Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

MicroStrategy vs ThoughtSpot comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 1, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
7.7
MicroStrategy offers cost-effective BI solutions, enhancing reporting, reducing maintenance, and providing significant ROI through tailored data management and visualization.
Sentiment score
7.2
ThoughtSpot enhances value with time savings, ease of use, and reduced costs, but user adoption affects ROI.
Using ThoughtSpot has resulted in significant time savings and improved business sales by allowing us to identify sellers and buyers across regions, facilitating targeted marketing.
ThoughtSpot saves a significant amount of time compared to other tools and is very user-friendly.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.2
MicroStrategy receives praise for its responsive customer service and knowledge base, though some experience delays with complex issues.
Sentiment score
6.8
ThoughtSpot's customer support is praised for responsiveness but critiqued for depth, with mixed ratings on problem resolution.
I would rate the technical support from MicroStrategy as nine out of 10.
ThoughtSpot provides a dedicated customer success person and the ability to submit tickets online, with a response time of no more than a day.
I stopped opening tickets due to insufficient and untimely responses.
We have dedicated support contacts for our company, but pushing through features we need requires long processes and upvotes on their website despite the support.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.5
MicroStrategy is highly scalable, supporting many users and large data, with some performance challenges but positive overall ratings.
Sentiment score
7.2
ThoughtSpot offers effective scalability and growth, but may require improvements in role management and advanced preparation tools.
The platform does not have technical problems with scaling data or connections.
As our data has grown, I have validated huge datasets and complex models without significant issues.
Tableau, Power BI, or Looker have separate tools for preparation, customization, and storytelling.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.4
Users find MicroStrategy stable, noting proper setup and newer versions' improvements, despite occasional bugs and configuration-specific performance issues.
Sentiment score
7.1
ThoughtSpot is stable and fast for large datasets but faces occasional downtime, feature gaps, and integration challenges.
I would rate the stability of MicroStrategy as nine out of 10.
I use it primarily for large datasets, and it performs faster than regular data visualization tools such as Power BI, which has limits on dataset size.
This workaround consumed a lot of resources and led to reduced performance, with pinboards loading for approximately two minutes for each filter criterion.
The responsiveness of accessing live data is exceptional and faster than most other BI tools.
 

Room For Improvement

MicroStrategy needs improved visualizations, user interface, and data integration to compete with more user-friendly platforms like Tableau and Power BI.
ThoughtSpot lacks visualization flexibility, geospatial options, customization, integration tools, and better organization, lagging behind Power BI and Tableau.
Organizations that are well-established and have more money can afford MicroStrategy, but startups and mid-level organizations who do not have this much budget have to opt for other cheaper tools.
MicroStrategy could learn from Power BI's user-friendly interface.
The platform also has fewer formulas and functions compared to Power BI and Qlik, limiting the creation of complex functions directly within ThoughtSpot.
Currently, it is not as customizable as the options available on Power BI or Tableau.
A crucial feature we needed is missing, which involves restricting views of certain KPIs when users select conflicting parameters.
 

Setup Cost

MicroStrategy's pricing is high; negotiate for discounts, align licenses with needs, and consider potential long-term cost benefits.
ThoughtSpot offers competitive, flexible pricing between Tableau and Power BI, with options suited to various organizational needs.
ThoughtSpot's pricing is reasonable and in line with other BI tools.
HubSpot is expensive.
 

Valuable Features

MicroStrategy provides scalable analytics with customizable reports, self-service, real-time data, and mobile access for enhanced decision-making and visualization.
ThoughtSpot's search-based functionality enables intuitive data exploration, empowering non-technical users to create reports and improve business efficiency.
The MicroStrategy interface is not as good as Power BI, especially concerning the user-friendly aspects.
The most effective features of MicroStrategy for data analysis in my experience are the security, the metadata management, and the administration, along with the options of different workarounds available to accommodate different types of requirements.
Its compatibility with most databases, including the latest from FlexMovely and Redshift, allows users to create joins and worksheets easily.
This alerting feature is very beneficial for our company at the moment, and we use it extensively.
When I upload a data dump, AI analytics suggest possible data visualizations and insights, which I can pin to dashboards or live boards for modification.
 

Categories and Ranking

MicroStrategy
Ranking in BI (Business Intelligence) Tools
8th
Ranking in Embedded BI
3rd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
161
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
ThoughtSpot
Ranking in BI (Business Intelligence) Tools
15th
Ranking in Embedded BI
6th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
13
Ranking in other categories
Data Visualization (10th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the BI (Business Intelligence) Tools category, the mindshare of MicroStrategy is 3.0%, down from 3.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of ThoughtSpot is 1.4%, down from 1.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
BI (Business Intelligence) Tools
 

Featured Reviews

AJIN S L - PeerSpot reviewer
Experience has shown effective features for analysis, but needs interface improvements
The most effective features of MicroStrategy for data analysis are those that cater to user needs. However, I find Power BI to be more useful when comparing some features, but my company does not choose Power BI due to certain code restrictions. The MicroStrategy interface is not as good as Power BI, especially concerning the user-friendly aspects.
Dominique Rozenberg - PeerSpot reviewer
Seamless integration with external systems and effective dashboard management enhance productivity
I encountered limitations mainly around UI and dashboard configuration. The widgets are simple with limited flexibility or customization. I would like more customization options. Additionally, handling governance when there are many models and dashboards is complex. There is no way to organize assets by business unit, only a list with tags, which is not convenient.
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which BI (Business Intelligence) Tools solutions are best for your needs.
851,604 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Comparison Review

it_user6330 - PeerSpot reviewer
May 2, 2013
MicroStrategy vs. Tableau
After a recent presentation, several attendees asked me about the applications of Visual Insights and Tableau. Many companies are investing in both tools and are trying to figure out the right tool for specific applications Tableau has found its sweet-spot as an agile discovery tool that analysts…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
17%
Computer Software Company
12%
Retailer
8%
Insurance Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
22%
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Healthcare Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about MicroStrategy?
The stability of the product is good.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for MicroStrategy?
For larger businesses, I think the pricing is logical, but for smaller companies, it can be a bit costly.
What needs improvement with MicroStrategy?
MicroStrategy could learn from Power BI's user-friendly interface. I find the user interface lacking when compared to Power BI. Additionally, their hyperintelligence could be improved in certain as...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ThoughtSpot?
The pricing is on the higher end but reasonable for what ThoughtSpot offers.
What needs improvement with ThoughtSpot?
ThoughtSpot lacks an intermediate layer for data loading, unlike Qlik, which affects dashboard stability when the database has issues. The platform also has fewer formulas and functions compared to...
What is your primary use case for ThoughtSpot?
I am working for a telecommunication company where we use ThoughtSpot ( /products/thoughtspot-reviews ) to create monthly, weekly, and daily ad hoc reports for business needs. We work for both B2B ...
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Allstate Insurance, Barneys New York, Boston Children's Hospital, Buenos Aires Department of the Treasury, Campbell Soup Company, DHL, eBay, eHarmony, Facebook, Four Seasons Hotels Inc., Godiva, Hard Rock International, LinkedIn, Netflix, Pfizer, SECO (Swiss Government Unemployment Agency), Starbucks, Texas A&M University, Thomson Reuters Markets, US House of Representatives, and the US Postal Service.
Primary Capital Mortgage, Sterling Backcheck, RichRelevance, Rambus, Batteries Plus Bulbs
Find out what your peers are saying about MicroStrategy vs. ThoughtSpot and other solutions. Updated: May 2025.
851,604 professionals have used our research since 2012.