Power BI - Comparison with Other BI Tools


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In this chapter, a comparison between Power BI and other BI tools such as Tableau and SSRS is carried out.

Power BI vs Tableau

Tableau is considered as one of the leading tools in the BI market. Power BI is considered as an emerging tool in close competition with Tableau because of its backend data manipulation features and connectivity with the list of data sources. Tableau is one of the best data visualization tools in the market and is used by medium and large enterprises. Power BI is closely integrated with Office 365 suite, and hence it is compatible other sources such as SharePoint.

Feature Tableau Power BI

Data Visualization

Tableau provides strong data visualization and is one of the main data visualization tool in the market.

Power BI provides a strong backend data manipulation feature with access to simple visualizations.

Size of Dataset

Tableau can connect much larger datasets as compared to Power BI.

Power BI has a limit of 1GB data in free version.

Data Sources

Tableau covers a vast range of data sources to connect with for data visualization. In Tableau, you select the dataset first and visualizations are used on the fly.

Power BI covers most of the data sources available in Tableau. It is closely integrated with Office 365, hence provides connectivity to SharePoint.

Power BI online version also supports direct visualization on Search Engine, though, only Bling is supported at this point.

Costing

Tableau is expensive as compared to Power BI but still under budget for small and medium enterprise.

Power BI provides a free version with 1GB limit on dataset. Power BI Pro is also a cheaper solution when compared with any other BI tool.

License and Pricing

Tableau Desktop Profession: USD70/user/month and it can connect to hundreds of data sources.

Tableau Desktop Personal: USD35/user/month and it can connect to data sources such as Google Sheets and Excel files.

Tableau Server: Minimum 10 users with the cost of USD35/user/month

Tableau Online with private cloud: USD 42/user/month

Power BI: Free

1 GB storage

10k rows/hour data streaming

Power BI Pro:

USD9.99/user/month

10 GB storage

1 million rows/hour

Implementation

Tableau provides different implementation types as per organizational needs panning from few hours to few weeks.

Power BI uses cloud storage and includes simple implementation process.

Power BI vs SSRS

Feature SSRS Power BI

Data Visualization

SSRS is mostly used for Pixel perfect reporting and average dash-boarding features.

Power BI provides a strong backend data manipulation feature with access to simple visualizations.

Size of Dataset

No such limit in SSRS. It can connect to much larger datasets as compared to Power BI.

Power BI has a limit of 1GB data in free version.

Data Sources

SSRS covers a vast range of data sources to connect with for BI reporting.

Power BI covers most of the data sources available in Tableau. It is closely integrated with Office 365, hence provides connectivity to SharePoint.

Power BI online version also supports direct visualization on Search Engine, though, only Bling is supported at this point.

Costing

SSRS pricing details are available only upon request.

Power BI provides a free version with 1GB limit on dataset. Power BI Pro is also a cheaper solution when compared with any other BI tool.

License and Pricing

SQL Server Enterprise License. It is available on cloud - AWS, Azure, and other providers.

Power BI: Free

1 GB storage

10k rows/hour data streaming

Power BI Pro:

USD9.99/user/month

10 GB storage

1 million rows/hour

Implementation

SSRS implementation is complex as compared with Power BI.

Power BI uses cloud storage and includes simple implementation process.

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