TrustRadius: an HG Insights company

Save this comparison

Save this comparison

Add Product

Recommended Comparisons

    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Excel4apps

    Score8.6 out of 10
    N/AExcel4apps is a business intelligence software offering from Excel4apps.N/A

    Microsoft BI (MSBI)

    Score8.5 out of 10
    N/AMicrosoft 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.

    $14

    per month per user

    Pricing
    Excel4appsMicrosoft BI (MSBI)
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    Power BI Pro
    $14
    per month per user
    Power BI Premium
    $24
    per month per user
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Excel4appsMicrosoft 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
    Community Pulse
    Excel4appsMicrosoft BI (MSBI)
    Considered Both Products
    Excel4apps
    No answer on this topic
    Microsoft
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Would buy again
    15 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    15 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    15 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    13 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    11 Answers
    Features
    Excel4appsMicrosoft BI (MSBI)
    BI Standard Reporting
    Comparison of BI Standard Reporting features of Excel4apps and Microsoft BI (MSBI)
    Feature
    Excel4apps
    6.3
    4 Ratings
    26% below category average
    Microsoft BI (MSBI)
    9.0
    53 Ratings
    10% above category average
    Pixel Perfect reports5.43 Ratings8.546 Ratings
    Customizable dashboards6.13 Ratings9.653 Ratings
    Report Formatting Templates7.44 Ratings8.951 Ratings
    Ad-hoc Reporting
    Comparison of Ad-hoc Reporting features of Excel4apps and Microsoft BI (MSBI)
    Feature
    Excel4apps
    7.6
    4 Ratings
    5% below category average
    Microsoft BI (MSBI)
    8.5
    53 Ratings
    6% above category average
    Drill-down analysis7.54 Ratings8.548 Ratings
    Formatting capabilities9.24 Ratings8.253 Ratings
    Integration with R or other statistical packages6.52 Ratings8.342 Ratings
    Report sharing and collaboration7.14 Ratings8.953 Ratings
    Report Output and Scheduling
    Comparison of Report Output and Scheduling features of Excel4apps and Microsoft BI (MSBI)
    Feature
    Excel4apps
    6.4
    3 Ratings
    25% below category average
    Microsoft BI (MSBI)
    8.5
    52 Ratings
    3% above category average
    Publish to Web6.73 Ratings9.348 Ratings
    Publish to PDF8.22 Ratings9.148 Ratings
    Report Versioning5.83 Ratings7.444 Ratings
    Report Delivery Scheduling6.23 Ratings8.547 Ratings
    Delivery to Remote Servers5.02 Ratings8.426 Ratings
    Data Discovery and Visualization
    Comparison of Data Discovery and Visualization features of Excel4apps and Microsoft BI (MSBI)
    Feature
    Excel4apps
    6.7
    2 Ratings
    18% below category average
    Microsoft BI (MSBI)
    8.7
    52 Ratings
    9% above category average
    Pre-built visualization formats (heatmaps, scatter plots etc.)7.02 Ratings9.651 Ratings
    Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization7.02 Ratings8.748 Ratings
    Predictive Analytics6.02 Ratings7.745 Ratings
    Pattern Recognition and Data Mining00 Ratings8.76 Ratings
    Access Control and Security
    Comparison of Access Control and Security features of Excel4apps and Microsoft BI (MSBI)
    Feature
    Excel4apps
    8.1
    3 Ratings
    5% below category average
    Microsoft BI (MSBI)
    9.3
    53 Ratings
    9% above category average
    Multi-User Support (named login)9.03 Ratings9.449 Ratings
    Role-Based Security Model9.02 Ratings9.347 Ratings
    Multiple Access Permission Levels (Create, Read, Delete)7.23 Ratings8.949 Ratings
    Single Sign-On (SSO)7.22 Ratings9.431 Ratings
    Report-Level Access Control00 Ratings9.36 Ratings
    Mobile Capabilities
    Comparison of Mobile Capabilities features of Excel4apps and Microsoft BI (MSBI)
    Feature
    Excel4apps
    7.8
    1 Ratings
    1% above category average
    Microsoft BI (MSBI)
    8.0
    42 Ratings
    3% above category average
    Responsive Design for Web Access9.01 Ratings8.239 Ratings
    Mobile Application8.01 Ratings8.030 Ratings
    Dashboard / Report / Visualization Interactivity on Mobile6.01 Ratings7.839 Ratings
    Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding
    Comparison of Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding features of Excel4apps and Microsoft BI (MSBI)
    Feature
    Excel4apps
    3.4
    2 Ratings
    78% below category average
    Microsoft BI (MSBI)
    8.5
    24 Ratings
    9% above category average
    REST API1.01 Ratings9.221 Ratings
    Javascript API5.72 Ratings8.821 Ratings
    iFrames1.01 Ratings8.820 Ratings
    Java API5.92 Ratings8.718 Ratings
    Themeable User Interface (UI)2.01 Ratings8.021 Ratings
    Customizable Platform (Open Source)5.01 Ratings7.319 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Excel4appsMicrosoft BI (MSBI)
    Small Businesses
    Cyfe
    Score4 out of 10
    Cyfe
    Score4 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Qlik Cloud Analytics (Qlik Sense)
    Score8.1 out of 10
    Qlik Cloud Analytics (Qlik Sense)
    Score8.1 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Sisense
    Score6.9 out of 10
    Sisense
    Score6.9 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Excel4appsMicrosoft BI (MSBI)
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.0
    (4 ratings)
    8.9
    (77 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.0
    (25 ratings)
    Usability
    8.2
    (3 ratings)
    8.9
    (19 ratings)
    Availability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.5
    (2 ratings)
    Performance
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.0
    (2 ratings)
    Support Rating
    6.9
    (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)
    Data Sharing and Collaboration
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    8.5
    (42 ratings)
    Data Sources
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    8.4
    (41 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Excel4appsMicrosoft BI (MSBI)
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Excel4apps
    We have to calculate most all Lab / Pilot / Proposals sizing and results. The automated calculations in [Excel4apps] is awesome, as once you are familiar with them, it is easy to quickly implement them when needed.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    Microsoft BI has a lot of features and is a very powerful tool, especially if you have folks on your team that know how to utilize all of its capabilities. To truly unlock all that it can do, it does require people to have a deep understanding of its capabilities. That's where the software really shines. If you are looking for a simpler, more basic reporting tool, there are other programs available that do not require such a steep learning curve.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Excel4apps
    • Easy to install and maintain. After the initial installation, there is little involvement by the technical administrators.
    • Cloning production to a test environment does not require any additional setups unlike Oracle EBS which does.
    • Loading data and reporting on this data is handled via EXCEL spreadsheets which is the "language" of our financial users.
    Incentivized
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Excel4apps
    • It is possible but difficult to retrieve data or set criteria from different module into a single report or retrieve. If it is more user friendly instead of having to create a complex formula to retrieve the data, this function will be utilized more often.
    • It will be nice to have visual (graphs, etc.) report template available
    • It is helpful if we can retrieve data for a range of date, instead of just YTD, PTD etc. and multi-year data all at once for comparison too.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    • MSBI designs can work on increasing data processing capabilities enough to handle the huge datasets etc.
    • It would be a lot better if it is a little low on cost.
    • it needs to create opportunities little more than they do regarding customization of some very unique visualization effects
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Excel4apps
    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
    Excel4apps
    I am not a power user of Excel. So I find Exel4apps a friendlier version of the things that I could do on Excel and making it easier with a magic wand.
    Incentivized
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Reliability and Availability
    Excel4apps
    No answers on this topic
    Microsoft
    The product has been reliable.
    Read full review
    Performance
    Excel4apps
    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
    Excel4apps
    I have not needed support yet
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    MSBI natively has a site that allows you to vote on user enhancements and bug fixes. This allows the largest nagging issues to float to the top and the development team can prioritize accordingly. As mentioned earlier, the large community base of MSBI developers assist technical resources in handling technical questions.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    In-Person Training
    Excel4apps
    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
    Excel4apps
    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
    Excel4apps
    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
    Excel4apps
    Excel4apps is more user friendly and can retrieve data much easier and in a nicer format than Jaspersoft. Qlik Sense is useful and have more visual reporting and dashboard. However, it is usually used for higher level of analyses and review. Yardi is used for specific purpose, which is different than Excel4apps. Excel4apps can pull all the financial data from Oracle, including billing and collections.
    Incentivized
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Excel4apps
    • Increase team transparency
    • Increased reporting
    Incentivized
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots