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
SAP Analytics Cloud
Score 8.2 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 Power BI
SAP Analytics Cloud
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
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 Power BI
SAP Analytics Cloud
Free Trial
Yes
Yes
Free/Freemium Version
Yes
No
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
No
No
Entry-level Setup Fee
No setup fee
No setup fee
Additional Details
—
A 30-day trial with SAP Analytics Cloud is available, supporting analytics enterprise-wide. A trial can be extended up to 90 days on request.
Microsoft BI tool does a better job than most of the other software. The reason is excellent visualizations and its capability to connect with various other software and data sources. Tableau does a better job when it comes to tutorials and being more user-friendly. Also …
I would rate Tableau as number one choice due to intuitive, drag and drop and advanced visualizations. We can build highly customizable reports. Whereas SAP Analytics Cloud(SAC) got less customizable reports but excellent with SAP systems, strong in planning and budgeting tools.
Integration with SAP is the key feature to go for SAC with perks of SAP IQ etc offered from SAP. Usability is quite eased in SAC - makes it easy for users to use and develop their own dashboarding. Cloud is one more feature which enables to the cloud world from SAP and probable …
we have to explicitly publish our data in the form of odata service from SAP system, this require a good amount of work for API development and requirement of SAP Developer skill set. With SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC) this is not needed and the adoption of SAC becomes very easy
Anaplan is a tool for planning, but with very less reporting options. Integration of Anaplan with SAP source is always a problem and has very less connection possibilities. Even though Anaplan provides very powerful planning features, we have to use multiple tools in the …
All three above examples are market leaders, being an sap consultant and as SAP Analytics Cloud is having tight integration with sap and offers fairly all the important features i use it.
Since we have S4/Hana cloud so accessing data from backend system is seamlessly done in SAP Analytics Cloud with the help of SAP Analytics Cloud cloud connector. We have BI/BW system. Data is loaded into this systems and fetch on SAP Analytics Cloud.
SAC lacks some of the prominent features found in other tools. But a fully functional tool. The way live connections work with SAC and better integration with SAP back-end products makes SAC a preferred choice.
SAC is an extension of our decision to use Datasphere as our Data Warehouse / Data Fabric Solution, which is really an extension of our decision to use SAP as our ERP.
Because the connectivity is natural and is easy to work and develop everything behind the same brand. Also is easy to have all the data under control on this software and easily consume in SAP Analytics Cloud Review. As I said, great advantage of using sap that means all are …
Power BI is also widely used in the company. Also quite easy to use by end users. But the integration with SAP has some limitations and de aggregation functionalities were not at the same level. Real time reporting was not at the same level as well. Our aim would have been to …
Microsoft Power BI and SAP Analytics Cloud are business intelligence and analytics platforms that allow users to query and visualize data. This analysis helps provide businesses with insights to improve their decision-making capabilities.
Microsoft Power BI is more focused on ad-hoc querying of datasets with powerful data slicing and dicing tools. On the other hand, SAP Analytics Cloud is targeted at businesses that already use SAP database and data warehouse platforms and want to use their data to build dashboards and reporting structures. On TrustRadius, Microsoft Power BI is popular among midsize businesses and enterprises while SAP Analytics Cloud is preferred by enterprise organizations.
Features
Since Power BI is part of the Microsoft ecosystem of products and services, users who are comfortable with other Microsoft products will likely have little trouble adjusting to Power BI. Another major plus of Power BI is that it is available for free for individual users. This allows users without business accounts to learn and practice with the software on their own time with their own projects. Another feature offered by Microsoft Power BI is the ability to use custom data visualizations downloaded from Microsoft Marketplace, further expanding the capabilities of the tool.
SAP Analytics Cloud’s standout features are its excellent dashboard and data visualization capabilities. TrustRadius users report that the product’s graphics are high quality and that dashboards are easy to build. SAP also pushes frequent updates to the program on a bi-weekly or quarterly basis (depending on contract details) and is actively adding new features to the software regularly. Analytics Cloud also offers natural language processing to make finding results easier through the search function. Lastly, An embedded version is offered at no extra cost so that users can build charts and dashboards into other SAP applications and have changes in data reflected in real-time.
Limitations
According to end-users, Microsoft Power BI has a few downsides. Businesses that want complete control of their data will have to upgrade to the premium version of the software to be able to keep their data in-house and off of Microsoft’s servers. Power BI also has rigid rules in place for handling table joins within a database. This can lead to problems for users who need multiple joins from a single table. TrustRadius reviewers also report some issues with performance when trying to manipulate extremely large datasets.
SAP Analytics Cloud has a few limitations as well. Since it is so heavily embedded within the SAP environment, there are fewer third-party integrations available. Integration with other software systems may be more difficult to achieve because of this. Some TrustRadius reviewers comment that SAP Analytics Cloud’s data analysis capabilities are not as robust as some of their competitors’ data analytics features. Other users have experienced issues with having to split up queries because of line limits and other data limitations.
Pricing
Microsoft Power BI offers paid plans for business users and a free version for individual users. While the free version allows individuals to practice using the software and become familiar with its functionality, it has a more limited feature set than the paid business plans.
Pricing for its Power BI Pro plan starts at $9.95 per user per month. For businesses that need advanced functionality, the Power BI Premium plan is available starting at $4,995 per year. Enterprise organizations will need to request a consultation for full pricing options.
SAP Analytics Cloud offers a 90-day free trial which includes access to SAP Analytics Cloud for Business Intelligence and SAP Analytics Cloud for Planning, with limitations on their capabilities. They also offer a Business Intelligence package for $22 per user per month, which includes full access to those modules with Cloud for Planning being view-only. SAP also offers two higher-priced tiers, with pricing available by request from the vendor.
Features
Microsoft Power BI
SAP Analytics Cloud
BI Standard Reporting
Comparison of BI Standard Reporting features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft Power BI
8.3
196 Ratings
1% above category average
SAP Analytics Cloud
7.9
311 Ratings
4% below category average
Pixel Perfect reports
8.3167 Ratings
7.6261 Ratings
Customizable dashboards
8.7195 Ratings
8.3303 Ratings
Report Formatting Templates
8.0178 Ratings
7.7279 Ratings
Ad-hoc Reporting
Comparison of Ad-hoc Reporting features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft Power BI
8.0
194 Ratings
0% below category average
SAP Analytics Cloud
7.8
317 Ratings
3% below category average
Drill-down analysis
8.3191 Ratings
8.1308 Ratings
Formatting capabilities
7.8191 Ratings
7.6304 Ratings
Integration with R or other statistical packages
7.4143 Ratings
7.1231 Ratings
Report sharing and collaboration
8.4189 Ratings
8.4294 Ratings
Report Output and Scheduling
Comparison of Report Output and Scheduling features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft Power BI
8.0
187 Ratings
3% below category average
SAP Analytics Cloud
7.7
298 Ratings
7% below category average
Publish to Web
8.2177 Ratings
7.9255 Ratings
Publish to PDF
8.0172 Ratings
8.0285 Ratings
Report Versioning
7.7144 Ratings
7.8245 Ratings
Report Delivery Scheduling
8.2147 Ratings
7.6240 Ratings
Delivery to Remote Servers
7.9110 Ratings
7.033 Ratings
Data Discovery and Visualization
Comparison of Data Discovery and Visualization features of Product A and Product B
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
>> 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
On a scale of 1 to 10, I would rate 8 SAP Analytics Cloud's overall usability as a 7. SAC has a clean, modern user interface with drag-and-drop features. It is an integrated platform that combines reporting, planning, and predictive analytics in one tool. It has Real-time connectivity with SAP data sources like S/4HANA.
Self-service analytics capabilities allow non-technical users to build simple dashboards.
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.
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
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.
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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.