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 8.1, while Unscrambl, Inc is ranked #49. Microsoft holds a 9.3% mindshare in BIT, compared to Unscrambl, Inc’s 0.5% 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 329 Microsoft Power BI reviews

24,257 Views
15,524 Comparison Views

93% willing to recommend

QBO

Read 6 QBO reviews

556 Views
556 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: March 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Power BI vs. QBO

March 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

6.7

Number of Reviews

329

Ranking in other categories

Reporting (1st)

QBO

Ranking in BI (Business Intelligence) Tools

49th

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the BI (Business Intelligence) Tools category, the mindshare of Microsoft Power BI is 9.3%, down from 21.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of QBO is 0.5%, up from 0.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

BI (Business Intelligence) Tools Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Microsoft Power BI	9.3%
QBO	0.5%
Other	90.2%

BI (Business Intelligence) Tools

Featured Reviews

Antonio Flor

Lead Anaplanner at Chaucer Group

Data integration has improved reserving and expense control while collaboration drives fast dashboards

Regarding drawbacks or weak points in Microsoft Power BI, it may not be directly related to the tool itself, but with our architecture, as we couldn't get a service account, which is an email address that has no relationship with the employees, just to establish the connection with Anaplan. We couldn't get it to work on SSO, so we use an employee account which could be a point of weakness, meaning if the person leaves, that connection will break. If the person goes on holiday and we need to refresh, we have to change the connection as well, but we have to live with that since we're not using SSO on the service account. Regarding the natural language processing feature, we're trying to avoid using it too much because it can slow down the connection, so as much as possible, we try to build the logic and any transformation in Anaplan, and then deliver an end product to Microsoft Power BI.

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Mimi Evans

Owner/Operator at Fearless Bookkeeping Services LLC

Offer great partnership models and relatively simple to use

My only issue with QuickBooks Online is their inventory capabilities. My understanding is that they're rolling out improvements in 2023, but anytime a person asks me about using QuickBooks Online and inventory, then I always recommend the desktop version because otherwise the functionality isn't great. They're trying to become the all-in source that we use for everything. However, the product lakcs a client portal, a feature that would make a huge difference. I'm an accountant and if I can't use it well, I can't train my customers to use it well. There are so many professional service companies that would love to be able to offer a client portal of some sort but they're so industry-specific or they're outrageously expensive because they're meant for enterprise level. I don't like the UI or the functionality of their cash flow planner. I would rather pay for another software than use theirs.

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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

"The initial setup is straightforward."

"It is very well integrated with other Microsoft products, including PowerApps and Excel, as well as Access, so it fits well into our workflow."

"The most valuable features of Microsoft BI are the variety of possibilities to connect to various data sources. The visualizations are easily done, have useful rollover functions, and there are continuous updates being made to the system. You can benefit from the various improvements."

"Microsoft BI's most valuable features are the user interface, which is easy to use and light."

"Deployment for Microsoft Power BI is easier than other tools, making it straightforward, and as an end-user tool, it has been going well since it doesn't require much involvement from a developer team, which releases some time for other development."

"I do work on projects to switch clients to MS BI usually due to its attractive pricing and tight integration with MS Office suite."

"Premium features that used to cost $5,000 per company per month recently became a lot more accessible. Microsoft recently implemented a per user feature in Power BI Premium; it's $20 per month."

"Technical support is quite responsive."

More Microsoft Power BI pros

"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."

"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."

"QBO has a very good reconciliation tool."

"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."

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

Cons

"Its performance and stability can be improved. It takes time to load, and sometimes, it also breaks down for the whole region. Its usability could also be better, and it could also have more connections with different data sources."

"Capacity could be improved."

"License fee structure. Mobile Reporting Services is only available for the "Enterprise" edition of SQL Server 2016."

"My main complaint is that the error messages need to be made more clear. Currently, they are either too generic or outright misleading, and finding the real problem is like searching for a needle in a haystack."

"Microsoft BI lacks some of the scheme features. It would be beneficial if there were a way to show how we move values in a different way."

"Microsoft should offer additional features for visualization and have additional features for slicing and dicing that data."

"Drill-down in dashboards needs to improved. The capability only works in Power BI Desktop today. We need to have an alternative approach today."

"We face multiple issues, and the connection drops off multiple times while integrating Microsoft Power BI with OAC and pulling in the data."

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."

"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."

"Inventory capabilities are lacking in the cloud version."

"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."

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

"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."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It's straightforward licensing."

"Microsoft BI is not very cheap. A premium license costs roughly 5,000 euros a month."

"Microsoft BI requires licenses."

"They are charging us by users in storage, and there is a license fee. My financial people handle all that. The client has already worked out a contract with Microsoft, and basically, we're getting government prices."

"Remove the cost of a licence to show a dashboard within SharePoint. Why should readers of a dashboard have to pay to view? "

"Its cost seems to be unreasonable if you have many users, but for a lesser number of users, it is reasonable. It is $10 per month. Clients easily accept this option, so they must think it is reasonable. It is quite cheap as compared to other tools, such as Tableau. One of the best things about this solution is that it has a trial version."

"Regarding cost, the initial investment wasn't too high, but ongoing licensing could add up."

"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%

Manufacturing Company

Government

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	58
Large Enterprise	166

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...

See all answers

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 17% of the time

Tableau Enterprise vs Microsoft Power BI

Compared 14% of the time

Domo vs Microsoft Power BI

Compared 8% of the time

Databricks vs Microsoft Power BI

Compared 2% of the time

SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform vs Microsoft Power BI

Compared 2% of the time

More Microsoft Power BI Competitors

Verix Limelight vs QBO

Compared 60% of the time

More QBO Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Power BI

March 2026

Download Microsoft Power BI product report

Buyer's Guide

QBO

March 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

March 2026

Free Report: Microsoft Power BI vs. QBO

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