Informatica PowerCenter (legacy) vs. Microsoft Power BI

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Informatica PowerCenter (legacy)
Score 8.9 out of 10
N/A
Informatica PowerCenter was data integration technology designed to form the foundation for data integration initiatives, application migration, or analytics. It is a legacy product.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
Informatica PowerCenter (legacy)Microsoft Power BI
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Informatica PowerCenter (legacy)Microsoft 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
Informatica PowerCenter (legacy)Microsoft Power BI
Features
Informatica PowerCenter (legacy)Microsoft Power BI
Data Source Connection
Comparison of Data Source Connection features of Product A and Product B
Informatica PowerCenter (legacy)
8.5
18 Ratings
3% above category average
Microsoft Power BI
-
Ratings
Connect to traditional data sources9.018 Ratings00 Ratings
Connecto to Big Data and NoSQL8.014 Ratings00 Ratings
Data Transformations
Comparison of Data Transformations features of Product A and Product B
Informatica PowerCenter (legacy)
7.5
18 Ratings
7% below category average
Microsoft Power BI
-
Ratings
Simple transformations8.018 Ratings00 Ratings
Complex transformations7.018 Ratings00 Ratings
Data Modeling
Comparison of Data Modeling features of Product A and Product B
Informatica PowerCenter (legacy)
8.2
18 Ratings
5% above category average
Microsoft Power BI
-
Ratings
Data model creation9.015 Ratings00 Ratings
Metadata management8.016 Ratings00 Ratings
Business rules and workflow9.018 Ratings00 Ratings
Collaboration6.116 Ratings00 Ratings
Testing and debugging9.017 Ratings00 Ratings
Data Governance
Comparison of Data Governance features of Product A and Product B
Informatica PowerCenter (legacy)
9.0
15 Ratings
12% above category average
Microsoft Power BI
-
Ratings
Integration with data quality tools9.015 Ratings00 Ratings
Integration with MDM tools9.013 Ratings00 Ratings
BI Standard Reporting
Comparison of BI Standard Reporting features of Product A and Product B
Informatica PowerCenter (legacy)
-
Ratings
Microsoft Power BI
8.3
196 Ratings
2% above category average
Pixel Perfect reports00 Ratings8.3167 Ratings
Customizable dashboards00 Ratings8.7195 Ratings
Report Formatting Templates00 Ratings8.0178 Ratings
Ad-hoc Reporting
Comparison of Ad-hoc Reporting features of Product A and Product B
Informatica PowerCenter (legacy)
-
Ratings
Microsoft Power BI
8.0
194 Ratings
0% below category average
Drill-down analysis00 Ratings8.3191 Ratings
Formatting capabilities00 Ratings7.8191 Ratings
Integration with R or other statistical packages00 Ratings7.4143 Ratings
Report sharing and collaboration00 Ratings8.4189 Ratings
Report Output and Scheduling
Comparison of Report Output and Scheduling features of Product A and Product B
Informatica PowerCenter (legacy)
-
Ratings
Microsoft Power BI
8.0
187 Ratings
2% below category average
Publish to Web00 Ratings8.2177 Ratings
Publish to PDF00 Ratings8.1172 Ratings
Report Versioning00 Ratings7.7144 Ratings
Report Delivery Scheduling00 Ratings8.2147 Ratings
Delivery to Remote Servers00 Ratings7.9110 Ratings
Data Discovery and Visualization
Comparison of Data Discovery and Visualization features of Product A and Product B
Informatica PowerCenter (legacy)
-
Ratings
Microsoft Power BI
7.8
187 Ratings
2% below category average
Pre-built visualization formats (heatmaps, scatter plots etc.)00 Ratings8.2181 Ratings
Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization00 Ratings8.1166 Ratings
Predictive Analytics00 Ratings7.4136 Ratings
Pattern Recognition and Data Mining00 Ratings7.437 Ratings
Access Control and Security
Comparison of Access Control and Security features of Product A and Product B
Informatica PowerCenter (legacy)
-
Ratings
Microsoft Power BI
8.5
178 Ratings
0% above category average
Multi-User Support (named login)00 Ratings8.7168 Ratings
Role-Based Security Model00 Ratings8.4146 Ratings
Multiple Access Permission Levels (Create, Read, Delete)00 Ratings8.4158 Ratings
Report-Level Access Control00 Ratings8.347 Ratings
Single Sign-On (SSO)00 Ratings8.6140 Ratings
Mobile Capabilities
Comparison of Mobile Capabilities features of Product A and Product B
Informatica PowerCenter (legacy)
-
Ratings
Microsoft Power BI
8.0
160 Ratings
3% above category average
Responsive Design for Web Access00 Ratings7.7150 Ratings
Mobile Application00 Ratings7.6131 Ratings
Dashboard / Report / Visualization Interactivity on Mobile00 Ratings7.9153 Ratings
Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding
Comparison of Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding features of Product A and Product B
Informatica PowerCenter (legacy)
-
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
Informatica PowerCenter (legacy)Microsoft Power BI
Small Businesses
Skyvia
Skyvia
Score 10.0 out of 10
Yellowfin
Yellowfin
Score 8.8 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
IBM InfoSphere Information Server
IBM InfoSphere Information Server
Score 8.0 out of 10
Reveal
Reveal
Score 10.0 out of 10
Enterprises
IBM InfoSphere Information Server
IBM InfoSphere Information Server
Score 8.0 out of 10
Kyvos Semantic Layer
Kyvos Semantic Layer
Score 9.5 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Informatica PowerCenter (legacy)Microsoft Power BI
Likelihood to Recommend
8.0
(21 ratings)
8.5
(197 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
10.0
(4 ratings)
9.5
(3 ratings)
Usability
9.0
(3 ratings)
8.3
(113 ratings)
Performance
9.4
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
9.0
(2 ratings)
10.0
(52 ratings)
Implementation Rating
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
Informatica PowerCenter (legacy)Microsoft Power BI
Likelihood to Recommend
Discontinued Products
1.- Scenaries with poor sources of data is not recomended (Very bad ROI). The solution is for medium-big enterprises with a lot of sources of data and users. 2.- Bank and finance enviroment to integrate differente data form trading, Regulatory reports, decisions makers, fraud and financial crimes because in this kind of scenary the quality of data is the base of the business. 3.- Departments of development and test of applications in enterprises because you can design enviroments, out of the production systems, to development and test the new API's or updateds made.
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
Read full review
Pros
Discontinued Products
  • Informatica Powercenter is an innovative software that works with ETL-type data integration. Connectivity to almost all the database systems.
  • Great documentation and customer support.
  • It has a various solution to address data quality issues. data masking, data virtualization. It has various supporting tools or MDM, IDQ, Analyst, BigData which can be used to analyze data and correct it.
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
Discontinued Products
  • There are too many ways to perform the same or similar functions which in turn makes it challenging to trace what a workflow is doing and at which point (ex. sessions can be designed as static or re-usable and the override can occur at the session or workflow, or both which can be counter productive and confusing when troubleshooting).
  • The power in structured design is a double edged sword. Simple tasks for a POC can become cumbersome. Ex. if you want to move some data to test a process, you first have to create your sources by importing them which means an ODBC connection or similar will need to be configured, you in turn have to develop your targets and all of the essential building blocks before being able to begin actual development. While I am on sources and targets, I think of a table definition as just that and find it counter intuitive to have to design a table as both a source and target and manage them as different objects. It would be more intuitive to have a table definition and its source/target properties defined by where you drag and drop it in the mapping.
  • There are no checkpoints or data viewer type functions without designing an entire mapping and workflow. If you would like to simply run a job up to a point and check the throughput, an entire mapping needs to be completed and you would workaround this by creating a flat file target.
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.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
Discontinued Products
Our team enjoys using Informatica and feels that it is one of the best ETL tools on the market.
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
Discontinued Products
Positives; - Multi User Development Environment - Speed of transformation - Seamless integration between other Informatica products. Negatives; - There should be less windows to maintain developers' focus while using. You probably need 2 big monitors when you start development with Informatica Power Center. - Oracle Analytical functions should be natively used. - E-LT support as well as ETL support.
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.
Read full review
Performance
Discontinued Products
PowerCenter is robust and fast, and it does a great job meeting all the needs, not just the most commercially vocal needs. In the hands of an expert power user, you can accomplish almost anything with your data. It is not for new users or intermittent users-- for that the Cloud version is a better fit. Be prepared for costly connectors (priced differently for each source or destination you are working with), and just be planful of your projects so you are not paying for connectors you no longer need or want
Read full review
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Discontinued Products
Informatica power center is a leader of the pack of ETL tools and has some great abilities that make it stand out from other ETL tools. It has been a great partner to its clients over a long time so it's definitely dependable. With all the great things about Informatica, it has a bit of tech burden that should be addressed to make it more nimble, reduce the learning curve for new developers, provide better connectivity with visualization tools.
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.
Read full review
Implementation Rating
Discontinued Products
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
It was integrated with our erp easily and was accessible on cloud.
Read full review
Alternatives Considered
Discontinued Products
While Talend offers a much more comfortable interface to work with, Informatica's forte is performance. And on that front, Informatica Enterprise Data Integration certainly leaves Talend in the dust. For a more back-end-centric use case, Informatica is certainly the ETL tool of choice. On the other hand, if business users would be using the tool, then Talend would be the preferred tool.
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.
Read full review
Return on Investment
Discontinued Products
  • The data pipeline automation capability of Informatica means that few resources are needed to pre-process the data that ultimately resides in a Data Warehouse. Once a workflow is implemented, manual intervention is not needed.
  • PowerCenter did require more resources and time for installation and configuration than was expected/planned for.
  • The lack of or minimal support of unstructured data means that newer sources of dynamic/changing data cannot be easily processed/transformed through PowerCenter workflows.
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.
Read full review
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