BrightGauge vs. Microsoft Power BI

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
BrightGauge
Score 9.0 out of 10
N/A
BrightGauge is a BI tool from ConnectWise that puts essential information in one place, providing visibility for more informed decisions. The user can customize BrightGauge dashboards and sync other business tools in its BI dashboard software for ultimate visibility. Users can also display data with embeddable gauges on public sites.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
BrightGaugeMicrosoft Power BI
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
BrightGaugeMicrosoft 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
BrightGaugeMicrosoft Power BI
Considered Both Products
BrightGauge
Chose BrightGauge
BrightGauge is by far the easiest to learn/use of the BI tools I have experienced. We had managers building their own dashboards with no outside help. It is not incredibly versatile though so if you want to get much more beyond taking the data and putting it in a chart or table …
Microsoft Power BI
Chose Microsoft Power BI
Power BI is a lot more versatile. I describe it to people as you can go as deep as you want/need to. This is somewhat of a pain point because sometimes I feel like I have to be a coder in order to accomplish something complex but most of the time it is incredibly user friendly …
Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
BrightGaugeMicrosoft Power BI
BI Standard Reporting
Comparison of BI Standard Reporting features of Product A and Product B
BrightGauge
7.9
9 Ratings
3% below category average
Microsoft Power BI
7.2
138 Ratings
12% below category average
Pixel Perfect reports6.85 Ratings6.4118 Ratings
Customizable dashboards9.09 Ratings7.9138 Ratings
Report Formatting Templates8.08 Ratings7.2126 Ratings
Ad-hoc Reporting
Comparison of Ad-hoc Reporting features of Product A and Product B
BrightGauge
8.2
9 Ratings
2% above category average
Microsoft Power BI
7.0
139 Ratings
14% below category average
Drill-down analysis9.09 Ratings7.2138 Ratings
Formatting capabilities7.09 Ratings6.4137 Ratings
Integration with R or other statistical packages8.04 Ratings7.5102 Ratings
Report sharing and collaboration9.08 Ratings7.0134 Ratings
Report Output and Scheduling
Comparison of Report Output and Scheduling features of Product A and Product B
BrightGauge
8.0
9 Ratings
4% below category average
Microsoft Power BI
7.8
133 Ratings
7% below category average
Publish to Web9.05 Ratings8.1128 Ratings
Publish to PDF8.09 Ratings8.1121 Ratings
Report Versioning7.05 Ratings7.3101 Ratings
Report Delivery Scheduling8.09 Ratings8.7103 Ratings
Delivery to Remote Servers8.12 Ratings6.773 Ratings
Data Discovery and Visualization
Comparison of Data Discovery and Visualization features of Product A and Product B
BrightGauge
8.6
8 Ratings
7% above category average
Microsoft Power BI
7.5
135 Ratings
7% below category average
Pre-built visualization formats (heatmaps, scatter plots etc.)8.88 Ratings7.5130 Ratings
Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization9.03 Ratings7.7121 Ratings
Predictive Analytics8.04 Ratings7.3101 Ratings
Access Control and Security
Comparison of Access Control and Security features of Product A and Product B
BrightGauge
7.7
9 Ratings
10% below category average
Microsoft Power BI
8.2
126 Ratings
4% below category average
Multi-User Support (named login)8.09 Ratings8.1120 Ratings
Role-Based Security Model5.08 Ratings8.9102 Ratings
Multiple Access Permission Levels (Create, Read, Delete)8.68 Ratings8.5110 Ratings
Single Sign-On (SSO)9.01 Ratings8.694 Ratings
Report-Level Access Control00 Ratings7.01 Ratings
Mobile Capabilities
Comparison of Mobile Capabilities features of Product A and Product B
BrightGauge
8.9
3 Ratings
12% above category average
Microsoft Power BI
7.9
117 Ratings
0% below category average
Responsive Design for Web Access9.02 Ratings8.0111 Ratings
Dashboard / Report / Visualization Interactivity on Mobile8.73 Ratings7.4112 Ratings
Mobile Application00 Ratings7.493 Ratings
Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding
Comparison of Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding features of Product A and Product B
BrightGauge
7.7
4 Ratings
2% below category average
Microsoft Power BI
8.4
80 Ratings
6% above category average
REST API10.03 Ratings8.172 Ratings
Javascript API9.62 Ratings9.656 Ratings
iFrames6.01 Ratings8.055 Ratings
Java API6.01 Ratings8.046 Ratings
Themeable User Interface (UI)5.01 Ratings8.263 Ratings
Customizable Platform (Open Source)9.62 Ratings8.444 Ratings
Best Alternatives
BrightGaugeMicrosoft Power BI
Small Businesses
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Score 8.9 out of 10
BrightGauge
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Score 9.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Reveal
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Score 9.9 out of 10
Reveal
Reveal
Score 9.9 out of 10
Enterprises
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Score 9.7 out of 10
Jaspersoft Community Edition
Jaspersoft Community Edition
Score 9.7 out of 10
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User Ratings
BrightGaugeMicrosoft Power BI
Likelihood to Recommend
9.0
(9 ratings)
7.9
(140 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Usability
9.8
(2 ratings)
9.0
(56 ratings)
Support Rating
10.0
(2 ratings)
7.9
(52 ratings)
User Testimonials
BrightGaugeMicrosoft Power BI
Likelihood to Recommend
ConnectWise
I think this tool is an absolute have to have for MSPs, especially those using ConnectWise PSA for a ticketing system. From internal KPIs to showing customer's the value of your Managed Service, you will need this tool. 9/10 because the need for longer data sets is growing for my team. Trend lines over time are a big push industry wide to show improvements in our customers over the time as our MSP customer. Presently my team has to use CW PSA's Report Writer and that tool is the least user friendly we've encountered. Looking forward to the evolution of BrightGauge for our business
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.
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Pros
ConnectWise
  • Robust and flexible kinds of dashboards and gauges
  • Great customer support that often leaves custom video recordings answering your question, showing you how to do what you're asking
  • Good ability to tie into critical data sources for our company's operations
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
ConnectWise
  • Modifying data sets to bring in custom fields requires an experienced SQL engineer
  • Cost when bringing in lots of data sources can be prohibitive
  • Limited ability to format gauges and reports
  • Make MFA a requirement - this data is sensitive and giving the admin the ability to force MFA is a MUST!
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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
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Likelihood to Renew
ConnectWise
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
I find it helpful and easy to use
Read full review
Usability
ConnectWise
Usability is BrightGauge's strength. Granting the ability of virtually any user to be able to create a dashboard is incredibly valuable. If an organization very simple and straight forward reporting needs then BrightGauge is a perfect fit for them. Connecting to the dataset we used was very quick and easy and I imagine it would be the same for any major data source you would like to pull from.
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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.
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Support Rating
ConnectWise
We did not need to use BrightGauge's support for the entire time that we used it. Best support is always the one that isn't needed because nothing breaks.
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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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Alternatives Considered
ConnectWise
We looked very briefly at Solar Winds, but due to Connectwise the reporting was not very accurate and was conflicted.
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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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Return on Investment
ConnectWise
  • Faster compilation of Business Review material
  • For larger customers, the dashboarding has helped our customers to remain sticky and add services/revenue to our MSP. They want to add more fragments of their IT for the 1 pane rollup.
  • From a leadership perspective, BG has allowed me to make difficult staffing decisions with confidence. Detailed metric driven decisions on who is hitting KPIs/who isn't - as well as when data proved we were overstaffed and understaffed.
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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