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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Google Sheets

    Score8.9 out of 10
    N/AGoogle Sheets is the spreadsheet app available on Google Workspace, or standalone, with a free plan for personal use and accessible via mobile apps for iOS and Android.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
    Google SheetsMicrosoft 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
    Google SheetsMicrosoft 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
    Google SheetsMicrosoft BI (MSBI)
    Considered Both Products
    Google
    No answer on this topic
    Microsoft
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    97%
    Would buy again
    90 Answers
    100%
    Would buy again
    15 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    86 Answers
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    15 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    96%
    Happy with the feature set
    89 Answers
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    15 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    94%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    49 Answers
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    13 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    97%
    Implementation went as expected
    60 Answers
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    11 Answers
    Features
    Google SheetsMicrosoft BI (MSBI)
    BI Standard Reporting
    Comparison of BI Standard Reporting features of Google Sheets and Microsoft BI (MSBI)
    Feature
    Google Sheets
    -
    Ratings
    Microsoft BI (MSBI)
    9.0
    53 Ratings
    10% above category average
    Pixel Perfect reports00 Ratings8.546 Ratings
    Customizable dashboards00 Ratings9.653 Ratings
    Report Formatting Templates00 Ratings8.951 Ratings
    Ad-hoc Reporting
    Comparison of Ad-hoc Reporting features of Google Sheets and Microsoft BI (MSBI)
    Feature
    Google Sheets
    -
    Ratings
    Microsoft BI (MSBI)
    8.5
    53 Ratings
    6% above category average
    Drill-down analysis00 Ratings8.548 Ratings
    Formatting capabilities00 Ratings8.253 Ratings
    Integration with R or other statistical packages00 Ratings8.342 Ratings
    Report sharing and collaboration00 Ratings8.953 Ratings
    Report Output and Scheduling
    Comparison of Report Output and Scheduling features of Google Sheets and Microsoft BI (MSBI)
    Feature
    Google Sheets
    -
    Ratings
    Microsoft BI (MSBI)
    8.5
    52 Ratings
    3% above category average
    Publish to Web00 Ratings9.348 Ratings
    Publish to PDF00 Ratings9.148 Ratings
    Report Versioning00 Ratings7.444 Ratings
    Report Delivery Scheduling00 Ratings8.547 Ratings
    Delivery to Remote Servers00 Ratings8.426 Ratings
    Data Discovery and Visualization
    Comparison of Data Discovery and Visualization features of Google Sheets and Microsoft BI (MSBI)
    Feature
    Google Sheets
    -
    Ratings
    Microsoft BI (MSBI)
    8.7
    52 Ratings
    9% above category average
    Pre-built visualization formats (heatmaps, scatter plots etc.)00 Ratings9.651 Ratings
    Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization00 Ratings8.748 Ratings
    Predictive Analytics00 Ratings7.745 Ratings
    Pattern Recognition and Data Mining00 Ratings8.76 Ratings
    Access Control and Security
    Comparison of Access Control and Security features of Google Sheets and Microsoft BI (MSBI)
    Feature
    Google Sheets
    -
    Ratings
    Microsoft BI (MSBI)
    9.3
    53 Ratings
    9% above category average
    Multi-User Support (named login)00 Ratings9.449 Ratings
    Role-Based Security Model00 Ratings9.347 Ratings
    Multiple Access Permission Levels (Create, Read, Delete)00 Ratings8.949 Ratings
    Report-Level Access Control00 Ratings9.36 Ratings
    Single Sign-On (SSO)00 Ratings9.431 Ratings
    Mobile Capabilities
    Comparison of Mobile Capabilities features of Google Sheets and Microsoft BI (MSBI)
    Feature
    Google Sheets
    -
    Ratings
    Microsoft BI (MSBI)
    8.0
    42 Ratings
    4% above category average
    Responsive Design for Web Access00 Ratings8.239 Ratings
    Mobile Application00 Ratings8.030 Ratings
    Dashboard / Report / Visualization Interactivity on Mobile00 Ratings7.839 Ratings
    Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding
    Comparison of Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding features of Google Sheets and Microsoft BI (MSBI)
    Feature
    Google Sheets
    -
    Ratings
    Microsoft BI (MSBI)
    8.5
    24 Ratings
    9% above category average
    REST API00 Ratings9.221 Ratings
    Javascript API00 Ratings8.821 Ratings
    iFrames00 Ratings8.820 Ratings
    Java API00 Ratings8.718 Ratings
    Themeable User Interface (UI)00 Ratings8.021 Ratings
    Customizable Platform (Open Source)00 Ratings7.319 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Google SheetsMicrosoft BI (MSBI)
    Small Businesses
    Stackby
    Score8.8 out of 10
    Cyfe
    Score4 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Microsoft Excel
    Score9 out of 10
    Qlik Cloud Analytics (Qlik Sense)
    Score8.1 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Microsoft Excel
    Score9 out of 10
    Sisense
    Score6.9 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Google SheetsMicrosoft BI (MSBI)
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.1
    (93 ratings)
    8.9
    (77 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    10.0
    (3 ratings)
    8.0
    (25 ratings)
    Usability
    8.7
    (55 ratings)
    8.9
    (19 ratings)
    Availability
    9.5
    (2 ratings)
    9.5
    (2 ratings)
    Performance
    9.5
    (2 ratings)
    7.0
    (2 ratings)
    Support Rating
    8.0
    (1 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
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Data Sharing and Collaboration
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.5
    (42 ratings)
    Data Sources
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.4
    (41 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    9.8
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Google SheetsMicrosoft BI (MSBI)
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Google
    Google Sheets is well suited in two main areas: is free to use and you don't need to buy a license to use it, comparing to the most direct competitors ; collaboration is in my opinion the best advantage, with multiple people working together and seeing others working in real time. It's less appropriate in low connectivity environments (offline capabilities)
    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
    Google
    • Collaborative planning : In the initial phase of project, Team leads and architects create a permission matrix along with the naming convention simultaneously, seeing who is editing / adding the details in real-time.
    • Cost tracking : We use this tool to track cloud resource usage monthly costs, so that we can analyse it and send out comms for high cost based resources. By storing cost data here, it's easy for use to store data of last couple of years.
    • Flexible documentation : For change logging of different scenarios we would need different / ad-hoc columns to be added on the fly, which makes using this tool much simpler then reputed third party tools.
    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
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    Cons
    Google
    • Ease of use - I collaborate with a lot of folks on these and a lot of them have trouble using it.
    • Would love more live features; for example, being able to have cells react to other inputs (checkboxes, etc) with reactive formatting
    • More cross-usability with other Google products; it's hard to think of drawbacks honestly, this is a pretty seamless software.
    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
    Google
    I am not involved in the purchase/selection process, but my organization is a Google shop, and Sheets meets most of our spreadsheet needs and works seamlessly with our other tools. I don't anticipate our switching anytime soon.
    Incentivized
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    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
    Google
    It can easily handle most uses and functions. It is only for very large datasets or advanced analysis that it either lacks the proper functions or performance begins to slow. Most employees who continue to use competitors' products do so out of preference, familiarity with the user interface, or other surface-level reasons.
    Incentivized
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    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
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    Reliability and Availability
    Google
    Like most Google products, Google Sheets rarely has outages or slowness, and when it does, connection is always momentarily restored. I can't recall a time when I've been unable to access Google Sheets but able to access other sites just fine. That said, errors aren't uncommon when handling large data volume. You know what they say about using spreadsheets as databases, but sometimes it's just the most convenient option, especially for smaller or one-off projects, and not being able to store large amounts of data hampers our ability to move quickly with scrappy prototypes or full solutions. It would be great if we could better integrate our data manipulation (Apps Script) with big data in the sheet.
    Incentivized
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    Microsoft
    The product has been reliable.
    Read full review
    Performance
    Google
    Again, Google Sheets is no exception to Google's general high speed and reliability, but load times can be slow for larger amounts of data. I've used Sheets with Zapier and have used the Python API, and speed has never been an issue.
    Incentivized
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    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
    Google
    I have never contacted Google Sheets support, but Google Sheets makes it very easy to report an issue or suggest a feature from Sheets itself (Help > Help Sheets improve), and I've had mostly good experiences with support for other Google products.
    Incentivized
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    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
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    In-Person Training
    Google
    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
    Google
    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.
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    Implementation Rating
    Google
    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.
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    Alternatives Considered
    Google
    I have found that I can do almost everything I could have done in Microsoft Excel faster and easier in Google Sheets. We recommend Google Sheets in 99.9% of our use cases and feel it meets the needs of our workers very well. I am sure there are other spreadsheet creation programs out there, but because we are already in the Google environment, adopting Google Sheets in very easy.
    Incentivized
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    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
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    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    Google
    I'm not involved with the purchase, but I assume everything goes smoothly and that the pricing structure is predictable and reasonable. We do not get surprise fees.
    Incentivized
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    Microsoft
    No answers on this topic
    Scalability
    Google
    Google Sheets works very well with multiple users. It's convenient to see in real-time who is collaborating in a sheet, down to the specific cell that they're viewing/editing. Linking Sheets across departments is convenient with the IMPORTRANGE function.
    Incentivized
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    Microsoft
    No answers on this topic
    Return on Investment
    Google
    • Don't need to pay for windows 365 license as it is free
    • Has a positive impact since I am not cursing excel for annoying problems(I don't want the new Pivot table format, I want to use Classic and I don't want to expand/collapse arrows. "x$#%")
    • [Haven't] looked at return on investment on work, but has "simplified" for basic and medium spreadsheets.
    Incentivized
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    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
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    ScreenShots