Microsoft Power BI vs. Qlik Sense

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Microsoft Power BI
Score 8.3 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
Qlik Sense
Score 8.1 out of 10
N/A
Qlik Sense® is a self-service BI platform for data discovery and visualization. It supports a full range of analytics use cases—data governance, pixel-perfect reporting, and collaboration. Its Associative Engine indexes and connects relationships between data points for creating actionable insights.
$20
per month per user (10 user minimum)
Pricing
Microsoft Power BIQlik Sense
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Standard
$20
per month per user (10 user minimum)
Premium
$2700
per month unlimited basic users & purchased full users
Qlik Sense Enterprise on Windows
Contact Sales
Enterprise
Custom Quote
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Microsoft Power BIQlik Sense
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
YesNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoYes
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Microsoft Power BIQlik Sense
Considered Both Products
Microsoft Power BI
Chose Microsoft Power BI
Both Qlik and Microsoft Power BI both stack up very well next to each other. I personally liked Qlik just a little bit more but the price difference for us is what really changed our minds.
Chose Microsoft Power BI
Organization tool is the same
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 …
Chose Microsoft Power BI
Tableau and Spotfire are all around better tools, but Power BI can be useful especially because of its cheap price.
Chose Microsoft Power BI
Based on the latest reviews from Magic Quadrant, Tableau is rated high among all the applications in this category with its rich features in terms of connectivity, visualizations, and various other features. But the cost of using the application is bit high from my personal …
Chose Microsoft Power BI
Power BI performs quite well in comparison to it's competitor's products. We compared it mainly to GoodData and Tableau. Power BI has a great pricing. It's affordable and efficient with mid-sized datasets. Hence many companies go for it. Competitive products like Tableau are …
Chose Microsoft Power BI
Power BI is a lot easier to use. The designs are also much nicer. Costs to implement Power BI (minus the existing data infrastructure) is much lower than other tools commercially available. However, the tool is still relatively new and still lacks many common features that …
Chose Microsoft Power BI
As mentioned earlier it is free of cost and easy to learn as it is part of the Microsoft suite product. It blends well with ETL package tools such as SSRS and SSIS. It is also easy to distribute the dashboard to users of Office 365. It is a a complete Microsoft product which …
Qlik Sense
Chose Qlik Sense
We looked at both Microsoft Power BI and Tableau. They both have similar functionality and can get to the end results of Qlik Sense. The big determining factor was how much time that we would have to develop reports and stories. We found that Qlik Sense allowed us to develop …
Chose Qlik Sense
We use Microsoft Power BI too as a BI tool, in my point of view, Qlik Sense's ETL is much better than PowerBi. In another side, PowerBI learning curve is small than Qlik Sense, especially the PowerBI Desktop.
Chose Qlik Sense
The experience with View has certainly been a strong lever to help us in the choice, but what was proposed by this new product was certainly in line with the tool we were looking for.
Chose Qlik Sense
Qlik Sense offers a broad variety of functions that are not easily achievable using PowerBi. However, I was not involved with the selection.
Chose Qlik Sense
Qlik Sense is a fast tool to implement; you can have a functional dashboard in a few days, and the ETL processes are quite easy to build it. You can have the ROI in a short period of time.
Chose Qlik Sense
Qlik Sense is relatively cheaper and more futuristic
Chose Qlik Sense
Qlik Sense is one of the best reporting systems. It is stronger than PBI and Tableau when speaking about complex KPIs. It is really similar to MicroStrategy Analytics when you speak about obtained results, but it is easier to use, especially as it is more code-based. But is it …
Chose Qlik Sense
We originally went with Qlik Sense because the desktop version used to be free for single users and was a very good proposition for us (we are a non-profit with a limited budget). However, from what I see, the functionality is comparable, and Qlik Sense stacks up well.
Chose Qlik Sense
As soon as you want to pull data from two or more separate tables, Qlik Sense leaves the rest in the dust, since it does not require joins or complex transformations. Zoho CRM analytics are limited to the data located in the product itself. No external tables can be combined.
Chose Qlik Sense
Other tools were not able to handle complex business requirements and performance was not too good with very huge volume data. we were required to maintain history, time-based data backups, and snapshots. Also, some of the tools were too costly compare to Qlik [Sense] solutions.
Chose Qlik Sense
When it comes to working with large datasets out of the box, Qlik in my opinion is unrivaled amongst the competitor. However, the overall user experience and customization options available to developers require a lot of work. When compared to other options on the market, …
Chose Qlik Sense
BI has some amazing features, but it requires a good understanding of DAX. It's not as user-friendly as Qlik Sense.
Chose Qlik Sense
I prefer Qlik due to its ability to combine multiple data sources and flexibility offer by the data load editor, other tools lack this capability or they don't do as good of a job as Qlik
Chose Qlik Sense
Previously, we used QlikView and it was difficult to modify something in a dashboard that was originally created by other colleagues. I think that QlikView it's a legacy and it will be decommissioned soon. Versus Power BI, I would say that Qlik Sense does a very nice figure in …
Chose Qlik Sense
I have used SSRS previously for reporting. One interesting feature of SSRS is its email scheduling process, which comes in the same package as SSRS, but in Qlik Sense, we need to get the NPrinting package to make this happen (email scheduling). Still, we decided to go with Qlik …
Chose Qlik Sense
Each product has its strengths/weaknesses, [but] Qlik Sense offered the best approach to leverage the investment in knowledge used in our earlier dashboards formed in Qlik View and transitioned many two step applications ie. extract/join data SQL and present in Microsoft …
Chose Qlik Sense
Other vendors products evaluated (in some cases used by other divisions within our corporation):
** SAP Analytics Cloud - stacks up quite well against Qlik Sense but the differences are subtle but important. Sometimes SAC has it over Qlik and sometimes Qlik has it over SAC so …
Chose Qlik Sense
Qlik Sense
  1. better support for multiple data sources
  2. more customizable security
Chose Qlik Sense
QlikView has many more options for styling within charts and objects - this hurts our ability to style things to our needs within Qlik Sense. Qlik Sense looks more modern, responsive for browser size and visually more appealing.
Chose Qlik Sense
We have used different BI Reporting tools, but overall, Qlik Sense [has been used longer]. Customers are really happy with the dashboards we made through Qlik Sense.
Chose Qlik Sense
Qlik Sense has the ability to handle huge data and the data loading and performing analytics on huge data [is] a plus as compared to other tools in the market. Qlik Sense ability to integrate open-source tools is the best compared to other tools in market.
Chose Qlik Sense
Qlik was selected before I arrived and I would not select it again in comparison to any of the alternatives I've worked with, unless that was the enterprise mandate.
Chose Qlik Sense
Qlik Sense has its own set of features and capabilities and is a worthy replacement for all other B.I. tools that I have used.
Top Pros
Top Cons
TrustRadius Insights
Microsoft Power BIQlik Sense
Highlights

TrustRadius
Research Team Insight
Published

Microsoft Power BI and Qlik Sense are both Business Intelligence platforms. They are both prominent names in the BI space, although Microsoft is more well known. However, both Power BI and Sense are newer developments from Microsoft and Qlik, respectively. 

Microsoft Power BI is the giant’s newest BI offering, which focuses on making BI more accessible to smaller organizations in the SMB space as well as enterprises. Qlik Sense, on the other hand, is more focused on delivering data analytics to enterprises. It also has users across company sizes, but is more common in larger organizations. 

Features

Microsoft Power BI and Qlik Sense have different focuses on feature areas that differentiate their ideal use cases.

Power BI is designed to be more accessible and lighter weight for smaller organizations. It also maximizes on benefits from integrating smoothly with other Microsoft products, streamlining data importing and management for companies that already live in the Microsoft ecosystem. This also makes management and training easier for companies that are Microsoft-first. It is also more price-competitive than Qlik Sense. 

However, Qlik Sense brings more enterprise-scale firepower along with the higher price tag. It provides more in-depth enterprise dashboarding and advanced visualizations. These dashboards and visualization are also more customizable than what Power BI can easily allow. Outside of Microsoft-first environments, Qlik Sense is also a leader in collaborative data reporting. 

Limitations

There are also limitations to Microsoft Power BI and Qlik Sense worth considering. 

Power BI’s greater accessibility comes at the cost of more advanced capabilities. For instance, it has more limited advanced visualization capabilities, and more specialized data management and modelling are more difficult, particularly at larger scales. This leads to a lower cap of what can be accomplished with Power BI, and adds a steeper learning curve for midlevel and higher modelling and visualizations. 

On the other hand, Qlik’s higher range of capabilities comes with higher resource costs. For instance, once data is loaded into models any modifications to the data or the model becomes a much more intensive task, which makes Qlik require more active management from users or administrators. It is also not as user-friendly around certain customizations and visual aspects, such as color and font customization. 

Pricing

Microsoft Power BI offers two pricing packages. Power BI Pro is a self-service BI offering managed by Microsoft, which costs $9.99/user/month. The Power BI Premium adds more big data analytics, cloud and on-premises reporting, and unlimited users. Premium costs $4,995/month per resource. 

Qlik Sense also offers two pricing packages. Qlik Sense Business, at $30/user/month, offers the core Qlik Sense platform and can be trialed for free for 30 days. Qlik Sense Enterprise SaaS, priced at $70/Professional/month, $40/Analyzer/month, or $100/Analyzer Capacity/month, adds additional governance capabilities, managed spaces, and multiple user types. 

Features
Microsoft Power BIQlik Sense
BI Standard Reporting
Comparison of BI Standard Reporting features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft Power BI
7.3
138 Ratings
12% below category average
Qlik Sense
8.4
312 Ratings
2% above category average
Pixel Perfect reports6.6118 Ratings8.3213 Ratings
Customizable dashboards8.1138 Ratings8.9310 Ratings
Report Formatting Templates7.3126 Ratings8.1225 Ratings
Ad-hoc Reporting
Comparison of Ad-hoc Reporting features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft Power BI
7.1
139 Ratings
13% below category average
Qlik Sense
8.6
323 Ratings
6% above category average
Drill-down analysis7.3138 Ratings8.8319 Ratings
Formatting capabilities6.5137 Ratings8.2312 Ratings
Integration with R or other statistical packages7.6102 Ratings8.3152 Ratings
Report sharing and collaboration7.0134 Ratings8.9296 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
Qlik Sense
8.7
275 Ratings
4% above category average
Publish to Web8.2128 Ratings8.7207 Ratings
Publish to PDF8.2121 Ratings8.7254 Ratings
Report Versioning7.3101 Ratings8.6174 Ratings
Report Delivery Scheduling8.6103 Ratings8.7180 Ratings
Delivery to Remote Servers6.973 Ratings8.7106 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
Qlik Sense
8.5
311 Ratings
5% above category average
Pre-built visualization formats (heatmaps, scatter plots etc.)7.6130 Ratings8.4304 Ratings
Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization7.9121 Ratings8.7281 Ratings
Predictive Analytics7.5101 Ratings8.5193 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
Qlik Sense
8.9
294 Ratings
3% above category average
Multi-User Support (named login)8.2120 Ratings9.2273 Ratings
Role-Based Security Model8.8102 Ratings9.0270 Ratings
Multiple Access Permission Levels (Create, Read, Delete)8.3110 Ratings8.7272 Ratings
Report-Level Access Control7.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Single Sign-On (SSO)8.694 Ratings8.9216 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
Qlik Sense
7.5
220 Ratings
6% below category average
Responsive Design for Web Access8.0111 Ratings8.5214 Ratings
Mobile Application7.493 Ratings8.2132 Ratings
Dashboard / Report / Visualization Interactivity on Mobile7.5112 Ratings8.3184 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
Qlik Sense
8.5
143 Ratings
7% above category average
REST API8.172 Ratings8.7123 Ratings
Javascript API9.556 Ratings8.392 Ratings
iFrames8.055 Ratings8.592 Ratings
Java API7.946 Ratings8.569 Ratings
Themeable User Interface (UI)8.263 Ratings8.695 Ratings
Customizable Platform (Open Source)8.344 Ratings8.482 Ratings
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Microsoft Power BIQlik Sense
Small Businesses
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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
TIBCO Jaspersoft Community Edition
TIBCO Jaspersoft Community Edition
Score 9.7 out of 10
TIBCO Jaspersoft Community Edition
TIBCO Jaspersoft Community Edition
Score 9.7 out of 10
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User Ratings
Microsoft Power BIQlik Sense
Likelihood to Recommend
8.0
(140 ratings)
8.4
(327 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
10.0
(1 ratings)
8.4
(7 ratings)
Usability
8.9
(56 ratings)
8.0
(11 ratings)
Support Rating
8.0
(52 ratings)
7.3
(8 ratings)
In-Person Training
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(1 ratings)
Online Training
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(1 ratings)
Implementation Rating
-
(0 ratings)
7.3
(5 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(1 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
Microsoft Power BIQlik Sense
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.
Read full review
Qlik
Qlik Sense is a program whose purpose is to greatly improve all your operations and use of all data in an organic way. The mission will always be to increase the economic and commercial processes of the company in a short time. I recommended it for its high technology, which was Created for this area, the results are successful. We have noticed how it has increased relationships with our clients thanks to the credibility and security that we provide.
Read full review
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
Qlik
  • Flexibility in data recording, from the app, as well as in handling them. Allowing you to view reports quickly and effectively.
  • Easy to generate dynamic graphics according to our needs.
  • It is very easy to use, intuitive, so it does not generate costs in the learning process compared to the tool with collaborators
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
Qlik
  • Scalability is RAM limited, all data is associative and in-memory so server's RAM is directly proportional to performance
  • Limitation on advanced analytics capabilities in the form of R integration to perform complex statistical and analytical calculations
  • Can have more intuitive interface
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
Microsoft
I find it helpful and easy to use
Read full review
Qlik
Qlik Sense is a constantly improving it's software and working with its' users to make it better. They are great at keeping their users informed of progress and care about delivering a quality product
Read full review
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.
Read full review
Qlik
Standard user interface and powerful analytic functions is GREAT. As technical person working in the background there are more things to do to make this a completely great tool. Some functions that should be standard requires consult scripting and hours. Now we are using it quite advanced and with many servers and in combination with QlikView. So overall I love the tool. But it could be better and user friendly and powerful in the background
Read full review
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.
Read full review
Qlik
Not only can you ask the support team for help, but you can also ask the community. Also with the community there is a vast amount of problems that have already been solved. The problem you are encountering has a likely chance of already being discussed and even solved in the community section saving you time from reaching out.
Read full review
In-Person Training
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Qlik
The instructor was very knowledgeable.
Read full review
Online Training
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Qlik
The online instructor was very knowledgeable.
Read full review
Implementation Rating
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Qlik
Hire Qlik consultants. It's better done by them or with their aid.
Read full review
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 .
Read full review
Qlik
The customization of the platform opens up plenty of other options depending on the use cases. The API layer is incredibly rich and makes integration of Qlik based visualization into web pages a simple and effective pattern. It's been very easy to use with a great community made up of professionals. Qlik Sense has introduces artificial Intelligence into my data visualization and reporting activity.
Read full review
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.
Read full review
Qlik
  • Once an app is published and running good, we can quickly see the time we save to analyze data.
  • It's hard sometimes to realize the money we save by using this system.
  • People start understanding the power of data and asking more questions.
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

Qlik Sense Screenshots

Screenshot of Qlik Sense Cash Flow DashboardScreenshot of Qlik Sense Global Smart SearchScreenshot of Qlik Sense Smart Data Compression - Get immediate insight on large dataScreenshot of Extend, mix and mash-up with our APIsScreenshot of Add "External data" with Qlik DataMarket - Data as a ServiceScreenshot of Visualization Bundle