Microsoft Power BI vs. Pentaho

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Microsoft Power BI
Score 8.4 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
Pentaho
Score 7.5 out of 10
N/A
Pentaho is a suite of open source business intelligence and analytics products, now offered and supported by Hitachi Data Systems since the June 2015 acquisition.N/A
Pricing
Microsoft Power BIPentaho
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Microsoft Power BIPentaho
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
YesNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Microsoft Power BIPentaho
Considered Both Products
Microsoft Power BI
Chose Microsoft Power BI
[Microsoft] Power BI is practical and effective, like a hammer for a nail, it is easy to use and produces very quickly the results that in most cases are urgently required by clients (nice reports to share on the web). To start using [Microsoft] Power BI you need a business …
Chose Microsoft Power BI
Power BI does not have the feel of a fully independent and robust BI Solution. It tackles smaller functional or department-level analytic needs and can operate in a small or solo roll-out environment. But scaling up to enterprise would be better suited for Qlik or Tableau. Same …
Pentaho
Chose Pentaho
Pentaho ranks #3 out of the four. I would always choose Qlik Sense overall since it is so incredibly fast and adaptable. It also has built-in ETL and has a much greater community. If you don't like Qlik, Tableau would be a second choice but the company is difficult to work …
Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
Microsoft Power BIPentaho
BI Standard Reporting
Comparison of BI Standard Reporting features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft Power BI
7.2
138 Ratings
13% below category average
Pentaho
9.0
20 Ratings
9% above category average
Pixel Perfect reports6.5118 Ratings8.718 Ratings
Customizable dashboards8.0138 Ratings9.818 Ratings
Report Formatting Templates7.2126 Ratings8.618 Ratings
Ad-hoc Reporting
Comparison of Ad-hoc Reporting features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft Power BI
7.0
139 Ratings
15% below category average
Pentaho
8.7
19 Ratings
7% above category average
Drill-down analysis7.2138 Ratings7.718 Ratings
Formatting capabilities6.4137 Ratings8.319 Ratings
Integration with R or other statistical packages7.5102 Ratings9.312 Ratings
Report sharing and collaboration7.0134 Ratings9.617 Ratings
Report Output and Scheduling
Comparison of Report Output and Scheduling features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft Power BI
7.8
133 Ratings
7% below category average
Pentaho
9.6
20 Ratings
14% above category average
Publish to Web8.1128 Ratings9.618 Ratings
Publish to PDF8.1121 Ratings9.719 Ratings
Report Versioning7.3101 Ratings9.613 Ratings
Report Delivery Scheduling8.7103 Ratings9.917 Ratings
Delivery to Remote Servers6.773 Ratings9.310 Ratings
Data Discovery and Visualization
Comparison of Data Discovery and Visualization features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft Power BI
7.6
135 Ratings
6% below category average
Pentaho
8.2
17 Ratings
2% above category average
Pre-built visualization formats (heatmaps, scatter plots etc.)7.5130 Ratings7.916 Ratings
Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization7.8121 Ratings8.216 Ratings
Predictive Analytics7.4101 Ratings8.314 Ratings
Access Control and Security
Comparison of Access Control and Security features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft Power BI
8.2
126 Ratings
5% below category average
Pentaho
9.1
20 Ratings
6% above category average
Multi-User Support (named login)8.2120 Ratings9.320 Ratings
Role-Based Security Model8.8102 Ratings9.519 Ratings
Multiple Access Permission Levels (Create, Read, Delete)8.4110 Ratings9.918 Ratings
Report-Level Access Control7.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Single Sign-On (SSO)8.694 Ratings7.710 Ratings
Mobile Capabilities
Comparison of Mobile Capabilities features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft Power BI
7.9
117 Ratings
1% below category average
Pentaho
8.3
11 Ratings
4% above category average
Responsive Design for Web Access8.0111 Ratings9.710 Ratings
Mobile Application7.493 Ratings7.07 Ratings
Dashboard / Report / Visualization Interactivity on Mobile7.4112 Ratings8.711 Ratings
Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding
Comparison of Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft Power BI
8.4
80 Ratings
6% above category average
Pentaho
8.6
10 Ratings
8% above category average
REST API8.172 Ratings8.310 Ratings
Javascript API9.656 Ratings9.09 Ratings
iFrames8.055 Ratings7.39 Ratings
Java API7.946 Ratings8.69 Ratings
Themeable User Interface (UI)8.263 Ratings8.910 Ratings
Customizable Platform (Open Source)8.444 Ratings9.610 Ratings
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Microsoft Power BIPentaho
Small Businesses
BrightGauge
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Score 8.9 out of 10
BrightGauge
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Score 8.9 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Reveal
Reveal
Score 9.9 out of 10
Reveal
Reveal
Score 9.9 out of 10
Enterprises
Jaspersoft Community Edition
Jaspersoft Community Edition
Score 9.7 out of 10
Jaspersoft Community Edition
Jaspersoft Community Edition
Score 9.7 out of 10
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User Ratings
Microsoft Power BIPentaho
Likelihood to Recommend
7.9
(140 ratings)
9.1
(31 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
10.0
(1 ratings)
8.8
(11 ratings)
Usability
9.0
(56 ratings)
9.3
(6 ratings)
Support Rating
7.9
(52 ratings)
9.3
(7 ratings)
Online Training
-
(0 ratings)
9.5
(2 ratings)
Implementation Rating
-
(0 ratings)
5.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
Microsoft Power BIPentaho
Likelihood to Recommend
Microsoft
In operations we use the tool for many different topics, from factory quality systems to high level reviews. We have created kind of an internal "App Store" based on Power BI where you have a lot of different dashboards for different solutions (cost, cash, health and safety, sales, factories, distribution centers...) and you as an user just need to get in that "App Store" and enter in whatever tool can be useful for you. It is open to all the operations employees and can use on demand. Also it has raised the imagination of our colleagues, as they are not only working by themselves creating new reports, but also raising fantastic ideas that can be extended for the usage of all the community.
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Hitachi Vantara
Pentaho is very well suited to perform data extraction & data mining from various cloud storage & transform that data using various available data models. However, the software struggles when it comes to visualizing the extracted data in an appealing manner & can be difficult for end-users to get an understanding of data tables created using those models.
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Pros
Microsoft
  • Quickly filter and view granular data sets with easily configurable reporting figures.
  • The ability to quickly switch between tabs allows for historical data comparisons and progress tracking.
  • It's helpful to dive into the data and break it down from high levels to small.
  • Achieve actionable insights faster by using real-time data. It's incredible to have online access to reports.
Read full review
Hitachi Vantara
  • Integrate and synchronize with big data easily
  • Import data from any sources and different databases
  • Managing data in on-premise, hybrid and cloud environments.
  • Compatibility and flexibility of the platform with any type of scenario and any business or industry
  • Various tools in the software suite to transformation of data
  • Simple interface appearance and creative UI graphics
Read full review
Cons
Microsoft
  • The desktop app is great but needs a lot of performance improvements
  • No MacOS Version for the Desktop app, this is a big limitation for business since executives prefer Macs
  • Premium Cloud Version of Power BI is awfully expensive
  • On-Premise Version of the Power BI Reports Server is bundled only with SQL Server Enterprise License and cannot be purchased separately and requires Software Assurance Subscription
  • On-Premise Power BI Report Server doesn't support ADFS, AzureAD or any Claims-Based authentication platform, a sad disadvantage for enterprises
Read full review
Hitachi Vantara
  • I think the relative obscurity of the tool is a downside, not as many developers, consultants or peers you can tap into.
  • Lack of a solid user community held us back, looking at Power BI and Qlik, they have huge user communities that help each other out. Would have liked that here.
  • Smaller company means smaller sales force, and the lack of a local presence made it hard to only interact online with the account rep. Other companies have someone local who often stops by with pre-sales developers to just pitch in free of charge when they have time.
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Likelihood to Renew
Microsoft
I find it helpful and easy to use
Read full review
Hitachi Vantara
I will use Pentaho until I find a better tool with a better, easier to use report designer client. For now, Pentaho has been the most powerful reporting tool for our clients because of its ability to connect to Odoo, integrate in Odoo (reports are accessible in Odoo) and the flexibility in report design and parameter integration
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Usability
Microsoft
At this point, I think we all know who has taken the lead in the business intelligence and analytics market worldwide. With fresh new updates every other day on top of an already robustly built product with all features that one can dream of is a no brainer, I feel. Microsoft will invariably be synonymous with quality and professionalism.
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Hitachi Vantara
The Pentaho tools are designed so you can start playing around on your own. Of course, you will need guidance at some point, but the training teams are good at guiding new users, and the online documentation is usually pretty up-to-date.
Some of the tools, such as the Pentaho Data Integration tool and the Pentaho Server, are pretty self-explanatory. The other tools maybe are not so quickly and obvious to use, but again, with some documentation and some customer support, you can find your way around them.
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Support Rating
Microsoft
I can't really speak to the support overall, [but] I will say that in the almost three years I have used the system, I have only needed to contact their support team once. I think the team was helpful, but it did take some time for us to resolve the issues/ request that they had. I guess the good news is that the system is pretty stable, and I personally have rarely needed to contact their technical support team.
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Hitachi Vantara
They were responsive to our questions when we raised issues. They gave us workarounds when required. They were quite knowledgeable when it came to issue analysis and providing fixes. They were forthright in informing us if a bug was not due for release soon.
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Online Training
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Hitachi Vantara
Course Taken: DI1000 Pentaho Data Integration Fundamentals Setup A week before your class started, the instructor will start sending out class material and lab setup instructions. This is helpful so that you understand how the environment is laid out and can start reviewing the content. Ultimately it saved about a 1/2 day trying to setup with 10 other people online which was great! The Course The 3-day course was laid out like many other technical classes with 15-30 minutes instruction and 15-60 minutes of lab exercises. The instructor was very knowledgeable with the functionality from version to version and answered questions as we went along. I was amazed at some of the functionality that was available that I was not using at the time and quickly implemented changes to many existing transformations and jobs. The novice users seemed to catch on quickly and more experienced users explained how some of the functionality was used in their home environments. Towards the end there was enough time so that we were able to ask very directed questions about our own environments. Overall, I really found the class to be informative and deliver enough information to be dangerous. My skills improved and I was able to design better and efficient transformations for the HIE. Course Description: https://training.pentaho.com/instructor-led-training/pentaho-data-integration-fundamentals-di1000
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Implementation Rating
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Hitachi Vantara
Get the right people in before starting implementation. Start small and build as you go approach is time consuming and involves lot of rework. Evangalize within the organization the capabilities and limitations equally so that correct delivery expectations are set. Set expectations with the Customer that the tool cannot replace proprietary software in terms of stability/usability and that timelines could change given the new ness of the product.
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Alternatives Considered
Microsoft
[Microsoft] Power BI is practical and effective, like a hammer for a nail, it is easy to use and produces very quickly the results that in most cases are urgently required by clients (nice reports to share on the web). To start using [Microsoft] Power BI you need a business email address, with that you create an account in Power BI Service and in less than 1 hour you will have installed Power BI Desktop, a report will have been created and it will have been published on the web .
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Hitachi Vantara
Since the Pentaho platform offers a range of broad functionality across data preparation and advanced analytics, it also can be easily integrated to support many data sources and machine-learning frameworks. Based on that fact, we selected Pentaho to be used in our internal department. It also supports many of our BI use cases as required by company management or the business user. Last but not least, the Pentaho license is cheaper than their competitor.
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Return on Investment
Microsoft
  • It helps us track and achieve company goals.
  • It shows us [our] performance in areas we could not previously track and allows us to see and work on how to improve their performance.
  • Quick easy access for executives to use in helping teams and addressing issues.
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Hitachi Vantara
  • Pentaho has improved our overall business process.
  • Pentaho has helped the Managers and Directors to analyze the numbers going up and down from time to time.
  • We have a started a big project using Pentaho that is going to include all the business processes in the organization.
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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