Microsoft BI (MSBI) vs. Yellowfin

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Microsoft BI (MSBI)
Score 8.4 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.
$9.99
per user/per month
Yellowfin
Score 7.7 out of 10
Mid-Size Companies (51-1,000 employees)
Yellowfin is a cloud-based business intelligence and dashboarding platform.
$250
per month
Pricing
Microsoft BI (MSBI)Yellowfin
Editions & Modules
Power BI Pro
$9.99
per user/per month
Power BI Premium
4,995
per month
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Microsoft BI (MSBI)Yellowfin
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
YesYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoYes
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeOptional
Additional Details——
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Microsoft BI (MSBI)Yellowfin
Considered Both Products
Microsoft BI (MSBI)
Chose Microsoft BI (MSBI)
Each of the solutions has their pros and cons, but Microsoft's BI offerings provide the best "bang for the buck." Few solutions available offer the breadth of feature functionality in a single package, with BI and database generally being sold as separate offerings. However, …
Yellowfin

No answer on this topic

Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
Microsoft BI (MSBI)Yellowfin
BI Standard Reporting
Comparison of BI Standard Reporting features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft BI (MSBI)
8.6
49 Ratings
5% above category average
Yellowfin
6.2
12 Ratings
28% below category average
Pixel Perfect reports9.042 Ratings5.85 Ratings
Customizable dashboards8.049 Ratings6.212 Ratings
Report Formatting Templates8.947 Ratings6.511 Ratings
Ad-hoc Reporting
Comparison of Ad-hoc Reporting features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft BI (MSBI)
8.7
49 Ratings
7% above category average
Yellowfin
6.7
12 Ratings
19% below category average
Drill-down analysis8.944 Ratings6.711 Ratings
Formatting capabilities8.049 Ratings7.112 Ratings
Integration with R or other statistical packages8.939 Ratings6.38 Ratings
Report sharing and collaboration8.949 Ratings6.511 Ratings
Report Output and Scheduling
Comparison of Report Output and Scheduling features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft BI (MSBI)
8.9
48 Ratings
6% above category average
Yellowfin
5.9
11 Ratings
34% below category average
Publish to Web8.944 Ratings6.411 Ratings
Publish to PDF8.944 Ratings6.211 Ratings
Report Versioning8.940 Ratings5.89 Ratings
Report Delivery Scheduling8.943 Ratings5.711 Ratings
Delivery to Remote Servers8.924 Ratings5.55 Ratings
Data Discovery and Visualization
Comparison of Data Discovery and Visualization features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft BI (MSBI)
8.9
48 Ratings
10% above category average
Yellowfin
5.9
12 Ratings
31% below category average
Pre-built visualization formats (heatmaps, scatter plots etc.)8.947 Ratings6.012 Ratings
Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization8.944 Ratings5.812 Ratings
Predictive Analytics8.942 Ratings5.810 Ratings
Pattern Recognition and Data Mining9.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Access Control and Security
Comparison of Access Control and Security features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft BI (MSBI)
8.9
49 Ratings
3% above category average
Yellowfin
6.3
11 Ratings
31% below category average
Multi-User Support (named login)8.946 Ratings6.311 Ratings
Role-Based Security Model8.943 Ratings6.510 Ratings
Multiple Access Permission Levels (Create, Read, Delete)8.946 Ratings6.410 Ratings
Report-Level Access Control9.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Single Sign-On (SSO)8.928 Ratings5.94 Ratings
Mobile Capabilities
Comparison of Mobile Capabilities features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft BI (MSBI)
8.5
39 Ratings
7% above category average
Yellowfin
6.7
8 Ratings
17% below category average
Responsive Design for Web Access8.036 Ratings6.25 Ratings
Mobile Application8.027 Ratings6.48 Ratings
Dashboard / Report / Visualization Interactivity on Mobile9.936 Ratings6.28 Ratings
Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding
Comparison of Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft BI (MSBI)
8.8
21 Ratings
10% above category average
Yellowfin
6.2
5 Ratings
24% below category average
REST API8.919 Ratings6.15 Ratings
Javascript API8.919 Ratings5.45 Ratings
iFrames8.918 Ratings6.05 Ratings
Java API8.917 Ratings6.35 Ratings
Themeable User Interface (UI)8.918 Ratings6.55 Ratings
Customizable Platform (Open Source)8.017 Ratings6.55 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Microsoft BI (MSBI)Yellowfin
Small Businesses
BrightGauge
BrightGauge
Score 8.9 out of 10
BrightGauge
BrightGauge
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
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Microsoft BI (MSBI)Yellowfin
Likelihood to Recommend
8.7
(73 ratings)
6.3
(12 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
8.0
(25 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
8.9
(14 ratings)
6.4
(7 ratings)
Availability
9.5
(2 ratings)
9.1
(1 ratings)
Performance
7.0
(2 ratings)
8.2
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
8.9
(15 ratings)
5.7
(7 ratings)
In-Person Training
6.9
(3 ratings)
9.1
(1 ratings)
Online Training
8.5
(2 ratings)
8.2
(1 ratings)
Implementation Rating
9.6
(7 ratings)
9.1
(1 ratings)
Configurability
10.0
(2 ratings)
8.2
(1 ratings)
Ease of integration
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(1 ratings)
Product Scalability
-
(0 ratings)
8.2
(1 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(1 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
Microsoft BI (MSBI)Yellowfin
Likelihood to Recommend
Microsoft
Microsoft BI is well suited for Stream analytics, easy data integration, report creation and UI/UX designs (limited but what all available are great ones) Microsoft BI may be less appropriate for handling huge number of datasets and difficult queries. It may also be difficult for a company with heavy data.
Read full review
Yellowfin
We can recommend this software without hesitation, as it has the ability to generate reports and data analysis, as well as process the data automatically, which saves time. It is ideal for small and medium-sized companies that wish to improve their services in the business world
Read full review
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
Yellowfin
  • Yellowfin’s Storyboard, Timeline and Collaborative tools make it easy to share data and insights across an organisation.
  • Strong Operational and Executive Dashboards that reflect the business KPIs and can send out prompts to people within the business based on rules.
  • Yellowfin makes it incredibly easy to create dynamic reports and dashboards which incorporate maps through locational intelligence functionality.
  • Yellowfin is a single license and all access is via a web browser making it perfect for both on-premise and cloud deployment. Mobile apps are also available.
  • User roles and source filtering allows Admin/IT to offer different functions/views by user group/role.
  • Mobile BI applications to support any device ..
  • API connectors ( YF 7.2 on the way in Mar16 ) for a range of third-party Web-based applications, data sources, Enterprises CRM/ERP apps & open data platform apps, including Salesforce, Google Analytics, Twitter, Youtube , Zoho CRM, XE.com & more coming to make endusers to integrate their applications for better benefits
  • Yellowfin Integration with Predictive analytical and Big Data processing tools like R, UDF, Spark to build rich applications for end users
Read full review
Cons
Microsoft
  • The race to perfect gathering of Non-Traditional datasets is on-going; with Microsoft arguably not the leader of the pack in this category.
  • Licensing options for PowerBI visualizations may be a factor. I.e. if you need to implement B2C PowerBI visualizations, the cost is considerably high especially for startups.
  • Some clients are still resistant putting their data on the cloud, which restricts lots of functionality to Power BI.
Read full review
Yellowfin
  • The ability to predefine a colour for a specific graph as a selection option dynamically.
  • The ability to customise the label of a chart, especially with respect to performance related reporting graphs we need an increase in dynamic charting options to meet our more specialised requirements.
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.
Read full review
Yellowfin
No answers on this topic
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
Yellowfin
As mentioned previously, if a newer company is looking for a strong, polished BI tool, Yellowfin would be a great software vendor to consider. Unfortunately, the high cost might be a barrier to these newer companies who dont have any legacy software/agreements such as an EA agreement with Microsoft.
Read full review
Reliability and Availability
Microsoft
The product has been reliable.
Read full review
Yellowfin
99.9% availability
Read full review
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.
Read full review
Yellowfin
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Microsoft
While support from Microsoft isn't necessarily always best of breed, you're also not paying the price for premium support that you would on other platforms. The strength of the stack is in the ecosystem that surrounds it. In contrast to other products, there are hundreds, even thousands of bloggers that post daily as well as vibrant user communities that surround the tool. I've had much better luck finding help with SQL Server related issues than I have with any other product, but that help doesn't always come directly from Microsoft.
Read full review
Yellowfin
They have good support in what they provide. But what they provide is not what is promised. I would stay with them if I can. Be very careful before signing up with them. They are not what they seem in the sales pitches. Be very careful and make sure you test and test before you sign up.
Read full review
In-Person Training
Microsoft
This training was more directed toward what the product was capable of rather than actual programming.
Read full review
Yellowfin
Yellowfin provides 3 levels of training to support consumers, business analytics, developers and Administrations :
  1. Yellowfin BI Training - Level 1 (Exploration)
  2. Yellowfin BI Training - Level 2 (Advanced)
  3. Yellowfin BI Training - Level 3(Expert)
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
Yellowfin
Web-based training for large audiences for Level 1 and Level 2 I would suggest
Read full review
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.
Read full review
Yellowfin
Design the data model and views for each dashboard is very important and it is the success factor Configuration of cluster for large implementation
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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.
Read full review
Yellowfin
Yellow Fin platform is browser agnostic and is accessible from desktops as well as mobile devices. It is very simple and fast, it is integrated with Big Data, clients do not require a great training. It just works. But it’s easier to have things on the cloud, especially if you need to use different computers. Yellow Fin lacks the cloud feature.
Read full review
Scalability
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Yellowfin
- Tested 500 con-current users in Linux platform with 4 cores systems - Tested with cloud based VM - Tested with 1000 reads per minutes
Read full review
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.
Read full review
Yellowfin
  • Yellowfin gives us a BI tool that is incredibly sleek, which leads our data to be clean, concise, and in an "easy-to-digest" format.
Read full review
ScreenShots

Yellowfin Screenshots

Screenshot of Location IntelligenceScreenshot of Yellowfin DashboardScreenshot of Yellowfin SignalsScreenshot of Yellowfin MobileScreenshot of Yellowfin Sales KPIs