Google Sheets vs. Microsoft Power BI

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Google Sheets
Score 8.7 out of 10
N/A
Google 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 Power BI
Score 8.5 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
Google SheetsMicrosoft Power BI
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Google SheetsMicrosoft 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
Google SheetsMicrosoft Power BI
Features
Google SheetsMicrosoft Power BI
BI Standard Reporting
Comparison of BI Standard Reporting features of Product A and Product B
Google Sheets
-
Ratings
Microsoft Power BI
8.3
195 Ratings
2% above category average
Pixel Perfect reports00 Ratings8.3166 Ratings
Customizable dashboards00 Ratings8.8194 Ratings
Report Formatting Templates00 Ratings8.0177 Ratings
Ad-hoc Reporting
Comparison of Ad-hoc Reporting features of Product A and Product B
Google Sheets
-
Ratings
Microsoft Power BI
8.0
193 Ratings
0% below category average
Drill-down analysis00 Ratings8.3190 Ratings
Formatting capabilities00 Ratings7.8190 Ratings
Integration with R or other statistical packages00 Ratings7.4142 Ratings
Report sharing and collaboration00 Ratings8.4188 Ratings
Report Output and Scheduling
Comparison of Report Output and Scheduling features of Product A and Product B
Google Sheets
-
Ratings
Microsoft Power BI
8.0
186 Ratings
3% below category average
Publish to Web00 Ratings8.3176 Ratings
Publish to PDF00 Ratings8.0171 Ratings
Report Versioning00 Ratings7.7143 Ratings
Report Delivery Scheduling00 Ratings8.2146 Ratings
Delivery to Remote Servers00 Ratings7.9109 Ratings
Data Discovery and Visualization
Comparison of Data Discovery and Visualization features of Product A and Product B
Google Sheets
-
Ratings
Microsoft Power BI
7.8
186 Ratings
2% below category average
Pre-built visualization formats (heatmaps, scatter plots etc.)00 Ratings8.2180 Ratings
Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization00 Ratings8.1165 Ratings
Predictive Analytics00 Ratings7.4135 Ratings
Pattern Recognition and Data Mining00 Ratings7.436 Ratings
Access Control and Security
Comparison of Access Control and Security features of Product A and Product B
Google Sheets
-
Ratings
Microsoft Power BI
8.5
177 Ratings
0% below category average
Multi-User Support (named login)00 Ratings8.8167 Ratings
Role-Based Security Model00 Ratings8.4145 Ratings
Multiple Access Permission Levels (Create, Read, Delete)00 Ratings8.4157 Ratings
Report-Level Access Control00 Ratings8.346 Ratings
Single Sign-On (SSO)00 Ratings8.7139 Ratings
Mobile Capabilities
Comparison of Mobile Capabilities features of Product A and Product B
Google Sheets
-
Ratings
Microsoft Power BI
8.0
159 Ratings
3% above category average
Responsive Design for Web Access00 Ratings7.7149 Ratings
Mobile Application00 Ratings7.6130 Ratings
Dashboard / Report / Visualization Interactivity on Mobile00 Ratings7.9152 Ratings
Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding
Comparison of Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding features of Product A and Product B
Google Sheets
-
Ratings
Microsoft Power BI
7.8
115 Ratings
1% above category average
REST API00 Ratings8.1103 Ratings
Javascript API00 Ratings7.684 Ratings
iFrames00 Ratings8.055 Ratings
Java API00 Ratings7.068 Ratings
Themeable User Interface (UI)00 Ratings7.690 Ratings
Customizable Platform (Open Source)00 Ratings8.444 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Google SheetsMicrosoft Power BI
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Score 8.9 out of 10
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Score 10.0 out of 10
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Score 8.9 out of 10
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User Ratings
Google SheetsMicrosoft Power BI
Likelihood to Recommend
9.2
(42 ratings)
8.5
(197 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
10.0
(2 ratings)
9.5
(3 ratings)
Usability
9.0
(4 ratings)
8.3
(113 ratings)
Availability
8.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
8.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
8.0
(1 ratings)
10.0
(52 ratings)
Implementation Rating
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Configurability
9.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
9.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
9.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
9.0
(1 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 Power BI
Likelihood to Recommend
Google
Google Sheets is great for just recording tabular information that needs to be shared with and/or edited by multiple people. Sharing and collaborating is especially convenient because Sheets is designed to be browser-based; while Excel has a browser version, it's limited compared to the desktop app. Google Sheets's editing, suggesting, commenting, and viewing permissions settings are absolutely perfect for my department. Google Sheets does not handle large datasets well. It does not load in a timely manner and often freezes. Apps Scripts fail to process large amounts of data.
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Microsoft
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
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Pros
Google
  • It is a cloud-based platform.
  • You can work in the same file simultaneously with your colleagues.
  • It allows you to share files much faster.
  • It allows you to access your Google Sheet files whenever you like and wherever you like if you have stable internet connection.
  • It has great integration with other Google software.
  • Google Sheets is very user-friendly and very intuitive to use.
Read full review
Microsoft
  • 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.
Read full review
Cons
Google
  • Pivot tables are different but could be improved upon; sort, totals, filters
  • When entering negative numbers as the first in a formula you need to remember to "+-100+25" instead of "-100+25"
  • The power of the internet of course makes it easy to find solution, but the help function is not easily available
  • Color coding changes on the cell, but there is not an easy way to click on a cell and use the selected color; like excel
Read full review
Microsoft
  • 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.
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Likelihood to Renew
Google
It is easy to use, free of charge for basic functionality, and easy to share with people within or outside your team or company
Read full review
Microsoft
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.
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Usability
Google
Overall the formula functions could improve but there's workarounds for them. Utilzing different formulas or approaches for building out accounting schedules. While collebrating with multiple team members and different departments being able to go in and see where others are on the sheets is helpful. Google Sheets overall is a great product
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Microsoft
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.
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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.
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Microsoft
No answers on this topic
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.
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Microsoft
No answers on this topic
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.
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Microsoft
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.
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Implementation Rating
Google
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
It was integrated with our erp easily and was accessible on cloud.
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Alternatives Considered
Google
The major reason I use Google Sheets over Microsoft Excel and Apple Numbers is for its ability to allow multiple users to access and work on the same spreadsheet at once. This is incredibly more efficient and effective than updating and sending copies upon copies of the same Excel or Numbers spreadsheet back and forth as email attachments.
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Microsoft
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.
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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.
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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.
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Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
Google
  • We've used it to prepare quick budgets, presentations for funds that have helped raise money
  • It has helped us quickly analyze raw data, collaboratively.
  • it has helped us work more efficiently by making it easier to work from one sheet and not lose track of versions by passing around attached documents
Read full review
Microsoft
  • 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.
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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