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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Infor Birst

    Score6.5 out of 10
    N/AInfor Birst offers multi-tenant cloud BI for deployment in a public or private cloud, or on-premises. It provides an in-memory columnar data store and a BI layer comprising a reporting engine, predictive analytics tools, mobile native apps, dashboards, discovery tools, and an open client interface.N/A

    Microsoft Power BI

    Score8.5 out of 10
    N/AMicrosoft 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.

    $168

    per year per user

    Pricing
    Infor BirstMicrosoft Power BI
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    Power BI Pro
    $14
    per month (billed annually) per user
    Power BI Premium
    $24
    per month (billed annually) per user
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Infor BirstMicrosoft Power BI
    Free Trial
    NoYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoYes
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    YesNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details—Power BI Desktop is the data exploration and report authoring experience for Power BI, and is available as a free download.
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Infor BirstMicrosoft Power BI
    Considered Both Products
    Infor
    No answer on this topic
    Microsoft
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    No answers on this topic
    96%
    Would buy again
    110 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    No answers on this topic
    97%
    Delivers good value for the price
    103 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    No answers on this topic
    97%
    Happy with the feature set
    112 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    No answers on this topic
    99%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    69 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    No answers on this topic
    95%
    Implementation went as expected
    73 Answers
    Features
    Infor BirstMicrosoft Power BI
    BI Standard Reporting
    Comparison of BI Standard Reporting features of Infor Birst and Microsoft Power BI
    Feature
    Infor Birst
    7.4
    77 Ratings
    10% below category average
    Microsoft Power BI
    8.1
    198 Ratings
    1% below category average
    Pixel Perfect reports7.068 Ratings8.1169 Ratings
    Customizable dashboards8.077 Ratings8.6197 Ratings
    Report Formatting Templates7.159 Ratings7.7180 Ratings
    Ad-hoc Reporting
    Comparison of Ad-hoc Reporting features of Infor Birst and Microsoft Power BI
    Feature
    Infor Birst
    7.0
    78 Ratings
    13% below category average
    Microsoft Power BI
    7.9
    196 Ratings
    1% below category average
    Drill-down analysis8.078 Ratings8.4193 Ratings
    Formatting capabilities7.077 Ratings7.7193 Ratings
    Integration with R or other statistical packages6.127 Ratings7.4143 Ratings
    Report sharing and collaboration7.068 Ratings8.1191 Ratings
    Report Output and Scheduling
    Comparison of Report Output and Scheduling features of Infor Birst and Microsoft Power BI
    Feature
    Infor Birst
    8.0
    75 Ratings
    3% below category average
    Microsoft Power BI
    7.9
    189 Ratings
    4% below category average
    Publish to Web8.052 Ratings8.1179 Ratings
    Publish to PDF8.067 Ratings7.7174 Ratings
    Report Versioning7.28 Ratings7.7145 Ratings
    Report Delivery Scheduling9.066 Ratings8.3148 Ratings
    Delivery to Remote Servers00 Ratings7.9111 Ratings
    Data Discovery and Visualization
    Comparison of Data Discovery and Visualization features of Infor Birst and Microsoft Power BI
    Feature
    Infor Birst
    6.9
    72 Ratings
    15% below category average
    Microsoft Power BI
    7.7
    189 Ratings
    4% below category average
    Pre-built visualization formats (heatmaps, scatter plots etc.)8.072 Ratings8.3183 Ratings
    Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization7.058 Ratings8.1168 Ratings
    Predictive Analytics5.833 Ratings7.1138 Ratings
    Pattern Recognition and Data Mining00 Ratings7.339 Ratings
    Access Control and Security
    Comparison of Access Control and Security features of Infor Birst and Microsoft Power BI
    Feature
    Infor Birst
    8.3
    72 Ratings
    2% below category average
    Microsoft Power BI
    8.3
    180 Ratings
    2% below category average
    Multi-User Support (named login)9.070 Ratings8.6169 Ratings
    Role-Based Security Model8.068 Ratings8.1148 Ratings
    Multiple Access Permission Levels (Create, Read, Delete)8.069 Ratings8.1160 Ratings
    Report-Level Access Control00 Ratings8.149 Ratings
    Single Sign-On (SSO)00 Ratings8.5141 Ratings
    Mobile Capabilities
    Comparison of Mobile Capabilities features of Infor Birst and Microsoft Power BI
    Feature
    Infor Birst
    5.0
    54 Ratings
    43% below category average
    Microsoft Power BI
    7.9
    162 Ratings
    2% above category average
    Responsive Design for Web Access7.052 Ratings7.5152 Ratings
    Mobile Application3.034 Ratings7.5133 Ratings
    Dashboard / Report / Visualization Interactivity on Mobile3.042 Ratings7.8155 Ratings
    Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding
    Comparison of Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding features of Infor Birst and Microsoft Power BI
    Feature
    Infor Birst
    -
    Ratings
    Microsoft Power BI
    7.6
    116 Ratings
    2% below category average
    REST API00 Ratings7.7104 Ratings
    Javascript API00 Ratings7.485 Ratings
    iFrames00 Ratings8.055 Ratings
    Java API00 Ratings6.669 Ratings
    Themeable User Interface (UI)00 Ratings7.291 Ratings
    Customizable Platform (Open Source)00 Ratings8.444 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Infor BirstMicrosoft Power BI
    Small Businesses
    Cyfe
    Score4 out of 10
    Cyfe
    Score4 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Zendesk Explore
    Score8.1 out of 10
    Zendesk Explore
    Score8.1 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Jaspersoft Community Edition
    Score7 out of 10
    Jaspersoft Community Edition
    Score7 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Infor BirstMicrosoft Power BI
    Likelihood to Recommend
    7.5
    (99 ratings)
    8.6
    (199 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    9.0
    (35 ratings)
    9.6
    (3 ratings)
    Usability
    9.0
    (12 ratings)
    8.3
    (115 ratings)
    Availability
    4.1
    (6 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Performance
    7.5
    (6 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    6.0
    (19 ratings)
    10.0
    (52 ratings)
    In-Person Training
    9.1
    (4 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Online Training
    8.0
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    5.3
    (6 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Configurability
    7.0
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Data Sharing and Collaboration
    6.0
    (24 ratings)
    8.5
    (82 ratings)
    Data Sources
    7.6
    (76 ratings)
    9.0
    (81 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    5.0
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    6.0
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    5.0
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    7.0
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Infor BirstMicrosoft Power BI
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Infor
    Infor Birst OEM and embedded analytics are well suited for advanced analytics and business intelligence. It has flexible deployment features and a lot of configuration ability with low code - no coding ability. Ability to ingest data from multiple live data sources. Source data from multiple sources can be segregated into multiple sections based on business criteria. Easily searchable business terms (metadata) across all enterprise analytic content.
    Read full review
    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
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Infor
    • End-to-end solution, from raw source data, ETL, warehousing and reporting, Birst is able to do everything we need in one package instead of needing to develop and maintain multiple technologies
    • Intuitive report development. The drag and drop creation of reports is simple. More complicated queries are easy to generate.
    • Very user-friendly and interactive. A lot of nice features are available both for developers and end users to streamline the process of preparing and consuming data
    • Rich API which allows us to programmatically interact with Birst
    Incentivized
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Infor
    • Birst prices are fairly expensive. License plus cost of users can add up pretty quickly
    • Depending on the size of data, rendering of reports can take a little bit. Need faster processing of data
    • Takes a little time to understand how to build reports, not the most intuitive UI
    Incentivized
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Infor
    We have been able to overcome any of the drawbacks we've found with Birst easily and it has fulfilled almost all of our analytic needs to date. Having seen their roadmap it would be highly unlikely we would move away from this platform any time soon. You simply can't beat the functionality that Birst provides for the price and the things I see coming out of the company solidify that our decision to choose Birst was the best possible choice. We have never regretted the decision.
    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.
    Read full review
    Usability
    Infor
    I would like to see additional usability put into the ETL scripting. Recently, Birst added a nice function reference inline to formula creation which has kept me from having to return to documentation so much. The same in ETL would be very beneficial. The interface problems related to the Flex framework are being addressed in a rewrite to HTML 5, but for now they are still a hindrance to a higher usability rating.
    Read full review
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Reliability and Availability
    Infor
    We frequently experience -103 errors due to us using the Live Connect functionality, which does not seem to handle even minor interruptions in connectivity, and treats all future connection attempts or data requests as errors, even if the issue does not exist any longer
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    No answers on this topic
    Performance
    Infor
    Everything runs very fast and smoothly. The only process that I wish was faster would be processing the data after uploading new data or making changes to the existing data model. It can take 15-20 minutes (roughly) to upload and process new data once you start getting into 10's of millions of rows. Given my experience with how long it takes me to pull the same data using SQL Server Management Studio, I don't think Birst is unreasonably slow - but for me to give a higher rating, I would want it to be unreasonably fast
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    No answers on this topic
    Support Rating
    Infor
    • Poor turnaround time
    • Low response rate when the problem at hand are large
    • Lack of infrastructural knowledge when it comes to scaling solutions
    • Lack of inter team work noticed
    • Most of the tickets are open for a long period of time
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    In-Person Training
    Infor
    I have attended two different training sessions. The first one was my initial training on the system. It was well paced, clear and concise. If there were questions that were not able to be answered by the instructor, he took down the question and actually followed up and provided us a response quickly. The second session was specific to the dashboard and report design components. This training was very good though there were some attendants who had little or no experience and their questions slowed the class.
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    No answers on this topic
    Online Training
    Infor
    Although I found the online resources helpful, a lack of appropriate examples for certain tasks key to report creation and advanced modeling make the online training/documentation less than perfect. For an inexperienced BI professional, the online training would not enable a streamlined launch of the product.
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation Rating
    Infor
    Have clean data! Birst flexibility allows - Start small, then introduce functionality and complexity along the way. If you try to present all the functionality [bells and whistles] and wow them, but bad data is uncovered, the end user blames the new application and turns away.
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    It was integrated with our erp easily and was accessible on cloud.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Alternatives Considered
    Infor
    Birst was better than Domo for our needs because we could get in and tinker with it. Our impression of Domo was that it had a lot of connectors and ready to go reports, but it made too many assumptions about applications we use. We customize too much to use a "ready to go" solution like that. When we looked at Tableau, we liked its visualization capabilities, but it wasn't going to help us do the extractions, ETL, and warehousing of data. It may have come some distance since then.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Scalability
    Infor
    we can see that loading a lot of data can cause a noticable slow down in performance. Birst support indicated that they don't really consider anything less than 30 seconds to be an issue, but that is not the case for our customers, so we have had to change some of implementation to address this
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    No answers on this topic
    Return on Investment
    Infor
    • Being a manufacturing company we tend to lag behind technologically. But having all the data for different ERP systems in one place has been an eye opener for the executives. It has lessened the need to convert some legacy ERP systems.
    • Having such a simple reporting tool is a great asset to some of our sites that have traditionally had trouble gathering data from AS400 systems.
    Incentivized
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    Infor Birst Screenshots

    Product screenshotProduct screenshotProduct screenshotProduct screenshotProduct screenshot

    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