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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Microsoft Power BI

    Score8.5 out of 10
    N/AMicrosoft 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.

    $168

    per year per user

    Visual Studio

    Score8.8 out of 10
    N/AVisual Studio (now in the 2022 edition) is a 64-bit IDE that makes it easier to work with bigger projects and complex workloads, boasting a fluid and responsive experience for users. The IDE features IntelliCode, its automatic code completion tools that understand code context and that can complete up to a whole line at once to drive accurate and confident coding.

    $45

    per month

    Pricing
    Microsoft Power BIVisual Studio
    Editions & Modules
    Power BI Pro
    $14
    per month (billed annually) per user
    Power BI Premium
    $24
    per month (billed annually) per user
    Professional
    $45.00
    per month
    Enterprise
    $250.00
    per month
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Microsoft Power BIVisual Studio
    Free Trial
    YesNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    YesYes
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional DetailsPower BI Desktop is the data exploration and report authoring experience for Power BI, and is available as a free download.—
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Microsoft Power BIVisual Studio
    Considered Both Products
    Microsoft
    Chose Microsoft Power BI
    Due to microsoft user and all the data into excel it was found more feasible from the organization to get Microsoft Power BI. Also due to access of microsoft licence we don't need to survey other vendors and feasibility. Also price wise it was more competitive then Tableau.
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft Power BI
    Haven't used alternatives much.
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft Power BI

    From a user perspective, Power BI appears to be more intuitive than Birst. You don't need a training class to learn or use Power BI.

    Power BI Desktop is free, other vendors are charging for desktop licenses.

    Incentivized
    Microsoft
    Chose Visual Studio
    Compared with Delphi it is night and day, but that is perhaps because my experience was coming from a Microsoft coding environment to having to setup a development machine for Delphi coding.

    What made the alternative such a difficult process was having to download and install …
    Incentivized
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    96%
    Would buy again
    110 Answers
    98%
    Would buy again
    40 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    97%
    Delivers good value for the price
    103 Answers
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    40 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    97%
    Happy with the feature set
    112 Answers
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    41 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    99%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    69 Answers
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    32 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    95%
    Implementation went as expected
    73 Answers
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    36 Answers
    Features
    Microsoft Power BIVisual Studio
    BI Standard Reporting
    Comparison of BI Standard Reporting features of Microsoft Power BI and Microsoft Visual Studio
    Feature
    Microsoft Power BI
    8.1
    198 Ratings
    1% below category average
    Microsoft Visual Studio
    -
    Ratings
    Pixel Perfect reports8.1169 Ratings00 Ratings
    Customizable dashboards8.6197 Ratings00 Ratings
    Report Formatting Templates7.7180 Ratings00 Ratings
    Ad-hoc Reporting
    Comparison of Ad-hoc Reporting features of Microsoft Power BI and Microsoft Visual Studio
    Feature
    Microsoft Power BI
    7.9
    196 Ratings
    1% below category average
    Microsoft Visual Studio
    -
    Ratings
    Drill-down analysis8.4193 Ratings00 Ratings
    Formatting capabilities7.7193 Ratings00 Ratings
    Integration with R or other statistical packages7.4143 Ratings00 Ratings
    Report sharing and collaboration8.2191 Ratings00 Ratings
    Report Output and Scheduling
    Comparison of Report Output and Scheduling features of Microsoft Power BI and Microsoft Visual Studio
    Feature
    Microsoft Power BI
    7.9
    189 Ratings
    4% below category average
    Microsoft Visual Studio
    -
    Ratings
    Publish to Web8.1179 Ratings00 Ratings
    Publish to PDF7.7174 Ratings00 Ratings
    Report Versioning7.7145 Ratings00 Ratings
    Report Delivery Scheduling8.3148 Ratings00 Ratings
    Delivery to Remote Servers7.9111 Ratings00 Ratings
    Data Discovery and Visualization
    Comparison of Data Discovery and Visualization features of Microsoft Power BI and Microsoft Visual Studio
    Feature
    Microsoft Power BI
    7.7
    189 Ratings
    4% below category average
    Microsoft Visual Studio
    -
    Ratings
    Pre-built visualization formats (heatmaps, scatter plots etc.)8.3183 Ratings00 Ratings
    Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization8.1168 Ratings00 Ratings
    Predictive Analytics7.2138 Ratings00 Ratings
    Pattern Recognition and Data Mining7.339 Ratings00 Ratings
    Access Control and Security
    Comparison of Access Control and Security features of Microsoft Power BI and Microsoft Visual Studio
    Feature
    Microsoft Power BI
    8.3
    180 Ratings
    2% below category average
    Microsoft Visual Studio
    -
    Ratings
    Multi-User Support (named login)8.6169 Ratings00 Ratings
    Role-Based Security Model8.1148 Ratings00 Ratings
    Multiple Access Permission Levels (Create, Read, Delete)8.1160 Ratings00 Ratings
    Report-Level Access Control8.149 Ratings00 Ratings
    Single Sign-On (SSO)8.5141 Ratings00 Ratings
    Mobile Capabilities
    Comparison of Mobile Capabilities features of Microsoft Power BI and Microsoft Visual Studio
    Feature
    Microsoft Power BI
    7.9
    162 Ratings
    2% above category average
    Microsoft Visual Studio
    -
    Ratings
    Responsive Design for Web Access7.6152 Ratings00 Ratings
    Mobile Application7.5133 Ratings00 Ratings
    Dashboard / Report / Visualization Interactivity on Mobile7.8155 Ratings00 Ratings
    Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding
    Comparison of Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding features of Microsoft Power BI and Microsoft Visual Studio
    Feature
    Microsoft Power BI
    7.6
    116 Ratings
    2% below category average
    Microsoft Visual Studio
    -
    Ratings
    REST API7.7104 Ratings00 Ratings
    Javascript API7.485 Ratings00 Ratings
    iFrames8.055 Ratings00 Ratings
    Java API6.769 Ratings00 Ratings
    Themeable User Interface (UI)7.391 Ratings00 Ratings
    Customizable Platform (Open Source)8.444 Ratings00 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Microsoft Power BIVisual Studio
    Small Businesses
    Cyfe
    Score4 out of 10
    IntelliJ IDEA
    Score9.2 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Qlik Cloud Analytics (Qlik Sense)
    Score8.1 out of 10
    PyCharm
    Score9.3 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Sisense
    Score6.9 out of 10
    WebStorm
    Score9.6 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Microsoft Power BIVisual Studio
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.6
    (199 ratings)
    9.1
    (118 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    9.6
    (3 ratings)
    10.0
    (3 ratings)
    Usability
    8.3
    (115 ratings)
    9.2
    (15 ratings)
    Support Rating
    10.0
    (52 ratings)
    8.8
    (15 ratings)
    In-Person Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    Online Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Data Sharing and Collaboration
    8.5
    (82 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Data Sources
    9.0
    (81 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Microsoft Power BIVisual Studio
    Likelihood to Recommend
    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
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    When working with base C# code for desktop and web projects, then Microsoft Visual Studio is ideal as it provides the libraries and interfaces needed to quickly create, test and deploy solutions. It is when slightly more complex scenarios are required that issues can arise. The built-in integration for things like PowerBI Paginated Reports and dashboards is far from ideal.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    • I like how the tabs and panels are organized; everything is gathered together so you can find what you're looking for quickly.
    • If you can't find something, there's a thorough search engine that searches all of Visual Studio's features.
    • The Team Foundation Server feature is fantastic since it allows us to easily deploy and roll back changes on the server.
    Read full review
    Cons
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    • Would be great if there was a better way to save and restore open tabs.
    • The built-in test runner can be improved, for example, by adding the ability to save a set of commonly run tests, etc.
    • Better integration for Microsoft SQL server would be great.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    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.
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    VS is the best and is required for building Microsoft applications. The quality and usefulness of the product far out-weight the licensing costs associated with it.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    I love the overall usability of Microsoft Visual Studio. I’ve been using this IDE for more than 20 years, and I’ve seen it evolve by leaps and bounds. Today, with AI and code-suggestion/completion features, developers no longer need to remember countless libraries, methods, or language syntax, or invest a huge amount of programming effort to complete a project. It truly offers everything a developer needs to program, debug, test, and deploy in a single IDE.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    There are many resources available supporting Visual Studio IDE. Microsoft whitepapers, forum posts, and online Visual Studio documentation. There are countless demonstration videos available, as well. If users are having issues, they can call Microsoft Support, but depending on the company's agreement with Microsoft, the number of included support calls will vary from organization to organization. I've found that Microsoft support calls can be hit or miss depending on who you get, but they can usually get you with the right support person for your issue.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    In-Person Training
    Microsoft
    No answers on this topic
    Microsoft
    IT is very complicated to understand all the functions that the environment has if you are not familiar with this type of development environments. It is important to select a good in-person training to achieve to understand all the possibilities and the capacity of the application. In this case, you will be able to develop a lot type of different applications.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Online Training
    Microsoft
    No answers on this topic
    Microsoft
    If you are not accustomed to develop in this type of development environments it would be complicated to follow all the parts of the course because if the course does not include a great tour with all the concepts to develop you will not have the option to understand all the functions.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Implementation Rating
    Microsoft
    It was integrated with our erp easily and was accessible on cloud.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    I personally feel Visual Studio IDE has [a] better interface and [is more] user friendly than other IDEs. It has better code maintainability and intellisense. Its inbuilt team foundation server help coders to check on their code then and go. Better nugget package management, quality testing and gives features to extract TRX file as result of testing which includes all the summary of each test case.
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    • Using the integration between Visual Studio and our source control service, the cost of re-work and losing code is drastically reduced.
    • Paid versions of Visual Studio enable developers to be so much more productive than hacked-together open source solutions that it's hard to imagine developing in Windows without it.
    • When combined with support subscriptions and the vast array of free online help options available, Visual Studio saves our developers time by keeping them coding and testing, not wasting their time trying to guess their way out of problems or spend endless hours online hoping to find answers.
    Incentivized
    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