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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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Learn from top reviewers

Real-Time Dashboards and Seamless Microsoft Integration with Microsoft Power BI

Rating: 9 out of 10
March 25, 2025
IncentivizedVetted ReviewVerified User
I found Microsoft Power BI to be very user-friendly and efficient. The smooth integration with Excel and SQL databases is a real saver, allowing for real-time data access and ...
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Manan Soni
Technician - Information Technology
Application Engineer
Citrix
Microsoft Power BI1 year of experience

Microsoft Power BI is Powerful

Rating: 8 out of 10
March 7, 2025
IncentivizedVetted ReviewVerified User
I use Microsoft Power BI to prepare an analysis of web content audits - what is completed, late, and coming up. The report pulls data from a SharePoint list and filters based ...
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Sherri MacCheyne
Director - Marketing
Director, Strategic Operations
UNC Greensboro
Microsoft Power BI2 years of experience
Verified on LinkedIn

AI probably wins out but Free Microsoft Power BI beats other traditional dashboarding software.

Rating: 7 out of 10
March 7, 2025
IncentivizedVetted ReviewVerified User
I've used Microsoft Power BI at various locations throughout my career. Currently use it as a metrics dashboard for executives & decision makers. Ideally, we have this imp...
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Tanner Ingalls
Manager - Product Management
Data Product Manager & Data Scientist
REDX
Microsoft Power BI8 years of experience

Microsoft Power BI Changes Your Data Powerfully

Rating: 8 out of 10
March 4, 2025
IncentivizedVetted ReviewVerified User
We use Microsoft Power BI for a lot of financial projections, data analysis and budgeting purposes. The features provided make data consolidation and presentation much quicker...
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Luke Holocher
Professional - Finance and Accounting
Business Manager
Jefferson Academy Elementary
Microsoft Power BI2 years of experience

Microsoft Power BI - a powerful scalable solution

Rating: 8 out of 10
February 24, 2025
Vetted ReviewVerified User
Complex calculations and pulling data from multiple sources or objects. We use it when Salesforce reporting becomes insufficient to show the number of data points we want in a...
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David Jensen
Contributor - Corporate
Operations Manager, Customer Success
SaltClick
Microsoft Power BI4 years of experience
Verified on LinkedIn
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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

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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.

8.4
Avg 8.2

Ad-hoc Reporting

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

7.9
Avg 8.0

Report Output and Scheduling

Ability to schedule and manager report output.

8.1
Avg 8.3

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.

7.8
Avg 7.9

Access Control and Security

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

8.6
Avg 8.5

Mobile Capabilities

Support for mobile devices like smartphones and tablets.

8
Avg 7.8

Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding

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

7.8
Avg 7.8
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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 Customizable dashboards and Multi-User Support (named login) highest, with a score of 8.8.

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

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Reviews From Top Reviewers

View all reviews
(1-5 of 195)

BI Tools

Rating: 8 out of 10
Incentivized
August 30, 2018
PV
Purav Vaidya
Vice President, Mobile technology
Bank of America Merrill Lynch (Financial Services, 10,001+ employees)
Vetted Review
Verified User
Microsoft Power BI
4 years of experience
View profile
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
Microsoft Power BI is being used by a limited set of users in our organization. Since our organization is very huge (Approx. 300,000 employees) different departments have a different way of working. We have several vendor tools that are used organization-wide. The Microsoft Power BI tool particularly helps us to publishing dashboards and focus on some of the most critical areas and gaps. It has excellent visualizations that make our meetings and reports effective. It also has various patterns, themes, spot charts and at an advantage of low costs.
Pros
  • Microsoft Power BI has excellent visualizations, patterns, spot charts.
  • It has a great length of connectivity with databases and other software. This includes: MS Access, PL/SQL, JSON, SAP HANA, MySQL, etc.
  • It's very cheap and helps focus on the right areas during presentations/meeting discussions.
Cons
  • Microsoft Power BI could become a little more user friendly and added videos for training. This is one place where Tableau does a little better.
  • Power BI also needs to become available in the cloud for better usage.
  • Power BI deployment flexibility needs to be improved. This is better in other software.
Likelihood to Recommend
Power BI is well suited when we are connecting to other databases and sources. The visualizations are constantly improving. This helps it to be more effective in meetings and presentations. Some of the places where it is not very appropriate is that it is not available in the cloud. This makes it a little inconvenient. The deployment needs to be more flexible and there need to be video tutorials available so that it can be more user-friendly. Added mobile support will be a major plus. This is one area that has not been explored by other BI Tools.

The BI tool for the masses

Rating: 10 out of 10
Incentivized
May 16, 2018
AB
Adam Bruckman, MPH, CPC
Financial Analyst
Emory University School of Medicine (Higher Education, 5001-10,000 employees)
Vetted Review
Verified User
Microsoft Power BI
2 years of experience
View profile
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
Power BI is being used in our department to create internal reports within our group. The main sanctioned BI tool for our organization is Tableau, but we have to rely on a central IT group to produce dashboards. With Power BI, we can create and customize our own reports, but cannot widely distribute them.
Pros
  • Power BI integrates seamlessly with PowerQuery which allows you to easily manipulate source data and add calculated columns for your data model.
  • Producing a data model is very easy as Power BI makes visualizing the model schema and joins simple.
  • Producing data visuals is so much more user-friendly than in Tableau. Customizing and producing visuals is very intuitive and there are tons of built-in visualizations to choose from ( however some are not explicitly Power BI approved and may not work properly).
  • Sharing the dashboards is very easy and end-users can interact with the visualizations.
  • Data and visualizations smoothly integrate with other Microsoft products such as PowerPoint and Access.
Cons
  • Although BI is making great updates on a daily basis, there are still some limitations involved with the data modeling and certain visualizations.
Likelihood to Recommend
Power BI is excellent for decentralizing an organization's BI capabilities. It's great both for creating dashboards widely disseminated throughout your organization as well as allowing users to create their own dashboards for use on a smaller scale. Since it's so approachable and intuitive, you don't need to be an IT expert or data analyst to get up and running with it.

Excellent Starting Point for BI Tool

Rating: 9 out of 10
Incentivized
March 17, 2017
RK
Ryan Kasper
Engagement Manager
Bluewolf, an IBM Company (Information Technology and Services, 501-1000 employees)
Vetted Review
Verified User
Microsoft Power BI
2 years of experience
View profile
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
I used Microsoft Power BI to combine multiple sources of data into a comprehensive report. I had Salesforce, Excel sheets, and a few smaller tools that had information to combine into a single view. Being able to publish these reports publicly for shared access helped keep everyone on the same page.
Pros
  • It was very easy to use and learn. I did not have a lot of BI experience and was able to get started very quickly.
  • Frequent updates continue to provide excellent new features.
  • It has an excellent interface that makes the set up and layout of reports and dashboards very functional.
Cons
  • Some features are not available in both the desktop and web version, so I had to switch back and forth between the two in order to publish some of the more complex reports to my website.
  • It did not have all the integrations that I needed at the time, so I was still using some Excel sheets to import the data.
Likelihood to Recommend
I would recommend for people who do not currently have BI and are looking to POC it out for their company or department. I think it has a way to go before it is a viable alternative to some of the other Enterprise tools that are available.

Power BI - great "free" BI tool for analysts and developers.

Rating: 7 out of 10
Incentivized
April 05, 2021
Verified User
Administrator in Information Technology
Government Administration Company, 10,001+ employees
Vetted Review
Verified User
Microsoft Power BI
3 years of experience
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
[Microsoft] Power BI is being used by our BI team (developers) and business analysts in selected Departments. It is a tool of choice for a quick data analysis and dashboard creation primary for 311 city services (service requests), Health/Vaccination (COVID) public facing analysis and purchasing improvement process.
Pros
  • Ability to connect to many different data sources
  • Ease of access (basic version is free)
  • Integration with office modules
  • Cloud based (Azure) architecture
Cons
  • Confusing licensing for Pro and Premium
  • Steep learning curve
  • Too many features are hard to find
Likelihood to Recommend
Since virtually all organizations are using Microsoft's products, Power BI comes "baked in" with your Office 365 licensing. To end users, it is free, and you can do a lot with this free desktop version. Analysts and developers with data source knowledge can very quickly create pretty advances and interactive visualizations - with zero additional costs. You can even share your output with another Power BI desktop user, or via free Power BI viewer tool.

Problems start if you want to distribute and share your work on a broader scale. You need to purchase additional licenses, which to us was kind of confusing (pro vs premium) and expensive. If you are not a Microsoft shop, this can be a showstopper.

Microsoft Power BI is the best BI tool by far

Rating: 10 out of 10
Incentivized
February 24, 2025
Verified User
Analyst in Research & Development
Logistics & Supply Chain Company, 501-1000 employees
Vetted Review
Verified User
Microsoft Power BI
4 years of experience
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
We use it on a daily basis to track our numbers and review all of our data, we have dashboards and reports built for our internal users so that way they can see how they are performing by the hour, we also have our reports embedded into our own internal portal which is one of the awesome Microsoft Power BI capabilities.
Pros
  • StoryTelling
  • Report Development
  • Handling Complex calculations
  • Scalability
Cons
  • Speed
  • Report visual Sharpness similar to Tableau
  • Fix Matrix totals
Likelihood to Recommend
it is the best tool out there, the desktop version is free to use so you can use it in your own projects, it is also appropriate for very large organizations because it has elastic scalability plans, it also well suited for complex scenarios where you need to have everything in one place with the use of fabric. it is not suited if you have very basic reporting and not really large datasets.
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