Databox vs. Microsoft BI (MSBI)

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Databox
Score 9.5 out of 10
N/A
Databox, headquartered in Cambridge, offers Databox Designer, an application allowing enterprise level users to track and share KPIs from key applications, touting a no code setup and an API and query tools for integration with custom data sources and data searches.N/A
Microsoft BI (MSBI)
Score 8.4 out of 10
N/A
Microsoft BI is a business intelligence product used for data analysis and generating reports on server-based data. It features unlimited data analysis capacity with its reporting engine, SQL Server Reporting Services alongside ETL, master data management, and data cleansing.
$9.99
per user/per month
Pricing
DataboxMicrosoft BI (MSBI)
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Power BI Pro
$9.99
per user/per month
Power BI Premium
4,995
per month
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
DataboxMicrosoft BI (MSBI)
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details——
More Pricing Information
Features
DataboxMicrosoft BI (MSBI)
BI Standard Reporting
Comparison of BI Standard Reporting features of Product A and Product B
Databox
9.3
8 Ratings
10% above category average
Microsoft BI (MSBI)
8.6
49 Ratings
5% above category average
Pixel Perfect reports10.05 Ratings9.042 Ratings
Customizable dashboards8.98 Ratings8.049 Ratings
Report Formatting Templates8.98 Ratings8.947 Ratings
Ad-hoc Reporting
Comparison of Ad-hoc Reporting features of Product A and Product B
Databox
8.6
8 Ratings
7% above category average
Microsoft BI (MSBI)
8.7
49 Ratings
7% above category average
Drill-down analysis8.06 Ratings8.944 Ratings
Formatting capabilities8.98 Ratings8.049 Ratings
Integration with R or other statistical packages7.93 Ratings8.939 Ratings
Report sharing and collaboration9.48 Ratings8.949 Ratings
Report Output and Scheduling
Comparison of Report Output and Scheduling features of Product A and Product B
Databox
8.3
8 Ratings
1% below category average
Microsoft BI (MSBI)
8.9
48 Ratings
6% above category average
Publish to Web8.96 Ratings8.944 Ratings
Publish to PDF8.97 Ratings8.944 Ratings
Report Versioning7.74 Ratings8.940 Ratings
Report Delivery Scheduling8.98 Ratings8.943 Ratings
Delivery to Remote Servers7.13 Ratings8.924 Ratings
Data Discovery and Visualization
Comparison of Data Discovery and Visualization features of Product A and Product B
Databox
7.7
7 Ratings
6% below category average
Microsoft BI (MSBI)
8.9
48 Ratings
10% above category average
Pre-built visualization formats (heatmaps, scatter plots etc.)8.36 Ratings8.947 Ratings
Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization7.04 Ratings8.944 Ratings
Predictive Analytics7.95 Ratings8.942 Ratings
Pattern Recognition and Data Mining00 Ratings9.01 Ratings
Access Control and Security
Comparison of Access Control and Security features of Product A and Product B
Databox
-
Ratings
Microsoft BI (MSBI)
8.9
49 Ratings
3% above category average
Multi-User Support (named login)00 Ratings8.946 Ratings
Role-Based Security Model00 Ratings8.943 Ratings
Multiple Access Permission Levels (Create, Read, Delete)00 Ratings8.946 Ratings
Report-Level Access Control00 Ratings9.01 Ratings
Single Sign-On (SSO)00 Ratings8.928 Ratings
Mobile Capabilities
Comparison of Mobile Capabilities features of Product A and Product B
Databox
-
Ratings
Microsoft BI (MSBI)
8.5
39 Ratings
6% above category average
Responsive Design for Web Access00 Ratings8.036 Ratings
Mobile Application00 Ratings8.027 Ratings
Dashboard / Report / Visualization Interactivity on Mobile00 Ratings9.936 Ratings
Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding
Comparison of Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding features of Product A and Product B
Databox
-
Ratings
Microsoft BI (MSBI)
8.8
21 Ratings
10% above category average
REST API00 Ratings8.919 Ratings
Javascript API00 Ratings8.919 Ratings
iFrames00 Ratings8.918 Ratings
Java API00 Ratings8.917 Ratings
Themeable User Interface (UI)00 Ratings8.918 Ratings
Customizable Platform (Open Source)00 Ratings8.017 Ratings
Best Alternatives
DataboxMicrosoft BI (MSBI)
Small Businesses
IBM SPSS Modeler
IBM SPSS Modeler
Score 7.8 out of 10
BrightGauge
BrightGauge
Score 8.9 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Mathematica
Mathematica
Score 8.3 out of 10
Reveal
Reveal
Score 9.9 out of 10
Enterprises
IBM SPSS Modeler
IBM SPSS Modeler
Score 7.8 out of 10
TIBCO Jaspersoft Community Edition
TIBCO Jaspersoft Community Edition
Score 9.7 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
DataboxMicrosoft BI (MSBI)
Likelihood to Recommend
8.0
(8 ratings)
8.7
(73 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
-
(0 ratings)
8.0
(25 ratings)
Usability
9.0
(1 ratings)
8.9
(14 ratings)
Availability
-
(0 ratings)
9.5
(2 ratings)
Performance
-
(0 ratings)
7.0
(2 ratings)
Support Rating
9.8
(3 ratings)
8.9
(15 ratings)
In-Person Training
-
(0 ratings)
6.9
(3 ratings)
Online Training
-
(0 ratings)
8.5
(2 ratings)
Implementation Rating
-
(0 ratings)
9.6
(7 ratings)
Configurability
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(2 ratings)
User Testimonials
DataboxMicrosoft BI (MSBI)
Likelihood to Recommend
Databox
I believe Databox can be an asset for any company. We are a small company, but I can see the value for large companies too. Databox is a great fit for departments or organizations that need to put their data into a readable form without needing a ton of reports. Databox allows you to save time and put together a nice report without having to do too much extra work. Once it is set up, it basically runs on its own at the frequency you set. I personally receive a daily report and have it sent to the respective people on the day of our meeting so we can quickly review it.
Read full review
Microsoft
Microsoft BI is well suited for Stream analytics, easy data integration, report creation and UI/UX designs (limited but what all available are great ones) Microsoft BI may be less appropriate for handling huge number of datasets and difficult queries. It may also be difficult for a company with heavy data.
Read full review
Pros
Databox
  • Create dashboards from a variety of data sources.
  • Set & track goals based on the data and metrics provided.
  • Send alerts and scorecard updates to Slack and email automatically.
Read full review
Microsoft
  • Comparatively easy to use compared to other data analytics solutions, collaborating with other colleagues on data work is simple.
  • Using Visual Studio for database, ETL, reporting, and analytics development save time and money.
  • Transfer of data from one application to another via Excel and comparison of data attributes between applications
  • Dashboard functionality, as well as Python support, are available, allowing you to add additional charts and graphs.
Read full review
Cons
Databox
  • Some types of data can only be reported on for 1-2 months back. Unless I'm misunderstanding the function of the software this seems really weird. I can't figure out how to report on Activities more than 2 months ago
Read full review
Microsoft
  • The race to perfect gathering of Non-Traditional datasets is on-going; with Microsoft arguably not the leader of the pack in this category.
  • Licensing options for PowerBI visualizations may be a factor. I.e. if you need to implement B2C PowerBI visualizations, the cost is considerably high especially for startups.
  • Some clients are still resistant putting their data on the cloud, which restricts lots of functionality to Power BI.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
Databox
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
Microsoft BI is fundamental to our suite of BI applications. That being said, Northcraft Analytics is focused on delighting our customers, so if the underlying factors of our decision change, we would choose to re-write our BI applications on a different stack. Luckily, mathematics are the fundamental IP of our technology... and is portable across all BI platforms for the foreseeable future.
Read full review
Usability
Databox
Databox is an intuitive, well-designed platform that can be used by non-technical marketers. It is easy to learn, and while set up takes time, usability is high and the team has enjoyed creating custom dashboards and clients have also given us great feedback regarding its usability and value. While other BI tools are much more complex to navigate, Databox is a breeze.
Read full review
Microsoft
The Microsoft BI tools have great usability for both developers and end users alike. For developers familiar with Visual Studio, there is little learning curve. For those not, the single Visual Studio IDE means not having to learn separate tools for each component. For end-users, the web interface for SSRS is simple to navigate with intuitive controls. For ad-hoc analysis, Excel can connect directly to SSAS and provide a pivot table like experience which is familiar to many users. For database development, there is beginning to be some confusion, as there are now three tool choices (VS, SSMS, Azure Data Studio) for developers. I would like to see Azure Data Studio become the superset of SSMS and eventually supplant it.
Read full review
Reliability and Availability
Databox
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
The product has been reliable.
Read full review
Performance
Databox
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) can drag at times. We created two report servers and placed them under an F5 load balancer. This configuration has worked well. We have seen sluggish performance at times due to the Windows Firewall.
Read full review
Support Rating
Databox
I have really enjoyed using Databox and have seen the value of it in many ways. They also continue to improve the functions of it and grow their integrations and templates. I look forward to continuing to use Databox in the future, potentially even finding ways to incorporate it into other departments to help them with reporting as well.
Read full review
Microsoft
While support from Microsoft isn't necessarily always best of breed, you're also not paying the price for premium support that you would on other platforms. The strength of the stack is in the ecosystem that surrounds it. In contrast to other products, there are hundreds, even thousands of bloggers that post daily as well as vibrant user communities that surround the tool. I've had much better luck finding help with SQL Server related issues than I have with any other product, but that help doesn't always come directly from Microsoft.
Read full review
In-Person Training
Databox
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
This training was more directed toward what the product was capable of rather than actual programming.
Read full review
Online Training
Databox
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
I have used on-line training from Microsoft and from Pragmatic Works. I would recommend Pragmatic Works as the best way to get up to speed quickly, and then use the Microsoft on-line training to deep dive into specific features that you need to get depth with.
Read full review
Implementation Rating
Databox
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
We are a consulting firm and as such our best resources are always billing on client projects. Our internal implementation has weaknesses, but that's true for any company like ours. My rating is based on the product's ease of implementation.
Read full review
Alternatives Considered
Databox
Databox is unique in its ability to report from multiple data sources. Google Analytics is the standard when it comes to web metrics, but it's just one of the tools that integrates with Databox. Tableau is fantastic for data visualizations and reporting, but it's much more expensive than Databox, so it's not ideal for everyone. Tableau is also superior with customization
Read full review
Microsoft
We have used the built in ConnectWise Manager reports and custom reports. The reports provide static data. PowerBI shows us live data we can drill down into and easily adjust parameters. It's much more useful than a static PDF report.
Read full review
Return on Investment
Databox
  • It has helped us to show our value to clients
  • Easily digestible dashboards make it easy to understand what you're looking at
Read full review
Microsoft
  • As a SaaS provider we see being able to provide self-service BI to our client users as a competitive advantage. In fact the MSSQL enabled BI is a contributing factor to many winning RFPs we have done for prospective client organisations.
  • However MSSQL BI requires extensive knowledge and skills to design and develop data warehouses & data models as a foundation to support business analysts and users to interrogate data effectively and efficiently. Often times we find having strong in-house MSSQL expertise is a bless.
Read full review
ScreenShots