivized

Individual analysts can quickly generate results using their own copy of Alteryx Designer. But using the Server and developing macros for more complex needs can be time consuming.

It is easily deployed with our Jamf Pro instance. There is actually very little setup involved in getting the app deployed, and it is fairly well self-contained and does not deploy a large amount of associated files. However, it is not particularly conducive to large project, multi-developer/department projects that involve some form of central integration.

Incentivized

• Error handling - allows controls to be built into workflows easily and allows them to be isolated and spat into control reports that can be easily reviewed and audited, thanks to the ability to create multiple outputs in one go.
• Time-saving - saved huge amounts of time, especially when moving Excel processes into Alteryx.
• Product development - allowed my firm to create products that we have been able to market and sell to clients.

Incentivized

• Power BI usage reduced the effort of analytical reports creation by about 80%
• Empowered all the level of employee to be more vigilant of the data and business insights, gained the profit of 8% overall.
• AI-powered predictive analytics improved forecasting accuracy by 17%, that topped the overall sales.

Incentivized

• Saves money by replacing suites of tools such as Visual Studio, IntelliJ, etc.
• Speeds development time and developer environment setup time
• Strengthens code quality with integrated autoformatting and linting
• Strengths Git practices by keeping version control tightly connected with the code

Incentivized