Microsoft BI (MSBI) vs. SAP Analytics Cloud

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Microsoft BI (MSBI)
Score 8.7 out of 10
N/A
Microsoft 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
SAP Analytics Cloud
Score 8.1 out of 10
N/A
The SAP Analytics Cloud solution brings together analytics and planning with integration to SAP applications and access to heterogenous data sources. As the analytics and planning solution within SAP Business Technology Platform, SAP Analytics Cloud supports trusted insights and integrated planning processes enterprise-wide to help make decisions without doubt.
$36
per month per user
Pricing
Microsoft BI (MSBI)SAP Analytics Cloud
Editions & Modules
Power BI Pro
$14
per month per user
Power BI Premium
$24
per month per user
SAP Analytics Cloud for Business Intelligence
$36.00
per month per user
SAP Analytics Cloud for Planning
Price upon request
per month per user
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Microsoft BI (MSBI)SAP Analytics Cloud
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
YesNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsA 30-day trial with SAP Analytics Cloud is available, supporting analytics enterprise-wide. A trial can be extended up to 90 days on request.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Microsoft BI (MSBI)SAP Analytics Cloud
Considered Both Products
Microsoft BI (MSBI)

No answer on this topic

SAP Analytics Cloud
Chose SAP Analytics Cloud
Our org selected SAP Analytics Cloud due to its brilliant integration capability with SAP models.
HANA/BW/BO etc which save development efforts and resource costs.
SAP Analytics Cloud stands hand in hand with any other similar viz tool in the market and has capability to …
Chose SAP Analytics Cloud
Since we are IT software Selling organisation we need to review data of the deals that are closed new project coming so we can plan our resources. SAP Analytics helps us to analyse the data and plan our deals and projects. Obviously, there are manual decisions taken post …
Chose SAP Analytics Cloud
Seamless integration with SAP. It works with web services and allows us to integrate with other platforms. It's easy to use for end-users.
Features
Microsoft BI (MSBI)SAP Analytics Cloud
BI Standard Reporting
Comparison of BI Standard Reporting features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft BI (MSBI)
9.0
53 Ratings
10% above category average
SAP Analytics Cloud
7.6
357 Ratings
7% below category average
Pixel Perfect reports8.546 Ratings7.4302 Ratings
Customizable dashboards9.653 Ratings7.9345 Ratings
Report Formatting Templates9.051 Ratings7.4319 Ratings
Ad-hoc Reporting
Comparison of Ad-hoc Reporting features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft BI (MSBI)
8.6
53 Ratings
7% above category average
SAP Analytics Cloud
7.5
358 Ratings
7% below category average
Drill-down analysis8.548 Ratings7.9348 Ratings
Formatting capabilities8.353 Ratings7.3345 Ratings
Integration with R or other statistical packages8.442 Ratings6.9256 Ratings
Report sharing and collaboration9.053 Ratings8.1334 Ratings
Report Output and Scheduling
Comparison of Report Output and Scheduling features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft BI (MSBI)
8.6
52 Ratings
5% above category average
SAP Analytics Cloud
7.4
339 Ratings
10% below category average
Publish to Web9.448 Ratings7.7290 Ratings
Publish to PDF9.248 Ratings7.8321 Ratings
Report Versioning7.544 Ratings7.5282 Ratings
Report Delivery Scheduling8.547 Ratings7.5278 Ratings
Delivery to Remote Servers8.626 Ratings6.758 Ratings
Data Discovery and Visualization
Comparison of Data Discovery and Visualization features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft BI (MSBI)
8.7
52 Ratings
9% above category average
SAP Analytics Cloud
7.4
343 Ratings
8% below category average
Pre-built visualization formats (heatmaps, scatter plots etc.)9.651 Ratings7.8325 Ratings
Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization8.748 Ratings7.5312 Ratings
Predictive Analytics7.945 Ratings7.3312 Ratings
Pattern Recognition and Data Mining8.76 Ratings7.099 Ratings
Access Control and Security
Comparison of Access Control and Security features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft BI (MSBI)
9.3
53 Ratings
9% above category average
SAP Analytics Cloud
8.2
349 Ratings
3% below category average
Multi-User Support (named login)9.549 Ratings8.2323 Ratings
Role-Based Security Model9.447 Ratings8.0331 Ratings
Multiple Access Permission Levels (Create, Read, Delete)8.949 Ratings8.1324 Ratings
Report-Level Access Control9.46 Ratings8.2134 Ratings
Single Sign-On (SSO)9.531 Ratings8.5327 Ratings
Mobile Capabilities
Comparison of Mobile Capabilities features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft BI (MSBI)
8.1
42 Ratings
5% above category average
SAP Analytics Cloud
7.4
294 Ratings
4% below category average
Responsive Design for Web Access8.239 Ratings7.4283 Ratings
Mobile Application8.030 Ratings6.8247 Ratings
Dashboard / Report / Visualization Interactivity on Mobile7.939 Ratings7.0274 Ratings
Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding
Comparison of Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft BI (MSBI)
8.6
24 Ratings
11% above category average
SAP Analytics Cloud
7.1
66 Ratings
8% below category average
REST API9.321 Ratings7.156 Ratings
Javascript API8.921 Ratings7.049 Ratings
iFrames8.920 Ratings7.143 Ratings
Java API8.918 Ratings7.142 Ratings
Themeable User Interface (UI)8.121 Ratings7.451 Ratings
Customizable Platform (Open Source)7.519 Ratings6.843 Ratings
User Ratings
Microsoft BI (MSBI)SAP Analytics Cloud
Likelihood to Recommend
9.0
(77 ratings)
8.1
(382 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
8.0
(25 ratings)
8.7
(22 ratings)
Usability
9.0
(19 ratings)
7.7
(307 ratings)
Availability
9.5
(2 ratings)
5.0
(1 ratings)
Performance
7.0
(2 ratings)
4.0
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
8.9
(15 ratings)
6.3
(73 ratings)
In-Person Training
6.9
(3 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Online Training
8.5
(2 ratings)
5.3
(2 ratings)
Implementation Rating
9.6
(7 ratings)
6.5
(9 ratings)
Configurability
10.0
(2 ratings)
5.0
(1 ratings)
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
-
(0 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
Ease of integration
-
(0 ratings)
6.0
(1 ratings)
Product Scalability
-
(0 ratings)
7.0
(1 ratings)
Professional Services
-
(0 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
-
(0 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
-
(0 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
Microsoft BI (MSBI)SAP Analytics Cloud
Likelihood to Recommend
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.
Read full review
SAP
>> Using SAC predictive analytics capabilities for inventory management in a Production line setup has helped generate Purchase Requisitions and Purchase Orders for raw or semi-finished goods without much head-banging into Demand management rules. It does it beautifully with seamless integration with HANA core MM and PP modules, along with BI integration. It has resulted in 30% greater warehouse storage capacity, thereby saving revenue from piled-up inventory and associated manpower costs. >> SAC sometimes shows latency in working out a large data set, thus giving a poor user experience compared to its competition. Also, it may occasionally show misinterpretations when embedding data from 3rd-party systems into the HANA core dataset.
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Pros
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.
Read full review
SAP
  • It makes it easier yo analyse order and related records easily.
  • We can easily maintain and track the performance of employees in organisation.
  • Can easily track various aspects for the growth of an organisation thus allowing real time analysis and tracking of organisation's growth and performance.
Read full review
Cons
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
SAP
  • Complexity in Data Modeling
  • SAC supports various data sources, but improvements in the ease of connecting to and integrating with certain data repositories, especially non-SAP databases, would enhance the platform's versatility and integration capabilities.
  • An offline mode for SAC could be valuable for users who need to access and analyze data without an internet connection. Additionally, optimizing performance for large datasets and complex visualizations would contribute to a smoother user experience.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
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.
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SAP
We are planning to review the licensing as we have issues with SAC dealing with huge datasets. Analytics area is good for import models but when we have live connections in place that's when we have issue with SAC dealing with huge datasets in live be it BW or be it HANA models in the backend.
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Usability
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.
Read full review
SAP
I landed on a 7 out of 10 for a few key reasons. The tool is flexible in the sense that we are using very very very (very) little off the shelf solutions and customizing to our needs. Users enjoy having the customized data actions, key variance calculations, and easy to use headcount/salary planning in the same tool. One downside is that users are hard to please when they are used to excel. SAP Analytics Cloud simply is not excel, and the flexibility of excel in a crunch is not there.
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Reliability and Availability
Microsoft
The product has been reliable.
Read full review
SAP
I would rate SAP Analytics Cloud an 8 out of 10 for scalability. It offers a flexible, cloud-based architecture that supports expansion across departments and geographies. The platform adapts well to growing data volumes and user needs, making it a strong choice for organizations looking to scale analytics capabilities efficiently.
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Performance
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.
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SAP
I would rate SAP Analytics Cloud’s performance an 8 out of 10. Pages generally load quickly, and reports run within a reasonable time frame, even with complex datasets. Integration with other systems is smooth and doesn’t noticeably affect performance. Overall, it’s a responsive and efficient tool for business analytics. But
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Support Rating
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.
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SAP
Since the implementation stage, the support team has been very helpful and assisting. Even in the later stages, the tech team had quite a rapid response. In general, SAP has provided us with great customer support, let it be for a specific product of SAP or for integration of different modules.
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In-Person Training
Microsoft
This training was more directed toward what the product was capable of rather than actual programming.
Read full review
SAP
Good videos and reference material available in SAP Portal.
Read full review
Online Training
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.
Read full review
SAP
In hindsight, it would have been easier to have someone there in person. Questions were answered, but with 11 participants, it got a bit chaotic online
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Implementation Rating
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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SAP
SAC is a simple solution ad it works fine when connecting it to other SAP tools. On the other hand, connecting it to third party solutions brings difficulties when there's no previous design and the objetives are not clear. It is really important to integrate Business users from the start to provide with valuable business insights
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Alternatives Considered
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.
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SAP
SAP Analytics Cloud and Power BI are both tools that help businesses understand their data, but they have some differences. SAC, made by SAP, works well if your company already uses other SAP products. It's in the cloud, easy to use, and has features for analyzing data, getting insights, and planning for the future. Power BI, made by Microsoft, can be used in the cloud or on your own computers. It fits well with Microsoft tools, is easy to use, and can do advanced data analysis. SAC has built-in planning tools, while Power BI needs extra tools for detailed planning
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Contract Terms and Pricing Model
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
SAP
unit pricing
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Scalability
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
SAP
Is good for use across multiple locations. It allows users to access data and reports from anywhere, regardless of their location. Can consolidate data from various sources, including different SAP systems and external sources, which facilitates cross-location analysis. SAC enables access to data and models from SAP Datasphere to create new stories. Detailed permissions can be defined for cross-departmental use.
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Professional Services
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
SAP
very simple
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Return on Investment
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.
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SAP
  • Many manual data manipulations and exports in Excel have been replaced by the tool, providing management with improved insight into the amount of time spent at each stage of an invoice's lifetime, allowing bottlenecks to be discovered.
  • We now have more insight into the data, and people with little technical experience can easily build stories.
Read full review
ScreenShots