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Microsoft Power BI

Microsoft Power BI

Overview

What is Microsoft Power BI?

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…

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Recent Reviews

Power Packed Microsoft Power BI

8 out of 10
October 04, 2023
I used Microsoft Power BI for regular data analysis and report generation.
I use to deal with a lot of financial data and Microsoft Power …
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Awards

Products that are considered exceptional by their customers based on a variety of criteria win TrustRadius awards. Learn more about the types of TrustRadius awards to make the best purchase decision. More about TrustRadius Awards

Popular Features

View all 29 features
  • Customizable dashboards (138)
    8.0
    80%
  • Drill-down analysis (138)
    7.2
    72%
  • Report sharing and collaboration (134)
    7.0
    70%
  • Formatting capabilities (137)
    6.4
    64%

Reviewer Pros & Cons

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Pricing

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Entry-level set up fee?

  • No setup fee
For the latest information on pricing, visithttps://powerbi.microsoft.com/en…

Offerings

  • Free Trial
  • Free/Freemium Version
  • Premium Consulting/Integration Services

Starting price (does not include set up fee)

  • $10 per month per user
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Product Demos

Microsoft Power BI Guided Tour

powerbi.microsoft.com
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Features

BI Standard Reporting

Standard reporting means pre-built or canned reports available to users without having to create them.

7.3
Avg 8.2

Ad-hoc Reporting

Ad-Hoc Reports are reports built by the user to meet highly specific requirements.

7
Avg 8.1

Report Output and Scheduling

Ability to schedule and manager report output.

7.8
Avg 8.4

Data Discovery and Visualization

Data Discovery and Visualization is the analysis of multiple data sources in a search for patterns and outliers and the ability to represent the data visually.

7.6
Avg 8.1

Access Control and Security

Access control means being able to determine who has access to which data.

8.2
Avg 8.6

Mobile Capabilities

Support for mobile devices like smartphones and tablets.

7.9
Avg 7.9

Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding

APIs are a set of routines, protocols, and tools for used for embedding one application in another

8.4
Avg 7.9
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Product Details

What is Microsoft Power BI?

Power BI: Comprehensive Business Intelligence Platform


Capabilities:

  • Discover Insights with AI: Utilizes advanced data-analysis tools, AI features, and a report-creation tool to transform complex data into accessible visuals, making it easier to uncover valuable insights.

  • Consolidate Data with OneLake: Integrates datasets from diverse sources into OneLake, creating a centralized, reliable source of truth for data. This integration reduces data duplication and simplifies analysis.

  • Drive Decision-Making: Infuse actionable insights into everyday applications like Microsoft 365, enhancing decision-making processes across the organization.

  • Empower Data Teams with Microsoft Fabric: Revolutionizes organization's data management and usage by incorporating Microsoft Fabric into the Power BI experience.


Key Differentiators:

  • Scalability: Power BI offers exceptional scalability, capable of transforming petabytes of data and supporting thousands of users without compromising performance.

  • Integration with Microsoft Ecosystem: Seamlessly embed and share insights across Microsoft services like Teams, PowerPoint, Excel, and the Power Platform, ensuring coherent and unified data handling.

  • Advanced AI Capabilities: Features AI tools that automatically find patterns, generate reports, and provide insights, enhancing efficiency and accuracy.

  • Robust Data Governance: Ensures data security and compliance with Microsoft's comprehensive governance and protection measures.


Copilot in Power BI:

  • Efficient Report Generation: Generates reports rapidly using conversational language. Copilot in Power BI enables quick creation of DAX calculations, summaries, and tailored reports.


Integration with Microsoft Fabric:

  • Enhanced Accessibility: Allows interaction with reports and data across Microsoft Fabric workloads, even for users without paid licenses.

  • OneLake Data Hub: Facilitates the connection and curation of data from varied sources, promoting efficient data engineering.


Power BI PRO:

  • Self-Service Analytics: License individuals for self-service analytics, enabling them to publish and share reports, fostering a culture of self-service BI.


Free Account Options:

  • Power BI Desktop & Free Trial: Offers a free app for data connection, modeling, and visualization, along with an easy-to-use report canvas.

  • Comprehensive Training: Access step-by-step Microsoft training courses to fully leverage Power BI capabilities.


Key Benefits:


  • Unified Data Management: Connect disparate data sources to establish a governed, unified source of truth.

  • Empower All Users: Ensures accessibility and ease of use for everyone, supported by free training resources and numerous accessibility features.

  • Immediate Start: Quickly begin with report creation, AI-generated reports, and a wide range of templates.

  • Customer Engagement: Enhance user engagement in apps by embedding Power BI reports.



Microsoft Power BI Features

BI Platform Features

  • Supported: Administration via Windows App
  • Supported: Administration via Web Interface
  • Supported: Live Connection to External Data
  • Supported: Snapshot of External Data
  • Supported: In-memory data model
  • Supported: OLAP (Pre-processed cube representation)
  • Supported: ROLAP (SQL-layer querying)
  • Supported: Multi-Data Source Reporting (Blending)
  • Supported: Data warehouse / dictionary layer
  • Supported: ETL Capability

Supported Data Sources Features

  • Supported: MS Excel Workbooks
  • Supported: Text Files (CSV, etc)
  • Supported: Oracle
  • Supported: MS SQL Server
  • Supported: IBM DB2
  • Supported: Postgres
  • Supported: MySQL
  • Supported: ODBC
  • Supported: Cloudera Hadoop
  • Supported: Hortonworks Hadoop
  • Supported: EMC Greenplum
  • Supported: IBM Netezza
  • Supported: HP Vertica
  • Supported: ParAccel
  • Supported: SAP Hana
  • Supported: Teradata
  • Supported: Sage 500
  • Supported: Salesforce
  • Supported: SAP
  • Supported: Google Analytics

BI Standard Reporting Features

  • Supported: Pixel Perfect reports
  • Supported: Customizable dashboards
  • Supported: Report Formatting Templates

Ad-hoc Reporting Features

  • Supported: Drill-down analysis
  • Supported: Formatting capabilities
  • Supported: Predictive modeling
  • Supported: Integration with R or other statistical packages
  • Supported: Report sharing and collaboration

Report Output and Scheduling Features

  • Supported: Publish to Web
  • Supported: Publish to PDF
  • Supported: Output Raw Supporting Data
  • Supported: Report Versioning
  • Supported: Report Delivery Scheduling
  • Supported: Delivery to Remote Servers

Data Discovery and Visualization Features

  • Supported: Pre-built visualization formats (heatmaps, scatter plots etc.)
  • Supported: Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization
  • Supported: Predictive Analytics
  • Supported: Support for Machine Learning models
  • Supported: Pattern Recognition and Data Mining
  • Supported: Integration with R or other statistical packages

Access Control and Security Features

  • Supported: Multi-User Support (named login)
  • Supported: Role-Based Security Model
  • Supported: Multiple Access Permission Levels (Create, Read, Delete)
  • Supported: Report-Level Access Control
  • Supported: Table-Level Access Control (BI-layer)
  • Supported: Field-Level Access Control (BI-layer)
  • Supported: Single Sign-On (SSO)

Mobile Capabilities Features

  • Supported: Responsive Design for Web Access
  • Supported: Mobile Application
  • Supported: Dashboard / Report / Visualization Interactivity on Mobile

Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding Features

  • Supported: REST API
  • Supported: Javascript API
  • Supported: Java API
  • Supported: Themeable User Interface (UI)

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 growScreenshot of Microsoft Power BI - Data Governance

Microsoft Power BI Competitors

Microsoft Power BI Technical Details

Deployment TypesOn-premise, Software as a Service (SaaS), Cloud, or Web-Based
Operating SystemsWindows
Mobile ApplicationApple iOS, Android, Windows Phone, Mobile Web
Supported CountriesAsia Pacific, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Europe, France, Germany, India, Japan, Korea, Norway, South Africa, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States
Supported LanguagesArabic, Basque - Basque, Bulgarian - Български, Catalan - català, Chinese (Simplified) - 中文(简体), Chinese (Traditional) - 中文(繁體), Croatian - hrvatski, Czech - čeština, Danish - dansk, Dutch - Nederlands, English - English, Estonian - eesti, Finnish - suomi, French - français, Galician - galego, German - Deutsch, Greek - Ελληνικά, Hebrew, Hindi - हिंदी, Hungarian - magyar, Indonesian - Bahasa Indonesia, Italian - italiano, Japanese - 日本語, Kazakh - Қазақ, Korean - 한국어, Latvian - latviešu, Lithuanian - lietuvių, Malay - Bahasa Melayu, Norwegian (Bokmål) - norsk (bokmål), Polish - Polski, Portuguese (Brazil) - Português, Portuguese (Portugal) - português, Romanian - română, Russian - Русский, Serbian (Cyrillic) - српски, Serbian (Latin) - srpski, Slovak - slovenčina, Slovenian - slovenski, Spanish - español, Swedish - svenska, Thai - ไทย, Turkish - Türkçe, Ukrainian - українська, Vietnamese - Tiếng Việt

Frequently Asked Questions

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.

Microsoft Power BI starts at $10.

Tableau Cloud, Looker, and Domo are common alternatives for Microsoft Power BI.

Reviewers rate Javascript API highest, with a score of 9.6.

The most common users of Microsoft Power BI are from Enterprises (1,001+ employees).
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Comparisons

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Reviews and Ratings

(1783)

Attribute Ratings

Reviews

(1-25 of 140)
Companies can't remove reviews or game the system. Here's why
October 13, 2023

One stop solution for your data visuluzation

Verified User
Engineer in Quality Assurance
Mechanical Or Industrial Engineering Company, 51-200 employees
Score 6 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Likelihood to Recommend
1. it is best suited when you want to represent your data in a more effective manner rather than boring excel worksheets and also with more critical formulas. It creates visuals in very less time you know the exact type of charts you what and what to represent against which field
October 04, 2023

Power Packed Microsoft Power BI

Verified User
Consultant in Research & Development
Financial Services Company, 10,001+ employees
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Likelihood to Recommend
Where it is well suited - If you want to do Big Data Analysis, want to do it extensively, want it on the cloud and data-base support. Microsoft Power BI can be the best option as it comes with seamless integrations of MS products such as SQL server and Azure. Also handles large data effectively.

Where it can be a problem - If you want elegant looks graphs, white label reports, budget issues, then, in my opinion, don't go for it.
August 04, 2023

Visualization and Reporting? Power BI is all you need.

Mohamed Adil Shaikh | TrustRadius Reviewer
Mohamed Adil Shaikh
Process Data Engineer
Shell (Oil & Energy, 10,001+ employees)
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Likelihood to Recommend
For finding insights of huge data sets, where automatic cleaning and processing of data is required before creating charts and dashboards, there the software is well suited.
Where data keeps uploading on a regular basis and it needs to be shared with a team and all the team members are involved in updating the datasets and charts, so it becomes difficult to manage.
August 02, 2022

Power BI - not quite there yet, but getting there.

David Shi | TrustRadius Reviewer
David Shi
Manager, Data Visualisation
Commonwealth Bank of Australia (Banking, 10,001+ employees)
Score 6 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
For any instance where Tableau is too expensive as an option, [Microsoft] Power BI is the natural choice. Also in cases where the end user is operating in a Microsoft stack heavy environment where they're expected to perform both the data modelling and wrangling as a data engineer type role, along with the actual creation of dashboards in a data vis and dashboard reporting developer type role.
July 21, 2022

Great value. Would use again.

Scott Kennedy | TrustRadius Reviewer
Scott Kennedy
Director, eCommerce Analytics and Digital Marketing
Franklin Sports (Sporting Goods, 201-500 employees)
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
Power BI desktop originally started as a simple tool to pull minimal amounts of data and do rudimentary visualizations. Over the last few years, it has grown into a robust business intelligence solution that can be scaled to thousands of users at a company. The cost model works well for smaller companies too.
July 12, 2022

Power BI Multi- Geo Location Architecture and Licensing Review

MS
Mahboobur Shaikat
IT Architect
Intact Financial Corporation (Insurance, 10,001+ employees)
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Likelihood to Recommend
Microsoft Power BI Premium License is an excellent model for companies requiring multi-geo locations to keep their data and workspace separate due to regulatory reasons. In addition, the licensing model - Power Bi also has a great feature to connect to on-prem databases and cloud-based PaaS data sources.
June 07, 2022

Best ETL and advanced data visualization tool

NC
Nagaraj C
Senior Software Engineer
KPMG (Investment Management, 10,001+ employees)
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
Query editor is best in all parts of this tool. It has more than 200 plus visuals to impress the clients with that. Microsoft Power BI service has 10 GB of data storage for pro users this will give developers can store more reports and data. It has an ample amount of data sources that can connect and develop the reports.
April 25, 2022

Review for Power BI

PV
Prakhar Verma
Analyst
Allegis Global Solution (Human Resources, 5001-10,000 employees)
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Likelihood to Recommend
When we are cleaning data and making reports and creating meaningful data from raw data and generating report, visualization of data to other stakeholders it is very useful application but some time using with non Microsoft apps it is not supported i.e Desktop version on Mac so not recommended for Mac.
March 14, 2022

Microsoft Power BI - great tool for reports

JS
Jacek Szczepiński
Group IT Project Manager
ViaCon Group (Civil Engineering, 501-1000 employees)
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
Definitely well suited for areas like Finance and Operational KPIs. I really can't think of any department that could not benefit from it. Probably less appropriate when you have many categories like customers or products and want to show all of them in a detailed way on one graph. Possibly the view in the report can be not clear enough.
February 07, 2022

Microsoft Power BI Desktop is it good ?

Verified User
Manager in Information Technology
Food Production Company, 10,001+ employees
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Likelihood to Recommend
I believe Microsoft Power BI is one of the best tools in the market and because is from Microsoft it fit in all the other applications from Microsoft. Every application has room to improve but the built-in feature and all the possibilities that open make it one of the best for sure.
January 10, 2022

Great tool. All you can think data wise, you can built it there.

JM
Jose-Angel Mangas
Global Digital Operations Manager - BA Electrification
ABB (Mechanical Or Industrial Engineering, 10,001+ employees)
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
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.
November 11, 2021

"Simplifies Data Dashboards and Visualization Amidst Microsoft Power BI."

Afia Tamanna | TrustRadius Reviewer
Afia Tamanna
Information Technology Business Consultant
Alfa NET+ (Information Technology & Services, 11-50 employees)
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Likelihood to Recommend
Using Microsoft Power BI is the best way to analyze data at a very reasonable cost. [Microsoft] Power BI desktop started as a simple tool for data extraction and basic visualization. As a powerful business intelligence solution, they quickly scaled the device to thousands of users within a company. Depending on how the business is measured, finance or CSM teams can gain a lot of insight. Using it as a user allows us to save time and focus on other tasks. The dashboard looks like a renaissance painting because of all the beautiful charts and figures that are available. Importing data and relating them is straightforward.
November 06, 2021

Power BI: A great tool for beginner to mid-level data manipulation.

Colin Sebastian | TrustRadius Reviewer
Colin Sebastian
Supply Chain Compliance Manager
Crown Castle (Real Estate, 5001-10,000 employees)
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
It is best suited for taking lots of data (spreadsheets or other) and producing visually appealing content. It is also helpful for coming up with visualizations that can be regularly updated and used for executive status presentations and other management reports. Finally, it is good for functions where excel can not keep up such as intricate drop down, selections menus, sliders, etc.
August 24, 2021

MS Power BI is a good buy for non-coder

Verified User
Analyst in Professional Services
Financial Services Company, 10,001+ employees
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
I would recommend the MS power BI to colleagues who don't have coding skillset or to someone who wants to have interactive graphs to share with other colleagues. For people with strong coding ability, some python/ R packages can do that trick easily without the need for the premium fee.
July 07, 2021

Power BI is the tool you didn't know you needed!

Verified User
Professional in Information Technology
Oil & Energy Company, 1001-5000 employees
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
Microsoft Power BI allows you to manage, organize, and visualize data in a more efficient way. Microsoft Power BI's integrated tools make it easier to create models, analyses, reports, and predictions. Microsoft Power BI gives you a more attractive visual appearance.
July 04, 2021

Enterprise Software that is Pretty Good

Blake Baron | TrustRadius Reviewer
Blake Baron
Senior Financial Analyst - Cost Analytics
Lowe's Companies, Inc. (Retail, 10,001+ employees)
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
It's good to use if you have at least one power user (pun not intended) and the enterprise resources to back it up. It's not as visually appealing as something like Tableau, but it allows an audience to filter complex data sets based on pre-set criteria in a controlled environment.
June 22, 2021

Data will never be the same again, thanks to PowerBI

Verified User
C-Level Executive in Information Technology
Information Technology & Services Company, 201-500 employees
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
ResellerIncentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
I would definately recommend [Microsoft] Power BI, its an amazing product, despite of the cons, the product is still remarkable and unique in the values that it provides.

If you have scattered data left undiscovered, or need solid reporting and analytics, or even just simply want to impress your management with detailed, beautiful and organized reports that are automatically refreshed with fresh content, Power BI is absolutely the tool to go for.
It can import data from an overwhelming amount of sources, such as Excel, SQL Server, Adobe Analytics, Google Analytics, Sales Force, MySQL, Amazon Redshift and many others, and it allows you to quickly and easily build and publish beautiful reports that always impresses the executives and management.

[Microsoft] Power BI is one of a few products that I would recommend to literally anyone who uses a computer, there is always a use case for Power BI, especially the desktop version, the moment you create your first report you realize how much time and effort it saves and how much insights it gives on your data, personally, Power BI is an essential part of my work and I truly enjoy building reports and gathering/transforming data using it.

June 18, 2021

Power BI is a Powerful Tool

BG
Bryan Goodyear
Program Director
dentsu (Marketing & Advertising, 10,001+ employees)
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
Since Power BI is a data visualization tool, it's useful anywhere a standard report or visualization is required. I like to use Power BI, especially where you want to avoid inconsistent manipulation of data to produce insights. Taking this process out of the analysts' hands ensures data consistency and avoids the question of whether data can be reliably used. It keeps one source of truth.
May 24, 2021

Microsoft Power BI - Great tool for data analysis

Verified User
Manager in Information Technology
Machinery Company, 201-500 employees
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
Microsoft Power BI is great for SQL based data, which can be easily imported. It is great for visualizing and comparing data and create dashboards for every day use. Excel data can be easily imported and transformed for daily use.
May 15, 2021

Microsoft Power BI

Verified User
Representative in Sales
Computer Software Company, 201-500 employees
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
It is a great tool where metrics and data are crucial to your organization. Everything is accessible in one interface and allows you to get a better grasp on many different data sets. You are able to build reports, with many different filters, and customize them completely to suit your organization's needs.
May 15, 2021

Enhanced interactive data visualization tool

Verified User
Consultant in Professional Services
Management Consulting Company, 10,001+ employees
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
Suited when different type of visualizations is needed; need to be shared with multiple users including external users; need slicing and dicing; need drill down capability

Not suitable for simple visualization as MS Excel pivot tables are equally good with less hassle and effort.
May 15, 2021

The King of Data Visualization!

Amr Saad | TrustRadius Reviewer
Amr Saad
Lead Quality Engineer
Sumerge (Computer Software, 51-200 employees)
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Likelihood to Recommend
Microsoft Power BI is well suited for creating intuitive Dashboard Reports with different insightful Charts. I think this is one of the best tools in Data Visualization. Unfortunately, you will need to get away from Reports that need complex computations as it might slow the reports.
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