I've been using it for financial data.
Head, Development Chapter (DevOps) at First Bank of Nigeria Ltd.
Flexibility and usefulness of the data are good features, but dashboards could be improved
Pros and Cons
- "The initial setup is straightforward."
- "Trend data and dashboards need improvement."
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
Flexibility and usefulness of the data.
What needs improvement?
Trend data and dashboards need improvement.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Microsoft Power BI for some time.
Buyer's Guide
Microsoft Power BI
June 2026
Learn what your peers think about Microsoft Power BI. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: June 2026.
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What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability is a seven out of ten.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is straightforward.
What other advice do I have?
Overall, I would rate the solution a seven out of ten.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Technical Consultant at LinkDev
Helps with data analysis and visualization tasks
Pros and Cons
- "Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten."
- "At times, I feel that the system needs improvement in single sign-on, especially for the on-premises side of the tool."
What is our primary use case?
I use the solution to generate analytics reports for most of the projects we are engaged in within our company.
What needs improvement?
Some controls and integration capabilities of the product require configurations with the help of NoSQL databases, as it is one area where the product has certain shortcomings.
At times, I feel that the system needs improvement in single sign-on, especially for the on-premises side of the tool.
At times, I see the product freeze in unexpected areas. Unknown exceptions appear in the tool for no reason. One problem with the tool arises from the fact that it does way too much monitoring, impacting areas like reports and performance. The aforementioned areas can be improved in the product.
The tool should provide cloud support to help users deal with problems related to the frozen servers.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Microsoft Power BI for five years. My company has a partnership with Microsoft.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is a stable solution. Stability-wise, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.
Around 100 people in my company use the product. Most of the product's users are managers in my company.
The problematic licensing part of the product influences my company's decision on whether to increase the use of the product.
How are customer service and support?
I haven't seen any major problems when dealing with the product's support team. The product's support team is friendly, but I think there are problems in Microsoft's internal communication since a problem gets distributed between multiple internal teams.
How was the initial setup?
The product's initial setup phase has no problems unless we choose to have it integrated on an on-premises model and not on a cloud version.
Most of the product deployments are carried out manually by our company.
My company opens reports and publishes the report files for the projects being handled. My company gives required permission for other users to access the reports.
The solution is deployed on an on-premises model.
The solution's deployment process is simple to handle, but problems appear in the area of domains, considering that Microsoft Power BI manages the configuration part.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
My company needs to make monthly payments towards the licensing costs attached to the product. Considering my company's turnover, we need a tool that offers more flexibility and allows us to increase or decrease the solution in our environment.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Tableau offers more flexibility in service compared to Microsoft Power BI. Microsoft Power BI is simple to use compared to Tableau.
What other advice do I have?
Microsoft Power BI has improved our company's data analysis and visualization tasks since it helps simplify our work. My company is able to generate data analysis and easily deal with visualization tasks.
The most valuable feature of Microsoft Power BI for data storytelling stems from the integration with different types of products along with the support option it provides to help integrate with other tools. Caching in Microsoft Power BI would improve the organization's performance.
Microsoft Power BI's Q&A feature impacted our company's data exploration efforts since it is an area used by many types of users, including those involved in management and analytics, as it helps with cross-filtering.
The product's real-time dashboard and data refreshing capabilities are good, but it freezes without showing any status during the data retrieval if the volume is high.
It is not possible to use the product's in-depth features since it requires many controls and user interfaces.
The product is mainly for managers who want to track work details.
I rate the overall tool an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Buyer's Guide
Microsoft Power BI
June 2026
Learn what your peers think about Microsoft Power BI. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: June 2026.
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Statistician / Data Scientist at a government with 1,001-5,000 employees
Offers data visualization, including filtering data, creating graphs, and dashboards
Pros and Cons
- "The sharing features are vital, especially the ability to share and test different shared dashboards."
- "Better mapping capabilities and easier administration access would be beneficial, especially for understanding who has viewed reports."
What is our primary use case?
I use it primarily for some application services. It's primarily for government statistics.
I use it for visualization as well, mainly for filtering data, and creating graphs and dashboards.
How has it helped my organization?
Power BI helped me to improve the decision-making process. It was particularly useful when I had data in a table, and I was able to use it as a dashboard with filters for better insights.
What is most valuable?
The sharing features are vital, especially the ability to share and test different shared dashboards.
It's quite manageable and easy to learn. It took me about a month to learn how to use it effectively.
What needs improvement?
Better mapping capabilities and easier administration access would be beneficial, especially for understanding who has viewed reports.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using it for a year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is a stable product. I would rate the stability an eight out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is a scalable product but it could be improved to better suit the overall size of projects.
I would rate the scalability a seven out of ten.
There are around 50 end users in my organization. We plan to increase the further usage.
How are customer service and support?
The customer service and support are not as easy to access as I'd like. I don't often find a direct portal to support. I end up looking up the internet. I would rate it one out of ten, but I would put it a five out of ten.
I have to go and look up the internet. I sometimes just bring in expertise. I would prefer some tech support instead of bringing in someone else.
I have to run a case. I want to have something easy and readily accessible. There is good stuff on the website, but it would be better if I could easily ring somebody.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I've used Tableau, but now we primarily use Power BI.
Each has its advantages, but Power BI supports our needs effectively.
How was the initial setup?
I would rate my experience with the initial setup an eight out of ten, with ten being easy to set up.
We use it on the cloud. For us, deployment took six months.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The pricing is reasonable, at about 6.3 euros per user per month.
What other advice do I have?
I'd recommend it for its features and cost-effectiveness. I find this product pretty okay. It works well for me.
Overall, I would rate the solution an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Assistant Manager - Forensic Data Analytics at Grant Thornton
Intuitive, user-friendly, and enables to manage and share reports across different teams easily
Pros and Cons
- "The product is intuitive and user-friendly."
- "The solution struggles with large amounts of data."
What is our primary use case?
We use the tool for data analysis and reporting through dashboarding, identifying trends, and mapping.
What is most valuable?
The product is intuitive and user-friendly. It could be rolled out to anyone across the business. DAX is a good feature. The real-time dashboard updates are good. The ease of integration is good. We connect it to different databases. The clients we work with work on different databases. It is easy to manage and share Power BI reports across different teams and departments.
What needs improvement?
The solution struggles with large amounts of data. It has some limitations. Sometimes, we don't know if we have the full picture.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using the solution for four years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I rate the tool’s stability a ten out of ten. I haven't come across any issues.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I rate the tool’s scalability an eight out of ten.
How was the initial setup?
The deployment is not difficult. It is relatively easy to maintain the product. For our needs, we need one person to maintain the tool.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I have used MicroStrategy. Power BI is more user-friendly. When we roll it across the business, it's easier for the users to use. MicroStrategy can handle large amounts of data.
What other advice do I have?
Overall, I rate the product an eight out of ten.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Project and Consultant Manager at a consultancy with 1-10 employees
Offers comprehensive features, user-friendly interface, and strong community support
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable feature of Power BI is its ability to provide customized visualizations and insights tailored to specific business needs."
- "Areas of Power BI that could be improved are the learning curve for developers who come from non-technical backgrounds."
What is our primary use case?
Across retail, logistics, legal, finance, and more, I use Power BI to craft custom solutions. From analyzing sales to optimizing operations, Power BI helps me extract actionable insights for informed decision-making across diverse industries.
How has it helped my organization?
I'm working with a law firm that has hundreds of professionals working across various areas for different clients. They struggle to accurately track hours worked per client and compare profitability. With Power BI, I can integrate data from their ERP systems and create insightful reports. These reports not only show the hours worked per client but also compare profitability between clients and highlight KPIs. By providing clear and actionable insights, Power BI helps the firm make informed decisions quickly, leading to improved profitability and efficiency.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature of Power BI is its ability to provide customized visualizations and insights tailored to specific business needs. By offering a range of visualization options and customization capabilities, Power BI enables users to quickly analyze data and gain actionable insights. Depending on the preferences and requirements of the customer, different visualization styles can be utilized, from simple and standardized views to more colorful and dynamic charts and graphs.
What needs improvement?
Areas of Power BI that could be improved are the learning curve for developers who come from non-technical backgrounds. While Power BI is a powerful tool, mastering its development aspects, including coding and formulas, can be challenging for those without a technical background. Additionally, some users find the default visualizations in Power BI Desktop to be outdated and prefer more modern and customizable options.
One additional feature I would like to see in Power BI is tighter integration with Power Apps. This would allow for easier development without extensive coding, making it more accessible for users who aren't familiar with technical aspects like JSON files or Visual Studio Code. Simplifying the development process would streamline workflow and enhance overall usability.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with Microsoft Power BI since 2016.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I would rate the stability of Power BI at around nine out of ten. It has been consistently reliable over the past year, and any bugs are quickly addressed by a supportive community.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Power BI is scalable, but its scalability depends on factors like the amount of data, infrastructure, and database type. For large BI data, other tools might be more suitable. However, Power BI offers great flexibility, and its scalability varies based on specific needs and circumstances.
How are customer service and support?
The technical support for Power BI is generally good, but it can be limited in handling diverse customer needs. While Microsoft technicians are highly knowledgeable, they may provide standard solutions based on their expertise, which might not cover all possible scenarios. Finding solutions often requires additional research, practice, and exploration of community resources. Overall, I would rate the support at a nine out of ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
How was the initial setup?
Deploying Power BI isn't difficult, but it requires time and experience. With regular updates and new features from Microsoft, staying current and understanding changes can be a continuous learning process. While it is manageable with experience, teaching someone from scratch would require significant time and effort.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The price of Power BI is very good. It is reasonable.
What other advice do I have?
Power BI has revolutionized our reporting and decision-making processes. Instead of spending hours manually working with static data in Excel, we now have dynamic information at our fingertips. With Power BI, we can quickly make queries, access answers, and generate reports in minutes. By efficiently extracting data from databases and creating visually appealing visuals, such as KPI dashboards, Power BI enables us to identify trends, compare data, and make informed decisions promptly. It streamlines the entire process, from data extraction to visualization, saving us time and providing valuable insights for effective decision-making.
My advice for someone looking to use Power BI would be to start with the Pro license, as it is usually sufficient for most users. If you are dealing with a large number of customers, consider consulting with a Microsoft partner to find the best licensing solution. Based on my experience, I would recommend Power BI to others. Overall, I would rate the product as a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Generative AI Developer at Rack Ai Private Limited
Useful for creating reports and dashboards
Pros and Cons
- "What I liked most about the tool is that we can use text queries to create projects and modify columns according to our needs. There are hundreds of YouTube courses on how to use it."
- "I found data cleaning in the solution to be quite difficult. If I could add a feature, I'd include Excel's Flash Fill function. This allows you to set a formula for one row and column and automatically apply it to thousands of rows, making data sorting much easier."
What is our primary use case?
During my internship, I used Microsoft Power BI to create reports for a project we were working on. I also made a dashboard to help a company grow its business.
What is most valuable?
What I liked most about the tool is that we can use text queries to create projects and modify columns according to our needs. There are hundreds of YouTube courses on how to use it.
What needs improvement?
I found data cleaning in the solution to be quite difficult. If I could add a feature, I'd include Excel's Flash Fill function. This allows you to set a formula for one row and column and automatically apply it to thousands of rows, making data sorting much easier.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I found the tool to be a stable product. One of my favorite features is connecting a SQL database to the tool to generate real-time reports. I was part of a group of 80+ students, but only five of us, including me, were offered internships and could use Microsoft Power BI.
How are customer service and support?
I haven't contacted the solution's support yet.
How was the initial setup?
Installing Power BI is easy—there are free and paid versions available. I used the free version, which you can download from the Microsoft Store and install, similar to installing an app on your phone.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I used the tool's free version.
What other advice do I have?
I'd recommend Microsoft Power BI for report generation - it's great software. I rate it a nine out of ten.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Solutions Architect at DTSQUARED
User-friendly, enables users to create multiple reports, and provides valuable data insights
Pros and Cons
- "The product is user-friendly."
- "Power BI shows reports on actual data, not metadata."
What is our primary use case?
I use the solution to visualize charts and graphs that provide data insights.
What is most valuable?
The product is user-friendly.
What needs improvement?
Power BI shows reports on actual data, not metadata.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using the solution for a few months.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I rate the tool’s stability an eight out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The tool is scalable. We can create multiple reports. We have two to three customers who use the solution. Within the client organizations, teams can use different solutions. It depends on the client’s needs.
How was the initial setup?
Creating a report takes 10 to 30 minutes, based on our requirements. It is easy if we have simple requirements. If it is complex, building a report can take days. The product is cloud-based.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
People use other tools in the market, like Tableau and Qlik Sense. They are good competitors.
What other advice do I have?
I work in data management. I focus on connecting to the source and getting the metadata information from the tool. I'm interested in metadata, not actual data. Integration with other tools is possible. The solution provides APIs.
I will recommend the solution to others, but my recommendation depends on the clients. If a customer uses Microsoft products, they can use Power BI. If someone wants to build good reports and perform data analysis, Power BI is a good choice. Any dashboarding tool is good for data analysis. Overall, I rate the product an eight out of ten.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
The solution has a quick and straightforward setup, but its documentation and performance need improvement
Pros and Cons
- "Microsoft BI's initial setup is very straightforward."
- "The solution's documentation needs improvement."
What is most valuable?
Microsoft BI's initial setup is very straightforward.
What needs improvement?
The solution's documentation needs improvement. It is always a challenge to connect any data that Microsoft needs to read. I'm not able to find out. The solution's visuals and themes are really poor and should be improved.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Microsoft BI for around one or two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The performance of Microsoft BI is very poor because whenever the reports are published, data never comes in the first place when the site is open. It takes a long time to load, and the access level restriction is not as easy as it is in Tableau.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
More than 5,000 people are using Microsoft BI in our organization.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I previously used the Tableau solution.
What about the implementation team?
Microsoft BI's deployment takes hardly 10 to 15 minutes or less than that. I had to just download and install the solution, as it was a desktop version.
What other advice do I have?
Overall, I rate Microsoft BI a six out of ten.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
BI Developer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Competitive pricing, intuitive installation, responsive support, with multi-layer functionalities
Pros and Cons
- "They find Power BI's data pull mechanism to be sufficient and cost-effective, especially considering the stability it provides. In comparison with other solutions, Power BI stands out as a fantastic choice. Therefore, I would definitely recommend sticking with the Pro license."
- "I believe there is room for improvement in terms of authentication and certain functionalities in Power BI. For instance, adjusting the width of columns is not easily done, as there is only an option to enable or disable automatic adjustment. This can be a significant drawback for clients who desire more flexibility."
What is our primary use case?
In January, I successfully published my application on AppSource, specifically targeting retail customers. Recently, I received positive feedback from a customer, which was truly gratifying. It seems that my application is Microsoft's preferred choice as it effectively addresses the majority of customer requirements and is tailored to their specific requests.
Apart from retail applications, I have also developed solutions for BigChange, an organization dedicated to driving significant changes. Additionally, I have worked on creating reports focusing on production efficiency within my company. These reports have been well-received and have provided valuable insights. Lastly, I have recently worked on an application that involves managing IT resources and has developed a multi-dimensional model including SSIS and Power BI.
For the last project, I worked on creating data flows and implementing incremental refresh functionality. However, there was an issue we encountered regarding the date field in the tables. The existing portal dates were incorrect as they did not reflect changes in the records. To address this, we collaborated with the developers to introduce an additional column that accurately captures modified data in the system. This improvement has proven to be significant, and it can be implemented using the pro license, rather than relying on the premium license, as the premium license covers different aspects.
The Pro license offers great features such as incremental refreshing, which is highly beneficial. While it doesn't include direct query capabilities, I believe that many customers don't actually require direct query functionality.
Currently, the developers in my company are busy adding a column in the API as part of our transition to BC Start. Our intention is to gradually migrate our customers to SQL Server, and that's why we are using the app.
In a simplified manner, when working on-site, you cannot directly connect to the regular table without using APIs. That's why the APIs need to be modified to include an additional column, making it suitable for incremental refreshing. Apologies for any disruption caused, but I hope this explanation clarifies the situation.
What is most valuable?
They find Power BI's data pull mechanism to be sufficient and cost-effective, especially considering the stability it provides. In comparison with other solutions, Power BI stands out as a fantastic choice. Therefore, I would definitely recommend sticking with the Pro license.
What needs improvement?
I believe there is room for improvement in terms of authentication and certain functionalities in Power BI. For instance, adjusting the width of columns is not easily done, as there is only an option to enable or disable automatic adjustment.
This can be a significant drawback for clients who desire more flexibility.
Additionally, changing styles and formatting options for numbers require external tools, which can be inconvenient and time-consuming. Ideally, Power BI should incorporate these features within its platform to enhance user experience and eliminate the need for external tools.
I understand your frustration with the lack of automation and dynamic features in Power BI, particularly regarding the assignment of dynamic titles and content titles. While there are some options available for creating dynamic titles, they may not fully meet your specific requirements. It would be ideal to have more flexibility in manually assigning the desired typography for each call and dynamically setting content titles. Although it is possible to find workarounds for these limitations, I believe Microsoft will likely address these issues in future updates to improve the user experience. Despite these shortcomings, Power BI remains a powerful and highly capable application, and I would rate it an eight out of ten.
I have a strong belief that within the next couple of years, or even sooner, significant advancements will be made in Power BI. These advancements will make it even more powerful and I am confident it will become truly exceptional. I have complete faith in the future development and potential of this platform.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with Microsoft BI since the start of 2020.
I am working with the latest version.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Microsoft BI is very stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Microsoft BI offers scalability, particularly with the availability of premium capacity. With premium capacity, whether it's per user or a dedicated resource, Microsoft BI can effectively handle increased data volumes and accommodate growing user needs.
Microsoft BI offers scalability in specific areas, but it is important to note that scalability options are limited to certain aspects and may come at a higher cost. For instance, the premium package, which starts at around $5,000 or more, provides enhanced scalability features. However, if you opt for the per-user licensing model, the scalability may be constrained as it is tied to the number of licensed users. Therefore, in terms of scalability, the per-user option may have limitations compared to other packages.
How are customer service and support?
I wrote to Chris Web, and he replied to me immediately. He is the principal program manager at Microsoft.
I have him I have him working And, usually, I don't contact them, only when it is something serious. top expert and experts, and they reply, you know, has been one for us. It's great
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
In my professional experience, I have primarily worked with AS (Analysis Services), Power BI, and SSIS (SQL Server Integration Services).
Last week, I worked on creating SSRS (SQL Server Reporting Services) reports and integrated them with SSAS (SQL Server Analysis Services). Additionally, I hold a Microsoft certification in this field.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is straightforward. It is very easy to set up. it is very intuitive.
Perhaps it's because of my experience and expertise in the field that I approach things with caution. I don't take things for granted. Just because I obtain a certain result doesn't automatically mean it's correct, as there may be errors that are not displayed.
It's important to carefully check the measurements and ensure their accuracy, especially for beginners who may not be familiar with these nuances.
Maintaining the system is not difficult due to the availability of the admin platform. When it comes to permissions and access, it becomes straightforward as long as the customer's requirements are clear.
You can easily define the level of access they need, whether it's building, reviewing, sharing, or restricting data access for online viewing. Depending on their specific needs, setting up gateways and configuring other settings is also simple.
It's important to have a clear understanding of their security requirements and engage in discussions with the customer to determine the best approach.
Often, customers may not be fully aware of what they want to achieve, and it's our job to help them identify their needs.
What about the implementation team?
Especially for clients, it's important to understand that achieving the desired outcome is not as simple as just completing the task and generating the report.
There are several factors and considerations that come into play. Careful attention needs to be given to the creation process by different stakeholders if you truly want to achieve an exceptional result.
Even small changes, such as removing certain elements from the selection or adjusting formatting, can have a significant impact on the report. Users may perceive the tool as being the same regardless of these details, but the difference between a subpar report and a high-quality one lies in the expertise and knowledge of the creator.
There are various options available for creating reports, particularly focusing on online reports. However, the foundation of the process lies in Power BI Desktop. Whatever we develop in Power BI Desktop can be published and accessed through a unified platform and tool.
Data flows enable us to make necessary modifications, similar to working with Power Query and related functionalities. Personally, I find working with Power BI Desktop easier due to its comprehensive features and user-friendly interface.
You can gather data from various sources, including data flows, RBI databases, and SharePoint, among others, and then create and publish your report. While you do have the option to connect to online sources directly, I personally find that working with local data feels faster, at least for now.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Microsoft BI is considered to be competitively priced when compared to other similar solutions in the market.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I haven't had the opportunity to work with other tools as I found Power BI to be excellent. No one has specifically asked me to explore other tools.
However, I did purchase some tools on my own for personal learning purposes, particularly for tabular data. I may consider exploring other tools after June 15th, once I have completed my Microsoft exam DP-500 for Synapse.
What other advice do I have?
Power BI is a complex tool that should not be taken for granted.
Its capabilities and functionalities are multi-layered, and the more you delve into it, the more you realize how much there is to learn.
It can be both challenging and fun to explore the different features and unlock the full potential of Power BI.
As a BI developer, I joined the company without prior experience in BI. Since December 2021, I have been working on establishing a BI deployment in collaboration with a partner. My main focus is to create and enhance internal and external applications for app stores. Currently, my task primarily involves developing a new deployment strategy.
I would rate Microsoft BI an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Data Office Lead at a comms service provider with 501-1,000 employees
User friendly, easy to set up and great for analyzing data
Pros and Cons
- "The most interesting feature of Microsoft Power BI is that it's very user-friendly."
- "Over the last six years, Microsoft Power BI has evolved, matured, has brought in a lot of new features."
- "here are still better UI designs they can go through. I'm assuming they are focusing more on capabilities rather than look-and-feel designs."
- "There are still better UI designs they can go through."
What is our primary use case?
There are several different use cases. The most basic use case would be just to be able to share data from a database or a data repository. That's the most basic use case.
Microsoft Power BI is a visualization tool, is a BI tool. There are more than 1,000 use cases that you could use. There are countless use cases for which a BI tool or visualization tool could be used for.
The simplest use case is where a colleague in an organization who does not have any coding skills or does not have any technology background wants to be able to look at some data from a database or a repository of data. He or she could use Power PI just to be able to connect to that system and just take a look at or peek into that database. It is as simple as that.
How has it helped my organization?
Over the last six years, Microsoft Power BI has evolved, matured, has brought in a lot of new features. Six years back, when I first started using Microsoft Power BI, it was just one of the tools among the crowd of tools that I had access to and may not have been that interesting, at that point in time. It was fairly rudimentary and fairly basic in terms of its feature capabilities. However, in the last six years, Microsoft has put a lot of focus and effort into developing it further, and has, on a regular incremental basis, started deploying and enabling capabilities and features, which now makes Microsoft Power BI one of the leading BI tools in the industry.
We realized the benefits very quickly. In 30 minutes, a company can begin to realize the benefits.
In the most basic use case, which is for a user to be able to just access a data which he or she normally would not have been able to himself or herself, since they don't have SQL query knowledge, or they don't know how to access, log into a SQL Server or a database. They can do that using Power BI within half an hour or less.
What is most valuable?
Like any typical BI visualization tool, Microsoft has several features. The most interesting feature of Microsoft Power BI is that it's very user-friendly.
It is a cloud-based BI tool even though it does come with a desktop client. The ability for a very beginner, basic user to get started with Power BI is very easy. Even if you don't have Microsoft licenses and just want to use a tool for analyzing data, without having to share it with others, you can do that with Microsoft Power BI.
What needs improvement?
I'm comparing this with other existing and newcomer BI tools. The look and feel of the tool has, only like a month back, undergone a major change. If not, for the last five years at least, last four years at least, the look and feel have been very, very similar all the time.
It did not change much in the last four years. Barring a lot of functionalities and capabilities being added, it did not change much. The look and feel were pretty much the same. However, about a month back, the latest release of Power BI, they made some further, drastic changes to the way the buttons and the panels are set up. That said, they can do more. There are still better UI designs they can go through. I'm assuming they are focusing more on capabilities rather than look-and-feel designs.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've used the solution for six years now.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is quite stable and we have not had any, not come across significant bugs, so far. We've only come across some features which are missing or could have been improved, like certain types of charts that were missing in the past, which are being added. Some of the advanced charts are available as a paid service from third-party partners and not available out-of-the-box. There are very unique features or some very specific capabilities that were missing or are still missing. We could always manage it by bringing in a partner to create an add-on or something like that.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is very scalable and we do plan to increase usage.
How are customer service and support?
We haven't opted for technical support yet as we have a few other tools which are also being used by the organization, in the new organization that I'm in, right now. Power BI was being offered to colleagues to use on a self-service basis. There were communities and subject matter experts within the organization who had offered their services to the wider organization to come and ask questions. It was basically community-based support, I would say, within the organization.
Also, Microsoft offers free community-based support for Power BI and proactive support is simply paid. It's paid service from Microsoft and other partners, so we have not opted for that yet, something we will look into once it comes to that point. Yet, it's a fairly mature product. We don't think there would be issues with the platform. The issues would be more to do with how to use the platform, or how to use the platform in conjunction with other systems, other software, et cetera, which is more specific to our organization rather than something the vendor has to support us with.
You do get your questions answered eventually, however, you have to wait maybe one or two days to get the questions answered.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have used more than ten to 15 different types of software in the past 20 years.
I have used Tableau and I have used Qlik Sense. These two are, I would say, the top two leading platforms. We switched completely to Power BI, however, we started using Power BI more, alongside Tableau and Qlik Sense. The organization where I used to work previously had the commercial ability to acquire multiple software, depending on use cases, or depending on business requirements, or needs. In the previous organization, the organization was using one particular platform, then they decided to bring in a second platform, then they decided to bring in the third platform. As part of that mix-and-match scenario, we ended up using Qlik Sense and Tableau. And then we also started, in parallel, using Power BI, which then started to get better feedback and reviews, in general, so we ended up using it more and more.
How was the initial setup?
It comes bundled with Office 365. Office 365 is a SaaS-based office suite. Anything that you build on your desktop or Power BI, you can publish into the Office 365 cloud environment. It's relatively easy to get everything up and running.
It's as simple as taking your credit card and buying an Office 365 license and configuring the AD group and you can be up and running. Of course, depending on how secure and structured you want to make your entire setup, it can take a few months, sometimes, with the full rollout to happen.
A very basic pilot rollout can be done in a matter of a few weeks.
For the actual deployment and configuration, we just needed five people, and five resources working between six to 12 months. Some were required only for six months. Some are still continuing as part of further enhancements as some of the resources are being retained from a training and onboarding purpose so that they can do a training of the wider organization, and colleagues in the organization, show them how to use Office 365, and get trained on that. The actual development itself took less than two or three months.
In terms of maintenance, there are regular patch updates that get pushed from Microsoft. The backend IT support team needs to ensure all the patches are tested before they're deployed in production, for all the users to use.
What about the implementation team?
Microsoft usually sells through a partner, most of these licenses, and Microsoft also usually recommends a partner. In our case, we did an RFP to bring in the subject matter experts, partners who are certified on Microsoft platforms.
We had a system integrator who came in and helped us deploy and roll out Microsoft 365. As part of that, as I mentioned, we got Microsoft Power BI.
We are now thinking if we should switch on all the other capabilities of Microsoft Power BI or not.
What was our ROI?
We have noted an ROI, however, it varies from use case to use case.
There are some use cases in which if you deliver it, the cost savings or the revenue generated from that, or the benefits from that one single use case will cover the entire cost of all 65 licenses, for the entire year.
Then there are use cases, in which you'll have to wait for a few years or months before a company will actually see some benefit being derived.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
They have made the desktop client free of cost, which is also what Qlik Sense is. The Qlik Sense Desktop is free of cost. Tableau, the web version of Tableau online, there's a trial period you can use it for. Microsoft also has made Power BI available as a free add-on, or a free complimentary add-on alongside Office 365 for corporate users. This means even if the organization does not want to use Power BI, if they're using Qlik Sense, Tableau, Looker, ThoughtSpot, Domo, or the other tools, Power BI will still be available to them when they're using Microsoft Office.
While it comes bundled with Office, you don't have to buy any additional licenses, just for building and publishing. That said, the moment you want to start sharing your reports, your dashboards, and your analysis with others, that is the point where you need to then start paying for additional capabilities or plans.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I've always been part of different transformation programs where we were required to evaluate a BI tool, to meet the business requirements. Usually, Power BI ends up coming in the short list of products from a BI perspective, from a BI reporting perspective, apart from sometimes Tableau, and Qlik Sense. Sometimes, we also come across ThoughtSpot, Sisense, and Domo. These are some of the other tools which we have also, sometimes, shortlisted.
The differences have become very, very minimal between solutions. There are very few, minor differences between different tools. About four or five years back, there used to be drastic capability gaps between the different tools. Four or five years back, Tableau was the most mature, followed by Qlik Sense, followed by MicroStrategy, followed by a few other tools like SAP Analytics, or a few others. Today, Power BI is alongside Tableau, and Qlik Sense is in the top three. That's based on my experience of having worked on all these three platforms. Tableau, among the three, has the best UI, user interface. Qlik has the best performance, in terms of building complex data models. Power BI, however, is the easiest and most fun to use when it comes to getting somebody to use the tool from scratch.
There are a few other benefits and strengths. Qlik Sense and Power BI, both come with built-in ETL which is data integration capabilities. They have very mature data integration capabilities, as compared to Tableau, whereas Tableau has very basic integration capabilities. You need to buy another ETL product for it to be able to do a similar level of data transformation as Qlik Sense, or Power BI.
What other advice do I have?
We are a customer and may also be a Microsoft partner, as we are a telecom.
I'd rate the solution nine out of ten.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
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Updated: June 2026
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