Lightning Tools Data Viewer vs. Microsoft Power BI

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Lightning Tools Data Viewer
Score 9.1 out of 10
Mid-Size Companies (51-1,000 employees)
The Data Viewer provides data visualization in the form of reports or charts that can be created and customized to suit a business's needs. Silos of data exist in most organizations and yet contain valuable insights into how well the organization is performing and where action is needed. Those silos often include Microsoft Excel workbooks, Microsoft SQL Azure databases, On-Premises data sources accessible through OData or Business Connectivity Services and even SharePoint Lists. These data…
$2,200
per year per installation
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
Lightning Tools Data ViewerMicrosoft Power BI
Editions & Modules
Data Viewer OnPrem
$1,000
per year Per installation, 1 x WFE
Data Viewer Online
$2,200
per year per installation
Data Viewer OnPrem Enterprise Edition
POA
per year Per installation, 4+ WFE
Data Viewer Online Enterprise Edition
POA
per year per installation
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Lightning Tools Data ViewerMicrosoft Power BI
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsPrices stated are minimum per installation for "stock" products. $2.20 per user / year on top of base price. Enterprise editions can be amended to suit business needs if deemed necessary, additional costs incurred and TBD. All packages include free technical support. Free upgrades available to latest versions of tool as they are released. (online version)
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Lightning Tools Data ViewerMicrosoft Power BI
Features
Lightning Tools Data ViewerMicrosoft Power BI
BI Standard Reporting
Comparison of BI Standard Reporting features of Product A and Product B
Lightning Tools Data Viewer
9.1
1 Ratings
12% above category average
Microsoft Power BI
8.3
196 Ratings
1% above category average
Customizable dashboards9.11 Ratings8.7195 Ratings
Report Formatting Templates9.11 Ratings8.0178 Ratings
Pixel Perfect reports00 Ratings8.3167 Ratings
Ad-hoc Reporting
Comparison of Ad-hoc Reporting features of Product A and Product B
Lightning Tools Data Viewer
8.2
1 Ratings
5% above category average
Microsoft Power BI
8.0
194 Ratings
1% below category average
Drill-down analysis6.41 Ratings8.3191 Ratings
Formatting capabilities9.11 Ratings7.8191 Ratings
Report sharing and collaboration9.11 Ratings8.4189 Ratings
Integration with R or other statistical packages00 Ratings7.4143 Ratings
Data Discovery and Visualization
Comparison of Data Discovery and Visualization features of Product A and Product B
Lightning Tools Data Viewer
3.6
1 Ratings
73% below category average
Microsoft Power BI
7.8
187 Ratings
3% below category average
Pre-built visualization formats (heatmaps, scatter plots etc.)3.61 Ratings8.2181 Ratings
Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization00 Ratings8.1166 Ratings
Predictive Analytics00 Ratings7.4136 Ratings
Pattern Recognition and Data Mining00 Ratings7.437 Ratings
Report Output and Scheduling
Comparison of Report Output and Scheduling features of Product A and Product B
Lightning Tools Data Viewer
-
Ratings
Microsoft Power BI
8.0
187 Ratings
3% below category average
Publish to Web00 Ratings8.2177 Ratings
Publish to PDF00 Ratings8.0172 Ratings
Report Versioning00 Ratings7.7144 Ratings
Report Delivery Scheduling00 Ratings8.2147 Ratings
Delivery to Remote Servers00 Ratings7.9110 Ratings
Access Control and Security
Comparison of Access Control and Security features of Product A and Product B
Lightning Tools Data Viewer
-
Ratings
Microsoft Power BI
8.5
178 Ratings
0% below 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
Lightning Tools Data Viewer
-
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
Lightning Tools Data Viewer
-
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
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Lightning Tools Data ViewerMicrosoft Power BI
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Score 9.8 out of 10
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Score 10.0 out of 10
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User Ratings
Lightning Tools Data ViewerMicrosoft Power BI
Likelihood to Recommend
9.1
(1 ratings)
8.5
(197 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
-
(0 ratings)
9.5
(3 ratings)
Usability
-
(0 ratings)
8.3
(113 ratings)
Support Rating
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(52 ratings)
Implementation Rating
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
Lightning Tools Data ViewerMicrosoft Power BI
Likelihood to Recommend
Lightning Tools
Lightning Tools Data Viewer is well suited for re-surfacing data and customizing its look and feel.
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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
Lightning Tools
  • Shows Lists created on different sites to be seen and controlled on another site in a Tenant
  • Allows selection of layouts and coloring way beyond what other programs do.
  • Easy to learn and very functional.
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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.
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Cons
Lightning Tools
  • Data Viewer has a graph feature that is old school flat design. We loved the In House real 3D graph Lightning Tools program.
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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
Lightning Tools
No answers on this topic
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
Lightning Tools
No answers on this topic
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
Support Rating
Lightning Tools
No answers on this topic
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
Lightning Tools
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
It was integrated with our erp easily and was accessible on cloud.
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Alternatives Considered
Lightning Tools
Lightning Tools Data Viewer is much easier and more powerful than Infowise similar viewer in their lineup. In this case, we use Data Viewer over the one offered by Infowise.
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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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Return on Investment
Lightning Tools
  • It allows us to do things that would take a great deal more time to duplicate in SharePoint
  • It cuts down on ugly looking built in SP list layouts
  • Users find it easy to access, thus this product is more productive
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

Lightning Tools Data Viewer Screenshots

Screenshot of DISPLAYING EXTERNAL DATA WITHIN SHAREPOINT OR MICROSOFT TEAMS
The Data Viewer Client Side Web Part can be configured by Business Users within a few minutes to display Line of Business Data from Data Sources such as Excel,  SQL Azure, Business Connectivity Services, OData and SharePoint Lists.  Connections to an organizations data such as Customer Relationship Management Systems, Accounting Systems, or Custom Databases can be connected, giving business users a live up-to-date view of business information within the context of their SharePoint Team Sites or Microsoft Teams Tabs.Screenshot of HIGHLIGHTING KEY BUSINESS DATA (NO CODE)
Conditional formatting can be used to highlight key business data. Overdue Tasks, Low Stock, Currency Exchange Rates, Sales Revenue are examples of data to highlight visually allowing for a quick reaction time. Key Financial Indicators and Key Performance Indicators can be configured with a simple dialog and no need to write any code. Choose colours, icons or data bars to highlight key data.Screenshot of SELECTING AND STYLING ICONS
Icons can be chosen as part of the conditional formatting to make data stand out. The Office 365 Fabric icons can be selected and styled and applied to cell values. Pepper pots, Smileys, Envelopes and more icons are available. There are hundreds of options to choose from to highlight data that needs to be acted upon.Screenshot of DATA VIEWER CAN BE A GRID OF DATA OR A CHART IN SHAREPOINT OR MICROSOFT TEAMS
The Data Viewer can be used within Microsoft SharePoint Modern Sites or Microsoft Teams Tabs as a Grid of Data with styling or as a Chart which can be configured. The Charting Feature allows for Pie, Donut, Column, Line, Area, and Scatter Charts which can all be configured and displayed in 2D or 3D.Screenshot of TREEMAPS
summary information can be displayed within a TreeMap next to the detail. Users will be able to see trends, and how the business is performing  using the TreeMap view of data.Screenshot of CHARTS AND GAUGES
The Data Viewer is used to represent data in multiple ways using Gauges, TreeMaps, Multiple Series Charts, and Pie Charts.

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