Microsoft Power BI vs QBO comparison

Microsoft and Unscrambl, Inc are both solutions in the BI (Business Intelligence) Tools category. Microsoft is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.0, while Unscrambl, Inc is ranked #48. Microsoft holds a 8.9% mindshare in BIT, compared to Unscrambl, Inc’s 0.6% mindshare. Additionally, 93% of Microsoft users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 85% of Unscrambl, Inc users who would recommend it.

Microsoft Power BI

Read 327 Microsoft Power BI reviews

23,151 Views
14,585 Comparison Views

93% willing to recommend

QBO

Read 6 QBO reviews

524 Views
524 Comparison Views

85% willing to recommend

Microsoft Power BI

QBO

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 1, 2025

Microsoft Power BI and QBO are key competitors in the business software space, focusing on different functional areas. Power BI appears to have the upper hand in data visualization and integration, whereas QBO is more advantageous for financial management.

Features: Power BI excels in integration capabilities, customization, and data visualization tools, allowing users to conduct seamless data analysis and reporting. QBO is noted for its order processing, efficient sales capabilities, and user-friendliness in handling financial tasks, offering robust integration with various accounting processes.

Room for Improvement: Power BI could improve its performance with large datasets, enhance user-friendliness for non-technical users, and better integrate with AI and enterprise applications. QBO users desire improved inventory management, more customization in its interface, and enhanced integration features.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Power BI provides versatile deployment options including hybrid solutions, but customer service experiences vary, with reports of occasional delays. QBO offers straightforward cloud-based deployment and is criticized for customer support costs. Both excel in cloud deployment, although Power BI offers more deployment flexibility.

Pricing and ROI: Power BI is seen as cost-effective for many businesses, although scalability can become costly for larger enterprises. It offers strong ROI due to increased efficiencies. QBO's pricing is perceived as higher with features like payroll, yet its value in financial management is well-regarded. Both demonstrate valuable returns on investment, with Power BI shining in cost-effectiveness and QBO in comprehensive financial functionalities.

To learn more, read our detailed Microsoft Power BI vs. QBO Report (Updated: February 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Power BI vs. QBO

February 2026

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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Power BI

Ranking in BI (Business Intelligence) Tools

1st

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

327

Ranking in other categories

Reporting (1st)

QBO

Ranking in BI (Business Intelligence) Tools

48th

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the BI (Business Intelligence) Tools category, the mindshare of Microsoft Power BI is 8.9%, down from 21.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of QBO is 0.6%, up from 0.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

BI (Business Intelligence) Tools Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Microsoft Power BI	8.9%
QBO	0.6%
Other	90.5%

BI (Business Intelligence) Tools

Featured Reviews

Livia Vasilescu

HR Manager at PPB

Use advanced data preparation features in analytics projects

Microsoft Power BI can be quite slow when working with data sources that aren't from a data warehouse or a more robust source or data artifact. When working with exports, which we do frequently, the load takes considerable time. This occurs with any BI tool, and it's related to our working methods due to limitations within the area. In HR, we typically use exports because we have numerous data sources. Ideally, Microsoft Power BI would have a no-code or low-code solution for the data sources to be built by the actual developers or development team. This would eliminate the need to work directly with exports. We would have a middle ground to create a warehouse without all the infrastructure, as building a warehouse within an organization can require substantial resources, both in time and personnel.

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Donna Ross

Executive Assistant, Office Manager at Dross & Cross Bookkeeping Services

Intuitive, accessible through online, and well-known

The internet version is less user-friendly than the desktop version. The desktop version is their flagship, whereas the online version is considerably different, requiring all new learning. Despite its flaws, it is the best accounting software to use. I would like to see them take the desktop version and put it in the cloud, from which you can access it. However, because they have it drastically different, knowing how QuickBooks online works is an entirely new learning experience. That is the most serious issue. It's the equivalent of having to learn two programs. If they took their flagship desktop version which is awesome, and put that on the cloud and eliminated what is now known as QBO, that would be a wonderful thing. The desktop version is intuitive and makes sense. The users that only know QBO would also easily adapt to the desktop version. I don't know why they went in such a drastic direction with QBO.

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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"It's a pretty scalable product."

"The product is easy to use and simple to navigate."

"The tool is very flexible so it allows creativity."

"The best feature for me is Power Query. I know that probably sounds strange, but you can't do too much with visuals and reports if the backend stuff is horribly dirty and just bad. But for me, that is absolutely fantastic. I can load the data and do the transformation and be able to load it in a useful way. There are tons of connections, which is absolutely fantastic as well. It's been fairly easy, and it's intuitive."

"The solution's most valuable feature is the graphic representation."

"The user interface is easy to work with."

"Reporting is the best thing about Power BI. And it could help improve decision-making in many ways. Power BI is flexible and easier to use compared to tools."

"One of the most valuable features of Microsoft Power BI is its easy way of sharing data within the organization or outside."

More Microsoft Power BI pros

"The scheduling feature for salaries and taxes is one of the best features of QBO. It's also very user-friendly."

"The most valuable features of QBO are its order processing and sales capabilities, as well as its invoice and batch processing capabilities. It allows for multiple batch processing and integration with other platforms, such as SAP V1, Oracle, and Dynamics BC. This makes the solution versatile and effective for customers, and they are satisfied with its integration with different platforms. The integration of this solution is not fixed, it can be based on the user's requirements."

"The most valuable feature is the collaboration around allowing many people to ask questions and see the dashboards together."

"It's intuitive, electronic, and, as in the old days, eliminates the need for pen and paper. It is the only option. It's the best software."

"QBO has a very good reconciliation tool."

"The most valuable feature of QBO is that it can be reconnected at any time and anywhere. It is not like other software where you have to back up and restore the data."

Cons

"We would like it if they added more Python libraries in the Power BI service. For Power BI service right now, you can use Python, but it is limited to a few libraries or a few packages from Python."

"It is too slow. I hope in future it will be a comparable big data tool, such as, for example, Data Lake."

"My data is restricted to my DB and I'm not sure how this would handle an extremely large dataset."

"Sometimes while developing, the front end is not easily customizable and it has limitations. We cannot go and do any UI we want. We have to stick to the limitations of the product."

"Some kind of expression wizard, where the user can build a complex expression without any knowledge of DAX, can be a good addition to the product."

"If you are having millions of rows of data or you have a large database, Microsoft BI's performance depends upon how powerful your hardware is. When I am handling large amounts of data I do not use Microsoft BI or Tableau because of this, I use D3."

"It should be more user-friendly. There are very small or tiny icons that you need to move very carefully. If you go a little bit up and down, some of the values change. Its user interface should be improved. It should be like Tableau. Its performance is also slow and should be improved. I definitely feel some sort of speed issues with Power BI. The integration of Excel with Power BI would also be good."

"Power BI shows reports on actual data, not metadata."

More Microsoft Power BI cons

"The Linux Operating System feature is not available. When we access it from the accounting features, it does not transit to installation."

"The internet version is less user-friendly than the desktop version. The desktop version is their flagship, whereas the online version is considerably different, requiring all new learning and having several glitches."

"Inventory capabilities are lacking in the cloud version."

"QBO could be improved by adding more flexibility in its invoice and sales order processing capabilities. Customers have requested the ability to integrate with different retail services and the ability to easily integrate with different payment gateways, such as PayPal, by providing API and credentials, with the system automatically processing the integration."

"Compared to offline accounting software with many shortcuts and allows you to operate the software using the keyboard, QBO doesn't have the keyboard feature."

"The dashboards can be improved by making them customizable in a more granular manner."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There is a license for this solution and we purchase them annually."

"Make it low in cost. It is a no-brainer!"

"Their price is good."

"We are end-users, and we don't take care of the prices and accounting. We get a product and pay the fee to our internal service provider, but its price should be reasonable. Otherwise, they wouldn't have bought it."

"Paid for itself in the first month."

"Pricing is a big advantage that Power BI has over Tableau. Power BI is three or four times cheaper than Tableau. For my personal use, I will definitely prefer a $20 monthly fee of Power BI rather than a $70 monthly fee of Tableau. If you pay altogether for Power BI, they give you a discount, whereas, with Tableau, there is no discount. There are three versions of Power BI: Free, Pro, and Premium. The Premium version comes with a lot of things. There is no extra or hidden fee. You pay every month, and the software is with you. If you upgrade, there will be some extra charges."

"Microsoft BI is considered to be competitively priced when compared to other similar solutions in the market."

"Pricing, that's where Microsoft beats Tableau. It is priced much cheaper."

More Microsoft Power BI pricing and cost advice

"The solution is expensive."

"I give the pricing a nine out of ten."

"In my opinion, QBO is a bit on the pricey side, but you have no choice. It is still better, in the long run, to go with their pricing or their software than the alternatives."

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Comparison Review

it_user79932

Senior Manager - BI Head with 5,001-10,000 employees

Feb 4, 2015

Comparison of SAP BO, Tableau, QlikView, Cognos, Microsoft, OBIEE and Pentaho

1. SAP BO/BI Enterprise scalability Security Ease of use Semantic layer 2. Tableau Visualization Data discovery Turnaround time 3. IBM Cognos Enterprise scalability Security In-memory feature 4. MS BI - Flexibility 5. Pentaho - Open source but still enterprise grade 6. QlikView Data…

Read full review

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

12%

Government

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

No data available

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	135
Midsize Enterprise	57
Large Enterprise	165

No data available

Questions from the Community

Seeking lightweight open source BI software

There are many...It would rather depend what System BI architecture or Enterprise legacy you have at your end...I would recommend as follows: 1) If you have legacies of SAP, Oracle - look for SAP...

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Is Power BI a complete platform or only a visualization tool?

Power BI is an advanced visualization tool oriented to big data with a very complete set of widgets to visualize information, control users accessing information, the configuration of governance po...

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How does Oracle OBIEE compare with Microsoft BI?

Oracle OBIEE is great in allowing design and creativity per the individual needs of the organization. Dashboards are fully customizable and very user-friendly. This solution is very stable. Oracle ...

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Comparisons

Amazon QuickSight vs Microsoft Power BI

Compared 16% of the time

Tableau Enterprise vs Microsoft Power BI

Compared 13% of the time

Domo vs Microsoft Power BI

Compared 6% of the time

Databricks vs Microsoft Power BI

Compared 3% of the time

KNIME Business Hub vs Microsoft Power BI

Compared 2% of the time

More Microsoft Power BI Competitors

Verix Limelight vs QBO

Compared 100% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Power BI

January 2026

Download Microsoft Power BI product report

Buyer's Guide

QBO

January 2026

Download QBO product report

Also Known As

SSRS, SSAS, MSBI, MS Reporting Services, Microsoft BI Tools, Microsoft Big Data, Power BI Pro, MS BI

No data available

Overview

Microsoft Power BI is a powerful tool for data analysis and visualization. This tool stands out for its ability to merge and analyze data from various sources. Widely adopted across different industries and departments, Power BI is instrumental in creating visually appealing dashboards and generating insightful business intelligence reports. Its intuitive interface, robust visualization capabilities, and seamless integration with other Microsoft applications empower users to easily create interactive reports and gain valuable insights.

Microsoft

QBO combines the power of natural language and spontaneous collaboration to deliver on-demand insights to the decision-makers. Winning features of QBO: 1. Easily connect to multiple internal and external datasets 2. Slice-and-diced data in infinite ways using natural language (English) and interactive visualizations 3. Responds easily to descriptive, diagnostic, predictive and prescriptive questions 4. Native integration with Microsoft Teams 5. Save and share your findings easily on interactive boards URL of the product : https://www.unscrambl.com/qbo-insights/ Powered by Unscrambl, we believe that our increasingly complex world of data can be simplified and transformed into actionable insights, saving valuable time and resources for every business. Unscrambl develops next-generation conversational analytics software that gives business users the power to access and consume data instantly and collaboratively. Unscrambl is headquartered in the United States and has offices in Singapore, Turkey, India, and the Philippines. For more information, please visit www.unscrambl.com

Unscrambl, Inc

Sample Customers

Accenture Adidas Aetna AIG Airbus Alibaba Allstate Amazon American Express Aon AT&T Audi Bank of America BASF Bayer Berkshire Hathaway Boeing Coca-Cola Comcast Cisco Coca-Cola Dell Disney Emirates Equinix FedEx Ford GE Google H&M Home Depot Honda IBM Intel JPMorgan Chase Kellogg's Kroger L'Oréal McDonald's Merck MetLife Microsoft Nike Oracle P&G PepsiCo Procter & Gamble Prudential Financial SAP Siemens Snapchat Spotify Starbucks Target Toyota T-Mobile Unilever Visa Walmart WeWork World Bank Xerox

SATS, Celcom, EastWest, DBS, Metrobank, XL-Axiata, Etisalat, UnionBank of the Philippines

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Power BI vs. QBO

February 2026

Free Report: Microsoft Power BI vs. QBO

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